Tsipras on Democracy: “A Tool to Enforce the Will of Many”

A tweet on Saturday by PM Alexis Tsipras on the meaning of democracy has caused an uproar in Greece.

Attempting to define what democracy is, Tsipras said that is a tool to enforce the will of the many. He also used the term masses to refer to the country’s citizens.

Η Δημοκρατία δεν πρέπει να είναι θεσμός που εξισορροπεί συμφέροντα και αποκοιμίζει συνειδήσεις, αλλά εργαλείο επιβολής της θέλησης των πολλών.
Είναι ένας διαρκής αγώνα, να κερδίσουμε συνειδήσεις και να ξαναβάλουμε τις μάζες στο πεδίο της πολιτικής πάλης.

— Alexis Tsipras (@atsipras) November 25, 2017

“Democracy must not be an institution that balances interests and puts consciences to sleep, but a tool to enforce the will of many. It is a continuous struggle to win over the consciousness [of the masses] and to reintroduce the masses in the field of political struggle,” he wrote.

Opposition politicians and ordinary citizens took to social media to condemn what they described as an authoritarian streak in the PM’s thoughts.

When a PM characterizes citizens as masses you can understand how much he respects them, wrote opposition politician Dimitris Tsiordas.

The masses are already in the political struggle against the worse government ever that considers democracy as a tool of enforcement, wrote PASOK MP, Vasilis Kegeroglou.

Source: GreekReporter