Neue Debatte - Special Edition - Long Essay on Left Strategy #002 - 04/2017 | Page 30

5 On the people
5 On the people
5.1 Folks at disposal: taken out of and put back to democracy?
This leads me to a most sensitive topic: What are they like, the de-
mos, the people, the silent majority? There shall be a new broad DI-
EM-coalition of all sorts of democrats “the purpose of which is to put
the demos back in the democracy against the European Union es-
tablishment”, 9 as you stated at the Volksbühne opening meeting. You
explained: “Democracy was bleached out of European Union’s deci-
sion making process. The demos has long ago been taken out of de-
mocracy.” 10 What do you mean by “been taken out of democracy”
and “put back in the democracy”? This issue has several aspects.
Firstly, “has been taken out” and now been “put back into democra-
cy” implies people’s democracy in earlier EU-times and a Europe,
which now has to be re-democratized. You have analyzed the making
of the modern Europe by upper class national power politics. I
learned from your writings that there never could have existed peo-
ples’ rule neither in EU Brussels nor in the member states. The Mani-
festo notes that
“the EU began life as a cartel of heavy industry (later co-opting
farm owners) determined to fix prices and to re-distribute oli-
gopoly profits through its Brussels bureaucracy.”
So the EU began as an oligarchy with its Brussels administration. But
if there has never been people’s democracy in post war Europe how
can you put anybody back to it again? As I see it, DIEM’s demand con-
founds the proper understanding of democracy.
Secondly, “back into democracy” is self-contradictory. If the demos
has to be put back to democracy this democracy must have been
without the demos for some time. Democracy signifies rule of the
demos. Consequently you imply a rule of the demos without the de-
mos. For the same period you not only know democracy without the
demos but also a political system with no democracy at all (democra-
9
Yanis Varoufakis, speech at: The Launch of DIEM25 at Volksbühne Theatre, DIEM 25.official (youtube, Febr.2016, 16:42-
16:47).
10
Ibid., at 6:22-6:33.
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