Apropos the "Unfit for Democracy" thesis that's been knocking about, in the context of the revolutions sweeping the Middle-East, and countered by Prime Minister Cameron as being racist: I quote from a modern German text, about the situation in the German Reich at the end of the first world war, when a constitution was being written in the post-November-Revolution era, on the chief problems encountered in doing so (translated from the German):
- The People are not used to Democracy
- Large sections of the population are essentially anti-democratic
No one would view this as being racist. Surely, what we allow our historians we may allow ourselves. That is, an uncompromising look at reality and ourselves, even if the conclusion is not a pretty sight. We can make it beautiful, though, by working on it.
To suggest that an ethnic group is incapable of democracy, or any other social system, is clearly absurd, for it assumes that ethnicity, even over a protracted period of time and dialogue, prevents ventures into certain areas of thought. With time, the use of appropriate cultural symbols, open discussions, reassurance about the survival of loved-institutions etc., a society can change, in any direction.
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