And this is the thing...

 

The Peruvian people have awoken en masse this past week.

The ousting of Martin Vizcarra and the farce that Peruvian Congress have made of democracy was one step too far for a population that has suffered too much already this year.

They took to the streets to manifest their anger and frustration at a corrupt and self-serving congress who seek power when the country is in the midst of a COVID crisis.

But here is the thing. And this thing is not just a thing directed at Peruvians.

We cannot take democracy for granted. Merino ramming his way into power with a coup d’état and Trump clinging petulantly to the curtains of the Oval Office have clearly shown that the democracy that we presume to be cast iron can be very quickly undermined.

We rely on the media to act as a fourth estate. We trust that the journalists we love to loathe will report from the frontline wherever power-hungry patricians seek to pull the wool over our eyes.

And often they do. But not always. So you, me all of us, have an essential role to play.

Regardless of where you are in the world, you cannot leave it to others to stand vigil for you while you make your weekly shopping list, catch up on Netflix and walk the dog.

As we have seen so very recently in the US – every vote counts. As we have born witness to in Peru this past week – when we unite, we can drive the discourse. There is power in each one of us and there is power among us.

Whilst my university journalism professors tried so nobly to impart the importance of “objectivity” in news reporting into my eager and innocent mind. It is clear that objectivity, whilst an essential goal, is an impossibility. Everyone has their biases and news media are big business - owned by magnates with agendas or favours owed.

Around the world, we have seen that media outlets are partial and at times are strait-jacketed into silence.

This weekend, while social media was exploding with videos of Peruvians being shot at with marbles and rubber bullets and canisters of tear gas raining down on peaceful protestors, the national TV stations were showing re-runs of cooking shows and American Ninja Warrior.

The health of democracy rests squarely on all of us.

All too often I hear phrases like, “I hate politics” or “I don’t get involved with politics” or “discussing politics is impolite.” Well, frankly, that is bullshit.

It is not good enough to entrust our welfare, that of our families, friends, communities and world to others because we are too lazy to look around us.

You can think left, you can think right, you can think up, down or diagonally. What is important is that you inform yourself, that you read widely, that you question and demand transparency and honesty from those who represent you.

The Peruvian population is waking up en masse. Good, keep going.

The mess we have found ourselves in in Peru in 2020 is a result of systemic, widespread corruption over centuries that has led to lack of infrastructure and a passive and largely uneducated populace.

The next Peruvian elected president (I say elected, because who the fuck knows what is going to go down between now and the elections) will take the reins just as Peru celebrates its bicentennial of independence from Spain. And yet, two hundred years after San Martin declared independence for Peru from a greedy, self-serving monarchy, we have the same old shit with a different passport.

Winston Churchill said, “The best argument against democracy is a five- minute conversation with the average voter.” Well that old snob had a point…

The story of megalomaniacs seeking power and then misusing it, is as old as humanity itself – but an informed populace, what a thing that would be to behold.