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I find myself reading an article on the easyjet magazine flying back from Madrid. The title: "Should western democracy be exported around the world?" – There are two views: YES & NO.

YES is answered by Rosie Carr and she states that we cannot keep turning a blind eye to the many countries ruled by dictators. The reasons she gives are various but I find her article bland, weak and not engaging. She goes from make you feel guilty and calling you lazy – to listing a few countries where the situation is worse than horrible. Then she mentions the war in Iraq, justifies certain wars as last resort to impose our system of democracy and finally "invites" anyone opposing intervention to live in any of these oppressed places…

Well, I am not saying I agree or disagree with the fact of turning dictatorships into democracies but Rosie Carr doesn’t convince me. The jist of her essay is that democracy will avoid poor countries, therefore there’d be less forced emigration. And also, she mentions killings, torturing and corruption as three constant situations within non-democratic countries (ha! Think again… think when was the last time you heard of unjustified killings thanks to young crime on the streets, torturing in police cells or political and economical corruption within major parties, governments and corporations around the "democratic" nations).

Of course she is right in one thing, we cannot consciously let these horrible acts happen. Just because we are so lucky to be born in a democratic country, it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t wish the same for the ‘unlucky’ ones…

But, what offended me was her paragraph where she says: "… selfishness, lack of compassion and laziness are not the only reasons why we try to justify not getting involved." The other reason is our rejection of going to war.

Well, I got offended! Yes I did, none of the above reasons covers me! No Mrs.Rosie, I’m not selfish or lazy. And I don’t always condemn war. I just have no power! As a common citizen, all I can do is vote for a party that will represent my ideals for a better world.

I am getting tired of reading and listening to all these thinkers who want to make me feel responsible for all the problems in the world. From wars to ecological problems… what can I do? I have gone to demonstrations against what my government is doing but our voices were not listened to.

I do try to contribute to the environment problem by recycling, carrying around a bag so that I don’t keep taking plastic ones when doing my groceries, turning off lights, lowering my heating, unplugging my battery charger… but apart from that, there isn’t much else I can do!

Or… so I thought till I went to the Speaker’s corner in Hyde park a few Sundays ago. There I met the "One world federalists" – they understand how I cannot do much directly to make the world a better place. So, instead, they propose a UN Parliament, voted by all of us, independently of our governments. They also believe that getting all involved in wanting to change the world (like in its day did Emmeline Pankhurst, Rosa Parks or Mandela) we will get somewhere.

But then, my increasingly cynical approach to life makes me wonder: but, where am I going to find true politicians? The ones who truly care about the people and not have only economical or prestige interests.

Anyway, I’ve done a bit of chain of thoughts and abandoned the beginning subject of this article: Should we then impose democracy? Well, the NO author, Mr. Stephen Spurdon says that if we have a closer look to History, it shows that democracy cannot really be "installed" that quickly. It takes a long process, of many many years for a country to evolution in this direction.

Reading about the history of democracy I learnt that even though it was defined as a political model around 2,500 years ago in Greece, it only got popular in the XVIII century! Yes, after we tried feudalism, despotism and other forms of governing. Still, the initial democracy wasn’t like we know it nowadays (women or slaves couldn’t vote). So, yes, that is a long, long time for a political system to develop to its best.

Even though democracy (for me, closely linked to capitalism) isn’t perfect. It is after all the most successful political system yet devised. Spurdon assures that to allow democracy to flourish, there has to be some economic prosperity and the rule of law.

Well, I agree with that but, how do we provide that? How can we provide that needed wealth? When so many organisations (mostly non-governmental) send financial aid, so many times it just covers basic necessities or gets lost within the corruptive hierarchies. Then I wonder, if their own people, their own leaders don’t care about their own people… why would I?

When I hear about Chinese girls literally being dumped in the streets by their own parents, when I hear of child work in Indian, Thailand or Bolivia… when a few self-imposed military rulers in Africa go around rapping, torturing and killing… why do I have to take responsibility of their acts?

Why don’t I hear of wealthy Chinese men adopting these little girls instead of my neighbour next door, Madonna or Angelina Jolie? Why don’t I hear of fellow Asians (living western nations) sending some money to their countries of origin instead of buying the latest top-of-the-range items? Why don’t I hear of big corporations not employing far-too-young workers? Why don’t governments ban these companies?

Who is allowing these kids in the Andes work in the mines? How come we buy what comes out of those mines?

India, China, Bolivia… have so-called democracies and still their countries are a mess. Therefore, perhaps we cannot really narrow the possibilities of prosperity for all these "failing" countries down to installing democracies.

We need to take into consideration their religions, history, society habits.. and perhaps devise a new political system that will definitely work. In conclusion, no, I don’t think "one fits all" – so we should study each case separately and working together with their people, help to develop their countries in the right direction towards a place ruled with justice – but not necessarily towards a system of life as we know it.

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