[afro-nets] Food for a pro-democracy thought

[Claudio Schuftan <claudio@hcmc.netnam.vn>]

Food for a pro-democracy thought
--------------------------------
Human Rights Reader 151

HUMAN RIGHTS HAVE TO BE A CORE COMPONENT OF THE PROMOTION OF
DEMOCRACY.

1. Today, too much emphasis is placed on representative rather
than direct democracy.

2. We forget that the beginnings of democratic development in
Europe were not marked by elections, but by struggle for rights
and influence, along with institution building. (V. Perthes)
Since then, there has been a progressive shift from ideological
debates to the discussion of technical mechanisms of democracy
and of development.

3. Especially but not only in fragile states, elections seldom
mean more democracy. In those states, elections bring about
'legitimacy' only from the international community's
perspective, but not from the perspective of the people who live
there. More often than not, the-democracy-fostered-or-brokered-
by-countries-in-the-North does not correspond to the demands of
population majorities in the 'assisted' countries in the South.
When fostering such 'democratization' --to succeed-- Northern
countries mostly focus and rely on partner (often free-market-
sympathetic) organizations attuned to Western standards.

4. Furthermore, Northern countries also push the nebulous
concept of 'good governance' which aims more at calming foreign
investors than to protect the economic, social and cultural
rights of the people who live there. The goal should be to
promote justice and human rights (HR), not to assuage the
concerns of potential investors. (A. Traore)

5. If such a promotion of democracy is not geared towards the
needs and the participation of the largest possible section of
the population, one can safely say it is no more than an
imported product, i.e., highly suspicious of being imperialism
and colonialism in disguise. Western-style democracy has simply
time and again failed to improve people's lives in those
countries. It has been unable/unwilling to understand that it is
not enough to invest more money in the social sectors, because
it is utterly unrealistic to think that this will bring about
the needed radical institutional changes or the needed
fundamental political reorientation of governments to bring
about a shift towards a HR-based framework.

6. The implications of this are that we simply cannot continue
to believe that development is value-neutral and that
development indicators are not socially determined. (M. Rao) We
thus have to get rid of what has been called 'biased development
expertocracy'.

7. In sum, this type of democracy many of us accept as a given
does not protect the have-nots from predation by the powerful or
from governments exerting their authority to the benefit of
elites. Mechanisms to replace it therefore do fall within the
realm of the human rights framework.

8. Human rights activists have been wrongly accused of
denouncing the neoliberal ideology behind this drive towards
Western-style democratization as a central cause of HR
violations. Such insinuations are uncalled for and show a rather
naïve understanding of what HR are all about.

9. Without a HR focus, remedies devised through democracies
installed as above will, at best, yield solutions that are long
and drawn-out in coming, i.e., justice will be rendered too late
--and that is no justice. (CETIM)

10. As decades of failed top-down planning have taught us,
Western-style democracy with its excessive segmentation,
sectorialization and specialization in development work has been
a true barrier to connecting the dots for progress in HR.

11. So, HR violations have reached alarming dimensions as
('democracy-sanctioned') immunity for those committing
violations has become commonplace (and intolerable). Therefore,
not adopting HR monitoring and enforcement protocols --in the
spirit of direct democracy-- is tantamount to calling into
question the very principles of HR .and of democracy!

12. In the same spirit, we thus say: Let not us 'plan' for HRs.
start by exposing the respective flagrant violations. Listen to
people more closely and work with them to make it possible for
them to claim their rights from the bottom up.

13. For this to happen, development agencies and human rights
organizations that are active in different political and social
environments still need to change much, as well as to work on
harmonizing their practices. As of now, it is the way these two
groups of organizations construct the reality that differs --not
the reality itself. (U. Jonsson)

14. A good start would be to focus on HR training within these
organizations specifically targeting long-term social
transformations. While so doing, the training has to tackle
values, avenues for change and reform, as well as the role and
function of elites, of international rules and of the global
power constellation (or the power geometry, as some have called
it).

Claudio Schuftan
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
mailto:claudio@hcmc.netnam,vn

--
Adapted from D+C, Vol. 33, No.4, April 2006; F+D Vol. 43, No.1,
March 2006; D+C, Vol. 33 No.7, July 2006; D+C, Vol. 33, No.8/9,
August/September 2006; J. of Health and Development Vol. 2,
Nos.1&2, Jan-June 2006, and CETIM, The case for a protocol to
the ICESCR!, Geneva, February 2006.