Grass-roots democracy tests idealists' skills
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Many people crave ideals they can't fully practice themselves. I once participated in a symposium on "universal values." A famous expert on constitutional politics said, "Democracy and freedom are what we call 'universal values.' Anyone who disagrees with this please get out!"
Similarly, one of my friends, a keen fighter for Chinese democracy, ended up bribing teachers so that his kid could get into a key school.
Members of the self-organized community committee fought like cats and dogs with the employers of a property management company over ownership issues in the compound where I live.
We feel helpless and denounce the "darkness" of a society without democracy. But we are often compliant with that darkness.
We snarl at corrupt officials but still sit for the national civil servant exams. We criticize over the monopoly of State-owned enterprises but long for jobs there. Some advocate freedom of speech but mob the "dissenters" who hold different ideas on their microblog. Appealing for democracy is less significant than practicing it.
It is time for us to stop uttering sentences beginning with "the government should" and "others should."
These are useful ways to pressure authority, but they can also become an excuse to not fulfill our own democratic responsibilities.
Chinese need to realize that democracy is not achieved in one step. Democracy is made through deeds, not words. Democracy is not a hard-to-reach target, but can be realized through the small things in everyday life.
As the title of the book, Democracy Is Modern Life, written by the late expert on constitutional politics, Cai Dingjian, indicates, democracy can only be reached through everyone's ceaseless efforts at putting democratic ideas into practice in their daily life.
The author is a Beijing-based media commentator. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn
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