The Broken Promise of Liberal Democracy
– A Black anarchist feminist approach for
alternative governance
Department: MSc Public Policy and Governance Course: Alternatives to Capitalism
Assignment: Master Thesis Professor: Annette Freyberg-Inan Autor: Mercedes Mercedes-Mercedes Student number: 11355336
Date of submission: 26/06/2020 Word count: 24 880
Figure 1: Emory Douglas (n.d.) All Power to the People. (In "Media of the Movement. From Pitchforks to Twitter: Anthropology of Social Movements", 2013)
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Abstract
This thesis discusses the broken promise of liberal democracy and suggests a Black anarchist feminist approach to fulfilling the promise. Liberal democracy failed to live up to its promises because it did not undo the pre-existing underlying oppressive system of white supremacist cis-heteronormative colonial ableist patriarchal capitalism. To show this, the thesis first establishes the core principles of liberal democracy, namely liberty, equality and fraternity, and how these have been advanced and maintained. Despite these values being used to legitimate liberal democracies, people that are exploited by the oppressive system (e.g. Black people, women, poor people) do not get to enjoy the equal rights and freedom promised by liberal democracy. Instead, I argue, the principles of liberal democracies are purposefully used mask this oppressive system, as it is hard to demand equal rights and freedom from arbitrary control when liberal democracies supposedly already provide this. Thus, the, rather unexplored, approach of Black anarchist feminism is developed within this thesis in order to come closer to the core principles of liberal democracy. It is shown that the values of Black
anarchist feminism are more adequate because of its inherent practice of undoing white supremacist cis-heteronormative colonial ableist patriarchal capitalistic structures and its emphasis on humanism.
ii
Content
Abstract i List of figures iv Foreword v 1) Introduction 1 1.1) Relevance 4 1.2) Methodology 52) Liberal Democracy and the broken promise of liberal democracy 6
2.1) The promises of liberal democracy 6
2.1.1) The three basic principles of liberal democracy: Liberty, equality, and fraternity 6
2.1.2) Defining liberal democracy 7
2.1.3) Defining democracy within liberal democracy 8
2.1.4) Defining liberal in liberal democracy 9
2.1.5) The promise of liberal democracy by politicians and political bodies 9
2.2) The broken promise of liberal democracy 11
2.2.1) Broken promise of liberty: Arbitrary control and unlimited government 12
2.2.2) Broken promise of fraternity: Representation, voting and politicians 15
2.2.3) Broken promise of equality and liberty: Respect for basic human rights and systematic oppression 17
2.2.4) Broken promise of liberty, equality, and fraternity: Capitalism, individuality and property rights 25
2.3) Same brand, different logo 29
3) The Black anarchist feminist alternative: Theory and Approach 32
3.1) The People 32
3.1.1) Paradox of tolerance 33
3.2) Decolonial Theory 34
3.2.1) Relevance of decoloniality 35
3.3) Black feminism 37
3.3.1) Roots of Black feminism 37
3.3.2) Intersectionality 38
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3.4) Black anarchism 43
3.4.1) Roots of Black anarchism 43
3.4.2) Relevance of Black anarchism 45
3.5) Black anarchist feminism 49
3.5.1 The Black anarchist feminist approach and liberal democracy 50
4) Conclusion 56
4.1) Summary 56
4.2) Limitations and future research 57
Afterword 58
References 59
iv
List of Figures
Figure 1: Emory Douglas (n.d.) All Power to the People.
Figure 2: Mercikubik (2019) I know too little to know this much. vii
Figure 3: Nicole Wandera (2020) Black Lives Matter. viii
Figure 4: Edelman (2020) Trust in Government. 1
Figure 5: Edelman (2020) Trust inequality sets new records 3
Figure 6: Emory Douglas, September 21, 1974. 3
Figure 7: Mercikubik (2020) Freedom. For European Fundamental Human rights. 4
Figure 8: FPÖ (Austrian right-wing party) campaign poster. 18
Figure 9: Donald Trump (representing the republican party) tweeting a racist statement 18
Figure 10: OECD (2019) Gender wage gap 2015-2018 19
Figure 11: the Rapfest (2020) Comparing two protests 20
Figure 12: Stopera & Stopera (2020) Armed protestors 20
Figure 13 Beckett (2020) "A militia group stands in front of the governor’s office" 20
Figure 14: Stopera & Stopera (2020) Unarmed peaceful protestor peppersprayed by police 21
Figure 15: Stopera & Stopera (2020) Unarmed protestors trying to avoid police brutality 21
Figure 16: Duquette (2019) White privilege 29
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Foreword
I spent quite a lot of time thinking about how to introduce this thesis to the reader. I went through several academic writing methods that I have acquired as a university student, in order to provide a strong introduction. However, that left me more overwhelmed and unsure. So, as I am trying to find the introduction to this thesis, I ask myself: What information do you want to deliver to the reader? Why do I want to write about this? Why is it relevant for anyone to read this? Why do I believe that Black anarchist feminism can be an alternative approach to our current system? Why am I seeking an alternative (so badly)? Why are we seeking one?1 Who am I writing this for? I think I could go on like
this for a while and have more questions, but I wanted to show some of the questions I have, to give the reader an impression about my ideas (and thought process).
Let us start with the:
Position of the author
I was born and socialized in Vienna, Austria, and I am currently residing in Amsterdam. I am mixed, my mother is a Black woman from Ghana, and my father is a White male from Austria. The education I received was western, but since my mother raised me on her own, I was greatly exposed to
Ghanaian traditions and thought. Additionally, having roots in a country that has been colonized sparked interested in decoloniality and decolonial theory. Decolonial theory will be applied throughout this thesis, as I believe it gives me a broader understanding of our world system. However, since I have been socialized in the west/Europe, this thesis will particularly address and refer mostly to the west. While White supremacy and capitalism are global problems, hence making this thesis more widely relevant, the critiques expressed here cannot be blindly applied to every culture or country; their contextual dynamics need to be taken into consideration.
Additionally, as a woman of colour I have personally experienced systematic racism and sexism. However, I am still aware of my own privileges and try to be as open as possible to other people’s experiences, which further showed me the deep interconnected issues many people are facing. Thus, it is part of my motivation to highlight great injustices and to provide possible solutions. I further believe that having my background gives me and my thesis further validity, as theories and literature on oppression often (unfortunately) resonate with personal or shared experiences.
Furthermore, I identify as an artist, and I am surrounded by a lot of artist. This influence will also flow into this paper. As I believe, art and artists have been one of the main pillars to critique oppressive systems. This quote attributed to Toni Morrison (n.d.) is always at the back of my mind:
vi “All of that art-for-art’s-sake stuff is BS. What are these people talking about? Are you really telling me that Shakespeare and Aeschylus weren’t writing about kings? All good art is political! There is none that isn’t. And the ones that try hard not to be political are political by saying, ‘We love the status quo.’”
With this background about the author, let me also answer some of the questions posed in the beginning: Who am I writing this for? The academically schooled reader may already have noticed that this is not a traditional introduction of an academic paper. This is because the author of this thesis does not consider themselves a traditional academic. Upon reflecting on academic writing methods, I questioned: why should I replicate a predetermined writing style? Is it not part of academia to find new ways and present new possibilities?2 Additionally, I carry issue with academic
jargon, in which texts are written in overly complicated language. Instead, this paper should be available and readable for as many people as possible. Especially, considering the messages this paper aims to convey to the reader.3
I positioned myself in this thesis, so the reader gains a better understanding of where I am coming from and why, this might help to become more aware of my and the reader’s biases. I am writing this for people who have had similar life experiences to me and want to find out more about our current system and explore their (our) thoughts. For people who are unaware and unsure and simply seek to read a new perspective. I am also writing it for those who do not (initially) agree or cannot
comprehend this criticism of our current system but want to be open understanding. I want people to be aware that I know that I am not all-knowing and that I will present you with the facts as I have experienced them to be true and have seen them affect people’s lives. I want you to be open and question yourself when something in the text resonates with you,4 or when you do not5 agree with it.
I want people to understand that I am building on top of what other people have been fighting for, for hundreds of years. I am simply adding a new perspective on the critique of liberal democracies by combining Black feminism and Black anarchism to propose an alternative approach. This means that, if you did not fully grasp something, felt something was missing or did not agree with this thesis,6
2 Research and exploration being at the core of universities and academia. 3 And beyond (people who read this will also share this orally).
4 Some questions to ask yourself: Why do I agree with this? Did I or someone I know experience this? When is
the first time I came across this thought/experience? How does this make me feel? Do I feel like I am alone with this thought/experience?
5 Some questions to ask yourself: Why do I not agree with this? Are there examples for why I do not agree with
this? Am I feeling guilty? If yes, why? Am I sure I understood well/Do I need further research?
6 The final chapter will contain a section on limitations and future research which can be a catalyser for your
vii that does not mean you should entirely reject the ideas of Black anarchist feminism but rather be open to further explore and deepen your understanding and critique.
As I said earlier, I am not a traditional academic. I do not only collect knowledge and value knowledge that was written by academics. Art, music, poetry, films and memes can tell us a lot about our world and convey important insights.
Figure 1, artwork by me, expresess the statement given to you earlier. “I know too little to know this much” and “A lot to learn” – these phrases refer to being aware of not being all-knowing.
“The eyes. The window. Open the mind. The soul. Connect. To Earth. To Water. To Fire. To Wind.” – The phrases refer to being open to new ideas and trying to make further connections (nothing exists in a vacuum except space).
“It ain’t that deep. Y’all just make it out to be” – refers to the unnecessary and exclusionary use of complicated language.
Last not least, I want to acknowledge that this thesis was written during the COVID-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter mass protests. COVID-19 is a time in which policies have to be quickly
formulated and implemented. Unfortunately, politicians and the mainstream media are heavily focusing on the crashing economy and failing to respond to the many people facing violent consequences7. On top of all the stress and death experienced because of COVID-19, racial
inequality persists. In these first months of 2020, videos of racist attacks have gone viral. Particularly upsetting are the videos in which police officers carelessly kill and wound Black people. The killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor by U.S. police officers in particular sparked mass protests across
7 E.g. people in ghettos (slums, etc.), who cannot practice social distancing but are forced into social
compression, increase in domestic abuse and murder, refugees and people in refugee camps, people who have to live on a daily wage.
viii the world, as police brutality, especially towards Black people, resonates with the experiences of people across the world (Rahim & Picheta, 2020). I stand with these mass protests against racism and efforts to abolish racism and all the institutions that reproduce racism, because
ALL BLACK LIVES MATTER!
With that being said: I welcome you to
The Broken Promise of Liberal Democracy
– A Black anarchist feminist approach for alternative governance
Figure 3: Nicole Wandera (2020) Black Lives Matter1
1. Introduction
Why propose an alternative? Why am I claiming that liberal democracies broke their promise? For this, I believe it is necessary to explain my personal motivation, which in some parts also explains the relevance of this paper. Many times, I have witnessed the judicial system fail, be it the police, the judge or the law itself. Noticed my own dissatisfaction with the system and explored if others felt this way, too. Thus, I have had talks with diverse groups8 of people about our current system and found a
lot of dissatisfaction. Also, spent many conversations on complaining about the unfairness of the system and the lack of trust in the system. Additionally, when thinking about the past and atrocities that have been committed, for example slavery, segregation, genocides, but also current human rights infringements, like lack of abortion rights, rights infringement of the LGBTQ+ community or refugee treatment, we see that they are often carried out because of existing laws and policies which justify such violations. At the same time, people, the media and politicians say that I/we should be glad and grateful to be living in a liberal democracy. This made it at times, especially as a child, difficult for me to talk about injustice and discrimination, because the general public, the media and politicians portrayed liberal democracies as the optimal society to live in.
However, this did not take away my curiosity as to why I and other people still experience inequality, injustice and discrimination. Thus, I am also currently following a master’s program in public policy and governance and have been a political science student for the last four years. Besides having read a lot of political theory and cases studies, I follow the news, go to various lectures, and read books outside the university curriculum. I have also been interning at an organisation called Netwerk Democratie, which, among other things, researches and suggests digital democracy and digital citizen participation policies to the Dutch government. In all of this, one can find the common themes of fairness and discrimination, justice and injustice, freedom, power and money. I have also studied to find out how our current injustices came to be, historically. However, most importantly I found out how people felt and that I am not alone with this feeling of an unjust world. A lot of people, but especially people from lower socio-economic
classes, are stating that they are dissatisfied and have little trust in their political system and do not feel heard by their governments. This can, on the one hand, be seen by people protesting against policies and governments across the globe and solidarity marches like gay pride and
8 E.g. students from different disciplines, family, parents of friends, random strangers in a club, artists,
musicians, elderly, children, all from different countries.
2 women’s marches. On the other hand, it can be seen by the several studies done measuring trust towards government9 and by academics and policy makers highlighting the importance of trust and
making suggestions for improvement.10 For example, the Edelman Trust Barometer, which “reveals
that despite a strong global economy and near full employment, none of the four societal institutions that the study measures—government, business, NGOs and media—is trusted” (“2020 Edelman Trust Barometer”, 2020, para. 1). According to Edelman’s (2020) study, 17 out of 26 markets (countries) distrust their government (see Figure 3). Additionally, among the four institutions measured, the government was perceived as the most incompetent and unethical (Edelman, 2020). The countries showing the highest rate of distrust towards the government are almost all liberal democracies. Besides the low levels of trust in the government, when looking at the people that get involved in politics or are in political power positions, they are often found to be male, older (above 30), university educated and from higher socio-economic classes. These are people already often called out for living in their ivory towers, detached from the general population. A simple demonstration of this would be on the binary notion of gender. For example, only Rwanda, Cuba and Bolivia have a parliament composed of over 50% women, another 20 countries have a female representation of 40-50% , the remaining 188+ countries less than 40% ("Percentage of women in national parliaments", 2020). Hence, many people might not feel represented and thus believe that issues that concern them are not being addressed properly. This can be seen in Edelman’s (2020, 17) research, which found that 66% of the respondents “do not have confidence that our current leaders will be able to successfully address our country’s challenges”. The Edelman (2020) study created two categories: the ‘informed public’,11 people who are between 25-64, college-educated, higher socio-economic class,
and “report significant media consumption and engagement in public policy and business news” - versus the mass population (Edelman, 2020, 2). In the statistics one can see a clear distinction of perception: ‘informed public’ trusts institutions 14 percentage points more than the mass population (Edelman, 2020; see Figure 4). The population that is the most involved in the political process happens also to be the most satisfied with it.
9 E.g. Edelman Trust Barometer, OECD, Marien & Hooghe, 2011. 10 E.g. texts by Hetherington, 2005, Jackson et al., 2012.
11 For me these criteria do not qualify one as an informed person. Being able to afford high levels of education
3 Figure 5: Edelman (2020, 8) Trust inequality sets new records
Further, lack of trust in governments and their policies also results from big corporations that are lobbying in politics and/or bribing politicians to create policies that favour their exploitative capitalist needs. For example, the Edelman study (2020) found that 57% of the respondents believe that the government only serves the interest of the few. An artwork that summarize this problem well is an artwork by Emory Douglas, who was the Minster of Culture and graphic designer of the Black Panther party (see Figure 5):
In this artwork you can see the 38th president of
the United States of America being puppeteered by some of the biggest corporation in the US and around the globe. It is a strong image showing the distrust in the government.
However, the focus of this thesis does not lie in pointing out distrust, discrimination and injustice, but to rather start a conversation about the broken promise of liberal democracy. In this thesis, I aim at showing how liberal democracy did not keep up its promise of liberty, equality and fraternity for all. Instead, I will show how liberal democracies’ values have been used to maintain and hide the white supremacist cis12
-heteronormative13 able-bodied patriarchal
capitalist system enforced throughout the world during colonialism and continued with globalization.
12 “Cisnormativity is the assumption that a person’s gender identity matches their biological sex, otherwise
known as being ‘cisgender’ or ‘cissexual’” ("Your heteronormative, cisnormative behaviors explained", 2018).
13 “Heteronormativity is the widespread, dominant belief that heterosexuality is the norm. In other words, it’s
the belief that sexual and romantic relationships must be between a man and a woman” ("Your heteronormative, cisnormative behaviors explained", 2018).
4 I will show how the promise of liberal democracy failed to undo oppressive and arbitrary forms of rule because it did not address the underlying white supremacist cis-heteronormative able-bodied patriarchal capitalist system/structure. Besides this critique, I aim to present an alternative approach that comes much closer to the core values of liberal democracy, namely Black anarchist feminism. With this approach I want to explore a possibility for peaceful and trustful living. In which all people are free and are treated equally, where power is not distributed to a few but to everyone.
Thus, leading to the research questions:
How have liberal democracies broken their promises?
What could a Black anarchist feminist approach entail? How is Black anarchist feminism a better alternative to the current oppressive system?
1.1. Relevance
This thesis is of social relevance because it addresses structural social inequalities and shows how these are being maintained within liberal democracies. This critique might help people to better understand their own experiences with inequality within a liberal democracy, like it did for me, or the experiences of other people. Through addressing this issue and proposing an alternative approach, I can hopefully create more awareness around these issues and motivate people to create an equal and just society. This thesis is of academic relevance because a critique of liberal democracy as presented in this thesis is very rare. Thus, adding a new perspective on liberal democracy is an important addition to the academic realm.
Also, Black anarchism and feminism is of social and academic relevance because of its long history of critiquing oppressive systems. However, Black anarchism and feminism theory14 are not
common tools used to analyse issues in the academic world and do not belong to the mainstream of traditional academic theory. Hence, this research hopes to add to existing literature on Black
anarchism and feminism, to give them more space in the realm of scholarship. Additionally, a Black anarchist feminist analysis is rare, giving it further relevance due to being an under researched topic.
14 They are not common in the academic world but more so outside the academic world; these sources also
need to be acknowledged as valid and useful because knowledge right now is very elitist and white.
Figure 7: Mercikubik (2020) Freedom. For European Fundamental Human rights.
5 1.2 Methodology
To answer the research question, I will conduct a literature review, in which I will include literature discussing the problems brought forward and possible solutions. Hence, I will be collecting
information through google scholar and the UvA library dataspace. I will also look for and include art, poetry, writings and music created by “the People” and revolutionary activists, feminists and
anarchists who voice their opinions regarding this topic. Additionally, news articles, pictures, lyrics will be used as sources for cases in which the broken promise of liberal democracy becomes noticeable.
This paper will first introduce you in Chapter two to the basic values of liberal democracy. Then I will present, analyse and problematize the broken promises of liberal democracy. This is followed by Chapter three, where a Black anarchist feminist approach is established, and I present why it would be a good approach to consider for alternative governance. After that, the thesis will conclude and present limitations of this research and future research possibilities.
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2. Liberal Democracy and the broken promise of liberal democracy
This chapter will argue for the statement I made in the introduction about liberal democracy
breaking its promise as it did not undo the underlying white supremacist cis-heteronormative ableist patriarchal capitalist system. This chapter will first start by giving a definition of liberal democracy and emphasize the promises of liberal democracy. In this section, examples of current governments continuing the promise to provide the basic principles of liberal democracy are presented. Following that, examples to show how the promise of liberal democracy has been broken will be presented and its consequences analysed.
2.1 The promises of liberal democracy
There are many books written about the meaning and origins of liberalism, liberty and liberal democracy, and it is much discussed by philosophers and political scientist, but the aim of this section is not to do that. This section is to give a general understanding of the promises associated with liberal democracy and highlight its basic principles. To do this, I will heavily rely on the “The SAGE Glossary of the Social and Behavioral Sciences” edited by Larry E. Sullivan (2009), as its purpose is to give people, but particularly students, a comprehensive understanding of basic Social and Behavioural Science theory that is easily accessible.
2.1.1 The three basic principles of liberal democracy: Liberty, equality, and fraternity The three basic principles that shape liberal democracy of today are liberty, equality, and fraternity (Spicker, 2006). These principles are believed to come from the 17th century Enlightenment period.
Especially French scholars and philosophers are highlighted as the advancers of these principles, and the French revolution is “marked [as] the triumph of ‘the people’”, as the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was proclaimed in its context in 1789 (Spicker, 2006, 1). These principles and the Declaration were established and fought for to counter the oppressive regimes at that time.
Liberty is the principle that should provide people with “property, security and resistance to
oppression” (Johnston, 1991, 484). Equality is the principle that ensures and protects the equal rights of all human beings, no matter their sex, gender, class, etc. (Gonthier, 2000; Johnston, 1991; Spicker, 2006). Fraternity is the principle of ‘brotherhood’ (solidarity) and community building, where values such as “empathy, cooperation, commitment, responsibility, fairness, trust and equity” are important (Gonthier, 2000, 573).
In order to create a more just and free society these three principles have to be advanced together in order for them to work, as they complement each other. Gonthier (2000: 570) explains it as follows: “Whereas liberty and equality emphasize the rights of the individual, fraternity emphasizes the rights of the community. Whereas liberty protects the right to live free from interference, fraternity
7 advances the goals of commitment and responsibility, of making positive steps in the community. […] However, at the same time, fraternity is essential to the well-being of liberty and equality, because only with shared trust and civic commitment can one advance these goals of liberty and equality”. For example, equality is necessary, but not everyone needs the same treatment to reach equality, and fraternity recognizes that (e.g. an old person and a young person climbing stairs) (Gonthier, 2000). Fraternity also reminds us to not use our own liberty to disturb someone else’s liberty (Gonthier, 2000).
These principles are the bases on which liberal democracy is built. The next section is going to present how these principles have been translated/transformed/implemented in liberal democracy. As I further define the term liberal democracy, one will repeatedly notice the core values of liberty, equality and fraternity.
2.1.2 Defining liberal democracy:
Before we go into the details, let us have a look at the short definition of liberal democracy: Short definition:
“A form of government in which the decision-making powers of elected representatives is subject to the rule of law and a constitution that protects the rights and freedoms of the constituency. Liberal democracy is the dominant form of modern democracies” (Sullivan, 2009, 290).
Democracies, especially liberal democracies, are currently the most common form of governance across the globe and often described has having outlived authoritarian regimes and attempts of communism (Deneen, 2018; Galston, 2018). Thus, many people believe the French revolution, the Enlightenment period and liberal democracy is a success (Deneen, 2018; Galston, 2018). The origins of liberal democracy have to do with people seeking an alternative to arbitrary and authoritarian forms of governances, such as monarchies and tyrannies (Sullivan, 2009). (Liberal) Democratic ideas and democratic (-like) societies had existed (Ibonye & Ubi, 2019) before its theorization and advocacy came about in the 18th century in the Age of Enlightenment (Sullivan, 2009). Fed up with European
monarchs’ arbitrary rule, its advocates presented liberal democracy as an alternative, because of fundamental ideas such as “constitutional protect[ion] of individual rights against government power” (Sullivan, 2009, 290). In this way, liberal democracy emphasizes the liberty and equality of the individual which “entails the absence of political constraints on individual action” by eliminating threats to this freedom, be it by the government or any other person (Sullivan, 2009, 291; Hindess, 1996). Thus, in liberal democracy the government should be limited and “devoted to ‘securing [individual] rights’” (Deneen, 2018, 1).
8 2.1.3 Defining democracy within liberal democracy
Generally, democracy refers to the people having the power and control over their government (Galston, 2018; Sullivan, 2009) and represents the principle of fraternity. “Democracy means rule by the people” (Sullivan, 2009, 140), in which decisions are usually made by majority rule. This ‘rule by the people’ necessitates “the equality of citizens and broadly inclusive citizenship”15 (Galston, 2018,
9). There are various forms of democracy; the truest practice of democracy is direct democracy, in which people directly and actively participate in the decision making of the government (Sullivan, 2009). However, currently the most common form of democracy is representative democracy, in which the people elect representatives who in turn should exercise the will of the people. Sullivan (2009: 140) lists the following aspects as the core ideas of democracy:
(a) separation of powers among the executive, judicial, and legislative branches of government
(b) protection of basic civil and human rights (c) religious liberty
(d) freedom of opinion (e) an equal right to vote
(f) good governance, which requires a focus on public interest and absence of corruption (g) the choosing of government through elections
(h) active participation of the people in civic life (i) the application of the rule of law to all (j) the separation of religion and State
The separation of power is important in the theory of democracy, as it functions to keep governments from abusing their powers, as their separation should prevent centralizing power (Galston, 2018; Sullivan, 2009). This is also achieved by federalism, in which there are “a strong central government and constituent smaller units, such as states, which allows states to check the power of the federal government” (Galston, 2009; Sullivan, 2009, 140). This is further important because the government is to protect the People from arbitrary control and should apply the rule of law fairly and equally to all (Galston, 2018; Sullivan, 2009). This includes being critical (of the
government itself) and following a fair procedure (Galston, 2018; Sullivan, 2009).
15 Broadly inclusive citizenships can be related to my sense of the People, in which a democracy should in
9 2.1.4 Defining liberal in liberal democracy
“Fundamentally, liberalism defends and protects the rights of individuals” (Sullivan, 2009, 291) The concept of liberalism within (liberal) democracy is what emphasizes the individual and individual rights, especially “individual religious, economic, political, and intellectual freedom” (Sullivan, 2009, p.291; Hindess, 1996). In classical liberalism, the government is to respect the values and/or religion of the people, pay respect to local rule vis-a-vis state rule and provide a “plurality of education institutions, approaches, and circumstances” (Sullivan, 2009, 291). Additionally, social liberalism highlights the responsibility of the state to protect and encourage people’s freedoms and rights (Sullivan, 2009). Particularly important in this is the right to education for all, as this will give people more capacity to make their own choices and carry the responsibility of their actions (Sullivan, 2009). Finally, liberalism is concerned with the individual’s right to property. This feature of liberalism supports a free-market economy, and most liberals believe that a free-market economy is best suited for a liberal government, as it is based on private property and the government’s responsibility to protect private property and market freedom (Sullivan, 2009).
Thus, …
Core ideas of liberal democracy
1) alternative to monarchies/tyrants/dictatorship [liberty]
2) individual rights respected and protected against arbitrary power and control [liberty, equality]
3) freedom (especially religious, economic, political, and intellectual freedom) [liberty, equality]
4) representation [fraternity]
5) protection of basic civil and human rights [equality] 6) importance of education [liberty, equality]
7) property rights [liberty]
8) focus on the individual [liberty] 9) fair procedure/ rule of law [equality] 10) free-market economy/capitalism [liberty]
2.1.5 The promise of liberal democracy by politicians and political bodies
The core values of liberal democracy are constantly highlighted and used as a justification for the continued existence and spread of liberal democracy (Denee, 2018; Nyabola, 2020). Nyabola (2020, para. 2) further explains the prevalence of liberal democracy:
10 “The end of the Cold War brought a version of global governance that made a lot of big promises but has stuttered in delivering on them. Underpinning much of the socio-political infrastructure of today – the United Nations and other international organizations, the premises of humanitarian and military intervention – is the idea that liberal democracy is the best option for governance for the largest group of people”.
An example of the restatement of the promise of liberal democracy are the prerequisites for becoming an EU member:
• “stable institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities;
• a functioning market economy and the capacity to cope with competition and market forces in the EU;
• the ability to take on and implement effectively the obligations of membership, including adherence to the aims of political, economic and monetary union” (Conditions for
Membership, 2016).
Through these prerequisites, the EU is promising/making the claim that EU countries are liberal democracies. The EU uses the promise of liberal democracy to include and exclude countries. Politicians of western countries continuously state and emphasize that they are liberal democracies. To name a few examples:
The former president of France, Jacques Chirac, stated in a speech in 2003:
“It is on the basis of liberty, guaranteed by the primacy of the law on individual interests; on equality between men and women, equality of opportunities, rights, and duties; on fraternity between all the French, whatever their condition or their origin.” (Spicker, 2006, 1)
Another example of this would be the speech by given by President Barack Obama in 2009: “The United States, by comparison, is a young nation, whose culture is determined by the many different immigrants who have come to our shores, and by the founding documents that guide our democracy.
Those documents put forward a simple vision of human affairs, and they enshrine several core principles -- that all men and women are created equal, and possess certain
fundamental rights; that government should reflect the will of the people and respond to their wishes; that commerce should be open, information freely accessible; and that laws, and not simply men, should guarantee the administration of justice.
11 And that is why America will always speak out for these core principles around the world. We do not seek to impose any system of government on any other nation, but we also don't believe that the principles that we stand for are unique to our nation. These freedoms of expression and worship -- of access to information and political participation -- we believe are universal rights. They should be available to all people, including ethnic and religious minorities -- whether they are in the United States, China, or any nation” (“Remarks by President Barack Obama at Town Hall Meeting with Future Chinese Leaders”, 2009, para. 15-19).
On the website of the current Austrian President, Alexander Van der Bellen, there is a whole section dedicated to the principles of liberal democracy. He particularly places an emphasis on the
importance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
“Human rights, democracy and the rule of law are the essence of Europe and Austria. Without them, the open, diverse, safe and beautiful country in which we want to live cannot exist. Of course, these rights have to be won and secured every day. […]
In Austria there is a consensus that compliance with our fundamental and freedom rights is a central basic principle of our liberal democracy” (Van der Bellen, n.d.).16
In all three of these statements, politicians repeat the promise of liberal democracy and vow to uphold it. Citizens are asked to respect, legitimate, and validate the government for them to receive the promise of liberal democracy (Denee, 2018; Nyabola, 2020; Sullivan, 2009). These continued promises might suggest that liberal democracies are serious about upholding their core principles. However, liberal democracies have not held up their end of the bargain, as we will see in the
following section. These values are instead used to justify various actions of the state such as leading a war in non-European non-democratic countries or implementing policies to limit freedom (Deneen, 2018; Nyabola, 2020).
2.2 The broken promise of liberal democracy “My dear,
The system isn’t broken. It was built this way.
16 Original Text: „Menschenrechte, Demokratie und Rechtsstaatlichkeit machen das Wesen Europas und
Österreichs aus. Ohne sie kann es das offene, vielfältige, sichere und schöne Land, in dem wir leben wollen, nicht geben. Diese Rechte müssen freilich jeden Tag neu errungen und gesichert werden. […] In Österreich herrscht Konsens darüber, dass die Einhaltung unserer Grund- und Freiheitsrechte ein zentrales Grundprinzip unserer liberalen Demokratie ist.“
12
Look at yourself? Are you a white male born from an upper class family? No? Well, don’t expect the system to ever work for you then. The system wasn’t built for you. It was built against you.
Do you really think the people who own the banks are getting screwed by the banks? Do you really think the people who make the laws (and those who pay those who make the laws), are actually suffering under the long arm of the law like you are?
C’mon, you’re smarter than that – and that’s your advantage.
The system didn’t plan on you being smart, and being strong, and being resilient. Use this to your advantage. Do something. Take action. Revolutionary action.
Overthrow the system. Falsely yours,
A. Nonymous” ("The System Isn’t Broken. It Was Built This Way.", n.d.)17
This anonymous letter basically sets the mood for the remainder of this thesis, as we will now delve into the failings of liberal democracy and later suggest Black anarchist feminism as an alternative approach for governance. The point of this chapter is not to analyse whether the theory of liberal democracy is logically sound, right or fair, but rather to look at the lived reality of the current practice of liberal democracy in our world and criticize it from a Black anarchist feminist point of view.
However, I will particularly focus on western democracies such as the U.S. or western European countries, as these are the countries continuously mentioned as inventors of liberal democracy, the U.S. being longest lasting such regime, and because of these countries’ violent efforts to set up democracies across the world.18 I will point out how the principles of liberal democracy have been
implemented to only work on the surface, to only work for specific groups of people and to maintain an illusion of equality. Through this we can see that there seems to be a clash between the ideas of liberal democracy and its practice (Deenen, 2018).
2.2.1 Broken promise of liberty: Arbitrary Control and unlimited government
As just mentioned, the origins of liberal democracy lie in its defiance of arbitrary control. This means that the government should be limited in exercising its power and should mainly function to protect basic human rights. However, on a daily basis in democracies around the world protests are
happening, people are creating critical art, music, films and documentaries and/or petitions are being signed against laws and government actions. Protests for equality for Black people have been taking place since their enslavement and brutal removal from Africa to the Americas up until today, where
17 The original source of this letter is unknown. However, the phrase “The system isn’t broken. It was built this
way” is commonly used by activists and writers.
18 This can involve the bombing of foreign countries in the name of providing the local citizens with liberal
democracies (e.g. Libya and Gaddafi) or placing heavy economic sanctions on countries with authoritarian leadership.
13 they point out the continued systematic oppression of Black people. The rights of women and queer people are still being fought for on a daily basis, as they are struggling with the cis-heteronormative patriarchal system. Sadly, Black trans women face especially much discrimination and are being killed at alarming rates (Vincent, 2015; “Violence against the Transgender Community in 2019, n.d.). It is estimated that a “trans woman is killed internationally every 29 hours” (Vincent, 2015, para. 4). In 2013 it was found that “90 percent of LGBTQ homicide victims were people of colour” and “67 percent were trans women of colour” (Vincent, 2015, para. 4). For example, the Trump-Pence administration passed a regulation that would allow health care professionals to deny “critical care” to LGBTQ people “based on personal beliefs” (Clymer, 2019, para. 2).
Besides over race, gender and sexuality issues people also protest against the increasing control of the government over people, as governments, for example, enter economic trade deals that negatively affect people’s freedoms,19 the power and immunity of the police are extended or laws
are passed that allow governments to gather more intelligence on private people.20 As a response to
this increasing control by government, “citizens regard government as distant” and having
“uncontrollable power” (Deneen, 2018, 3). This is also highlighted by Deneen (2018: 7): “The “limited government” of liberalism today would provoke jealousy and amazement from tyrants of old, who could only dream of such extensive capacities for surveillance and control of movement, finances, and even deeds and thoughts”.
This suggests that liberal democracies power is arbitrary and would then actually be ‘unlimted’ government. To further demonstrate what is meant by the liberal governments exercising unlimited governance, I will present two (out of many) cases in which the government unleashed its unlimited power.
The bombing of MOVE in the U.S.
On the 13th of May 1985 the U.S. government gave the order to bomb the house of MOVE, “a group
which combined the Black liberation struggle with back-to-nature environmentalism” (Pilkington, 2020), living by the principles of anarcho-primitivism. Even before the bomb was dropped on the house of the MOVE members, water cannons, tear gas and explosives were used to damage the entrance of the house (Pilkington, 2020). On top of that, “10 000 rounds of ammunition were fired from police submachine guns” (Pilkington, 2020, para. 28). All this was done in the attempt to get
19 Exporting cheap labour; local farmers/businesses losing out to foreign business; consuming food/products
which might not have the same level of quality, etc.
20 Government’s ability to listen to your phone calls, read private messages; permission of police officers to ask
14 MOVE members out of their house and arrest them (Pilkington, 2020). Despite this violent attack the members did not come out of the house, which is logical since they were under heavy gunfire (Pilkington, 2020). The police department then proceeded to drop a bomb on the house of MOVE, which resulted in a fire which spread across the neighbourhood (Pilkington, 2020). Eleven members of MOVE were killed by this fire, six adults (John Africa,21 Frank Africa, Teresa Africa, Conrad Africa,
Rhonda Africa, Raymond Africa) and five children aged 7 to 13 (Tree, Netta (Tree’s sister), Deleisha, Little Phil, Tomasa) (Pilkington, 2020). Officials claim that they were unaware that children were in the house,22 but that was found to be a lie (Pilkington, 2020). The fire spread and burned down 61
houses, leaving 250 people homeless (Pilkington, 2020). “The police commissioner, Gregore Sambor, critically and fatally decided to ‘let the fire burn’” (Pilkington, 2020, para. 9), and because of that the fire department only started fighting the fire 30 minutes after it started and by that time it was hard to control (Gruson, 1985). The government and its executioners are responsible for the killing of these 11 U.S American citizens and the destruction of a neighbourhood. However, nobody was ever convicted for this attack.
Trade deals between the EU and Canada (CETA) that caused uprisings
In 2016, people across the EU protested against the trade agreement deal between the EU and Canada, known as the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) ("#StopCETA: Thousands protest EU-Canada trade deal in demos across Europe", 2017). The people were/are against the CETA because this agreement violates rights which protect the environment, workers and consumers ("CETA stoppen!", 2016). Furthermore, it would be a threat to smaller businesses and farmers as they might not be able to compete with cheaper foreign products ("CETA stoppen!", 2016). Additionally, it allows foreign multinational corporations to sue governments if they find that governments have implemented laws that could possibly reduce their profit ("CETA stoppen!", 2016). Several campaigns and websites were created to spread awareness about this trade agreement (e.g. stopCETA.net; ttip-stoppen.at; attac.at). In Germany over 100 000 people in six cities took to the street and protested ("Zehntausende demonstrieren gegen TTIP und Ceta", 2016). The website attac.at states that three quarter of the Austrian population are against CETA and 562,552 people had signed a petition for a referendum ("CETA stoppen!", 2016). On the day the trade agreement was signed protesters tried to storm the EU headquarters in Brussel ("CETA another nail in the coffin of European democracy", 2016). CETA was negotiated for seven years and approved and signed in 2017, despite all these protests and petitions from EU citizens.
21 “Each Move member took the last name Africa to signal their commitment to race equality as well as to each
other as a family” (Pilkington, 2020)
15 This brings me to ask following questions: If a (representative) liberal democracy is led by the people, then why are so many people frequently protesting against it and are demanding change? If a liberal democracy is based on providing basic human rights and limiting oppressive forces, then why are people protesting against their government? So, what has liberal democracy done since its rise and promise, if not achieving freedom and basic human rights? It seems that through the promise that liberal democracy protects the people from arbitrary control and the violation of human rights, the People were persuaded that they have found an alternative to authoritarian rule. That this belief is problematic becomes more clear when we look at who holds political power positions since the advancement of liberal democracy. This leads us to our second broken promise of liberal democracy, namely that of representation of the people.
2.2.2 Broken promise of fraternity: Representation, voting and politicians
The core value fraternity is embodied in liberal democracy as representation, by which the people either directly represent their ideas and opinions or elect people that represent their ideas and opinions. As mentioned, representative democracies are the most common form of democracies across the world. An elected representative is then to represent and defend the values and opinions of all their constituents, but mainly of those that are in the majority. Despite this being of importance to representative liberal democracy, many people have voiced that they do not feel represented by their government or are dissatisfied with the leadership. As stated in the introduction, according to Edelman’s study (2020), less than 50% of the respondents from 26 countries believe that the government has the interest of the general public in mind, while 57% of the respondents think it works to protect that of the few, especially in economic terms. In the introduction I also provided statistics which showed that in most countries less than 40% of the members of national parliaments are women ("Percentage of women in national parliaments", 2020). Additionally, many liberal democracies in North America and Europe still have not had a female prime minster or president, and if females do reach those positions a heavy emphasis is placed on their gender. Further, when looking at Black people in western democracy there also is an underrepresentation. For example, as Joyce Wildschut asked in the “Nagesprek Demonstratie Bijlmer23”: There is no Afro-Nederlander in
the second chamber, how is that possible?”24 ("Black Lives Matter Nagesprek Demonstratie Bijlmer",
2020, minute 16.35) 25. Another reference to the lack of representation is made in verse two in the
song ‘Spar’ by Dreezy ft. 6LACK and Kodak Black (2017):
23 Aftertalk of the Black Lives Matter protest in the Bijlmer on the 10.06.2020. 24 Original: „Geen afro-nederlander in de tweede kamer, hoe kan dat?“
25 This is problematic because the Netherlands has a big Black community, especially from its former colonies in
16 Can't say we represented when half the office White Supremacist
This can't be, "Land of the free" If kneeling might cost your position I'm supposed to respect the system Then call our brothers: "Sons of bitches"
This song thematizes the unequal treatment of U.S. African-Americans in the United States. In this verse Dreezy states that she does not feel represented, as half of the people working in U.S. government are White Supremacists. She goes on by stating that she has difficulties respecting the government, as government officials regularly insult Black men (people). Despite the U.S. being a democracy, Dreezy does not feel like her voice is being heard, as she refers to Colin Kaepernick, who was a former NFL player before he got fired for protesting against racism during an NFL game. So far, these representation issues only address cis women and Black people and we haven’t even started looking into representation of people from all socio-economic classes, non-cis people, queer people, people with disabilities, age discrimination, etc. and their intersections. This is not the main focus of the thesis, but I encourage everybody to reflect on whether they or others around them feel properly represented by their government.
Authors such as Phillips (1992) and Deneen (2018) argue that liberal democracies were never able to or never even meant to provide space for a broader and more accurate representation. Phillips (1992), who analyses liberal democracy with a feminist lens, argues that from the start of liberal democracy women were left out, as for many years women could not vote but instead had to fight for their right to vote. Additionally, up until today some people are systematically withheld from voting, for example homeless people, undocumented people, children, refugees, prisoners/former prisoners or Black people. For example, in the U.S Black voters’ rights to vote is being suppressed. First Black people were not legally allowed to vote, and now new laws are passed that result in lower turnout from Black voters (Bump, 2016; Goldstone, 2018). Besides suppressing votes from those who need representation, Phillips (1992) further argues that the stereotypes against and responsibilities of women make it difficult for them to enter political positions, as women are reduced to simply being mothers/caretakers and educators and not political candidates. However, under the disguise that in liberal democracies everyone is ‘equal’, when trying to bring up the issue of
misrepresentation, underrepresented groups are often dismissed (Deneen, 2018; Phillips, 1992). Deneen (2018), Galston (2018) and Philips (1992) further question whether people’s ideas, opinions and voices can truly be represented, when they are required to participate in governance so
17 infrequently. With this they problematize that people only get to vote politicians into office every four or five years, and only get to vote on policies politicians decide they can vote on and/or after gathering enough signatures on petitions. Deneen (2018: 2) further argues that elections are “well-orchestrated performances meant to convey legitimacy to liberal democracy [and] are increasingly regarded as evidence of an impregnably rigged and corrupt system”. In this, elections seem more like popularity contests in which politicians all too often promise great changes, initiatives and
programmes which in the end are not realized (Deneen, 2018; Phillips, 1992). When watching any political debate across the world politicians are bad-mouthing and vilifying each other, and besides that a lot of money is spent on political campaigns. The various political parties compete against each other, by addressing distinct population groups or promising something to particular population groups. Since the middle class is in most countries the biggest demographic, various parties particularly fight for their votes, promising in every election that they are going to improve their working and living conditions. Post-election, many promises are not kept, and responsibility for not delivering on the promise is evaded by blaming the larger system for not complying with them (Deneen, 2018). Besides that, people are in a way forced to vote for ‘the lesser evil’, as they have to choose the political party that represents most of their ideas. But what if you like the sustainability goals of the one party/politician and the economic plan of another party/politician? What if you like a party’s education plan but the party/politician is a known racist?
Besides the occasional votes and the petition one can sign (which needs a substantive amount of signatures before it can even be considered in front of parliament) people do not have a lot of opportunities to directly participate in governmental decisions. Additionally, the fact that politicians push away responsibility when not delivering on promises further suggest that someone holds arbitrary power over the people and the people that should represent us.
Finally, to lead into the next section I ask: What does your vote mean when you are not treated as an equal citizen due to systematic oppression?
2.2.3 Broken promise of equality and liberty: Respect for basic human rights and systematic oppression
By now several instances of human rights violations have been mentioned. Unfortunately, there are countless example of liberal democracies violating basic human rights. The simple legality and existence of right-wing parties, which have been openly racist, is already enough to make the claim that liberal democracies have broken their promise of equal rights. For example, the right-wing party FPÖ (People’s Party Austria) was founded in 1970, just 15 years after the end of the second world war and Holocaust, by a former SS official (Oltermann, 2019). Many of these right-wing parties have
18 made racist comments on public live TV and social media, made racist campaign videos and/or place racist flyers and election posters all over their countries. Examples of this are:
Furthermore, across the world women get paid less than men for the same job, which is also known as the gender pay gap. On average, a white woman earns 81 cents for every dollar earned by a white man, while BIPOC26 earn even less; for example, Indigenous, Black and Hispanic people earn 75 cents
per every dollar earned by a white person ("Gender Pay Gap Statistics for 2020", 2020).
26 BIPOC = Black, Indigenous and People of Colour
Figure 8: FPÖ (Austrian right-wing party) campaign poster stating: Homeland love instead of Moroccan thieves (Parigger, 2012)
Figure 9: Donald Trump (representing the republican party) tweeting a racist statement directed towards 3 BIPOC congresswomen, who are all U.S. American citizens ("EDITORIAL: House denounces Trump for racist tweets", 2019)
19 Figure 10: OECD (2019) Gender wage gap 2015-2018
All of the countries listed in this graph are liberal democracies. Given that it is apparently such a big issue that it is being measured every year by various organisations, one may wonder why this
problem still exists. The World Economic Forum (2020) estimates that the gender pay gap will only be closed in 100 years from now (Global Gender Gap Report 2020, 2020). How is it possible that liberal democracies have existed for over 100 years but have not managed to provide equal pay for everyone? How are all these liberal democracies okay with roughly 50% of their population being disadvantaged like that? How come more and more people feel the control of the government in many areas of their lives, but governments cannot make sure everyone gets equal pay?
Again, one of the core values of liberal democracy is the protection of individual human rights, which means that all democracies should have a statement in their constitution that promises this.
Furthermore, almost every country is part of the United Nations and has agreed to the accept the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Additionally, since 2009 the European Charter of
Fundamental Rights is legally binding for all European countries. The EU advocates for human rights, yet every year thousands of people drown in the Mediterranean Sea, when trying to seek refugee or a better life in Europe ("Mediterranean Situation", 2020). How is it possible that year after year people are drowning in high numbers at the shores of Europe? Instead of ending this misery, stricter laws are made to target refugees, immigrants and human smugglers, and several coastal countries, such as Italy, even imprison and fine people that attempt to save people from drowning (Chaudhary, 2019; Rakusen et al., 2019; "Securing EU borders", 2015). They do this despite laws and conventions that promise the safety of refugees. This makes clear again the underlying structure of white
20 supremacy, in which the human rights of white people are more respected than those of non-white people.
This is also noticeable in the treatment of white protesters or activists versus BIPOC protesters or activists. As mentioned in the pre-introduction, this thesis was written in the first half of 2020, when we experienced the Covid-19 outbreak and mass protests against racism, especially racism against Black people. Despite the risk of catching Corona and the increased security, police control and health regulations, people across the world keep on gathering to protest for their human rights. In the U.S. predominantly white people protested against the new Corona policies and the lockdown (stay-at-home-order), as they believe that these new measures to control the Corona outbreak are against their human rights to freedom of movement. Since the end of May mass protests against police violence and systematic racism have been taking place across the world, especially to ask for justice for George Floyd and Breanna Taylor, who have been killed by U.S. police officers. However, if we have a look at pictures of these two protests and the reaction of politicians, police and media one can quickly notice the differential treatment:
Figure 11: the Rapfest (2020) Comparing two protests
Figure 12: Stopera & Stopera (2020) Armed protest: women holding cardboard with Nazi symbol and other protesters with guns in front of Michigan state capitol
Figure 13: Beckett (2020) "A militia group stands in front of the governor’s office"
21 Although the white people protest with guns and
swastikas, the police does not disband them, and
they are not facing a hostile treatment from the police, while peaceful unarmed Black Lives Matter protesters get pepper sprayed and beaten. On top of that, the white protestors at the Michigan capitol receive praise from the president of the United States, while the Black Lives Matter protesters are called “Thugs”. The Black Lives Matter protests in Europe have also experienced negative framing from media outlets and politicians compared to right-wing and xenophobic protests. Why does one group of people have more rights to peacefully defend their rights than others? How are politicians not concerned about the use of the swastika or guns within a government building?
Despite this, liberal democracies will claim equality. While it is true that blatantly racist laws like in the Jim Crow era and South African apartheid do not exist anymore, liberal democracies still have ways to pass oppressive laws or suffer from oppressive execution of the law. This bring us to another important value of liberal democracy …
Fair procedure and the rule of law
The concept of rule of law also takes a central place in liberal democracy, as it is meant to keep the citizens and government in check. Not only do the citizens have to obey the law but also the government; this way arbitrary power should be kept in bounds. This is accompanied by the necessity of a fair procedure, where every person and the government have the right to a fair procedure and get the same treatment in front of the law. As you can already suspect, this is also a Figure 14: Stopera & Stopera (2020) Unarmed peaceful protestor
peppersprayed by police
Figure 15: Stopera & Stopera (2020) Unarmed protestors trying to avoid police brutality
22 promise broken under liberal democracy. Fact is, people, and especially Black people and women, are systematically oppressed in liberal democracies.
Discriminatory laws against women
Consider laws and policies that are made about women without their consent. In 2019 a huge discussion around abortion rights flared up in the U.S. again, in which states tried to override the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision “that legalized abortion in all 50 states” (Levenson, 2019, para. 3). As a result, states like Alabama and Louisiana banned abortion unless the pregnant person’s life is threatened (Levenson, 2019). Rape and incest are not considered reason enough to obtain an abortion (Levenson, 2019). These are laws tied to very specific bodies, yet there was no vote, no referendum, no communication with people that are able to bear children. Additionally, anti-abortion laws are somewhat ironic considering the U.S. has a history of eugenics in which they sterilize “undesirable” populations to control them (Ko, 2016, para. 1). An “undesirable” population for the U.S. government is “immigrants, people of colour, poor people, unmarried mothers, the disabled, the mentally ill” and prisoners (Ko, 2016, para. 1). As a result, hundreds and thousands of people have been forced to undergo sterilization or were sterilized without their consent or awareness (Ko, 2016). For example, it is estimated that between 1909 and 1979 20,000 men and women, in California alone, have been sterilized without consent (Ko, 2016). Between 2006 and 2010 150 sterilizations were conducted on female prisoners in California, and “former inmates say these were done under coercion” (Ko, 2016, para. 6). However, the U.S. is not the only liberal democracy where this happens. In 2006 a Rotterdam political party, Leefbaar Rotterdam, proposed forced abortion and contraceptives for sex workers, drug addicts and mentally ill (Westen, 2006). They claim that these women are not capable of raising children, and children of these mothers are more likely to experience “violence, neglect, mistreatment and sexual abuse” (Westen, 2006, para. 3). An alderman, at the time, in the city of Rotterdam, Marianne van den Anker, went so far as to
particularly highlight that women of Antillean27 descent should be targeted in this proposal (Westen,
2006). This proposal was luckily never passed, but, as mentioned earlier, the fact that we even have politicians that suggest such human rights violations in a liberal democracy is problematic.
Also, the settler colonial state28 of Israel admitted that they have been forcing contraceptives on
Ethiopian Jews. Even before Ethiopian Jews arrived in Israel, doctors injected them with Depo-Provera, a contraceptive drug that needs to be injected every three months, in the transit camps in Ethiopia (Knutsen, 2013; Nesher, 2013). Depo-Provera is used because of its high effectiveness and long-lasting effects but also comes with a lot of side effects that are left untreated (Knutsen, 2013;
27 As in the case of Israel this is a specific attack on Black women.
23 Nesher, 2013). Ethiopian Jews are being intimidated and threatened into taking the injections, without properly informing them about the effects and side effects of this medication (Knutsen, 2013; Nesher, 2013). As a result, people suspect that the 50% decline in birthrate of Israel’s Ethiopian community is in part related to this (Nesher, 2013). Only after advocates for women’s rights and Ethiopian immigrants investigated the low birth rates and sent a letter to the health minister of Israel, Roni Gamzu, did the health minister give instructions to stop this practice (Nesher, 2013). All these are laws and policies that disproportionally target Black women and women that are seen as undesirable by white supremacist ableist capitalist standards (are from a lower socio-economic class or cannot fully contribute to capitalism [e.g. mentally ill, prisoners]). How is the rule of law being fair to them?
Politicians
Another example of the broken promise are the politicians that should be at the forefront of upholding the values and laws of liberal democracy. However, all too often politicians are caught up in scandals. Constantly there are news reports of politicians sexually assaulting someone, making racist/sexist/queerphobic remarks, being corrupt and breaking the law. One of the biggest recent examples is the huge amount of wrongdoings revealed by the publication of the Panama Papers, in which “140 politicians from more than 50 countries” were found to be “connected to offshore companies in 21 tax havens” (ICIJ, 2017, para. 1). This also included politicians from liberal
democracies, such as Iceland's prime minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson; former prime minister of Georgia Bidzina Ivanishvili; former president of Argentina Mauricio Macri; former government minister in France Jérôme Cahuzac; and member of British Parliament Michal Mates (ICIJ, 2017). Another major political scandal happened in 2019 in Austria with the Ibiza affair, where the former vice prime minister and leader of the far-right wing party Heinz-Christian Strache and his
parliamentary leader Johan Gudenus were caught on video planning a corrupted deal (Oltermann, 2019). In the video they are discussing with a woman, who pretended to be the niece of a Russian oligarch, the possibility to provide them with “lucrative public contracts in exchange for campaign support” (Oltermann, 2019, para. 1). These are just two quick examples, but many more such examples can be found. How can it be that in a liberal democracy, which is hailed by governments, the UN and other organizations to be the best form of governance, there are so many politicians who abuse their power for their own gain? Can we really address this problem by holding each and every one of these individual politicians accountable, or do we recognise that this abuse of power is possible because it is systemic?
