Dodged bullet for democracy

Dissidents around globe say U.S. showed strength of system

JOHANNESBURG — Stunned and riveted by the riot that engulfed the U.S. Capitol, pro-democracy and human rights campaigners around the world also were reassured because, ultimately, democracy held. The system was tested but not toppled.

“The institutions came through and defended democracy. That inspires me,” said Hopewell Chin’ono, an investigative journalist in Zimbabwe who is under pressure from authorities for calling for peaceful protests of corruption.

For outspoken activists fighting often-lonely battles against political bullies big and small, there were morale-boosting lessons in President Donald Trump’s failure to cling to power by stirring up riotous supporters on U.S. lawmakers who were confirming President-elect Joe Biden as his successor.

“The only people enjoying that spectacle were the dictators. They

wanted that chaos; they were hoping that Trump would win. But they were disappointed, and thankfully the institutions came through,” Chin’ono said. “For someone like me, for other dissidents who are criticizing their government in African countries and other places in the world, there is still no place like America.”

But the clampdown on dissidents elsewhere still went on.

Hong Kong police tightened their grip on the city’s embattled democracy movement, making 53 arrests Wednesday.

Pro-democracy activist Lee Cheuk-yan worries that the Capitol rampage strengthens the hand of the Chinese territory’s Communist rulers in Beijing, offering a propaganda opportunity.

Exiled in London, Hong Kong activist Nathan Law says the U.S. system demonstrated its resilience against mob violence.

Among autocratic leaders who sought to spin the rampage to their advantage was Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

But exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya saw the U.S. events as “a good reminder that democracy is not given for granted. Democracy is an ongoing process, and it is what we make of it.”