June 2013
Democracy: An American illusion By Arthur Scott: When you ask Americans what their key value or belief is the word you hear most frequent is “democracy”/ “democratic”. This response when you listen close represents a learned cultural response, one heard or taught, but not based on knowledge or thought. It reflects an ignorance of American history, power, sociology, class and politics. Even going back to the founding days of 1776, it can hardly be described as a democratic society. The revolution was orchestrated by a powerful minority of northern commercial and southern plantation families who had concluded that they had out grown their political/economic relationship with England and could do much better alone. They drew heavily upon the thinking of the Eighteenth Century Philosophy of the Enlightenment with its emphasis on human rights: “life, liberty and pursuit of happiness”. These “rights” however were not universal, but limited to one percenters of the time who were WASP (white Anglo –Saxon Protestants). It excluded Blacks, Native Americans, women and the poor. Read More
Are we living in Orwell’s1984 Oceania surveillance state? By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: Perhaps, Georg Orwell's worst nightmare has come true in the wake of whistleblower Edward Snowden's startling revelations of secret government surveillance. Writing under the title, “So Are We Living in 1984?” Ian Crouch of New Yorker argued that Edward Snowden, sounded, in the Guardian interview in which he came forward, like he’d been guided by Orwell’s pen. The book aims to serve as a warning for what can happen when government overextends its powers; the term “Orwellian” has become associated with the idea of a totalitarian society. The haunting, but much-loved, book celebrated its 60th anniversary on June 6 amid the backdrop of real-life controversy that made the novel seem more prophetic than fictional. Read More
US policy weakens Iran's pro-democracy movement Stephen Zunes: While the outcome of the Iranian elections scheduled for June 14 may be hard to predict, it will make little difference as long as power remains firmly in the hands of Ayatollah Khamenei and other hard-line clerics. Indeed, while there are contending factions vying for the country's relatively weak presidency, the narrow ideological spectrum within which candidates are allowed to run for public office offers little hope for change -- at least through the electoral system. Read More
Democratic victory of Pakistan? Dr Haider Mehdi: Throughout the entire human civilization, it is the victors who write history. Any yet, in retrospect, the historical authenticity of the events and the accuracy of the victors’ claims have always been challenged with the discovery of remarkable evidence contrary to what was perceived as ground realities at the time. Read More
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