The Green Book: Part One
Chapter Two
PARLIAMENTS
Parliaments are the backbone of |No
traditional democracy as it exists to- |representation
day. A parliament is a misrepresenta- |in lieu of the
tion of the people and parliamentary |people
governments are a misleading solution
to the problem of democracy. A parlia-
ment is originally founded to represent
the people, but this in itself, is undemo-
cratic as democracy means the author-
ity of the people and not an authority
acting on their behalf. The mere exist-
ence of a parliament means the abs-
ence of the people, but true democracy
exists only through the participation of
the people, not through the activity of
their representatives. Parliaments
have been a legal barrier between the
peoples and the exercise of authority,
excluding masses from power while
usurping sovereignty in their place.
Peoples are left with only false exter-
nal appearance of democracy man-
ifested in long queues to cast their
votes in the ballot boxes.
To lay bare the character of the
[7]
parliament, we have to look to the |Representation
origin of such a parliament. The par- |is a denial of
liament is either elected from consti- |participation
tuencies or a party or a coalition of
parties, or is formed by some method
of appointment. But all these proce-
dures are undemocratic, for dividing
the population into constituencies
means that one member of parliament
represents thousands, hundreds of
thousands or millions of people, de-
pending on the size of population. It |Representation
also means that the member keeps no |is a falsification
popular organisational link with the |of democracy
electors since he, like other members,
is looked upon as a representative of
the whole people. This is what the
prevailing traditional democracy re-
quires. The masses, therefore, are
completely isolated from the represen-
tative and he, in turn, is totally sepa-
rated from them. For immediately
after winning their votes he himself
usurps their sovereignty and acts in-
stead of them. The prevailing tradi-
tional democracy endows the member
of a parliament with a sacredness and
immunity denied to other individual
members of the people. That means
[8]
that parliaments have become a
means of plundering and usurping the
people's authority. Hence the people
have the right to struggle, through the
popular revolution, to destroy instru-
ments which usurp democracy and
sovereignty and take them away from
the masses. They also have the right
to utter the new principle, no rep-
resentation in lieu of the peo-
ple. If, however, the parliament
emerges from a party as a result of
winning an election, it is a parliament
of the party and not of the people. It
represents the party and not the peo-
ple, and the executive power assigned
by the parliament is that of the winning
party and not of the people. The same
is true of the parliament in which each
party holds a number of seats. For the
members of the parliament represent
their party and not the people, and the
power established by such a coalition
is the power of the combined parties
and not of the people. Under such
systems the people are victims fooled
and exploited by political bodies. The
people stand silently in long queues to
cast their votes in the ballot boxes
[9]
the same way as they throw other
papers into the dustbin. This is the
traditional democracy prevalent in the
whole world, whether the system is
one-party, two-party, multi-party or
non-party. Thus it becomes clear that
representation is fraud. Assemblies
formed by a method of appointment or
hereditary succession do not fall under
any form of democracy. Moreover,
since the system of elected parlia-
ments is based on propaganda to win
votes, it is a demagogic system in the
real sense of the word. and votes can
be bought and falsified. Poor people
fail to compete in the election cam-
paign and it is always the rich -- and
only the rich -- who come out victo-
rious.
Philosophers, thinkers and writers
advocated the theory of representative
government at a time when the peo-
ples, without realising it, were driven
like sheep by kings, sultans and con-
querors. The ultimate aspiration of the
people of those times was to have
someone to represent them before such
rulers. Even that aspiration was nulli-
fied. Peoples went through long and
[10]
bitter struggles to attain what they
aspired to. After the successful estab-
lishment of the era of the republics and
the beginning of the era of the masses,
it is unreasonable that democracy
should mean the electing of only a few
representatives to act on behalf of
great masses. This is an obsolete
theory and an outdated experience.
The whole authority must be the peo-
ple's.
The most tyrannical dictatorships
the world has known have existed
under the shadow of parliaments
itakuwa inaendelea kila siku
by MWERA.R.M
MWERA AMAZING BLOG
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