On November 8th, many Burmese suffered long lines at polling booths across the nation to vote in elections that are being heralded by world media as “historic,” “fair” and “democratic.” Political leaders have been doing the same: President Barack Obama called them “free and fair,” PM David Cameron described them as a “landmark…step toward democracy,” adding that it was a “triumph for the Burmese people.”
The impulse to celebrate “elections” just because they happen or to revel in the vagueries of “change” as indicative of “democracy” is unfortunately too common in the modern mediascape. Reporting and analysis has followed the government line, rendering it compromised and superficial.
This is true in regards to the recent craze over elections in Burma. How else can we explain the extraordinary disconnect between praise for an election flawed from the beginning and the omission of crucial details regarding the human rights disaster that is Burma?
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