Democracy

Photo: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump attends 'Namaste Trump' event in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Streamed live on 24 Feb 2020. Credit: Prime Minister's Office.

US and India: The Nexus Between Identity Politics and Economic Achievements

Viewpoint by Chandra Muzaffar

This article is being reproduced from the Website of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST) presided over by Dr Chandra Muzaffar.

KUALA LUMPUR (IDN) – According to official estimates, Donald J. Trump obtained a little more than 74 million votes in the November 2020 presidential election losing to Joseph Biden who secured a little more than 81 million votes. Biden won by a comfortable margin, but Trump also performed remarkably well. What explains his performance? Analysis of his performance may reveal the growing influence of a certain combination of forces that may shape elections in not only the United States but also in other parts of the world in the coming years.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; OPINION; 13 February 2021

Photo: Collage of pictures of Aung San Suu Kyi (left) and Min Aung Hlaing (right) created on1 February 2021, the day of the coup. CC BY-SA 4.0

Myanmar Coup: Asian Response Echoes the Adage ‘Democracy Comes with Stability’

By Kalinga Seneviratne

SYDNEY (IDN) – Both coverage in the Asian press and statements by neighbouring Asian governments reported in the media on the grabbing of exclusive power by the military in Myanmar, reflects the traditional Asian adage that democracy should go hand in hand with economic and political stability. Thus, sanctions and external funding of protest groups (usually urban elites and the young) are discouraged.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 04 February 2021

Photo: A collage of pictures from Wikimedia Commons of CAR President Touadera (left), President Museveni (centre) and (right) opposition leader Bobi Wine.

Two African Nations Emulate U.S. and Cry Election Fraud

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Endangered citizens of the Central African Republic are fleeing the country in the hundreds of thousands as rebel fighters seek to overturn the recent re-election of President Faustin Archange Touadera with familiar cries of fraud and demands for his ouster.

Touadera was re-elected after a vote on December 27, defeating 16 other candidates. The country’s electoral college said he captured 54 per cent of the vote – enough to make a runoff unnecessary.

: THE WORLD; Africa; 02 February 2021

Trump Paves Highway to Hell

Viewpoint by Bill Dahl*

QUERETARO, Mexico (IDN) – Donald Trump lost the U.S. Presidential election. Trump garnered 73.9 million votes to Joe Biden’s 80 million (47.2% to 51.1%). Yet, Trump refuses to formally concede his loss. His attempts to win legal challenges based upon assertions of widespread voter fraud have been unanimously rejected by U.S. courts. The official certification of the election results is scheduled for December 14, 2020.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 11 December 2020

Photo: The police shoots Uganda protesters. Credit: Africa Global Village.

Uganda Rocked by Worst Unrest in A Decade Ahead of Presidential Elections

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Elections are a deadly game in Uganda. That was the message issued twice by Security Minister General Elly Tumwine as political rallies heat up and a national election to elect the President and the Parliament scheduled for January 14, 2021 draws near.

"Police have a right to shoot you and kill you if you reach a certain level of violence," Gen. Tumwine declared. "Can I repeat? Police have a right to shoot you and you die for nothing.... do it at your own risk."

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 27 November 2020

Photo: Joe Biden (left) and Donald Trump (right). Credit: MIT Technology Review

The US Has Moved to Being the Saboteur of Democracy

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – It will take a long time before America can again strut the world stage and lecture about the values of democracy, poking its finger in the eye of every authoritarian or dictatorial government it has the desire to show up. A former president, no less, is going to use every occasion into the distant future to tell the world that this election of 2020 was illegally hijacked.

The election has shown up the deficiencies in America’s “democracy”. We again learnt that winning a handsome majority of votes wasn’t enough and that for President-elect Joe Biden to win he had to garner 270 votes in the electoral college which is biased towards the under-populated, rural, states such as Wyoming with only 600,000 people.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 10 November 2020

Photo: Ivory Coast protests. Source: Euronews.

Democracy Takes A Beating in Elections Across the African Continent

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Foul play may have been the winner in recent national elections in Tanzania, where the ruling party swept up an overwhelming majority of parliamentary seats and the leaders of both top opposition parties lost theirs.

Citing “seditious language”, the election commission suspended the campaign of opposition challenger Tundu Lissu. Heavily armed police blocked his entire convoy for hours as he headed to launch new offices earlier this month. In a similar fashion, opposition candidate Seif Sharif Hamad was arrested on October 29, soon after holding a press conference in Zanzibar.

: THE WORLD; Africa; 03 November 2020

Voters Are the Limit to Democracy

Viewpoint by Roberto Savio*

ROME (IDN) – On August 23, a respected Brazilian polling institute found that the country's president, Jair Bolsonaro, enjoys an approval rating of 51 per cent, the highest since he was elected. Brazil ranks second as the country with the highest number of coronavirus deaths (116,000), according to Wikipedia, after the United States where the death toll currently stands at 170,000.

: Roberto Savio; OPINION; 28 August 2020

Photo: US Democratic Party's 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden with Kamala Harris, nominated as vice-presidential candidate. Courtesy: The Bay Observer.

The nomination of Kamala Harris Attracts Great Attention in Neighbouring Canada

By Suresh Jaura

TORONTO (IDN) – Any student of world affairs may know the phrase “when America sneezes, the world catches a cold.” What the phrase means, of course, is that what happens in America affects the rest of the world, be it for good or bad.

It is no surprise, therefore, that citizens and the media in Canada are interested in the US Presidential election.

In fact, in Canada, there was more news coverage of the nomination of Harris by the Democratic Party's presidential candidate Joe Biden than Leslyn Lewis' bid for the 2020 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election, in which she finished third.

: Suresh Jaura; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 26 August 2020

Photo; Kamala Harris and Biden signing paperwork to officially get on the ballot in all 50 states. Source: @KamalaHarris

Jo Biden's Kamala Harris Choice Is Consequential Beyond 2020

Viewpoint by Sonali Kolhatkar

This article was produced by Economy for All, a project of the Independent Media Institute. Sonali Kolhatkar is the founder, host and executive producer of “Rising Up With Sonali,” a television and radio show that airs on Free Speech TV and Pacifica stations.

LOS ANGELES (IDN) – Joe Biden’s pick of Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) as his running mate for the 2020 Democratic presidential ticket has generated strong responses. While many Democrats are elated at the idea of seeing a brown-skinned woman of Indian and Jamaican heritage in such a position, progressives are debating one another about Harris’ mixed record on bread-and-butter issues such as criminal justice reform, foreign policy, and health care.