We live in a world of duplicitous politicians and some who have the audacity to lecture where they do not have the moral authority to do so. This week the United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio invited seven Prime Ministers of Caribbean Countries to the State Department, including Prime Minister Philip Davis of The Bahamas to dictate to them what to do in governing their respective countries. Rubio himself is heading an aspect of the American government which is consistently abusing human rights, ignoring court orders on the treatment of immigrants and deporting them with impunity to countries like El Salvador that are foreign to the immigrants.
In one instance, a female university student was kidnapped on the streets by U.S. immigration officials and has not been given a fair trial.
Rubio like President Donald Trump is arrogating to himself powers that he doesn’t have. Lecturing the Prime Ministers, Secretary Rubio, according to a spokesman from the State Department, “urged our partners to make responsible, transparent decisions when selecting vendors and contractors for critical infrastructure projects, ensuring they are not vulnerable to privacy and security risks and exploitation by malign actors like the Chinese Communist Party.
“He reaffirmed our commitment to holding accountable Cuban regime officials, foreign government officials, and those involved in facilitating the regime’s forced labour scheme, including Cuba’s medical missions.”
American politicians like Rubio are really beside themselves and are out of order. They seem to believe that sovereign governments and democratically elected leaders of CARICOM must bend to the wishes and take orders from U.S. officials who are violating laws in their own country. This is the height of hypocrisy. A Judge in the U.S. on Wednesday of this week blocked the deportation flight of Asian immigrants in the U.S. to Libya.
The quality of justice and democracy is not good in the United States and people like Rubio should seek to lead by example and desist from violating rights of immigrants in his own country.
The U.S is among the countries of the world where civil liberties have deteriorated in recent times. With the recent growth in antidemocratic sentiments around the world, it is easy to lose hope about our future.
The history of democracy can be traced back to Ancient Greece in the city-state of Athens in the fifty century BC. Athens had a direct democracy where citizens would participate by voting and voicing their opinions in the Assembly. However, this system had its limitations. In the centuries that followed, the concept of democracy spread to other countries, and it took different forms. For example, Rome had a complex political system that included two consuls, a senate, and an assembly, which worked to balance each other’s power. The consul served as the executive branch, the senate as the advisory branch, and the assembly as the legislative and democratic branches.
During the enlightenment period, the concept of democracy was developed by thinkers who promoted ideas of civil liberties and popular sovereignty as practiced in Britain and in the Caribbean. Democracy experienced a new wave of expansion in the twentieth century as World War II came to a close, and former colonies were freed.
Despite the spread of democracy globally, the twentieth century saw a boom in totalitarian regimes. These regimes were characterized by the lack of civil liberties, the concentration of power in the hands of a single charismatic leader, and the use of propaganda and violence to suppress different viewpoints. The rise of totalitarian governments was a complex phenomenon driven by undemocratic ideologies. These regimes were based on an ideology that promised to create a new society.
Today, while some American political leaders believe that they are right on issues no matter the circumstances and should dictate to governments around the world, we call on freedom loving people everywhere to stand up for justice and human rights.
