Democracy: The Only Way Forward In the Contemporary World
Outlines:
1. Introduction.
2. History — A political framework.
3. Democracy and the developing countries.
4. Mass-scale education, tolerance, respect, etc. essential for democracy.
5. Conclusion.
Democracy means rule of majority. In real sense, it is a political framework covering the complete attitude of a notion or a person. First of all',.'this practice was adopted by the Greek states. Its development in'various shades has a long history and in varying background. In Europe, democratic institutions are well-established now. These institutions have cast a special democratic colour on public behaviour. Their thinking and approach has democratic tendency.
They tend- to respect feelings of individuals and ideas of majority. They are just apd prudent in their decisions and this Type of culture has' been cultivated, after a long and hard Struggle. Thousands laid down their lives, many were mutilated in the. torture camps, scores of them were jeered at and insulted publically. But they stood against this storm of ignorance, cruelty and intolerance. These phases of democracy have a history of so many centuries a history full of bloodshed and moans of oppressed and taxed humanity.
The Church and the kingship along with aristocracy, tried their level best to stop the way' of democracy.
These committed mariy horrible crimes against mankind in their bid to'silence the popular cries. The kingship, the aristocracy and the Church had a collective will to safeguard their peculiar interests. For their survival and sovereignty, these institutions did not hesitate to. shed blood and conspired' against masses. Many a glorious and intelligent man fell a prey to this octopus type system. Individuals crying against these non-democratic systems Were crushed, physically or mentally. SocrateS, Galileo, Joan of Arc, Abuzar Ghafari (R.A), Imam Hussain (R.A) and so many others were tortured one way or the other by these establishments. But they, contributed their share by continuing to put up' resistance against injustice and cruelty.
They did not yield to the unjust and the mean. They contributed sometimes even beyond their capacity, to this glorious chapter of democracy. This tussle , between the powerful and the downtrodden is very old and still continues.
In countries like ours, democracy is still a small sapling and it will take a long time to become a full tree. It will require time, tolerance, sacrifice and education. Many distasteful and ' unpleasant situations will have to be faced patiently. .» Democracy and its institutions suffered much set back so many times by unavoidable Martial Laws. Unfortunately, our politicians appear to be providing ample excuse for army interventions.
In 1958, the ever changing cabinets with inefficient politicians at the helm of affairs, made it easier for Field Marshal Ayub Khan to undo all that was developed in the name of democracy. In 1969 and 1977/history repeated itself. Public is deprived of their rights and participation, under a military regime. Now democracy is again in operation, but on the whole, we are still far behind in acquiring a democratic attitude. Still we practice underhand and unfair means to make our political enemy lick the dust.-We think of our own benefit and try our level best to safeguard our interests. The friends are ' favoured out of the way whereas opponents are tormented out of proportions. Religious discrimination is quite common and city walls even compartments of railway trains are chalked with many slogans of hatred. -This is our attitude in every field of life.
We have ignored traditions and values of the past and are trying to accept new system of morality where dishonesty is the best policy and a new moral value. It will certainly take a lot of time and effort and much stir in society to reshape this system of democracy - that is founded upon mass-scale education, tolerance, respect of individual, patience and powerful independent public media. We will have to evolve these qualities in our society, if we want to run democratic government smoothly in our country.
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