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The new meaning of democracy by Abid Ullah Jan After refusing to heed the voice of millions of anti-war protestors, Bush came out with a vision of turning conquered Iraq into “a model democracy”. He said this would be “a lesson to other American foes”. (1) Note that he did not say other anti-people dictatorships. The more it is getting hard for Bush and Blair’s to hide their duplicity, the more it is getting interesting to analyse the recent news reports. Latest statements from “democratic leaders” about the “Iraqi dictator” are basically blowing off the American and British people as nothing more than a focus group that they are not interested in listening to (“President unbowed by protests”, News, Feb. 19). Blair said that he was proud to live in a democratic country that allowed people to march for a cause. Just two days later the press blared: “Blair to defy anti-war protests” (The Guardian, Feb. 17, 2003). Specialists in letting the naked emperor believe that he is nicely dressed were quick enough to call anti-war demonstrations “immoral”(2) and “irresponsibility and exhibitionism”. (3) To change the meaning of democracy, Washington Post (Feb. 23, 2003) came out with an editorial “Democracy’s Choices”, whereby it arms Bush and Blair with some circuitous arguments. Its editorialists suggest that the “continuing dissent should not paralyze” them. Instead, public demonstrations “should inspire President Bush to make his case more clearly and strongly.” Opinion polls are now worthless. According to Washington Post, “British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar and their allies are the only ones who have chosen the toughest political act”; i.e., “looking past the polls and reasserting their support for the United States.” ‘Ignore the people, support the US’: this is the new standard for democracy from now on. The concept of democracy as a government of people, by the people, for the people, has fast turned into government of puppets, by the puppets, for the bullies in Washington. This is the basic principle of the game for at least those who are outside the US. Within the US, democracy means a powerful government that considers its people’s opinion precious till it comes to power. Their votes are counted like diamonds. However, they are treated like sheep when it comes to post-election opinion. They are no more than a “crowd” as Thomas Sowell called them in his February 23 column in Washington Times. Washington Post also proudly applauds Blair and Aznar, who “watched the protests that filled their capitals last weekend, acknowledged the message, then called Mr. Bush to say they would not back down before Saddam Hussein. Theirs is a stand on principle…” (4) This is democracy. John Reid, the Labour party chairman, took the marchers head on, saying they recommended doing nothing other than sustaining a status quo “under which there are people being murdered, tortured and dying and starving.” (5) Interestingly, none of these leaders think the same for Palestine, where people are butchered on daily basis to sustain occupation by a barbaric regime. Blair cited atrocities committed by Saddam and warned of the potential horrors if there were no war against Iraq. This argument is not given for Israel. Perhaps because it is the kind of democracy Bush and Blair want to impose on Iraq. Some might consider February 15 a historic day for it gave birth to global democracy with more than 10 million people expressing their clear and concerted will in hundreds of cities on every continent. In fact, this is the beginning of global tyranny and the open promotion of local tyrannies for serving global Masters. The experiment has begun with Afghanistan and is being tested for further replication in Iraq. People’s will is no longer valuable. You can freely express your views but in advanced “democracies” such as the US, you may not even be allowed to march, or publish an anti-government advertisement in the mainstream media. It doesn’t matter if 85 percent of the public in Italy and other places oppose US policies; it is fine as long as their Masters approve of them. Opinion polls are no longer political dynamite for the tyrants. Once upon a time, they used to be so for the then democratic leadership. Public opinion has now moved off the centre stage. It is no longer a prime currency of power: poll numbers in the political realm are no more the equivalent of stock prices in the corporate realm. The forces of tyranny have gone so strong that opinion polls are no more like periodic off-year elections, which used to predict the real elections. This trend is becoming more prominent in the US, UK and their strong partners in dictatorship, such as Egypt and Pakistan. Elsewhere, the signs of old, pro-people democracy still exist. For example, Gerhard Schröder of Germany and Roh Moo-hyun of South Korea won the leadership of their countries on the basis of what their public actually wanted. Let Bush and Blair give a new meaning to democracy. Let them impose Karzai, Musharraf and Mubarak type of dictators around the world. Let them fully support war, occupation and repression carried out by democracies like Israel. The worldwide demonstrations are an indicator of the kind of two world orders we are going to witness in the near future. Labels and notions of democracy, or otherwise, are irrelevant. The marchers have put faces on the numbers. Majorities around the world have clearly rejected global tyranny. The marchers who flung themselves into action clearly showed that threat to Bush and Blair doesn’t lie in Afghanistan or Iraq. The “World of Disorder” they want to fight against doesn’t lie outside their borders. Everyone marvelled at efficient coordination of nineteen men (US official figures) who brought down WTC on September 11. On February 15, 10 million coordinated their actions. The world mastering demi-gods neither marvelled, nor moved. This was, nevertheless, people’s – not “terrorists” – response to global tyranny. Rejecting it will have far more negative consequences than September 11. Unlike the geographic boundaries mentioned by Samuel P. Huntington and Thomas Freidman, this thinking divides the world into the real “world of order” and the “world of disorder”. The great majority have expressed their opinion to the policies of regimes in London and Washington. Until the final clash between the world of order and disorder in the near future, let the likes of Bush and Blair and the elite Security Council denigrate “we the people’s” opposition as a “crowd”. Let them use the UN as an instrument of war, not peace. Let them wage another war ignoring the reality that the calculus of their probable win has radically altered. Before the 15th the war seemed a war on a geographic location in the name of correcting a wrong. Now, for the first time, it is evident that the “axis of evil” has no boundaries and the global tyrannical designs respect no bounds. Reaction and consequences of the coming war would be as unanticipated and varied as the definition of democracy by Bush and his Allies. References. 1. Dana Milbank, “Bush: Iraq Can Be Lesson to U.S. Foes”, Washington Post, Friday, February 21, 2003; Page A20. 2. Michael Kelly, “Immorality on the March”, Washington Post, Wednesday, February 19, 2003; Page A29 3. Thomas Sowell, “If crowds are to be our guide”, Washington Times, February 23, 2003. 4. Editorial, Washington Post, February 23, 2003. 5. Ewen MacAskill and Michael White, “Blair to defy anti-war protests”, The Guardian, Monday February 17, 2003. Concluded February 23, 2003
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