This blog is quite rightly written by Kosta, a Founder Director of TGIUK and a Greek, living in London. We say rightly because Democracy started in ancient Athens so who better than a Greek to tell us why its so important and that it’s up to all of us to work to keep the best system of government we know, with all its flaws.
Although it was not very much celebrated or even known, a week or so ago on the 15th of September was the International Day of Democracy. Nowadays people might not feel great about the term as we have seen a lot of political turbulence and difficult decisions coming from the individuals that the people chose to represent them. 
But we tend to forget that it is Democracy that allows us to be able to make certain decisions collectively and gives people a voice rather than one or more people deciding for everyone.
Democracy is a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, usually through elected representatives. To put it more plainly, it is control of an organisation or group by the majority of its members.
The word democracy derives from the Greek word Demokratia which means “rule by people”.
The term first appeared during the ancient Greek times in the city-state of Athens in the 5th century B.C or the golden century of Pericles by Cleisthenes. All eligible citizens could speak and vote in the assembly where the laws of the city-state were set. There was also a random selection of citizens that would fill government administrative and judicial offices.
Democracy gives us our freedom of speech as well as the freedom to travel around and live in other countries. It also allows us to have a voice in countries that we live /work in but has not been born in but where we become citizens. Although it has its disadvantages as any political system does, Democracy gives us so many advantages and opportunities that would be unimaginable if we were living in any other political system such as an oligarchy or dictatorship.
So it is only right that we take this one day to celebrate the system, the idea that allows us all, people who were born in the UK and migrants to live together, work together, decide together progress together, be Together In The UK.
And remember to keep Democracy alive, you need to be registered to vote and to vote each time an election is called. To find out more about registering, go to: https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote.
The political parties care about the people who vote so make sure you are one of them.
