On the predatory nature of democracies
A gesture can be a million words, and even the smallest symbol or sleight may portend the darkest consequences. The recent use of the phrase ‘Jewish State’ during Middle East peace talks in Annapolis is a fine example. Although superficially meaningless, as most Israelis are in fact Jewish in faith or origin, such phraseology condemns millions of Palestinians and other minorities to the status of second class citizens within Israel or the occupied ‘autonomous’ regions of Gaza and the West Bank.
The same situation applied in South Africa during Apartheid, as the independent slave nations of Lesotho and Swaziland were surrounded by South African mines and factories in which their inhabitants worked. It was a great deal for the Afrikaners, as they did not have to worry about providing welfare, healthcare, or education to the workers from these (in)dependent states. Do Palestinian inhabitants of the occupied West Bank get to vote? I’m not sure, but I doubt it.
The state of Israel reminds me of ancient Sparta, an autonomous kingdom which was ruled by tens of thousands of 'equals' who were supported by the perioikoi (or dwellers around) and the helots (a slave under-class owned by the state), a system which the Spartans called Utopia. At the time of the fall of Spartan civilization at the battle of Leuctra in 371 BC, there were only some 9,000 Spartan equals, or Spartiati in existence, who were outnumbered 20 to 1 by their Helots. The Theban army of 9,000 free men found themselves outnumbered by a feared Spartan army of some 12,000, but the heavy Spartan dependence upon slaves and mercenaries proved to be their undoing. It just goes to show that freedom is well worth fighting for...
Athens, which had been defeated only a generation before by its great rival Sparta (404 BC), was famous for being a democracy. However, only Athenian citizens could vote and, naturally, not every inhabitant was a citizen of Athens (certainly not the slaves or trading migrants). We see the same pattern repeated across the modern world, where so many people are still unable to vote. In England women didn’t get the vote until 1918 (if they were over 30 and householders), and in America women couldn’t vote until 1920. Tax paying green card holders who have been legally resident within the United States for over a generation still can’t vote. Clearly the Athenian ideal of being worthy to vote is still a popular one.
Democracy is no great deal in of itself though, as many people find themselves restricted to those parties who can afford to stand for election (just two in America), or else are not too frightened to stand up in front of a crowd. In the United Kingdom a party with less than half the popular vote stands to gain a massive majority which gives it carte blanche on every government policy (even those not included in the manifesto) for a term of up to five years. In 1983 the UK Conservatives won less than 46% of the popular vote and yet had over 60% of the seats in parliament. As less than 20% of the population is generally represented by an MP of the ruling party for whom they voted, the popular notion of an elected dictatorship seems appropriate.
If Israel became a melting pot of Christians, Jews and Arabs then it could and should thrive, but, after all, a pure democracy has been likened to two wolves and a sheep discussing who is for dinner...only a state with protected individual human rights and personal freedoms can ever hope to survive in harmony...
The same situation applied in South Africa during Apartheid, as the independent slave nations of Lesotho and Swaziland were surrounded by South African mines and factories in which their inhabitants worked. It was a great deal for the Afrikaners, as they did not have to worry about providing welfare, healthcare, or education to the workers from these (in)dependent states. Do Palestinian inhabitants of the occupied West Bank get to vote? I’m not sure, but I doubt it.
The state of Israel reminds me of ancient Sparta, an autonomous kingdom which was ruled by tens of thousands of 'equals' who were supported by the perioikoi (or dwellers around) and the helots (a slave under-class owned by the state), a system which the Spartans called Utopia. At the time of the fall of Spartan civilization at the battle of Leuctra in 371 BC, there were only some 9,000 Spartan equals, or Spartiati in existence, who were outnumbered 20 to 1 by their Helots. The Theban army of 9,000 free men found themselves outnumbered by a feared Spartan army of some 12,000, but the heavy Spartan dependence upon slaves and mercenaries proved to be their undoing. It just goes to show that freedom is well worth fighting for...
Athens, which had been defeated only a generation before by its great rival Sparta (404 BC), was famous for being a democracy. However, only Athenian citizens could vote and, naturally, not every inhabitant was a citizen of Athens (certainly not the slaves or trading migrants). We see the same pattern repeated across the modern world, where so many people are still unable to vote. In England women didn’t get the vote until 1918 (if they were over 30 and householders), and in America women couldn’t vote until 1920. Tax paying green card holders who have been legally resident within the United States for over a generation still can’t vote. Clearly the Athenian ideal of being worthy to vote is still a popular one.
Democracy is no great deal in of itself though, as many people find themselves restricted to those parties who can afford to stand for election (just two in America), or else are not too frightened to stand up in front of a crowd. In the United Kingdom a party with less than half the popular vote stands to gain a massive majority which gives it carte blanche on every government policy (even those not included in the manifesto) for a term of up to five years. In 1983 the UK Conservatives won less than 46% of the popular vote and yet had over 60% of the seats in parliament. As less than 20% of the population is generally represented by an MP of the ruling party for whom they voted, the popular notion of an elected dictatorship seems appropriate.
If Israel became a melting pot of Christians, Jews and Arabs then it could and should thrive, but, after all, a pure democracy has been likened to two wolves and a sheep discussing who is for dinner...only a state with protected individual human rights and personal freedoms can ever hope to survive in harmony...
posted by The Angry Man at 6:35 PM
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