Democracy, citizenship and nonviolence

Étienne Godinot

Translation : Claudia McKenny Engström

.04.02.2015

Democracy, citizenship and nonviolence

Contents

• Politics (in relation with economy, ecology)• The three facets of an individual in a relation• Political power, the State• The sources of obligations : Law and ethics• Power and authority• Democracy : its composing elements, the limits of majoritarian law,

democracy and conflict management, moto of the French Republic, Laïcité. Citizenship : rights and duties; civil disobedience, a right and a duty.

• Politics, Democracy and nonviolence• The common good, commons, subsidiarity and support• Indispensable knowledge for the exercise of citizenship

Démocratie, citoyenneté et non-violence

Sources

• André Comte-Sponville (ethics and Law)• Bernard Ginisty (fraternity)• IFMAN Normandy (the three facets of a person in a

relationship)• Jean-Marie Muller, Dictionnaire de la non-violence, ed. Le

Relié, 2005 (authority, Democracy, State, Politics, Power)• Wikipedia Internet (citizenship, common good, State, etc.)• E. Godinot (indispensable knowledge to exercise citizenship)

Economy

Man’s activity are destined to

- produce

- exchange

- consume

goods and services with the purpose of satisfying human needs.

Ecology

Harmonious management of the relations that exist between Man and nature,

aiming at satisfying Man’s needs without those needs :

- destroying the planet (forestry, halieutic (fishing), mineral resources, pollution, climate, biodiversity, ecosystems, etc.)

- harming future life on Earth

Politics

Collective management of a society destined to :

- organise the interaction between individuals and social groups, regulate inevitable human conflicts: define laws and organise its respect (constitution, justice, police, etc.)

- create infrastructures and public services (civil registration, education, healthcare, energies, transports, defence, etc.)

- tax collection, redistribution, fight against exclusion, protect the most vulnerable

-organise minimal providence (fire, etc.) and enhanced providence (illness, handicap, for the elderly, etc.)

- foresight for next generations

- organise peace and cooperation between people.

The 3 facets of an individual in a relation

1) Each one of us is a person with a story, an identity, needs, feelings, aspirations…

Ex.: I am a women, police officer and mother; I am sometimes depressed by my family issues and do a job in which I am confronted with all woes of the world

2) Each one of us is a person in a status, a social role, a “costume”

Ex.: I am a police officer, representing public authority, in charge of a mission for social peace

3) Each one of us is responsible as citizen, conscious of the consequences of our acts

Ex.: Police officer, I respect my superiors authority, but must also know when to disobey sinful orders, such as the arrest of Jews during the raid of the "Vel’ d’Hiv”, 16-17 July 1942 (photo below)

Political power, the State

Political power is a type of power exercised by a man or a group over society. It is sovereignty, the power to set rules which will apply on the population of a given territory.

Political power is noxious or senseless (despotism, tyranny, dictatorship, etc.) when it is concentrated in too few hands, not leaving enough space for political debate, public criticism and other forms of corrective pressures.

Photos :

- Henri IV (French King from 1589 to1610)

- Jean-Bedel Bokassa (Central Africa, in power from 1966 to 1979 )

The State

The State is the modern political and legal organisation of a defined territory. It is composed of :

- a delimited and determined territory,

- a resident population on the latter territory,

- a minimal form of government,

- the capacity to enter into relation with other States.

According to Max Weber, “the State is the institutional character of a political enterprise, when and until its administrative direction claims, successfully, in the implementation of its rules, the monopoly of legitimate physical coercion on a given territory”.

The State

The State has for finality to organise the collective life of citizens and in the respect of the rights they each hold.

The State is constituted by the political, administrative, legal, police and military institutions that ensure public services and authority.

Public order cannot be the result of a coercive organisation of society merely resting on obligations and interdictions.

The State thus holds a power of coercion which ca oblige citizens to respect the “social contract” which grounds the order and cohesion within society.

The State ensures the defence of society against those who attempt to impose their private interests and trouble public order.

The origins of our obligations

- Law : the corpus of rules organising men’s social life (constitution, treaties, laws, decrees, rules, contracts, jurisprudence, etc.)

- Ethics : corpus of moral and universal norms which guide individual behaviour towards oneself and others, of a group towards others.

For instance, the “golden rule” of wisdom and religion : “Do not do to others what you would not like others to do to you. Treat others the way you would like to be treated”.

Selfishness or solidarity ?

Law and Ethics

Selfishness is legal but unethical

Ethics must take into account the existence of others and our converging interests in solidarity

If we were truly moral, we would not need Law or politics

Ethics compensates for our lack of goodness

Law compensates for our lack of ethics

André Comte-Sponville

The ethical choice

The ethical choice is the behaviour an individual adopts taking into account :

- universal ethics

- a personal choice made consciously by an individual in the specific situation he/she finds him/herself in

Ex.: Law and ethics forbid murder, but before a deeply suffering parent who has reached the end of his/her life, I may accept, in full knowledge, to unplug the life-support machines.

Power and authority

Hierarchal power (or authority) corresponds to the right to command, ban, give orders, injunctions, to be obeyed.

Such power exists within families (parents), schools (teachers, educators, sports teachers), stately institutions (Prime Minister, prefect, general), work environments (manager, supervisor), religious communities (bishops) etc.

It is lined to the notions of power, legitimacy, management, delegation/transfer of power, etc.

Dictatorships, authoritarianism

A dictatorship is a political regime in which a person or a group of people exercise power in an absolute manner, ignoring rules and unlimited by institutions.

Authoritarianism – the behaviour as much as the functioning of a political structure – consists (in both cases) in a pre-eminence, hypertrophy of an authority erected as supreme value.

An authoritarian political regime is a political regime which, thanks to different means (propaganda, repression, limitation to freedom of the press, cult of personality, etc.), hopes to submit a whole population in obedience.

Photos : - Bachar al Assad (Syria)

- Vladimir Putin (Russia)

Authority

Authority (of a person or an institution) is recognised by those who are asked to follow its council and instructions.

Obedience to authority must be consented, and rests on a relationship of trust. No coercion is required for authority to be respected.

Authority implies hierarchy. The personality (knowledge, competence, integrity, honesty, wisdom) of the one who sits in a position of authority is more important than the function occupied.

The power of authority is that it always aims to be just.

The authority of a wise man creates no power. No one can be forced to follow his instructions.

Photos : - Socrates,

- Nelson Mandela

The power of individuals

The power of each individual (Spinoza’s potentia, in English, empowerment) allows him or hr to acquire and protect the space he or she needs to live freely, satisfy his or her needs and aspirations, and develop his or her potential. A just relationship is grounded on the equilibrium between the power of individuals on the one hand, and the power of groups on the other.

The struggle for justice and freedom is one of power. The victims of injustices cannot see their rights recognised without acquiring the sufficient amount of power that will force established power to deliver justice.

Photos - Gandhi during the Salt March (1930) for Independence

- Martin Luther King during the fight against segregation

- Aung San Kyi during the fight against the dictatorship in Myanmar

Exercising power with authority

The one who holds a powerful position (parent, school teacher, officer, sports teacher, supervisor, prefect) also spends time proving his or her authority, that is explaining the orders given, what and why there are bans, and obtain the consent of those these are addressed to.

Violence cannot create authority over those who are subject to it.

It is when power has no authority that it uses violence. Violence can lead to obedience, but then it negates authority.

“We fear little bosses.

Medium bosses can be handled.

Big ones, we follow them…”

Democracy

Democracy (demos: “people” in Ancient Greek, and kratos, power) is the regime in which the people have the power.

According to the words we owe to Abraham Lincoln*, democracy is “the government of the people, by the people, for the people”.

More generally, a democratic government is in opposition with

- monarchies, in which power rests in the hands of one, the king, emperor, tsar, etc.

- oligarchies, in which power is held by a limited group of individuals.

* 16th US President of the USA from 1860 to1865

The two pillars of democracy

Democracy rests on two composing elements :

- Institutions, a system, a form of government : constitution, separation of powers (legislative, judiciary, executive), elections, universal suffrage, human and citizen rights, etc.

- Values and a state of mind *, ethical requirements : this form of society respects the values of freedom, equality, respect, or more generally, an ensemble of values, ideals and political, social and cultural principals.

* Cf. Alexis de Tocqueville, who considers the cultural dimensions of a political system more importantly than political system itself.

When and why we are called to vote in France ?

Political elections

• Municipal elections (municipality) → Municipal Council

• Cantonal elections → Deparmental Council

• Legislative council (district) → Ministers of Parliament (deputies) at the Assemblée Nationale

• Regional elections (region) → Regional Council

• Presidential elections (national) → President of the Republic

• European elections (international) → MEP of the European Parliament

• Grand electors → Senators ../..

When and why we are called to vote in France ?

Other elections

• Workplace / firm (Personnel representative, Work Council, Board of direction)

• Election of labour law judges

• Election of Chamber representatives (Chambers of commerce and industry, agriculture, trades)

• Elections in schools and universities (class representative, university council)

• Election in associations, trade unions, political parties (general assemblies, national council, national bureau)

etc.

The limits of the majoritarian rule :real democracy is one of citizens

Democracy is the political system that best suits a society based on freedom and justice. It also bets on the people’s wisdom. But the people can become a crowd, and passion can overtake a crowd more easily than reason will.

In reality, true democracy is not popular, but based on citizens. The democratic ideal implies the most equal distribution of goods, knowledge and power between citizens.

Free elections are necessary to democracy, but they are not sufficient. Majoritarian rule doesn’t necessarily respect the Law. Adolf Hitler (photo), was democratically elected Chancellor of the Reich in January 1933.

The purpose of democracy is to manage conflicts

When, in a society, individuals want to defend their legitimate rights or when they override other’s rights, conflicts are inevitably born. It is therefore important they do not degenerate into violent confrontations.

The purpose of democracy is to manage conflicts and control violence.

One of its most important tasks is to invent institutions and procedures to regulate conflicts in a constructive way using nonviolent methods.

Threats to democracy

Threats to democracy are first generated by ideologies based on discrimination and exclusion : nationalism, racism, xenophobia, religious fanaticism, economic liberalism grounded only on the search for immediate profit.

They are all linked to violent ideologies, and claim violence is necessary and legitimate as soon as it is used in their service.

Promoting and defending democracy means first to fight against these ideologies, which know no boarders.

Citizenship is only possible between human beings who, beyond their differences, recognise each other as equals and alike.

“Freedom, Equality, Fraternity” : the French Republic’s moto *

Freedom and equality can be organised, codified and regulated into rights and duties.

Fraternity on the other hand, finds its roots in a more spiritual dimension. It is the cornerstone of the democratic city, without which freedom, justice and equality might lose their meaning.

* Article 2 of the French Constitution, Vth Republic (1958)

Laïcité (secularism)

Secularism is the principle according to which religion and State are separated, thus guaranteeing State neutrality in matter of religion.

By extension, secularism also in holds the idea that institutions, whether public or private, are independent from the clergy.

In France and most democratic modern countries, the State, neutral, guarantees freedom of religion and simultaneously ensures freedom of thought.

It does not place any opinion above one another (religion, atheism, agnosticism, free-thought).

Citizenship

Citizenship means, for a person, a family or a group :

- being recognised

- recognising oneself

as member of a community (today the State) carrying a common project and wanting to be actively involved in it.

Citizenship entails political and civil rights, as well as duties defining the role of the citizen within the community and towards institutions. Citizenship (legally, psychologically or sociologically) must not be confused with legal notion

The European Union citizenship (or European Citizenship) is a legal status which guarantees rights and freedoms. It was introduced by the Treaty of Maastricht in 1992.

Citizenship entails rights and duties

Rights

• Freedoms : of expression, of movement, of reunion, of demonstration, of association, of the press, etc.

• To vote: be a voter and be elected

• Take legal action

Citizenship entails rights and duties

Duties

1. Towards to the community

- respect its laws

- pay taxes, contribute to the life of the community

- participate in collective defence, notion which has evolved with the disappearance of military service towards the idea of “devoting time to the community”.

Citizenship entails rights and duties

Duties

2. Towards others

- respect the other’s freedom (“where the other’s freedom starts mine stops”)

- assist

- testify

- judge (ex.: sit as jury in a criminal court)

The right and duty of civil disobedience

Citizenship is not grounded on collective discipline, but on responsibility and hence, the personal autonomy of each one of us.

History has taught us that democracy is most often threatened by blind obedience than disobedience.

In the name of his or her conscience, each citizen can and must oppose majoritarian law when this one generates inequalities. Therefore exists the idea of civil dissidence, a civicism of dissidence, which, in the name of a democratic ideal, refuses to obey the law of majority.

Photos : Étienne de la Boétie, Henry-David Thoreau,

Léon Tolstoï, Mohandas Gandhi,

all theorists or practitioners of civil disobedience.

Politics, democracy, nonviolence

The fundamental requirement of political philosophy is the aim to build a society freed from the influence of violence.

Justice and peace are realised when the diverse forms of violence that exist between individuals and groups are eliminated.

The political city is born when men and women, who recognise each other as equal and alike, decide to live together: talk, decide and act together to build a common future.

The essence of politics is precisely this dialogue between men, their common action. Violence is the failure of politics.

Politics, democracy, nonviolence

Individuals who resort to incivility or violence to satisfy their passions or attempt to see their interests prevail over the ones of others, are no longer part of the public space which makes the political community.

They must be kept off the streets by “peace officers”.

These peace officers must favour pacific methods and turn to counter-violence only when strictly necessary.

Politics, democracy, nonviolence

In the hypothesis where State commanded counter-violence lead to one or more deaths, it can be stated that public authority’s resort to fatal violence is always a tragedy and failure.

In order to fight off the culture of violence, the consequences found in counter-violence must be dealt with as mourning, even if it was only used exceptionally.

After such events, a public ritual led by public representative (a prefect for instance) and during which nonviolent rules would be reminded would be a useful proceeding.

Photo above : the execution of criminal Jacques Mesrine in Nov. 1979 by the Brigade de Recherche et d’Intervention (French Police force).

The common good

The common good is, in political philosophy, the sharing of the resources and interests that unite a community. This sharing is consubstantial to the existence of the community.

For Aristotle, the common good means the general interest, or a virtuous life.

According to Thomas of Aquino, Man’s kindness starts from his/her participation in the common good.

For the french philosoph Jacques Maritain, the common good is “the good human life among the multitude”.

The common good contains the social conditions allowing a group and each of its members to advance towards improvement and accomplishment.

Photos : Aristotle, Thomas of Aquino, Jacques Maritain

The common good

The common good comprises three essential elements :

1) The respect of the fundamental and intangible rights of a person

2) The development of a person and group. Authority, in the name of the common good, arbitrates between the different private interests, but this authority must be accessible to all, in order for each one of us to lead a truly human life: food, clothing, health, work, education and culture, information, the right to have a family life, etc.

3) Peace is security in a just order, over a long period of time.

The universal common good

The universal common good calls for an organisation of the community of nations capable, while respecting ecosystems, of providing for Man’s needs

- in his daily social life (environment, food, health, education, housing, energy, transports, etc.)

- and to face exceptional circumstances (after natural disasters, refugees and their families, etc.)

Commons

Commons are resources used and managed in common by people and communities in order to avoid inappropriate or excessive use, as well as their privatisation.

Commons can be :

- natural resources (earth, sea, water, forests, biodiversity, halieutic resources, minerals, etc.)

- human inventions (art, architecture, software, etc.)

- “public goods”, such as public space, public education, healthcare, the infrastructures that help our society function (transports, energy, systems of distribution, etc.)

Local democracy, initiatives and efficiency :

The principles of subsidiarity and support

Principle of subsidiarity : public action, when it is necessary, should be held by the smallest institution capable of solving a given problem.

- Neither the State nor any other entity should substitute itself to the initiative and responsibility of the intermediary communities acting at local level.

- The State and society must help the members of a social group to take their destiny in hand and advocate their collective initiatives.

Principle of support : when a problem exceeds the capacities of the local entity, the higher level has the duty to support it, within the limits of the principle of subsidiarity.

Local democracy, initiatives and efficiency : The principles of subsidiarity and support

The principles of subsidiarity and support allow a harmonisation of the decisions taken at all levels of the social cell : State, Federation of States, municipalities, firms, schools, families and communities of life, believers, etc.

For instance, in the European construction, the principle of subsidiarity is a fundamental rule of the separation of powers between the Union and its Member States. Outside its exclusive competences, the Union only acts when it would be more efficient than the States or regional level.

Indispensable knowledge for the exercise of citizenship

The indispensable knowledge each one needs to be an independent person, responsible, and a citizen, is :

- Knowledge

- Skills

- Good manners

- Social skills, knowing how to be with oneself and others.

On this topic, cf. slides “Personal transformation and social change”.

■