Democratic Legitimacy
With violence and the intimidation of voters increasing by the day in Zimbabwe, leader of the MDC, Morgan Tsvangirai has announced that he will not contest the Presidential run-off because a fair vote is now virtually impossible.
Politicians in the West have been very quick to condemn the tyrannical regime of Robert Mugabe and the apparent illegitimacy of his continued rule. Gordon Brown has on numerous occasions criticised the lack of legitimacy with which Mugabe has managed to cling onto office in Zimbabwe.
Similarly, our Foreign Secretary, David Miliband made a statement to reporters and the media in which he commented:
We face a critical crisis of legitimacy because it’s clear that the only people with any shred of legitimacy are the people who won the March 29th first round and that was the opposition.
The problem is that Gordon Brown and David Miliband wouldn’t know what democratic legitimacy was if it came up and punched them in the face (which quite a few people would like to do).
By ramming the Lisbon Treaty through Parliament without the referendum they promised, which was arguably illegitimate and undemocratic, Mr Brown and Miliband have proven that they are prepared to condemn the lack of democratic legitimacy in Zimbabwe without upholding such values themselves.
Likewise, EU Foreign Policy Chief, Javier Solana was quick to condemn Robert Mugabe’s campaign of violence saying:
The withdrawal of Mr. Morgan Tsvangirai is understandable, given the unacceptable systematic campaign of violence, obstruction and intimidation lead by the Zimbabwean authorities, which has continued for several weeks. The elections have become a travesty of democracy.
But what exactly do Mr Solana and his friends in the EU Commission know of democracy? None of them have ever been elected to the powerful positions they now hold, and much like Mr Mugabe in Zimbabwe they are attempting to force the people of ‘Europe’ into doing something against their will - in this case ratifying the EU Constitution Lisbon Treaty.
Really, in some ways is the European Union and our own system of government so different to that of Zimbabwe? Granted we do not have the beatings, street violence, raiding of party offices and the like, but the attitude of our elitist leaders compared to that of Mugabe is almost identical – both believe that the people can be ignored and their opinions suppressed when convenient.
Despite an Irish ‘No’ vote against the Constitution-in-disguise, the EU is regardless preparing to ‘move forward’ with their European integration project. These people do not respect the will of their own peoples so it is entirely hypocritical for them to call for Mugabe to respect the people of Zimbabwe.
