Democracy is not about just having elections
Simon Tisdall (Electoral dysfunction, 15 November) wonders why so many citizens have lost faith in the democratic process. One does not have to look far for the answer: as economic inequality increases governments are pressured to serve the interests of the wealthy. Not surprisingly, countries with more egalitarian economic distribution still exhibit respect for true democracy.
The reality is that electoral democracy is not enough. Compare India with undemocratic China and see which one comes ahead in terms of social indicators like infant mortality, literacy or life expectancy.
In Latin America “democracy” has been often used as a pretext to bring down progressive governments in favour of murderous regimes dominated by wealthy elites and foreign corporations. Are we surprised that the population shows some ambivalence about the blessings of democracy?
Democracy is about equality of rights, not just having elections at predetermined intervals.
Ada Bello
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US
History is the result of our failure to choose wisely
In his big story about a new world order (Only history will tell whether Donald Trump’s withdrawal from Syria is a watershed moment ..., 25 October), Simon Tisdall broaches the question of how, if possible, to discern historical tipping points. He focuses on the determinants of political, military and economic power in evaluating post-cold war US dominance.
There are other, even more ominous turning-point criteria: the end of the cold war could have led to the elimination of nuclear weapons, to the dismantling of Nato and the Warsaw Pact, to cap greenhouse gas concentration at 350ppm, to eliminate developing world debt and regulate the power and reach of the international financial institutions. Instead, all went wildly in the opposite direction.
These were all choices that now lead to the possibility of human extinction, not the inevitable unfolding of a historical process.
Judith Deutsch
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Let’s take responsibility for saving the planet
We are all responsible for the environmental protection of the Amazon (22 November). Likewise, everyone in the northern hemisphere has a claim on protection of the forests, grasslands, waterways and coastline of Australia.
In both cases indigenous people have been traumatised and driven from the land they took care of for thousands of years so that corrupt invaders could claim it.
The same mindset is planning to mine resources in space. Perhaps these land-grabbers could work on recycling space junk first after a compulsory turn at community service reforesting the land that has already sacrificed enough for their enterprises. Money back paid to assist indigenous communities wouldn’t go astray.
Jennifer Darling
Point Lonsdale, Victoria, Australia
The world must renounce the neoliberal consensus
I respect Gary Younge as a truth-speaker. In his piece about what can change in elections (8 November) he notes the bankruptcy of Conservative policies. It seems they cannot think outside the box into which Margaret Thatcher put them: neoliberal economics. But Britain, nay the world, needs to break out of that box, wherein lie gross inequality and environmental destruction, before it is too late. We must encourage creative thinking and avoid wasting energy lambasting those who lack it.
Edward Butterworth
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
All animals have to die, so eating meat is not cruel
I would be hypocritical if I claimed to feel guilty about eating meat, because I don’t (The war on vegans, 1 November). All animals have to die: herbivores perish from disease, attacks by predators or starvation because their teeth are too worn down to eat, and carnivores become too slow to catch prey – not to mention the vagaries of food supply in the wild.
The inhumanity comes from treating animals with indifference, cruelty and killing for pleasure – or maybe just breeding deliberately for destruction.
Kitty Monk
Auckland, New Zealand
