By Charles Onunaiju

DEMOCRACY is the world’s most recognised political lexicon and its universal appeal as people focused has catapulted it to the centre-stage of international political discourse. Despite its pre-eminence, its discourse and applications are even vulnerable to manipulations and even abuse. Despite that its appeals and values are universal, it is, however, not “a one size that fits all”.

This was actually the broad convention of the “second international forum on democracy: the shared human values”, held in Chinese capital city, Beijing on the March 22 and 23. The conference which drew scholars, political leaders, journalists, social movements, was hosted by the publicity department of the Communist Party of China, central committee, state council information office of the Peoples Republic of China and organized by the prestigious Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, CASS, China media group and the China international media group. 

Conference delegates believed that it has become imperative to broadly interrogate democracy and put in context and that these effort have become urgent, given that the desperate appropriation and hijack of democracy by the United States and its Western allies to promote its hegemonic and power politics. Democracy in the context of a tool of US foreign policy has become inflexible, sterile and mere camouflage to pursue vested and special interests of the US and Western ruling elite. 

Despite using democracy as a political and ideological tool, members of the conference reasonably agree that no clique faction no matter how powerful, should be allowed the comfort to monopolise the discourse on democracy to rationalise its political and ideological prejudice. Democracy as people-centered political practice must not only have been driven by the people but must bring concrete improvements in their living condition. This is the crux of the conference which integrates process-oriented democracy with result-oriented democracy, procedural democracy with substantive democracy, direct democracy with indirect democracy and the people’s democracy with the will of the state.

From the perspective of the China State council, it is a model of socialist democracy that covers all aspects of the democratic process and all sector of society that democracy is a concrete phenomenon, that is constantly evolving and develops along the paths chosen by different people based on their exploration. But international hegemonic power chiefly the United States ruling elite would have none of this, according to Mr. Fred Membe, president of the Socialist Republic of Zambia, who wondered how the imperialist West who instituted colonial domination that extinguished with renal force, every flicker of democracy in Africa could turn round to claim to show Africa the pathway to democracy that would work in their best interest. Mr. George Galloway, veteran former member of the British Parliament and leader of the Workers Party of Britain wondered at the West and mostly US finger pointing at China of the county’s democratic credentials. 

According to him, only 1.4 billion acting in free will and in atmosphere exercising their creative imaginations can achieve what the Chinese have accomplished in the short period of all human history. He accused the Western elite of perpetrating a process of inertia and drudgery leaving the people on the tenter hook of livelihood crises. Former Japanese prime minister, Mr. Yukio Hatoyama, expressed concerns at the extremist remarks of Western elite and feared that except they turn down their rhetoric, collusion with non-Western power, especially China might just be a matter of time.

He cautioned that democracy is best practised and its result most visible in the life of the people, when it takes into account the local peculiarities. Jeffery Sachs, a professor of Columbia University in the United States and author of The End of Poverty, praised China whose institutions and processes have enabled the country’s leadership to end poverty among its 1.4 billion people.

Across various panels of the two-day conference, consensus emerged that democracy would be best deepened in its many variants through experience-sharing and that every model of democracy stands to gain and improve through respects and engagement with others. Views are broadly expressed that US democracy has reached a tipping point and needs renovation through engaging with others, especially those that combine high rate of popular participation with concrete deliverables in the livelihood of the people. The rise of racist bigotries, fascist groups, and the spiraling tendency of the US regimes easy resort to proxy wars, block contribution and power point to ruling elite on the loose, without any democratic constraint or supervision by the people.

China’s “peoples whole-process democracy” came under the gaze of participants who called people-centered, people-driven and people supervised form which combined rule-based process and tangible outcomes, enhances both broad participation and livelihood enhancement. This form of democracy is considered to respond to the question of many developing countries, whose democracies must not only enhance broad popular participation, but also enhance material improvement in the living condition of the people and also enhance their spiritual civilisation.

Most African delegates to the conference shared a broad view that China through her intense cooperation with the continent enhances and promotes democracy in Africa. Through massive infrastructure construction spanning rail, road, air, power stations and ports, China is delivering support to increased and productive economic activities leading to enhanced livelihood and raising the necessary material security and social consciousness for effective political participation and consequently building the formidable walls to secure democracy. African delegates to the conference vowed to the “people whole-process democracy”, interrogate and interprets its features to emerging democracy in Africa and further express concerns that liberal democracy in Africa is held by a pin-thread with its exclusive emphasis on procedures and rules.

In the opening address of the conference, the key note speaker, Mr. Li Shulei, member of the political bureau and head of the publicity department of the Communist Party of China said that the leadership of the party has secured achievements with the Chinese people through open and democratic consultations with all the social forces and have promoted consensus through cooperation and broad engagement. He told delegates that China stands ready to share its experiences with the world, and would work with the rest of the world to enhance democratic consultations and broad participation of all countries and people in the management of international affairs. The two-day Beijing forum called democracy the business of all people and not the exclusive preserve of any few people or countries, exhorting that democracy is better enhanced when it benefits from the experiences and insight of different peoples. 

Onunaiju who participated in the Beijing forum is the Director of the Center for China Studies, CCS, Abuja.