How Protest Is A Democratic Institution

And why we need to tear liberal democracy down

The protestors in occupied Colombo

In ancient Athens, if you were a citizen you had every right to power yourself. Any citizen could just show up in the town square and govern themselves. Today we would call that a protest, and generally meet it with truncheons and teargas. But read a little history. People assembling and shouting is the most democratic institution there is.

A Disclaimer Because I’m About To Discuss Ancient Greeks
People are quick to shun discussion of Greek democracy since they were slavers and sexists and hostile to migrants. But ‘liberal’ democracy was designed by slavers and sexists and people hostile to migrants so I see no reason to hold it in any higher regard. 
As to the fact that most people couldn't participate in Greek democracy, that's true, but citizenship is still a violently proscribed category today. The differences in cruelty are just a matter of degree, not kind, and in many ways, we're even more cruel.
As to whether a technology meant for city-states scales to nations, that's an open question about democracy in general, not unique to any particular form.
The modern, frankly religious, belief in representative democracy has really amputated our imagination. Democracy comes…