Is Israel a "Democracy"? (originally posted 8/19/11)

"...democracy only has any integrity, much less validity, if we view the term democracy in relation to the characteristics of any specific institution."

Dear friends,

The notion that the right to vote is "democracy" is foolish, if not deceitful. After all, there are many dictatorships around the world today, and have been in the past, where citizens of a particular regime have the right to vote. As well, especially on the federal level, even in this country, we have seen how vote counts can be manipulated. As a matter of fact, the whole notion of the term "democracy" being an institution, as is the case for, say, capitalism or the Super Bowl, is false.

After all, an institution represents certain activities that are governed by special rules. Moreover,, some institutions require a building - like banks or museums, while others don't. I mean, how many times have you heard a Black preacher say, "This building is not the church." In fact, the Black church started on enslavers' ship and later in cotton and tobacco fields, not when Richard Allen of Philadelphia and some other great men and women started the Free African Society in Philly back in the last quarter of the 18th Century.

Moreover, democracy only has any integrity, much less validity, if we view the term democracy in relation to the characteristics of any specific institution. So, an institution can have either democratic or non-democratic characteristics.

Nevertheless, the hilarious claim of Israel being a democracy is outrageous. The constant murder and bullying by this regime, along with their total disregard for humanity, especially as it relates to not only Palestinians, but anyone who questions their horrific actions, includes attacking anyone who questions Israeli actions with the moral terrorism of being "anti-Semitic". And there are even people out here stupid enough to suggest that there are two sides to this story. That's like saying that there were two sides to the story, when Black captive workers, so-called slaves, like Nat Turner, Harriet Tubman, and so many others revolted.

On the link below is a 12 minutes-long video by an exceptional journalist, Jonathan Cook, who has done quite a bit of investigating into the whole enterprise that is euphemistically called Israel. Cheers!

G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiKX-CGpDos