What does the situation in Belarus say about democracy and its flaws?
Although democracy functions very well in theory, human nature is to do anything in order to gain an advantage in life. Lies. Corruption. Violence. These are all inevitable in politics. However, in a democracy, these issues are often brushed aside, scoffed at. Behind the smoke are manipulative, scared individuals, who can easily create any persona they want just to be admired by their people. No one knows their true nature. Alternatively, when one's true psyche is known, they employ the other old magician's trick: mirrors. It's so easy to a politician to say, "This is all your fault, you voted for this. This is what you wanted," and we are expected to live with it, because our only alternate is to be accused of disrupting the state, causing political unrest, etc., etc.
Occasionally, if the individual is corrupt enough and society wants change enough, politicians will employ both smoke and mirrors, and blatantly lie. Lukashenko did not win 80% of the vote, and his opposition didn't win less than 3%. These are fabrications, poorly spun tales. And when someone tries to untangle them; reveal the truth? Arrest. Torture. Being forced to flee. You don't even have to be aggressive. Michalevic was arrested after the election, prior to, he hadn't even been inappropriately accusatory or insulting. This is mankind at some of its worst. They are manipulating and torturing and doing horrible things to ensure one man stays in power, therefore ensuring economic unrest for all his people. That is not right at all. That's not democracy, however it is possible because of it. It's all just smoke and mirrors.
To be quite honest, it's sad what this says about democracy. Democracy is defined as: a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state. What we see in Belarus is not a democracy, it shouldn't be called that. It is a corrupted dictatorship that uses the democratic title to get by without UN intervention. The more I think about this, the more it disturbs me; what some people will do for power is sickening.
ReplyDeleteNice post Brigitte.
ReplyDeleteIn response to your question 'What does the situation in Belarus say about democracy and its flaws?' I would have to say that it shows that all democracy can or already are corrupt and that that will eventually lead to nowhere good. These people in Belarus were under the impression that their voices would be heard, that they had a say in there future head of government, clearly, they were mistaken. The problem with Democracy no a days is that it is not Democracy in it's truest form: Each individual member of the population votes on each and every issue. No leader. The community in and of itself. Whenever you put anyone in charge you are going to a) have a basis opinion in place and b) impose whatever they feel fit. This will always lead to corruption, it does not matter if Gandhi was the leader, someone would always believe in the opposite of what he did. I hope this is an adequate response to your question.