Home
Previous letters
Subscribe
Useful links
About me
Contact me
|
WORLD CITIZEN LETTER: 492
View full list of previous letters
Receive future letters by email
WCL 492 December 2004
Who wants democracy?
The idea that democracy would be a solution to the chief problems of the Middle East may be tempting to George Dubya, but it is a mirage. The most likely outcome of replacement of the rulers of the Arab states by democratic regimes would disappoint many Americans, because it would probably lead rapidly to the dismemberment of the state of Israel and a severe check to American imperialist dreams of altering the region to suit the neo-cons of the Republican party. Already the chaos in Iraq showshow unlikely an area it is for successful transition to democracy.
The titanic struggles on the Eastern Front during the Second World War illustrated the democratic potential of German and Russian peoples, but the vast heroism on both sides was lavished for the benefit of two of the deadliest tyrannies in history. If Germany was afterwards schooled to grow into democracy, Russia has had a rockier path in that direction and it seems evident that of the two, the Russian people have further to to go to learn how to live democratically in a world still instinctively nationalist. Nor will American assistance, targeted upon enlarging the sphere of profit-making in oil and other Russian raw materials, be of any great benefit.
It took most European states centuries of troubled development to reach the imperfect democracies that they now enjoy and the election of Signor Berlusconi in Italy, the rise of UKIP in Britain and the regular successes of Poujadist-style parties in France indicate how unwise it is to take democracy for granted in any of its more successful homelands. With the weakness of British education and the persistence of old imperialist yearnings, the century-old democracy in this country is still in much need of strengthening. Difficulties coming to terms with massive immigration since 1947 are a further sign of how difficult full democracy is to achieve.
The United States, that standard-bearer of freedom for over two cendturies. with the canker of slavery at its heart, was always an unlikely candidate for pure unblemished democracy. But until its better impulses were submerged by a love of money and power and the habit of making war, it did seem to be on the side of democracy.
Now the lure of setting the world to rights, heavily disguised by all the latest and best public relations spins, has set it firmly on the course of empire. And it looks as if the take-over of the world, once again, will be frustrated by the resistance offered by tyrannies, this time not on the Eastern Front, but in the Far East.
Only in Europe, where countries in the European Union are being compelled, by their own choices, to live together under a democratic constitution, does there appear a clear direction for democracy. It is not an easy way to go, nor something obviously seductive to the citizens, but the attractions much outweigh the alternatives. To revert to the nationalist patterns that led to two world wars after centuries of less widespread conflicts, would be fatal in a world stacked so high with weapons. It is not a choice for democrats, as world citizens have no choice but to be.
But unless the European Union sees that there is no stopping-place on the road to world citizenship, there will be further trouble, as the more power-oriented will succumb to the temptations of turning 'Fortress Europe' into a 21st century version of the United States. Then, with an immigrant population mimicking the role of the African slaves and the construction of a economic giant to match its transatlantic cousin, the United States of Europe could turn itself into another super-power capable of ordering the world better to its own desires. That way madness lies.
The way forward instead needs to be a clear, vigorous and open drive to achieve a world democracy. It will be at first as imperfect and partial as the democracies we have achieved in Europe and elsewhere. But it will have the potential to be what is needed, not for one group of self-seeking and self-satisfied wealthy, but for peoples all over the world. We are far from there at present, nor are we heading in the right direction. Until we stop flooding the planet with lethal weapons and trying to carry on with a modified competitive national system, we shall remain at risk. Democracy may be needed and may even be wanted, but we still have a long way to go to bring it about.
John Roberts
Comment on this letter
View full list of previous letters
Receive future letters by email
Comments on this letter
|
|