Archive for the 'Books' Category
10 5th, 2009
I have had a number of e-mail accusing me of being an enemy of democracy — drawn mainly from the title of my new book Democracy Kills. I am no more an enemy of democracy than I am of fast cars or fine wines which I know can be lethal if not used properly. Therefore, I urge those interested in this very important issue to really engage, to stop pigeonholing and to argue the case for the value of democracy.
On page 376 of Democracy Kills, I quote a young Taiwanese politician, Bi-Khim Hsiao:- “Democracy is applicable to everyone. But you have to do it properly. We have created our democracy with our own hands and our own hard work and what we’ve done here counters the argument that democracy is not an Asian concept, that it is not applicable to Asians. We’ve proved that wrong. We cherish our democracy and it can be applied everywhere whatever the culture, race or religion.”
09 25th, 2009
On October 10th, I’m sharing a panel at the Cheltenham Literary Festival with John Keane, author of the massive 958-page The Life and Death of Democracy. It landed with a thud on my doorstep yesterday to read before the session. I love the twist in the introduction. The first lamp of assembly-based democracy was not in Greece, as we tend to think, but in what is now Syria, Iraq and Iran. Aren’t those exactly the places to which we are now trying to export democracy?
09 24th, 2009
An fascinating blog discussion followed my BBC Five Live interview with Rhod Sharpe on Wednesday Sept 22nd on Democracy Kills.
http://biased-bbc.blogspot.com/feeds/4832431854132623363/comments/default
Contributors ask why I chose to compare Cuba to Haiti — instead of Thailand to Burma or North and South Korea — where the democratic systems have delivered a far high quality of life than the dictatorships.
These are good questions — answered in full in the the book Democracy Kills – What’s So Good About Having The Vote? .
09 16th, 2009
America’s got to end its deadly devotion to democracy — Gerard DeGroot
09 14th, 2009
Cocoa slave plantations in Ivory Coast.Last night I read your first chapter on the effective economic slavery of Children (and Adults) on remote cocoa plantations in the Ivory Coast. This was a powerful, moving account. Personally, I found it penetrated my brain (and heart) better than the TV documentary on the same subject you made a couple of years ago; or, possibly, the reinforcement of the written word to the previously seen images had a cumulative effect. It was depressing for me, and engendered bitter reflections on the appalling inequalities and injustices underlying the apparently smooth, civilized surface of our life in England. It also sparked feelings of anger, and consequently a wish to effect change.
As it happens, I was recently reading about the certification of forest products, and pondering this question yesterday, as I applied teak oil to a garden chair of dubious South East Asian origin. So your point about insisting on the certification of the origin of cocoa is perfectly valid, and probably one of the ways forward. I’ll see what I can do at this end. I don’t want to get into big picture theorizing about capitalism, free markets and so forth at this stage – though I think that is a very worthwhile discussion to have again later.
But I want to comment a little on the ‘Washington consensus’ free-market fundamentalists: The ‘Washington Consensus’ refers to the nexus of free-market ideas centred in Washington at places like the World Bank, the IMF and the US government. They are appalling theorisers in ivory tower conditions, working from fundamentalist ideas, instead of the empirical reality which you so bravely picked out. In my corner of the financial markets, where I worked (on and off) from 1982 to 1994, I was always suspicious and somewhat contemptuous of these ‘bureaucrat bankers’ with plush jobs, flying around the world first class. That attitude has been nuanced but also reinforced by contact with some of these ‘Supranational’ institutions since – for instance, I went to the Ivory Coast myself in 1997, and worked at the African Development Bank for two weeks. I think many of their ideas are wrong, and destructive in the wrong context.Those fundamentalist free-market ideas are muddled, contradictory and even hypocritical, as exemplified by the Argentine economic debacle, as I tried to explain. Actually, the ideas are probably hostage to previous events, the aims of their sponsors (Western Governments) and organisational inertia. How can they insist that an African country throws open its markets, while subsidies and tariffs protect farmers and industries in the EU, USA, Japan etc..?
How can they have the sheer stupidity to apply the free market philosophy of a New York dealing room to an impoverished farmer, with only one buyer, who arrives from time to time down the pot-holed roads of the Ivory Coast jungle? How can they advocate free markets in one context, yet insist that Argentina fix its currency to the US Dollar?
Not only is it bad thinking, but it is bad ethics.Someone (or rather, a large group of people) need to agitate for change, and I congratulate you on throwing a little light on this specific appalling situation. Keep up the good work! As a hasty first ‘wish list’ I would suggest:-
Certification of cocoa origin on consumer products-
Pressure on food companies to devote time, money etc to bettering the lives of farmers at the root of their supply chain- Involving: Medical facilities, Schools and Water services in villages-
Direct investment in improving the supply chain, such as metalled roads and intermediate storage facilities-
Abolition of import duties on processed cocoa products into developed countries
READ MORE IN DEMOCRACY KILLS: WHAT’S SO GOOD ABOUT HAVING THE VOTE Click here: Democracy Kills
09 12th, 2009
Democracy Kills
BBC World Affairs correspondent HUMPHREY HAWKSLEY considers how our notions of democracy inform and obscure foreign policy, and explores the impact of failed and violent states in fiction and reportage.
Read More:-Click here: Democracy Kills — Untitled Books
09 11th, 2009
READ:- GERARD DEGROOT at the ISN
Spaniards who once suffered under Franco invariably argue that the struggle for democracy is always virtuous. At the other end of the spectrum is the experience of Usama Rehda, an Iraqi citizen for whom democratic change has meant poverty, corruption and the constant threat of car bombs. “You know what they say,” he recently remarked. “Be nice to the Americans or they’ll punish you with democracy.” Between those two extremes lies an issue that demands debate.
Full article Click here: Democracy: A Problematic Panacea
09 10th, 2009
The US Department of Labor has publicly named cocoa as a product made by forced, child labour. I’ve been reporting this story for the past ten years. The axis of poverty between bad government, forced labour and Western companies make up the first chapter of my new book – trying to explain why Africa is getting poorer.
The Executive Director of the International Labor Rights Forum, Bama Athreya, said about the announcement:- “By including cocoa on the list of products made by child labor, the US government has acknowledged the lack of progress the chocolate industry has made in eliminating serious labor rights abuses in this sector, despite years of promises.”
Nothing, of course, from Europe.
09 9th, 2009
Listen to my podcast interview with Rashunda Tramble of the International Relations and Security Network on Democracy Kills: What’s So Good About Having the Vote as part as ISN’s special series on Democracy.
The idea of democracy may make for good intentions, but whether it is a good solution for every society is up for debate, Humphrey Hawksley, BBC correspondent and author of ‘Democracy Kills,’ tells the ISN.
INTERVIEW Click here: The Devil in Democracy
I asked Rashunda at the end whether she agreed with my argument. But I won’t repeat her answer without her permission.
09 7th, 2009
I was caught on the hop in an incisive interview with Rashunda Tramble of the International Relations and Security Network (ISN) on the issues raised in Democracy Kills. She raised the question of democracy being suited to certain cultures and asked about the 1965 Voting Rights Act in the US — when the Federal Government overruled state policies that blocked African-Americans from voting. What I hadn’t realised was that it took a full one hundred years to pass that legislation since the end of the Civil War that was fought over slavery, equal rights and democracy.
I recommend Travel’s with Charley by John Steinbeck on his 1960s journey around America ending up witnesses school segregation in New Orleans and being accused of being a ‘nigger-lover.’ His closing thoughts: “I do know it is a troubled place and a people caught in a jam. And I know that the solution when it arrives will not be easy or simple……It’s the means — the dreadful uncertainty of the means.”
If it took a hundred years in the US and it’s still not fully fixed — how long for the Sri Lankas, Iraqs and others?
