Gary's views

Gary's weekly views

Each week an article by Gary has appeared in the Plympton Plymstock and Ivybridge News in South West Devon. The articles are published here

ELECTIONS CAN CHANGE THINGS

There will be a general election this year, almost certainly on 5th May. Already I can feel the apathy rising within you! Last time, 4 in 10 people did not bother to vote in the process that decides who will govern the country for the next 5 years.

But consider this.
2 weeks ago the elections in Palestine brought to power Mahmoud Abbas a man who could make all the difference in bringing peace – at last – to the Middle East. If that were to happen one of the festering sores that is the catalyst of so much global terrorism could be slowly eradicated. An election made all the difference.
This weekend there will be elections in Iraq. If (as happened last year in Afghanistan) the vast majority of Iraqis vote, despite the awful intimidation that is designed to keep them at home, and if the result is to put in place a broadly representative assembly from which a strong Iraqi government can be formed, and if that government can then gradually, with western help, turn the screw on the terrorists and insurgents that are trying to destroy the whole process, then Iraq can slowly emerge from the ashes and become stable, using its oil revenues to become prosperous. Such an outcome would have long-term consequences for all of us, and our troops would then be able to come home.

There were at least three “ifs” in all of that, and they are big “ifs”, but there is a sporting chance it will happen and the election will be the turning point.

Look what happened in Ukraine recently, another faraway land. The people voted, the incumbent politicians cheated, the people refused to accept it and demanded a re-vote, and they won, ushering in a new dawn for a strategic country that has been buried by communism and dictatorship for a hundred years.
The people of Zimbabwe right now would give anything to have a free and fair election to get rid of a tyrant who is ruining them. What would the 23 million people do in North Korea if they had a chance to vote for a benign government that would put food in their starving bellies?

Elections can change things. Democracy is still the least worst system of government ever devised.

But it will not survive unless we keep it alive. Use it or lose it! On 5th May, or whenever it comes, please vote.

posted by Nigel on Thursday, February 03, 2005