What is democracy? I have been thinkig about this since I read a post in Aljazeera English, which emphasizes violent actions have been done by those thinking and stating democracy is the most important.
Democracy is a system selected by the people to govern a community in which they live based on the religion, philosophy, environment, and history proper to the community, so first of all, democracy cannot be given by any other force living outside the community.
Of course, dictatorship should be criticized but it must be taken away by the people. This statement is not mine but Edward E. Said's.
I'm beginning to think he was right, while I found I hadn't given enough thought to what democracy is.
But if this is true how should I react to dictatorships, like Saddam Husayn or Kim Jon Il?
When US was preparing for the war with Iraq, Said was afraid what would happen after the war: chaos.
He didn't live long enough to see the result but he was right. Before, Churchill called democracy was the least good system of government. When it is thought to be bad, the people are not wise enough to judge, so Said was also right in saying intellectuals play important roles in establishing good democracies in communities.
Intellectuals need to let people know what will happen after each of the opinions on the table is selected, so they must not belong to any other factions. But as discussing with a friend of mine in university, recently intellectuals work on their majors in universities but do not work to improve societies or to let people know what they should know. Rather, looks like they work to keep the present framework of society unchanged.
I must confess till now I didn't know how important education is....
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