So You Want Democracy?
Is democracy empowering Islamists?
The Palestinian vote was a win for democracy - but also for a radical group the US rejects. By Howard LaFranchi
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0127/p01s01-usfp.html?s=hns
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One has to wonder where the neocons were when the Islamists were democratically elected in Algeria -- and then suppressed there by the military? Tampering with other people's cultures during the transition from colonial domination to self-determination can be a perilous business. I suspect that Bush & Co.'s sudden appeal for democracy as its justification for interference over there was the usual sort of last minute cover-up pr effort that sure is backfiring now. Similar to the misguided speech writer's phrase -- "axis of evil" -- which has set running some further hazards here and there.
Needless to say democracy entails far more than a majority vote -- as De Tocqueville and Mill both pointed out with their uses of the phrase, "tyranny of the majority." See philosopher and journalist Bernard Henri-Levy, now on book tour, who in the tradition of Alexis de Tocqueville, traveled throughout the US to find out what it means to be an American today. He shares his observations and interviews in American Vertigo.
Events: Bernard Henri-Levy will be reading and signing books Monday, January 30th at 7pm Barnes and Noble, Union Square
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"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort
to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy)
--
Ed Kent 718-951-5324 (voice mail only) [blind copies]
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PeaceEfforts
http://BlogByEdKent.blogspot.com/
http://www.bloggernews.net
The Palestinian vote was a win for democracy - but also for a radical group the US rejects. By Howard LaFranchi
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0127/p01s01-usfp.html?s=hns
............................
One has to wonder where the neocons were when the Islamists were democratically elected in Algeria -- and then suppressed there by the military? Tampering with other people's cultures during the transition from colonial domination to self-determination can be a perilous business. I suspect that Bush & Co.'s sudden appeal for democracy as its justification for interference over there was the usual sort of last minute cover-up pr effort that sure is backfiring now. Similar to the misguided speech writer's phrase -- "axis of evil" -- which has set running some further hazards here and there.
Needless to say democracy entails far more than a majority vote -- as De Tocqueville and Mill both pointed out with their uses of the phrase, "tyranny of the majority." See philosopher and journalist Bernard Henri-Levy, now on book tour, who in the tradition of Alexis de Tocqueville, traveled throughout the US to find out what it means to be an American today. He shares his observations and interviews in American Vertigo.
Events: Bernard Henri-Levy will be reading and signing books Monday, January 30th at 7pm Barnes and Noble, Union Square
--
"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort
to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy)
--
Ed Kent 718-951-5324 (voice mail only) [blind copies]
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PeaceEfforts
http://BlogByEdKent.blogspot.com/
http://www.bloggernews.net
posted by Ed Kent at 7:06 AM
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