Ancient Athens, which is often credited with being the birthplace of modern democratic governance, did not in fact practise democracy as we understand it today.
For one thing, to actually have a vote, much less exercise it, one needed to be an Athenian citizen and a man.
Foreign-born residents, slaves and women had no place in what was the world’s first known successful democratic experiment.
Nonetheless, the basic principles of democratic governance, as outlined by that ancient experiment continue to guide much of modern human governance thousands of years later.
Immigrants, minority groups and women have been added to the scope of the Athenian “one man one vote” system in most places that profess to practise democracy, with the honourable exception of the “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” and its potbellied Dear Leader.
The principal idea behind “one man one vote” was that everyone recognised as a citizen of Athens had an equal right to have a say in the governance of their city, as against being beholden to the whims of a capricious or incompetent monarchy or dictatorship.
By giving everyone an equal opportunity to participate in the decision-making of their city, the system ensured collective ownership of the Athenian civilisation by its people. Democracy was to feudalism, as the internal combustion engine was to human evolution.
If You Can’t Participate, It Isn’t Democracy
There is an episode of the hit Adult Swim animated series Rick & Morty, where Rick’s space car breaks down mid-flight, and both protagonists shrink down to molecular size to take a look inside Rick’s car battery.
To Morty’s well, mortification, Rick’s genius inexhaustible battery turns out to be a device powered by an entire complex civilisation of sentient creatures whose entire existential purpose unknown to them, is to generate electricity for Rick’s car.
Rick’s defence when Morty shrieks aghast, “Isn’t this like slavery?!” is to point out that these beings are living full, self-aware lives complete with procreation, death and complex societal structures and roles.
This he reasons, is proof that their lives are meaningful, and they are not merely the victims of epic exploitation by the smartest being in the universe. Morty replies “That’s just slavery with extra steps!”
This anecdote came to mind while writing this column because it can be used to illuminate the absurdity of Nigeria’s current ongoing attempt at reprising the system of governance introduced to the world by the Athenians.
While the Athenian concept of democracy was “government for the people, of the people and by the people,” the Nigerian mockery of this lofty idea is basically “Government of the subjects for the wealthy and connected, and by the election winners.”
The point of democracy at its core is to be a system of governance that allows total participation in governance by everyone defined as a citizen, and accountability of those in government to the people. The point of democracy is NOT to hold elections every 4 years and vote for who gets to slice the cake for the next 48 months. I will repeat that for clarity: Democracy is about participation and accountability, NOT elections. Elections are unavoidably a part of democracy, but that is all they are – a part. Not the entire point of everything.
Read also: Crisis of democracy at the grassroots in Nigeria
Call It What It Is – Feudalism With Extra Steps
In a country whose per capita income barely surpasses $2,000/year, the democratic processes if they are to fit the defi itinerary of democracy, must reflect that eco omicron reality.
When the world headquarters of people living in extreme poverty has its 2 major political formations selling entry slots to access the giant election casino for the equivalent of $200,000 a head, is the goal sincerely to help or encourage participation by the citizens of that country?
Clearly, that is not the case. It does not take a genius to work out that the purpose of such decisions is in fact, to place barriers and hurdles to participation that wilfully and deliberately exclude 99.9% of Nigeria’s population from any meaningful participation in its electoral processes.
If we thus accept that we live in a political system expressly designed to maintain the vast majority of the population in a state of powerless irrelevance, while continuously concentrating power and control exclusively in the hands of those who already hold money and power, then why do we persist in the falsehood of calling it a “democracy?”
Where is the “democracy” in expressly structuring the process of accessing political power to be as inconvenient, out-of-reach and ridiculous as possible? Does it become a “democracy’ simply because at the end of this grand charade on May 29, 2023, whichever casino ticket purchaser emerges victorious will place his hands on a holy book and swear an empty oath?
By the dictionary definition of the term, I submit that Nigeria is not a democracy, or anything close to it – elections notwithstanding.
After all, the Chinese Communist Party holds elections within its ranks, and the process of gaining political power in China is similarly fraught with horse-trading and casino gamesmanship – yet nobody would accuse China of being a democracy.
Call Nigeria’s political syste. what it actually is – Feudalism with Extra steps.
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