In his work The History of Madness Michael Foucault demonstrates how madness has been separated out as “deviant from the actual discourse” and how different times and cultures have different classification of madness. What counts as insane is ultimately a question of power, according to Focault.
Demoex was counted as madness in a similar way. To my great grief and astonishment Demoex became taboo to talk about at my work, Vallentuna 2:nd High, where the experiment once started. I looked forward to train my students in argumentation and let them take part in the internet debates. I thought Demoex was a good thing both for the students and the school. Where else in the world can all students vote in the City Council from the age of 16? In Stockholm’s highly competitive educational market this must be a dream marketing argument. I took for granted that the school should use Demoex in education and marketing, but instead the former headmaster told me to be quiet. Demoex must not be associated with Vallentuna 2:nd High. I was not allowed to talk about the experiment in my teaching. My boss warned me.
Our Core Values in Vallentuna are “Commitment, Equal Dignity and Development”. Demoex fit pretty good with this values, but it was forbidden to talk about the experiment. Tragic, but understandable. We had no ambition to change the politics, we just wanted to try to change the political system, to mix direct- and representative democracy. But our opponents saw Demoex as a radical populist party. We failed to explain that changing the political system doesn’t mean changing politics. Demoex might be dangerous to dictators, but not to the popularly elected politicians in Vallentuna, Sweden.
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