Astra Taylor’s latest documentary, What is Democracy?, seeks to answer this eponymous question through philosophical investigation that cites back to the ancient Greeks and Plato’s own concept of good rule. Democracy is “justice”, it is “equality”, it is “freedom”, it is “community”, it is “liberation”.[1] None of these, as Taylor’s film makes obvious, are easily available in the system of governance that today rules most Western Society, and that we call “democracy.” Through discussion with philosophers, political theorists, activists, and regular citizens, Taylor makes the argument that know what democracy is but our ability to fully actualize a democratic system has been co-opted and corrupted by financial capitalism and its accoutrements.
Indeed, “democracy” has become a feted signifier in modern political discourse. The term is bandied about to justify all sorts of horrendous violations of rights, from waging war to preventing access to essential medical treatment to denying racialized persons access to the vote.[2] “Democracy” sweeps in as to legitimize and justify any activity. Just as easily, a proposed policy or action is labelled “anti-democratic”, and therefore unjust – even when such policy has the support of large portions of the population (though some of these policies are legitimately anti-democratic).[3]
Why do such banal invocations of “democracy” have such profound effect in justifying a wide range of activities? Primarily it is because “democracy” is perceived as universal: in Western society – even profoundly illiberal ones – it is near-impossible to argue that one is not interested in furthering the values of democracy. The debate is rather about whether a particular policy or another is more democratic or more anti-democratic than another.
This is, then, a paradox of the modern construction of power in Western “democracies”: democratic values do, legitimately and honestly, support both sides. It is true to the nature of democracy that it encompasses the opinions of those who are both for and against a particular enactment. Our political discourse – at least that which comes from the mouths of elected officials and is given precedence in mass media – does not, however, reflect this nuance. Democracy has been corrupted to be about whichever side the speaker is on.
But let us take a step back, as Taylor does in the film, and explore the original meaning of democracy. We all know the etymology – democracy is the “rule of the people.” If this is the case, where are the people in the political constitutions of modern Western democratic states? They have been cut off, subjugated to a form of representation in which power can be exercised over, but never by. (This is becoming a theme of mine, I know).
The illusory nature of people’s rule notwithstanding, this is the second reason why “democracy” is such a powerful (yet empty) signifier in political discourse: because it perpetuates the myth that governments are made up of people. We all know this is not the case, but when politicians trumpet the term “democracy” over and over, it creates the illusion that they are truly the empty vessel of the people, exercising power on their behalf. Of course, this once again only holds up if one agrees with the policy being enacted.
Taylor’s film seeks to historicize and theorize the corruption of democracy in this way. She spends a significant amount of time in Greece, the birthplace of democracy, exploring its origins and understanding the historical factors that created the first democracy. One important note made in the film is that democracy was never intended to be “majority rule” – it was always rule by consensus of officials who were not elected, but were rather drawn from a lot. Power, even the ancient Greeks recognized, must be disinterested in power for its own sake. Systems must structured so that policies do not blindly serve the interests of the rulers but rather the interests of the community.
This interested power is the second reason Taylor’s film is in Greece: to recall one of the most blatant betrayals of democracy in modern history – the 2015 Bailout Referendum.[4] Greece, struggling under the weight of the EU’s imposed austerity measures, voted in a referendum to reject the terms of a bailout that voters perceived would have further crushed the livelihood and autonomy of the Greek people. Despite this referendum, the Greek government and the EU reached an agreement on a bailout just a few days later. As a Greek minister stated shortly after the agreement was signed, “We couldn’t overcome the bankers and northern European elite who have absolute power in this continent.”[5]
The question of modern democracy reveals itself as a question of capitalism. It is not the people who rule, but economy. When economy conflicts with democracy, economy wins. Cries of “democracy” and “democratic values” are revealed as little more than (un?)necessary inconveniences to legitimize policy that favours economic production (anyone familiar with the history of modern US imperialism can tell you this).
What is clear from Taylor’s film is that the question is not What is Democracy? – we know what this is – but why do we not have democracy, and how do we get it? The answer to that is only by undermining the stranglehold of financial capital over democratic systems, and returning those systems to the people. As Silvia Federici states in the film, “Bottom up, not top down.”
Finally, perhaps the most important thing about What is Democracy? is how it centres the voices of women and people of colour. Taylor specifically explores what democracy and justice means to the people who have been most under-served by modern democratic systems. This includes the status of refugees feeling humanitarian crisis, which I have under-analyzed here. In doing so, she recognizes what democracy, at its core, must do: rectify historical injustices and give precedence to counter-majoritarian impulses. Only a system that both recognizes and actively embodies equality in this way can be called “democracy.”
[1] Tiff.net, “Meet Astra Taylor, the director of What is Democracy?,” (30 August 2018), online: https://www.tiff.net/the-review/meet-astra-taylor-the-director-of-what-is-democracy/.
[2] For a particularly disgusting primary source account of this tendency, see Paul Bonicelli, “A Brief History of the ‘Democracy Through Regime Change’ Policy That Never Was,” Foreign Policy, (26 May 2015), online: https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/05/26/a-brief-history-of-the-democracy-through-regime-change-policy-that-never-was-part-1/.
[3] Matt Lewis, “Democrats Hate Gerrymandering—Except When They Get to Do It,” The Daily Beast, (2 April 2018), online: https://www.thedailybeast.com/democrats-hate-gerrymanderingexcept-when-they-get-to-do-it. This article also has the advantage of demonstrating the blatantly political nature of “democratic” discourse.
[4] Paul Mason, “Greece put its faith in democracy but Europe has vetoed the result,” The Guardian (13 July 2015), online: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/13/greece-bailout-eurozone-democracy-is-loser.
[5] Mark Lowen, “Greek debt crisis: What was the point of the referendum?” BBC, (11 July 2015), online: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33492387.
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