The deliberate destruction of democratic norms and institutions is a central reason why our causes and campaigns keep losing, and why the siren song of the populist right, tapping into legitimate dissatisfaction, is increasingly successful. If the voice of citizens is constrained, there is no voice for nature at all. Meanwhile, people are told we are consumers rather than citizens, our relationship with government becomes that of client and service provider at best, and our always limited influence over decisions which shape our lives and the future of the planet is constrained more and more. Corporations (and the super rich) buy access and decisions, pervert the political debate, enclose public space for their private profit, and freely pollute. Rather than decisions being made by and for the people, they are being made by and for the already rich and powerful – a plutocracy.

Those of us working for social change of all kinds are finding that our efforts, which have always been met with resistance from those in power, are increasingly able to be ignored by decision-makers embedded in systems which are ever harder to dignify with the name “democracy”. The suppression and criminalisation of protest and advocacy, prosecution of whistle blowers and raiding of media organisations, and corporate capture of political parties and regulatory processes, are just the tip of the iceberg. Right now, democracy is under attack and authoritarianism on the rise, in a process inextricably interwoven with the ecological crisis, ballooning inequality, and rising hate. This fact is suddenly becoming terrifyingly apparent to many more people. But, as Indigenous people, my holocaust survivor grandparents, my school striker child, and many others will tell us, democratic systems here and the world over have always been incomplete, exclusive, hard-won, and fragile. There is a powerful mythology around the concept of democracy in countries like Australia: a mythology that our democracy is a natural state that it just “is” and always will be that it is robust and complete. Revitalising and deepening democracy is a prerequisite for success in creating a just future. Main discussion-starter: Libertarian Municipalism & Murray Bookchin’s Legacy.

Democracy 3 release date