May democracy and freedom reign

DiscussãoPro and Con

Entre no LibraryThing para poder publicar.

May democracy and freedom reign

1prosfilaes
Maio 17, 2022, 10:42 pm

For the first time in my life, I'm feeling concerned about the continuance of democracy in my nation and in the world at large. So with greater respect for the difficulty of democracy, and less belief in its inevitability, I will start mentioning peaceful democratic transitions of power as they occur.

On May 15th, 2022, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was elected President of Somalia. May he lead his people in peace and prosperity until it is his turn to stand down and let another take the position.

2John5918
Jun 4, 2022, 1:37 am

The ‘new right’ is Trump’s toxic legacy – and it could shape the future of British politics (Guardian)

In British politics, the term “new right” conjures memories of the philosophy of the Thatcher years: individualism, free-market economics and a small state. In today’s US, it conjures a radical break with such views. Broadly speaking, denizens of the American new right advocate an industrial strategy, welfare programmes consistent with the traditional family unit, a crackdown on immigration and using the power of the state to enforce rightwing moral values. Its most worrying common strand is an apocalyptic fury at “woke” leftists and their supposed totalitarian hold over corporations, colleges and culture – with some proponents even believing that doing away with democracy would be a price worth paying to stop them...


3prosfilaes
Jun 21, 2022, 1:16 pm

On June 19th, 2022, Gustavo Petro was elected President of Colombia. May he lead the people of Colombia in peace and prosperity until it is his turn to stand down and let another take the position.

4prosfilaes
Jul 20, 2022, 1:07 pm

On July 20th 2022, Ranil Wickremesinghe was elected president of Sri Lanka by Parliament. May he lead the people of Sri Lanka in peace and prosperity until it is his turn to stand down and let another take the position.

5aspirit
Jul 21, 2022, 8:46 am

>2 John5918: What does "welfare programmes consistent with the traditional family unit" mean? I'm a little at a loss at whether that is widely inaccurate (as this "new right" is trying to destroy most welfare programs that don't directly benefit businesses) or has a different meaning than my interpretation.

6John5918
Jul 21, 2022, 9:41 am

>5 aspirit:

I don't know for sure. I think I interpreted it to mean general right wing support for the "traditional family unit" of heterosexual husband and wife (the latter preferably staying at home as a "housewife") and children, and opposition to different family units such as single parents, unmarried couples, LGBTQ families, open relationships, etc.

7aspirit
Editado: Jul 21, 2022, 4:13 pm

>5 aspirit: Okay, but... that's neither consistent with the general use of the phrase "welfare program(mes)" nor what's consistently supported. The people being discussed are actively undermining government support of all families as well as family autonomy. That the "good Christian" family unit is less often the target of attacks doesn't mean its political advocates want social aid to preserve it....

I'm going to assume that line was somehow badly edited from what the author wrote.

Also, for my sanity, I'll assume Brits who read actual journalism can see the hypocrisy is in the so-called support for families by people who take away parental rights in healthcare, education, and the workforce; force their queer children out of the home into homeless shelters or hospitals; who become estranged from their parents, siblings, and children because of different political views; and who cheer for a twice-divorced, unapologetically adulterous, famously lousy father at rallies where he talks about women as things to be used more than as essential members of their own families.

Though the UK seems to have further to fall from some of its social institutions, I agree that the influence of US conservatives should be a concern there.

8John5918
Jul 22, 2022, 12:07 am

>7 aspirit: I'll assume Brits who read actual journalism can see the hypocrisy

Yes, remember this is from the Guardian, a left of centre newspaper which has been very critical of the rightwards swing in UK politics and the sheer hypocrisy and lies of the Conservative party.

9lriley
Jul 22, 2022, 6:32 am

IMO when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister she drove a wedge between the two sides of the British electorate every bit as much as Trump did here in his 4 years. She never staged a coup though. Her own Tories eventually staged a coup against her. Still she was out to destroy the working class on down of British society. She waged a war of extermination against labor unions remarking in a speech for instance that the people in them (specifically those in the NMU for that speech) were 'the enemy within' of British society meanwhile at the same time the sons of these enemies were off fighting her war in the Falklands.....a war that really wasn't necessary apart from ramping up support to get her elected again and she absolutely made the situation in Northern Ireland much worse than it was. Her way of dealing with the hunger strikes was to throw more gasoline on a smoldering fire.

10prosfilaes
Ago 19, 2022, 11:45 pm

On August 9th 2022, William Ruto was elected president of Kenya. May he lead the people of Kenya in peace and prosperity until it is his turn to stand down and let another take the position.

11John5918
Ago 20, 2022, 2:24 am

>10 prosfilaes:

Yes, here in Kenya we also hope and pray for a peaceful transition. But it's still very tense and uncertain here. There are widespread allegations of vote-rigging, four out of the seven members of the independent election commission declined to certify the result, and the losing candidate is taking it to court - the recent experience of the USA has worldwide repercussions. The new president-elect was taken to the International Criminal Court charged with crimes against humanity after he was widely believed to have orchestrated the violence following the 2007 elections, in which more than 1,100 people were killed, but the case was dismissed in 2016 after all the witnesses mysteriously died, disappeared or changed their testimony, with one judge declaring it a "troubling incidence of witness interference and intolerable political meddling" (BBC). So Kenyans are still on tenterhooks.

12Molly3028
Ago 20, 2022, 5:38 am

The fight that true red, white and blue Americans are waging against the modern-day GOP is very similar to the war that had to be waged against the tobacco industry when cigarette smoking was waging war on the health of America's citizens. The health of America's democracy is at stake today.

13aspirit
Ago 20, 2022, 8:29 am

>11 John5918: Thank you for sharing your perspective. I haven't seen anything about Kenya'a fight for free and fair elections in the news (as I'm rarely on bbc.com), so your posts are enlightening.

>12 Molly3028: The health of democracy everywhere, apparently.

14kiparsky
Ago 20, 2022, 11:38 pm

>13 aspirit: Yes, I'm reading similar reports in the Times of New York as well.

15John5918
Ago 21, 2022, 12:15 am

Angola’s young voters prepare to call for change in ‘existential’ election (Guardian)

Millions of Angolans will vote this week in a landmark election described as an “existential moment” for the key oil-rich central African state, and a test for democracy across a swath of the continent. The poll on Wednesday pits veteran politicians against a generation of young voters just beginning to grasp that they can bring about a radical change and escape from the shadow of the cold war...

16John5918
Ago 23, 2022, 12:07 am

Kenya elections 2022: Win or lose, why Raila Odinga's election challenge matters (BBC)

For the third time in a row, Raila Odinga has challenged the result of Kenya's presidential elections. The 77-year-old long-time opposition leader has been ridiculed by some as a bad loser, but analysts say his petitions have been crucial in shaping and strengthening the conduct of elections in Kenya, so whatever the Supreme Court decides, this case will help improve subsequent polls...

17prosfilaes
Set 1, 2022, 6:35 pm

On August 24th 2022, João Lourenço was re-elected president of Angola. May he lead the people of Angola in peace and prosperity until it is his turn to stand down and let another take the position

18John5918
Set 8, 2022, 11:59 am

A Triumph for Kenya’s Democracy (International Crisis Group)

On 5 September, Kenya’s Supreme Court upheld Deputy President William Ruto’s victory in the 9 August presidential election. The decision concludes a hard-fought electoral campaign that, despite high stakes, was peaceful and transparent, showing the strength of the country’s institutions.

After weeks of uncertainty, Kenya’s Supreme Court has unanimously upheld Deputy President William Ruto’s win in the 9 August presidential election. On 5 September, the judges rejected allegations of irregularities presented by lawyers for Raila Odinga, the long-time opposition figure who was runner-up to Ruto. They said Odinga had failed to support his claims of ballot stuffing and external interference with the tally, concluding that Ruto’s election was valid. The highly anticipated judgment capped a peaceful and transparent campaign that, despite shortcomings, represents a significant achievement in a country where violence has marred previous polls and where public trust in electoral institutions has historically been low. The decision also cemented the Kenyan judiciary’s role as an arbiter of electoral disputes and underscored its independence. Kenya should now build on this election’s high standard to further strengthen the electoral commission and bolster its credibility, so that electoral turmoil may become nothing but a distant memory...

19prosfilaes
Abr 17, 2023, 12:54 pm

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/apr/17/how-one-man-went-from...

This is what John5918 believes in. I'm a little more skeptical about the ultimate results of nonviolent protest here, but I certainly hope him success.

20John5918
Editado: Abr 17, 2023, 1:25 pm

>19 prosfilaes:

A brave man, and we need more like him to set an example. But a nonviolent struggle generally only succeeds when it becomes a mass movement involving a significant percentage of the population, often reckoned to be 3.5% (link). Whereas in most armed struggles the active participants are drawn from a small sample of the population (mostly fit young men, some young women too), participants in a nonviolent struggle can be drawn from the entire population - men, women, children, the elderly, the infirm, etc. There is a huge range of nonviolent tools and activities to choose from, traditionally numbered at 198, but I believe new ones are constantly being added. Not everybody can pick up a gun and go into combat, but potentially anybody can march in the street, or stay at home, or join a boycott, or post on social media, or go on strike, or withdraw (or limit) cooperation with the oppressor, or bang pots and pans or dustbin (trash can) lids (see the Irish rebel song The Lid of Me Granny's Bin!)

But the main message that has to be got over to a sceptical public is that nonviolent struggle works. It's not always successful, but then neither is violent struggle, and it has been shown to be twice as effective as violence. There will be casualties, but there are (usually greater) casualties in a violent struggle. It needs commitment, self-sacrifice, organisation, discipline, training, resouces, but then so does a violent military struggle. Worth a try!

21prosfilaes
Abr 17, 2023, 4:08 pm

>20 John5918: But a nonviolent struggle generally only succeeds when it becomes a mass movement involving a significant percentage of the population, often reckoned to be 3.5%

There has to be a spark, though. Enough people believing in the idea to ignite all those who would never start a movement by themselves.

3.5% of China is 35 million people. That would be one of the largest movements in human history, and I certainly can believe that that would change China. Unlike Northern Ireland or Israel, I don't think a popular countermovement would exist in China, but that's quite possibly ignorance speaking.

22John5918
Abr 29, 2023, 12:10 am

What Socrates’ ‘know nothing’ wisdom can teach a polarized America (The Conversation)

But each dilemma usually comes down to polarized deadlock between two competing visions and everyone’s conviction that theirs is the right one. Perhaps this white-knuckled insistence on being right is the root cause of the societal fissure – why everything seems so irreparably wrong. As religion and philosophy scholars, we would argue that our apparent national impasse points to a lack of “epistemic humility,” or intellectual humility – that is, an inability to acknowledge, empathize with and ultimately compromise with opinions and perspectives different from one’s own. In other words, Americans have stopped listening. So why is intellectual humility in such scarce supply? Of course, the quickest answer might be the right one: that humility runs against most people’s fear of being mistaken, and the zero-sum view that being right means someone else has to be totally wrong. But we think that the problem is more complex and perhaps more interesting. We believe epistemic humility presents something of a twofold danger that makes being humble frightening – and has, ever since Socrates first put it at the heart of Western philosophy... This is the birth of “epistemic humility” in Western philosophy: the acknowledgment that one’s blind spots and shortcomings are an invitation for ongoing intellectual investigation and growth. But this mindset can feel dangerous to other people – especially if they feel absolutely certain in their convictions. In ancient Athens, as much as in the U.S. today, being perceived as right translated into money and power...

23prosfilaes
Maio 17, 2023, 1:12 pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fljhL-IxBJo Thai Election: Will the Military Launch a Coup?

Basically the people of Thailand have elected their choice again, and they think that the military will launch a coup yet again.

24margd
Editado: Out 15, 2023, 4:31 pm

Radek Sikorski MEP @radeksikorski | 1:56 PM · Oct 15, 2023:
Chairman EU-USA delegation @Europarl_EN. Senior Fellow@HarvardCES biuro@radeksikorski.eu

The Polish middle class has mobilized to keep us a European democracy. Huge turnout in metropolitan areas, demotivated traditionalist South-East.
In these dark times forces of light need a break and it looks like Poland might provide it.
___________________________________

Poland's ruling party set to lose power - exit poll
BBC | 15 Oct 2023

The right-wing populist Law and Justice party is on course to win most seats in Poland's general election, an exit poll suggests, but may struggle to secure a third term in office.

Known as PiS, it is set to win 36.8% of the vote, with the centrist opposition on 31.6%, says the Ipsos poll.

Donald Tusk's Civic Coalition is aiming to bring an end to eight years of PiS rule under leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski.

And if the exit poll proves correct he may have a greater chance of victory.

...The ruling party leader warned supporters it was unclear that they would win another term of office, in a speech broadcast by state TV within moments of the exit poll being published.

PiS was heading for 200 seats in the 460-seat Sejm or parliament, it said, which would fall some way short of the 230 seats needed for a majority. It is unlikely to be able to rely on the far-right Confederation party, whose leader admitted it had fared far worse than expected.

If the exit poll is borne out, Mr Tusk's party has more opportunities to form a broad coalition, with centre-right Third Way and left-wing Lewica...

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-67118787
__________________________________

Poland’s opposition leader Tusk says 3 parties have enough votes to unseat the Law and Justice party
MONIKA SCISLOWSKA and VANESSA GERA | Updated 3:45 PM EDT, October 15, 2023
https://apnews.com/article/poland-election-vote-720f7b81838c33ccb2865fb3bc6e0414

25margd
Editado: Dez 11, 2023, 4:39 am

>24 margd: Poland, contd.

Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum | 4:28 AM · Dec 11, 2023:
@TheAtlantic and @SNFAgoraJHU Author of Gulag, Iron Curtain, Red Famine, Twilight of Democracy {married to a Polish politician}

Lech Wałęsa is at the Polish parliament today to witness the end of a government that broke the constitution and tried to create a one-party state
His T-shirt says "Constitution"...

0:27 ( https://twitter.com/anneapplebaum/status/1734143003587924380 )

26margd
Dez 11, 2023, 3:25 pm

>5 aspirit: Poland contd.

Anne Applebaum (The Atlantic) @anneapplebaum | 2:07 PM · Dec 11, 2023:
scenes from the Warsaw movie theater where they were livestreaming, from the parliament, the end of the PiS government

...Recording by @TygodnikNIE
0:58 ( https://twitter.com/RuchOsmiuGwiazd/status/1734242629989093529 )

27margd
Dez 15, 2023, 5:18 am

The Most Important Elections You Just Missed
Rahul Mukherji, Harsh Mander, and Seyed Hossein Zarhani | December 2023

In November, India held five state-assembly elections. Although far short of a national election, upward of 160 million voters flocked to the polls. Little appreciated outside the country, these were in fact probably the most consequential contests to take place anywhere in the final months of 2023. They also offer critical lessons for India’s political opposition at a moment when the stakes could not be higher: Between April and May next year, Indians will go to the polls to choose their country’s national leadership. Will voters give Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) a third term in power, or will the opposition, led by the Indian National Congress, manage to persuade citizens of the world’s most populous country that they will have a better, safer, and freer future in its hands? Some experts contend that Indian democracy itself is on the ballot...

The May 2023 assembly elections in Karnataka, the only southern state that {Modi's} BJP had controlled, may provide a roadmap of sorts. Congress won that contest in a landslide, despite Modi himself campaigning in person on behalf of the BJP. Congress pulled off the stunning upset by following a smart and simple strategy: It had in place strong, charismatic state-level leaders who had the full backing of the central party leadership. It presented a clear platform focused on secularism and welfare programming that would benefit voters. And it unified and worked closely with vast swathes of civil society opposed to ethnic nationalism and majoritarianism, presenting a unified front alongside other opposition parties as well...

https://journalofdemocracy.org/elections/the-most-important-elections-you-just-m...

28margd
Jan 8, 8:51 am

2024 is the biggest global election year in history
Will democracy survive it?
Bryan Walsh@bryanrwalsh | Jan 3, 2024

...More than 60 countries representing half the world’s population will go to the polls in 2024, with an estimated 4 billion people voting in presidential, legislative, and local elections...

...about half of the world’s countries are electoral democracies, meaning they hold meaningful, free and fair, multi-party elections. And of those countries, just 10 have been democracies for 91 or more years. Twice that many countries have been democracies for 18 years or less.

...it wasn’t until the 1990s, according to Our World in Data, that more countries were democracies of some kind than autocracies.

...As of 1800, there were zero true democracies, and fewer than 4 percent of countries counted as “electoral autocracies” — meaning elections existed but were restricted in ways we would now recognize as unfree. (Count the US among them. Though there have been elections since its founding, the American vote in 1800 was mostly restricted to white men with property, and it wouldn’t be until after the civil rights revolution of the 1960s that the US could be considered a truly free democracy.)...

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2024/1/3/24022864/elections-democracy-2024-un...

29lriley
Jan 8, 12:43 pm

>28 margd: a lot of people in the United States don't realize that most countries haven't been doing democracy all that long and that includes pretty much all of Europe. Some European countries even well into the 20th century were still ruled by Kings and Queens and they and a great part if not most of their subjects believed their rule to be endowed by a Supreme being beyond the confines of earth. The communist, socialist, anarchist agitators of the 19th century and into the 20th century were offering something else than that but whatever that would turn out to be would be from scratch kind of like what the signers of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were starting something from scratch and what it comes down to are experiments in how to build a fair and equitable society. What derails things is people who through ambition for pride or greed can never have enough and there comes a naked grab for power and whatever the ideology or economic system nothing is immune to that. In a way we can look at capitalism---an economic system which has always gravitated to whoever has power whether a King/Queen despotic or not, whether an elected government but it's like anything else including socialism or communism it has its flaws and those flaws tend to get worse over time.