What is Democracy

(2018) - Coming at a moment of profound political and social crisis, What Is Democracy? reflects on a word we too often take for granted. Director Astra Taylor’s idiosyncratic, philosophical journey spans millennia and continents: from ancient Athens’ groundbreaking experiment in self-government to capitalism’s roots in medieval Italy; from modern-day Greece grappling with financial collapse and a mounting refugee crisis to the United States reckoning with its racist past and the growing gap between rich and poor. Featuring a diverse cast—including celebrated theorists, trauma surgeons, activists, factory workers, asylum seekers, and former prime ministers—this urgent film connects the past and the present, the emotional and the intellectual, the personal and the political, in order to provoke and inspire. If we want to live in democracy, we must first ask what the word even means.

Rent or buy the full film here.

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Books
Recommended Reading List (Full List)

An aggregated list of all FDF's suggested books to learn more issues relating to improving our Democracy.

Books
Uncounted: The Crisis of Voter Suppression in America

Written by Gilda R. Daniels, this book warns that a premeditated strategy of restrictive laws and deceptive practices has taken root and is eroding the very basis of American democracy—the right to vote!

Democracy Journey
#7 - Corporations and Democracy

The primary source of big money in First World countries is the control of consolidated and potentially immortal artificial entities -- corporations.