1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,000 As you probably know, Spain is a democracy. Do you know what the word democracy means? 2 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:12,000 The word democracy comes from Greek and it means power of the people. 3 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:20,000 Democracy is a way of government that was first invented in Athens, Greece in the 5th century BC 4 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:29,000 and it is a system of government where people have the power, not the king or not a small group of people, but all the people. 5 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:36,000 Nevertheless, there are some differences between ancient democracy in Greece and modern democracy in Spain. 6 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:40,000 In ancient Greece, actually, not everybody was a citizen. 7 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:44,000 In order to be a citizen, you had to be free, not a slave. 8 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:47,000 I remind you that in Greece there were a lot of slaves. 9 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:50,000 And also you had to be a male, a man. 10 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:54,000 Women were excluded from democracy, they couldn't participate. 11 00:00:54,000 --> 00:01:02,000 And also you had to be born in Athens, so foreign people who lived there couldn't vote either. 12 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:06,000 So really, it was a restricted democracy. 13 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:16,000 Modern democracy in Spain is different because all citizens who are over 18 can participate in politics and vote. 14 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:18,000 What makes a real democracy? 15 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:27,000 A real democracy is a way of government in which people have the power so there are elections where everybody can participate 16 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:33,000 and these elections are free and open with different options, different political parties. 17 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:38,000 Also, in a real democracy, there is a division of powers. 18 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:43,000 This means that the three branches of the state are separated. 19 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:51,000 The different kinds of power are exercised by different people in order to prevent abuse. 20 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:54,000 In the past, this didn't happen. 21 00:01:54,000 --> 00:02:01,000 When the king had the power, he had the absolute power, he could abuse of his power and nobody could stop him. 22 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:06,000 What we do today is that we separate the three powers of the state, 23 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:11,000 so if one of them tries to abuse, the others can stop this abuse. 24 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:17,000 These three powers are called the legislative, the executive, and the judiciary. 25 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:23,000 The executive branch is in charge of applying the law, of enforcing the law, 26 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:28,000 and the executive power is exercised by the government. 27 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:35,000 The legislative power is in charge of making the law, of passing the laws in the parliament, 28 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:43,000 and the judiciary power is in charge of punishing people who break the law and is exercised by judges and tribunals. 29 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:51,000 So we have seen that in a democracy, the people have the power and can vote and there is also division of powers. 30 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:56,000 There is also an important characteristic of a democracy, which is the rule of law. 31 00:02:56,000 --> 00:03:02,000 In a country, we say that the rule of law is respected when the law tells you what to do. 32 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:05,000 Have a look at that and think about it carefully. 33 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:12,000 Who tells you what to do in Spain? It is not the president of the government, it is not the king. 34 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:17,000 It is the law that tells the citizens what can be done and what cannot be done, 35 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:21,000 so we live in a state where the rule of law is respected. 36 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:25,000 The rule of law also means that the law is the same for everybody 37 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:30,000 and there are no exceptions depending on your race or how much money you have. 38 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:38,000 Another very important aspect of democracy is the respect of human rights. 39 00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:43,000 A real democracy is a country where rights are respected, 40 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:50,000 particularly the right to free expression, free thought and participation in voting. 41 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:58,000 Now, democracy is not an automatic or eternal way of government. 42 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:01,000 It hasn't always existed and it is fragile, 43 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:07,000 so we must take care of it and we must all contribute defending democracy 44 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:12,000 because it can have many problems that can destroy it. 45 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:15,000 Think about some of the problems that democracy can have. 46 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:21,000 For example, one big problem of democracy is the tyranny of majorities. 47 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:27,000 Imagine that in a certain country, the vast amount of the population belongs to a majority. 48 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:32,000 But there are also people who belong to a small minority. 49 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:38,000 What would happen if the majority passed laws that discriminated minorities? 50 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:47,000 Maybe they can win a vote by majority if people decide, but this wouldn't be fair. 51 00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:54,000 So in a real democracy, the majorities must take into account the rights of the minorities 52 00:04:54,000 --> 00:05:00,000 and avoid exercising tyranny because they have the majority of the votes. 53 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:05,000 This is closely linked with another problem of democracy, which is demagogy. 54 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:11,000 Demagogy happens when people vote thinking about their own personal interests 55 00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:14,000 and not the general interests of everybody. 56 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:19,000 So we are practicing demagogy when we are selfish in a democracy. 57 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:26,000 If a political party, for example, is trying to defend your personal interests, 58 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:33,000 regardless of all the rest of the people, they are a demagogic political party. 59 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:39,000 Another big problem of democracy is the lack of interest of some people in participation. 60 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:46,000 So when people don't have an interest in, for example, voting or participating in associations 61 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:52,000 or defending human rights, when they just don't participate, they say that they don't care, 62 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:54,000 that is a danger for democracy. 63 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:59,000 Because democracy can only be healthy and strong if we all believe in it. 64 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:03,000 Democracy is more than voting in elections. 65 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:06,000 It is believing in some basic ethical values, 66 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:11,000 and one of them is participation and commitment to the common good.