Re: [OPE] The Basics of Democracy.

Dave Z: “In it's original conception Democracy means that the 'demos' held state power. This, however, was quite compatible with slavery.”   Provided that ‘demos’ is restricted to a privileged portion of the population. As it was indeed in the rudimentary democracy of Athens.   Nowadays, the job contracts that the Spanish State licenses for Latin American people hired on their places of origin, condition the validity of the working visa to keep working for the specific employer that offered a job to this person. i.e. this person is forbidden to look for another job in the job market under penalty of loosing the visa.   I would say that this alarmingly seems a modern way of slavery but in general, modern democracy forbids the slavery that the democracy of Athens licensed.   Regards,A. Agafonow ________________________________ De: Dave Zachariah <davez@kth.se> Para: Outline on Political Economy mailing list <ope@lists.csuchico.edu> Enviado: lunes, 1 de diciembre, 2008 16:19:10 Asunto: Re: [OPE] The Basics of Democracy. On 2008/12/1 Dogan wrote democracy begins in the sphere of production. If there is no democracy in the sphere of production there cannot be democracy at all. [...] So in othere words you cannot approach issues of democracy independently from class issues. While you are right that democracy cannot be separated from the class struggle, your first assertion about democracy in the sphere of production as a precondition for democracy in general is incorrect if one looks at the historical record. Democracy refers to the control of state power. In it's original conception it mean that the 'demos' held state power. This, however, was quite compatible with slavery. //Dave Z

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Received on Mon Dec 1 10:53:23 2008