Democracy is not a commodity, nor is it a weapon to be aimed at geopolitical rivals.
President Joe Biden’s ill-conceived virtual “Summit for Democracy” on December 9-10 is really a public relations extravaganza that’s likely to backfire on the United States, because democracy is not a commodity, nor is it a Kalashnikov to be aimed at geopolitical rivals. President Biden is using an obsolete playbook, and his advisers should have told him that the stunt will convince only those who already believe in the myth of U.S. democracy. It will not gain the U.S. any new friends. According to the U.S. Department of State website, the Biden administration has proclaimed that renewing democracy in the U.S. and around the world is essential to meeting the challenges of our time. That sounds good, but what does it mean concretely? We can agree with President Biden in recognizing that, “No democracy is perfect, and no democracy is ever final. Every gain made, every barrier broken, is the result of determined, unceasing work,” but we should start with the reconstruction of our own democracy before pretending to dictate to other states how they should practice it. Biden will host not one but two Summits for Democracy, with the participation (and targeted exclusion) of leaders from government, civil society and the private sector. The announced goal is “to set forth an affirmative agenda for democratic renewal and to tackle the greatest threats faced by democracies today through collective action.” The summit is supposed to launch a “year of action” in preparation for a follow-up summit in 2022. There is a certain symbolism to the chosen dates. Seventy-three years ago on December 9,1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Genocide Convention. December 9 is also International Anti-Corruption Day. Seventy-three years ago on December 10, the General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is interesting to see who is invited and who isn’t. According to the State Department website,110 countries were invited, among them notorious “democracies” such as: Brazil, known for its undemocratic land-grabbing and ongoing destruction of its Indigenous population under Jair Bolsonaro, a Trump-like autocrat; Colombia, where paramilitaries continue to kill Indigenous and social leaders with impunity; India, guilty of ongoing genocide in Kashmir and highly undemocratic traditions throughout the territory; Indonesia, that continues to deny self-determination to West-Papuans; Israel, whose apartheid policies against Palestinians have been condemned worldwide by human rights advocates; Spain, guilty of jailing human rights defenders and Catalan advocates of free speech and self-determination.
