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Today is a great day for British democracy. One of the greatest ever, in fact. Tune out Project Fear, with its overblown claims that Brexit will cause economic collapse and possibly revive fascism, and just think about what is happening today. The largest democratic mandate in the history of this nation, the loudest, clearest, most populous democratic cry Britons have ever made, is finally being acted upon. The political class is starting the process of severing Britains ties with the EU not because it wants to it desperately doesnt want to but because a great swarm of its people have told it that it must. This is amazing. This is wonderful. This is democracy.

This is what generations of Britons fought for. From the Levellers of the 1640s who radically insisted that even the poorest he should have a say in politics to the working-class Chartists of the 19th century and the Suffragettes of the 20th, the ideal that animated every warrior for the franchise was precisely that ordinary people whatever their standing, whatever their education should have the right to determine their nations destiny.

Brexit follows in this radical democratic tradition. In fact it is its high point. The very sections of society that had to fight hard for the right to vote the poorest he; urban working-class men; women, particularly women over 50, a large majority of whom voted for Brexit made their political desires plain on 23 June last year. They said, in their millions, Lets leave. Brexit is not the handiwork of Ukip demagogues or buses with false promises on them. Its a result of decades and decades of the glorious expansion of the franchise to the kind of people who very often hold different ideas and values to Westminster. Brexit is the historic promise of democracy made real, made flesh.

What were witnessing in Britain today, with Theresa May triggering Article 50, is something radical: the political class is going against its own judgement under the duress of the demos. The polite, peaceful duress of the demos, it should be pointed out.

We know that 73 per cent of MPs want to stay in the EU. We know many in the House of Lords are horrified by Brexit and were keen to hold it up. We know 70 per cent of business leaders wanted Britain to remain, and that some of them launched costly legal battles to try to stymie the Brexit momentum. And yet in the end, all of them, every one, has had to roll over and give in to the masses: to the builders, nurses, teachers, mums, old blokes, unemployed people and others who effectively said to the political class: Youre wrong. We should leave. To the people surprised that such a state of affairs can exist, that the political set can be made to do something it doesnt want to by the mass of society, including even uneducated people: what did you think democracy meant? This is what it means.

I can understand why some people find this scary, this act of mass and rebellious democracy. To those who love the EU, and those who had come to think of democracy as the rather sedate business of picking a party once every four years, it must feel shocking and disorientating that 17.4million people have been able to cow the political class and change the nature and future of this nation. But personally I find it inspiring, enlivening, proof that the democratic ideal is in rude health. All the rather snotty things that have been said about the demos in recent years theyre apathetic, fearful, stuck in their ways have been magnificently disproven by Brexit. With its turnout of 72.2 per cent and its massive cry to rip up the 21st-century political rulebook, Brexit proved, once and for all, that Britains democratic citizens take their responsibilities seriously, and are willing to take huge political risks, and can think for themselves, rather than slavishly following the advice of their betters. Brexit showed that rumours of democracys death have been greatly exaggerated.

This isnt about being triumphalist over the 16.1million who voted for Remain. These are good people too, who also take their democratic duty incredibly seriously. No, its about being triumphalist about the fact that democracy survives, that in Britain in 2017 it is the people who decide. We should celebrate this. In St Marys Church in Putney in London, where the Levellers and other Parliamentarians in the Civil War met in 1647 to hammer out a pretty radical idea called democracy, the words of one Thomas Rainsborough are emblazoned on the wall: The poorest he that is in England hath a life to live as the greatest he. This is what Brexit means: recognition that the everyday, non-expert he and she ought to have as much clout in political decision-making as the greatest, most well-connected he. Happy Article 50 Day, everyone.

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A great day for British democracy | Coffee House - Spectator.co.uk (blog)

OMG save us from the divorce metaphor for Brexit.

The media are full of pundits comparing Britains triggering of the exit clause in the European Union treaties to the often messy process of a couple parting ways.

The Guardians Jon Henley turns Brexit into a melodrama. On a memorably stormy night last June, Britain decided its decades-long marriage with the EU had finally and irretrievably broken down, he wrote as British Prime Minister Theresa May sent the letter to start negotiations on Britains exit. Today, it files for divorce.

Chris Patten, a former British member of the European Commission, laments that the divorce is not going well, even though the proceedings have only just started. For good measure, he adds, as with any divorce, we can be fairly confident that it is the children does he mean British citizens? who will suffer the most.

Stuff and nonsense. Brexit is about power and sovereignty. It is about democracy, transparency and rule of law. It has nothing to do with a soap-opera divorce.

Britain and Europe a word in British English that historically referred to the Continent as a separate place have gone their separate ways for centuries.

Prime Minister Theresa May has officially triggered Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty and notified the bloc of the U.K.s intention to withdraw. WSJ's Jason Douglas explores the decisions, deals and conflicts that could arise over the next two years.

Geography and history divided Britain from the continent, making the island nation a latecomer to the European Communities, a reluctant member as the Common Market evolved toward a federal superstate, and finally, a sovereign nation with its own sovereign that refused to abdicate any further sovereignty to that German-dominated superstate.

Geopolitical analyst Leon Hadar, in an article titled How Germany Won World War II (in 2017), how the EU reality is at odds with the New York Times coronation of German Chancellor Angela Merkel as the liberal Wests last defender.

There is nothing liberal or democratic about a regional economic colossus dictating economic policies to weaker EU members, like Greece or Spain, who remain dependent on it, Hadar wrote this week in the National Interest, by forcing them to make structural reforms to their economies while simultaneously cutting down on spending and borrowing policies that are opposed by the majority of their citizens.

And Britain avoided a core aspect of that superstate-in-the-making a common currency EURUSD, +0.0186% like the plague. The pound sterling GBPUSD, +0.0322% financed world commerce for decades and never suffered the hyperinflation, collapse or reforms of continental currencies. Britain opted to keep the pound and its own central bank to preserve some economic sovereignty.

Also read Matt Lynn on How the triggering of Brexit will change Britain and Europe

In the coming months, France and Italy may indeed vote in euroskeptic leaders that at the very least would force radical reforms on the European Union, even if they would not actually succeed in taking their countries out of the EU or unraveling the whole European project.

But Brexit will remain sui generis because of Britains unique history as an island nation with its own far-flung empire.

What all the globalists and European federalists have been unable to accept is that it still makes a difference that Britain had an empire and retains a Commonwealth of 52 countries. Queen Elizabeth II is still sovereign not only for the United Kingdom and a clutch of Caribbean islands, but also of major nations like Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Why would Britain want to be junior partner in a union where Germany makes all the rules?

It would be far better if Remain devotees in London and EU fanatics in Berlin and Brussels acknowledge that Britains half-in, half-out membership was never going to change and was never going to work, and get on with talks that will, as May wrote in her letter triggering Brexit, always put our citizens first.

No amount of scaremongering by the likes of Patten (the cliff beckons, the lemmings are lining up) or Sebastian Mallaby, a British journalist currently ensconced at the Council on Foreign Relations, (Mays ploddingly literal interpretation of the Brexit referendum is populism undiluted) can change the reality that Britain and the EU will have to come to terms if the EU actually survives after impending votes in France and Italy.

There were reports this week that Merkel has set up a secret Brexit task force to make sure Britain is unable to make any individual agreements, ostensibly to avoid any split in the 27 remaining states.

One would expect nothing less from a Berlin eager to preserve the benefits of the hegemony it enjoys in the EU. Germany did not hesitate to crucify Greece and force wrenching recessions on other peripheral countries in the EU, and has long since made it clear it intends to punish Britain for its temerity in leaving so that no other country will want to follow.

Germany was able to bully Greece, but it will find Britain a bigger challenge. This is not a divorce. It is not a war. It is not a moral battle for the soul of Europe. It is simply a new stage in the Realpolitik fighting for whats in the countrys best interests rather than an ideological goal that has marked Britains history with Europe.

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Opinion: Brexit isn't a soap-opera divorce it's democracy in action - MarketWatch

Corinne Kenwood / Sun Staff Photographer

Interim President Rawlings speaks at the Francis Halpern 2017 Lecture at the Rhodes-Rawlings Auditorium on Tuesday.

To Interim President Hunter Rawlings, democracy in the United States is not immune to tyranny.

In his Francis Halpern 2017 Lecture on Tuesday possibly his last lecture at Cornell before handing the reins to President-Elect Martha Pollack Rawlings said digitalization and a decreased interest in the humanities have intertwined U.S. politics with daily life and made political systems more volatile.

Contemporary politics appear more like like the ancient Athenian model of democracy, especially as the internet and social media are politicized, said Rawlings, who has taught several courses and researched Greek historiography at Cornell since ending his first term as president in 2003.

Athenians, Rawlings said, didnt want the elite and highly educated making decisions they wanted everyone engaged. As politics becomes more closely intertwined with the internet, it can radically change the system, as in ancient Athens, where the political system was radical in that it was direct.

While the Founding Fathers preferred the Romans Republican model and based the Constitution on Romes representative democracy, modern technology and communication have drawn the United States closer to the Athenian democracy over time, Rawlings said.

Today, an individual can reach millions with tweets and can be elected president by conducting a populous campaign against both traditional parties, Rawlings said.

Rawlings told the story of the Mytilenian Debate, where the Athenian assembly decided the fate of city-state Mytilini, which had attempted unsuccessfully to revolt against Athens during the Peloponnesian War.

The Athenian assemblys ultimate decision to commit genocide in the city-state serves as a warning of how history can repeat itself.

It will happen again because human nature remains constant, Rawlings said. History wont prevent democracy from doing some bad things. It probably will do those bad things, because we as a species are who we are.

Rawlings spoke about the diminishing emphasis on liberal arts education in the United States and declining public funding from universities.

The instruction of critical thinking and rational decision making has never been as necessary as it is today, he said.

To say that we need more citizens with an education in the arts and sciences is an understatement, Rawlings said, adding that public officials disdain for liberal arts [is] reaching a fever pitch.

Katherine Heaney is a member of the Class of 2020 in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations. She is a staff writer for the news department and can be reached at kheaney@cornellsun.com.

We are an independent, student newspaper. Help keep us reporting with a tax-deductible donation to the Cornell Sun Alumni Association, a non-profit dedicated to aiding The Sun.

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Rawlings Warns of Radical Shift in US Democracy - Cornell University The Cornell Daily Sun

Foreign Policy (blog)

Turkey Is a Dictatorship Masquerading as a NATO Democracy Foreign Policy (blog) In the lead-up to Turkey's constitutional referendum on April 16, Selahattin Demirtas, the co-chair of the opposition pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), sits in prison on charges of terrorism. With his voice effectively muzzled, he has taken ... Turkey's Dangerous Path Away From DemocracyNew York Times all 13 news articles »

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Turkey Is a Dictatorship Masquerading as a NATO Democracy - Foreign Policy (blog)

BEIJING China's government confirmed Wednesday it is holding a Taiwanese pro-democracy activist and is investigating him on suspicion of "pursuing activities harmful to national security," the latest detention in an ongoing crackdown on civil society.

Lee Ming-che, 42, cleared immigration in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory of Macau on March 19 and never showed up for a planned meeting later that day with a friend in the mainland Chinese city of Zhuhai.

The Taiwan Affairs Office said Lee was in good health but gave no information about where he was being held or other terms of his detention. "Regarding Lee Ming-che's case, because he is suspected of pursing activities harmful to national security, the investigation into him is being handled in line with legal procedures," spokesman Ma Xiaoguang told reporters at a news briefing.

Amnesty International said Lee's detention raises fears China is broadening its crackdown on legitimate activism, and urged the authorities to provide further details on his detention.

Lee's "detention on vague national security grounds will alarm all those that work with NGOs in China. If his detention is solely connected to his legitimate activism he must be immediately and unconditionally released," Nicholas Bequelin, the group's east Asia director said by email.

A colleague of Lee's said he may have attracted the attention of China's security services after he used the social media platform WeChat to discuss China-Taiwan relations.

Cheng Hsiu-chuan, president of Taipei's Wenshan Community College where Lee has worked for the past year as a program director, said Lee used WeChat to "teach" an unknown number of people about China-Taiwan relations under the government of Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen.

"For China, the material he was teaching would be seen as sensitive," Cheng said. WeChat has hundreds of millions of active users and is hugely popular in China, where other social media tools such as Twitter are blocked by the authorities.

Lee had traveled annually to China for the past decade to see friends, Cheng said. He would discuss human rights in private but had never held any public events there, Cheng said.

However, in mid-2016 Chinese authorities shut down Lee's WeChat account and confiscated a box of books published in Taiwan on political and cultural issues, Cheng said.

On his most recent trip, Lee planned to see friends and obtain Chinese medicine for his mother-in-law in Taiwan, his wife, Lee Ching-yu, said. He was expected to stay in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou through March 26, she said.

"I want the government of China to act like a civilized country and tell me what they're doing with my husband on what legal grounds and, like a civilized country, what they plan to do with him," Lee Ching-yu said.

China claims sovereignty over Taiwan, a free-wheeling democracy with personal and political freedoms largely unknown on the authoritarian, Communist-ruled mainland. China insists that the two sides must eventually unify and has raised pressure on Taiwan since the election last year of President Tsai, whose Democratic Progressive Party advocates for Taiwan's formal independence. China and Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949.

National security crimes in China are broadly defined and have a range of penalties. Authorities usually release little or no information on the specific allegations, citing the need to protect state secrets.

Powers of the security services in dealing with foreign groups and their Chinese partners were strongly enhanced under a law that took effect in January, leading to concerns about further prosecutions and restrictions on civil society.

Under President Xi Jinping, China has widely suppressed independent organizations and dissenters, as well as lawyers defending people caught up in its crackdown. Rights groups say activists are increasingly being accused of subversion or other crimes against state security.

Dozens of lawyers have been questioned or detained in an ongoing campaign against dissident lawyers launched in July 2015.

___

Jennings contributed to this report from Taipei, Taiwan.

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China confirms detention of Taiwanese pro-democracy activist - Fox News