You certainly heard the news about Kiev already. The Ukrainian capital is raging with protests.
At the same time, demonstrators have gathered again in Turkey. Thailand is in upheaval and in Croatia, the results of a referendum have been poorly received by many. Why are protests erupting all over the place?
In Ukraine, it is quite simple. That nation had an Orange Revolution or Pomarancheva revolyutsiya in 2004. Civil resistance spread to claim a re-match following elections that were dubious at best, having seen the re-election of a government that most despised for its sub-par achievements in bettering the country. A new vote was held under tight scrutiny and as expected a new group gained power led by Victor Yushchenko and Yulia Timochenko. The former was to be possibly a victim of dioxin poisoning and left politics after losing the 2010 Presidential vote with barely over 5%. He led Ukraine towards the West, aiming for NATO integration. The latter was his Prime Minister but things got quite cold between the two, Victor calling Yulia a political adventurer without sincere ideals. Timochenko still had very strong social policies in mind which made her popular with the people but she was to be involved in m,any criminal trials ranging from abuse of power to profiting on national deals and theft of government funds and further to bribery and possible involvement in a murder. A third participant of the Orange Revolution ( its cause actually ) is presently President : Viktor Yanukovich. He is responsible for the unrest as he recently put a stop to the talks meant to lead in the European Union ( EU ) and veer back towards Russia, stating that he was about to secure deals for gas imports with that nation? Which is the very deal that initially brought his “friend” Yulia to court for abuse of office? Yanukovich’ Prime Minister Azarov subtly referred to the demonstrations as a coup attempt.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25192792
For the population that had taken to the streets 9 years ago to put those people in power, the prospect of losing their goals to a repeat offense of corruption was too much and they are protesting again. The power in return is using strength without much care to stay afloat!
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/03/world/europe/ukraine-unrest.html
And of course, Vladimir Putin added his usual harsh comments to make matters worse but then again, no one would be surprised that he supports strong power?
Meanwhile in Thailand, violent protests are also ongoing. The people are opposed to the government of Yingluck Shinawatra. She is accused of being a proxy for her brother Thaksin that was in power until 2006 but remains omnipresent in the local political landscape. They are calling for a more democratic set-up for their country? Less authoritarian than her Eastern European counter-parts, Ma’am Shinawatra has tentaively suggested that she might resign to end the situation peacefully.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/thailand-protest-leader-vows-to-escalate-offensive-1.2447440
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-12/02/c_132935376.htm
In Turkey, a few months after the long lasting protests of the Taksim Square affair when the government used excessive force to chase people protesting at the plan to level a park for a building project, new protests have just erupted. This time, they are angry at the way the courts are handling the trial a police officer that shot and killed a demonstrator.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/12/02/337835/100s-protest-in-turkey-over-police-trial/
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/video/turkish-protesters-clash-police-over-131602928.html
And in Croatia, many are using the social; media to voice their shame over the results of a last Sunday referendum that saw roughly two-thirds of the voters say no to same sex marriage. Although I would personally support same sex unions ( the term marriage being part of the problem ), I did call on France and especially President François Hollande a few months back for passing a same sex marriage law despite vigorous protests on the streets. I thought then that he should have gone the referendum way and still do. In that view, as saddened as I may be for the homosexual community of Croatia, the right thing was done! Yes, it does raise questions! It shows that many modern ideas are actually powered by a minority of intellectual and more or less serious appraisal of the population’s intentions by dubious polls. There is one valid poll in democracy and it happens at the voting urns?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-25184483
All of these events relate to the manner in which we implement democracy. A vote-in every 5 years with more or less proportional representation that is tweaked for political gains by way of mapping regions or counties is no way to conduct matters. I proposed a corrective measure to that problem which sees us electing 5 years dictators as my dad used to call them.
Here is the essential part of a post from a year back explaining it :
White vote as in blank ones when a given voter does not choose any of the available candidates or options. It exists and is recognized in at least one country, namely Switzerland.
Recently, a friend of mine voting in France gave his Presidential election’s first round vote to the only candidate offering to implement the white/blank vote. Similarly, in the last Canadian election, another friend of mine wrote to one of the local newspapers to vent frustration at a proposal to the effect that voting should be declared compulsory as it is more a duty than a right. “What? , he argumented, one would be forced to choose amongst propositions unacceptable to him?” He was right, you see : how could say a woman choose between Romney and Obama if they were both proposing to ban all females from having civic rights while being the two lone choices on the ballot???
A white vote when counted as valid represents a voter that accomplished her/his civic duty and went to the poll only to be offered to caution morally unacceptable options and declined them all. Not an invalid ballot but an invalid offer spread. Until democracy allows difference of opinion, it will only spawn dissent!
As long as I am dreaming awake, let’s go further : degressive democracy. As things stand, we are asked to vote for five years dictators, giving them a blank … nope not vote but a blank check! Why? Why can’t we vote against our leaders’ unkept promises instead of for them? And in most countries, them politicians are covered by impunity to top it off. A state of things that prompted French author Michel Tournier in his The Ogre / The Erl King* to put in his main character’s ideas the right for all citizens to shoot officials, especially elected ones in any season. I think that could be fixed.
Let’s suppose that we all have access to the polls PERMANENTLY! As soon as an election is over, the elector receives in a reasonable delay, maybe a month or two, his/her voting card. Each can then use it as soon as they like, when the feeling of necessity becomes overpowering. Of course, anyone with a definitive sense of political preference will do so ASAP. A true blue Republican after the last 2008 American Presidential Election would have immediatly gone to vote for the next candidate of his only prefered party. So what? Those people would vote left, center, right or what not anyway! The validity of their preference is in no way time-related.
Having allowed such voters to express themselves, anyone not so fixed in their views remains free to intervene in the political process as soon as they feel compelled to oppose the line of reasoning applied by the ruling party, simply by logging in their vote for any other party… because as soon as 40% of the electorate has thus opposed the government, elections become mandatory within 6 months.
Nice, huh? A government disavowed by 4 out of 10 persons is not representative enough of the will of the People. Let’s vote! 😉 And if you object that my proposition would introduce extremely short-lived governance as Italy for one has known in the past, I would answer : Sure! At first! But if allowed to go on it could reap two harvests, namely one that the practices of immoral dictatorial use of power would have to change as more electors caught on and two that those intent on making themselves useful to the Nation might find their way back to the task, unhampered by money and habit.
There you go, feel free to tweak the numbers in that last proposition ( 45% instead of 40, maybe, etc ).
Of course, the interest is that in the Ukrainian and Thailand cases at the very least, such a proposal of degressive vote would allow the population to force the government to face the real poll of public opinion that is an election and to face it now, before it can implement its lies any further and before the issue is swept under the political rug of passing time? And if the results do not overturn it, well then the protesters should abide by democratic rule and go back home just as the Croatian same sex couples will have to wait for mentalities to evolve? Such is majority rule?
But to leave the reader on an uplifting note, it just so happens that the very same France mentioned above did pass the White Vote decision in parliament last week?
http://politique.lefigaro.fr/assemblee-nationale-vote-blanc-politiciens-peuple.html
Congrats then are in order. From now on, French citizens will see their refusal of a list of candidates / options recognized as dissent to the political choices offered to them instead of thrown in the bin of poorly expressed or useless opinion. Of course, these white votes will not be counted to establish a majority so that it in fact represents a very small progress. Still, a step forward is better than nothing. I’m sure the Ukrainians, Turks, Thai and eventually the Croatians will agree?
Fingers crossed on that and peace out, Tay.
Definitive Lapse of Reason 