"Catalans want to vote - Human towers for democracy" - Videomissatge des de Berln
Videomissatge del Casal Catal de Berln i l #39;ANC Deutschland des de Berln, on els Xics de Granollers aixecaran un seu castell per a "Catalans want to vote - Human towers for democracy"...
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"Catalans want to vote - Human towers for democracy" - Videomissatge des de Berln - Video
Guns N Roses - Chinese Democracy (Bethlehem,Pa) 5-13-14
Guns N Roses - Chinese Democarcy (live) Sands Casino Event Center Bethlehem,Pa 5-13-14.
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Guns N Roses - Chinese Democracy (Bethlehem,Pa) 5-13-14 - Video
Who #39;s Undermining Ukrainian Democracy: Putin or the West?
Global Research News Hour Episode 66 By Michael Welch, Lloyd Axworthy, and Rick Rozoff Global Research, May 14, 2014 The crisis unraveling in Ukraine is proving to be among the most intense...
By: Adept Yogi
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Who's Undermining Ukrainian Democracy: Putin or the West? - Video
'Certainly it is a fascinating election, even if he becomes prime minister. What is fascinating is how, suddenly -- with the feeling that Modi may win -- perfectly intelligent people with integrity jumped ship.'
'Already, the great intellectuals are saying: "Yes, yes, it doesn't matter. A few thousand Muslims are killed. It is immaterial. Ultimately there will be development." What development?'
Girish Karnad, one of modern India's finest playwrights, tells Vaihayasi Pande Daniel/Rediff.com why he is concerned about Narendra Modi coming to power.
Girish Karnad, who will turn 76 on May 19, has blistering views about Election 2014.
The playwright has made it plain, in many interviews, that he abhors Narendra Modi's style of politics.
Karnad even campaigned for Congress candidate Nandan Nilekani in the Bangalore South seat and considered campaigning against Modi in Varanasi.
Karnad -- who made headlines a couple of years ago for denouncing V S Naipaul's anti-Muslim stance -- courts controversy if it bolsters a humanitarian view he is fierce about.
His plays have employed mythology and history to shed light on contemporary issues, but he will not make any mythological comparisons in this election because he declares it is too risky.
Girish Karnad spoke to Vaihayasi Pande Daniel/Rediff.com at his Bengaluru home.
What do you think of the Modi phenomenon? If you spoke to anyone from the Bharatiya Janata Party even two weeks ago they told you that a victory was already in the bag. And that Narendra Modi was on the way to becoming prime minister.
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'Democracy is a government by the grumblers'
Plenty of academics argue that democracy long pre-dated the Athens of two millennia ago. The great Amartya Sen defines democracy as public argument, and so locates it in India centuries before. Whenever it started, monarchy and barbarism have tended to be more widespread. By 1941 there were only 11 democracies left but in the following 50 years an extraordinary surge took place.
As The Economist argued in a fine recent essay, in the Seventies and Eighties autocracy gave way to people power in Greece, Spain, Argentina, Brazil and Chile. This was preceded by its triumph over Nazism in Germany and empire in India; and followed by its triumph over communism in the Soviet Union and apartheid in South Africa. Everyone wanted a piece of it.
But if you look at the past five years, suddenly democracy seems to be in retreat. In the Arab Spring, tyranny gave way to hope, only to be replaced by tyranny. Few fledgling democracies there have worked out. Uprisings in Tehran and more recently Kiev have led to the same familiar rhythm of raised and then dashed hopes. Perhaps the biggest external threat comes from the rise of China, whose managed capitalism and strict controls on freedom present a powerful rival to Western liberalism.
Yet for all that, the biggest threat to democracy is the enemy within. Across advanced democracies everywhere, a hatred of elites and new populism, much of it fuelled by a financial crash in which the rich became richer and the poor became poorer, is eroding the basis of our political system. For different reasons, but at the same time, whole nations are becoming ungovernable.
In America, an anachronistic constitution, theocratic propaganda on cable television and the legalised bribery that is lobbying make government almost impossible. In France, deep corruption, hopeless leadership and the rise of Nationals Marine Le Pen have a similar, stultifying effect. In Britain, the collapse of party allegiance and the expenses scandal have given way to four-party politics and, possibly, an era of hung parliaments. The EU, meanwhile, is a carnival of bureaucracy in which populist xenophobes have their day in the sun.
This is an alarming state of affairs. Churchill was right: democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others that have been tried. Democracies tend to be richer, more stable and less in favour of war. The freedom they enshrine to boot out government is precious. And our democracy is the result of sacrifices made by generations of men and women who gave their blood and lives so we wouldnt be ruled by thugs and warriors. That is why next time you hear your mate say he cant be bothered to vote, you should slap him across the chops, and keep slapping him, until he grasps the depravity of what hes saying.
By the way, turnout for local and European elections later this month is predicted to be around 30 per cent.
Amol Rajan is editor of The Independent. Twitter: @amolrajan
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Amol Rajan: We must halt the dangerous retreat of democracy