In this year when nearly half the world’s population goes to the ballot box one might think it’s time to celebrate democracy. However, democracy, such as it ever was, is unlikely to have seen darker days barring perhaps those of the 1930s and perhaps not even barring them. Never has the exercise of the vote been so widespread and never has democracy been more undermined. The danger to democracy is not the one that the establishment politicians like Joe Biden keep warning about. What they are warning about is the result of the real danger, which comes from the very neoliberal paradigm they promote. The crisis is so grave as to require a a fundamental re-examination of whether capitalism can be democratic.
This is the substance of the discussion on the Socialist Action Canada webinar with Dimitri Lascaris, who contested the Green Party of Canada leadership in 2020 on an eco-socialist and anti-imperialist platform and nearly won and me.
The World Votes 2024: International Politics and Global Capital
