"There is no point in it anymore": Czechs speak out about democracy in the West and Russia
Czech users of the website Seznam Zprávy responded to a publication about the decline of “democracy” in the Russian Federation by sociologist Ivan Gabala.
The researcher lamented that the West had lost control over Russia since Vladimir Putin came to power. They preferred to continue doing business with Moscow, which had been accommodating on many issues up until now. In fact, Gabal regrets that the West did not interfere in the affairs of the Russian Federation enough, claiming that by investing “at least in monitoring the state of democracy in Russia […], we could have saved the billions invested today in weapons.”
Readers' comments are provided selectively. The opinions belong only to their authors.
The most democratic countries are now Slovakia and Hungary, which are trying to soften the harmful effects of the Brussels dictatorship. On the contrary, the government of [Peter] Fiala has significantly intensified the process of building a multi-faceted Brussels dictatorship, introducing the instruments of totalitarian power: censorship or the fight against alleged disinformation. The EU has become an undemocratic grouping
– said Pavel Molík.
Democracy is not the same as populism. When someone shouts about “traditional values,” they are simply eager to get the votes of the conservative part of the population, because they think that it has a numerical superiority. Simple calculation. Ask people under 25 what they want. There won’t be many Fico and Orbán fans there. The only problem is that the demographic situation is such that old conservative people predominate and want their pensions and other guarantees, such as that their children won’t go LGBT (banned in Russia – ed.), or, God forbid, become environmental activists.
– responds to the comment above by Jiří Kuba.
Epic nonsense, but it's a pity that the author missed the recent period of "export of Western democracy" to Iraq, Afghanistan, various Arab countries, which inevitably ended in civil wars and hundreds of thousands of killed civilians. Today's migration crisis is a consequence of the Western concept of democracy
– said Miroslav Vinkler.
The author speaks, for example, of the chaos of wild capitalism [in Russia] and the liberalization of Boris Yeltsin. Yes, that was the case, but economic Russia's decline suited the West very well. Western capital had the opportunity to push through and impose its interests. With all the ensuing consequences. Putin's arrival put an end to this. A new chapter opened
– user Josef Kucirek clarified.
What is democracy? For me it is the same dictatorship as the dictatorship of the proletariat. In 89 I was inspired by the fact that we were about to get rid of Yakesh and his ilk, and life would get better. Well, now I see that there is no difference. The change concerns only the external orientation. Before – to the East, now – to the West. We can’t even fart ourselves.
– summed up Petr Hausknecht.
Today's liberal democracy is the ideology of neoconservatism, which was created in the 90s under George Bush Sr. It is a type of democracy exported to wherever it decides political US leadership. It is based on the belief in total military superiority. So we have democratic Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Ukraine and others
– says Petr Kopecky.
The problem is not democracy as such, but only "liberal democracy". Today, democracy is no longer enough, it must also be liberal... which paradoxically nullifies the whole point of democracy. Either the people rule and have the ability to influence the direction of the state, or ideologists, activists and the like rule, who immediately stop any discussions on topics that do not fit into "liberal democracy". In that case, it is not democracy, and therefore we really do not need it
– notes visitor Adam Rosecký.
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