Jona Staal: DEMOCRATISM: An introduction to five models of civil protest

This booklet comprises a series of public interventions in Tokyo and a context-specific essay, realized by writer Vincent W.J. van Gerven Oei and visual artist Jonas Staal during a “Creator in Residence” working period at Tokyo Wonder Site Aoyama, Tokyo, Japan. The title “Democratism” refers to the ambiguous status of the concept of democracy in the Japanese language (minshushugi) as an “-ism” (-shugi), just like capitalism, relativism, or marxism. This fact makes the concept of “democracy,” which Western countries often propound as the final and perfect product of occidental intellectual development, just one of the many options the Japanese can choose from to be enacted.

It reduces a “unique” and “civilized” concept to a mere multiplicity of rules, opinions, and strategies for communication.