0:00:08.020,0:00:12.851
I'm here to talk about democracy.

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But the real one.

0:00:14.584,0:00:17.537
The one that doesn't exist at all !

0:00:17.637,0:00:21.971
The one that, I think, would get us out of this mess.

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I am a teacher in Marseille, and in 2005, I started to exist.

0:00:28.094,0:00:33.003
I woke up, politically speaking, thanks to a public debate in France.

0:00:33.103,0:00:36.906
A referendum about a so-called "constitution" (NT: a European treaty).

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While reading it, I became angry, I found it dangerous.

0:00:42.104,0:00:46.042
I wrote a response of about ten pages, with notes.

0:00:46.142,0:00:48.994
Then, I published it on my website.

0:00:49.094,0:00:54.075
Sent it to my tiny contact list, as a last-ditch attempt.

0:00:54.175,0:00:57.914
Then, something happened and changed my life.

0:00:59.996,0:01:01.979
People grabbed onto it, it matched something they missed.

0:01:02.079,0:01:07.014
For months, I spent my nights trying to reply to them.

0:01:07.114,0:01:10.619
Particularly to those who didn't like me.

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Trying to prove them wrong.

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Little by little, newspapers took on the topic, then TV, radio…

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They visited me at home.

0:01:24.099,0:01:27.547
The site's visit counter turned like a fan!

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40,000 visits per day! 12,000 emails in 2 months.

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Now I realize that it was the eyes

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of others staring at me that changed me.

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Giving me incredible strength!

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First, positive looks expecting me not to let them down.

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Then, those who didn't like me, at all !

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Suspicious. Calling me an impostor, a bum, illegitimate.

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I wanted to prove them wrong.

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All those eyes passed onto me an incredible energy.

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It still propels me today.

0:02:07.177,0:02:13.923
I discovered that this was an old issue. Athenians called it "verecunia".

0:02:14.023,0:02:17.969
A very interesting and essential concept.

0:02:18.069,0:02:23.660
For the Athenians, a good citizen was someone

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sensitive to what others thought about him.

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It pushed them to virtue.

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When others were counting on them, rewarding them by their gaze,

0:02:34.133,0:02:38.004
it gave them the will to be virtuous.

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And, when they sensed a reproving stare,

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it encouraged them to stay within the path of virtue.

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Indeed, it works!

0:02:49.389,0:02:53.315
People who have "verecunia", are more virtuous.

0:02:53.415,0:02:55.999
Conversely, those who don't, are very dangerous.

0:02:56.099,0:02:58.827
To the point… At that brutal age…

0:02:58.927,0:03:01.817
Well, no need to put them to death, but…

0:03:01.917,0:03:05.198
we could avoid giving responsibilities to the dangerous.

0:03:05.298,0:03:09.479
Since 2005, I have striven working hard for… For what?

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First, I've tried to understand the cause of social injustices.

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I've tried to find out the main cause.

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Then, I've discovered, with wonder, the brilliant ideas that founded the Athenian democracy.

0:03:22.758,0:03:24.732
A real democracy.

0:03:24.832,0:03:28.395
I've analyzed many important words and turned them right side up,

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They've been turned upside down for at least 200 years.

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Finally, I've tried to imagine this work in progress.

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I don't own the truth.

0:03:38.742,0:03:43.583
I'm polishing, building up and strenghening an idea.

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I try to think of institutions, good ones,

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which would protect us all from abuses of power.

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I rely on good institutions to push ourselves to virtue.

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I don't count on virtuous citizens.

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We all have good and bad halves.

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But, good institutions could lead us to virtue.

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The same way they can pull us

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away from the general interest and the common good, like today.

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To do so, I use a great method, recommended by an old doctor:

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Herodotus (NT: Hippocrates, mistake).

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Who was seeking the cause of causes.

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I use this all the time.

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Why? He said:

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For a problem, an illness,

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don't fight its effects! Obviously.

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You won't fix anything.

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Neither its causes!

0:04:42.392,0:04:44.967
Too many factors. It's not that!

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Among all causes: seek the main cause.

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At least a decisive one, one that determines the other causes.

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It's the one we need!

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The one I'm looking for.

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So.

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All my activist friends, that I've met in politics,

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with whom I've shared battles (of course), are endlessly struggling.

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I drew a tree showing the range of topics on which people resist.

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I'm surprised to see all these fighters focusing on… very important things...

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But things that are only consequences.

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I don't think anyone is trying to understand the cause of all of this!

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I think I found… I could be wrong.

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I think I found a common cause to all that impotence, and injustice

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...where social injustice starts…

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I think it's the lack of control over the political power,

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that produces the impotence in the people.

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Social injustices are there because "normal" people,

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don't have the power to resist.

0:06:03.627,0:06:07.315
All the strikers I know, these activists,

0:06:07.454,0:06:09.829
spend their entire lives struggling…

0:06:09.929,0:06:12.579
They don't change a thing!

0:06:12.679,0:06:13.921
How come?

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Because their political impotence prevents them from taking action.

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Where does this impotence come from?

0:06:22.240,0:06:27.260
My analysis is that it comes from the constitution.

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The text that makes elected officials

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not liable to annulment nor accountable.

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We can't choose our candidates.

0:06:36.102,0:06:38.811
There are no referendum based on popular initiative.

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We can't decide anything through personal initiative.

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We let money become privatized because the constitution

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doesn't require it to be public.

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Etc... No time for a detailed list.

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But, in the constitution, all our impotences are planned out.

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It didn't happen by magic ! It's written.

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Keep considering the root…

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Why do all constitutions anticipate people's impotence? Worldwide.

0:07:06.070,0:07:08.399
It isn't a conspiracy, it can't be,

0:07:08.499,0:07:12.364
not every time, in every country, it's not that!

0:07:12.464,0:07:16.696
A universal process must have a universal cause.

0:07:16.796,0:07:20.907
It seems to me that what makes bad constitutions,

0:07:21.007,0:07:23.905
since they plan our powerlessness, instead of our power.

0:07:24.005,0:07:29.046
Since they do not protect us against abuse of power, it prophesizes our impotence.

0:07:29.146,0:07:32.541
I think it's because those who write the constitutions,

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the authors,

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they have a self-interest in not coming up with a good constitution.

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Not mentioning the people's power.

0:07:42.762,0:07:46.893
They are judge and defendant, they are professional politicians.

0:07:46.993,0:07:49.659
This gets closer to the cause of causes.

0:07:49.764,0:07:51.991
It's not their fault, they aren't crooked.

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It's us who let them write it !

0:07:54.102,0:07:57.042
To measure the importance of this mistake,

0:07:57.142,0:08:00.036
let's remember what a constitution stands for.

0:08:00.136,0:08:05.256
People, us, for about 2500 years,

0:08:05.356,0:08:09.036
have needed to put representatives above us.

0:08:09.136,0:08:13.303
In order to produce and enforce the law,

0:08:13.403,0:08:18.045
that protects us from the arbitrary rule of the powerful.

0:08:18.145,0:08:21.903
So, these people are very useful, of course !

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They establish the laws that bring peace to society.

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But, they are also very dangerous !

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If they start to abuse their power, serving the interests of a selected few,

0:08:31.710,0:08:33.909
instead of the common interest…

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If they abuse power by going mad,

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power drives them mad, systematically.

0:08:40.007,0:08:44.787
Uh, yes, we have known that for 2500 years ! Power drives people mad.

0:08:44.887,0:08:50.560
All powers tend towards abuse.

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Always ! (said Montesquieu).

0:08:53.070,0:08:56.028
Like laws of physics, implacable.

0:08:56.128,0:09:00.033
And, there is a brilliant idea to protect us from it:

0:09:00.133,0:09:01.986
the constitution.

0:09:02.086,0:09:06.300
So, what is it ? It's a text, standing above powers.

0:09:06.400,0:09:10.570
Not to organize powers, no need for that, at all !

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Any citizen should know that its purpose is to weaken the powers.

0:09:16.084,0:09:18.905
To worry the powers.

0:09:19.005,0:09:24.440
In order to protect us ! Against abuse of power.

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Wait…

0:09:27.751,0:09:32.227
If representatives must fear the constitution…

0:09:32.327,0:09:35.040
They mustn't write it themselves !

0:09:35.140,0:09:39.691
If they do, they will establish their power and our powerlessness.

0:09:39.791,0:09:42.315
A child understands that.

0:09:42.415,0:09:44.755
The main and essential idea is:

0:09:44.855,0:09:48.110
men of power mustn't write the rules of power.

0:09:48.210,0:09:52.725
Don't wait for them to renounce their power, they won't, never.

0:09:52.825,0:09:55.492
The solution won't come from them, but from us.

0:09:55.592,0:09:58.008
We must forbid them to write it.

0:09:58.108,0:10:01.592
I think this is the essential idea that we lack.

0:10:01.692,0:10:05.680
So, in the scuffle between normal people and

0:10:05.780,0:10:09.279
those who wield power at the moment. There are…

0:10:09.379,0:10:12.450
Oh, there is a timer there, good !

0:10:12.550,0:10:15.379
There are… words turned upside down.

0:10:15.479,0:10:18.369
First, I'm not a citizen.

0:10:18.469,0:10:22.902
A citizen is autonomous, voting his own laws.

0:10:23.002,0:10:26.998
I am just a voter, I'm heteronomous.

0:10:27.098,0:10:30.509
I'm under laws written by someone else.

0:10:30.609,0:10:34.352
"Citizens": it's taking us in with fine words.

0:10:34.452,0:10:37.524
We brag about it but we are nothing !

0:10:37.624,0:10:41.929
What do we have in this so-called "democracy" ?

0:10:42.029,0:10:43.808
What rights ?

0:10:43.908,0:10:48.810
Take your pick of political masters who decide everything for us.

0:10:48.910,0:10:53.325
Selected from people we didn't even choose, the richest choose them.

0:10:53.425,0:10:57.002
And, when they eventually betray us to the marrow,

0:10:57.102,0:10:59.342
there is no way to resist !

0:10:59.442,0:11:01.782
Well, we have freedom of speech, right.

0:11:01.882,0:11:05.343
But absolutely no power of constraint.

0:11:05.443,0:11:09.186
We can jabber, if it has no effect, it's allowed.

0:11:09.286,0:11:11.904
If it changes anything, it's a massacre.

0:11:12.004,0:11:15.225
We call this democracy !? It's our fault !

0:11:15.325,0:11:19.313
We should boycott these trojan words,

0:11:19.413,0:11:23.705
refuse to call democracy what is in fact its strict opposite.

0:11:23.805,0:11:27.831
We feed our political impotence by allowing ourselves to call

0:11:27.931,0:11:33.283
democracy something that is the very negation of our rights.

0:11:33.383,0:11:38.568
When we call it democracy, we can't even express the solution.

0:11:38.668,0:11:41.680
We need democracy, but we can't express it.

0:11:41.780,0:11:45.015
Since the word is taken hostage by its opposite.

0:11:45.115,0:11:47.994
Reversing the words is genius ! Big Brother, absolutely !

0:11:48.094,0:11:51.379
It didn't happen by accident.

0:11:51.479,0:11:54.247
It was not good, at first, in 1789.

0:11:54.347,0:11:57.023
And didn't deteriorate later. Not at all!

0:11:57.123,0:12:00.000
Sieyès, a great thinker of the French Revolution,

0:12:00.100,0:12:06.043
a top dog, not a minion (NT: similar to Madison in USA), in 1789:

0:12:06.143,0:12:14.025
"Citizens who choose to have representatives

0:12:19.459,0:12:21.184
[...]

0:12:21.184,0:12:22.909
must give up making the law themselves.

0:12:23.009,0:12:26.033
They don't have any particular desire to impose.

0:12:26.133,0:12:27.962
If they were dictating wills,

0:12:28.062,0:12:32.153
France wouldn't be this representative state, it would be democratic.

0:12:32.253,0:12:35.181
The people, I repeat (Sieyès speaking),

0:12:35.281,0:12:40.549
in a non-democratic country (and France cannot be), cannot speak,

0:12:40.649,0:12:43.010
can only act through their representatives".

0:12:43.110,0:12:44.959
He wasn't a democrat !

0:12:45.059,0:12:48.807
He knew very well what a democracy was. I'll show you.

0:12:48.907,0:12:52.040
Everyone knew, before 1789, Montesquieu, Aristote,

0:12:52.140,0:12:56.971
that the election is aristocratic, thus, oligarchic.

0:12:57.071,0:13:00.154
Aristotle said it explicitly, I'll skip the quote.

0:13:00.254,0:13:02.589
Montesquieu as well, I'll skip it too.

0:13:02.689,0:13:05.102
Look up online, I must save time.

0:13:05.202,0:13:08.873
Let me stress out the two most important things:

0:13:08.973,0:13:12.093
for 200 years of random appointment* in Athens…

0:13:12.193,0:13:15.039
*(NT: citizens drawn from the society for responsibility)

0:13:15.139,0:13:17.278
During which there were rich and poor.

0:13:17.378,0:13:19.984
OK, I know they set aside slaves and women.

0:13:20.084,0:13:21.972
That's not my point.

0:13:22.072,0:13:24.617
I'm talking about the citizens ! The citizens of that time.

0:13:24.717,0:13:29.131
For 200 years of random appointment, the poor governed, always.

0:13:29.231,0:13:31.389
Always !

0:13:31.489,0:13:35.820
Then, another historical example, no opinions, facts !

0:13:35.920,0:13:39.136
200 years of random appointment: the poor governed.

0:13:39.236,0:13:42.775
There were rich people. But they didn't govern.

0:13:42.875,0:13:48.043
And in a "supposedly representative government" regime,

0:13:48.143,0:13:52.999
not a democracy, for 200 years, it's always the rich who have governed.

0:13:53.099,0:13:54.610
Always !

0:13:54.710,0:14:00.016
Since random appointment gives power to the poor, to the 99%.

0:14:00.116,0:14:03.984
Since the election empowers the 1%, the ultra rich,

0:14:04.084,0:14:08.981
how long will the poor, the 99%, defend the election!?

0:14:09.081,0:14:11.081
As if it were a sacred cow !

0:14:11.181,0:14:15.839
It's untenable, the poor defending the election process,

0:14:15.939,0:14:20.498
while random appointment would give them power back…

0:14:20.598,0:14:24.807
Why do we value so much the election ?

0:14:24.907,0:14:27.635
It's not due to reason,

0:14:27.735,0:14:30.908
the facts show that it's not in our interest.

0:14:31.008,0:14:32.555
But, we have myths.

0:14:32.655,0:14:35.483
The "Republican" school has taugt us, since we are toddlers:

0:14:35.583,0:14:37.972
elections = democracy = election, etc...

0:14:38.072,0:14:40.301
Since the outset we have all believed it.

0:14:40.401,0:14:43.597
We need to rehab from the lies of these robbers of power.

0:14:43.697,0:14:46.015
Turn words the right side up.

0:14:46.115,0:14:48.621
We are not in a democracy,

0:14:48.721,0:14:51.561
we need a random drawing system

0:14:51.661,0:14:54.615
To change things, we can't rely on those who are now in power.

0:14:54.715,0:14:59.931
To change things, we can't rely on those who have the power right now.

0:15:00.031,0:15:02.713
The solution won't come from them.

0:15:02.813,0:15:05.970
It will come from normal people, simple people.

0:15:06.070,0:15:08.121
People who don't want power.

0:15:08.221,0:15:10.866
You must know this thought of Alain.

0:15:10.966,0:15:14.282
A great thinker, I recommend him, who said:

0:15:14.382,0:15:17.759
"The most visible sign of the righteous man,

0:15:17.859,0:15:22.396
is that he doesn't want to govern others, at all.

0:15:22.496,0:15:25.346
He seeks to govern only himself.

0:15:25.446,0:15:30.933
This seals everything. In other words, the worst will govern."

0:15:31.033,0:15:34.475
If righteous people don't want to govern,

0:15:34.575,0:15:37.769
and if we give power, as in representative government,

0:15:37.869,0:15:41.490
to those who want it, the worst will govern.

0:15:41.590,0:15:46.393
This despairing representative trap - Alain is right -

0:15:46.493,0:15:50.663
might also makes us overlook righteous men.

0:15:50.763,0:15:53.103
We won't have them.

0:15:53.203,0:15:57.971
But, we can escape from this trap, these pincers, I think.

0:15:58.071,0:16:00.013
With a real democracy!

0:16:00.113,0:16:04.672
By vesting power to anyone, the best of us are among "anyone",

0:16:04.772,0:16:06.997
those who don't want power.

0:16:07.097,0:16:08.760
Democracy we need !

0:16:08.860,0:16:11.024
But we must want it.

0:16:11.124,0:16:13.357
Don't wait for our elected officials to want it.

0:16:13.457,0:16:14.903
They will never want it !

0:16:15.003,0:16:17.788
True democracy would make them redondant.

0:16:17.888,0:16:21.955
Random selection in Athens meant giving away a little bit of power,

0:16:22.055,0:16:24.804
but not for long, and never twice in a row.

0:16:24.904,0:16:27.427
With many controls, but no time to explain.

0:16:27.527,0:16:31.536
Athenians were giving up a little bit of power,

0:16:31.636,0:16:33.971
to keep the power to themselves !

0:16:34.071,0:16:37.127
Randomly selected people weren't voting on the bills.

0:16:37.227,0:16:41.031
They were police, justice, and enforced the law.

0:16:41.131,0:16:43.987
They prepared the bills, because the Athenians,

0:16:44.087,0:16:46.644
couldn't prepare them in the assembly.

0:16:46.744,0:16:51.646
Representatives were weakened by random selection…

0:16:51.746,0:16:53.354
Weakened !

0:16:53.454,0:16:57.625
Thus, citizens were guaranteed to remain sovereign.

0:16:57.725,0:17:00.907
Don't fear random selection, we would,

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all of us, be greatly empowered through random selection.

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Random selection implies that our representatives remain our servants,

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and can't become our masters.

0:17:13.005,0:17:16.049
One last word…

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One word…

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Visit le-message.org, which was created by one of you.

0:17:27.127,0:17:30.506
I think we should… Like viruses, as a grassroots movement…

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- don't expect anything from the media or the powerful -

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Let's spread the word among one another, on this principle:

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"don't elect the constituent assembly, select it randomly".

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Everything will follow from this.

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I think this idea is valid for the entire world.

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Thank you for listening.

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Translation: Camille Harang & Tomasz Bethell & Kévin Marceau