Benevolent Democratic Dictatorship

[eumelia]

On Tuesday February 10th the State of Israel will be voting for it's 18th General Election (and our 5th in a decade, seriously, "Third World" stability) and it is slim pickings.

I'm obsessing a bit on the decision because it will actually be the first time I vote for the country's Knesset and PM. This isn't so surprising when one realised that I turned 18 two weeks after the 2003 elections and was out of the country in 2006, so... didn't get to vote.
Add to all that, that I'm actually politically aware and that my own politics seriously do not align with... anything that's on the electoral market.

I've no faith in the system.

Even the small parties that are voted in have very little power and generally produce bills to do with social welfare which is always good, of course, but with the way this country is going in that regard it looks as though even the Communist Party (the forerunners in social welfare laws) will be losing it's footing.

The whole election process is such a crock. We, the citizens, know that each and everyone of the politicians is corrupt, that every single move they make is in their own self-interests, that none of them have any intention of creating change (other than increasing the change lining their pockets) and that any ideology they have is used for nothing more than for pushing an agenda that will give them more power.

The main election issue floating around in the media isn't social welfare, or even the mush hailed Peace Process (which has been a joke for many a year).

It's how "we're" going to deal with Gaza.

There's no talk about... talking.

The word Occupation hasn't been mentioned anywhere, leaving the conciousness of the masses who are gearing to vote for a government that will continue streaming money into an Army that is being trained in policing a population while calling it "Defence".
Indeed, the whole "Only Democracy in the Middle East" myth doesn't live up to the standard of Israel believes itself to emulate.
We are of the British parliamentary method.
The fact that there is a vote doesn't a Democracy make.
When it is your ethnicity that dictates whether you are a citizen or second-class citizen...
When your religion dictates who you can associate and marry...
Well, I don't see any Western ideal there.

One of my friends mentioned that she will be voting for Tzipi Livni.
I asked her why, genuinely curious.
She said she can't not vote for a woman, because even if she doesn't do anything different (which she won't in the event of her being elected) there is still something symbolic in having a woman Prime Minister.
And in general I would agree.
But the idea of voting for someone which the only difference between her and the other candidates is Livni being a woman (it's a big significance difference), when her politics are just atrocious as Netanyahu's and Barak's.

I'm seriously considering blank-balloting.

Comments

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

I think pretty much every one of those statements is a gross exaggeration. I'm just stating that, for the record.
Okay. Why?

As for the second part of your comment:
Yes, this whole thing is a big moral dilemma, at least for me, though I'm inclined to believe that it's a dilemma for anyone with a brain!

[sabrina-il.livejournal.com]

I think your statements are very general, and use muddled language. I don't know what you mean by "policing a population", I know my defenition of policing a population, the IDF does not train soldier to do this anymore, in reality. Perhaps you have your own defenition that's different from mine, but you never elaborate so it's unclear. I don't think your religion dictates who you can associate with, I also think it's an oversimplification to say it dictates who you can marry. Saying "we are" the British parliamentary system and saying we are not a democracy, I'm not even sure what you mean there. We ARE a democracy by the very basic defenition of what a democracy is, you can bring up aspects that you think are undemocractic but simply saying that Israel isn't one is just factually, by-the-dictionary untrue, and your statements make it sound as though it is just that plain and simple.
So, yeah, I think every statement here is either an exaggeration or an oversimplification or both. I'm all for talking about complicated, multi-faceted issues, but I'm uncofortable with reducing them to 10 word statements that read more like, well, propoganda. I'm not trying to argue the points, I'm just saying the way you present them is, imo, through oversimplication and exaggeration. Which you're free to say was your intended method of delivery! There's nothing wrong with that, as long as it's acknowledged.

Yes, this whole thing is a big moral dilemma, at least for me, though I'm inclined to believe that it's a dilemma for anyone with a brain!
The verdict is still out on whether or not I have a brain ;) but I don't really see this as a moral dilemma. I see this as a political and social dilemma, my morals have nothing to do with it, if that makes sense.

[mao4269.livejournal.com]

I would assume she's using the fairly straightforward definition of policing as, "the regulation and control of a community", for which the hundreds of checkpoints and road blocks in the West Bank certainly qualify.

Until extremely recently, non-Jews couldn't buy (to the extent that anyone in Israel can buy; I'm referring to the 100 year lease with the option to renew) land owned by the JNF, which seriously restricted their ability to live anywhere that didn't exist prior to the founding of the state and therefore also to choose to live together with the Jewish population. Even today, non-Jews are regularly blocked from living in Jewish neighborhoods, particularly when they don't already have a Jewish associate to sign as guaranteer for them), which is a case of religion dictating with whom you can live (the simplest form of association). This restriction on association is compounded by the fact that where one lives determines the school one's children attend.

As for the democracy issue, the argument that Israel isn't really a democracy is made in much more depth by Yiftachel in his book Ethnocracy: Land and Politics in Israel/Palestine. I have to say that I think that all so-called democracies have ethnocratic/racist elements so personally take issue with the dichotomy Yiftachel creates between democracy and ethnocracy, but that doesn't mean that some nominal democracies aren't closer to enacting democratic principles than others.

If you have a choice between supporting a group with which you agree but that has very little chance of changing policy that you find immoral or supporting a group that may change some aspects of that behavior but actively supports other aspects, how is it not a moral dilemma? Obviously that question is based on the assumption that you find any of the policy supported by the "big three" but not by some of the smaller parties to be immoral.

[sabrina-il.livejournal.com]

Since, like I mentioned in the comment, I wasn't arguing the issues but rather discussing their delivery with the OP, I... don't really see the point of discussing with someone else what she might or might not have meant, unless you're officially speaking for her, on her request?

I'm not trying to be rude, I'm just honestly saying - I was really talking to the OP about her meanings and intentions, and it so it's kind of strange to instead discuss that with someone who isn't her.

[(Anonymous)]

Feel free to discuss with the OP directly if that's what you prefer. To explain why I responded to your comment, I took your saying, "I think pretty much every one of those statements is a gross exaggeration" to be arguing the issues/what was stated and therfore shared some arguments that agreed with the some of the statements you said you thought were exaggerated.

[mao4269.livejournal.com]

I got an error message on this so assumed it hadn't gone through - sorry for the redundancy!

[mao4269.livejournal.com]

You do a really good job of explaining what you were getting at in your later comments. I was speaking for myself in response to your first comment, and specifically your statement that, "I think pretty much every one of those statements is a gross exaggeration. I do think that there's a solid case that the OP's statements aren't exaggerations at all. That being said, in your later comments you make it clear that you're wondering why she chose to make such strongly worded statements, so will leave you to it.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Ooof! I want to answer you point by point, but I have to go and don't have time.

I just wanted to let you know that I will reply to this comment and that you haven't been forgotten :)

But as for your last statement: I find it strange that you would separate the trifecta of morality/politics/societal. Every political decision that ones makes becomes a personal and one and because it has far reaching affects that don't only include you, it is very much a moral and/or ethical decision.

[sabrina-il.livejournal.com]

I actually wasn't looking for a point-by-point explanation! I mean, I can't stop you from giving one, but I think that would be missing my point? I know you can explain in comments 3 pages worth of your opinions and feelings and whatever on these subjects. What I was saying was that in the entry, reduced to simple statements, it sounded like what I explained. If you feel the statements were clear and exhaustive of the issues, and disagree with how their delivery felt to me, that's of course totally your right. If you feel I have a point about the delivery, you're free to of course elaborate on every point here, but my intention was just to bring it to your attention that this was the case. So I'm saying, what I was talking about weren't so much the issues themselves, as how they were put, my statements about the "issues" were just to give a few examples rather than delve into them.

I'm sorry, I thought by "this whole thing" you were referring to the vote/not vote for Linvi because she's a woman issue, since that was what we were discussing before, I misunderstood. Of course the elections in general are a moral issue among other things.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Okay fair enough.
Point taken.