DEMOCRATIC POLITICS -1
DEMOCRACY IN THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD
Write by Ajay Meena
OVERVIEW
This book is about democracy. In this first chapter we see how democracy has expanded during the last hundred years to more and more countries in the world. More than half of the independent countries in the world today are democracies. The expansion of democracy has not been smooth and straight. It has seen several ups and downs in different countries. It still remains an unstable and uncertain achievement.
This chapter begins with different stories on the making and
unmaking of democracy from different parts of the world. These stories are
meant to give a sense of what it means to experience democracy and its absence.
We present the pattern of the spread of democracy first with a series of maps
and then with a short history. The focus
in this chapter is on a look at democracy or its absence in the relations among
different countries. We examine the working of some international
organisations. This allows us to ask a big question: are hkwe moving towards
democracy at the global level?
1.1
TWO TALES OF DEMOCRACY
“Workers of my country, I have faith in Chile
and its future. Other men will overcome this dark and bitter moment when
treason seeks to prevail. Keep in mind that, much sooner than later, the great
avenues will again be opend, through which will pass free men to construcy a
better society. Long live chile! Long live the people! Long live the workers!
These are my last words, and I am
certain that my sacrifice will not be in vain. I am certain that, at the very
least, it will be a moral lesson that will punish felony, cowardice, and
treason.
These are some extracts from the last
speech of Salvador Allende (pronounced
Ayen-they). He was then the President of Chile, a country in South
America. The speech was given on the morning of 11 September 1973, the day his
government was overthrown by the military. Allende was the founder leader of
the Socialist Party of Chile and led the Popular Unity coalition to victory in
the presidential election in 1970. After being elected the President, Allende
had taken several policy decisions to help the poor and the workers. These
included reform of the educational system, free milk for children and
redistribution of land to the landless farmers. He was opposed to foreign
companies taking away natural resources like copper from the country.
Thelandlords, the rich and the Church opposed his policies. Some other
political parties in Chile also opposed his government.
MILITARY
COUP OF 1973
On the morning
of 11 September 1973, the military took over the seaport. The Defence Minister
was arrested by the military when he arrived at his office. The military
commanders asked the President to resign. Allende refused to resign or leave
the country and to his life, he addressed the people on the radio, part of
which we read in the beginning. Then the military surrounded the President’s
house and started bombing it. President Allende died in the military attack.
This was the sacrifice he was talking about in his last speech. A government
elected by people was overthrown by the military through conspiracy and
violence.
What took place in Chile on 11
September 1973 was a military coup. General Augusto Pinochet (pronounced
Pinoshe), an Army general, led the coup.
The government of the United States of America was unhappy with Allende’s rule
and is known to have supported and funded activities that led to the coup.
Pinochet became the President of the country and ruled it for the next 17
years. From a government that was elected by the people, the power shifted to
the military officers. They could do as they wished and no one could question
them. Thus a military dictatorship was established in Chile. Pinochet’s
government tortured and killed several of those who supported Allende of those
who supported Allende and those who wanted democracy to be restored. These
included General Alberto Bachelet of the Chilean Air Force and many other
officers who refused to join the coup. General Bachelet’s wife and daughter
were put in prison and tortured. More than 3,000 people were killed by
the military. Many more were reported ‘missing’. No one knows what happened to
them.
TRDYOTSYION
OF DEMOCRACY
Pinochet’s military dictatorship came to an end
after he decied to hold a referendum in 1988. He felt confident that in this
referendum, the people would say ‘yes’ to his of Chile had not forgotten their
democratic traditions. Their vote was a decisive ‘no’ to Pinochet. This led to
Pinochet lsing first his political and then his military powers. The hope
Allende expressed in his last address was realized: felony, cowardice and
treason were finally punished. Political freedom was restored. Since then Chile
has held four presidential elections in which different political parties have
participated. Slowly, the army’s role in the country’s government has been
eliminated. The elected governments that came to power ordered inquiries into
Pinochet’s rule. These inquiries showed that his government was not only very
brutal, but also very corrupt.
Do you remember a little reference made earlier to General Bachelet’s daughter
who was imprisoned and tortured who was imprisoned and tortured along with her
mother?
That girl, Michelle Bachelet
(pronounced Mishel Bashelet), was elected President of Chile in January 2006.
A medical doctor and a moderate socialist, Michelle became the first woman to
be a Defence Minister in Latin America. In the presidential elections she
defeated one of Chile’s richest men. In this photograph of her victory speech,
she is saying to her supporters:
“Because I was the victim of hatred,
I have dedicated my life to reverse that hatred and turn it into understanding,
tolerance and – why not say it – into love.”
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