I was reminded recently of a quote by David Levi Strauss in his book, Between the Eyes, that went,
People are not what they used to be, but then, they never were.
He argues that “any image of democracy must begin with an image of ‘the people’.” This notion has been highly contested throughout history as new groups struggle politically — women, ethnic minorities etc. — to become part of “the people.”
In China, there’s a different problem as we see here in this bridge post by Oiwan Lam thanks to Global Voices Online.
Lao Tuzaizi said he is a “citizen” not “people” because the meaning of “people” is very confusing in China. All government bodies claim to be People’s institutes, however, no individual can represent “people”, in the end the definition of “people” is up to the authority, while the concept of citizen is based on individual’s right.
Well Lao is right about one thing, the definition of “the people” has always been up to one authority or another, but the official appropriation of the term presents unique challenges for the democratic practice.
