BTColumn – The struggle to keep democracy

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author(s) do not represent the official position of Barbados TODAY.

by Guy Hewitt

Happy New Year! I’m aware of my reticence as a columnist but as I explained previously, I had to attend to important personal matters and give the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) space to speak with a singular voice.

However, it is with profound regret that I will be unable to exercise my franchise on January 19.
The last few months away from the people and land I love have been painful. I watched as we became a republic without any

expression given to the “government of the people, by the people, for the people.”

Barbadians served as window-dressing to this international public relations exercise. Being a ‘republic’ needs to take root as a transition to greater transparency, accountability, and integrity in our democracy and public life.

We seemed to have gotten off on the wrong foot with an opaqueness in the selection of our national heroes. Through insufficient consideration and a seeming populist grab, the Order of National Heroes has been devalued by conflating celebrity with heroism.

We also witnessed the attempt to trample on the legitimate rights of workers, specifically nurses, to freely associate and collectively bargain without a fear of reprisal. Those who recall how Guyana’s republican experiment undermined its democratic principles remain concerned.

And now we face the prospect of a General Election within the confines of the virulent COVID-19 pandemic.

I was perturbed by the fact that BLP officials seemed to suggest that there is little cause for concern. Notwithstanding their assurances, we have been advised by officials in the Ministry of Health that the General Election is likely to take place amidst thousands of active COVID-19 cases.

This could be a serious cause for further concern among an already sceptical populace if there isn’t confidence that polling stations won’t become hotspots.

This raises the related question whether the poll generally could be truly considered ‘free and fair’, not just for the COVID-positive disenfranchised.

This situation and the potential for a surge in COVID cases is compounded by the fact that students across Barbados, in dire need of in-school learning for both academic and sociopsychological reasons, already afflicted by the uncertainty of a timely return to school, may be further disadvantaged.

However, my focus on democracy is not solely for our fair land but also where I reside. The Feast of the Epiphany which officially brings Christmas to a close, is also the first anniversary of the insurrection on the US Capitol.

It was unthinkable a year ago today that Americans would storm their Capitol with the intention of doing harm to members of

Congress and overturning a lawful election.

Yet it happened.

The assault on the Capitol, the largest since the British destroyed the building in 1812, revealed that the dark forces of authoritarianism that preoccupied the Founders still lingered. This was not an attack on a building, but on government itself, as armed insurgents bellowed threats against officials, particularly Mike Pence and Nancy Pelosi.

Not since the Civil War had the country failed to effect a peaceful transfer of power, and no previous presidential candidate contested an election’s results in the face of clear evidence that it was free and fair.

When the insurrection ended, five people were dead and many more seriously injured along with over $30 million in damage. Over 700 people have been charged. But this wasn’t just one infamous day in the American story but has impacted on American power and influence globally.

The United States is far from the first country to struggle with democratic backsliding. However, such antics were before expected to be the behaviour of young, unconsolidated democracies.

This uprising revealed the possibility of political decay in advanced democracies as a significant minority were willing to turn against democracy itself and use violence to achieve their ends.

It may have been hoped that such a catastrophic event would unite the country and that elected officials would put aside partisan divisions in the face of a full-frontal assault on democracy. That didn’t happen.

Far from seeking to understand and avert a recurrence, the Republican Party opposed bipartisan commissions to investigate the events and openly repudiate their members who participate in unearthing the truth.

A recent poll found that 93 per cent of Democrats considered it an attack on the government, while only 29 per cent of Republicans agreed.

January 6 was an epiphany that democracy may not actually be forever. As we similarly learned in Guyana, Grenada and Trinidad & Tobago, democracy can’t be taken for granted.

On the anniversary of this extremist assault on the seminal institutions of American democracy, the country needs to honestly and openly explore why this happened a =nd what needs to be done to unite the nation around the common good.

In Barbados, there is a similar need for introspection.

The crises the United States now faces in terms of trust and confidence in its democracy and basic governmental functions is shared in Barbados and elsewhere. The multiparty and multistakeholder alliance that worked to frame over Independence understood that government is supposed to work for the people, not the other way around.

As we aspire to republicanism, we need to hold the notion that you mould politics to suit the needs of citizens, not the other way around. I hope that Barbados and the US have the humility to acknowledge that democracy is no longer working as designed and the courage to pursue viable options going forward.

As we managed so spectacularly at the birth of our nationhood, Barbados requires the boldness to invent a new governance and politics for a new era, which is entirely possible if we hold to the notion that we are One Barbados.

Guy Hewitt resides in the US serving God while remaining committed to Barbados and the DLP.