EKIP– Expert Club for Economics and Politics A Different Opinion
We all know from history how easily, gradually and imperceptibly modern societies can fall into the grip of dictatorial and oppressive regimes. Everyone is familiar with the stories of Adolf Hitler, Robert Mugabe and a number of other democratically ascended to power tyrants. In the last month, one piece of news has been almost absent from the Bulgarian media. What is happening in Turkey is what has captured the attention of the Bulgarian, but while in our neighbor many of the monstrous plans are still just plans, in the Philippines the central streets of the cities are strewn with the corpses of drug addicts and their dealers.
Rehearsal for something bigger
Characteristic of the tyrannical regimes of the last century is the obligatory designation of an enemy and the dealing with him after they ascend to power. If in the past, when power was concentrated in one person and it was unthinkable for anything else to embody it, today the struggle for power and the whole psychological game of designating an enemy can cost the freedom and lives of entire layers of society. The Nazis dealt with all Jews, the communists dealt with all bourgeois and intellectuals, and not just their leaders. Even more important – the majority in society clearly supports and cooperates in the commission of atrocities.
The same scenario is unfolding in the Philippines. The newly elected president of the country and long-time mayor of a medium-sized city, Rodrigo Duterte, won the elections precisely with the promise to deal with drug addicts and dealers in the most brutal way. Immediately after taking office, he began to fulfill his promise by calling on the people to take to the streets themselves and distribute justice, while he would award them with medals.
No sooner said than done. In about a week, over 1,000 people have been killed and disappeared, and there is no sign that things will stay that way. Lists are being drawn up, squads are being formed, the police are on standby. Of course, it is not just drug addicts and dealers who fall under the blows of "justice". The president has personally added politicians, judges, bureaucrats to the lists, whom he himself believes to be connected to drug trafficking. His actions are reminiscent of those of his neighbor Erdogan. An attempted military coup has become an occasion to purge inconvenient people in sectors such as education and the judiciary. Duterte is working according to the same scheme, with a different scarecrow.
But why might what is happening in the Philippines unleash a wave of similar actions in other countries?
The current world is highly polarized in its attitude towards drug addicts. Completely outside the conventions and policies of the UN, we can very easily recognize two poles – that of the more humane approach of removing the problem from the justice system and that of more intensified repression and harsher punishments; one represented by the West led by several European countries, the other – by the Russian Federation and the countries of the Asian continent. (more information about the two poles ) And if in some such an attitude is unthinkable, then in others drug addicts seem like the most convenient enemy to defeat when establishing a new or old dictator in power.
For example, the Russian Federation has not pursued any active policy in the field of drug addiction for decades – the system works in the opposite direction, denying access to healthcare, justice, and assistance from non-governmental organizations. The possibility that drug addicts will one day become redundant in the new Russian society is quite real. Such a reality threatens all countries following the Russian prohibition policy, which, by the way, is our Bulgaria. Whether the Philippines will be an isolated case of supreme human ignorance and primitivism or just the first of many similar examples remains to be seen.
A lesson in democracy
It is important to understand that democracy is a tool for making decisions, just like the toss of a stick, the draw, the pistol duel. Fundamentally more important for a society is not how it makes its decisions but what decisions it can make. The debate should be about what role society has in the life of the individual, not how exactly decisions are made. This is where the danger of democracy lies – the delusion that the decision comes from you, therefore it is legitimate and you should not oppose it. During the Anglo-Saxon monarchies, it was an extremely bold move for a king to raise taxes even slightly. Rulers were guillotined for even minor matters, precisely because power was considered something foreign, not something that came from human nature (for example, God gives it to the king).
Today we can easily vote for tax increases, wiretapping, crackdowns on dissent… and tolerate it, precisely because we (the masses, society) have made the decision for our lives. If we consider that society (the majority) has absolute power over the individual, if we assume that the collective is more important than the individual, then we should consider the actions of President Duterte, who just participated in direct elections, legitimate and correct.
Not only is he democratically elected, he was democratically elected precisely after the promise to physically destroy drug users. In such cases, besides showing the absolute powerlessness of the international community in the face of sovereign states, we understand the terrible truth about what a person is capable of when empowered by the masses. The lesson from Duterte is a lesson in democracy– this powerful tool, which in the wrong hands becomes a weapon of mass destruction.
What's wrong with that? If I were in his place, I would do the same. And democracy, along with communism, are the greatest evil invented by man.