[ This entry won the runner's up trophy - an iPod- in the Blogocracy Competition organized by the American Centre, New Delhi]
In 1992 I was just 8 years old when the Rodney King trial verdict had been declared. Los Angeles was witness to wide spread civil disturbances. Watching the riots spread across the city gave me a scary feeling, that 'America' was at war. It took a toll on the patience of the powers that be, but the city resumed normalcy in time to come. President Reagan, had remarked then, "..We simply cannot condone violence as a way of changing the system.."
That system is democracy. Often, Democracy as a system of governance is talked about in the same breath as the Government in power. This is a fallacy, for a failure of the Government to cater to the needs of the people does in no way reflect upon the system of Democracy. The very reason citizens in the US and in India can take to the streets and protest against a move that they feel is against better governance is a testimony to how strong a democracy we are.
Not easy to define Democracy. There are dictionary versions of it, quotations by statesman, however I'd like to say Democracy is a stretchable string which loops itself around the laws, rights and freedoms that define people. The strength of that string is the voice of the people it governs.
Come November, the US will be deciding between the incumbent President and the GOP candidate, which seems headed towards Romney, unless Gingrich and Santorum can stop his juggernaut. The Republican candidate will take on the man, whom they say, killed Osama Bin Laden. That's a tough act to follow!
Similarly, 2014 is the year when Congress is put to the test against the Bharatiya Janata Party and the 3rd front. Party politics is at its mightiest now, to find a challenger to Prime Minister Singh.
If we are to analyze just how similar we are, the largest democracy, India and the most powerful one, US, perhaps we may learn democracy is by no means a feeble word.
Will of the people: In January 2011, a fruit vendor, Mohammed Bouazizi succumbed to burns he had sustained when he self immolated in a street in Tunisia. It was the start of the Arab Spring, that spread across the middle east. President Ben Ali of Tunisia resigned followed by President Hosni Mubarak, bringing a hope of Democracy in West Asia.
Come November, the US will be deciding between the incumbent President and the GOP candidate, which seems headed towards Romney, unless Gingrich and Santorum can stop his juggernaut. The Republican candidate will take on the man, whom they say, killed Osama Bin Laden. That's a tough act to follow!
Similarly, 2014 is the year when Congress is put to the test against the Bharatiya Janata Party and the 3rd front. Party politics is at its mightiest now, to find a challenger to Prime Minister Singh.
If we are to analyze just how similar we are, the largest democracy, India and the most powerful one, US, perhaps we may learn democracy is by no means a feeble word.
Will of the people: In January 2011, a fruit vendor, Mohammed Bouazizi succumbed to burns he had sustained when he self immolated in a street in Tunisia. It was the start of the Arab Spring, that spread across the middle east. President Ben Ali of Tunisia resigned followed by President Hosni Mubarak, bringing a hope of Democracy in West Asia.
Both the US and India respect the will of their people. Elections in India reach out to the billion strong population, campaigning carried out late into the night, village by village, sometimes miles on foot. The American system recognizes the imbalance of voting rights and has been successfully using the electoral college to remedy that situation.
Diversity of the nation: India, like the US, is a nation of cultural diversity and difference of opinions. A candidate must cater to the needs of the country, the unique wants of each section of society. America, the melting pot, is over flowing with a mix of African American and Hispanic - Italian - Asian - Middle eastern-American voters. You can't please all the people all the time. Well, that's exactly what a candidate must achieve in the follow up to the elections.
I admire the way Puetro-Rican Americans, far away from the mainland are given right to vote. These gestures cant be orchestrated or put down to vote-bank politics, there's something more than politics here, its how America functions, how it thinks!
I admire the way Puetro-Rican Americans, far away from the mainland are given right to vote. These gestures cant be orchestrated or put down to vote-bank politics, there's something more than politics here, its how America functions, how it thinks!
Freedom of Speech: In 1984, outside the Republican National Convention in Dallas, Gregory Johnson was arrested for burning the American flag. Texas v. Johnson, was finally decided in the Supreme Court, that stated, this was a constitutionally protected form of free speech. The right to wave the flag, the right to burn it.The Government tried to overrule this judgement by passing acts which bar the desecration of the American flag and every time the Supreme Court has stepped in. In January of 2002, fighting for the people's right to fly the Indian tricolour in our homes and offices, Member of Parliament and business leader, Naveen Jindal won the battle.
Today, anybody in India or the US, may blog, gather as a crowd, walk up to the Parliament or Capitol Hill and demand to be heard. What he says, may be against Government policies, yet, the Governments of our nations do not have the power to stop him.
Today, anybody in India or the US, may blog, gather as a crowd, walk up to the Parliament or Capitol Hill and demand to be heard. What he says, may be against Government policies, yet, the Governments of our nations do not have the power to stop him.
Right to gather in protest: When cries of 'Occupy Wall Street' hit the financial capital of America, few expected the reach of the movement to be so widespread. Seeing videos and photographs of protesters going to prison, the image of the country was not tarnished, rather it was elevated. Down here in India, the Citizen's Ombudsman Bill or 'Lokpal Bill' gained similar momentum. Anna Hazare, a man advanced in his years, lead a lone battle in support of the Bill, until the nation joined in. What makes the two countries special is the way in which the protests were carried out, never bursting out into a revolution. It was civilization at its best behaved.
The recent past has seen issues arise such as the strip-searching of passengers, men in turban and women in burqa, having to identify themselves as innocent citizens, and the detaining of those whose names show up on no-fly lists. However, as Thomas Jefferson once said, " The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure". What is asked of citizens today is sparing the thought of freedom of privacy at the cost of another terrorist attack.
It is time for the largest democracy in terms of size and the largest democracy in terms of economic power to work towards a better tomorrow, and not live in the past. In our togetherness lies the hope of Democracy spreading to our neighbors and us rejoicing in their freedom.
