O, Democracy!

Thursday 9th December, 2021

US President Joe Biden’s much-advertised ‘Summit for Democracy’ commences today with the participation of 110 nations. Sri Lanka is not among them. Some political commentators here have called the exclusion of Sri Lanka an indictment of the Rajapaksa government, which is undermining democracy.

The incumbent Sri Lankan government may be hauled over the coals for attacks on democracy, but one should not make the mistake of recognising the US as the global standard-bearer of democracy.

Among Biden’s invitees are Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil and Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines. The Human Rights Watch has this to say about Brazil under Bolsonaro: “President Jair Bolsonaro is threatening democratic rule in Brazil … He is pursuing campaigns to intimidate the Supreme Court, signalling that he may attempt to cancel the 2022 election or otherwise deny Brazilians the right to elect their leaders, and violating critics’ freedom of expression.” But Biden has had no qualms about inviting Bolsonaro to the summit and enlisting his help to ‘set forth an affirmative agenda for democratic renewal and tackle the greatest threats faced by democracies’! The less said about Duterte, the better. So much for Washington’s concern for democracy.

Prominent among the invitees to Biden’s Summit for Democracy is Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whom the US refused an entry visa, for years, over the 2002 Gujarat riots, in which more than a thousand Muslims were massacred. The Obama administration reversed the US decision, and now the White House rolls out the red carpet for Modi, who lectures other nations on minority rights and the virtues of ethnic reconciliation, etc.

What about the report card of the host of the Summit for Democracy? The US, which has undertaken to promote global democracy, has failed to lead by example. The Freedom House World Report (2021) reveals that over the past 10 years the United States’ aggregate ‘Freedom in the World Score’ has plummeted by 11 points; the US is among the 25 countries that have suffered the largest declines during this period. Its current score is 83. Shouldn’t the US inspect the beam in its eyes, first?

The Biden administration says the goal of the Summit for Democracy is to rally the nations the world over against the forces of authoritarianism. But it is obvious that the US is trying to shore up its crumbling international image and counter China’s increasing global dominance. Biden’s summit has little to do with democracy; it is aimed at furthering Washington’s geo-strategic interests, as evident from the invitation extended to Pakistan. The US has no way of dealing with the Taliban without Pakistan’s help.

If the US is so averse to authoritarianism, as it claims to be, will it explain why it has backed evil dictators such as Pinochet of Chile, Marcos of the Philippines, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi  or Shah of Iran, Batista of Cuba, Somoza of Nicaragua, Seko of Zaire, Suharto of Indonesia, Rhee of South Korea, and Saddam Hussein of Iraq? Pinochet’s Caravan of Death, which hunted down Opposition activists in the remote parts of Chile did not cause any concern to the US.

The US has taken upon itself the task of ridding the world of authoritarianism and terrorism but it strove to save LTTE leader Prabhakaran, during the closing stages of the Eelam War IV, in 2009.

If Sri Lanka had signed the SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement) with the US and allowed the stationing of American forces here, perhaps it would have been invited to the Summit for Democracy in spite of the various allegations the Opposition and civil society groups are levelling against the incumbent government.