By Cristina Dias Neves
A Portuguese take on democracy these days.
“If only we could freeze democracy for a while…” I know this is an awkward thing to say, especially if we think of those who have lived – and still live and suffer – under dictatorial regimes. And that’s the reason why a Portuguese social democrat leader got such an amazingly negative response the day she asked herself publicly if it would not be a good thing to “have six months without democracy to put everything in order”. Mrs. Ferreira Leite actually underlined the next day that she was being sarcastic. Maybe, it’s true. But, as Eli Goldberg, the media guru, puts it so well: – “You can’t be sarcastic when you want to win elections. About 75% of your voters won’t get it and the other quarter will use this nonsensical joke against you again and again… until it sticks to you like glue.”
This week I found myself thinking the same way as the Portuguese leader; but, unfortunately, I meant it. Two kinds of events took me there: the death of Lee Kuan Yew, the historical leader of Singapore, and the results of the elections in France, Spain and Israel. In the first half of the week I realized that Mr. Netanyahu had won the Israeli elections by a hair’s breadth. So, forget about serious peace talks, about a Palestine state, and about reconciliation. Being interested in the Israeli -Palestinian drama for so many years, I’ve got so exasperated that sometimes I just wonder if it wouldn’t be easier for Israel to be just a one-party nation which would make its political and strategic choices follow the rule of effectiveness and not the electorate’s sentiment at a particularly dramatic moment. If everyone’s afraid and insecure, let’s vote for the Right. If, on the other hand, things start looking better, let´s follow the Left again until the next security shock.
The Israeli government builds settlements, inviting all the Jews of the world from the mountains of Peru to the Siberian steppes to their Zionist dream, and then, rightly or wrongly, depending on the electorate’s state of mind, they throw all these people out because they just can’t keep this kind of utopian promises, or they throw the Palestinians out to build new settlements. Would it be possible to have an apolitical, atheist state that would be ruled just to establish peace and social and economic development for everyone? Why should peaceful Israelis and Palestinians suffer so much just because of war and religion-obsessed freaks? And even worse, why do people keep voting for them?
On the other side of the Mediterranean I’ve followed with little interest, I confess, the French departmental elections, where Ms. Le Pen continues step-by-step to establish her party’s existence as a third political force, and then I jumped to Spain, to watch Podemos, the Spanish Syriza, founded last year, gain 19 seats in the Andalusian parliament.
Just a glance at the Syriza government’s experience until now: is it worthwhile voting for a party that just does not have the skills, the consistency or the arguments to follow a realistic plan? It seems that we are hostages of a democratic system, where everything happens in a big fish tank that looks transparent and real, but isn’t at all. The winner is the one who can fake a beautiful species and dance through the most incredible choreographies for those who are looking on from the outside. Where are we going with these choices that belong more to media sound bites and rhetoric than to consistent policies and planning? In Portugal, for instance, most of our political commentators on TV are typically members of mainstream parties. The most successful political commentator is expected by everyone to be the next President. It wouldn´t be uncommon: two of our recent Prime Ministers, before taking office, used to duel against each other weekly over politics in a late night talk-show. Political debate and prime-time news can sometimes be like a “nightmare come true” or a reality show, you name it.
And what are mainstream parties doing to change that? I really can’t see much. And this is just as they start losing market-share in a game that is just made for these next generation borderline leaders.
Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore didn’t’ fit into any of those models. He was neither a democrat nor a media machine but he successfully drove that little British compound into the country with the third highest per capita income in the world. As a “benevolent dictator”, as one of The Guardian Asian correspondents named him recently, under a policy called by some “authoritarian pragmatism”, he took his country to a level never seen before in South East Asia. Instead of politics – which was, by the way, avoidable, because his party had almost 100% of the parliamentary seats – he and his party followed only effective policies. The New York Times underlined in his obituary what Lew Kuan Yew once told them: “I’m ideology-free”.
Shall we stop for a few seconds and try to think what that means?
Of course this can’t be possible. Singapore could only look politically sterile because the party worked hard; had significant forces to rely on; was a geostrategic ally for the West’s markets and governments and, simultaneously, just never allowed the opposition to speak out or flourish.
When I first visited, 25 years ago, Singapore was a clean, wealthy, beautiful and very sophisticated city in the middle of countries whose GDP was measured –at least by me– by unspoiled beaches and smiling people. I remember that, -after a month travelling around Southeast Asia, I found it the most comfortable city in the world. But, although it was nice to have meat for a change and sleep in a proper bed, it was weird to see signs pointing out rules of behaviour such as not to spit gum on the street. Our private joke for the couple of days we spent there was that “Big Brother was watching” us.
Now, 25 years later, it looks like my democratic muscle is losing strength. Am I just another disappointed petite bourgeoise? Am I losing faith in our system? Would I be happy to have a leader like Lee Kuan Yew that would promise to give my family back at least our cash, our car, our credit card and some safety?… Yes, probably that’s my only dream for the moment. And that’s why I wonder if it wouldn’t be really nice to freeze democracy for just a while. Ironically, maybe just as big a part of Europeans and Israelis wish the same thing- when they’re called to vote.
Cristina Dias Neves was born in Lisbon, studied Political and Communications Sciences, started her professional life as a reporter and continued in the media business as a consultant and head of communications for private corporations.
