Komoa
- deprive of rights,
rend asunder.
The
notion of “democracy” in Eurasian societies except maybe among tribal Saxons has
generally been a process of reaction against deprivation of rights rather than
a natural inherent political system as has been among several Indigenous nations
in Africa. Consequently, in contemporary societies largely influenced by Eurasian
nations, the meaning of the term “democratic society” has been rendered vague
given the different countries of differing ideological perspectives claiming to
be democracies. In the Eurasian sense therefore, democracy is definitely not
about casting an election ballot but the protection of human rights and civil
liberties. The overused mischievous Eurasian rhetoric of falsely equating
democracy to only doing often dubious elections is the biggest conmanship in the contemporary
world. Propagated by countries which themselves don’t hold comprehensive
popular elections for political positions.
At
the international level, both the Siracusa principles and the Limburg
principles state that while there is no single model of a democratic state, a
society which recognizes and respects the human rights set out in the United
Nations charter and the universal declaration, as a minimum, may be viewed as
meeting this definition. This means that a society, whether developed or developing,
is considered democratic as long as those minimum standards are maintained.
Beyond
these minimum standards, the determination of what is reasonably justifiable in
any democratic society should be an objective test, despite the fact that it
might mean different things for different people. The term “democratic society”
is therefore often appended to constitutions more so for its emotive and
ideological appeal than for any regard for what is conveyed. Therefore, there
is a loophole for the utilization of the rhetoric of “democracy” for political
purposes in a fashion not based on law and human rights but sentiment and
propaganda.
States
of emergency
The
Siracusa principles on the limitation and derogation of civil and political rights
were drawn up in 1984 by an eminent group of international lawyers. In 1986, a
further meeting was held at which the Limburg principles on economic, social
and cultural rights were established which reflected what was considered to be
the present state of internal law on the topic.
Throughout
state of emergency cases by some neocolonial undemocratic African states, there is a general failure of governments to publicize
emergency regulation. They are often published in the government gazette which
is quite insufficient given its very restricted availability and readership.
This deliberately puts citizens in ignorance of the scope of government powers.
It leaves free reign for compromised liberal media operating in a competitive terrain
of sensationalism and paid propaganda for higher ratings/views. There’s often
intermittent publishing of shifting emergency regulations in national and local
newspapers, often in brief, popularized or even vulgarized format which does
little more than fan media sensationalism and which often exacerbates the
violation of the law and human rights.
References
Hatchard, J. (1993). Individual
freedoms and state security in the African context: The case of Zimbabwe
TUKI (2001), Kamusi Ya
Kiswahili-Kiingereza; Swahili-English Dictionary. Published by Taasisi ya
Uchunguzi wa Kiswahili (TUKI), Chuo Kikuu cha Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
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