The Acropolis of Athens, the embodiment of Athenian power, birthplace of democracy, and cornerstone of Western civilisation, was recently closed to tourists owing to a deadly heatwave across parts of Europe.
People took shelter under the shade of olive trees pressing chilled bottles of water to their reddened cheeks.
According to Greek mythology Athena, the goddess of wisdom, warfare and crafts, won the competition to become the patron deity of the city over Poseidon, god of the sea, storms and horses.
Those deities really went for multiple portfolios!
Poseidon made his offering first, plunging his trident into the rock, cracking it open and forming a water spring. While it was a powerful and impressive display, when the people tasted the water, it was salty, so they considered it useless for drinking and irrigation.
Athena pushed her spear into the ground and a beautiful olive tree emerged. The citizens saw this peaceful and practical offering would provide olives, oil and wood, while its leaves would give shade, so the majority voted for her.
The myth symbolises the triumph of wisdom and practical knowledge over brute strength and raw power, a lesson surely not lost today.
While Earth continues to be wracked by heatwaves, floods and droughts, democracy is also in critical condition, according to the New Democratic Audit of Australia.
The audit was conducted by a panel of academics, politicians and media representatives at Charles Sturt University earlier this year.
The audit found that while there is strong public support for the democratic values of free and fair elections, the rule of law and representative democracy, the citizenry is growing more suspicious and trust in government to act on the pressing issues of the day, such as the climate crisis and income inequality. That trust is at an all-time low. The consensus was Australia’s liberal democracy still has good vital signs, but it faces critical challenges that require ‘reflection and reinvention’.
Central to its reinvention is the need for greater representation, accountability and responsiveness to the people. We’re already seeing a strong demand for grassroots democracy with the rise of independents, teals and Greens, challenging the old two-party politics.
The legitimacy of government in a democracy always rests with its citizens – the core tenet being ‘by the people, for the people’.
Political corruption, the undue influence of some sectors on politics and a lack of empathy for the plight of ordinary people, are poisons that undermine trust in government.
It’s deeply concerning that toxic populist politics is on the rise around the world, and nowhere more so than in America, under the second Trump administration.
Behind the now, ironic Ionic columns of the White House, an architectural nod to democracy’s neoclassical roots, a full-frontal assault on the values and institutions of democracy is underway.
Dan Vergano, senior opinion editor at Scientific American warns, ‘As president, Donald Trump pretty much checked all the warning boxes for an autocrat’. His administration is systematically working towards installing a Christian nationalist authoritarian regime.
First came the rise in social turmoil marked by angry politics and a backlash against minorities and immigrants fomenting distrust in political institutions. Then the project for radical change emerged, Trump’s MAGA movement and Project 2025, which ultimately defends white male privilege.
Electoral victory in 2024 followed, giving Republicans control of Congress.
Then, by executive orders, came the dismantling of checks and balances on executive power as the administration defies court orders and fabricates emergencies like a ‘border invasion’ to call for the suspension of habeas corpus.
Trump’s unveiling of a 2028 red MAGA hat in the Oval Office signalled an unconstitutional intent to stay in power for a third term. Meanwhile, the infringement of civil rights and freedoms worsens by the day.
A recent study on how Gen Z (13–28-year-olds) feel about democracy, by CIRCLE and Protect Democracy, found that while the majority of young Americans do support democracy in principle, they believe the democracy they are experiencing today cannot solve the nation’s problems, and is not working well for their generation.
It’s understandable. Videos on social media show young people politely imploring dead-eyed Republicans to not support Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill’. Their heartfelt pleas for the future were met with stony silence or a cruel one-liner like ‘climate change is a hoax’ and ‘you’ve been drinking the green Kool-Aid’.
Socrates, the influential Greek founder of Western philosophy and ethical thought, was right to warn that democracies were prone to instability and destruction by demagoguery. He was found guilty by an Athenian court and executed in 399 BC for religious heresy and corrupting the youth by encouraging them to question authority. His words still resonate nearly two and half thousand years later and sound the warning that democracy, as we know it, is at risk.
♦ Jo Immig is a former advisor to the NSW Legislative Council and coordinator of the National Toxics Network. She’s currently a freelance writer and researcher.
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