7/29/2019 V. Havel - A Real Test of Whether a Country...

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A Real Test of Whether a Country is a Democracy is How it Treats its Minorities

(Vaclav Havel)

Democracy literally rule by the people is a form of government. The term is

used mainly to refer to liberal democracies, as there is not only one type of democracy andthere is no necessity for a democracy to be liberal.

In a liberal democracy the elected representatives exercise their power in terms

of a Constitution that emphasizes the protection of the rights and freedoms of the individuals

and which places constraints on the leaders and on the extent to which the will of themajority can be exercised against the rights of minorities.

Under a democratic structure, the citizens of a state are treated as individuals

having equal rights and freedoms, but despite this intrinseque feature of a democracy, it is

well-known that what the majority decides becomes everybodys choice. A democraticgovernment, reflecting the majority view, can take actions that oppress a particular minority.

Many states are not culturally and ethnically homogeneous; there may be sharp ethnic,linguistic, religious and cultural divisions inside them, which may rapidly lead to hostility

and chaos in a society. Let us remember the Athenian democracy or the early United States

that had slavery and also what has followed by adopting this form. There are countries thathave introduced bans on personal religious symbols in public schools. Opponents see it as an

isolation of rights to freedom of religion, while supporters see it as following from the

separation of state and religious activities.Another example is that of the prohibition of

pornography, which is determined by what the majority is prepared to accept. Societystreatment of homosexuals is also cited in this context. Homosexual acts were widely

criminalized in democracies until several decades ago; in some democracies they still are,reflecting the religious or sexual mores of the majority. The ethnical minorities of a countryand the way they are treated also represents an extremely delicate problem and requires tact

and statecraft.

This is why Vaclav Havels words reflect a great truth. There are many aspectswhich have to be taken care of when the leaders of a country want to succeed in maintaining

a fair balance and order among the members and the groups in a society.

Indeed, the way in which a state treats its minorities is a real democracy test for

it, just like the way we tolerate ourselves as different, separate individuals of the world welive in tests our humanity, our capacity of understanding and accepting the others choice and

nature.