Is Democracy Broken?

In some parts of the world it certainly looks that way. An article in the Huffington Post entitled "From Istanbul to Rio and Philly; This Democracy Thing is Broken" certainly gives the impression the author thinks so. I suspect he has a point, certainly the idea that a "majority vote" rules seems to have got lost. Now those who disagree with any elected government regard it as a "right" to conduct campaigns of "civil disobedience" as they try to force a change of policy, ideology or even the government to whatever it is they approve of. The current unrest in Turkey is a case in point, the government of Mr Erdogan was elected by a majority vote in a popular election which was even held up as a "model" for the rest of the region, but it appears there is a substantial group who want to throw him out and replace him with someone else.

That has always been one of the problems with "democracy" you are stuck with whoever the majority voted for, and since many vote in what I shall call a "tribal" manner - in other words they simply can't bring themselves to vote for the candidate of any party other than the one they always vote for - it can mean, in a system such as Britain's or the US, that in some constituencies, the 'tribal' Party will always win, even if the candidate is technically a "Dead Parrot". Most other systems share this problem, the candidates are usually part of a "political elite" who have all the levers of control to the media, the money to promote themselves and sometimes even the tacit support of a large and very influential body entrenched and protecting their own interests in the inevitable bureaucracies that are the real governors of any nation. It is said that it actually takes ten years or more for the economic changes initiated today to filter through the bureaucrats and become a reality for everyone else. A similar 'reality lag' affects almost everything else as well.

We have the illusion of being able to change governments, but I no longer believe this is real. All to often only the faces in the front row change, the same faceless puppeteers remain in the background pulling a new set of strings. Recently I reread an item I have now managed to misplace, which postulated that the 'life' of any democracy is about 200 years, then it degenerates rapidly into a form of oligarchy and dictatorship with burgeoning bureaucracy no longer serving "the people' but turning inwards and protecting its own rights and privileges, while the "Political Class" pull up the drawbridge and place barriers to any threat to their own continued hold on power. Another article raised this again, pointing to the current arguments in the US about the power of the Federal Government and the entrenched power of various Federal Departments. There are certainly echoes of what happened in Rome and in various other "democracies" of antiquity.

Vice Admiral, Horatio, Viscount Nelson made an interesting statement regarding "republics" -

"I have seen much of the world, and I have learnt from experience to hate and detest republics...there is nothing but tyranny & oppression, I have never known a good act done by a Republican, it is contrary to his character under the mask of Liberty...He [Napoleon] is a tyrant, a many headed monster that devours your happiness and property...nothing is free from this monster's grasp. A republic has no affection for its subjects...a King may be ill advised and act wrong, a Republic never acts right, for a knot of villains support each other, and together they do what no single person dare attempt"

While I acknowledge that he is speaking from the perspective of his own era, I have to say that my own experience of living in Republics that he has a point. When I look at some of the "Presidents" purporting to "rule" various nations, I see would be "Emperors" and many of them are not subject to the limitations sensibly imposed by the French post Napoleon, or in the US which limits the President to a maximum of two terms. For many, and even for the "best" examples of democratic societies and governments, I suspect it is an illusion. As long as we have a "ruling political class" and an accompanying and permanent "bureaucracy" we cannot have a true democracy, one in which a candidate is personally known and who, when 'sitting' in whatever legislative body, actually votes according to what his or her constituents want and NOT the "Party Line" because that is what the ideology demands.

I'm not sure I would say "Democracy is broken" but it is certainly not very healthy at the present moment wherever I look at it. What I'm not so sure of, is how it can be cured. Revolutions, as Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Iraq, Iran, Syria and many others prove, is that the replacement for the overthrown regime is often worse than the one it replaces. Corruption is rampant everywhere, even in the west. There it has a different, quasi-legal face, but it is still present in the manner government contracts are awarded, legislation is 'modified' to suit lobby groups and so on. 

Perhaps the Admiral had it right, perhaps the answer is a return to rule by a "King in Council" - but that also has its problems and history is littered with examples. Plato ha.d it right I think, at least his 'model' of the phases of a 'republic' has been validated by history. It remains only to see where ours goes from here ..

A Day of Infamy

Today marks a day of infamy in Germany, one not much mentioned by socialists, and when it is, it is always with the excuse that it was done to "protect the rights of the workers from fascist exploitation." What am I talking about? No, I'm not talking about the similar event in Hungary three years later, I'm talking about events in the so-called German Democratic Republic on this day in 1953.

First, a little history. When the Nazi gvernment finally surrendered in 1945, Germany was occupied by the Allies in the West and the Russians in the East. The western powers tried to get a democratic process into place, and to hold 'free and fair' election, but Stalin wanted complete control and a "soviet satellite" to include the whole of what remained of Germany. Many of Germany's pre-war eastern provinces, including both East and West Prussia and parts of several other eastern "lands" were summarily transfered to Poland, or, in the case of East Prussia, the Russia herself. Stalin's plan to gain control of the rest of Germany required the imposition of "socialist" government in what remained, including the western occupied sector.

Carefully orchestrated riots, demonstrations and intimidation disrupted elections in a number of western occupied, sectors, including Berlin. In the east, the Soviet army made sure there was no opposition to the German "Socialist Unity Party" in any election, but they failed to gain their objective. Even Stalin's attempt to starve West Berlin failed, thanks to the "air bridge" which kept it supplied.

In 1949, Germany was partitioned, the Western Lands becoming the Federal Republic of Germany, while the remaining six Lands and East Berlin, became the German Democratic Republic, a "one party state" firmly under Soviet control. The Socialist Unity Party set about nationalising all major industries and activities, brought in laws restricting private enterprise and property ownership and the rebuilding of their military and police "to defend socialism." By 1952 they were running out of money, but still pushing ahead with their legalising of confiscation of people's businesses, property and homes. It was this that triggered the events that began on the 17th June, 1953.

It started with the passing of a resolution to intensify "Sovietisation". This was to be achieved by forcing small businessmen, traders, craftsmen and farmers to pay higher 'fees' for 'services' from the State. People owning property were to be forced to "rent" spare rooms, or, if they owned a second property, to accept tenants at a rental determined by the state, but which made no allowance for the land tax, maintenance or service - all of which remained to the charge of the owner.

On the 16th June, 1953 builders in East Berlin went on strike after the 'employer' announced that their pay would be cut if they failed to meet the 'quotas' set for their 'output'. Word spread quickly, and on the morning of the 17th 25,000 workers with homemade placards and banners assembled outside the House of Ministries to protest. As the day went on the crowd grew, despite attempts to disperse them by the Police and State Security. A small number of determined demonstrators actually managed to storm the seat of the government itself and it was clear the unpopular Socialist government was in danger of being overthrown.

The Chairman of the Central People's Committee of the Socialist Unity Party, Walter Ulbricht, called on the Russians for help. Within hours, Soviet troops and tanks were on the streets. Over 20,000 soviet soldiers were turned loose with their tanks under orders to suppress the revolt. Ulbricht's propagandists went on the offensive, branding the strikers and protesters "dupes of the western capitalist imperialists" and so began the reprisals. How dare the "masses" challenge the "leaders"? In the immediate intervention, 513 people were killed, a further 106 were executed for 'crimes against the people' and 1,838 were injured and 5,100 arrested. Of these last 1,200 were sent to prison for five years or more - all in the name of "protecting" the very workers who wished to reject the socialist "Utopia" Ulbricht and his cronies wished to impose.

A fascinating little footnote is the fact that some 16 Soviet soldiers were subsequently executed by firing squad for refusing orders to fire on unarmed civilians. Ulbricht and his cronies were saved, and went on to build a wall and a death zone in their efforts to imprison the people they purportedly 'served' in the name of their socialist paradise. The 17th June, 1953 must stand as a day of infamy, a day when an unrepresentative government, driving an unnatural economic philosophy was saved from its just desserts by an even greater oppressor. It locked the people of Germany's eastern provinces into a further 36 years of hardship.

Unbelievably, the Party that caused this is still in business as "Die Linke" and still refuses to admit that not only is their ideology false, but that their efforts to impose it led to nothing less than the murder, false imprisonment and misery for the millions of people trapped by the Russian occuppation. Only when the Soviet troops were finally withdrawn in 1989 did this evil government fall.

Their example of a socialist paradise is something every socialist today should be compelled to study - including the use of force to impose their twisted, unworkable and worthless ideology.

Judge not ...

Several recent conversations have given me to think - always dangerous - about the way we respond to other people, how we see them and how we 'see' ourselves. Each of us is unique, we may be siblings, we may share cultural, economic and even intellectual experiences, but we remain unique. In part this is probably genetic in that it impacts on the chemistry on which we operate, but to a very much larger extent it is because each us, through childhood, had different interactions with parents, relatives, neighbours and other children. Where one person may find criticism a challenge to improve, another may find the same sort of comment so discouraging they become convinced they can never master something.

The old saying that one should not criticise another unless you can walk a mile in their shoes is very perceptive. The trouble is that we cannot 'walk a mile in another's shoes' since we can never fully experience the world as they have been conditioned to do so. What we can do is take account of someone else's family background, their self-perception and their reactions to the world, and try to be understanding when faced with what we may consider to be a poor response to something. All too often though we find that it is easier to shun someone we label as 'awkward' or even as 'stupid' than to deal with trying to adjust our own prejudices, fears or responses. We tend to shun behaviours that we see as 'negatives' in ourselves.

Part of the 'growing up' experience we all go through teaches us to self-analyse and to be self-critical. Once we develop a certain 'image' of our abilities, we can either excel or, where the 'image' is a negative one, fail to develop at all. Naturally we also develop the 'image' we present to the world, which may be very different to that we have of ourselves. That can lead us to making an effort to 'hide' what we see as our inadequacies by overplaying behaviour that we think shows the opposite. People who suffer from an image of themselves which reinforces their insecurities, often try to present themselves as confident and 'in control' which can make them seem aggressive and over assertive. Of course, the response this gets from many of the people they meet tends to reinforce their 'inadequacy' self-image and it becomes a bit of a vicious circle.

In my own case, I learnt quite early to consider myself as not particularly bright, and that being noticed usually got me into a lot of trouble. The most damaging 'praise' I got constantly was the statement, "Well done, you did OK, but you could have ..." That "but you" always stung and it always meant that whatever I'd done was never going to be good enough. On the other hand, my attempts to please often resulted in attracting the wrong response. So I learnt to be invisible. Fortunately, I still got noticed by people who encouraged me and tried to reverse the negatives. Thankfully, in part, they succeeded, but it was a long and very uphill battle to eventually build up the confidence to tackle taking responsibility for myself, my career, a family and eventually emigration to a new world and a new life and career.

It came as something of a shock, ten years ago, to meet some old school acquaintances who told me they'd 'envied' me at school. There was a double shock here, first in their perception of my home and family life, and secondly that theirs might have been tougher than my own. Even more surprising was the discovery that many of those who'd had far better and more economically stable homes, had not achieved even a third of what I had since leaving school. All the assumptions I'd cherished about their 'advantages' over me were blown out of the window and it made me realise how dangerous it is to allow yourself to think in this way.

We are unique. Each of us has strengths and each of us has weaknesses. We each choose whether to build on the strengths, or reinforce our weaknesses. The latter is self-destructive, the former is much harder work, but infinitely rewarding, but even more so is the realisation that each and every person we meet faces the same choices, though their choice of development may be influenced by experiences we can never share. That is when one realises that it is important to be grateful for the rewards you reap, and, at the same time, to be tolerant of the failures you see in others. None of us is every 'perfect' and we are certainly never 'right' a 100% of the time. We all have our own failures, or 'skeletons in the closet', but equally we have our triumphs. We should celebrate those more, but we should also celebrate others triumphs as well.

Above all else we need to avoid judging others against our own self-criticisms. We need to understand why someone else behaves or responds the way they do. We need to 'walk a mile in their shoes'. Probably we need to make peace with ourselves as well. Often those who throw dirt at others do so out of a sense of their own inadequacy and are attempting to make themselves feel superior in doing it. In fact, as one of my mentors once told me, what you take from another, you take twice from yourself. The saying "Judge not, lest you be judged" reveals an enormous truth, for, when we 'judge' someone else, we are exposing some of our own inadequacies and prejudices. Never a good thing to do.

We are not all the same, though we may be 'equal in the eyes of God' we do not have the same experiences, the same world view, or the same abilities. It behoves us to remember that, and to make allowances. A lot of conflict can be resolved simply by trying to understand someone elses point of view and, in today's 'polarised' world, that may be a good starting point.
 

Another Country Up In Flames?

Turkey is the latest Middle Eastern nation to be in the grip of 'popular' demonstrations and protests, and yet again there is a worrying element of fundamentalism showing. I note no one in the western Media is now talking about an "Arab Spring" in Turkey, perhaps, because they have belatedly realised the only winners in such a conflict are the extremists. Perhaps also, because Turkey is a supposedly, at least in "liberal" thinking, a "European" style democracy. Its government is "officially" secular, they use the "Latin" alphabet and not Arabic script, and they're members of NATO ...

This ignores some very deep divisions within the "nation" which is a post 1919 creation and far from a homogenous in it's peoples. There has been a long running and unacknowledged "civil war" with the Kurds in the East, and the Armenians (mainly Christian) were brutally suppressed in the North East soon after the modern Turkey was founded. Some argue that the Armenians suffered a campaign of genocide. The country is full of contradictions, although there is "officially" tolerance of other religions, Islam is dominant, and there are a number of radical voices now calling for a return to the use of Arab script in all writing, and the imposition of Sharia as the primary law.

In the country which was the home of many of the greatest theologians of Christian history, Christians are allowed to practice their faith under sufferance. All theological colleges were closed in the 1920s, and a law passed in the 1930s insists that the Patriarchate of Istanbul (officially still Constantinople in the Christian title) may only be filled by a Turkish national trained in Turkey. That last part is the tricky one. With no Theological Colleges, where would such a person be able to get the training? The present Patriarch (in his late 90s) is likely to be the last.

It is one of the side issues in the upheavals in many of the Middle Eastern/North African countries involved in the "Arab Spring" that Christians have become the target. Ancient churches have been defaced and sometimes destroyed, clergy seized, tortured and even killed, Christian families have been attacked, turned out of their homes and villages and accusations of "blasphemy" are frequently used to stir up violent mobs. One could be excused for wondering whether the "Arab Spring" is anything more than an opportunity for fundamentalists to seize power, commit genocide and "purge" their countries of everyone they have decided is "unclean" and therefore an "enemy of Islam".

The Syrian civil war is instructive, even Muslim Syrians are now being targeted by "foreign" fighters who declare they have come to "regain the land for Islam", apparently irrespective of the wishes of the Syrian people themselves. I have lost count of the numbers that have died in the fighting, it numbered in the tens of thousands the last time I looked, and recently I read of a 15 year old boy "executed" by foreign fighters for "insulting the Prophet". Apparently they misunderstood a local expression, but this act of barbarity says a great deal about what this war is likely to bring to this benighted land. Again, one wonders whether those who started the demonstrations demanding change in their government ever considered the outcome they seem likely to get.

And now similar "protests" are starting in Turkey. Given the nature of the man at the helm, and the mindset of the peoples and the politicians in general, I am hard pressed to anticipate a happy resolution. Revolutions seldom produce lasting change or a better state, government or organisation than the one overthrown. I expect to see Turkey in flames before there is any solution.

Piper Alpha Remembered ...

It is now twenty-five years since the Piper Alpha Offshore Oil and Gas Platform was destroyed in one of the largest such disasters on record. A combination of poor hand-over procedures between shift l, the maintenance crew that started it, put a blanking plate in place, but had oers, bad planning and a combination of engineering features turned this into an event that shook the entire inductry and resulted in major changes to the way such platforms were constructed, managed and operated. Lord Cullen's report makes horrendous reading, the ctalogue of errors is almost unbelievable. Could it happen again? Possibly. As long as there is a human element to any operation involving explosive, combustible or flammable materials on platforms such as this, there will be a risk.

The Piper Alpha disaster killed 167 men. It happened because procedures for a routine maintenance task were not followed. A valve had to be removed from a high pressure gas line for repair, and a blanking plate was supposed to be put in place to allow gas to be pumped while the valve was misng. The crew doing the maintenance didn't secure the plate, and when the new crew came on, they failed to complete the task. An Operations Manager, saw the indicator showed the valves closed, assumed the work was complete and opened the valves from the Control Room.

The rest, as they say, is history. Procedures were rewritten after this, and Health and Safety tightened up considerably. There have been other incidents since Piper Alpha, but, to date, at least in UK waters, none have gone as badly wrong as Piper Alpha.

Hopefully the operators, regulators, owners and accountants will never forget the lessons learned here at such a heavy cost.

An Admirable Prince

Yesterday was the 92nd birthday of HRH Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth, Baron Greenwich, the Consort of HM Queen Elizabeth. He spent it in hospital recovering from what is described as 'abdominal surgery' and one of the most touching images I have recently seen, was of our gracious Sovereign walking into the hospital carrying a birthday card for the man she fell in love with when she was a 13 year old Princess and he an 18 year old Cadet at Dartmouth.

The Press love to mock him, making a huge fuss over his supposed public 'gaffes', accussing him of 'racism' or of being 'out of touch' with 'the people'. I would suggest that the people who write these attacks do so largely out of a desire to drag down someone so much more able, and with so much more to his credit than they will ever achieve. I have had the pleasure of meeting him on three separate occassions, none of them official, and none of them 'formal', yet, on the second and third encounters he immediately recognised me and said, "We've met before. Remind me of the last occassion."

He has a formidable memory for names and faces, a razor sharp sense of humour and a powerful intellect. His sense of duty is legendary, and his relationship with the Queen, his wife, is as solid as the Rock of Gibralter - despite numerous attempts by the Press to find 'dirt' to cast aspertions. The devotees of Diana accused him of all manner of things he was supposed to have said or done to 'destroy' her, all of them false. He doesn't mince his words, and calls a spade a spade. Anyone who earns a rebuke from him is going to get exactly what he thinks and not something that can be misunderstood.

Until his latest illness, Prince Phillip has followed a punishing schedule of official duties and appearances. He is Patron of, and takes an active interest in, over 800 charities. He served in some of the most active theatres of WW2, earning several 'mentions in despatches' and decorations. Since then he has served the nation and its people with humour, loyalty and dignity, often in very difficult circumstances. At 92 I would suggest that the vast majority of his detractors would be making excuses to retire, it is a mark of Prince Phillip's sense of duty that on the eve of his operation he accompanied the Queen to Westminster Abbey to mark the 60th Anniversary of her coronation, despite being noticeably unwell and having to cancel two other engagements later.

I have nothing but admiration for this man, and I hope he recovers quickly to look forward to many more years of health.

Sheltie Walking

Sheltie walking is the Monk's latest 'hobby', though it helps keep him in shape as well. Harry is an active little fellow and enjoys his garden and the toys he has to play with. He loves company as well, so we regularly meet with other Sheltie owners and take walks in scenic areas. It allows all the Shelties to socialise and to play as well. So, last Saturday, we took a walk in Woerrstadt-Neuborn with ten other people and seventeen Shelties.

Harry, Artus, Finja and Larry, waiting patiently for their humans to get going.

Two blue merles waiting in the shade.

Plenty of interesting things to be investigated while we wait ...

Herding their people and exploring the fields.

Refreshment stop. Portable water dishes and water dispensing at the half-way. They're all terribly polite and wait a turn at the water.

Human refreshment break. Oh well, wait in the 'fall-out' zone in case anything snackable drops.

Harry, Artus and friend taking a break from more entertaining games.

They had fun, we had an enjoyable walk in the warm shunshine, and a little amusement when the Shelties found the stream, some lovely pools, some lovely cool water to splash in, share with each other and their owners. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of them in that game. If you have never seen Shelties racing each other and the sheer exuberance they show for enjoying themselves, you've missed something.