15.09.2021

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov: We were born with a certain set of rights, and, most importantly, the right to life

So, we have lived to see another holiday: on September 15, the world celebrates the International Day of Democracy, established by the UN General Assembly in 2007. The UN offered the states to adopt a new holiday to pay attention to the state of democracy in the world.

According to UN experts, democracy is not only a goal, but also a process, and only with the full participation and support of the international community, government authorities and citizens, the ideals of democracy can be realized for every person in every corner of the world.
However, I think, an explanation is required. The word "democracy" comes from two ancient Greek words for "people" and "power." It is traditionally translated as "the rule of the people." This term means a political regime, which is based on the method of collective decision-making with equal influence of the participants on the outcome of the process or on its essential stages. Well, from this point of view, how many countries are truly democratic states? 

Of course, the method of collective decision-making is not so bad, it’s even good, who would argue. But agree that sometimes it is just a formality. Today, many autocratic regimes call themselves democratic.
Judge for yourself: under the guise of talk about democracy and equality, the world has been building a civilization for the last hundred years based on a liberal market foundation. And, as a result, we got a society of unrestrained consumption, where the ability to acquire material wealth is equated to the highest virtue, and poverty is seen as a retribution for sins.
But we were born with a certain set of basic, fundamental rights, and, most importantly, of them: the right to life. For a good, quality life. And our Earth has everything to provide people with such a life.
Almost 10 years ago, I presented for public discussion my vision of a new paradigm of human development based on a balance of rights and responsibilities, which I called Vitacracy (from the Latin vita - “life”, and the ancient Greek κράτος - “power”). Vitality. Or the Power of Life. Today, I am sure that it is the only way.
It is time, finally, to begin to agree on new principles for the life of mankind. Vitacracy is, first, a new way of thinking that can help us avoid the catastrophe impending on humanity. In order to realize the idea of ​​Vitacracy, one does not need to arrange revolutions and shed blood. You just need to shift the emphasis in consciousness.
Humanity stands at a fork in civilizational development. Will we move further along the beaten path straight into the abyss or will we make a small effort on ourselves and choose Vitacracy - the path of altruism, true equality and prosperity? It's time to make a choice and move together towards the main goal, the best definition of which was given by the Dalai Lama: "The goal of our life is to be happy."