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This week, few could escape the televised pictures of thousands of Tibetan exiles around the world protesting against China's treatment of Tibetans. We have seen similar protests by Kurdish, Iranian, Uzbek and Burmese exiles to mention just a few. All demand greater freedoms but the cries of all are too often ignored and dismissed. The recent global protests by Tibetan exiles are by no means a one off incident, rather it is a consequence of the rising number of Illiberal Democracies around the world, befriended by the West but whose actions Washington and London too often turn a blind eye to.
THE PHENOMENUM OF ILLIBERAL DEMOCRACY
The term "Illiberal Democracy" was first coined together by Foreign Policy Editor Fareed Zakaria. Zakaria wrote in his article "The Rise of Illiberal Democracy" (December 1997) to describe a global phenomenon, where democracy is flourishing in the world but is not coming hand in hand with freedoms. Zakaria notes that in the West such a distinction is hard to make since "democracy has meant liberal democracy -- a political system marked not only by free and fair elections, but also by the rule of law, a separation of powers, and the protection of basic liberties of speech, assembly, religion, and property," – known collectively as Constitutional Liberalism. But he argues that today "the two strands of liberal democracy, interwoven in the Western political fabric, are coming apart in the rest of the world. "Democracy is flourishing; constitutional liberalism is not." While in the West we celebrate technological and scientific advances and social emancipation, in illiberal democracies television, radio, press and even internet are routinely censured, while any form of dissidence is dealt with force.
CHINA
For half a century, Tibetans and Uighurs have demanded greater cultural freedom in China. Following recent protests in Lhasa, the Chinese government has virtually sealed off Tibet, expelling or turning away foreign journalists and tourists and has even banned YouTube videos lest they show a glimpse of what is transpiring in the province. Even without images, it is common knowledge among Human Rights organisations that "China has long been rebuked for its extensive use of execution, torture, detention without trial, the lack of an independent judiciary, and restrictions on religion. "Given the long and well-documented history of torture of political activists by China's security forces there is every reason to fear for the safety of those recently detained," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. Although foreign media has for a long time focused on the plight of the Tibetans, Muslim Uighurs too have been subjected to what Human Rights Watch regard "a crushing campaign of religious repression by the Beijing government (April 2005). But despite these violations and more, the Olympics are still set to take place in Beijing later this year while China remains a close economic partner to the United States and the European Union (EU).
"OUR BOYS"
China is no exception. Around the world, democratically elected regimes are flagrantly and consistently ignoring the limits of their power while intentionally depriving their own citizens of basic freedoms. Some of these regimes particularly those like Iran, Syria, North Korea and Zimbabwe which are considered "unfriendly" to the West are well publicized in foreign media. However, illiberal regimes can be equally found amongst our close allies, some of whom London and Washington affectionately regard as 'our boys.'
Many rich and newly industrialised pro-Western states are not much better than Mugabe's Zimbabwe or Assad's Syria. In the name free trade, Columbia, a close US ally, remains the most dangerous place to be a trade unionist in the world, according to the latest survey by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions. Figures from the global unions lobby group, which is based in Brussels, show that 145 people were killed last year for taking part in union activities - an increase of 16 on 2003. There were also 700 more recorded incidents of violent attacks on trade unionists. In Colombia, 445 trade union members received death threats and 99 were murdered - nine more than in 2003.
US-ally El Salvador too has a long record of serious human rights offences. Human Rights Watch report the use of child labour, the assassination of trade unionists and the arrest and torture of protesters under anti-terror laws. Another US ally, in the Philippines, extrajudicial killings and "disappearances" appear to be on the rise. Filipino President Arroyo claiming to have uncovered a coup plot by members of the military, the political opposition, and communist rebels, temporarily banned the National Assembly, while scores of soldiers and leftists were detained or threatened with arrest. Later Arroyo gave the army a two-year deadline to eradicate the New People's Army (NPA), the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).
The list goes on. In Malaysia, a high tech advanced nation which is home to the World's highest buildings the Petronas towers – a symbol of its free market wealth, the Barisan Nasional
(National Front / BN) which has dominated Malaysian politics since the South East Asian country's independence in 1957 routinely ignored and insultingly dismissed the country's Chinese, Indian and East Malaysian voices increasing exclusion and racial polarization in that country.
Similarly, in the rich island state of Singapore which is "committed to free enterprise" democracy is far from free. Singapore's Peoples Action Party government which consolidated power in the 1960s and 1970s, enacted a number of laws and policies that curtailed constitutional freedoms (such as the right to assemble or form associations), thus extending its influence over the media, unions, NGOs and academia. As a result, although technically free and fair multi-party elections are regularly conducted, the political realities in Singapore (including fear and self-censorship) make participation in opposition politics extremely difficult, leaving the dominant ruling party as the only credible option at the polls.
Closer to Europe, in Turkey, a country with the second largest army in NATO, a close US and British ally and a country negotiating EU accession, Kurds and other minorities have for over a century longed for greater cultural rights. According to Tove Skutnabb-Kangas, a Finnish linguist, for many years the Turkish government has long denied the existence of a Kurdish identity. Skutnabb-Kangas argues that for decades "Kurds have experienced both linguistic and cultural persecution."
DANGEROUS TREND
Quite a number of Western governments condemned China's human rights record this week and those of other Western ally each over time. Criticism came from the British Foreign Secretary David Miliband and French President Nicholas Sarkozy who said he would not rule out boycotting China's Olympic Games unless Beijing re-opened talks with the Dalai Lama. But sadly, this is meaningless when these very Western states continue to sell arms to most of these countries. Hypocrisy, the proximity of many Western states to their allies may undoubtedly represent opportunities of greater military, political and commercial benefits but a failure to influence these states to address what are clearly continuous violations of basic human rights and denial of freedoms will only damage the reputation and credibility of Western governments in the world and back home. By ignoring the human rights and freedom of the rest of the World, the rise in illiberal democracies will in due course undermine and discredit the very values the West holds dear on its own soil. The future is bleak. As Zakaria notes, without promoting Human Rights and Freedoms hand in hand with Democracy around the World, liberty will be slowly eroded, abuse of power will grow, ethnic divisions and social injustice too will widen and will consequently result in many more wars.
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