All over the world, young people are fighting for a democratic future.
University students in Belarus marked the start of the academic year by joining in the demonstrations against long-time leader Alexander Lukashenko.
Often referred to as “Europe’s last dictator,” Lukashenko has been in power for the last 26 years. Mass protests erupted in major cities across the country after the August 9 presidential election in which he claimed he received 80% of the vote.
The election is widely deemed to be rigged, and it was rejected by both the European Union and the United States as neither free nor fair. Tens of thousands of people have been protesting in the streets, calling for Lukashenko to step down. Clashes with riot police have left at least two dead, hundreds injured and at least 6,700 arrested.
What do the protesters want? “A new, democratic, open country.” Sounds simple, but it’s anything but.
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I wanted to better understand what’s going on from someone who’s not only read about it but lived it.
So I called my dad.
He was in his 20s when communism fell in Bulgaria. He was optimistic about a democratic future, but attempting to build a democracy from scratch proved to be nearly impossible. The communist regime didn’t disappear — it just morphed into a political party of a different name.
My dad took part in pro-democracy protests in the early 1990s. I asked him why he felt compelled to march in the streets where protesters were beaten with batons and tear-gassed by police. “We wanted the type of democracy we saw in America,” he told me. “Every time we went out to protest, what we wanted most was democracy — but democracy never came.”
The problem was that the people wanted a government system they didn’t fully understand, so the politicians manipulated it to their advantage. “They would make changes and say, ‘See, this is democracy,” my dad says. “It wasn’t democracy. It was just a different form of oppression.”
That’s when he knew he had to leave. Year after year, he submitted an application for the green card lottery. The U.S. green card lottery has been called “the unwinnable lottery” because only one quarter of 1% of applicants actually end up with the golden ticket. My family was one of them, and this is why I’m here today.
I was inspired to write about this because I know many people living in the United States who are worried about what’s happening to our democracy. In the last week, I’ve seen headlines like these: “I’m Doomsday Prepping for the End of Democracy,” “U.S. Democracy in Peril,” and, “I Fear That We Are Witnessing the End of American Democracy.”
Similarly to Belarus, protests have erupted all across the United States this year, too. But here’s the major difference between dictatorships and democracies: Protests threaten the former and strengthen the latter.
Danny Oppenheimer and Mike Edwards, the authors of “Democracy Despite Itself,” argue that America is less broken — and more resilient — than we think. In autocracies, for example, conflict and change are bad because they risk the power of those in charge. In a democracy, they are good because they allow for citizens to propel our country forward without destroying it.
Oppenheimer and Edwards explain further:
“The history of democracy is a story of ignorant voters making questionable decisions, and unqualified elected officials implementing abysmal policies. And yet, by every measure of well-being that has ever been studied, citizens of democracies are doing better than any other form of government. We live longer. We have more wealth. We are better educated. We are safer.
“This is the fundamental paradox of democracy — the inputs to democracy are terrible, but the outputs are great. Yes, inequality, poverty, and crime still exist, but that is true of every society. No society is perfect, but democracies are less imperfect.”
The beauty of democracy is that it doesn’t have to rely on people’s ability to vote into power the best (or even most competent) leaders. Bertrand Russell said: “In a democracy, the fools have a right to vote. In a dictatorship, the fools have a right to rule.” A democracy relies on its citizens having — and using — their voices as catalysts for change.
Of course, no nation is immune to the erosion of democracy. A true democratic state requires consistent action, and we all have a responsibility to do our part.
As John Lewis wrote in his posthumously-published essay, “When you see something that is not right, you must say something. You must do something. Democracy is not a state. It is an act, and each generation must do its part to help build what we called the Beloved Community, a nation and world society at peace with itself.”
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PROFILES.
— Hollywood’s newest billionaire [**HIGHLY RECOMMEND**]
— The diva re-claiming her identity
— China’s detention camp prisoners
— The butcher who wouldn’t quit
— The 84-year-old gamer grandma
— The eco-yogi slumlords of Brooklyn
— The internet’s convenience store
— The biggest business you’ve never heard of
— The publisher that mastered the algorithms
PEOPLE TO KNOW.
Hollywood’s newest billionaire: For three months,Tyler Perry lived out of his car as he tried to produce a play at a community theater in Atlanta. “I love when people say you come from ‘humble beginnings,’” he says. “[It] means you were poor as hell.” The actor now owns a 330-acre studio that is bigger than Disney, Warner Bros., Paramount, and Sony combined. “Ownership changes everything,” he says. Thanks to advice he got from Oprah, Perry owns the entirety of his creative output, and his net worth now sits at $1 billion. (Forbes)
“I mostly go on my gut and my instinct. I like to challenge the system and see what I can do differently.”
The diva re-claiming her identity: You may think you know Mariah Carey, but you don’t really know Mariah Carey — at least not in the way she wants you to. After 30 years in the music business, Carey still feels so misunderstood. In this profile, you’ll better understand Carey’s troubled childhood, her fraught family relationships, and how she created a life she was proud to live. (New York Magazine)
“Because we can all be wounded, but are we going to sit around licking our wounds forever?”
China’s detention camp prisoners: More than 1 million Uighurs and Kazakhs have been detained in China’s sprawling system of internment camps. Offenses range from wearing a beard to having downloaded a banned app. BuzzFeed interviewed 28 former detainees about their experiences inside the camps where they endured months of abuse, deprivation, and routine humiliation. This is a must-read. (BuzzFeed)
“They treated us like livestock. I wanted to cry. I was ashamed, you know, to take off my clothes in front of others.”
The 84-year-old gamer grandma: Shirley Curry has become a fixture in the global gamer-influencer world. With nearly a million YouTube subscribers, Curry makes gaming YouTube videos in which she battles giant spiders and makes her way through dungeons. At the end of each video, she sends her viewers off with the same salutation: “Bye-bye grandkids.” Here’s how she became a sensation in the gaming world. (The New York Times)
“When people say things like, ‘You’re a legend!’ it embarrasses me. Because I’m just a newbie old grandma.”
The butcher who wouldn’t quit:Frank Fisher, now 90, was a traditional high street butcher his whole working life — as were three generations of his family before him. But with the rise of superstores and online grocery retailers, his butcher shop hadn’t turned a profit in about a year. Fisher was dipping into his savings to pay the rates. As businesses shutter due to the pandemic, this profile is a moving and nostalgic tribute to a butcher’s shop that lasted 300 years. (The Guardian)
“Everybody tells me, you can’t close. And I think, well, come and spend your money with me instead, then.”
The eco-yogi slumlords of Brooklyn: Landlords Gennaro Brooks-Church and his ex-partner, Loretta Gendville were an ethically sourced, non-GMO, unmarried poster couple for wokeness. They also took it upon themselves to evict tenants in the middle of the pandemic. What could drive two yogic, environmentally conscious, vegan brownstoners to kick out their unemployed tenants during a global pandemic? (New York Magazine)
“You white liberal phony fake selfish motherfucker! You belong in a Charles Dickens novel!”
COMPANIES TO WATCH.
The internet’s convenience store: Founded in 2013 as a late-night service for college students to order junk food, rolling papers and condoms, GoPuff has gone mainstream. The company now offers 3,000 items ranging from over-the-counter medicine and laundry detergent to pet food and nail polish—all delivered in around 30 minutes for a flat $2 fee. Business has been booming since the pandemic hit. Here’s how they’re attempting to manage the sudden hypergrowth. (Forbes)
“We started this business because the convenience store was anything but convenient.”
The biggest business you’ve never heard of: You’ve probably never heard of Infobip, but you’ve most likely used it. If you’ve ever received a message from your bank, or from Facebook or Uber, you’ve been an Infobip user. The Croatian company provides the messaging platform for some 750 banks, and works with some 650 mobile operators around the world. It became Europe’s latest unicorn last month — and it’s been profitable since the start. Up next? An IPO. (Sifted)
“We’re used to being very frugal at the company, now we don’t know what to do with all this money.”
The publisher that mastered the algorithms: The lifestyle publisher Brit + Co used to heavily rely on Facebook for traffic to its website. In the first quarter of 2017, Facebook referrals accounted for 40% of all traffic. But when the social media platform changed its algorithm, Brit + Co had to find a new way to grow. After reducing and restructuring its staff, SEO became the focus. Here’s how the company changed course and became profitable after seeing its Facebook traffic plummet. (DigiDay)
“It’s not about buying our website as much as it is about buying touch points across our networks.”
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AUDIO TO HEAR.
Morgan Housel on his creative process: Morgan Housel, a partner at The Collaborative Fund, is one of my favorite writers. His writing is clear, precise, and enjoyable. How does he come up with what to write? Housel spends time reading, taking walks, and synthesizing the information in his head. “It doesn’t look like work, but it is because it’s trying to piece things together,” he says. “When I sit down to start writing an article, I don’t really have much of an idea of where it’s going to go because the process of writing is what makes you think. Writing is what crystallizes these vague thoughts that you have in your head.” (Link available to premium members.)
Michelle Obama on the reality of marriage: Michelle Obama gets real about marriage. She and a special guest talk about marriage, counseling, and having kids. “There were times when I wanted to push Barack out the window,” she says. She shares some of the biggest lessons she’s learned from being married to former president Barack Obama. (Link available to premium members.)
Chris Bakke on generating business ideas: In this conversation, serial entrepreneur Chris Bakke shares a ton of ideas for companies he hopes come to fruition. He’s got everything from "Shopify for SaaS products" to “GeekSquad franchises.” If you’re an aspiring entrepreneur on the hunt for an idea, this one is for you. (Link available to premium members.)
VIDEOS TO SEE.
Tyler Perry on building his business empire: I was astounded to learn just how deliberate Tyler Perry has been in building and growing his various business properties. Perry says his drive for ownership came early in his childhood when he watched his father work as a subcontractor. “He would come home with his $800, and be so excited he made $800 off a house that week,” Perry says. “But then the guy who owned the house had made $80,000. I wanted to be the person who owned the house, always.” Highly recommend this. (Link available to premium members.)
Jewel on finding her power: Singer-songwriter Jewel has a fascinating life story. She grew up in Alaska in a two-room saddle barn with an outhouse. Her mom left when she was 8, and she grew up with her alcoholic father and two brothers. At age 15, Jewel left her family’s unstable situation only to wind up homeless. “When I was homeless I realized that I had become a statistic, which was exactly what I had set out not to do when I moved out at 15,” she said. Here’s how she turned her life around. (Link available to premium members.)
Dan Gilbert on our psychological immune system: You might have heard that a year after losing the use of their legs and a year after winning the lottery, lottery winners and paraplegics are equally happy with their lives. Dan Gilbert says that’s because humans have a "psychological immune system" that helps us change our views of the world so that we feel better about the situations we find ourselves in. “This is the difference between dating and marriage,” he says. “You go out on a date with a guy, and he picks his nose; you don't go out on another date. You're married to a guy and he picks his nose? He has a heart of gold. You find a way to be happy with what's happened.” This is fascinating. (Link available to premium members.)
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