EDITORIAL: The tyranny of the majority
Democracy, when only confined to its conventional ‘populist’ definition, risks imposing the tyranny of the majority on other citizens whose only sin was to have a view different from that of the masses.
In the Namibian context, the murmurs of discontent in the distribution of national resources have their roots in the idea that those in the majority – politically or even ethnically – use their overwhelming numbers to sway things in favour of their tribal kith and kin.
It’s the same accusations we have had from the LGBTQ community – that their rights are subjected to the approval of the majority, who do not share, let alone understand, their aspirations. How do liberties of the minority survive in a democracy like ours?
We have seen noble motions being shot down in parliament simply because they guy introducing them is a lone wolf in the chambers. If an opposition member introducing a motion for mandatory distribution of sanitary pads in school can’t score more points than the ruling majority, the girls can go hang. That’s tyranny on an industrial scale.
Liberal author Alexis de Tocqueville feared a new kind of despotism could grow out of democracy itself: An omnipotent government claiming to represent the sovereignty of the people, as expressed in a majority vote or a majority of seats in the parliament, and willing to wield that majority to ‘do all’.
In the Namibian context, the murmurs of discontent in the distribution of national resources have their roots in the idea that those in the majority – politically or even ethnically – use their overwhelming numbers to sway things in favour of their tribal kith and kin.
It’s the same accusations we have had from the LGBTQ community – that their rights are subjected to the approval of the majority, who do not share, let alone understand, their aspirations. How do liberties of the minority survive in a democracy like ours?
We have seen noble motions being shot down in parliament simply because they guy introducing them is a lone wolf in the chambers. If an opposition member introducing a motion for mandatory distribution of sanitary pads in school can’t score more points than the ruling majority, the girls can go hang. That’s tyranny on an industrial scale.
Liberal author Alexis de Tocqueville feared a new kind of despotism could grow out of democracy itself: An omnipotent government claiming to represent the sovereignty of the people, as expressed in a majority vote or a majority of seats in the parliament, and willing to wield that majority to ‘do all’.
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Namibian Sun
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