Skip to main content

It Is a Bumper Election Year; Democracy and Freedoms May Be Compromised

 In 2024 democracy will be tested
like never before. More than half the world’s population is going into their national elections, which includes, India, the United States of America, European Union, and many other countries in Africa and Asia. The remaining half of the population of the world, like the people of China, Russia, and others, pretty much have no power to exercise free and fair elections.

Going by the political commentaries that we hear so loud and clear, the far right is making progress and might claim victory in major elections, we would
have national leaderships spanning
from majoritarian populists to fascist dictatorships, and many of our freedoms and institutions would be compromised; the world as we know would change; it will not be the same post 2024. The order of the world as we know since the end of World War II, or in the case of India, from the time of our independence might take a dangerous turn.

Will democracy survive 2024 bumper elections? In spite of having free and fair elections, people still choose candidates with dubious democratic credentials? Perhaps people have other priorities than the priorities laid down by the founding fathers of our nation and constitution.

election, democracy

India, world’s most populous democracy, is electing its 18th Lok Sabha in April or in May. Election times are the most vulnerable times of Indian democracy. In the cutthroat unsparing practices of Indian politics, winning elections
is often prioritised over everything else. The
fierce competition and the high stakes involved have led politicians to adopt questionable campaign strategies and tactics. Parties resort to manipulation, misinformation, and sometimes even use force to secure victory. The focus on winning has shifted the narrative from serving the public to political opportunism, party switching, and outsmarting the opponents by wooing the voters with money, power, and communal and caste politics.

Disinformation and misinformation are used to polarise communities, sway public opinion, and affect voting patterns. Political polarisation and fueling of religious ideologies and popular emotions can cause division and undermine the inclusive and diverse spirit of the election process.

In the recent case of Chandigarh mayoral election presiding officer tampered with the ballot papers; made the BJP candidate ‘first past the post’, declared the BJP candidate as winner, and he, who is suppose to be neutral and unbiased, shamelessly joined the victory celebrations right there in the election hall with the winners. Thanks to the Supreme Court for doing the needful to restore the sanctity of the election.

‘Politics of distraction’ is the order of
the day. In a country of mass illiteracy and unemployment, farmers’ suicide, and farmers’ protest, politicians and other key people divert public attention by discussing worship place destructions and temple constructions, cow protection and mythology, women’s dressing and girls wearing hijab to college. Noam Chomsky, an American social commentator says, “The key element of social control is the strategy of distraction that is to divert public attention from important issues and changes decided by political and economic elites, through the technique of flood or flooding with continuous distractions and insignificant information.”

Animal Farm is a short novel by George Orwell. It is an allegory of Russia in the early 20th century (the USSR), and the leaders on Animal Farm are the leaders of Russia in the beginning of twentieth century. The storyline
is simple. The animals stage a rebellion against the farm owner. The animals win power. The pigs position themselves as more powerful than the rest of the animals. The most powerful pigs are Snowball and Napoleon. No one with power likes another having power. Napoleon sees to it that Snowball is taken off the farm by force, so by the time the farm needs to have an elected leader, the animals are left with only one choice.

Animal Farm is an allegory for any society. The easiest people to control are those who think they are free. Napoleon, the leader, brings out several commandments for people of the republic to live by, like, “all are equal, and some are more equal than others.” People live in
the illusion of equality. Big democratic terms are used. People are served with the illusion
of freedom. Leaders call them comrades and friends; the supreme leader lets them elect their president but gives only one choice. Napoleon (acting as a large-hearted democratic man) declares election; but also declares himself
as the only choice (these were days before we had the NOTA option). Napoleon was elected ‘unanimously’. Democracy is an asset only among people with free and informed minds. 

Written as TOGETHER editorial.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Visual Analysis: SEMIOTICS

 Visual analysis is a systematic and scientific approach to examining visual materials that goes far beyond casual observation.  In our visually saturated world, images have become a inescapable universal language that shapes our perceptions, attitudes, and experiences. From the artworks adorning gallery walls to the advertisements lining city streets, visuals communicate narratives, evoke emotions, and reflect sociocultural ideologies. However, the process of seeing and interpreting visuals is not as spontaneous or natural as we often assume. As John Berger notably stated, "seeing is an active decision," suggesting that the process of interpreting visuals is neither spontaneous nor natural, but rather requires conscious effort and critical thinking. The way we perceive and interpret visual content is heavily influenced by habits, conventions, and our individual perspectives.  Serious visual analyses requires conscious effort and critical analysis to unravel the laye...

Sigmund Freud on Creative Writing and Day-Dreaming

 Freud in his essay, Creative Writers and Day-Dreaming, explores the psychological origins of artistic creativity and the impact of literature on readers. He draws parallels between the imaginative activity of creative writers and the day-dreaming of ordinary people. It is a discussion about the relationship between creative art and unconscious phantasy. In it, Freud talks about the role of daydreaming and fantasy in human behaviour, and how creative writers are able to express their daydreams without shame or self-reproach. Read the essay below (for academic use only) Creative Writers and Day Dreaming PDF Freud argues that the child's play and the adult's phantasies/daydreams share a common element—the desire to alter an unsatisfactory reality and fulfil unfulfilled wishes. The creative writer is like a successful daydreamer who is able to transform their private fantasies into works that provide pleasure to the audience. Freud suggests that the writer's choice of subject...

Visual Analysis: INTRODUCTION

 Visual analysis is a systematic and scientific examination of visual materials that explores their communicative meaning, aesthetic qualities, and functional impact. As Susan Sontag noted, humans tend to linger in "mere images of the truth," making it crucial to develop a deeper understanding of visual interpretation. Study the PDF below (for academic use only) Introduction to Visual Analysis PDF The Nature of Seeing: The process of seeing is not as spontaneous or natural as commonly believed. According to John Berger, our way of seeing art has historically been influenced by privileged minorities to maintain social and economic dominance. Visual perception requires conscious effort and is heavily influenced by habits and conventions. The visual faculty consumes approximately two-third of a person’s used energy, highlighting its significance in human experience. The Framework of Visual Analysis: Visual analysis could be traced back to communication models, for example, Har...

Early History of Cinema

 The late 19th and early 20th centuries witnessed the birth and rapid evolution of cinema as a new artistic and technological medium. Lets us examine the key innovations, pioneers, and early milestones that shaped the beginnings of cinema, from its precursors in motion photography to the establishment of narrative filmmaking techniques. Study the PDF below (for academic use only) History of Cinema PDF The foundations of cinema can be traced to experiments in capturing and displaying motion through photography. In 1878, Eadweard Muybridge's groundbreaking "The Horse in Motion" used multiple cameras to decompose the movement of a galloping horse into a sequence of still images. This technique presaged the fundamental principle of cinema - the illusion of motion created by rapidly displaying a series of static images. A pivotal moment came in 1888 with Louis Le Prince's "Roundhay Garden Scene." At just 2.11 seconds long, it is recognised by the Guinness Book of...

2025 Must Create Its Own Art

 Tonight’s art becomes inadequate
and useless when the sun rises in
the morning. The mistake lies not in creating art for tonight, but in assuming tonight’s answers will serve tomorrow’s questions. Louise Bourgeois, a French American artist, reflected, “art is a guaranty of sanity;” but that guarantee must be renewed with each dawn, each cultural shift, and
each evolution of human consciousness. If some art endures through generations, it
is only because of its capacity to speak, its ability to demand fresh interpretations that test and challenge the new. To guarantee sanity in the coming year, 2025 must create
its own art. Why create art? Why watch art? Why read literature? True art, in the words of Sunil P Ilayidam, shakes that which is rigid and unchangeable. Art serves as humanity’s persistent earthquake, destabilising comfortable certainties and creating space
for new ways of seeing, thinking, and being
in the world. An artist’s duty is to reflect the times, and we see this in...

Sound Recording for Films: A Crucial Element of Cinematic Storytelling

 Sound recording is a fundamental aspect of filmmaking that significantly contributes to the overall cinematic experience. It is the process of capturing and recording audio elements that complement the on-screen visuals. These audio elements form the foundation for creating an immersive auditory experience that enhances the film's storytelling and emotional impact. Study the PDF below (for academic use only) Sound Recording for Films PDF The components of a film's soundscape are diverse and multifaceted. They include dialogues , which are the actors' spoken lines recorded on set or dubbed later; Foley sounds, which represent the actors' interactions with their surroundings and add authenticity to scenes; ambient sound, which creates a subtle background soundscape to transport the audience to the film's environment; music or score, which evokes emotion and enhances the narrative; and sound effects , which augment the film's realism and atmosphere. To capture ...

The Brown Sisters: A Four-Decade Portrait of Time and Sisterhood

 Nicholas Nixon's "The Brown Sisters" stands as one of photography's most compelling longitudinal portrait studies, documenting four decades of sisterhood through annual black-and-white photographs taken from 1975 to 2014. Using an 8×10 inch view camera, Nixon captured his wife Bebe and her three sisters—Heather, Mimi, and Laurie Brown—in the same order each year, creating a remarkable visual meditation on time, aging, and familial bonds. For the full set of images see the PDF below (for academic use only) Forty Portraits in Forty Years PDF What began as a spontaneous family photograph in 1975 evolved into a profound artistic documentation of human transformation. The project's strength lies in its methodological consistency: the sisters maintain their positions, with the sequence remaining unchanged throughout the series. This rigid framework paradoxically highlights the subtle changes that occur year by year, creating a powerful commentary on the passage of time...