THE BIRTHPLACE OF DEMOCRACY
The word ‘democracy’ comes from the Greek demokratia – demos meaning ‘people’ and kratos ‘power’ – and the birthplace of that system of government now held above all others around the world was the Greek city-state of Athens. This ancient form of people power did not resemble today’s representative democracies, where the people elect someone to act on their behalf, but was a direct democracy in which all citizens could participate in making laws and serving in the bodies that governed them.
Under the principle of (anyone who wishes), Athenian citizens had the right to attend, address and vote in the , the assembly held every 10 days or so to, a flat-stone platform, and speak with total freedom of speech.
