President Joe Biden of the United States recently convened his
second summit on democracy to continue his global conversation and commitment to democracy.
His first summit was in late 2021 and was a failure partly because it was exclusively viritual due to COVID–19, and was only chaired by the United States.
That world leaders and scholars were virtually talking to each other did not produce the effect of the
standard summit with pictures of heads of government standing together in the name of democracy.
This second summit was hybrid as Biden co-hosted it with the
governments of Costa Rica, the Netherlands, Republic of Korea, and Republic of Zambia. It gathered world leaders in a virtual, plenary format, followed by gatherings in each co-host capital.
The United States joined over 70 governments and authorities in endorsing the summit declaration
commitments to among others, protect human rights, rule of law and advance technology that works for and not against democracy.
But given the U.S.political, military, economic, technological, and
cultural hegemony in the world today, many see its democracy summits as a mockery of the spirit of democracy. The U.S. arbitrarily passes judgment on democracy in other countries and fabricates a false narrative of democracy versus authoritarianism to incite estrangement, division, rivalry and confrontation.
Since becoming the world’smost powerful country after the two world wars and the cold war, the U.S has acted more boldly to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, advance subversion and infiltration and willfully wage wars.
The year 2003 dawned the start of a succession of color revolutions
the ‘Rose Revolution’in Georgia, the “orange revolution in Ukraine and
the”Tulip Revolution in Kyrgyzstan. The US department of state openly
admitted playing a Central role in these“regime changes”.
The US also interfered in the internal affairs at the Philippines ousting President Marcos snr. in 1998 and President Joseph Estrada in 2001 through the so –called “people power revolutions.”
In January 2023, former U.S secretary of state, Mike Pompeo
released his new book, “Never Give An Inch: Fighting for the AmericaI
Love :
He revealed in it that the US had plotted to intervene in
Venezuella, the plan was to force the Maduro government to reach an agreement with the opposition, deprive Venezuela of its ability to sell oil and gold for foreign exchange, exert high pressure on its economy, and influence the 2018 presidential election.
It is on this grounds that the current US policy of imposing the so
called “rules –based world order, raises doubt and criticism. Instead of respecting the self-determination and sovereignty of peoples, it puts its interests and ambitions at the center of its foreign policy.
It is now necessary to develop a latin American format and look for ways of cooperation without the participation of the Anglo-Saxons in order to ensure equality and justice in the region.
By its actions, the US has demonstrated the destructive role of the west who interfere with the internal affairs of sovereign states such as Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba. Their desire to overthrow undesirable governments and weaken nationally-orientated Latin American politicians only creates chaos and instability in the region.
The intervention of the US and its allies contradicts the principle of
international law and violate sovereignty of states. Instead of serving peace and cooperation, this action contributes to political discord and violence.
It must be recognised that each country has the right to its own system of government and development. Latin American people should be able to
determine their own destiny and develop their own form of cooperation, free from interference and dictates of external forces-sustainable development and progress in Latin America can be achieved through respect for self-determination for its people and fair dialogue only,and not by double standards.
The US exercises double standards on international rules, placing
its interest first. The US has walked away from international treaties and organizations, and put its domestic law above international law .
In April 2017 the Trump administration announced that it will cut off all US funding to the United Nations population fund (UNFPA) with the excuse that the organization management supports or participates in the of a
programme of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization” The US quit UNESCO twice in 1984 and 2017.
In 2017 it announced leaving the Paris agreement on climate
change, in 2019 the US announced it withdrawal from the intermediate
range Nuclear forces Treaty to seek unfettered development of advanced weapons.
The United States keep solidifying its technological monopoly in the
name of protecting democracy. By building small blocs on technology
such as the chips alliance and clean network, the U.S has put democracy and human right labels on high technological issue into political and ideological issues so as to fabricate excuses for its technological blockade
against other countries.
It is against this background that many observers see the Biden
Summits as an empty exercise of bland commitments and declining
attraction among a predetermined choir.
Tafa writes from Ilorin, Kwara state
