China has spent $40 billion dollars on the Games in an effort to make it one of the most exciting spectacles ever, yet, all the Western media keep harping on about is the (perceived) lack of democracy and human rights in China. This portrays an utter lack of understanding about the history, social structures, mental attitudes and belief systems of the Chinese people and the country itself. These simplistic sound bites are simply IGNORANCE WRIT LARGE! The Western democratic model of government based upon the idea of liberty and freedom of speech (which is so important to our American cousins) may have served the West well over the years (absolutist states in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries not withstanding!), but it is wholly inappropriate and inadequate in different parts of the world that have developed in very different ways, i.e. the Middle East and Far East. Until the Americans and Western European states understand this, US foreign policy will remain disastrous and to use a quote from a recent hit film, America will survive long enough to see itself cast as the villain (tragically with Britain in tow). What a turn around from a people who liberated Europe in 1944 in the memory of Lafayette!
Just think about a couple of examples in history where democracy was supposed to be a panacea for a brighter and happier future. First, Iraq; prior to British control of the country in 1922 as a League of Nations mandate, the diverse peoples in that country had been living harmoniously together side by side for centuries under Ottoman rule. Why? Because the Sultans had used their commonsense to divide the territory along ethnic and hence religious lines to minimise racial conflict. After 1922, these territories disappeared as British planners threw these different peoples together by stupidly and clumsily drawing nice straight lines across the country to act as land borders. It would take a strongman at the centre 30 years later to restore order. Forty years after that, the same man would be illegally removed from power and the result...? Irag is now in complete anarchy and together with Afghanistan has the potential to destabilise the whole of the Middle East, as well as British and American coffers. And the response from the West to this carnage? Let's bomb Iraq because there is no democracy in that country and consequently is a dangerous and subversive threat to the West, despite the complete lack of any evidence. Duh...how?!? The average man and woman on the streets of Tehran I am sure is happy with their lot in life and certainly do not want to be invaded by a foreign power just because they have the temerity to suggest that democracy is not the wonderful creation that we in the West think it is!!!
If democracy is so great, why has Blair and this Labour government and all the other political parties who agreed with it, got away with starting a war on our behalf with a lie about WMDs?!? Half a million people on a sunny day in February said there were no WMDS and consequently there should be no war. These people have been proved right. Where then is the proper response from those people that lied to us or made such a catstrophic mistake that has cost the lives of so many brave men and women, both militarily and civilian? So much for democracy then!
Here is another example of democracy doing well in another country - in the old Soviet Union. In 1985, Reagan and the West promised all sorts of financial help to the communists once democracy had been established in the 'evil empire'. The rest, as they say, is history but... has democracy served the Russian people well over the last 15 years? What you have is Putin hanging onto power by attempting to change the Russian constitution to become Prime Minister and appointing a puppet as President. Corruption is unabated and exists on a grand scale with the mafia controlling large parts of the economy. State industries and resources that rightfully belonged to the people were illegally sold off on the cheap by Yeltsin (with what backhanders the mind boggles) and now, these Russian oligarchs are laundering their money by buying up huge swathes of Chelsea. And what about the poor Russian people who sacrificed 20 million of their brothers and sisters to win the Second World War? Did they get a better deal out of democracy??? Are their standards of living any better now than under the communists? And what about law and order in Russia? More secure now with Boris, Oleg and Yuri running about making money any which way they can?
And now to China. Concepts cannot be thought of and applied in absolute terms, so when Amnesty International tells us that executions for petty crimes are on the increase in China, their idea of 'human rights' must be contextualised. Nobody can even begin to understand China without first going there. The first thing that you notice is the people and the sheer weight of humanity. It is then that a number, 1.3 billion, has corporeal form, it is no longer just a number. In China you can see what this really means and what this means is that there are far too many people in China and life becomes cheap, even worthless. Mao once said that it was OK if 1 million died in a war because he had another 10 million to count upon. Think about it. There is a cold logic to this which is correct, no matter how uncomfortable this may sit with Western libertarian notions of 'human rights' and democracy. There is another problem with this mass of humanity and that is one of control. How on earth do you keep law and order when the potential for chaos is so great with the sheer weight of humanity confined in such a small space? Think about the logistics of locking up millions of criminals and the financial implications of this. Is it practical or even do able? Added to that must be the Chinese reverance for Confucian ideas about hieracrchy and family and social structure. Put simply, the state reflects a filial nuclear structure where the government is the patriarch that oversees and governs people in society, albeit in a dictatorial way at times and for centuries this has been the case in China. You are not going to overturn these precepts overnight, if they can be overturned at all with Western pressure and talk about human rights and democracy.
So, here's my point, in a British education system with the aim of turning people into independent, critical thinkers, for God sake, THINK about the issues properly. Don't be swayed by simplistic and stupid soundbites from the media that criticise China for its lack of human rights and freedom of speech. Instead, CONTEXTUALISE what this actually means for China and the Chinese people and instead, think about the positive things that the Chinese (Communist) government have done to improve the lives of Chinese poeple, for example, lifting 400 million people out of poverty over the laste 20 years!!! A feat unmatched anywhere in the world. China is and never will be a simulation of Western democratic ideals and beliefs because of its very different history and development. Like shopping malls, do we all want to be the same? Is this globalising world increasingly becoming more homgenised? Democracy is not appropriate, practical or even welcomed by ordinary people in certain parts of the world. Instead, why don't we look at the failures of democracy to see if we can learn from other systems and models of governance that have served their countries so well and adapt them in the West?
If you happen to be in Beijing, go to the Grand Hyatt Hotel near Tiannemann Square and stand outside the main entrance on the top step. As you take in the view of the fountain in front of you lit up with bright lights in the evening, take a look up at the Chinese flag fluttering gently in the warm evening breeze and say to yourself, 'so this is Communism...'!!!