EIR LEAD EDITORIAL FOR THURSDAY MARCH 30, 2023

When Democracy Became a Dirty Word

March 29, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)—Wise nations and peoples know that when the United States begins to lecture others on “democracy,” the polite thing to do is to quickly go find a toilet before things get ugly. This week’s “Summit For Democracy” is just such an event. In fact, it is so hypocritical, that even wholly rotten outlets like the Washington Post and Financial Times cringed at the thought. One member of the Council on Foreign Relations went so far as to say that, “The summit for democracy is a bad idea that [won’t] go away.”

It doesn’t take a highly paid academic to notice this, however. The degeneration and collapse of the “liberal” Western world is plain for all to see, with poverty, drug addiction, moral indifference, and mass-violence at every turn. Protest movements continue to grow across Europe in opposition to new attempts to privatize and squeeze the population. “Green” legislation threatens to exacerbate the already deadly energy prices, moves that even some of the most committed believers—in the case of Germany—have begun to reject. Britain’s King Charles is visiting Germany over March 29-31—given the growing ferment there, will he be tossed into the latrine himself?

Hypocrisy is an understatement. A better description would be willing accomplices—or perpetrators— in crimes of mass-death worldwide. As resistance builds to the West’s proxy war in Ukraine against Russia, amidst an increasingly obvious impossibility to win against Russia “on the battlefield”—a fact even Zelenskyy himself is openly worrying about—the U.S. further escalates towards a potential nuclear confrontation with Russia. What’s more, the U.S. intimidates and blackmails those that don’t go along, now telling Argentina to stop all collaboration with China, and horrified that Honduras has chosen to break relations with Taiwan. Maybe this is “Democracy with Anglo-American Characteristics.”

In comparison, many will point out that the new paradigm in relations growing out of the China-Russia friendship, along with the BRICS-Plus and SCO, is the true democracy, while the imperial West are the autocracies. This certainly seems to be the case if one looks at the ongoing spinoffs the March 10 Saudi Arabia-Iran agreement is having for the entire Southwest Asia region—certainly you cannot dictate peaceful relations. The Iranian Foreign Minister is currently in Moscow, furthering this process and signing deep economic and development agreements with Russia. Saudi Arabia also formally approved an MOU to become a dialogue partner of the SCO. In September Iran signed documentation on its application to become a permanent member of the SCO, and now the two are increasingly in dialogue.

Additionally, China is hosting the Boao Forum for Asia over March 28-31, an astounding grouping of business and other leaders from every corner of the world meeting to discuss the enormous investment opportunities ahead, as Asian growth rates are aiming to surpass the global average by a factor of three. This followed last week’s Russia-Africa Conference in Moscow, where 40 nations were represented to discuss economic opportunities, in opposition to the assertions that Russia is “isolated” and “desperate.” Further in Zambia, President Hakainde Hichilema inaugurated a new hydroelectric dam (built in collaboration with China) which will increase the country’s electricity capacity by a whopping 27%.

Despite these examples of true democratic benefit, as opposed to autocratic rule and domination, it is not actually reflective of the real world. Even those most committed to “democratic” values, and to rejecting “authoritarian” ones, will fail. This is not actually the principle that is underlying a new paradigm of relations. Perfect democracy will not pave the way to a better future—it can’t.

Instead of such a failed metric, consider what Helga Zepp-LaRouche wrote in her “Ten Principles for a New International Security and Development Architecture” on Nov. 22, 2022. She wrote:

“In order to overcome the conflicts arising out of quarreling opinions, which is how empires have maintained control over the underlings, the economic, social and political order has to be brought into cohesion with the lawfulness of the physical universe. In European philosophy this was discussed as the being in character with natural law, in Indian philosophy as cosmology, and in other cultures appropriate notions can be found. Modern sciences like space science, biophysics or thermonuclear fusion science will increase the knowledge of mankind about this lawfulness continuously. A similar cohesion can be found in the great works of classical art in different cultures.”

In other words, there is a lawfulness to the universe, and whether we choose to act in cohesion with that is the difference—not the particular form or flavor we use to get there. Towards that end, the explosion of a new system of relations in the world which is taking place around the BRICS-Plus and others is precisely this. China’s lifting over 800 million people out of poverty, and its commitment to continue such advances in every other country in the world, is in cohesion with natural law, not simply democratic law. To oppose it is to oppose universal principle.

The West must wake up and face reality. The opportunities for cooperation around this kind of common aim are endless, and it just might be the only way you’re going to save your life.