THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE IS THE VOICE OF GOD

Today on my radar, the popular saying by most of the people especially those in the political class “the voice of the people is the voice of God” is what I want us to discuss. This is not a biblical quote, rather it’s a Latin proverb “vox populi, vox dei”. One can say the whole concept of democracy as defined by former United State President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) as “government of the people, by the people, for the people” is based on it.

The term democracy was coined from a Greek language which means “rule by the people”. It can be said democracy is by far the most challenging form of government for both politicians and the people. With this system (democracy), a constitution guarantees basic personal and political rights, fair and free elections and independent courts of law whereas totalitarian regime is a system of government by little group of leaders on the basis of an ideology, that claims general validity for all aspects of life and usually attempts to replace religion.

Back to my radar, the voice of the people is the voice of God may be either true or not. There are numerous of instances in history where corrupt monarchs and governments have been brought down by the people when they were awakened.

The People Power Revolution was a series of popular demonstrations in the Philippines that began in 1983 and culminated on February 22-25 1986. It was used by the citizenry to campaign against regime violence and electoral fraud. It led to the departure of President Ferdinand Marcos and the restoration of the country’s democracy. It was known as the Yellow Revolution due to yellow ribbons during the demonstrations following the assassination of Filipino senator Benigno Aquino, Jnr. This was widely seen as a victory of the people against the 20 year authoritarian regime by Prez Marcos.

Also in November 2015, a massive protest brought down Romania’s government. On 3^rd November, 2015, 32 people died and 134 people were wounded due to a fire that took place at a nightclub in Romanian. The club owners however had insulated the warehouse with cheap, flammable material and only provided one exit. So once the fireworks ignited, people were trapped. This tragic fire brought attention to Romania’s shoddy safety laws and revealed that the government doesn’t actually perform proper inspections on any of the country’s clubs. About 25,000 citizens of Romania protested Tuesday November 3^rd, 2015 against the local government which force the Prime Minister Victor Ponta to resign.

The Egyptian Revolution of 2011 is a classic example of how the voice of the people have brought down governments. The January 25 Revolution of Egypt consisted of demonstrations, marches, occupation of plazas, riots, non-violent civil resistance, acts of civil disobedience and strikes. 

Millions of protesters from socio-economic and religious backgrounds demanded the overthrow of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. The revolution included Islamic, Liberal, Anti-Capitalist, Nationalist and Feminist elements. About 846 people were killed while over 6,000 people got injured. 

The protesters burnt over 90 police stations. The grievances of the protesters focused on legal and political issues i.e. police brutality, state of emergency laws, lack of free elections, freedom of speech, corruption and economic issues including high unemployment, food-price inflation and low wages. 

The protesters’ primary demand which was an end to the Mubarak regime was fulfilled and was asked to stand trial on 24^th May, 2011 on charges of premeditated murder of peaceful protesters.

Do you remember how the “Burkina Faso’s black spring” came about?

The then ruling President Blaise Compaoré planned to amend the country’s constitution to enable him seek for re-election in 2015 presidential polls. When the national assembly was constituted for the amendment, the people protested by storming the parliament building in Ouagadougou, starting fires inside it and looting offices, billowing smoke was coming from the building. Mr Compaoré dissolved his government and declared state of emergency.

How powerful can the voice of the people be?

This same voice being the voice of God can be wrong because God voice is always associated with good things but sometimes our declaration of the masses voice can be wrong.

For instance in 1932 Reichstag election saw Hitler’s Nazi party becoming the largest party elected in German Reichstag leading to Hitler coming to power through peoples’ vote though the agenda of his party was crystal clear from the onset.

Should such voices be called the voice of God?

Like all other proverbs “Vox populi, vox dei”, “the voice the people is the voice of God” also has an opposite proverb, it says “Nec audiendi qui solent dicere, vox populi, vox dei, quum tumultuositas vulgi semper insaniae proxima sit” which means “those people should not be listened to who keep saying the voice of the people is the voice of God, since the riotousness of the crowd is always very close to madness”.

The writer is a freelance journalist and a political junkie.

Email: paanyan7@gmail.com

Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram: @ekowrites