November/December 2006 Editorial
The success of a free Iraq will be watched and noted throughout the region. Millions will see that freedom, equality, and material progress are possible at the heart of the Middle East. Leaders in the region will face the clearest evidence that free institutions and open societies are the only path to long-term national success and dignity. And a transformed Middle East would benefit the entire world, by undermining the ideologies that export violence to other lands. Iraq as a dictatorship had great power to destabilize the Middle East; Iraq as a democracy will have great power to inspire the Middle East. (George W. Bush, Sept. 23, 2006, Address to United Nations In this election year in the United States, the rhetoric in our land regarding democracy has, typically, been front and center. The Bush administration’s steadfast commitment to promoting enduring freedom abroad suggests its level of success in that project should be its legacy. The irony is astonishing. At home, we know that it was the decision by a mere five individuals that created this presidency six years ago – a handful of Supreme Court justices contradicting the will of the majority of U.S. voters that year. Tens of thousands of ballots went uncounted, especially those cast by people of color and the poor. The Bush administration arguably took office as an illegitimate presidency, and ever since has made every effort to consolidate power and claim unprecedented if not limitless authority. Democracy? Beyond our borders, we’ve witnessed this malfeasant government choose allies based on military needs, access to natural resources, and other convenient and often temporary considerations – not democratic structures. As new books by Stephen Kinzer (Overthrow: America’s Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq) and Noam Chomsky (Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy) detail, from Thailand to Saudi Arabia, from Haiti to Uzbekistan, this administration has offered muted criticism, at best, of authoritarian regimes that provide strategic assistance – while, hypocritically, leaders who don’t play by our rules, despite being voted in through free and fair elections, are undermined and assailed. Now, as the pyramid scheme of lies that created a so-called “war without end” unravels, one wonders whether our modern-day version of manifest destiny might be renamed “democracy without limits?” Of course, from the very inception of the United States, words and ideals regarding democracy have paled in comparison to actions. The U.S. Constitution promised that all men were created equal – then narrowed that invitation to white men, as black men were defined as three-fifths the “worth” of whites, and women were not even on the agenda. North America’s indigenous peoples were another “race apart,” and the nation’s founding leaders seemed to consider it a duty to assist” them. A mere decade after the founding of the Union, the Northwest Ordinance included the following language, which is laughable in hindsight: The utmost good faith shall always be observed towards the Indians, their lands and property shall never be taken from them without their consent; and in their property, rights and liberty, they shall never be invaded or disturbed, unless in just and lawful wars authorised by Congress; but laws founded in justice and humanity shall from time to time be made, for preventing wrongs being done to them, and for preserving peace and friendship with them… How different, really, is the language we used of “preserving peace” two centuries ago toward native peoples to the way our leaders speak of “transforming” the Middle East today? Paternalistic political engagement is in no one’s best interest. And yet … there is an understanding of democracy that is at the core of our values. As Cornel West reminds us in Democracy Matters, “[D]emocracy is more a verb than a noun – it is more dynamic striving and collective movement than a static order or stationary status quo. Democracy is not just a system of governance, as we tend to think of it, but a cultural way of being.” Peace and justice demand democratic principles – whereby we as ordinary people create agency over our own destiny. Participatory democracy involves denying that we are powerless in the midst of oppressive systems, and claiming our power to create true change. This is the democracy that we hold dear. This special IFOR issue of Fellowship profiles the voices of those being targeted by democracy-gone-astray – from Muslims and African Americans in the U.S., to human rights activists in the Philippines, to the countless victims of the Israel/Lebanon conflict this year. We also offer inspiring examples of democracy- in-formation – from women in Zimbabwe, to South Asian “good government” activists, to Vandana Shiva’s “principles of earth democracy.” We hope you will enjoy the balance of the realpolitik in this issue with the evidence that true democracy – what West defines as the “taking back of one’s powers in the face of the misuse of elite power” – is alive and well, and, indeed, that you are invited into that struggle. – Ethan Vesely-Flad E D I T OR I A L TO OUR READERS: ©2006 Fellowship of Reconciliation |
