By using these benchmarks, any nation’s system of governance that is created under its own local customs, culture, and conditions can be rightly and truthfully called a democratic nation. Today in the USA we have seen our own government stray from these principles and, to that extent, our own claim to being a true democracy is jeopardized.
I do not presume to tell the people of Gaza what particulars may be adopted to meet your own sensibilities for democratic self-governance. I have full confidence that you have both the cultural and intellectual conditions necessary for meeting together in good faith to craft a democracy that is suitable for your own needs and self-expression. Simply apply your historical conditions and culture toward working to embody these six factors of democracy and you will achieve your purpose.
I will point out, though, that the most delicate aspect of democracy is in the Axis of Rule. Many people believe that democracy is sufficient where the majority rule. That is not the case. The rights of the minority must be protected for many reasons, but chief among them is the very practical matter that everyone will be in the minority at one time or another. Also, some people misunderstand what it means to protect minority rights. Some people believe that by giving the minority a say in debates alone is sufficient. That, too, is not the case.
It is not good enough that a minority must be allowed to participate in a debate if the minority is then exploited or oppressed after the majority has voted against them. The prevention of exploitation and oppression of minorities is something that must be enshrined with equal power and assurance in the commitment to majority rule. A majority that does not restrain itself from exploiting the minority while it has the power is a majority that has become tyrannical and is abusing its power. That is mob rule, not democracy.
But how the minority is to be protected, by what specific appropriate rights and how they are to be enshrined in a constitution, this is for the Gazans to determine, not outsiders.Another common misunderstanding occurs in the Axis of Protection against Tyranny. When a government is created having a separation of powers within itself, there is always a primary and fundamental question of the reserved right of the people to their sovereign power. It is not enough to say that the people will create a constitutional government and then the government will rule over the people. The sovereignty of the people must always trump the power of government. The people must be acknowledged to be ruling themselves by means of the government, not that the government is ruling the people.
This is the most important and primary separation of powers that is the essential context for democracy, and it should be explicitly stated in a constitutional document.
Because people are sovereign, checks and balances in the system of governance must include the power of people to have free discussion and access to information that is necessary for that discussion to be both relevant and fruitful.
Failure in this regard, where US corporations control the media, is a primary and fundamental problem with American democracy. All of the European democracies have a better system of information and a freer press than the USA. That is one reason that they are not as imperialistic in their world relations, as the failure of a truly free press in the USA has engendered.
Gazans, as led by Hamas specifically, must create a trusted environment for free exchange of ideas and dissemination of information for democratic self-rule to be effective. This will be the greatest gift that Hamas could ever provide for the people of Gaza.
So what are the steps that Hamas should take on this alternate route?
FIRST, Hamas, as the elected representatives of the people of Gaza, should immediately declare the sovereignty of the people of Gaza to independent self-rule by issuing a Declaration or Testament of Independence. I suggest that such a statement of independence:
1. State the necessity for the action to protect the people from the current condition of occupation that violates international law, and to seek the aid of free nations for the support of the people of Gaza;
2. Affirm the right of the people of Gaza to self-rule;
3. Promise to initiate a process for the creation of a constitution by which the people of Gaza will express their aspirations for democratic self-rule;
4. Affirm that Hamas accepts and abides by UN Resolution 242 and that as soon as Israel withdraws its armed forces from the occupied territories as referenced in Resolution 242 that the provisional government established by Hamas will recognize the territorial inviolability and political independence of Israel;
5. Affirm that when the people of the West Bank achieve independence, talks for reunification between Gaza and the West Bank will be held;
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