Monday (Feb. 17th): Democracy further taken apart

Name? Wendy Abraham

Westphalian identity? Australian

Age? Classified (or, rather, a 30-second google search proved inconclusive)

Why is she in the news? She is a judge in Australia, and she ruled in favour of the government versus ABC, a TV news channel. The police had raided ABC offices after the news channel reported on Australian soldiers possibly committing war crimes in Afghanistan.

Why do we care? The 21st century has been marked by false threats leading to an overreaction by states. It is that reaction that has caused the damage, not the supposed threat. This can be seen with issues such as international terrorism, Chinese flu epidemics and immigration (which is not a threat at all). The idea of a government being allowed to search journalist’s private files is yet another step towards making Western society fragile and open to power-abuse.

Why should you care? You are being told you live in democracies and that you should celebrate that fact. Democracies are brittle creatures that require continuous nourishment, care and respect. Right now, unfortunately, Western societies are in an abusive relationship with its democratic roots; sucking all its essence away while leaving a hollow shell to keep up appearances. Judge Abraham’s ruling is yet another blow.

Who else cares? Not that many people. We live in a world where democracy is treated as religious dogma, yet without any care for what it actually involves. It is as if we’ve just given up. We are so used to the fabric mentioned above being torn apart thread by thread, oblivious to the fact that it took hundreds of years to put it together, that it just doesn’t seem to matter anymore.

Any further comments? We prefer to keep things light around here, and we did not bring the funny above. So here’s a joke: What’s the difference between Covid-19 and Western democracy? Covid-19 can be cured.

Joshua Dario Hasenstab

General Coordinator