AKOMISMO

There is an inherent irony in having democracy shoved down a country’s throat. First world countries consider it a panacea, and most third world countries (especially those that democratized after the Cold War) take it as a bitter pill. Still, democracy means different things to different countries, but there is nothing more ironic than having liberty, freedom and equality forced upon you. The countries in the Middle East know this best.

But we don’t even have to bring up just the example of Iraq to see how democracy, when unchecked, can go wrong. Democratization has spurred and strengthened ethnic conflict in sub-Saharan Africa. Democracy has allowed for bureaucratic authoritarianism to take root in southeast Asian countries such as Singapore, South Korea and now, the Philippines. (Just observe how powerful Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has become.)

What bothers me is having to hear the United States’ plans to conduct “backdoor regime change” in Iran. With the hardline position Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has adopted against the United States, United Nations sanctions have grown to be an unrealistic move, especially with Russia and China saying they won’t support it.

At this point the US is also calling for legal action against Iran’s refusal and they plan to meet with other world powers in Paris with the end view of coercing Ahmadinejad to follow their will. In the background, I can actually see Rumsfeld, Cheney and Wolfowitz draw up their Iran war plan. After all, the United States hasn’t been quiet about the possibility of military action.

To promote democracy in Iran, they plan to tap what a Muslim scholar calls a “silent, dormant and weak” democratic movement within the country. To do this, they plan to broadcast their propaganda in Farsi throughout the country, encourage students to learn about the US, allow more Iranians to visit the US (which I find ironic given their current immigration crisis) and to empower their women. The 300,000 strong Iranian diaspora (read: exiles) in the US will also be tapped. I cringed when Condoleeza Rice declared that they will support the Iranian people’s “aspirations for freedom”.

However, one scholar states that the United States’ time for supporting democratization in Iraq has passed. They have two problems: first, they failed to support the democratic movement when it was actually strong and pulsating and second, they have to reconcile the support they lend to Iranians in the US while they move to sanction their motherland.

The United States will also have to contend with nationalism — a large portion of the Iranians believe they have the right to nuclear enrichment. And lastly, economics: Iranians currently enjoy the lowest gasoline prices ever ($0.40/gallon). Can they support a country that will deprive them of all their rights and benefits? It can be argued that the world is paying for Iran’s convenience, however I would like to point out a historical fact: they didn’t win the Cold War. Capitalism has been the world order since November 1989 and the surging price of oil only testifies to how bad things can get. The confrontational foreign policy of the Bush government isn’t compatible with a system that requires cooperation.

Democratization has always been that software that allows countries to connect, compete and collaborate with one another. It has allowed for capitalism, free trade and globalization. However, not everyone buys into what it’s selling. To some, democratization is a virus. China sure doesn’t need it and the Iraqis are not that much better now they’re with it. We are in a new Cold War but this one is escalating rather quickly. So what bothers me most is this: How can the United States speak of supporting the Iranian peoples’ aspirations for freedom when clearly, democracy is only meant to contain the defiant Iran?

Here is what people often forget: democracy isn’t good but neither is it bad. It is a political process, a means, a tool. And as such, its value is determined by those who use it and by how it is used. I love democracy because I believe in its ability to allow people to empower themselves. But I scorn it when a country’s leaders allow for the opposite to happen or promise freedom if only to serve their own ends.

It is because of this why our own democracy here in the Philippines isn’t working, and why the United States promotes peace inasmuch as hypocrisy in the world today.