Benazir Bhutto on Dictatorship and Democracy
Austin Bay has posted parts of an interview he did with Benazir Bhutto. Here’s the money quote:
BAY: There’s a democratic surge in the Middle East�what can stop it?
BHUTTO: There is certainly a surge towards democracy. This year has been a remarkable one. In some ways like the year when the Berlin Wall fell and the momentum for freedom we’ve had elections Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine. And we’ve seen how the people of Lebanon are now on the streets and talking about their independence. However, the militants are still there and the beneficiaries of the old order are still there. We must remember that while the masses are on one side, there is also an entrenched vested interest that has been created through years of dictatorship or subjugation and these people are waiting to hit out at every single opportunity and they can hit out through several different ways and they can hit out with intrigue or conspiracy or hit out by violent means — beheadings, car bombs, assassination. In fact Iraq is very critical to future direction the Middle East. Success or failure in Iraq will have a profound impact of the future direction of the Middle East,. And certainly those people who are carrying out the b the beheadings and the kidnappings and tape-recording with the videotapes of their victims.
The video tapes of the beheadings–[they are] trying to create the terror at the horror, to lead to an early pullout, or diversion of the international communities attention so they [international community] leave. That must not happen. We’ve got to remember of Germany and Japan. It took a generation to build the political and social institutions the judicial barristers, the civil services that enable those countries to continue as vibrant successful democracies. We must remember after WWII, if the allied powers had turned their attention away after a year or two, well at that time the Nazi forces were still pretty entrenched, They may have tried a comeback. I think there needs to be a commitment to the promotion of freedom and patience and perseverance are required in knowing that people liberated from decades of repression and cruelty without any political institutions or political systems need the help of the international community. And while there may be voices that say why should the international community continue to stay after all, let the people sort it out for themselves, we must remember that this is one world now, a global village, this is one world and whatever happens in a part of the world affects another part of the world…We’ve seen that if peace is to be built and stability is to be built…We must have a common commitment to help humanity move on to the road of modernity and progress in this century.
Anyone who’s read this blog for long enough knows that I love drawing parallels from Germany and Japan to Iraq. No, they aren’t perfect parallels, but considering the MSM was up until recently obsessed with drawing experience from Vietnam, it was a counterpoint I felt was worth making. It’s gratifying to see Bhutto make the same observations.
The masses want the power but there is a struggle between the elites who want to take back their position and the ordinary people. Then I realized what happened in Germany and Japan. The allied powers made the commitment to Germany and Japan for military support and economic support that those two countries remained stable without once again being sucked into a horrific past.