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WORLD CITIZEN LETTER: 530
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WCL 530 September 2006
Taboo topics and democratic deficits
Several topics that are rarely heard in political discussion or are treated superficially relate to failings in democracy. They include the Indian caste system; the gulf between large language groups and minorities; the weaker religious sects in Islam; the historic hostility of certain racial groups; and the acceptance of male dominance in most societies. Some of these failings are objected to by a few sufferers, but most are kept out of sight and out of mind by complacent majorities who are often more or less
unaware of their very existence.
Caste in India and its accompaniment, the minority of casteless 'harrijans' are officially no longer of legal status, but in reality they keep a social hierarchy largely in place. Perhaps no longer intact, they still play an important part in Indian politics and society. And for Indian overseas migrants they may also operate, whilst to the surrounding society remaining invisible. That invisibility can make them all the more significant. Social barriers and hierarchies are generally stronger when they are taken for granted.
Such habitual invisibility applies similarly to the Islamic divisions of Sunni and Shia, the most important sects of the religion. Only festivals and the dominance in particular states generally brings them to light. Muslims realise that such a fundamental division is one that has either to be ignored or glossed over, since it strikes at the universality that is a cardinal feature of the faith. Equally, the fact that the greatest war between sovereign states since 1945 was carried on by Muslims is never mentioned when the unity of the Islamic community is extolled.
Language remains one of the greatest barriers to full participation of people in democratic self-government. Minority rights may be denied, as when until recently Kurds in Turkey were forbidden by law to speak Kurdish. But more often differences in linguistic capacity limit self-expression. It takes some six years of higher education for most non-anglophones to acquire fluency to put them on an equal footing with those whose mother-tongue is English. Anglophones and those educated in English do not notice this barrier, since for them it does not exist. But it prevents the poor and many others from full participation in political process except within their own, perhaps tiny, linguistic communities.
Race is well known as an impediment to full participation in the political life of many states and has been fought over for centuries. Nevertheless, its effects are still often ignored. The part played by the historic antagonism of Arabs and Persians in bringing about the Iran-Iraq war is not often noticed by outsiders. Only when some ghastly tragedy such as the Rwanda genocide reaches the news media do the majority realise what volcanoes of hate exist quietly within the minds of some groups of racists. But Armenian minorities in exile the world over have not forgotten the Turkish genocide of 90 years ago.
Finally, feminists in the western countries may have struggled to focus attention on gender issues but big changes are still to occur in countries such as Saudi Arabia. Nor is the general attitude in other places changing very quickly. Until a hundred years ago it was rare to find any country that considered the female half of the human race deserving any sort of equality and even today the persistence of hierarchies generally ensures that military traditions of male leadership are still dominant.
John Roberts
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