|
|
|
|
SPEAKING
FREELY
Light on the hill, darkness of the
heart
By Toni Momiroski
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times
Online feature that allows guest writers to have
their say. Please click here if you are
interested in contributing.
The
Iraqi election has come and gone as did the Afghan
election before it, yet democracy is none the
better. While many have spent countless hours
weighing up the pros and cons of the Iraqi
election fallout, what stands out here more than
the achievements of democracy - or lack of them -
is the dark shadow of a disease of the human
heart.
In the main, the election in Iraq
has not truly been about democracy but about
belief systems. Some wrongly continue to think
today, as they did before the election, that some
beliefs, as well as some members of society, are
more equal than others. In real terms this disease
is expressed in the form of who may justly own and
use weapons of mass destruction and who has a
monopoly on the form that democracy takes and how
it is spread and enforced on the world. In
theoretical frameworks of the mind, this reality
is expressed in terms of light and righteousness
that seemingly have the magical ability to explain
it all in terms of reality on the ground.
According to Natan Sharansky, a Soviet
emigre who is a top political official in Israel,
the theoretical framework I speak of here is best
expressed by the view that Jews have long held
that they were chosen to play a special role in
history, to be what their prophets called "a light
unto nations". Similarly, the United States has
long regarded itself as entrusted with a mission
to be what John Winthrop in the 17th century
called "a city on a hill" and Ronald Reagan in the
20th century parsed as a "shining city on a hill".
What follows is that there exists a
particular belief system in the world that some
nations by their historic position (Israel) and
others by their pragmatic deeds (the US) deserve
special consideration in world affairs.
Israel and the US are not alone, however,
in seeking special concession from others in their
dealing with the world at large. England too
expressed this position in Australia not so long
ago by declaring the law of terra nullius
(no man's land).
The doctrine of terra
nullius applied to "uncultivated or desert
lands". In such lands, the common law of England
applied from the moment of colonization. Behind
this act was also the belief that the English too,
like America and Israel after them, were the light
on the hill and all others were relegated to
uncultivated savages.
Israel and the US
consistently disregard local laws and proprieties
as England did before them. To all of them we must
say, enough about lights and righteousness and
missions and destiny. We must draw a line in the
sand beyond which we won't be pushed again on
issues of false manifestos.
The line in
the sand must be articulated by what humanity has
in common and not by what divides us. We all have
the aspiration to live, smile and cry. We all
experience in the same way the pain of
disappointment and have expectation for success.
We create as best we can, and eventually die. None
of us were chosen by necessity, but we all have
the capacity to achieve. We must stop at its roots
discrimination that dictates that some are more
valuable members of society than others. Democracy
is not a light, but a passing ray on the way to
some new point. History has taught us at least
this much.
Let Iraq and all others shape
their world in the form that they desire without
influences and manipulations from would-be
pretenders to the throne of light and
righteousness, be they British, American or
Israeli. We are, after all, the deeds that we
personally do and not the achievements of our
ancestors and the promises made to them. This was
the whole purpose behind the French, Russian and
American revolutions. We've clearly learned
nothing from the past.
Toni
Momiroski is associate professor at Jiaotong
University specializing in social theory and
English. The university does not endorse the above
views; they are the opinions of the writer, whose
website is at http://www.momiroski.com/ .
(Copyright 2004 Toni Momiroski.)
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times
Online feature that allows guest writers to have
their say. Please click here if you are
interested in contributing. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
All material on this
website is copyright and may not be republished in any form without written
permission.
© Copyright 1999 - 2005 Asia Times
Online Ltd.
|
|
Head
Office: Rm 202, Hau Fook Mansion, No. 8 Hau Fook St., Kowloon, Hong
Kong
Thailand Bureau:
11/13 Petchkasem Road, Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110
|
Asian Sex Gazette Middle East Sex News
|
|
|
