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| How does slavery fit within construct, practice of Democracy |
Insight in Press TV doc “The Origin of Democracy”
Editing by Carolyn Bennett
“People do not like to have their knowledge questioned but I
know that I do not know” – saying leading to Socrates' death in Athens. He was, said his student, Plato, “the first victim of democracy.”
From before the Common Era Fifth Century forward, Democracy underwent numerous ups and downs and varieties of interpretations, recalls the documentary's narrator: In some periods, it
adopted the opposite of its original meaning.
These changes were part of the concept
of democracy since the beginning – since its Athenian days, at the time when
Socrates gathered young people in the Athens’ bazaar and encouraged them to
doubt their gods, values, and themselves.
But the Athenian democracy could not
tolerate any doubts in its principles, and [so democracy] sentences Socrates to death.
If democracy had let Socrates’ voice be
heard at that time, perhaps we would have had a different world today.
Athenian/Greek
model
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| Dictators, Noblemen, Rich rule ... |
Those who were allowed to participate were “noblemen, those who had Athenian origin,” Law History Expert Mohammad zaman Dariabiari said. “Women and slaves were excluded from decision-makings and taking part in determining their own political, social, economic and cultural fate.” Athenian democracy, Karim Mojtahedi said, “belonged to one-eighth of the people.”
“Democracy”,
“Demagoguism” devoid of crucial Qualification
“Socrates believed that just as a shoemaker or mason needed
skills to do his job, a governor [also] needed to be skilled, to have the
political knowledge to rule.”
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| ... Slaves, Women need not apply |
Socrates ridiculed Greece’s democracy. He “believed that
competence and eligibility were needed for a government.”
However, “the biggest claimants to that eligibility were
Athenian noblemen and wealthy people who thought their origin and pedigree [of
itself] already provided them with that competence.…
“Socrates believed that this competence and knowledge [was] achieved
by training and education.”
Western Philosophy Teacher Karim Mojtahedi said that this creates
a situation in which “the reins of affairs [are given] to a bunch of people who
are thirsty for fame, position and money; and they are destroying the main role
of traditions.” Socrates believed the Athenian version of democracy was another
form of Demagoguism.” Demagoguism [or demagoguery, making use of popular
prejudices and false claims and promises to gain or retain power] is in fact the
opposite form of democracy, Mojtahedi said.
None of these people “wanted to have anything to do with
morality or justice. They wanted to have nothing to do with intelligence or
knowledge. They wanted only power and a system based on the fight for political
survival, even based on lies and deception.”
Is so-called
“Democracy” really democracy”
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| Democracy 5th C BC Athens and Greece 2014 USA beyond the pale |
Although “we remember the Athenians for their democracy,”
the narrator says, “this is not their reality. Athens had three social groups: the
rich and nobles (the rulers), the craftsmen and traders, and the farmers.” The “nobility
and land owners” did almost nothing. Athens remained standing “by the labor of
the slaves.” And social inequality and class difference sparked the first wave
of change.
Using the example of Rome and Greece, “the problem of power,
slavery, social advantages, slave exploitation, arrogance and dictatorship,” says
philosophy and history researcher Behrooz Farno, was more prominent in the West
than in the East. “Even in newer periods, in spite of the fact that people are
supposedly involved in choosing their government, this public opinion is always
inclined in favor of rich and powerful people, and it is power and wealth that
defines public votes.” 
Mohammadzaman Dariabiari reminds us that the most important
concepts inherent in or crucial to democratic reality are “freedom of human beings and equal rights for human
beings to decide their own destiny in social, economic, cultural and political
affairs.”
Given these requisites and existing conditions then and now, Karim Mojtahedi
asks, “Can we really say that the system in Fifth Century BC, known as the
Greek democracy” [or now known Western democracy or US democracy] really was [or now is] “democracy?”
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Sources and notes
“The Origin of Democracy” Synopsis/Transcript [Synopsis: “Aristocracy
or the rule of the elite is in [turn] the antonym of democracy.
“But while theoretically these definitions are in
opposition, in practice the distinction has been blurred historically.
“Ancient Greece is perhaps viewed as the epithet of the origin
of democracy; a form of governance where the mastership of the people is an
absolute authority. And this authority consists in the people’s right to choose
their leaders and legislate whatever laws they want.
“But is it really that simple?
“The political system of Classical Athens, for example,
granted democratic citizenship to an elite class of free men and excluded
slaves and women from political participation.
“This documentary takes a look at the not so benign origins
of democracy and compares it to the government of Greece’s Easter neighbor: the
Great Persia Empire.”], November 8, 2014, http://www.presstvdoc.com/Default/Detail/12954
Karim Mojtahedi: Iranian philosophy professor at Tehran
University, Karim Mojtahedi is credited with more than 20 books on philosophy.
He was awarded UNESCO’s Avicenna Prize for Ethics in Science at the 4th
International Farabi Festival and has received a plaque of honor from Iran’s
Cultural Luminaries Association. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karim_Mojtahedi
Socrates
Classical Greek (Athenian, 470/469 BC – 399 BC) philosopher
credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socrates
Plato
Classical Greek philosopher and mathematician (428/427 or
424/423 BCE – 348/347 BCE), influential figure in Western philosophy; student
of Socrates, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato
BCE
BCE is the abbreviation for Before the
Common/Current/Christian Era (an alternative to Before Christ, abbreviated BC).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Era
Centuries-old non-democratic, employed constructs: “Anno
Domini (AD or A.D., Medieval Latin translated ‘In the year of the Lord’) and
Before Christ (BC or B.C.) are designations used to label or number years used
with the Julian and Gregorian calendars,” the latter the most widely used
calendar in the world. “For decades, it has been the unofficial global
standard, adopted for pragmatic interests of international communication,
transportation, and commercial integration, and recognized by international
institutions such as the United Nations and the Universal Postal Union. There
is no year zero in this scheme, so the year AD 1 immediately follows the year 1
BC. This dating system was devised in 525, but was not widely used until after
800.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_Domini
A lifelong American writer and writer/activist (former academic and staffer with the U.S. government in Washington), Dr. Carolyn LaDelle Bennett is credentialed in education and print journalism and public affairs (PhD, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan; MA, The American University, Washington, DC). Her work concerns itself with news and current affairs, historical contexts, and ideas particularly related to acts and consequences of U.S. foreign relations, geopolitics, human rights, war and peace, and violence and nonviolence.
Dr. Bennett is an internationalist and nonpartisan progressive personally concerned with society and the common good. An educator at heart, her career began with the U.S. Peace Corps, teaching in Sierra Leone, West Africa. Since then, she has authored several books and numerous current-affairs articles; her latest book: UNCONSCIONABLE: How The World Sees Us: World News, Alternative Views, Commentary on U.S. Foreign Relations; most thoughts, articles, edited work are posted at Bennett’s Study: http://todaysinsightnews.blogspot.com/ and on her Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/carolynladelle.bennett.
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/08UNCONSCIONABLE/prweb12131656.htm
http://bookstore.xlibris.com/Products/SKU-000757788/UNCONSCIONABLE.aspx
Her books are also available at independent bookstores in New York State: Lift Bridge in Brockport; Sundance in Geneseo; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center in Buffalo; Burlingham Books in Perry; The Bookworm in East Aurora
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