Demagogues thrive in its absence as demonstrated by the Zuma diehards and the EFF
03 November 2022 - 15:52From SA to Washington DC, democratic institutions are under siege. The ugly scenes playing out in Brazil in the aftermath of the presidential election, and the brutality metered out to US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi’s 82-year-old husband Paul in his San Francisco home, should ring alarm bells for all who believe in democracy.
Violence is the hallmark of Trumpism. First it was the January 6 Capitol invasion by former president Donald Trump’s supporters. Then the July riots in KwaZulu-Natal by Jacob Zuma diehards. We also witnessed the vandalism of Clicks stores in Gauteng and Eastern Cape by EFF members. If we believe violence will help win what we lost in the ballot box and intimidation is better than talking, our constitution should be used as toilet paper.The end of debate should be a concern to all.
Douglas Murray’s brilliant essay in The Spectator in 2019, “The death of debate”, is a must-read. He wrote: “Today nearly all real public discussion has become impossible. Which is why the thinking has gone bad on nearly every major issue facing us. We have lost the art of discussion.” Dissenting views are simply silenced.
We should all take comfort in President Joe Biden’s “protecting democracy” speech on the eve of the November 8 midterm elections. Debate cannot be allowed to die.
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