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The Dilution Of Democracy
international |
rights, freedoms and repression |
opinion/analysis
Saturday August 13, 2005 10:38 by Peter McCrossan petermccrossan at gmail dot com
Democracy is the only feasilbe wepon in the fight against terror. Moves by several nations recently, most notably America and Great Britain, but not excluding our own little nation, to combat the threat of International terrorism have sought to protect our democracy and freedom by removing and altering some of the most basic things which define it. The underlying logic is that to curb abuses of freedom by those elements which would seek to harm us, removing some of that freedom will eventually lead to the removal of the problem itself. Most recently the British Governement have adopted a shoot-to-kill policy for suspected suicide bombers which led to the death of Jean Charles de Menezes an innocent Brazilian man.He was set upon by police officers and shot several times in the head after attempting to flee from them as his visa had expired.This was not as a result of unsure or over enthuasiastic police officers but as a result of the policy in place. A similiar policy exists in the United States where the rough guidelines identify people in unseasonal clothing or walking unnaturally as potential bombers. Remind you of any homeless people in Dublin? |
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Jump To Comment: 1 2that if the "democratic process" as we understand it, was present in many states of the middle east, mid asia, and central to northern africa, you would see not only parliamentary representation for groups committed to armed conflict with the west but moreover would see such groups take power in many states.
& when we realise that such conflict finds its roots as much in expropriation of resources, and historical imperialist meddling as the more commonly perceived return to religious extremism.
I reckon the trick is to realise that all democratic states are "emergent", be they like Egypt or Israel, the UK or Russia or for that matter Ireland or Spain. & I reckon it is very important to realise that "our democracies" have not really excelled themselves on many key points, and as such with little more than superflous successes are not well placed to "lecture" others on democratic transition or the rule of law or to preserve themselves from quickly transforming as you warned into authoritarian "security states".
The primary differences between what was once termed "the second world" and the first seems to be the prevailing conditions of "peace" or more accurately "absence of conflict" and the official extension of franchise to the resident population which mean that states such as G8 Italy boast more corruption and per capita child poverty (according to the World Bank) and more state media inteference (according to rsf) than either Egypt or Israel yet still is thought of as a western democracy because as a weak but poignant example : women can vote and get elected to office.
We might need to learn very bitter home truths on representing "the wishes of the people", and who the democrats really are.
Bush: "God Bless Amerika, Apple Pie, and Mom. Except Cindy Sheenan and other Pinko Commie Fag Liberal Terrorist, who disagree with me."