THE CICAK.com

Democracy, just a word?

By RAYMOND WOO

These are interesting times. Have you ever seen a time of contradiction as blatant as this?

People are willing to go to war and sacrifice their lives in the name of “democracy,” yet denounce the very result of democracy. People use the excuse of democratic rights for everything they do, yet quiver when their enemies use the same term for actions detrimental to their interest.

There has never been such a time where democracy has been so confused.

So what exactly is democracy?

Democracy, as defined by the Greeks who invented this word, means “the rule (cracy) of the common people (demos).” We can categorise democracy into three groups:

• Direct democracy, where people can directly vote on government decisions, as in the case of a referendum, or in the ancient Greek city-states;
• Representative democracy, where elected representatives represent their voters in a legislative body. It is the most common form of government in our world today; and
• Liberal democracy where the elected representatives are bound by checks and balances like the rule of law and the separation of powers.

Now, why do I say this very controversial and much-fought over word has a very muddled and elusive meaning? Remember, even despotic Communist countries had the word “democratic” in their official names, like the Democratic Republic of Kampuchea, or the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea (North Korea).

Even Adolf Hitler championed the people in the name of democracy, and no matter what we may say about him, he did come to power in the context of a true and liberal democratic system. And now, the only superpower left in the world, the United States of America, has put this word forth as a reason to “liberate” people in different parts of the world through many means such as economic sanctions and wars.

Isn’t it interesting how the War in Iraq started as a war to stop Saddam Hussein from acquiring weapons of mass destruction, but has become a war of “liberation” and for the “democratisation” of Iraq? All this despite the fact that the U.S. admitted to not having found any such weapons.

All this despite the fact that thousands have died and many more will perish in the ensuing anarchy of Iraqi society as the very result of this “war for democracy.”

But wait a minute, doesn`t the word “democracy” mean rule by the common people?

So did all the common Iraqi people want this war in the first place?

And why is the U.S. so jittery when the people themselves voted for religious parties which were a “threat to democracy?”

And why are they blatantly ignoring the Palestinian people’s democratically elected government by withholding aid and taxes (paid by the Palestinian people, no less) because of the new Hamas-led government?

Democracy is merely a fair and equitable way of reflecting the common people’s voices in running the affairs of the state. But can it become a reason for a crusade, such as the “wars for democracy and against terrorism” that have come to characterise the start of the 21st century?

As Michael Moore put it, “You can’t wage war for or against a noun.”

Can the very basic democratic right of elections therefore be ignored if the very results of it is detrimental to one’s interest?

Having failed in their search for weapons of mass destruction, the abovementioned powers have used the word “democracy” as a tool for mass delusion. It has been basically reduced to words like “righteous,” “Christian” or “Islamic,” “the people” and so on, only as a tool for political persuasion, totally devoid of its real meaning.

Democracy as a word with meaning has gone to the dogs, thanks to these “defenders of democracy.”

Basically, not many are really interested in the welfare of the common people, much less rule by them. The truth is, rule of any country has always been by the elite, whether business or political. Even in the ancient Greek cities, elections were confined to the land-owning elite. In Communist countries, despite abusing the words “people,” “democratic” and so on, they were of course despotic and led by a small group of elite people.

In the United States of America, even the election of John F. Kennedy, a white President, was opposed merely because of his Catholic faith, for Catholics were barred from the US Protestant elite at that time.

There is no real rule of the common people anywhere in the world today. Indeed, democracy is merely a tool used to delude the common people into supporting these elites to ensure their perpetual rule.

However, even though democracy is just a mirage and a dream, it doesn’t mean that it is not a beautiful dream worth pursuing. But I don’t mean by waging wars and putting the lives of innocents in danger to force democracy upon them.

Rather, we should help build an environment favourable to democracy by more peaceful means, by winning over the hearts of the people through charitable actions.

Let’s face it, you don’t exactly win over a people to your cause by bombing their country, no matter how much they hate their ruling despot.

If an administration thought of as “crazy” by the West comes to power through democratic means, so be it. Deal with it as a representative of the people through a system you championed in the first place.

If we care enough to dream and to fight for this dream, real democracy would mean what it actually is: a real reflection of our voices, not just certain voices within the limits of the elite.

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RAYMOND WOO is a contributing writer for theCICAK.

Raymond is a writer who resides in Japan, and is usually out of touch with the world outside this island-nation’s shores. But don’t worry, he still likes his teh tarik and roti canai very much.