Even if America fails elsewhere in this divine mandate to liberate and democratise nations of the world, Nigeria will be different ball games for we already have some kind of “nascent democracy” that tries to imitate but sometimes mocks the ideal.
By Mazi Guinness

Democracy like love has become another hackneyed word whose meaning remains evasive in modern discourse. In school my teacher taught me that democracy is established through free and fair periodic elections, but this line of thought no longer corresponds to the realities of the present time. Recent experience has transduced this innocent perception and put in its stead a more realistic picture of democracy in action. Now I know that besides power, democracy also flows from the barrel of the gun. Sometimes the bombs come before the votes, other times the bombs come after the votes have been cast, counted and disputed.
But this is not the thrust of this piece. The issue is America ’s resolve to liberate the peoples of Iraq from dictatorship in order to force on them the civilising imperatives of democracy. If America succeeds in achieving this unilateral self-serving goal, the question that must necessarily follow is, after Iraq , where? This question is relevant considering the number of people in the world under one form of oppression or the other. And it will be unfair not only to Iraq but other oppressed peoples if America fails to take the liberation gospel to all corners of the globe. Unless someone is ready to admit that liberation and democracy are not essentially the goal of the ongoing bombardment of Iraq .

As long as the mission of American bombs and missiles in Iraq is to establish democracy there by force, even if the potential voters are wiped out in the continuous aerial bombardment, one would wish them speedy success. What else should one do? In the light of America ’s prevailing frame of mind it will be foolhardy and indeed risky to question its status as the chief exporter of this new fangled democracy. Who does not want democracy these days? Just any kind and in any shape! So I see nothing unusual about America ’s ongoing war in Iraq , since their mission is to remove a dictatorial regime and replace it with a government of their choice. If anything it shows that Americans love others so much they are willing to risk their lives to install for them democracy by force. The idea of democracy had never been this credible and sacrosanct. Any doubt about the credibility of this crusade should look at the democratic credentials of the countries that form the core of the “coalition of the willing”. How can any one doubt the international stature or democratic credentials of Ethiopia, Bulgaria , and Afghanistan to mention a few, who are now ordained to bombard democracy into the consciousness of a recalcitrant regime.

For the short time the emerging American empire had thrived, we have seen brazen display of military power, arrogant hypocrisy, and unbridled mercantile spirit. As the lavender mist of dawn give sway to the fogs of war one begins to fear that the identity of Iraq might be seriously compromised in all ramifications including territorial integrity. In that regard Iraq becomes another guinea pig with which America is experimenting the new world order. A new world order where the pains of democracy are seemingly more devastating, than the most ruthless dictatorship. A new world order where weaker nations have to be brutalised as the only way to democratise them. A new world order where a child will have to lose one parent to bombs in order to get one bag of rice. I don’t know if one bag of American rice can sufficiently console a child for the loss of one’s parent to American bombs.

In the darkness of our present time, let no sane mind harbour further illusions as to where human civilisation is headed. The frightening reality of one super-power unrivalled and unchallenged, the command of an uncommended commander, is here at last with all fangs bare. The button of world peace lies on America ’s table and there too dangles the button of Armageddon. The rest of the world must tremble continually and hope that America will press the right one.

Since democracy goes with dividends, here is where Nigeria comes into the picture. For sometime now Nigerians have been engaged in a running battle with the regime of retired and tired General Matthew Aremu Okikiola Olusegun Obasanjo.The masses have been clamouring for the elusive dividends of democracy such as food and water, power supply and telephone, sausages and bathing soaps, and other inconsequential items that count as dividends of democracy. What has escaped most Nigerians is that American bombs do not bring fire and destruction alone, they fall with equivalent amount of bags of rice and bathing soaps, painkillers and antibiotics, and other wonderful dividends of democracy which the present regime has failed to provide. Those in doubt should watch how Iraqi children scamper to escape the bombs one minute, and the next minute they scramble for bags of rice.

Are these not the dividends of democracy, American style? My position therefore is that instead of wasting precious time to give the present government another four-year mandate to preside over our misery, we could persuade or provoke the Americans to bombard us as this seems to be the surest and fastest means of obtaining relief, assistance and other necessary palliatives that constitute the export package of America with love, even though in most cases the dead out-number the living and there’s nothing left to liberate. It must be exciting to receive scatter bombs and bags of rice at the same time and from the same source.

Even if America fails elsewhere in this divine mandate to liberate and democratise nations of the world, Nigeria will be different ball games for we already have some kind of “nascent democracy” that tries to imitate but sometimes mocks the ideal. What we need here are the dividends of democracy such as stable power supply to illuminate the sphere for proper counting of votes. The president has done his best in this regard, which, unfortunately, is not good enough. He has surpassed himself by putting his shimmering portraits decked in gold in all nooks and crannies of the country, hoping that the reflections will lighten the sphere but the darkness prevails. American bombardment will surely be useful in this area, not only that the explosions will lighten our sphere with the light this government has failed to supply, it will also assuage America ’s insatiable appetite for gunboat diplomacy. Talk about killing two birds with one stone! We need the lights even if they come from bomb explosion, it surely would be better than darkness. And come to think of it, no section of the country will shout marginalisation as the bomb explosions and howitzers of missiles are likely to reach the remotest hinterlands. . American bombardment can turn our night into day and even eliminate the need for sunlight. And this means we can even count our votes during the night, as accurately as it happened in Florida , and our democracy will no longer be called nascent. I should think that this is the new world order; the powerful will henceforth commit murder in healing wounds.

* Guinness, a human rights lawyer, Dallas Texas , USA contributed this to Newswatch.

Newswatch Volume 37 No. 16, April 20, 2003