The last and least important part of any democracy is the voting. To have a free democracy you need (at least):
- Freedom of speech: even freedom to say things that others find offensive like criticising core religious beliefs or ridiculing stupid economic idea;
- A free media (or in todays world a free and largely unfiltered social media) to convey that free speech as widely as its merit deserves;
- Secret and fair voting where most people can participate (subject to sensible restrictions like no kids) and where you will not be threatened depending on your vote.
Iran has none of that. It has a sham vote. It may have what fools pretend is a democratic system for electing local representatives, but there is massive filtering of who can stand for election (more than 50% of those who wanted to stand were deemed ineligible to stand). This page on AlJazeera’s site even has in bold, at the top:
This is not a democratic election. Candidates are vetted and often critics or reformers do not make the cut.
So when you look on Google News today all you see is “reformist” this and “bid to dilute hardliners” that you’re being completely mislead. Way, way down is one piece in The Hill which quotes someone saying the entire Iranian election system is ‘phony’.
This is from the media who scream, at the drop of a hat, Israeli democracy is OVER because of even a hint that Israel will look into the sources of funding of anti-Israeli NGOs or perhaps stop funding from Government money “artistic” works that do nothing but denigrate Israel. When a woman sues ElAl because she felt pressured into moving seats on a plane to appease a religious man’s whims, that’s not hushed up or covered over in Israel. It’s headline news!
Israeli democracy is fine and will continue to be fine. It is the world’s media who have completely forgotten that they are one of the most important parts of democracy. Our media fails to point this out in connection with Iran or most of the other Muslim and Arab countries. Sharia blasphemy laws prevent a true criticism of the pervasive political ideology that governs many aspects of daily life in Muslim lands. Without that criticism, how can any of that ever change? It can’t. We’re dooming anyone who wants to lead a secular life, free from the influence of religion to mental and physical enslavement.
