Democracy as a process beyond a stun
21 January 2021 By Abiodun Giwa
Mahatma Ghandi and Martin Luther King (Courtesy:RepublicWorld)
What position would Martin Luther King, MLK, have taken on the current political situation in the United States today? It is one question that a man had asked this reporter observing the last MLK's day. The question is based on the man's knowledge that MLK was a nonviolent protester, and that MLK did the nonviolent protest so effectively his words were heard and respected all over the world. Secondly, MLK was not just a rabble-rouser; but a man who mastered the use of words, and that his pronouncements matched expectations of the issues at hand.
There is a big difference between MLK's protests and the protests of today, with the MLK's protest's technique in comparison to protests witnessed all summer led by the Black Lives Matter, BLM, and the recent protest by some supporters of the former President Donald Trump at the Capitol. The endless protest in Seattle, Oregon, has manifestly become a fight between protesters and the police. it is hard to agree and define what is happening in the city.
MLK has shown that there is nothing illegal in a peaceful protest. But when a protest turns into thuggery or hooliganism like the ones the world witnessed in the U.S. last summer and witnessed again when protesters breached the Capitol, the definition has turned from a protest to something else. You don't expect protesters to destroy people's homes or sources of livelihood. And you don't expect protesters to breach a house regarded as the people's house. Many people believe that the summer protests got out of control because people in positions of power who were supposed to have called the protesters to order failed to do so because they believed that the protest favored their political aspiration. And the same people are today seeking to destroy others for the breaching of the Capitol by some other protesters.
It is good to note that there are people who see the summer protests and the breaching of the Capitol as something else, against the people who see the summer protest as a protest and the breaching of the Capitol as something else. Many people are saying that MLK would have seen the summer destruction of properties and sources of livelihood as something else different from a protest, and that the same is applicable to the breaching of the Capitol. People are also saying that MLK would have condemned the mismanagement of the breaching of the Capitol by the police as well as the lack of response by top leaders to the arrival of protesters in the Capitol. There were news reports that said everyone in Washington knew there was going to be a protest at the Capitol by President Donald Trump supporters. And that people wondered why there were no enough police protection for the Capitol. They also wondered why there was no effort by Congressional leaders to receive the protesters and to listen to whatever they have to say. The leaders may say they already knew the protesters' grudge about the election results. It is not enough reason to disregard the protesters.
Therefore, Congressional leaders disregard for the protesters was part of the mismanagement of the day's program, and part of the cause of protesters having a free way into the Capitol, and the blame should not be on the security personnel alone. Democracy is a process, and not a stun. The process must be followed to avoid unusual developments such as the breaching of the Capitol. Some people may argue that the lawmakers were busy to receive and consider the Electoral College results. Attending to the protesters by Congressional to hear their message outside the building would not have taken more than 30 minutes, or at most one hour. The issue of the election integrity or the lack of it is as important as the receiving and considering the election results. The protesters are not mobs as some of us have erroneously tagged them. The protesters are American citizens, and they exercised their rights - one of the most important parts of the Constitution. The fact that some of the protesters breached the Congress and may be punishable under the law is not an excuse to tag the other protesters who did not breach the Capitol as part of a mob, and to wrongly disregard their protest.
No protest should be violent. A violent protest has itself drown its own message, aside from the unruly picture it presents. No one who has led an unruly and violent protest is worthy of emulation. If nonviolent protests were bad when Mahatma Ghandi popularized it, our own MLK would not have embraced or emulated Ghandi. The precious aspect of the nonviolent protest is that the message is heard, and it confers respectability on the protesters as decent people who can manage their own affairs.
Mitch McConnel and Nancy Pelosi as notable Congressional leaders may need to create the time or the process to listen to protesters at the Capitol as part of the democratic process. Aside from problems introduced in the Congress by elected representatives who get known to them in their constituencies, it is through these protests that the Congress can get to know about problems that has eluded the representatives at their respective constituencies. As servants of the people, they must be ready to listen to the people, and not assume they are masters beyond reproach.
Pursuing the truth is a part of the process of the democratic governance. It is the reason the media is given the almost free rein to criticize and call the leaders to order and protected under the law. Democratic leaders must embrace accepting the people's complains for further investigation and not push them under the rug. It is the process. To do otherwise is turning the democratic process into a stun that is not in the interest of the people and the elected representatives as seen on January 6 in Washington.
There is a big difference between MLK's protests and the protests of today, with the MLK's protest's technique in comparison to protests witnessed all summer led by the Black Lives Matter, BLM, and the recent protest by some supporters of the former President Donald Trump at the Capitol. The endless protest in Seattle, Oregon, has manifestly become a fight between protesters and the police. it is hard to agree and define what is happening in the city.
MLK has shown that there is nothing illegal in a peaceful protest. But when a protest turns into thuggery or hooliganism like the ones the world witnessed in the U.S. last summer and witnessed again when protesters breached the Capitol, the definition has turned from a protest to something else. You don't expect protesters to destroy people's homes or sources of livelihood. And you don't expect protesters to breach a house regarded as the people's house. Many people believe that the summer protests got out of control because people in positions of power who were supposed to have called the protesters to order failed to do so because they believed that the protest favored their political aspiration. And the same people are today seeking to destroy others for the breaching of the Capitol by some other protesters.
It is good to note that there are people who see the summer protests and the breaching of the Capitol as something else, against the people who see the summer protest as a protest and the breaching of the Capitol as something else. Many people are saying that MLK would have seen the summer destruction of properties and sources of livelihood as something else different from a protest, and that the same is applicable to the breaching of the Capitol. People are also saying that MLK would have condemned the mismanagement of the breaching of the Capitol by the police as well as the lack of response by top leaders to the arrival of protesters in the Capitol. There were news reports that said everyone in Washington knew there was going to be a protest at the Capitol by President Donald Trump supporters. And that people wondered why there were no enough police protection for the Capitol. They also wondered why there was no effort by Congressional leaders to receive the protesters and to listen to whatever they have to say. The leaders may say they already knew the protesters' grudge about the election results. It is not enough reason to disregard the protesters.
Therefore, Congressional leaders disregard for the protesters was part of the mismanagement of the day's program, and part of the cause of protesters having a free way into the Capitol, and the blame should not be on the security personnel alone. Democracy is a process, and not a stun. The process must be followed to avoid unusual developments such as the breaching of the Capitol. Some people may argue that the lawmakers were busy to receive and consider the Electoral College results. Attending to the protesters by Congressional to hear their message outside the building would not have taken more than 30 minutes, or at most one hour. The issue of the election integrity or the lack of it is as important as the receiving and considering the election results. The protesters are not mobs as some of us have erroneously tagged them. The protesters are American citizens, and they exercised their rights - one of the most important parts of the Constitution. The fact that some of the protesters breached the Congress and may be punishable under the law is not an excuse to tag the other protesters who did not breach the Capitol as part of a mob, and to wrongly disregard their protest.
No protest should be violent. A violent protest has itself drown its own message, aside from the unruly picture it presents. No one who has led an unruly and violent protest is worthy of emulation. If nonviolent protests were bad when Mahatma Ghandi popularized it, our own MLK would not have embraced or emulated Ghandi. The precious aspect of the nonviolent protest is that the message is heard, and it confers respectability on the protesters as decent people who can manage their own affairs.
Mitch McConnel and Nancy Pelosi as notable Congressional leaders may need to create the time or the process to listen to protesters at the Capitol as part of the democratic process. Aside from problems introduced in the Congress by elected representatives who get known to them in their constituencies, it is through these protests that the Congress can get to know about problems that has eluded the representatives at their respective constituencies. As servants of the people, they must be ready to listen to the people, and not assume they are masters beyond reproach.
Pursuing the truth is a part of the process of the democratic governance. It is the reason the media is given the almost free rein to criticize and call the leaders to order and protected under the law. Democratic leaders must embrace accepting the people's complains for further investigation and not push them under the rug. It is the process. To do otherwise is turning the democratic process into a stun that is not in the interest of the people and the elected representatives as seen on January 6 in Washington.
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