Democratic displays loosen dictators’ grip
It was 30 years ago this month that the stunning fall of Soviet communism began in earnest, and that anniversary is being celebrated in Europe next week.
This was a breathtaking moment in history, and it seemed at the time to foreshadow the coming of an epic transition. But few examples of enduring change actually took root.
Since then, there has been no democratic dawn worldwide; in fact, the reverse. These grim first decades of this 21st century have seen a brutal and inexorable smothering of democracy in many parts of the world.
The number of truly democratic states in the world is declining for the first time in modern history.
The White House in Washington is occupied by a man who embraces authoritarian leaders and recoils at democratic values.
And global U.S. leadership, however flawed it was in the post-war era, has been replaced by a greedy and grubby ethos of “America First.”
That is what makes the current mass protests in Hong Kong so important. The demonstrators — led by an idealistic generation of young people fearful that its democratic world is under threat from the Chinese regime — now seem to be part of a global pattern.
As democracies retreat and dictators assert themselves, a wave of pro-democracy protests is spreading in Europe, Asia and Africa.
With U.S. President Donald Trump effectively on the sidelines, China and Russia as the world’s leading authoritarian states are emerging as the key targets.
In Hong Kong this week, protesters clashed with riot police at one of the world’s busiest airports, where operations had been shut down for two days.
For 10 consecutive weekends, demonstrations of up to two million people have protested against government moves they said would place Hong Kong under increasing Chinese control.
In Moscow, meanwhile, pro-democracy demonstrators have marched for five straight weekends calling for fair local elections, and protesting police brutality. President Vladimir Putin has been widely vilified. Last weekend’s march attracted more than 50,000 people — the largest anti-Putin rally since 2012. The Hong Kong and Moscow demonstrations have been the largest, but not the only ones. Expressions of prodemocracy sentiments have been breaking out in several countries.
In Prague in June, Czechs were part of the largest demonstration since the fall of the Iron Curtain to demand that the prime minister quit over corruption charges.
Last March in Slovakia, Zuzana Caputova, a liberal, anti-corruption cam
paigner, was elected president, and she has since been critical of the drift toward authoritarianism by some of her neighbouring countries.
In June, an opponent of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was elected mayor of Istanbul in a protest against Erdogan’s autocratic policies. And last April in Algeria, the president was driven from office after accusations of corruption, as was the president of Sudan a few days later.
These are all significant developments, but what is striking about the protests in Hong Kong and Moscow is that there are no signs the demonstrators intend to back down.
In Hong Kong, in particular, the risks are considerable. After all, it was only 30 years ago that the Chinese government crushed the pro-democracy movement in Tiananmen Square. On Thursday, Liu Xiaoming, China’s ambassador to London, didn’t have to invoke the memories of Tiananmen when he threatened that China will use its power if the situation deteriorates: “The central government will not sit on its hands and watch.”
Next week, Europe will celebrate the 30 years since the fall of communism; it will be an anniversary fraught with irony. On Monday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel will travel to the part of the Hungary/ Austria border that is seen as the first historic crack in the Iron Curtain. It was the site of a peace protest that started Soviet communism’s great unravelling. Merkel — one of the last leaders standing who still embraces the post-war vision of a democratic Western alliance — will be joined by Viktor Orban, Hungary’s authoritarian prime minister. We shouldn’t forget that it is Orban, with Trump’s encouragement, who is dismantling the democratic institutions in Hungary.
That is a reminder of why we owe so much to those passionate demonstrators in Hong Kong, Moscow and elsewhere.