Silence = Despotism

NY Times ^ | June 6, 2007 | ALEJANDRO TOLEDO

[neverdem]

POLITICAL democracy will take root in Latin America only when it is accompanied by economic and social democracy.

--snip--

The stakes here go well beyond Venezuela and Mr. Chávez.

I recognize how difficult it is to govern democratically. This is a challenge that faces all the leaders of our region. Presidents may be elected democratically, but it is more important to govern democratically, even with an opposing press that reports different opinions.

When one voice is silenced, we all become mute. When one thought is eliminated, we all lose some awareness. And when a space for the expression of ideas becomes closed, we all become trapped in the dungeons of dictatorship. The authoritarian populism of Venezuela strives to convert all of the people of Latin America into silent citizens, and we cannot permit this.

Latin America’s common enemies are poverty, inequality and exclusion — not dissident thought. Hunger is not fought by silencing critics. Unemployment does not disappear by exiling those who think differently. We cannot have bread without liberty. We cannot have nations without democracy.

In sharing my convictions about democracy and social justice, I do not mean to single out one nation or leader. I am simply exercising my democratic right as a Latin American citizen, a right for which countless people from all our nations have been imprisoned, tortured and killed in recent decades.

One of the greatest lessons I learned in my political career was to always be respectful of opinions that differ from my own. Yet I will never agree with those who prefer silence instead of dissonant voices. Those of us who embrace liberty and democracy must stand ready to work in solidarity with the Venezuelan people.

I hope that the legitimate governments of Latin America, and their representatives to the Organization of American...

[neverdem]

Alejandro Toledo, the president of Peru from 2001 to 2006, is a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University and the president of the Center for Democracy and Development in Latin America in Lima, Peru.

[neverdem]

Here’s another example. I won’t be surprised if some knucklehead takes something out of context, but I believe you’ll catch my drift. The title is rather damning.

[BarbaricGrandeur]

"Presidents may be elected democratically, but it is more important to govern democratically... The authoritarian populism of Venezuela... We cannot have bread without liberty. We cannot have nations without democracy."

This is a horrendous mishmash of conflicting ideas without regard to logic or reality. God help Latin America if this is what passes for intellectual "dissonant voices."