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Democracy

de Alkanadi, 2016-junio-07

Mesaĝoj: 23

Lingvo: English

Alkanadi (Montri la profilon) 2016-junio-07 19:45:07

One of the principles of the Prague Manifesto, which is an Esperanto initiative, is democracy.

However, the Lernu website seems to operate more like a republic than a democracy. Why is that?

nornen (Montri la profilon) 2016-junio-07 20:33:09

Could you define the terms "democracy" and "republic" in the context of your statement?

lagtendisto (Montri la profilon) 2016-junio-07 20:44:14

The domain lernu.net is owned by organisation E@I, which sametime is responsible for content published by sending request to domain lernu.net. That also includes user generated content i.e. forum posting content.

Don't expect being Lernu.net something like LiquidFeedback.

vejktoro (Montri la profilon) 2016-junio-07 20:49:27

Alkanadi:One of the principles of the Prague Manifesto, which is an Esperanto initiative, is democracy.

However, the Lernu website seems to operate more like a republic than a democracy. Why is that?
Republics are democratic so I don't understand what you mean. The answer, however probably has something to do with the fact that Lernu is not Esperanto; it's not owned by Esperanto; I would guess it has it's own administrators or proprietors and constitution or manifesto or book of guidelines or rules or...

They can do what they want. They could poll the users I suppose as to if we would like to see this or that proposal - but as far as a republic?

Would there be ballots? Elected officials? Legislature? Parliament? Users rights? Taxes?

Vestitor (Montri la profilon) 2016-junio-07 21:08:22

A more honest title to this thread would be:

"Boo hoo, why did the thread I derailed get deleted?"

It always sounds more elevated when wrapped in pseudo-politics.

Sfinkso (Montri la profilon) 2016-junio-07 21:48:58

This website is not a democracy, it is a free service graciously given to the Esperanto community and the admins try and run it as they see best.

You are, however, always able to exercise your freedom not to use this site.

Alkanadi (Montri la profilon) 2016-junio-08 07:46:36

nornen:Could you define the terms "democracy" and "republic" in the context of your statement?
Democracy - Some type of decision making by the users.

Republic - Similar to a dictatorship but you have more than one dictator.

In context, the chat feature was deleted from the Lernu site without consulting the users. There wasn't even an update to tell people what had happened. People discovered this on their own.

Also, the Lernu leadership is not elected by the users.

I was just thinking that this is against the Prague Manifesto.

Alkanadi (Montri la profilon) 2016-junio-08 07:52:08

vejktoro:Would there be ballots? Elected officials? Legislature? Parliament? Users rights? Taxes?
How about online polls and voting for registered members?

If Esperanto is democratic then how come users aren't involved in the decision making?

Bemused (Montri la profilon) 2016-junio-08 08:42:36

Alkanadi:
nornen:Could you define the terms "democracy" and "republic" in the context of your statement?
Democracy - Some type of decision making by the users.

Republic - Similar to a dictatorship but you have more than one dictator.

In context, the chat feature was deleted from the Lernu site without consulting the users. There wasn't even an update to tell people what had happened. People discovered this on their own.

Also, the Lernu leadership is not elected by the users.

I was just thinking that this is against the Prague Manifesto.
You might want to revise your definition of "Republic". According to dictionary.com it means "a state in which the supreme power rests in the body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by representatives chosen directly or indirectly by them."

The same source defines "Democracy" as "government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system."

Compare this to the definition of "Dictatorship", "a country, government, or the form of government in which absolute power is exercised by a dictator. "

In any event the point is moot when applied to Lernu. Lernu is not synonymous with Esperanto. Esperanto is a language. It is "owned" by the speakers of the language. Lernu is a website dedicated to assisting people learn the language. It is owned by a charitable institution, and run by administrators appointed by the institution. The administrators are not responsible to the desires of the users, they are resposible to the board of Lernu.

Alkanadi (Montri la profilon) 2016-junio-08 09:34:37

Bemused:It is owned by a charitable institution, and run by administrators appointed by the institution.
Didn't this institution sign on to the Prague Manifesto? Shouldn't there actions be in accordance with the principles thereof?

Appointing people is not democratic.

It is similar to other ideological organizations. They say one thing and do another. They want their rules to apply to the masses, yet they themselves will not follow them. Kind of like how certain environmentalists live in mansions that use the same amount of electricity as 50 regular house.

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