From the desk of Roland Rocchiccioli – 10 April

The knocking-down of the Berlin Wall, together with the subsequent unification of East and West Germany, and the collapse of the Soviet Union, were hailed as universal victories for democracy.

OUR biggest mistake is that we take it for granted. The Russian invasion of Ukraine is cause for serious deliberation.

Winston Churchill in the House of Commons in 1947 said, “No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time-to-time.”

Democracy is defined by your notion. If you include – as you ought – the vote for women as the prerequisite in identifying a true democracy, then, at the turn of the 20th century, New Zealand and Australia were the only two proper democracies in the world. The other possible ten were quasi, comparatively.

Political laissez faire is a dark malaise and leads to death by a thousand cuts. It is both fatal and folly to dismiss the injurious attacks on our democratic system as either recalcitrant or eccentric. They are pernicious, and those most determined to achieve their Machiavellian ambition are reliant on the nonchalance of the majority; and it is easier to achieve the destructive result working from the inside out, rather than the reverse. While it is not impossible, a shattering of our system, resulting in a totalitarian state, is unlikely to succeed while we live under The Crown; however, that should not lead to a false sense of security.

The attacks on democracy are relentless. Some are overt, others are covert, by strategy. History has shown it is the fundamentalist, vocal minority who are keenest to impose their will on the acquiescent silent majority.

The German poet and playwright, Bertolt Brecht, writes in his Poems Of Observation For Actors, “Watch closely the film clips of your leaders, walking and talking, as they hold in their cruel hands the threads of your fate.” We must be ever vigilant in our protection of democracy.

Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s abstention in the Federal Government’s same-sex marriage vote blatantly ignored the voice of 75 per cent of his Warringah constituents. His personal, diametrically opposed ideology was more important. His anti-abortion stance was determined by personal religiosity and would appear to disregard the democratic voice of his electorate. His implacability was an attack on our democracy, by any estimate.

The former Attorney General, Philip Ruddock, and former Prime Minister, John Howard, introduced a definition of marriage into the Marriage Act 1961 to outlaw the recognition of same-sex marriages lawfully entered into in foreign jurisdictions. The support, or not, of same sex-marriage is irrelevant.

Disturbingly, Mr Howard later admitted personal ideological motivation, regardless of a possible breach of other’s human rights. Their decision, and their refusal to submit the proposal to the people, should be viewed as an attack on our democracy.

Author Francis Fukuyama published his bestseller, The End of History and the Last Man, in which he argued the world, with the demise of its main ideological competitor, would belong to liberal democracy. He failed to foresee the emergence of fresh threats and the resurgence of old foes in the new guises of nationalism, religious extremism, autocratic capitalism, unaccountable tech titans, cyber warfare, and in the case of North Korea, legacy Stalinism.

Democracy is not doomed but it is more fragile, vulnerable, and contingent, than we complacently suppose. The arc of history is decidedly imbalanced against freedom.

Its survival has to be renewed, and reinvigorated, for each generation.

Roland can be contacted via [email protected].