"But when these weapons are wielded by Western governments, the precise opposite framework is imposed: describing them as despotic is no longer obligatory but virtually prohibited. That tyranny exists only in Western adversaries but never in the West itself is treated as a permanent axiom of international affairs, as if Western democracies are divinely shielded from the temptations of genuine repression. Indeed, to suggest that a Western democracy has descended to the same level of authoritarian repression as the West's official enemies is to assert a proposition deemed intrinsically absurd or even vaguely treasonous. The implicit guarantor of this comforting framework is democracy. Western countries, according to this mythology, can never be as repressive as their enemies because Western governments are at least elected democratically. The implicit guarantor of this comforting framework is democracy. Western countries, according to this mythology,
can never be as repressive as their enemies because Western governments are at least elected democratically.... More inconveniently still, many of the foreign leaders we are instructed to view as despots
are popular or even every bit as
democratically elected as our own beloved freedom-safeguarding officials. As potent as this mythological framework is, reinforced by large media corporations over so many decades, it cannot withstand the increasingly glaring use of precisely these despotic tactics in the West. Watching Justin Trudeau — the sweet, well-mannered, well-raised good-boy prince of one of the West's nicest countries featuring such a pretty visage (even on the numerous occasions when marred by blackface) — invoke and then harshly impose dubious emergency, civil-liberties-denying powers is just the latest swing of the hammer causing this Western sculpture to crumble...."
Writes Glenn Greenwald in "The Neoliberal War on Dissent in the West/Those who most flamboyantly proclaim that they are fighting fascists continue to embrace and wield the defining weapons of despotism" (Substack).
Adding tags to this post, I noticed the rhyme of "democracy" and "hypocrisy" and wondered how many songs had used that rhyme. A search at Genius.com produced a list so long it kept adding new items as I scrolled.
Not everything there is a song, though. Some things are speeches, and the one I clicked on was a July 26, 1959 speech by Fidel Castro. I know you won't resist saying the thing you always say about the aforementioned Justin Trudeau, but I will leave that in my notes for a modern "Dictionary of Received Ideas."
What I want is to quote what Castro had to say about the democracy hypocrisy:
For those abroad who defame us, to those who speak of democracy and slander us, we could offer no better argument than the million and more Cubans who have gathered here today. To those who speak in the name of democracy or who hypocritically invoke the word democracy to slander us we can say that this is democracy. Democracy is the fulfillment of the will of the people. Democracy is, as Lincoln said, a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. A government not of the people is not a democracy; a government not for the people is not a democracy.
And what has the government of the Cuban revolution been since Jan. 1, 1959 but a government of the people, by the people, and for the people? A government of the people, not for a privileged group of people; a government of the people, not of an oligarchy; a government for the people, not for a group of politicians or military people we have as always had in Cuba....
We are ruling with the people and for the people and for this reason the people support us and will continue to support us. Those who wish to find out what a real democracy is should come to Cuba. Those who wish to find out what a ruling people are like should come to Cuba. Those who wish to find out what a ruling people are like should come to Cuba. Those who want to find out what the real word democracy means should come to Cuba....