[Previous entry: "Paid in Gold"] [Main Index] [Next entry: "Freecycle"]

11/17/2006 Archived Entry: "The allegiance of governments is to government"

OKAY, I KNOW NOBODY CARES WHAT HAPPENS IN TONGA. (Does anybody out there care what happens in Tonga?) But I've been keeping a casual eye on the place ever since the Tongans' humiliating takeover of that poor little libertarian experiment, the Republic of Minerva. I happened to note just a couple of weeks ago that, despite its tropical-paradise reputation, Tonga is a notorious sink of political and economic corruption.

Well, it seems that Tongans -- that is, those not connected to the royal family, its loot, and its political patronage -- have had enough. They've waited and waited for reform, and now they're making their displeasure abundantly known.

What should make this news interesting even to all you vast armies of non-Tonga-watchers is the response of Tonga's bigger "democratic" neighbors, Australia and New Zealand. Riots begin and immediately both of these "democracies" pledge to send troops and cops to support the extremely corrupt and undemocratic government. Huh?

First of all, why not just let the Tongans take care of Tonga? There are only 100,000 of them, and it's not as if they're threatening to nuke Sydney or Melbourne. When a government oppresses its people, sometimes those people need to teach government hard lessons. Obedience just reinforces the status wretched quo.

So if you believe in "democracy" why rush to support a bloated and ugly monarchy against those demanding more representation?

Could it be because the allegience of governments is first and formost to governments -- all claims of "democracy" aside?

(ADDENDUM: To be fair, at least one report says that pro-democracy factions also want the international policing because Tongan "security forces" work for the king. Most other reports, however, make it clear that the Tongan government asked them in, and that the job of the foreigners is to ensure "order.")

Posted by Claire @ 08:47 AM CST
Link