When Protests Aren't Enough

Dr. Oz-Salzberger, Israeli writer, historian, and professor at the University of Haifa, had a good point this week in Newsweek. Though comparing the Egyptian protesters to the ancient Israelites is a bit of a stretched reading of the Bible, she has it right when questioning our haste in interpreting the ensuing revolution as the catalyst for a true democracy: 

Democracies do not emerge fully equipped from ordinary people’s heartfelt protestations. Democracies need honest legislators, professional judges, incorruptible civil servants, and unbiased public-opinion makers. Such institutions will not grow out of the cracked pavement of Tahrir Square alone.

It's amazing to see that Western leaders continue to think that majority rule is the key to establishing a peaceful nation and stable government; anyone who has studied recent history and current events will tell you that a government ushered in by 'majority rule' can be far from moral or democratic. Gaza overrun by Hamas, Lebanon by Hezbollah, Iran by Ahmadinejad and even Russia by Putin: all of these governments were instituted with elections of sort. Elections that are, in Dr. Oz-Salzburger's words,

pseudo-democratic processes where majoritarian rhetoric trumps substantive democracy.

Of course Egypt needs new leadership, and one chosen by a fair vote: all of the regimes in today's Arab world are in need of new, incorruptible and moral leaders. 
But let us be wary. Let us not get too carried away with rash statements, with the rosy image of democracy and the freedom we think it will inevitable bring -- not every riot turns into a Boston Tea Party and not every revolution leads to a star-spangled banner.


~nana tea~