The Ancient Greeks would have been horrified by Just Stop Oil

What would ancient Greeks have made of the current protests relating to the oil industry and identity reassignment? Very little indeed.

The Greek invention of democracy (‘people power’) emerged in the late 6th century bc after strong popular demand for more political control over tyrants and oligarchs. The result was a system in which all male citizens over 18 debated and determined all political questions in the regular Assemblies. Most official posts were held, usually for one year, by citizens who presented themselves for selection by lot (voting was considered meritocratic, not democratic), with serious consequences for failure.

Anyone who wished to wield power could do so only through his capacity to persuade a majority of the all-powerful Assembly. This is where free speech came in. Every citizen had a right to an ‘equal say’ (isegoria) in the Assembly to express his views or propose a motion. Likewise, every citizen had a right to parrhesia (literally, ‘saying everything’), i.e.