A-Infos (en) Italy, FDCA, Cantiere #25 - Takis Fotopoulos: democracy is incompatible with freedom (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

We publish the interesting article by Natale Salvo, on the concept of 
inclusive democracy by the Greek philosopher Takis Fotopoulos, not so 
much for the originality of this economist-philosopher, but for the 
evident function of attraction that the anarchist communist perspective 
also exercises in academic and philosophical. ---- Many of Fotopoulos' 
references refer to the elaborations of the fathers of the socialist 
tradition and in particular to the elaborations of the theorists of 
anarchist communism. Although Takis uses a very different language, in 
his elaboration when he addresses what he calls political or direct 
democracy, economic democracy and ecological democracy we cannot fail to 
find the founding axes of anarchist thought. Political or direct 
democracy immediately refers to the happy intuitions of the anarchist 
communists who from Bakunin onwards have demystified every form of 
power, in clear contrast with Marx and even more so with their own 
followers, identifying the self-government and self-management of free 
communities - community the "institutional" tools for managing the 
future social structure; just as on the economic field the overcoming of 
private ownership of the means of production, the collective management 
of produced goods, the satisfaction of primary needs and equal access to 
goods exceeding simple reproduction, find wide echo in the work of 
Kropotkin, Malatesta and Fabbri, without forgetting the achievements 
that Mahkno in Ukraine and the anarchists of the CNT in Spain were able 
to put into practice in those unfortunately brief experiences cut short 
by Bolshevik repression in the first case and by fascist ferocity and 
Stalinist betrayal in the second. In the same vision of ecological 
democracy we feel the resonance of Elisée Reclus's subversive geography 
and Kropotkin's scientific studies on mutual support.
A stimulating author of whom it is not necessary to share everything, 
but useful for reflecting on the nature of power, capitalism and the 
need to overcome them. Ed

Takis Fotopoulos: democracy is incompatible with freedom

«During the twentieth century the word "democracy" was abused. Its 
meaning has been distorted, generally by confusing the oligarchic system 
of liberal "democracy" that currently predominates with democracy 
itself"[1]. Takis Fotopoulos thus responds - in his essay "For a global 
democracy" - to the many who from the heights of their own wisdom 
pontificate on the quality of "our" democracy (to be "exported", 
naturally) completely incomparable to other "regimes" (Iran , Russia, 
China, for example).
"The modern concept of democracy not only has almost no connection with 
the classical Greek conception but also has no connection with a concept 
of democracy understood as self-government of the people", adds the 
Greek philosopher and economist.
Fotopoulos then explains in his fundamental work: «on the political 
level there can only be one form of democracy: the direct exercise of 
sovereignty by the people themselves, a form of social institution that 
rejects any form of "government" and which institutionalizes the 
equitable distribution of political power among all citizens." 
Therefore, «the other forms of so-called democracy ("representative", 
"parliamentary", etc.) are nothing other than different forms of 
"oligarchy", of government of the few». With elections, the philosopher 
recalls, "the elected representative is considered an independent 
creator of the laws and not an agent of his constituents"; that is, he 
is free «to manage public affairs in the way he deems appropriate»[in 
Italy see article 67 of the Constitution[2], Editor's note].
On the other hand, "we are witnessing the end of the sovereignty of the 
nation-state and, in particular, its economic sovereignty, a decline 
directly connected to the current phase of globalization". It follows 
that, Fotopoulos always writes, «political and economic power are 
concentrated at a supranational level: in interstate institutions 
("group of seven"[G7, Editor's note], European Commission) and in 
international organizations (WTO, IMF, World Bank )".
"Such concentration of power at the top has led to pure administration" 
by national state "governments." Not a few people today find it clear 
that "the most notable political characteristic is that of being 
governed by an 'invisible hand'".

Takis Fotopoulos in his reflection focuses on the definition of the 
terms autonomy and freedom. As a useful starting point for arriving at 
the definition of freedom, the Greek philosopher refers to the 
distinction introduced by Isaiah Berlin (1909-1997): between what is 
called the "negative" concept of freedom and the "positive" one: "the 
"negative" concept refers to the absence of restrictions, i.e. the 
individual's freedom to do whatever he wants ("freedom from"), while the 
"positive" concept refers to the freedom "to do things", to engage in 
self-development or to participate to the government of one's own 
society ("freedom to")".
In this regard, the author reports the thoughts of the anarchist Emma 
Goldman who supports a positive concept of freedom: "true freedom is not 
the negative freedom of being free from something... authentic freedom, 
true freedom, is positive: it is freedom to act, it is the freedom to 
be, to do."
However, according to Fotopoulos, «the best way to define freedom is to 
express it in terms of individual and collective autonomy».
He therefore explains: «the term with which the word "autonomy" is 
translated into English is used to indicate personal freedom or 
self-government. However, the original Greek meaning of the word was 
characterized by a precise political dimension, in which personal 
autonomy was inseparable from collective autonomy. The term autonomy 
derives from the Greek word autos-nomos which means to give oneself 
one's own law."
For Takis Fotopoulos, "an autonomous society is a society capable of 
questioning its own institutions and the dominant social paradigm, i.e. 
that system of beliefs, ideas and values that derive from it".
«The Greek word for freedom (eleutheria) had a broader meaning than that 
of autonomy. Eleutheria contrasted freedom with slavery, it was 
associated with political participation in the public sphere and 
personal freedom in the private sphere, it indicated the freedom of the 
polis which is something different from freedom in the polis". However, 
"an autonomous society cannot be conceived without single individuals 
endowed with autonomy, and vice versa".
The concept is not as simple as it might appear and our Greek 
philosopher tries to explain further. «Single individuals are absolutely 
not free to create their own world, just as the world does not create 
the single individual. As long as individuals live in a society, they 
are not merely individuals but social individuals." In other words, "if 
we presuppose the concept of freedom as individual and collective 
autonomy, neither liberal individualism nor collectivism, particularly 
in the form of statist socialism, are compatible with freedom". In fact, 
for example, "individualism conceives individual autonomy as a means to 
pursue selfish and competitive interests".
Therefore, in his book, Takis Fotopoulos concludes that «a statutory 
form of democracy is incompatible with any concept of freedom, whether 
positive or negative, given its fundamental incompatibility with both 
self-determination and autonomy (individual and collective )".
Fotopoulos then proposes "a new liberation project" which, among other 
things, is based on "a democratic concept of active citizenship, 
according to which individual well-being is not ensured by the exercise 
of certain rights recognized by the state, but by participation of the 
citizen in public affairs (i.e. the exercise of power by the citizen)".
Sources and Notes:
[1]Takis Fotopoulos, "For a global democracy", Ed. Elèuthera, trans. and 
red. Italian of "Towards an Inclusive Democracy" (1997).
[2]Italian Constitution, article 67: "Each member of Parliament 
represents the Nation and exercises his functions without mandate 
constraints".
Takis Fotopoulos: Chio, 14 October 1940, is a Greek economist, 
philosopher, essayist and activist, theorist of the political-economic 
system of Inclusive Democracy.
This system presents itself as an original synthesis of libertarian 
socialism, formulated, more precisely, in a hybrid model of a 
democratically planned economy, strongly decentralised and 
municipalised, from a macroeconomic point of view, and semi-mutualistic, 
characterized by a form of "artificial market " for the allocation of 
consumer goods, from the microeconomic one, which involves the use, 
instead of conventional money, of vouchers and personal credits that can 
be accumulated as currency. The system embraces Athenian-style direct 
democracy, social ecology and contemporary currents of thought of new 
radical social movements. (Wikipedia)

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