Power and democracy: some gruesome twosomes

I’m reading a book called ‘The Revenge of Power’ which studies the rise of autocratic political figures throughout today’s world.  It’s interesting but I have a few quibbles with it, not least that it takes as given that our present form of government – democracy, we’re told – is something we need to cherish.

I’d argue that it’s more complicated than that. Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East, yet somehow this democracy has managed to butcher tens of thousands of men, women and children in Gaza. Tony Blair was elected to 10 Downing Street in a democratic election and he led Britain into Iraq on the back of a lie, and that led to thousands of dead Iraqis. Britain, of course, is a democracy. And when Harry Truman gave the order to drop atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki,killing hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians, he was of course the President of the United States, considered the gold standard of democracy.

Free speech is a central tenet of a modern democracy, although republican voices were banned from the airwaves for years. Today, they’re allowed to talk, but they’d better watch what they say.

Earlier this week on the BBC’s Talk Back, the subject of immigration was discussed. Donnchadh O Laoghaire said that his party, Sinn Féin, were opposed to open borders, that there should be a fair and compassionate and orderly approach to those seeking refuge within the southern state. Those are not his exact words but they do give the gist.

Immediately, Donal Lyons of the SDLP denounced O Laoghaire’s contribution, saying that to talk of ‘open borders’ was ‘a dog-whistle’ to the far right. I thought at first I’d maybe misheard, but a check told me I’d got it right. To say you were against open borders, apparently, is to encourage those knuckle-draggers who like to burn down any building they think might house immigrants.

And then I read an article in The Irish Examiner which had the heading ‘Sinn Féin chases votes in the gutter of lies’.  The column notes that Sinn Féin’s Pa Daly said his party opposed open borders, and the Irish Examiner columnist   declared the term to be ‘a product of the nefarious actors online, known as the far right, spreading misinformation’. 

So North and South, Sinn Féin is denounced for saying it’s opposed to open borders, and in doing so they are aligning themselves with the far right. Useless for them to follow up, saying they want a fair, compassionate, ordered system.  They’ve said ‘We’re opposed to open borders’ and that’s them damned. Mind you, those who damn them are also opposed (presumably) to open borders, but ah sure what would you need to be doing, complicating things by adding that? Shinners-open-borders-far-right-kick-kick-kick. Sin é.

Amazing what people get away with in Western democracies.