You must agree with the government: more and more repression

From New Internationalist Easier English Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

You must agree with the government: more and more repression

Mandeep Tiwana writes about the many ways politics is authoritarian and how there is more and more repression.

2017-12-01-agree-hands-HEADER.jpg

On 5 September, someone shot Gauri Lankesh outside her home in Bangalore, southern India. She was the editor of an outspoken weekly newspaper. She was a strong critic of Hindu nationalist politics. Her crime last year was writing an article about politicians from India’s ruling party in a corruption scandal.

In Bahrain, the president of the Centre for Human Rights, Nabeel Rajab, is in prison. He is now in bad health from torture. His crime was to criticize Bahrain’s monarchy and to ask for democracy.

The examples of Lankesh and Rajab in very different political worlds show that around the world nationalist politics are attacking society and the media. They are also examples of the policy of stopping human rights advocates from going to UN meetings.

Many of us are very worried about this new often neo-fascist politics in the world. The politicians talk about nationalism based on religious or ethnic identity. They say that human rights and social justice are nothing but ‘political correctness’.

Many of them came to power democratically but after their elections, they see their power as absolute. No one can disagree with them. They also make their own decisions with the help of advisors, who are often from business.

The rightwing working together

Activists and organizations which investigate corruption are a serious danger to them. They are also against society and the progressive media. The dangers of terrorism lead them to limit freedoms and they say they are doing this for national security.

In September 2017 at the UN General Assembly, US president Donald Trump put state sovereignty before human rights. Since his election, many states in the US have tried to pass anti-protest laws to stop the right to peaceful protest.

Rightwing nationalist political groups are working together. Trump supported Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his protest against a UN resolution asking for an end to Israeli settlement in occupied Palestine. Netanyahu’s government supported a law that wants to watch and control groups that receive international support. This is to stop them from talking about abuses in occupied Palestine. The Israeli law is like a Russian law passed by Vladimir Putin.

The Russian law also gave Hungary the idea to stop international money going to human rights groups. Like Putin, Hungary’s Prime Minister ,Viktor Orbán, sees himself as a defender of nationalist values. In the Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte said that he would kill human rights advocates if they stop his ‘war on drugs’.

In Ethiopia, they have shot hundreds of protestors in demonstrations against the government in the last two or three years. They have also imprisoned many with no reason. In Egypt, the military-backed government has passed regressive laws and prosecuted activists. In Venezuela, the UN has criticised the use of force to stop democratic protests.

Some successes

At the UN in June 2017, the High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein warned about the dangers of not recognising international law and how this leads to violence.

But human rights defenders are having successes. In 2016, for the first time, the UN appointed an independent expert on sexual orientation and gender identity. In Poland last year, supporters of women’s rights stopped an anti-abortion law.

We at CIVICUS in our 2017 State of Civil Society Report wrote that in these polarized times, it is not enough for society to believe in internationalism. We need to think clearly about internationalism to help the global crisis of democracy.

Many recent political changes in ideas show that people are angry. People feel more and more at risk economically, and see their jobs at risk. They worry about the growing gaps between the very rich and everyone else. They may also feel their traditional ways of living and values are at risk from technological change, urbanization, or immigration.

Now people feel that politics-as-usual only helps the few rich and powerful groups. There is help for big businesses but not for the people and public services. People may see no differences between political parties. Then they may reject politics-as-usual and support more extreme ideas, including maybe a rejection of democracy itself.

But it is likely that the move now to neo-fascist politics will lead to a change the other way. People will be disappointed when populist politicians do not keep their promises. We need to be ready for that moment. Now we need to offer good alternative ideas that people understand in their demands for a better life. We need to be strong in our belief that humans naturally accept and do not reject diversity.

Mandeep Tiwana is the Chief Programmes Officer at the global civil society alliance, CIVICUS.

NOW READ THE ORIGINAL: https://newint.org/features/2017/12/01/democracy-repression

(This article has been simplified so the words, text structure and quotes may have been changed).