Democracys Surprising Resilience Steven Levitsky
Steven Levitsky speaks about his article, "The Myth of the Democratic Recession," coauthored with Lucan Way, at a panel discussion celebrating the Journal of...
By: National Endowment for Democracy
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Democracys Surprising Resilience Steven Levitsky - Video
Scriptonite - Occupy Democracy Feb 14th 2015
Kerry-Anne Mendoza aka Scriptonite at Occupy Democracy Feb 14th 2015.
By: Carl Compton
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Scriptonite - Occupy Democracy Feb 14th 2015 - Video
Vote AHRAR ABBASI #1 for Democracy Education
Vote Now: http://soasunion.org/elections/ballot/14/69/
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Vote AHRAR ABBASI #1 for Democracy & Education - Video
TIME History politics 5 Ways Pirate Ships Functioned as a True Democracy Hulton Archive / Getty Images A pirate ship oencounters bad weather off the Barbary Coast of North Africa, circa 1650. An engraving by A. Maisonneuve after A. Humblot. Pirates pioneered many of the features we associate with democracy History News Network
This post is in partnership with the History News Network, the website that puts the news into historical perspective. The article below was originally published at HNN.
Over time, the myth of the pirate has generated the image of a rugged, foul man with an elaborate hat, an eye patch, and a peg leg. The men of the tales are brutal and unforgiving, forcing captives to walk the plank, and mercilessly plundering ships at sea. Whats lost in this picture? That pirates made a significant contribution to the development of American democracy in the late eighteenth century. Pirate organizations predated any modern democratic government, having originated during the Golden Age of Piracy, from the 1650s to the 1730s. As an outgrowth of a diverse society that sought to maximize efficiency, Pirates formed relatively liberal, egalitarian orders based on elected officials and mutual trust.
Sailors often turned to piracy after long, abusive careers as either naval officers or ordinary seamen. In the eighteenth century, sailors were commonly beaten, overworked, and underpaid, and were often starved or diseased. Aboard ships sponsored by merchant companies, there was often a captain in place, hired by the original absentee owner. He was to ensure that the job was completed and was therefore granted absolute power, leading to a sort of dictatorship aboard ships. By centralizing power in the hands of the captain, ship owners could be sure they were minimizing pirate opportunism. Captains with unlimited and unchecked power were granted the right to punish in especially harsh manners, often leading to dissatisfaction and mutiny. One pirate testified, Our Captain and his Mate used us Barbarously. We poor Men cant have Justice done us. There is nothing said to our Commanders, let them never so much abuse us, and use us like Dogs.
This abuse is what lay behind the pirates desire for a different social order. One historian notes that the determined reorganization of space and privilege aboard the ship was crucial to the remaking of maritime social relations.
1. The pirates created an order that allowed them to vote for their captains.
The first rule of one particular pirate code reads, Every man has a vote in affairs of moment, securing, at the start, a mans right to participate in the selection of the captain and other officials. With this right in place, each crew elected a captain who was granted total power only during times of distress. The crew, rather than the captain, maintained the authority to determine where a voyage was headed, and whether to attack a particular ship or village.
2. The crew retained the right to depose their leader if they so chose.
The Pirate Council (the term used to referred to the members of the pirate crew) was responsible for removing officers from their positions, and then choosing new candidates to fill those positions. Pirate crews had the option of deposing any captain they deemed to be abusive or of exceptionally poor judgment. As one Dutch governor pointed out, Every man has as much say as the captain. A merchant captain, in utter disbelief of the system, testified, there is so little Government and Subordination among [pirates], that they are, on Occasion, all Captains, all Leaders.
3. There was a system of checks and balances.
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5 Ways Pirate Ships Functioned as a True Democracy
(03-02 15:25)
Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmakers were arrested and then released Monday over their involvement in mass protests for free elections, the latest step in a widespread investigation that has been accused of seeking to intimidate activists. Police have vowed to investigate the "principal instigators'' of the street blockades that ended in December when rally camps were cleared. Albert Ho Chun-yan and Helena Wong Pik-wan, both of the Democratic Party, voluntarily turned themselves in at Wan Chai police headquarters Monday morning on the request of the police. Both were holding small paper yellow umbrellas -- the symbol of the democracy movement -- as they went into the police station while supporters carrying umbrellas and placards shouted "We want universal suffrage''. "Today Albert Ho and myself were formally arrested,'' said Wong after she was released. She said that during questioning police showed her a video and two Facebook photos taken during the protests to illustrate that she had participated in an ''unauthorized assembly''. Ho said he was questioned over the same allegations. Both Wong and Ho said the possibility of future charges remained. "I think this is a kind of political prosecution against those who fight for true democracy,'' Wong added. Police had no immediate comment. A number of protest leaders have already been arrested and only to be released without charge -- including prominent student leaders Joshua Wong Chi-fung and Alex Chow Yong-kang-- in a controversial procedure which some say is harassment. The street protests, which began in September and lasted for more than two months, kicked off after Beijing said that candidates for the 2017 vote for Hong Kong's next leader would be vetted by a loyalist committee. Campaigners have described the decision as "fake democracy'', but Hong Kong's leadership says that any public vote must take place within Beijing's framework and has granted no concessions over the election process. Police have said they reserve the right to prosecute those who have been released. "These pre-arranged arrests are a waste of resources and money,'' former lawmaker Audrey Eu Yuet-mee, who will turn herself in later Monday afternoon, told supporters. "The police are trying to intimidate Hong Kong people,'' she added, saying that she was being brought in for inciting and organizing an unauthorized assembly. Former lawmaker and veteran campaigner Martin Lee Chu-ming handed himself in Monday morning to shouts of "Go, Martin, go'' from supporters, and was later released. Lawmaker Charles Mok also turned himself in to police. --AFP
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Lawmakers arrested and released over democracy protests