Saturday Rave: together, not apart.

Even today, with Twitter and Facebook (and, let's face it, blogs) it's hard for the voice of a single person to speak loudly enough to make much of a difference, especially when their message is about the evil deeds of the Big People.

What's needed, of course, is a chance for all the small voices in a place to speak together.

Twenty five years ago today the people of South Africa - all the people of South Africa - got a chance to say whether they wanted the government apartheid system to continue.

Guess what?

Their voice came over so loud and clear that no one on Earth could ignore it.

Word To Use Today: democracy. This word comes from the Greek dēmokratia, goverment by the people, from dēmos, people, and kratos, power.

While we are on the subject on democracy, on this day in 1990 the German Democratic Republic finally lived up to its name (and they say that Germans don't have a sense of humour) and held its first democratic elections.