Voter suppression

• Former NFL athlete and philanthropist, Patrice Majondo-Mwamba, has officially entered the political sphere, announcing his bid for the presidency of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
• KINSHASA, Congo, Oct. 19, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Former National Football League (NFL) athlete and philanthropist, Patrice Majondo-Mwamba, has officially entered the political sphere, announcing his bid for the presidency of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
• Patrice's engagement in the DRC Presidential election emphasizes the untapped human potential of the DRC.
• As the DRC elections draw near, Patrice passionately advocates for a free, fair, and transparent electoral process, highlighting the nation's strategic global importance.

• Democracy is supposed to base a state’s legitimacy in its accountability to its people.
• But it’s clear the U.S. is no longer a credible champion for, or exemplar of, democracy.
• In fact, it has a long history of overthrowing and undermining democracies abroad.

A troubled record with democracy

• Barack Obama’s administration, for example, greenlit the military coup that overthrew Egypt’s democracy and ended the Arab Spring uprisings in 2013.
• It has made it clear that being authoritarian does not impede any country from joining its coalition against China.
• The U.S. itself is a failing democracy — or perhaps a better description is a plutocracy with democratic embellishments.
• In 2021, only 50 per cent of Americans said they believed they live in a democracy.

Western democracy’s grim origins

• This is not the only way the concept of democracy has been misused by the United States and other western nations.
• Many countries in the West provide their citizens with the highest living standards and freedoms in the world.
• The western world’s tendency to see itself as the pinnacle of civilization and morality has been used to justify global domination and intervention in the rest of the world.
• During the Second World War, Winston Churchill deliberately implemented policies that created and exacerbated the Bengal Famine that killed more than three million Indians.

Hiding the truth

• Belgium hid the truth of King Leopold’s vicious exploitation of the Belgian Congo that involved the murder of 10 million people.
• In the U.S., the political right’s campaign against critical race theory stifles the historical reality and legacy of American racism.
• Most western states can only offer examples of democracy-building that have relied upon extreme military, political and social violence.
• Western states argue that only democracies are legitimate states because they are supported by the consent of their citizens.

Chinese prosperity

• This support may reflect, in part, China’s cultural and historical norms and experiences but it is mostly attributable to how much the lives of the Chinese people have improved.
• The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has overseen 40 years of economic growth and technological development unprecedented in world history.
• Chinese GDP per capita increased from US$195 in 1980 to US$12,556 in 2021.

• Earlier this summer, Brazil’s top electoral court banned former president Jair Bolsonaro from running for office for eight years.
• Five of seven electoral court judges supported the ban on Bolsonaro, who, in the lead-up to the 2022 election, spread misinformation about the legitimacy of Brazil’s electronic voting system.
• After the vote, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed the Presidential Palace, congress and the Supreme Court.

Lessons for the United States

• The court’s ruling demonstrates an essential milestone in Brazil’s young democracy while offering lessons for other countries.
• That’s particularly true for the United States, where former president Donald Trump is the frontrunner to be the Republican presidential candidate in 2024 despite being under two indictments.
• First, it indicates that Brazil’s institutions tend to respond vigorously when they perceive threats to democracy and prioritize preserving institutional stability.
• American elections, however, are run by individual states, with different policies determining eligibility.

Judicial activism

• In Brazil, the court took on a role as a political regulator, fuelling a debate about judicial activism.
• Judicial activism — when the judiciary takes an active role in addressing instability, threats or inequality rather than simply responding to cases brought by third parties — is attracting growing interest from scholars.
• Judicial activism has been particularly evident in the case of Bolsonaro.
• Some scholars point out that judicial activism can have negative effects on society.

Overreach?

• This sentiment could benefit politicians endorsed by Bolsonaro in upcoming elections.
• The actual impacts of the electoral court’s ruling, and the future of the far right in Brazil, will be tested during municipal elections in October 2024.

• Three newsrooms, the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting , The Nevada Independent , and Wisconsin Watch , have joined the newly launched Gigafact in an effort to push back on misinformation surrounding the 2022 Midterm Elections.
• Gigafact works to get these fact briefs seen by the public and get this data into the moderation processes of the major social and search platforms.
• We see many unsubstantiated claims circulating about candidates, key issues and the integrity of Nevada elections,'' said Elizabeth Thompson, editor of The Nevada Independent.
• These regional and local nonprofit newsrooms are doing amazing work reporting on important democratic issues, said Chandran Sankaran, Founder of Gigafact.