Democracy by Margaret Atwood | Democracy 2024
In a year in which more than half the world goes to the polls, acclaimed novelist Margaret Atwood asks whether democracy is fragile and easily destroyed or flexible and resilient. This animated monologue is the first of four films examining the state of government, representation, rights and freedom. Read more at www.ft.com/democracy
#margaretatwood #lolashoneyin #aditimittal #elifshafak #madekuti #marshmallowlaserfeast
#democracy #election #globalpolitics #geopolitics #elections2024 #government #rights #freedom
See if you get the FT for free as a student (ft.com/schoolsarefree) or start a £1 trial: subs.ft.com/spa3_trial?segmen....
► Check out our Community tab for more stories on the economy.
► Listen to our podcasts: www.ft.com/podcasts
► Follow us on Instagram: / financialtimes'
5:03 They literally do want to destroy their own country. Theyre not shy about it.
So what about the left wing antifa and blm? They literally want to destroy their own country too.
Wonderful video. This gave me the chills. Canada (and the world) is lucky to have Margaret Atwood among us.
This was mind-blowing and stands true for most states in the current era. Art and literature has to take up the ante to overcome the delusions which have been embedded in societies of today. Any kind of extremism is anathema to a progressive society.
This nails it 100%.
Margaret Atwood's confident assertion that Canada is nowhere near a dictatorship is misplaced. Canadians are perceived internationally as sensible centrists, but US-style culture wars have taken hold here in a big way and the far right and left are gaining traction. Unfortunately, Canadians are complacent and politically disengaged, and civil society and mainstream media are weak. Conditions are growing for a populist dictatorship takeover.
Not perfect, but Canada is still doing better than many of us out here.
I think Margaret Atwood knows more than you.
@@Ukie88 agreed,
After 30 years here I am concerned too. It seems to me this loose Federation of nearly independent fiefdoms has a growing population of folks escaping threat and turmoil in their home countries, and “complacent and politically disengaged” reflects their histories of fear and trauma. Everyone just wants somewhere safe. But this can let the non centrists dominate. Fear based populism feeds on this situation.
It's easy enough to see that the far right is gaining ground politically in Canada, even if they haven't uet attained critical mass. But, what far left are you talking about, & where do they have any hold on political power?
So eloquently explained! Thank you Margaret Atwood!!
Really good, but Call The Bluff comes out of nowhere and doesn't fit well with the rest.
thanks for producing this vital piece, beautifully written and produced
It's hard to grasp why anyone would want to come to America currently? It's become so unaffordable, dysfunctional & unstable. Our country seems to have zero interest in improving these issues or the lives of its own citizens. Our cities feel disconnected, soulless, bland, unaffordable, etc. I really don't like the direction modern America has gone. We could do so much better. I love this country. I just want to see things improve. The 90's at least had a range of prices & places where people could live, unique things to do & places to go. Poor People, middle, upper class. There was places for people of all economic ranges ~Nowadays we have universally unaffordable cost of living, rent prices, shop rent prices.. (unless you are wealthy) I don't understand how long we can continue to function in this extremely dysfunctional manner?? I hope things change. People stuck in poverty need places to live too.. it's ridiculous how our current system pretty much requires everyone to be financially well off or you are screwed 👍🏻 It's so realistic 👍🏻 it's completely impossible for everyone to be financially well off. We need living options. We need places that average people can live, poor people can live.. Raising wages just continually makes things worse because our country says "it Has to increase things" So it does nothing but make things worse. We need places people can live even if they make below average $ (look at all the rent prices right now? The same goes for the rent of local small businesses too. It's absurd. I know this because my mom runs a local small business in Oregon. So that's 2 insane rents to pay per month! It's the biggest challenge to afford rent. Profit isn't even a thing. Its can we make it to next month? How stupid is that? What kind of quality of life is that?) This is Modern Day America 👍🏻 and when you look at our government, it doesn't seem like anything is going to be addressed or improved anytime soon.. Maybe multiple generations from now, idk? All i know is vast change needs to be done. I'm tired of either side of our government. None of it is working. Hopefully motivated people will come in & help adapt this amazing country so it doesn't collapse in on itself. I don't get how our current situation can be acceptable?
The question is what are you doing about it. I am not American but I see Biden doing some very positive things to create a better future. He is trying to combat climate change, has directed billions to fix your infrastructure, has overseen a significant rise in employment and wages and in his recent state of the union sounded the alarm to make the wealthy pay their fair share. I am continually amazed at how ignorant Americans are of the good things happening in their country. Biden isn't perfect. And I agree with you that things are too tough for too many people but we don't get there overnight. The way forward is by joining with folks of like mind to elect people that are going to work for you. Join a union or an environmental group. Yes, I said environmental group; did you hear the connection Ms Atwood made between climate catastrophies and chaos? In the past our predecessors worked together to take on big tasks (ever seen a barn raising?). So stop whining and get busy.
excellent production!
Magnificent analysis! Cuts to the core and provides a foundation for everything else. There's a lot more to be said, but this provides a wonderful context to say it into.
👏good job
How true!
Great video!
In other words, it's all the fault of the radicals. Any doubts about establishment centrism stems from disinformation and Russian talking points fed to the right and left extremes of the horseshoe. I only speak for myself, but most anglosphere political discourse seems like just rhetoric spouted by people who have no idea of what non- rhetorical speech even looks like. The Trump as Zeppelin animations are cool, but there are a lot of countries where military attacks on congress aren't shocking at all. Trevor Noah got in trouble for comparing Trump to African dictators and even Jacob Zuma in South Africa: a womanizing ex-president with a base willing to riot on cue. The rise of ethnonationalism among the supporters of Trump and Orban must be understood as linked to rise of Modi and Duterte, or even the fact that Lula and Bolsonaro are both more popular in Brazil than anything the squishy center can put out. Anglosphere liberals learned the wrong lessons from the fall of the Berlin wall, and if the Donald does do to Washington institutions what the animations imply, I'm not sure how many people outside the US, or even outside the bicoastal elites within the US, are going to care.
👍
cool video
Having some radicals doesnt necessarily lead to all the arrows in the video. Switzerlands system is a great example of how a country can remain stable despite being full of conpletely raving mad people of different political views that hate each other. A system of governance like this forces use to work together despite our differences. Unfortunately I haven't yet found another democracatic system of goverance which contains protection against both chaos and dictatorship that comes anywhere near matching it but nobody seems to care or ask how this country turned from impoverished backwater whose main export was mercenaries to the epitome of peace and no wars for 175 years!
We've seen many fledgling democracies fall. Now more established democracies are threatened while Russia and China are rising. The future is blurry.
What an astonishing video !! A masterpiece. Thanks Finatial TImes :)
So good!
Beautiful, simply beautiful!!! 😊
The false equivalence of the left and right doesn't help to create the social change necessary, Margaret. There is no extreme left wing with the power of the extreme right-wing in the USA.
You know it isn't all about you, right? There is a wider world beyond your borders. I suggest obtaining, and then.making use of, a passport.
That is true if you get to define what is extreme and what is power.
The video addressed this by using USSR as an example.
She didn't say or imply that there was. Straw man argument.
she did directly equate the left to the right tho@@LanguagesWithAndrew
The word dictator originates from the Roman Empire. When there were major challenges or the system faltered, a dictator was appointed who could make swift and effective decisions. In that context, it is perhaps unfair to leave the word with a negative connotation.
I can't see trump making swift and efficient decisions. And swift and efficient decisions by netanyahu and Putin seem to result in thousands of people efficiently killed. I don't see the benefits.
@@Besthinktwice You are right, just think about how the term liberal is misused in the US. Something related is that if you study many of the Asian countries, they have received an economic boost under what can be described as a dictatorship in today's terms, but over time have developed to become more democratic.
Great analysis ❤❤
Is Margret Atwood predicting the future accurately-- again?
I feel that something very essential is missing in whole the presented picture - the global financial/trading system. This thing is like a texture, the thing that forms/creates and motivates the vectors that draw the world from one doctrine to another. Most of the nations are connected to the system and obey to its rules of play. If one plays well - he can be relaxed, wait for the next challenge. Can't play well? Endless Chaos, Wars and Dictatorship is your destiny. Interesting thing is that that financial system has control levers. And those who holds those levers decide on the rules of the next turn of the game. But what if some of the players just can not become a good in this game? For historical, demographic, geographic, or other reasons?
What's with the "he"??
@@brendahattie6553I think that "he" there is the institution that rules certain country
@@brendahattie6553 HE... pun intended... probably speaks another gendered language.
Please don't elect Trump, I beg, Brazilian here.
Trump getting in wont change a thing, stop worrying about our country when yours is literally rock bottom.
Tens of millions of Americans will vote for someone who will not honor votes lmao.
It’s an over simplistic analysis.
The message I get from this vid is that everything is pointless, we're hellbound anyway.. M-kay, thanks a lot for the information.
Thank you once again, this was magnificent…
Yes 🧠🕹️The Propaganda is strong in here. But LOVE AND FAITH are much stronger. No more war ☮️
Switzerland is the most democratic country I have come across. Democracy has the inherent disadvantage of favoring the majority at the expense of the minority. The more centralized a country is, the less democratic it will be, as people are different.
It's not less democratic; it just disfavors unpopular opinion. Your issue is with democracy.
I think FT readers would prefer opinion that is more data-driven rather than dark impressions from a novelist (however talented she may be).
Featuring a bromidic hack like Margaret Atwood was once the sort of conceit typical of the Guardian. How far FT has tumbled in the Nikkei era.
The biggest example of democracy's resilience is India where in 1947 the country started with power capita income of usd 430 and enormous diversity and bloodshed of partition coupled with illiteracy and huge diversity and yet has kept developing at a decent rate without doing mass killings like china
The BJP/RSS regime in India no longer qualifies as a liberal democracy. The Modi government routinely deploys violence against not just its political opponents but against common people who happen to belong to out-groups (prominently, Muslims). It frequently resorts to press censorship & employs arbitrary detention against dissidents. And it maintains a brutal occupation of Kashmir, where soldiers & police have complete impunity & license to kill.
Wow. This video is creepy 😮
5:17 shorter list: income equality. Reduce income inequality and your currency appreciates against itself. Edit: it’s math. So it can be proven by anybody anywhere in the world, with simple thought experiments. There is no left or right, just how fast your currency appreciates or depreciates against itself. A currency that depreciates becomes a failed civilization. A currency that appreciates against itself becomes a level 0 civilization on the kardashev scale.
This has literally nothing to do with the video and is self-contradictory.
Nice ai you have there
What a tenuous grasp of History she has. What rubbish.
ATWOOD tortured me in high school . Horrific bore.
The conclusions about trump and the us right wing are absolutely absurd. Wanting fair elections and transparent governance does not consitute a dictatorship. Trump is not a dictator, he is a president like all those before and all those after.
Like President Putin?
@@Anigmama unlike biden and the DNC, Trump has yet to imprison political rivals or throw frivolous lawsuits against political enemies.
Lame@@Anigmama
Confused. The only people in the US that think elections aren't fair are Republicans who support Trump. Also true is that the only people creating election fraud are Trump supporting Republicans.
Need you be reminded that Trump attempted a COUP to stay in power extralegally after he lost an election? He tried to overturn the election by force, by summoning a mob to attack the capitol & disrupt the certification of the election results & the peaceful transfer of power.
sounds like you dont really believe in democracy
Seems foolish to castigate Trump for things that he might do yet not mention already occurring situations that destroy effective rule of law like the summer of love, not prosecuting shoplifting, and not enforcing immigration law. But most of all, this is the continuation of the idea that there is something inherently good about democracy even if it is divorced from limits on the power of the political sphere. This comes off as a partisan "be scared of the bogey man" presentation.
While that wasn't the point of the video, I do think that those are important points that should've been included. The left is kind of dealing with a problem of hypocrisy imo. Edit: while that is an issue, it'e less of an issue than far right extremism.
Canada is very close to a left wing dictatorship, and trump seems to be the only sane politician as bizzare as that sounds.
You are one hoping for a dictatorship.
yeah this just aint true lol
@@oliverseguin7812 okay bot.
@@NirtieDigger that the best you got? Last I checked I still have all my rights so I don’t see how im living under a dictatorship
@ericmorin9764 not currently but on track to becoming.
You are all big lier, because your democracy is Just the people in the West, Gaza is dying, and this is a responsibility of u
Truadeu is a woke authoritarian leader
Democracy has has been set back 90 years by Trudeau.
No. Trudeau is doing all he can to thwart a global RW fascist insurgency. Your man putler is losing.
explain
The nonsense about climate change pretty much made all the rest of the video meaningless.
Oh really? Have you ever witnessed the aftermath of natural events like an earthquake/tsunami in Japan? What about wildfires in Maui? Have you ever lived in an arid Sahel/middle eastern country with no infrastructure, water or roads? Do you know what that life is like? Have you even at least watched Mad Max? Any of those should make you understand why climate change is something the world rather avoid, than live to know the existence/full effects of.
👍