Democracy and bread!

This news has been read 17139 times!

After every disappointing parliamentary result, every delay in the development and progress of the state and its openness, every delay in catching up with the developing countries, and every scandal of financial and political corruption, voices call for the death of freedom, the abolition of the democratic system, and the acceptance of individual rule.

This is a result of ignorance of what democracy means, or the existence of authoritarian tendencies or aspirations of some groups, and their tendency to a strong central authority, as is the case in the rest of the Gulf countries, with their belief that the presence of a unified leadership assisted by a small group of individuals can make better and faster decisions for society, compared to slow decision-making in democratic systems, which depend on collective wisdom, and deliberation in decision-making.

The opponents of democracy also believe that it requires a certain level of awareness, which is not available to all the peoples of the Third World, and therefore the decisions of the voters are often irrational. Moreover, underdeveloped peoples can easily be affected by emotional appeals, especially tribal, religious and narrow sectarian desires.

Some cultural or religious beliefs may also conflict with democratic principles, and this may push societies to promote certain traditional values at the expense of democratic values, and to adopt alternative systems, closely aligned with their very conservative standards.

More importantly, strong individuals or groups reject democracy for fear of their privileged positions that democracy may threaten their control over resources, wealth, or political influence, so they prefer regimes that concentrate power in one hand, or a select few.

Therefore, these anti-democratic groups, unable to abolish it, seek to complicate citizens’ transactions, create harsh routine systems, and limit exceptions to the few, which are difficult for the average citizen to reach, and thus push him, whether he is an ignorant or educated citizen, to resort, in a humiliating way, for the representative who is often more ignorant than him, to help him finish his dealings, so he ingratiates himself to the official who is more destructive than him, and with greater “humiliation” to end the dealings of his constituents, and the process sometimes takes place in audio and video, without any party being ashamed of what is happening, not caring that it may be evidence and thus a large proportion of the deputies are “domesticated”, so that with time they become part of the choir of “government deputies” that they were elected to monitor and hold accountable.

Thus, the anti-democratic forces succeeded in pushing the voter/candidate to choose the candidate/representative who can help him obtain his “rights” and even what he has no right to. This pushes him to choose someone from the same tribe or sect and not someone who represents the nation.

This means that this approach will continue in every upcoming election, as long as the government is unable to stand up to the torrent of MPs’ demands, in terms of appointments, promotions and tenders, because of its desire to win their favor at the expense of the public interest, and its inability, at the same time, to develop government administration, a matter that he will continue to push the voter to search for someone to end his governmental treatment through the back door, and the result is a complete and deliberate sabotage of the entire democratic system, humiliating the citizen and the representative and sabotaging their psyches, then comes those who say that democracy is the cause of ruin!

Democracy is not only our choice, but also our destiny. It is clear that many parties will not allow us to abandon it, and therefore it is better to live with it, and make serious attempts to reform it, rather than curse it, in order to cancel it.

For the knowledge of my dear friend, if democracy disappears, then my journalist column and the column of my colleague Sami Al-Nisf will be the first victims, and this is the least of the expected evils from the absence of democracy, because ‘man does not live by bread alone’.

e-mail: [email protected]

By Ahmad alsarraf

This news has been read 17139 times!