democracy movements

Democracy movements
(Coordinator Comment)

Movements for democracy and national liberation draw their inspiration from the English Revolution at mid 17th Century and the American and French Revolutions at the end of the 18th Century. Another major source of inspiration has come from the national liberation of India by Mahatma Gandhi and his followers, which was accomplished by non-violent means and mass participation of thousands of people on the streets. Their non-violent methodologies have become essential to more recent democracy movements.

Two of the most important democracy movements in recent years have been the successful overthrow of Apartheid in South Africa and the non-violent revolutions to overthrow corrupt governments in the Philippines. These are described in World Peace through the Town Hall.

Why have the democracy movements not gone further in South Africa, Philippines and Iran? For the same reason that the great revolutions in France, United States, India and Russia ended up producing new imperial powers: they ended up reinforcing the state with its monopoly on the culture of war.

What is needed is a new wave of democracy movements that produce an alternative to state power, an alternative based on the culture of peace at the local and regional levels.