What W(e) DID about democracy yet

In the first part from our democracy workshop we started to begin with a presentation and conversation about the history of ancient democracy. We had a lot of interesting facts, because most of the participants are studying or studied in the area of history or political science. gedichte_grieche We also talked about the democratic system forms nowadays, where it was kind of a surprise that a direct democracy somehow still exists in two Cantons of Switzerland. Continuously we changed the topic about the politics these days. An interesting aspect was that almost everybody is convinced that it´s necessary to be rich, if someone wants to get in a high political position. According to the mentioned statistics of Greece, it should be a high per cent amount of doctors and lawyers in the parliament in Greece. Also our participants from Rumania mentioned the same.   In response we wondered if the same happens in Austria. The result of a research for the temporary members in the parliament of Austria shows that 47,54% of the members finished a study, but it doesn´t say something about the subject or profession. The other half is almost equally distributed to a variety of educational levels. Also people who “just” finished the compulsory school are represented in the parliament. Most people (men and women) are between 41 and 60 years old and in this category the gender ratio is steady. It is possible to read about the previous live of all 183 members of the Austrian parliament.   For the next workshop we prepared also a game which should make the ancient democracy and the democracy nowadays more understandable and to give us the chance to see, how the positions in the three separated powers can be reached (for example through lottery, elections, being named). The game should give us the chance to make it more interactive and to have a nice start in the evening.   Unfortunately we didn´t really start with the game, because it was considered by some participants to be irrelevant with the topic. Maybe we can find a better way to explain that game in the next meeting, as well as we want to talk about the following questions:

  • Why is it important to understand what happened in the Ancient democracy in Athens?
  • Is there any connection to a democratic system nowadays?
  • Do people only have profits of a modern democracy?
  • In the ancient democracy, only 1/3 of the population was allowed to go to elections, what do you say that also in modern democracy women are not even 100 years allowed to elect?
  • Why should we live in a democracy, should we?
  • How should people live together in a society and why did Churchill say, that democracy is the worst system, apart from all other systems that have been tried before?
  • Do you have any better idea or imagination of living together?
  • Do you agree, that all people should have the same rights, possibilities and same support?
  • What happened, that people are unhappy in a democracy?
  • What mistakes in the system are occurring, what social evils are bothering us?
  • Is it possible to compare all the democratic systems of the European Union?
  • Are everywhere happening the same problems?
  • What happens, if people stop participating in democracy and only complain?

athens1 This and more we want to find out in the next W(e) DID meeting. Share your experience, opinions and maybe you have an interesting statement! We are looking forward to seeing you on Thursday, 6, Februray, 2014.   Article written by Elisabeth Daniela Weissitsch.