#liberal republic

[redsolon]

Real Democracy

Despite liberal claims, Athens wasn't the source of our modern bourgeois states. Even the most democratic of the liberal democracies is only a "democratic republic", a marketing gimmick if there ever was one. Athenians did not recognize republics as democratic, but as what they are: oligarchies. Republics have always emerged out of the desire of elites to divide political power fairly among themselves. Key to this project has always been the maintenance of the ruling class as a ruling class, and the prevention of any one faction within it from siding with an outside class force to overthrow them. Greek Tyrannies, despite the inevitable dysfunction of hereditary rule, usually came to power on the back of popular discontent, as a way to discipline the aristocrats and force through reforms.

Election is a filter process that privileges the most eloquent, the most well-connected, the most acceptable and personally appealing, and those with the most time and resources (which in a settler-colonial context, means able-bodied cis-het white men). Unless re-election is forbidden, once in office an official can use their position to enhance their wealth, influence, and notoriety, and thus increase their odds of getting re-elected. Thus the "democratic" office becomes a kind of property, even hereditary property. The ideal of election says that the people own the office, but the reality shows that the incumbent political class do.

While direct voting is a possibility, in reality asking everyone to vote on everything translates quickly into asking everyone to be a professional politician, or to spend all their free time obsessing over politics. This is unrealistic. Some claim that only having a motivated minority vote on any given issue is ideal, because the uninterested are usually both uninformed and unaffected; that the non-voting public implicitly consents to their concession of power. Anyone who's dealt with voter turnout has had to confront the material, social, and psychological barriers to voting, even for people who can be identified as having a material political interest in the issue--and yes, this also applies to ballot initiatives. Not everyone can be perfectly informed about every upcoming vote that affects them--and is that even how people want to live?

To concede to the limitations of voting-based systems is to accept that the most structurally disadvantaged people don't deserve a say, and that if people miss an opportunity to intervene in an issue that it turns out affects them after all, then they are out of luck. Statistical, demographic representation is the only system which guarantees everyone an equal chance to have a say at every level, regardless of background. It also possesses many of the benefits of electoral systems--a dedicated body of people who are employed full time to investigate an issue before voting on it--and some benefits beyond pure election--breaking the incentives for corruption and vote-buying. Both bourgeois and proletarian republics have shown the severe limitations of a purely electoral system. Even if we include election and direct voting in our systems, sortition needs to lie at the core.

During crisis, if delegates are killed, then every republic relies on unelected officials to be interim officials, breaking the system's legitimacy claims. Systems of mass voting require secure, wide spread vote collection and tabulation at all times. If the voting system is every disrupted, the entire system ceases to be democratic according to its own standards. Sortative bodies, however, can be reassembled at any time with no delay, and only require that the few individuals selected by lot are able to be escorted to wherever they'll meet (or that they have access to secure communications). No other system possesses such a high level of speed, efficiency, and robustness.

Remember: every ancient republic, and most modern, fell to reaction and tyranny. The Greek democratic model never fell to internal enemies, only to external invasion. In fact, while Rome fell to tyranny forever, Athens was the system which rectified itself after a brief period of tyranny. And from a communist perspective, sortition is the system which most embodies the Mass Line at large scales.

[aviscarrentals]

jd vance openly admitting on national television that he views immigrants as subhuman to americans is fucking crazy

[littlenaughtygarden]

Focus Congo is an organization based in the DRC and Germany that helps get aid and resources to the people of The Congo. They're currently raising money to send two containers full of medical supplies, medical machinery, clothing, shoes, and household materials.

They've only met 18% of their goal. PLEASE donate if you can and share this widely so they can get aid to the DRC. 🇨🇩💛

[mysharona1987]

[sugas6thtooth]

This is applicable to every single struggle the oppressed fight against for freedom.

[thatonetransdumbass]

PLEASE REPOST THIS!!!!! In the midst of the Palestine genocide, not NEARLY enough people are even aware of the genocide happening in the Congo. I urge you to at least be aware of it. I urge you to see this and go against it the same way many people are against the genocide in Palestine.

[this-world-of-beautiful-monsters]

I know the Disability Day of Mourning traditionally commemorates disabled people murdered by their parents and/or caregivers, but I wanted to take a moment to also commemorate the disabled lives lost during the genocides taking place in Palestine, the DRC, Sudan, and across the globe (including in the US). There are many ways for a system to perpetuate ableist violence and we must struggle as a community against all of them.

May the disabled souls taken from us rest in peace, every single one, and may the members of the disabled community currently fighting for their lives and the lives of their loved ones receive the support and safety they deserve.

If you have a bit to spare, please consider donating to Crips for eSims for Gaza and supporting their vital work.

[seohyun0306]

Babies are dying in Palestine. Children are being hacked to pieces in Congo. Women are being mass raped in Sudan to the extent that they have to take medicine to prevent pregnancy once the inevitable happens. Gaza is being starved. Children in Congo are used as slave labour. Sudan is going through famine.

People are being butchered, starved, bombed and raped en masse and yet all you see is people from first world countries whining. You see Americans lose their heads over ridiculous issues. You see the British more focused on the affairs of their royal family than the active genocides all over the world. You see Ukrainians receive billions and billions of dollars in military assistance, you see them being supplied with tonnes of weapons and equipment when the situation in Ukraine is a hundred times better than the aforementioned countries.

America is draining its coffers supplying foreign countries with unimaginable amounts of money when their own people are starving and have no access to healthcare. While the people of Maui are still suffering the aftermath of an earthquake with little to no governmental assistance.

The poorest, most vulnerable countries are the only ones truly standing up against this unfathomable evil. Only the oppressed understand the plight of the oppressed. Every struggle helps other struggles. Every single atrocity currently happening is linked to the actions of a handful of colonial and imperialist powers.

Not for the first time, the western world has dismally failed the oppressed. We have no sympathy for anything that happens in the global north because we get no sympathy or assistance from them. We are entitled to feel that rage. We are entitled to feel that apathy. The world has failed those that need to be fought for and when the time inevitably arrives, they will find no love, no sympathy and no assistance from us. Die mad about it.

[busterballsblog]

[duxfemina]

*Ides

Damn autocorrect

[sydneyadmu]

if saw gerrera was alive the first order would never happen. just saying

[ahsoka-in-a-hood]

There's definitely something about the how the colonialism vibes of both Naboo and Tatooine, and Padme and Anakin when they discuss The Massacre, do all sort of fit together to paint a picture of some sort. (I mean Naboo was quite extraordinary really, they weren't even in contact with the indigenous people.)

and the way that fits with the whole picture of the republic and Padme's role

And it does have me sitting there squinting about how much was intentional commentary occasionally

[degeneratedworker]

“Sold in South Africa, bought by MI5, supplied to UFF/UDA death squads“ Belfast 1992

[thievessaintlaurxnt]

Protest art. 💖✊🏾🖌🇨🇩🇸🇩📲🗣👥👥👥

Save the JPEG. Convert it to PDF. Print it at your local print shop. Print it at your local library. Print it at work. Print it at school.

Copy it free hand.

No credit needed.

Making more soon for Sudan & The Uyghurs in China. Stay tuned. Follow for more.

[ceciliavaldes]

From the beginning, I felt it, snug inside my heart, the pearl of great price. No one had to tell me to believe in God or to love everything that lives. I did it automatically like a shoot inching its way towards the light.

In the Time of the Butterflies, by author Julia Alvarez