Democracy?
Interestingly, the Ethiopians I’ve talked with about the government have a strangely solid faith in the power of the democratic process, even as they acknowledge its massive failure in the past elections here. They have all said that Meles Zenawi (the Prime Minister, who has been in power since 1991 and shows no sign of letting go) has “gotten the message” and that now things will have to change. The widespread discontent, riots, and resounding defeat of Meles’ party in Addis and some of the regions, they believe, strongly conveys the message of the people; and most importantly, that Meles will act on this “warning” of sorts, even if his party made the elections both a farce and an excuse for violent crackdowns.I wonder if this belief will hold true…for example, the U.S. government seems to happily ignore the strongly voiced opinions (and, it would seem livelihood, health, education, basic rights, etc.) of at least half its people, while blatantly manipulating national elections, and we are supposedly the world’s best example of something vaguely resembling a democratic republic….I think this speaks to the undeniable hold the idea of democracy and the “power of the people” has over people’s minds. People here are well aware of many of America’s faults, but to my surprise their final word on U.S.-related discussions is always, “but you are the best example we’ve got of democracy in the world” or some such. As in, yes, Bush & Co. are terrible, but life for you is still better than life for us. And they aren’t entirely wrong, sadly, even though it’s debatable that the difference in quality of life has anything whatsoever to do with ideals and/or implementation of "democracy."
In other news, it now appears I've been locked out of viewing my own blog. THIS is fun.
posted by Margot @ 1:48 AM
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