The recent United States election was framed as a battle for the future of democracy. In reality it was a rearguard action fought by the oligarchy to fend off a descent into tyranny.
As far as the Greek philosopher Aristotle was concerned, tyranny, oligarchy and democracy were all deviant constitutions. But democracy as he would have recognised it was never at stake in Biden versus Trump. As Yanis Varoufakis, the former Greek finance minister, said on the night of European Parliament elections in Athens last year, “Aristotle would be very puzzled by the way in which a world which is completely oligarchic is calling itself democratic. What we now have, which is oligarchy with elections, would have struck him as the worst possible combination of the two.”
I am co-founder and executive producer at All Hands On, a not-for-profit documentary production company. We tell true stories of radical democracy, whereby power is exercised directly by people rather than abdicated to professional politicians. Our aims are to strengthen the resolve of political reformers, and to enthuse, educate and empower people to become politically literate and politically active.
