Democratic Voice of Burma to Sen. Jim Webb: "Stop this ‘better than nothing’ talk"

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

In recent comments to the media, US senator Jim Webb urged the people of Burma to vote in order to “build the future a step at a time”. Webb is not alone: a number of commentators have adopted the position that an election in Burma is better than nothing.

Many have asserted that the opposition movement would do better to participate in the upcoming parliamentary elections, and that protest from the sidelines rarely works. Indeed the newly formed National Democratic Front party also believes that change may come through the parliamentary system.

The ‘better than nothing’ approach of Webb and others, whether pragmatic, hopeful or naïve, is not good enough. Proponents of this approach are in essence accepting the fate of elections; they are conceding to the fact that they will not be free and fair and that this is somehow acceptable. Acceptance of these elections and the election result will bestow upon the military regime the legitimacy it is seeking. The elections are not about democratization: rather than serving the people, these elections will serve the interests of the military elite.

Elections are important for Burma and an essential part of its democratization process. After 20 years of military repression, the people of Burma deserve the chance to vote. But they also deserve for their vote to count, and the military regime has spent the past twenty years working to ensure that it won’t. The National League for Democracy’s landslide victory in 1990 won’t be repeated. This time round the military has secured its success; in fact, they have constitutionalised it.

more:
http://www.dvb.no/analysis/stop-this-‘better-than-nothing’-talk/10316

[era veteran]

1. The Most oppressed country in the world

Crazy place

[Chulanowa]

2. There's a sad meme in the American thought process

That "voting" equals "democratic"