Gorbachev lectures Russians on need for democracy
'Without people's broad participation, we will not be able to break vicious cycle of problems'
Published: 8 hours ago
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev says what Russia needs right now is democracy, according to a new report in Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.
“What we lack today [in Russia] is the most important thing of all – democracy. I am certain: Without a democratic process, without the people’s broad participation in the search for solutions, we will not be able to break the vicious cycle of the problems into which we have driven ourselves,” he said.
“Our own experience, as well as the global experience of decades past, are proof of that,” he wrote recently in a publication in Russia, known for its history of dictatorships under the czars and communism.
But Gorbachev’s criticism was reserved for the post-communist era.
“We must overcome the authoritarian trend in our internal politics. This [trend] did not appear yesterday – indeed, as early as the 1990s, a regime of individual rule emerged, and the constitution adopted [in 1993] is heavily biased in favor of the executive branch and presidential powers – including an option for more than two terms in office, or as many as you like. There were various excuses for this at first – for example, the need for rapidly enacting reform ‘with a firm hand.’ And what did we have as a result? The [Russian] market crash of 1998,” Gorbachev said.
“It was then that ‘managed democracy’ and ‘the power vertical’ emerged – aimed, ostensibly, at stabilizing and reviving the Russian economy. It was indeed stabilized, but to the detriment of real democracy, at the expense of the independence of the parliament, the courts, and the mass media… [Furthermore], this revival was mostly the result of the high oil and gas prices in the global market,” he wrote.
His comments came in the Russian independent biweekly Novaya Gazeta and were spotlighted by the Middle East Media Research Institute.
Get the rest of this report, and more, from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.
Gorbachev said it’s “obvious now that the current model of governance is not working, either in politics or in economics.”
“[Additionally], there are no alternative ideas in Russia, and no influx of new people [in the socio-political system]. The decision-making process must not be reliant on a single man [i.e. Putin].Nobody can claim to have a monopoly on absolute truth,” he said.
“We must return to a path of real democracy. In one of my recent interviews, I urged all our powers to mobilize to overcome the crisis. What does this mean? First and foremost, it means not dividing our society! Not categorizing people as good and bad, red and blue, patriots and liberals. Not looking for … a fifth column or foreign agents. It means that we must unite for the sake of common goals.”
Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, said today’s “leaders of the major powers” have found themselves “unprepared for the crises and disasters of recent years.”
“Instead of cooperation, ‘war and peace’ has again taken center stage in world politics, as during the Cold War. Think tanks are developing scenarios of a possible war in Europe. … But this is not restricted to ‘hypothetical scenarios’: The U.S.is planning to deploy another $3 billion in heavy armament and military equipment in Central and Eastern Europe. This is but one example attesting to the fact that in international affairs, there is a collapse of trust,” he wrote.
Read more at
http://www.wnd.com/2016/03/gorbachev-lectures-russians-on-need-for-democracy/#QsvLgPzwLzP1wvRH.99
