“No one can learn tolerance in a climate of irresponsibility, which does not produce democracy. The act of tolerating requires a climate in which limits may be established, in which there are principles to be respected. That is why tolerance is not coexistence with the intolerable. Under an authoritarian regime, in which authority is abused, or a permissive one, in which freedom is not limited, one can hardly learn tolerance. Tolerance requires respect, discipline, and ethics.” MayDoePrinciplesDemocracySocietyProduceDisciplineLimitsAuthorityEthicsClimateToleranceRegimesCoexistenceIrresponsibility Author:Paulo Freire
“The hegemony of finance and the banks has produced the indebted. Control over information and communication networks has created the mediatized. The security regime and the generalized state of exception have constructed a figure prey to fear and yearning for protection—the securitized. And the corruption of democracy has forged a strange, depoliticized figure, the represented. These subjective figures constitute the social terrain on which—and against which—movements of resistance and rebellion must act.” StatesSocialDemocracySecurityFiguresInformationMovementStrangeCommunicationCorruptionProtectionResistanceFinanceExceptionRebellionRegimesYearningSubjectivePreyDemocracies HaveForgedTerrainHegemonyIndebtedInformation And Communication Author:Michael Hardt
“The struggle between the two worlds [Fascism and Democracy] can permit no compromises. The new cycle which begins with the ninth year of the Fascist regime places the alternative in even greater relief either we or they, either their ideas or ours, either our State or theirs!” WorldYearsTwoIdeasStatesStruggleDemocracyGreaterCompromiseAlternativesReliefCyclesPermitFascismRegimesFascistsTwo WorldsNo Compromise Author:Benito Mussolini
“How can there be democracy if the leadership in the United States and Britain don't uphold the values which my father's generation fought the Nazis, millions of people gave their lives against the Soviet Union's regime, didn't they? Because of what? Democracy. And what democracy meant. No torture, no camps, no detention forever or without trial, without charges. In solitary confinement. Those techniques which are not just alleged, they have actually been written about by the FBI. I don't think it's being far left - I hope that I'm wrong to consider that it's far left to uphold the rule of law.” PeopleIfsThinkingStatesLawValuesFatherLeftUnitedMillionsUnited StatesForeverDemocracyWrittenGenerationsUnionsTechniqueTrialsTortureBritainCampsSovietRegimesSolitaryNaziSoviet UnionFbiRule Of LawConfinementDetentionSolitary Confinement Author:Vanessa Redgrave
“We owe to democracy, at least in part, the regime of discussion with which we live; we owe it to the principal modern liberties: those of thought, press and association. And the regime of free discussion is the only one which permits the ruling class to renew itself... which eliminates that class quasi-automatically when it no longer corresponds to the interests of the country.” CountryInterestLibertyClassDemocracyModernSpeechPressesDiscussionPermitAssociationRegimesPrincipalRuling Author:Gaetano Mosca
“The peoples of Yugoslavia do not want Fascism. They do not want a totalitarian regime, they do not want to become slaves of the German and Italian financial oligarchy as they never wanted to become reconciled to the semi-colonial dependence imposed on them by the so-called Western democracies after the first imperialist war.” WantFirstsWarWantedDemocracySlaveWesternFinancialItalianFascismRegimesDependenceOligarchyYugoslaviaTotalitarian Regimes Author:Josip Broz Tito
“Under theocracies and other authoritarian regimes, the rulers are the moral authorities. Under genuine democracy some basic values are entrenched in the legal system, which is expected to be under democratic vigilance, and others are left to the person or the group, which ideally debate moral problems in a rational, free and cooperative manner.” PersonsProblemValuesLeftMoralDemocracyGroupsAuthorityDemocraticExpectedDebateGenuineRationalRegimesRulersVigilanceCooperativesLegal SystemTheocracyMoral Authority Author:Mario Bunge
“The world has paid a heavy price for the lack of democracy in most of the Middle East. Operation Ajax [CIA code for the August 1953 coup] taught tyrants and aspiring tyrants there that the world's most powerful governments were willing to tolerate limitless oppression as long as oppressive regimes were friendly to the West and to Western oil companies. That helped tilt the political balance in a vast region away from freedom and toward dictatorship.” WorldLongGovernmentPoliticalPowerfulCompanyDemocracyMiddleTaughtWillingBalancePaidWestWesternHeavyOilEastOppressionCodeOperationsRegionsFriendlyMost PowerfulTyrantsRegimesMiddle EastDictatorshipTolerateLimitlessCiaAugustCoupsTiltOil CompaniesAjaxPowerful Government Author:Stephen Kinzer
“The establishment can't admit [that] it is human rights violations that make ... countries attractive to business - so history has to be fudged, including denial of our support of regimes of terror and the practices that provide favorable climates of investment, and our destabilization of democracies that [don't] meet [the] standard of service to the transnational corporation.” HumansCountryPracticeSupportDemocracyRightsStandardsInvestmentClimateIncludingHuman RightsTerrorDenialCorporationsAttractiveEstablishmentRegimesViolationTransnational Corporations Author:Edward S. Herman
“The United States has given frequent and enthusiastic support to the overthrow of democracy in favor of "investor friendly" regimes. The World Bank, IMF, and private banks have consistently lavished huge sums on terror regimes, following their displacement of democratic governments, and a number of quantitative studies have shown a systematic positive relationship between U.S. and IMF / World Bank aid to countries and their violations of human rights.” WorldHumansCountryStatesGovernmentGivenUnitedNumbersUnited StatesSupportDemocracyStudyRightsHugeDemocraticHuman RightsTerrorFollowingAidsFavorsFriendlyInvestorsRegimesConsistentlyEnthusiasticViolationSystematicDisplacementDemocratic GovernmentImfWorld BankViolation Of Human RightsPositive Relationship Author:Edward S. Herman
“I believe in market economics. But to paraphrase Churchill - who said this about democracy and political regimes - a market economy might be the worst economic regime available, apart from the alternatives. I believe that people react to incentives, that incentives matter, and that prices reflect the way things should be allocated. But I also believe that market economies sometimes have market failures, and when these occur, there's a role for prudential - not excessive - regulation of the financial system.” PeopleWayShouldBelieveSaidSometimesMatterMightPoliticalI BelieveRolesEconomyDemocracyEconomicWorstEconomicsFinancialAvailableI Believe InAlternativesRegimesRegulationIncentivesMarket EconomyFinancial SystemParaphraseMarket Failure Author:Nouriel Roubini
“Obviously, Turkey is not a typical authoritarian regime, and obviously it's very important that there are free elections. But it's also obvious that this is not a liberal, mature democracy. This is why I call Turkey a wobbly democracy. At any time, it can tip over and fall down.” ImportantFallDemocracyElectionObviousMatureRegimesTypicalTurkeysFalling DownFree Elections Author:Elif Safak
“It would be a huge mistake to abandon democracy promotion. Peaceful political change has been enormously successful in the past years in Eastern European countries as well as in countries like South Korea, South Africa, Chile and Indonesia. However, if possible, the use of force is something to avoid except in cases where genocide is threatened, like Bosnia or Libya or with regimes that threaten our security, like the Taliban and Saddam Hussein.” IfsYearsWellsHas BeensCountryUseWould BePastPoliticalForceMistakeCasesDemocracySuccessfulSecurityHugeSouthPeacefulAbandonGenocideRegimesSouth AfricaThreatenedSaddamEasternHusseinPromotionKoreaIndonesiaTalibanLibyaChileEuropean CountriesBosniaUse Of ForceSouth KoreaPolitical Change Author:Paul Wolfowitz
“You don't help a country by supporting a military regime that denies any sign of democracy, and what defeated Pakistan was its military regime.” CountryHelpingDemocracyMilitaryDenyRegimesDefeatedPakistan Author:Indira Gandhi
“I did not suggest that Iran is a democracy; just the opposite. I talked about it being a repressive theocracy. What I think is indisputable is that even within this repressive regime, the political leaders there - including the Supreme Leader - are sensitive to the concerns of the population within bounds.” ThinkingPoliticalLeaderDemocracyConcernOppositesBoundsIncludingPopulationSupremeSensitiveIranRegimesPolitical LeadersTheocracy Author:Barack Obama