Democracy (di-'mä-kr&-sE) n. The kind of governance observed in late 20th / early 21st century USA
Whatever you may say, for me, this is the most contemporary definition. The most popular one. Why not accept that. In a recent BBC show, someone was ferociously taking this stand. US has been successful, why not follow them? Well, you might then say that its only a minority that supports their view, but just because of power and money they are able propound the notion of the best democracy.
If I agree that view, then where is democracy? Do we have in India? Do we have in Congress? Do we have in CPM? Don’t we have a few set of decision makers everywhere?
All hoax. They tell us voting rights is a sacred cow and you need to worship that. You should exercise your voting rights and put your seal on one of those symbols. Why symbols and not names? Well, we do have a lot of illiterate who cannot read. If someone cannot read, how can he take a decision on who should lead the country? Stop - you are an anti poor "boorshwa". Pro poor means that you keep them uneducated, tell them the sacred cow is the ballot paper and worship means putting the stamp right on the so-and-so symbol. Get them to study classes and brain wash them on politically motivated theories. Tell them they are getting educated. Keep them loyal.
Condi Rice just finished a WW inspection of di-'mä-kr&-sE. The tour report is getting reviewed and the bosses will soon issue the next action plan. If the anti-democratic Marx said "goal justifies action" the di-'mä-kr&-sE advocates "actions justify goal". What if no WMD in Iraq. The action was good. What if Osama is still at large. What if Mussharaf is still CEO-turned President.
Condi has aired some observation without waiting for the action plan. She found that Russian democracy is not really there. A lot more to go. These godless chaps are killing di-'mä-kr&-sE with central government appointing governors. BAD. Should be the other way. Governor deciding on the President. Like Jeff Bush designing ballot paper favouring George Bush in 2000 election. Putin did not sit pretty. He pointed to the fact that American President has been elected by court and not people in 2000. Well, what a battle it was. Really enjoyed that. I guess India should send election observators to US next time. Make sure the ballot papers are designed well. Give them some of these machines too. Oh no, Americans get confused once you put anything new into their hands. And the press will cry, India tried to influence US election.
In a way 2000 was better. The di-'mä-kr&-sE went till court. It failed permenantly there. It did give up forever. So we did not have a fight in 2004. di-'mä-kr&-sE failed and Bush won. A clearly dead cat. Churchill said "The best argument against democracy is a five minute talk with the average voter". Blair and Bush now proved that you don’t have to do even that. The new proof is that it failed to get Bush and Blair out of power. Right after results came, Americans realised this and are looking for migrating to Canada!
Putin gave another instance - The largest democracy of India is having Governors appointed by the center. True. And we have these guys as the guardians of demo-crazy. Very soon we will have a law that would enable governors to screen the candidate list and approve like the Iranian guardian council. See how boldly Buta Singh kept democracy safe in Bihar. When he found horse trading (with a tilt towards NDA) he put his foot down and recommended dissolution of assembly. Well, we cannot tolerate this. We are not a people used to horse trading. And least when it is against the interest of ruling party in Delhi. Well, he was guarding democracy there for quite sometime with a suspended assembly. He thought the horses would themselves find their master without being traded.
Buta and Bush. Buta works for Congress. Bush also works for Congress. His own man in Afghanistan has been to US begging for a couple of files where he could put down his "President of Afghanistan" stamp. Bush is driven by the absolute desire that di-'mä-kr&-sE should reign. Not Hamid Karzai. He sent the psuedo-boss back home - Man, be in office every morning, watch CNN and go home in the evening. I will tell you when I think I can give some job for you. I know your people are being so-called harrassed in our prisons. Please try to understand our policy. Finally these are some murderers who are "motivated by something the west can never comprehend". Like Nayanar once went on record. "ethayalum chattathu RSS kaaralle?"
Thanks to Blogs and success of American propaganda - nowadays no one worried about freedom of press. Many cases it is over freedom. Like chasing Diana to death. Like selling imaginary weapons to George Fernandez. Like seducing Shakti Kapoor. Why even - the COPS in CNN was showing them catching prostitutes. One was a policeman in a clown costume driving by and getting the girls - recording the voice until she utters xx dollars. She is caught. The other is a police woman waving at passerby cars, offering dates and fixing up rates for service. Once done, cops come in.
Press is not free to report everything though. Why else Newsweek should have withdrawn a news report? . Clearly they are afraid. Why Tehelka is struggling these days? Why, of late, Sun is being threatened of actions for publishing Saddam photos? Well, I was happy on one thing. US understands Jeneva accord. They confirmed this is a clear violation of Jeneva accord - Not a full stop yet - while the people involved has clearly violated, US as a nation is not responsible for this violation. Now what? It could be a few US soldiers. Can you try them? Sorry sir. You cannot try US soldiers for war crimes in International War Tribunal. If you really want US to be questioned, you will need to establish di-'mä-kr&-sE in the rest of the world. Then you come back and tell us about international bodies which we are not in our control.
That’s another argument why you should go my definition. Blair will soon be asking Oxford to redefine the word as US Congress drafts it. If you want to question that, you need to follow it first. If NC(I) can get votes for you, why should you worry about Karunakaran or Muraleedharan.
Deepastambham thulayatte
Namukku kittanam panam
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2 comments:
One thought:
Any other country with Power & Money will do the same things that US does today.
Remember Soviets after the World war, Japan during WW2(how many chinese people they killed..). Even India, with its big bro attitude in sub continent.
Nations behave just like humans(Ofcourse its humans only). And "power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely" hold good for them also.
I do believe any form of democracy is far better.I am not able to find out any better, viable alternative in todays world. The poor illeterate peaple of India once toppled the mighty Indira herself, proving "India is not Indira". Is that the power of democracy?
The problem is with peaple only, not with system.What we lack is Leaders with Integrity & Courage.
Also I would like to rephrase Kennedy's quote:
Ask not what di-'mä-kr&-sE can do for you – ask what you can do for di-'mä-kr&-sE and your country.
Freedom of press: Whatever may be the outcome, can you imagine a Thehelka or Newsweek happening in China or Saudi Arabia?
Anyway that was a nice article.
What needs to be understood is that there is no "absolute freedom of expression". The famous saying: My freedom ends where yours begins, is so true. The extent of freedom varies; it's a reality we all need to accept.
Absolute freedom is an academic concept which we can talk about in classrooms.
And, media organisations are not the only ones that are caught in the shackles of reality. We all are as individuals limited by practical constraints. Business conglomerates too have their limitations, inspite of their riches.
There is nothing angelic about democracy that makes it superior. It works to a certain extent under certain conditions, just as dictatorship works to similar extents in some other conditions.
And, every system is only as good as the people who run it.
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