Wonder batteries, claims a famous French advertisement, only wear out if they are being used. The opposite is true of democracy. It is now withering away spectacularly in our "advanced" countries, where it has become a money-dominated ritual, thanks to which every four or five years we may abdicate our sovereignty and pick among the candidates of the establishment.

Democracy can only gain ground when people take matters into their own hands--when, at all levels, from the bottom to the very top, they collectively try to gain mastery over their work, their lives and their fate. So why, then, did I feel a certain unease when Europe's protesting truck drivers were using blockades to put pressure on their governments to lower fuel costs? Because to be really genuine, people's power must have a purpose and aim at a more just society.

In the case of the truck drivers, the protest was a reflection of general discontent and the absence of a coherent policy of officialdom. One could imagine a left-wing administration with an ecologically sound energy policy defending the fuel tax as a conservation measure. But that would have meant a government capable of attacking both OPEC and the oil companies, one developing public transport, having a general fiscal policy that penalizes profit and reduces taxes affecting mass consumption, giving working people the feeling that their interests are being defended. The bulk of the population does not feel this. They are told that the West is getting more and more prosperous, yet they perceive that this only applies to a thin layer at the top. A sharp rise in the price of gasoline hit them in their pocketbooks.

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