AEP            Is democracy the best system?          15 February 2006

Democracy is the rule by the majority, but when the majority is blind to the views of the minority, trouble will ensue.  We only have to look at Northern Ireland and Cyprus to see what a bigoted majority brings about.  Democracy works very well in an educated and moderate society, but it is not the best when the majority of the population refuses to see the views of the minority.

In Cyprus before the Turkish invasion, there were small enclaves of Turkish Muslims in most towns.  These minorities had little input into the life and times of these towns.  In 1974 the Enosis movement in Cyprus that wanted political union with Greece, appears to have prompted the Greek military to try and overthrow Archbishop Makarios and unite the two states.  Makarios was a wily old bird and managed to keep the peace between the two opposing groups, but the Greek colonels had other ideas  Turkey saw the signs and invaded the island to thwart the colonels.  That led to the island being divided, with two separate communities being established.

I remember when I was working at RAF Akrotiri before the invasion, the airmen I spoke to were convinced that if it ever came to a showdown between Turkey and Greece, there would be no real contest -- the Turks would come out on top.  And that was what more of less happened.  It was democracy that led to that confrontation.  Had there been a rational dictatorship (say, by Britain), the Greek Cypriot majority would never have been allowed to swing the politics such that the Greek military tried to take over the island.

Northern Ireland is similar to Cyprus.  The Protestant majority ruled the roost for many years, keeping the Catholic minority in fear of the thugs that roamed the streets.  My mother worked with a Catholic woman in Kingston shortly after the war.  This lady told my mother of the oppression that the Loyalist gangs before the war used to impose on Catholic families in that part of Belfast where she lived.  At a higher level, the only jobs that were available to Catholics were sweepers and cleaners in the shipyards et cetera,  Is there any wonder that the IRA had the support of most Catholics.  The IRA acted as a big brother looking after the interests of the Catholic communities.

Now look at Hamas in Palestine.  The majority of ordinary people feel intimidated by Israel and look to Hamas as their protector.  Lord Arthur Balfour made a declaration in 1917 that the Jewish people should have their own state in Palestine.  My dictionary says that his pronouncement said that the indigenous population should be protected.  But everyone knows how wrong that idea turned out.  When Palestine was a British protectorate, the British were assaulted by Jewish gangs and many servicemen lost their lives.  Eventually the Brits allowed the bigots to take over the country and establish a new state of Israel..  Almost sixty years later it would be entirely wrong to try and put the original sins to right.  A compromise must be found where the two states live side by side.  The proposal that the New Israel be set up in Kenya would probably have been a better solution, but the religious bigots got their way.  There appears to be hope now that Hamas will form an administration that the west (mainly the USA) can live with.

We wait in hope!