What Does Democracy Look Like?
Editorial by Sarah Stuteville, Co-Founder/Lead Journalist, The Common Language Project August 3, 2006
In the heat of a street protest in The United States the most popular chant that will rise out of the crowd is the impassioned cry, "This is what democracy looks like!" I use this example not to reiterate the tired clich� that Americans are proud of their democratic ideals, but to underscore how the term democracy has become so omnipresent in American political rhetoric that its meaning is now beginning to elude us.
I fear that a random sampling of the well meaning and politically informed protestors at such a demonstration would reveal an inability to define democracy beyond the usual platitudes of "free elections," "freedom of speech," "a free press," and "freedom of assembly."
I'm as guilty of this as the next American. When I embarked on a six month trip with a nonprofit online magazine intending to cover under-reported stories from around the globe, I imagined we would be discussing economic and gender equality, politics and human rights violations, but somehow democratic issues never really entered my mind. I come from a political context that allows me to casually brush the idea aside, assuming that everyone knows what democracy is and simply chooses whether or not to believe in it.
Almost immediately I realized my mistake. Whether it was Cambodians explaining that democracy means little to them within the larger struggle against abject poverty, Indians questioning the significance of being coined "The World's Largest Democracy" amidst rampant corruption, Pakistanis worrying that democratic reforms will be impossible as long as they are a frontline in The War on Terror, or people from Kazakhstan struggling against leaders who treat capitalism and democracy as synonymous, I began realizing how truly ambiguous the term democracy is and how little debate over the issue exists outside of the "with us or against us" game that has masqueraded as an international political conversation over the past five years.
As an American, and a citizen of a country that wages wars in the name of democracy, I began to realize my moral obligation to encourage a real conversation that explores some definitions of the term. Interestingly, it was a Palestinian friend that finally forced the issue. We were drinking Taybeh in a quiet bar in Ramallah, six months after democratic elections brought Hamas to power in Gaza and the West Bank and resulted in international diplomatic isolation and the freezing of millions of dollars in American aid when Rami became the first person in my life to ever ask point blank, "What does democracy mean to you personally?"
Photo by Alex Stonehill.
Like many Americans on the political left (and many Palestinians that I've spoken to), my politics have for too long been motivated by what I fear and despise: the Bush Administration, war, religious extremism, inequality, greed, and bigotry. I'd almost forgotten that it is also my responsibility to define what I value and love. Rami's friendly demand that I reclaim the term democracy from the realm of political manipulation and convenient abstraction seemed like the right place to start reasserting my values alongside voicing my frustrations.
I went to the dictionary and found "democracy" defined as: "A government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives."
But what does that definition mean in the reality of today's politics and my life? We all know that the term democracy is used to express much more than a specific form of political organization; it's meant to evoke an idea, an ideology, or even a feeling. Perhaps that's why each of us must start the defining ourselves.
The dictionary defines a political end, but to achieve that end and for it to be meaningful, we have to have a spirit of democracy within our societies and ourselves. For me, a true definition of democracy begins with a description of what that spirit looks like.
The most crucial first step is engaging in political debate and dialogue within our communities: without this basic level of political communication there is no hope for a democratic spirit to develop. For example, at the Panorama Center in Ramallah, young people gather every other week to discuss and interpret current events in a public space.
But every sector of society needs to participate in discussions like these, and in order to do so they need to be provided with certain tools. Here, equal education opportunities are key to ensure that all classes, genders, and groups are involved in political dialogue. Access to diverse media and information sources is crucial for participants to become acquainted with solid facts, develop their own opinions, and maintain an awareness of opposing viewpoints. A commitment to quality public education and media awareness programs is integral to reaching these goals and ensuring that the public has a diversity of choices as well as the information needed to make those choices wisely.
In order for the public to have the time and opportunity to participate in regular public discussions, stay informed, and receive a quality education, the society as a whole must be concerned with citizens' basic needs. Thus a strong civil sector that provides basic services such as health care, poverty alleviation and infrastructure development is a crucial component of real democracy. These services must be provided in a humanitarian rather than a political spirit so that survival cannot be used as a tool of political manipulation.
Here I would like to speak to the United States government's decision to cut aid to Palestine as a result of Hamas' election to power in January. If our government and our people's concerns are those of fostering a democratic spirit around the world, and if we can recognize that doing so requires a serious humanitarian commitment, then using aid as a political maneuver - no matter how strategically important it may seem - is in direct contradiction with our democratic mission as well as morally inexcusable.
The root of the word democracy is "demo" or "people." In order to have a government of, by and for the people, a true democrat must be concerned with the wellbeing of the entire populace, and thus a humanitarian first. True democracy is not served by prioritizing the fight for your party, politician, ethnicity, religion, or specific community. In the United States, for example, many people on the left cheer the failures of the Bush administration as proof that their "side" is correct, often forgetting that this perspective forces them into a position where they feel vindicated when violence continues in Iraq, or when a humanitarian disaster like Hurricane Katrina exposes the incompetence of their opponents.
Above all else I believe that democratic responsibility begins with the individual and the individual's assurance that their opinion and political participation can and will effect change. This requires the belief that our opinions and ideas serve more than our own immediate interests and are used to broaden debate and promote positive change. For Americans this might mean that our desire for security against terrorism must be subordinated to our desire to respect human rights and personal freedoms. We must challenge ourselves to be open-minded and self-critical so that a democratic spirit of ideas and values rather than interests and power-grabbing become the foundations of our politics.
No society on Earth can claim to have truly achieved democracy. Instead, I think all of the ideas explored above are indicators of a democratic spirit in a society. But for Americans and Palestinians alike, true democracy remains a work in progress. The level of "fairness" or "transparency" in the elections that brought Bush or Hamas into power is largely irrelevant. What both Palestinians and Americans should be focused on is addressing our respective failures as individuals and as nations to nurture all aspects of the democratic spirit.
With that in mind this piece is not intended as a final word on democracy but rather as an invitation to discussion. If Americans and Palestinians are interested in seeing their democratic ideals evolve, an international debate that develops and challenges those ideals is essential. I know I'm excited to hear ideas, responses and critiques from both countries and to see the conversation grow.
© 2007 The Common Language Project
