Although democracy is the most popular form of governance of the era, few elected democratic leaders display the prudence and foresight to rule their countries in accordance with democratic values. The majority of these democratically elected leaders fall prey to puppeteers of their own making or worse yet, get lured into the trap that the lust for power creates. Others morph into the tyrants they truly had been, on taking the oath of office.
Such leaders, in their agenda for self advancement, bully the citizens who ushered them into power. The bullying begins with finding loopholes in the legislature to torture and harm citizens. But such bullies get bolder by the day. Soon such bullies do not need loopholes in the Constitution to terrorize citizens. In addition to developing a blatant disregard for the rule of law, they have the power to create ridiculous laws that would allow them to treat citizens as they wished at that time.
Here in Maldives, we now have entered the last stage. The government which boasts parliament majority has the legal authority to endorse laws to facilitate their bullying. This has left us with a feeling of helplessness. We feel that our hands are tied before the law.
But one thing the bullied always forgets is that they have the power to stand up against the bully. As for a bullied community in a democratic government, we should remember that we put these bullies in power and so, we can remove that from power.
Of course we are not a direct democracy. And as a representative democracy removing the bullies form power via legal means, might prove more difficult than anticipated. However the beauty of democracy is the freedom it grants to the citizens. Freedom of expression and freedom of assembly would be our arsenal. Arrests will be made, jails will be filled. Jails may even be constructed to accommodate more prisoners.
Bullies gain strength from playing down the strength of others. How many times have we heard government officials mock the opposition by teasing them about the strength of their protests? How many times have we had to witness the government’s celebratory fireworks displays right after making arrests of popular leaders and activists of the opposition movement?
If we let the bullies make us falter in our actions, the bullying shall not stop. Maldives is a country that boasts a group of peace-loving people. But that peace cannot be what we get in exchange for our freedoms and rights.
It might not be today or tomorrow, but a day will come when even the most non political citizens of the country see the need to stand up against the oppressors. That day, might come sooner than later with the government’s bullying tactics directly and indirectly affecting more and more people every day.
A bullied demographic can be a strong one which might take time to muster the courage to confront its oppressors. But once such a community gains the strength, there would be nothing more dangerous to that community’s oppressors than the oppressed.
Such leaders, in their agenda for self advancement, bully the citizens who ushered them into power. The bullying begins with finding loopholes in the legislature to torture and harm citizens. But such bullies get bolder by the day. Soon such bullies do not need loopholes in the Constitution to terrorize citizens. In addition to developing a blatant disregard for the rule of law, they have the power to create ridiculous laws that would allow them to treat citizens as they wished at that time.
Here in Maldives, we now have entered the last stage. The government which boasts parliament majority has the legal authority to endorse laws to facilitate their bullying. This has left us with a feeling of helplessness. We feel that our hands are tied before the law.
But one thing the bullied always forgets is that they have the power to stand up against the bully. As for a bullied community in a democratic government, we should remember that we put these bullies in power and so, we can remove that from power.
Of course we are not a direct democracy. And as a representative democracy removing the bullies form power via legal means, might prove more difficult than anticipated. However the beauty of democracy is the freedom it grants to the citizens. Freedom of expression and freedom of assembly would be our arsenal. Arrests will be made, jails will be filled. Jails may even be constructed to accommodate more prisoners.
Bullies gain strength from playing down the strength of others. How many times have we heard government officials mock the opposition by teasing them about the strength of their protests? How many times have we had to witness the government’s celebratory fireworks displays right after making arrests of popular leaders and activists of the opposition movement?
If we let the bullies make us falter in our actions, the bullying shall not stop. Maldives is a country that boasts a group of peace-loving people. But that peace cannot be what we get in exchange for our freedoms and rights.
It might not be today or tomorrow, but a day will come when even the most non political citizens of the country see the need to stand up against the oppressors. That day, might come sooner than later with the government’s bullying tactics directly and indirectly affecting more and more people every day.
A bullied demographic can be a strong one which might take time to muster the courage to confront its oppressors. But once such a community gains the strength, there would be nothing more dangerous to that community’s oppressors than the oppressed.
1 comment:
Good morning, how are you?
My name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys travelling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of used stamps because trough them, you can see pictures about fauna, flora, monuments, landscapes etc. from all the countries. As every day is more and more difficult to get stamps, some years ago I started a new collection in order to get traditional letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately, it is impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are very small countries with very few population, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this, I would ask you one small favour:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Maldives? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Maldives in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and an original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Avenida Juan de la Cierva, 44
28902 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally, I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely
Emilio Fernandez
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