In Defence of Participatory Democracy and against
Revolutionary Democracy and Liberal Democracy:
An Introduction
9 May, 2010 | By Teodros Kiros (Ph.D)
as to bring about the desperately needed alternative to the sham democracy of
the ruling regime.
The ruling regime is neither revolutionary nor democratic, as it is nothing more
than a regime, which lives on hand outs, and mismanages the handouts
themselves by advancing its own interests and sacrificing the nation’s
interests.
The historic nation of Ethiopia is populated by a historic people, who
produced the Obelisks at Aksum, the churches of Lalibela, the classical songs
of King Yared, the literary productions of Emperor Zara Yacob, the
philosophical orature of the Oromos, the art works of Gambella, the lash and
green of the south, and of course, the philosophical masterpieces of Zara
Yacob.
These great people are not merely illiterate peasants that the ruling regime
claims to enlighten. On the contrary these historic people of the land are
already self-enlightening but live in the dungeons of revolutionary democracy,
which is neither freedom giving nor life nourishing.
The heart of participatory democracy is the parity of participation. By parity I
understand the essential right and corresponding power that the ordinary
citizen has to effect change in her life, by voicing her opinion of what she
wants, and articulating her actual capability to realize her life plans.
Her life chances are not decided by destiny but by resources, psychological
ability and mental and physical conditions. The citizen who is seeking to
change her life is allowed to do so by voicing her needs and deliberating about
the means of actually attaining them.
The repeated and regular practices of voicing, reasoning, judging and effecting
change, will in the course of time develop democratic citizens unafraid and
capable of voicing needs, reasoning and judging well. The democratic polity’s
function is precisely to trust citizens, without any formal education to
participate in the domain of developing institutions of everyday life that are
supportive of citizens who decide collectively as citizens who have internalized
feeling, judging and reasoning competently.
Both revolutionary democracy and liberal democracy do not empower the
ordinary Ethiopian citizen. Revolutionary democracy runs the show by
empowering incompetent party members to decide for the citizen, and liberal
democracy brings political experts to enlighten the citizen through meaningless
votes.
Only through the parity of participation can the ordinary Ethiopian citizen learn
democracy by practicing democracy. The recent moves of Venezuelan
democracy are a model for the opposition, if the opposition is committed to
the happiness of the Ethiopian people, and not the gratification of seasoned
politicians, in the hands of whom the Ethiopian people continue to suffer.
Future articles will delve deeply into the contours and complexities of
Participatory Democracy.
Dr. Teodros Kiros, is a Senior Editor at Ethio Quest News. His weekly
column appear here
Revolutionary Democracy and Liberal Democracy:
An Introduction
9 May, 2010 | By Teodros Kiros (Ph.D)
- Contemporary Ethiopia ought
to reject the moribund
democracy of the ruling regime
and the liberal democracy of
the future that some members
of the opposition are already
advocating.
- Ethiopia needs participatory
democracy, as the political
form of its immediate future, a
future that is simultaneously an
as to bring about the desperately needed alternative to the sham democracy of
the ruling regime.
The ruling regime is neither revolutionary nor democratic, as it is nothing more
than a regime, which lives on hand outs, and mismanages the handouts
themselves by advancing its own interests and sacrificing the nation’s
interests.
The historic nation of Ethiopia is populated by a historic people, who
produced the Obelisks at Aksum, the churches of Lalibela, the classical songs
of King Yared, the literary productions of Emperor Zara Yacob, the
philosophical orature of the Oromos, the art works of Gambella, the lash and
green of the south, and of course, the philosophical masterpieces of Zara
Yacob.
These great people are not merely illiterate peasants that the ruling regime
claims to enlighten. On the contrary these historic people of the land are
already self-enlightening but live in the dungeons of revolutionary democracy,
which is neither freedom giving nor life nourishing.
The heart of participatory democracy is the parity of participation. By parity I
understand the essential right and corresponding power that the ordinary
citizen has to effect change in her life, by voicing her opinion of what she
wants, and articulating her actual capability to realize her life plans.
Her life chances are not decided by destiny but by resources, psychological
ability and mental and physical conditions. The citizen who is seeking to
change her life is allowed to do so by voicing her needs and deliberating about
the means of actually attaining them.
The repeated and regular practices of voicing, reasoning, judging and effecting
change, will in the course of time develop democratic citizens unafraid and
capable of voicing needs, reasoning and judging well. The democratic polity’s
function is precisely to trust citizens, without any formal education to
participate in the domain of developing institutions of everyday life that are
supportive of citizens who decide collectively as citizens who have internalized
feeling, judging and reasoning competently.
Both revolutionary democracy and liberal democracy do not empower the
ordinary Ethiopian citizen. Revolutionary democracy runs the show by
empowering incompetent party members to decide for the citizen, and liberal
democracy brings political experts to enlighten the citizen through meaningless
votes.
Only through the parity of participation can the ordinary Ethiopian citizen learn
democracy by practicing democracy. The recent moves of Venezuelan
democracy are a model for the opposition, if the opposition is committed to
the happiness of the Ethiopian people, and not the gratification of seasoned
politicians, in the hands of whom the Ethiopian people continue to suffer.
Future articles will delve deeply into the contours and complexities of
Participatory Democracy.
Dr. Teodros Kiros, is a Senior Editor at Ethio Quest News. His weekly
column appear here
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