Posts by salla

Who rules the world?
No-one really rules the world. It has no centre but competing forces, and none impose their will on all the others. But the best way for citizens is to intervene world affairs so that they can make a difference.

We asked all sorts of people -- authors, athletes, movie stars, politicians, thinkers, workers, dreamers -- ten tough questions
about democracy. We will publish many of the answers on this page, with
new ones every day. Be sure to tell us what you think in the forums.

Read today also:
10 Questions: Slavoj Zizek - Philosopher (Slovenia)
10 Questions: Kati Outinen - Actress (Finland)
10 Questions: Oliver Letwin – Conservative MP (UK)

Do you think that democracy is good for everyone?
Is democracy good for everyone…? If it were the Greek version, I would say it is.

We asked all sorts of people -- authors, athletes, movie stars, politicians, thinkers, workers, dreamers -- ten tough questions
about democracy. We will publish many of the answers on this page, with
new ones every day. Be sure to tell us what you think in the forums.

Read today also:
10 Questions: Henry Porter - Novelist and political commentator, UK,
10 Questions: José Carlos Alvarez - Director of the National Museum of Theatre (Portugal)

Are dictators ever good?
The English philosopher Thomas Hobbes notoriously put forward a form of government in which each citizen gives up his or her rights to a sovereign who is quite explicitly above the law. In return for this, the sovereign promises to guarantee and protect the rights of each individual. Hobbes feared democracy; he feared the importation into society of any idea that would lead its members to rebel against established authority. So to trade in a certain form of democratic liberty for the guarantee of safety and stability was a good trade for him.Whether or not dictators are ever good depends on what one expects from their government.

See today also:
10 Questions: Helena Ranta - Forensic dentist (Finland)
10 Questions: José Falcão
– Human Rights activist (Portugal)

Why bother to vote?
It's of course a curious phenomena, because you feel your individual effects are very marginal. I always think voting is a really transforming experience, because it's one of the few occasions where you are doing something as a whole population. And you feel indeed like a elemental particle, just a little constituent, of the general population..

 We asked all sorts of people -- authors, athletes, movie stars, politicians, thinkers, workers, dreamers -- ten tough questions
about democracy. We will publish many of the answers on this page, with
new ones every day. Be sure to tell us what you think in the forums.

Read today also:

10 Questions: Claes Borgström - Ombudsman for Equality (Sweden)

10 Questions: Déborah Colker - Choreographer (Brazil)

Can democracy solve climate change?
If you are talking about national democracy, it will not be able to solve this problem, but if you are talking about international democracy, i.e. the democratisation of globalisation, then I would say yes, the international democracy, global democracy, will be able to solve this problem..

We asked all sorts of people -- authors, athletes, movie stars, politicians, thinkers, workers, dreamers -- ten tough questions
about democracy. We will publish many of the answers on this page, with
new ones every day. Be sure to tell us what you think in the forums.

Read today also:
10 Questions: Paddy Ashdown - Liberal Democrat (UK)
10 Questions: Suelen Jongo da Serrinha - Dancer (Brazil)

Is God democratic?
To me God is beyond this understanding and we really should be careful when mixing the two fields of religion and politics, it can be quite dangerous.

We asked all sorts of people -- authors, athletes, movie stars, politicians, thinkers, workers, dreamers -- ten tough questions about democracy. We will publish many of the answers on this page, with new ones every day. Be sure to tell us what you think in the forums.

Read today also:

10 Questions: Joseph Ayok-Loewenberg – Minister for religion (Sudan)
10 Questions: Helle Thorning-Schmidt - Leader of the Social Democrats (Denmark)

What would make you start a revolution?
Without any doubt I have plenty of reasons to start a revolution here in Brazil. But I think that it requires many people. Many interesting people aware of what they would be doing. Knowing the particularities. But I think Brazil has progressed. Since 1990 we have been making interesting steps, creating a more public politics.

We asked all sorts of people -- authors, athletes, movie stars, politicians, thinkers, workers, dreamers -- ten tough questions about democracy. We will publish the transcripts of many of their televised answers on this page, with new ones every day. Be sure to tell us what you think in the forums.

Read today also:

10 Questions: Mike Monroe - Singer from Hanoi Rocks (Finland)
10 Questions: Dr Raj Persaud - Consultant Psychiatrist, Gresham Professor and bestselling author (UK)
10 Questions: Adil Tiscatti - Santa Teresa Cinema Founder (Brazil)

Are women more democratic than men?
Not necessarily. I think democracy is gender free, it’s class free, it’s age free. I know lots of women who are great democrats but I know lots of women who are lousy democrats, and the same goes for men.

We asked all sorts of people -- authors, athletes, movie stars, politicians, thinkers, workers, dreamers -- ten tough questions about democracy. We will publish many of the answers on this page, with new ones every day. Be sure to tell us what you think in the forums.

Read today also:

10 Questions: Liza Marklund - Author and Journalist (Sweden)
10 Questions: Vivienne Westwood - Fashion designer (UK)

We asked all sorts of people -- authors, athletes, movie stars, politicians, thinkers, workers, dreamers -- ten tough questions about democracy. We will publish many of the answers on this page, with new ones every day. Be sure to tell us what you think in the forums.

Who would you vote for as President of the World?
To me, the person for the job of President of the World is really obvious. His name is Nelson Mandela. Actually, I’d like to have two people share the presidency: Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama. For President of the World we need people who can forgive, who are not revengeful; people who are passionate, and people who are truly concerned for humanity, not just themselves.

What is wrong with democracy?

In my opinion what is wrong with democracy it’s not how it’s written or thought, but how it is applied. Put into practice, especially here in Brazil where you have an unspoken racism, democracy ends up privileging people that are not the majority, that come from a different reality, with money, are well raised, have a nice family that supports them. It seems that in reality these people have their rights more democratically guaranteed, and that is wrong.

Who would you vote for as President of the World?
To be totally honest, I don’t think anyone can be qualified for such a huge job. It would be interesting to see who wanted to do it. I think a lot of the people who put themselves up for positions of power are doing it for personal motives rather than to help others.

Who would you vote for as President of the World?
It’s got to be someone who’s going to inspire me so it’s probably going to be an actor and I would say someone like Brad Pitt or maybe even David Beckham, I think he’d be pretty good. It’s not going to be a politician because if it’s a world president then the world has to be at peace, we have to have one huge global world, there’s no conflict, no differences any more – so someone who is going to be an iconic figure that we can all look up to and admire – who is it at the moment that we admire most in the world? It’s not politicians, it is film stars, the people who feature in the magazines and probably the biggest one of those at the moment is David Beckham.

Who would you vote for as President of the World?
I would vote for noone as a president of the world. One of the advantages of democracy is that there are many of them.

For president of the world I would vote for no one. I don’t believe that there should be a president of the world. I think one of the advantage of democracy in the world is that there are loads of them. Basically I believe that the smaller the entity the better function of the democracy.

What is democracy for you?
Democracy for me is what it is for everyone else, a system where people can select their leader and decide what issues matter to them.

We asked all sorts of people -- authors, athletes, movie stars, politicians, thinkers, workers, dreamers -- ten tough questions aboutdemocracy. We will publish many of the answers on this page, with new ones every day. Be sure to tell us what you think in the forums.

Who would you vote for as President of the World?
I would, of course, vote for me – I would be the best President the world has ever had, and then the world would have the benefit of a really good-looking President, my God I’m good looking.