What is democracy?

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Hello Reader

I’ve spent the last few days grading papers about democracy. A sentence that sounds boring to many, but thrilling to a niche audience which I hope you are a part of.

In the Digital Campaigning course I teach for Government Relations at Seneca I ask students to watch Astra Taylor’s documentary What is Democracy?, engage with the film, synthesize course material, and provide their own reflections on their professional practice. I’m reading these papers while watching the Alberta Referendum results come in, looking at the polls for next week’s municipal election in Toronto, and I happen to have just rapidly consumed Season 4 of The Diplomat.

So, what is democracy? I’m not a renowned philosopher, legal scholar, or elected official, so take my personal definition as just that: personal.

Democracy is a verb.

Like happiness, it is not one single destination, but a series of actions and commitments we take every day towards an ideal. That ideal includes governance by the people for the people, the ability to meaningfully contribute and participate in governing decisions, and a collective goal to create a society that is just and equitable for all.

If I am going with that definition here are a few things that aren’t democratic:

• First past the post, winner-take-all voting systems
• Polls and their prominence in the media
• The concept of strategic voting
• Algorithmic bias (side note; this has become a legal issue ahead of Brazil’s election, read more at this link.)
• Politicians who view the electorate as a resource to be won, rather than an equal partner
• Over-emphasis on voting-as-democracy
• The term ‘low information voters’ and anyone who uses it
• The concept of ‘middle class’
• Privatization
• Return to office mandates
• Almost everything that happens in The Diplomat and its wider reflection of political super-powers (this is about the plot, the show is good with an absolutely stacked cast if you’re looking for a recommendations)
• Fearmongering
• Changing laws once you are in power to favour your own reelection ​
• “I have more of a comment than a question”

And here are a few things to consider as democracy-the-verb:

• Helping someone else access public services
• Talking pay transparency with colleagues
• Inviting people to shape policy, not just comment on it
• Your friend who gets everyone to agree on a restaurant
• Canada Geese migrating
• Moving beyond ‘majority rules’ mindsets; if this always prevailed we would have never made advancement on most social justice issues
• Opting to be patient when you are tempted to be defensive
• Being a gratuitous tipper because you understand the value of labour and the economic system that dictates service work
• Reposting and signal-boosting on social when asked
• Mutual aid
• Reading Let This Radicalize You: Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care​
• Voting
• The National Film Board of Canada (you can stream What is Democracy? For free thanks to the NFB)

If you’ve read this far I would like to challenge you to commit to one act of democracy today. Tell me about it! Just think; what would happen if we all actively treated democracy like a verb every day all the time?

In solidarity,

Terra

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