September 15, 2024, was observed as “International Day of Democracy” (IDD), as part of a push by the United Nations (UN) to encourage its members to continually review, the state of democracy in the world and make it “a reality to be enjoyed by everyone, everywhere.”
The Day passed, with hardly a whisper-possibly because it fell on a Sunday-except for remarks by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in which he focused on Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a tool for good governance and the promotion of public participation, equality, security, and human development. However, he warned that if left unchecked, AI could severely injure democracy, peace, and stability, including through the spread of mis-and disinformation, hate speech, and the use of “deepfakes.”
Long before the advent of AI, I had begun to harbour deep concern, almost to the point of anxiety, about the steady decline of democracy in many countries, especially those that promoted themselves as bastions of democracy. “Far Right” political groups in Europe are enjoying their strongest resurgence, since the end of the Cold War. Fundamental human rights and freedoms are being reversed, or diluted, even in countries that profess to uphold strong, democratic principles. Through a series of troubling decisions, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) has: rolled back longstanding, reproductive rights of women; allowed the super-rich to fund political super-pacs that unduly influence the outcome of elections; and granted wide-ranging immunity privileges to a President, seemingly unconcerned that this unfettered power could be abused. Here, we should take comfort in the way judges are appointed to our Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), and their separation from the Executive, i.e. Governments.
Like all ideals, democracy is inherently hard work. But I feel it’s made more so because WE THE PEOPLE, who ostensibly are the managers, guardians, and beneficiaries of democracy, do not realise the many ways in which we are undermining it. Our penchant for superficiality and our unwillingness to insist on factual evidence as the foundation of our knowledge, understanding, and actions have provided ideal conditions for rumours, fake news and conspiracy theories to thrive in our societies. Moreover, the surrender and/or suppression of our values and our intrinsic understanding of right and wrong, in blind allegiance to politicians and political parties, is doing untold harm to our democracy.
Also of concern is the fact that even those who see democracy as a desirable thing, and who enjoy it to some degree, tend to take it for granted, and do not fully appreciate why we must continue to protect and perfect it.
A cornerstone of democracy is a representative system of government, which Abraham Lincoln, famously defined, as Government OF the people, FOR the people and BY the people. Sadly, Governments are increasingly becoming less representative of the people. In the last decade alone, we have witnessed unrelenting efforts by various State and Federal Governments in the USA to further deprive already marginalized citizens, notably black people, of their sacred right to vote.
While the right and the ability to vote are relatively intact in the Caribbean, growing numbers of our people are deliberately opting out of the electoral process, leading to the election of Governments that arithmetically, cannot claim to enjoy the favour of the majority of the electorate. The situation is made worse by the sidelining of non-supporters of a Government, in governance systems and processes.
Another tenet of democracy which is under assault, is transparent decision making. In many Western democracies, there is only the veneer of transparency. Few people understand how decisions are made—by Governments that claim to act in their interest- and/or the thinking that feeds the decisions in which they have an interest. In many Caribbean countries, freedom of access to information is only a myth. Governments tell the people the barest minimum, which does little to improve their understanding of the decisions made on their behalf. For example, the pertinent details of agreements reached with foreign investors are shrouded in secrecy.
I recall that in the 1960s, detailed minutes of meetings of the Castries Town Board/City Council were published in the Saint Lucia Gazette. For some time now, live broadcasts of Parliamentary sessions have been the norm across the Caribbean. Yet, many Caribbean citizens, including Opposition parliamentarians, claim to be “in the dark,” especially about the pertinent details of Money Bills that are presented to Parliament. As the mantra of the Washington Post reminds us, “democracy dies in darkness.”
Still, despite the myriad existential threats to their democracy, Americans can take legal action to force Government agencies to release information that is deemed to be in the public’s interest. Granted, the Courts have the final say in such matters, but more often than not, they accede to such requests.
When I worked with the Caribbean Environmental Health Institute (CEHI), in the early 1990s, I felt deeply conflicted, as I was privy to information regarding recreational water quality at select public beaches in the Caribbean, that ought to have been shared with the public. I cannot claim that this information was deliberately being withheld from the public. However, the public was not aware the information existed. As an intergovernmental agency, CEHI could not have unilaterally released this information.
Nine Caribbean countries recently signed a Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation, and Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean, known as the “Escazu Agreement.” On the face of it, this is a heartwarming development. However, only time will tell whether these countries will honour their commitments under this Agreement, or whether they will stay true to form and maintain the status quo, even though the status has long lost its quo.
I share the hope of Secretary General, Guterres that soon, citizens of the Caribbean and indeed the world will be able to celebrate accountable, transparent, inclusive, representative governance, undergirded by civil liberties and the rule of law.