A Mid-Week Mindshare on Democracy
A campaign-free break for a high altitude look at the Roman Republic, the Chinese concept of "Tianxia" (天下), how to avoid a nuclear holocaust, the scourge of social media, and thoughts on thinking.
Today in our midweek pause, I decided to step back from the 24/7 fare that has kept us riveted to our screens in recent weeks – a step all the way back to that iconic photograph 56 years ago that gave us our first humbling look at ourselves on our tiny speck of orbiting rock. It’s worth reminding ourselves that there’s a lot going on beside a presidential election whose plots twist by the day. Each week in this space, we try and share some of the most inspiring work of others, whether we agree or not. We also try to reflect on our own work since 2018 at our This is Democracy podcast for conversations that resonate with today’s realities. This week, we share thoughts on the bigger picture, the planetary, and the sweep of so many changes that we ignore at our peril.
From our This is Democracy Archive: New lessons from the oldest democracies
What lessons might we take from the ancient Roman Republic, among the inspirations for our Founding Fathers, that began to unravel when Julius Caesar declared himself “dictator for life” in 44 BCE? Well there are many lessons we learned on a family visit to Rome in 2019 from Alessia Morigi, a professor of Greek and Roman Archaeology at the University of Parma, Italy.
Studying Rome’s democracy, however imperfect it was, is critical Professor Morigi told us, “because memory is a question of identity, of collective identity and of social identity.”
In this discussion, Zachary, my daughter Natalie, and my wife Alison Alter all joined. We shared Professor Morigi’s concerns about the diminishing emphasis on historical studies in modern education, and why an understanding of global historical governance must inform the practice of politics today. In this conversation, Professor Morigi shares valuable insights into the connection between ancient systems of democratic rule and the contemporary challenges of political civic engagement and activism.
In this episode, Zach did not compose a poem. But Professor Morigi walked us through the poetry of Rome itself – the Forum, Colosseum, and up Palantine Hill where legend has it Rome was founded by those twin brothers of myth, Romulus and Remus. Please take a listen, or read the transcript.
From others building a Democracy of Hope:
To read: A democracy as smart as those who try to control it
How about if we remade that aspirational principle, the famous “Golden Rule,” for today’s global politics? Chinese philosopher Zhao Tingyang is best known for his reinterpretation of the ancient concept of "Tianxia" (天下) – literally “all under heaven” – to make its ideas relevant for today’s global politics and international relations. Zhao would scrap: “Never do to others what you would not like others to do to you.” In its place, the new Golden Rule would be: “Never do to others what others would not like you to do to them.” Utopic? Sure, but in this fascinating interview with Syrian-born sociologist Sari Hanafi for the Paris-based magazine Global Dialogue, Zhao makes an intriguing case for a new kind of planetary political ethos. He calls for a “knowledge-based democracy, hopefully, to become as smart as the powers that try to control it.” The reason to transform the underlying methodologies of democracy is simple, he argues: “If politics cannot stop or at least reduce hostility, it is no politics at all, nothing more than war of a kind.” A thought-provoking read.
To listen: An effort to pull humanity back from the nuclear war brink
A global peacemaker, co-signatory of the Normandy Manifesto for World Peace with four Nobel Peace Laureates, and author of ‘A World Without War,’ a book proposing a new global social contract to prevent nuclear war, Sundeep Waslekar believes humanity is one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation. In this hopeful yet disturbing discussion with Augusto Lopez-Claros, head of the Switzerland-based Global Governance Forum, Waslekar details the fast-growing risks of nuclear and biological weapons along with hypersonic missiles, autonomous drones, and other technologies as nationalism surges throughout the world. Waslekar, the founder of the Mumbai-based Strategic Foresight Group, a leading Indian think tank: “We should look at the planet from a global point of view, from a planetary point of view, from a universal point of view and not from a nationalist point of view.” Queue this conversation on your podcast app.
To watch: How we turned the ‘public square’ into the ‘Roman colosseum’
In this brief video, recorded at the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles, social psychologist and author Jonathan Haidt give us a glimpse of his new book on the social devastation wrought by social media: The Anxious Generation – How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness. In short, Haidt explains how we’ve moved metaphorically from the “public square” to the “Roman colosseum,” from a place of gathering and connection where we would agree, disagree, and try to convince others, to a place of winners and losers, of social combat. This is unlike any other innovation that has increased communication: “The telephone was great. The postal service was great. Social media is not,” Haidt says. “Everything takes place in the Roman colosseum. They don’t want to see the lion and the Christian making nice. They want to see one of them kill the other.”
Another newsletter to keep an eye on: Thinking on freedom, fascism, and more
Thinking is living, and we know that we are alive when we think,” says Yale historian Timothy Snyder, explaining the mission of his newsletter, Thinking about... “I have been able to express my thoughts in books, in articles, and sometimes even in tweets. Much of what I think, though, has no place. That's what this newsletter is for: the best thoughts, the homeless ones.” Some “best thoughts?” Absolutely. Homeless thoughts? Hardly. Check out Thinking about… to learn about the “laboratories of authoritarian rule,” the perverse habit of the news media to reduce complexity to binary “two-sideism,” and Snyder’s new book coming out in September, On Freedom, that “works forward from a philosophy of freedom to a proposal for government and a description of a brighter future.” Onward.