X-it

Elections. The right for people to select their representatives in a free and fair manner. It’s the ultimate building block of any democratic civilisation. It’s a holy grail. It’s sacred. But it’s also delicate and needs to be well-managed and cared for. Needs to be nurtured. Democracy is more than just the act of putting an X next to your selected representative (person or party) every 4 years or so. Democracy is a day to day business with threats lurking within and from the outside.

People fight, get imprisoned and die for the ideal of a free vote. People
get banned, tortured, silenced for the dream of 1-man- 1-vote. For many in the US or in Western Europe democracy has lost its historic and sociological weight because it has been present in the voters’ lives from birth. But even in those societies not too long ago women could not vote. So the battle for democracy isn’t a victory gained that long ago. It is in fact a very recent achievement if we look at history from a century long perspective.

And yes democracy has its set of rules that vary from country to country. Two-party models like in the US or till not too long ago also in the UK. And ‘more representative’ models like in Western European countries like Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands,... But the basics are the same. An individual votes free of intimidation or fear or threats. A fair vote where political parties involved are equal before the law and constitution, and with equal access to media. And certainly the fact, set in stone, that every man’s and every woman’s vote is equal.
Democracy is very much alive and kicking these days with polls across Europe and in Lebanon. The vote in ‘Babylon’ has been watched closely by its neighbours, the US and Europe. Lebanon has gone through turmoil recently. Turmoil in fact that still goes back to its civil war some decades ago. There has been war, strife, political assassinations with suspected involvement of neighbour Syria. There have been Israeli invasions. There have been UN boots on the ground. There has been political stalemate. There have been Hezbollah rockets fired into Israel. So last weekend’s poll was certainly edgy and full of expectations, fears, hopes, threats. Lebanon seems on the fault line of moderate Arab states and the more conservative, hard-line neighbours like Iran and Syria. A fault line that defines the region but also Lebanese society within.

Official results indicate that the coalition under so called pro-Western politician Saad Hariri has won a majority in parliament. Saad’s father was killed by a car bomb not too long ago. A political killing that seemed to be orchestrated in Syria. Hezbollah, locally known as the Resistance, but by others labelled as terrorists, got more than a third of the seats in parliament. But the elections seems to have gone reasonably smooth and thus in the end democracy has won.

Washington had issued threats against an eventual Hezbollah election victory. But democracy also means accepting the result whatever it is. If the people have casted their ballots in a free and fair manner then the whole world needs to accept and respect the outcome. And that counts also for the US. Even if the winner might not be the preferred one. Even if the winner has blood on its hands. Threats don’t help democracy. It creates a promotion of selective democracy and selective democracy is not true democracy but fake dictatorship under the veil of democracy. And that can never be accepted.

Same some years ago when Hamas won the elections in Palestine against its rival Fatah. The international monitors declared the vote reasonably free and fair but the West rejected the outcome as they did not want to deal with Hamas. It undercuts the Western promotion and export of democratic values and principles. Hamas then was the democratically elected winner by the Palestinian people and thus had the right to form a government. Everybody has to respect that. What certainly the West had the right to do was to refuse to set up financial aid programs with Hamas till they would recognise the state of Israel. That for sure is a rightful step as the fact that Hamas did not and does not accept the right of existence of Israel totally undermines their status in the world of civilisations based on international law. But the will of the Palestinian people to elect Hamas in fair elections needed to be respected fully and simply. Even more amazing is that soon after those elections neutral, international research showed that the Palestinians didn’t vote for Hamas because of its hard line stance against Israel, but mainly because of the corrupt abuse of funds within the then governing Fatah party. It was day to day bread and butter issues that drove a majority of Palestinians towards Hamas, not so much geopolitical games.

Meanwhile people across Europe have voted for the European Parliament. The integration of Europe has been and still is a complex and difficult path. It has its supporters and its enemies. It has its obvious benefits but too often feels like a far-away, labyrinth of administration and policy making. For too many Europeans, the European Union is too distant and too big to grasp. Too few really understand how it defines their day to day life. By a set of trade rules, or cross-border immigration laws, or the real impact of having one common currency. It’s complex and thus not to be captured in a sexy, 20 seconds soundbite in the evening news and thus rejected. And for many national politicians it is the easiest scapegoat to avoid real explanations and revelations. So to no surprise the turnout for the European poll was low and many Euro-sceptic parties gained seats. It’s just the train of history moving on to the next station. Or the non-stop journey of the pendulum.

From politics to arms sales is a very simple step. The Swedish peace institute SIPRI announced that global military spending rose by 4% last year, despite the economic meltdown that hit us all in September last year. Business of death is doing just fine – recession or not.

In fact if you look at the sales since 1999, then the business has gone up with a whopping 45%. Last year some 1464 billion US dollars where spent on weapons. Just take a deep breath and read that figure again. Nearly one and half billion US dollars spent on bullets, bombs, fighter jets, submarines,... Death sells. Fear sells. It’s mind blowing. Overkill delirium. Don’t even start thinking what countries can do with such an amount of cash because you might get suicidal tendencies.

And on top of that, keep in mind that the cold war is over! The mad rush to more and more and more and more weapons under cowboy-in-the-White House Ronald Reagan and the Soviets is history. But clearly death and destruction is still a booming business. Very healthy. It doesn’t need bail outs.

Interestingly, as per the study of these Swedes, the US remains the biggest arms spender. Some 607 bn US$ last year, but China and Russia – despite its economic woes – are catching up quickly. So the race is on (again). And the more the race catches speed, the more the arms salesmen are travelling around the globe with a smile. The grim reaper is travelling first class undoubtedly.
American company Boeing is the world’s top arms producer, with British BAE coming second. Over the last 7 years the value of the world’s 100 top arms makers has increased by more than a third. Kick that. That’s what they call a real hot investment return.

Throw out. Was just listening to “Come all you madmen” by US punkrockers The Briggs. Great album with fine lyrics and the right atmosphere. Track 5; ‘Charge into the sun’; goes like this ”Let the truth unfold. We are waiting for an answer.” Damn right!!!

C-Ya

collateral – first half of june 2009