Touchstone of democracy I Letras Al Margin I Gustavo Luis Carrera

2023-05-02 00:04:54

It has become commonplace that countries subjected to dictatorial regimes call themselves “republics” (think of North Korea, Cuba, China), stripping the adjective of its supposed real meaning. In the graph, the presidents of Cuba, Miguel Diaz-Canel, and of China, Xi Jinping.

Gustavo Luis Carrera I LETTERS IN THE MARGIN

There are many ways to define democracy. One, very simple, is to set it against its opposite: dictatorship, tyranny. The democratic system is based on the proclamation of the people as the depositary of sovereignty. That is to say, that order and legality -basic rights- no longer depend on the arbitrary decision of a person, of a president on duty, as happens in the dictatorial regime; rather, they correspond to the will of a people, expressed by an electoral mechanism of authentic free and universal condition. But, it is possible to highlight the key to democracy from different realistic and functional perspectives. Let’s see what we consider essential.

REPUBLIC = DEMOCRACY? The Republic emerged as an insurgency against the omnipotent power of the king, the monarch, who was even imbued with divine blessing. The modern republic was born, cutting off the heads of the monarchists, and then the revolutionaries, in France at the end of the 18th century. In the midst of the terror and the absolute general confusion of the French Revolution, the republican system was founded. The monarchy will return to power; but, the republican planting had already remained. While other territories radically conserve the monarchy, as is the case with England. But, what is certain is that a new political and administrative conception, called the Republic, was introduced. And immediately the fundamental question arises: republic = democracy? Relativities begin here According to common criteria, the republic is characterized by the separation of powers and by the election of rulers. But both aspects can be concealed and feigned, making what hides a tyranny appear as a supposed republican system. Besides. It has already become commonplace for countries subjected to dictatorial regimes to call themselves “republics” (think of North Korea, Cuba, China), stripping the adjective of its supposed real meaning. In conclusion: the existence of a “republic” does not guarantee that it is a “democracy”.

THE CONSTITUTION. Just as a democratic system is supposed to be republican, it is taken for granted that the existence of a Constitution is the foundation of a democracy. In the first place, it would be necessary to consider the validity of the principles contained in the Magna Carta in favor of the totality of a people, in order to evaluate their index of coincidence with the democratic principles. And on the other hand, it should not be forgotten that there may be -as there have been, and still are- constitutional monarchies, where the authority of the monarch is limited by the articles of a Constitution. This, without taking into account that the ruler elected through a legal process, by means of manipulated enabling laws -with the complicity of a Parliament-, or presidential decrees, can command, overriding the Constitution. In fact, the Magna Carta is valid to the extent that it is valued and respected by a community; A totality that includes, first of all, whoever governs, because they are the depositary of collective trust and responsibility, which compromise the destiny of a country, of a people. In any case, our conclusion in this regard is that the existence of a Constitution is not, by itself, a guarantee of the establishment of a democracy.

THE REAL DEMOCRACY. Freedom is an essential good in the characterization of a democratic system. But what does freedom mean? It is the faculty of being able to assume free movement and free speech; that is, to be the owner of his future, of his vital process, and on the other hand, to be able to express himself publicly without restrictions or persecutions. But this essential freedom presupposes the existence of what we consider the touchstone of democracy: equality. Now, what is equality? A first approximation allows us to say that equality is the balance in access to social rights; it is the absence of discrimination; it is the establishment of the free, direct and universal vote; It is respect for the human person, without social, economic, ethnic, religious, or ideological distinctions. Integral democracy is that of the participation of the entire population, in open and full consultation. Perspective that can be achieved, with a true inclusive purpose, through the internet, the telephone and authorized centers for those who do not have access to these electronic means. It will be the way to convert representative democracy into direct democracy. (In a previous opportunity we talked about Pantocracy, as a total, inclusive, universal concept of an authentic democracy). What we especially underline is that without equality there is no possible democratic system. We know that nature makes us all equal as people worthy of absolute human respect. Believers are convinced that God makes everyone equal. So, inequality is imposed by society. It is manipulated by politicians, rulers, aristocrats, discriminators, exploiters. But nothing changes reality: without equality there is no democracy. It is even known that there can be circumvention of equality. Communist regimes, which misrepresent socialist theses, go to the extreme of making people believe that equality is to be equal in lack and poverty. Without forgetting the satire of George Orwell, in his “Animal Farm”, when the pigs, who make a kind of revolution to seize the place and take the place of the owners, are protected by an accommodating motto: “all animals are equal; but, some are more equal than others”. Even aware of the risk of false equalities, we insist on our assertion: without equality, which is equivalent to saying equal opportunities, not equal alms, but access to the possibilities of a decent life and of labor and professional development, there is not, nor there may be democracy. Just as for jewelers there is a jasper that is the touchstone that allows to identify the gold, the touchstone of democracy is equality.

VALVE: “It must be said that democracy requires the existence of a republican system, governed by a Constitution, the autonomy of public powers, alternation in government through free and universal elections, as well as respect for essential personal and social freedoms. expression. But, all of this must be based on strict compliance with the basic principle of equal opportunities within the social and economic group, and against the laws and citizen rights. The fact that the equality of all is the touchstonethe decisive sign of true democracy”. [email protected]

THE AUTHOR is a Doctor of Letters and a retired professor at the Central University of Venezuela, where he was director and one of the founders of the Institute of Literary Research. He was rector of the National Open University and since 1998 he is a Number Individual of the Venezuelan Academy of Language. Among his distinctions as a narrator, essayist and literary critic, the awards of the El Nacional Annual Short Story Contest (1963, 1968 and 1973); Municipal Prose Award (1971) for The Petroleum Novel in Venezuela; Municipal Narrative Award (1978 and 1994) for Viaje inverso and Salomón, respectively; and Essay Prize at the XI José Antonio Ramos Sucre Literary Biennial (1995) for El signo secreto: para una poética de José Antonio Ramos Sucre. He was born in Cumana, in 1933.

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