Courrier International

Magdalena Sroda, a philospher based in Warsaw, accuses the Polish media of assisting former Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski with his disastrous policies. "The surveillance of political opponents, the (baseless) spectacular arrests and the charges, bugging operations and smear campaigns - these are all facts. Some of these activities were carried out by the PiS itself, but it needed the media for others. It's not enough to arrest someone to destroy him; the whole thing has to be covered by the media. ... A sense of decency is an important virtue - not only for people as journalists, but also as human beings. Of course, we can hope that this country will never again fall under the rule of politicians who abuse journalism to persecute, denounce and destroy people. But faith alone in democratic mechanisms and the common sense of politicians isn't enough." Le lien

Réflexion sur Courrier international

 

Simon Jenkins on the « Crusader spirit » of western democraties

Reflections

Simon Jenkins ponders the interpretation of democracy round the world. « Democraties are like two years olds : adorable when they belong to you, but you never see them as others do. ... Democracy is the new Christianity. It is the chosen faith of western civilisation, and carrying it abroad is the acceptable face of the Crusader spirit. In reinterpreting Tony Blair's interventionnism, the foreign secretary, David Miliband, spoke recently of the west's'mission' to promote democracy, even by economic and military warfare. ... We expect far too much of democracy, and of others claim to epouse it. We treat it as a rigid set of rules from which no wavering is tolerable. The ballot is a sacred rite and any contamination is blaphemy. ... Democracy is an invitation to hypocrisy. Let us practise it ourselves and, if we must preach, preach by example.

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