Chile on 11 September 1973

• What took place in Chile on 11 September 1973 was a military coup.
• General Augusto Pinochet (pronounced Pinoshe), an Army general, led the coup.
• Salvador Allende (President of Chile a country in South America) was killed by bombardment by military. 
• General Alberto Bachelet of the Chilean Air Force and many other officers who refused to join the coup were killed
• General Bachelet’s wife and daughter ( Michelle Bachelet) were put in prison and tortured.

• Pinochet became the president and ruled for  17 yrs. He held a referendum in 1988. He thought people will like him but was overthrown.
• Michelle Bachelet was elected President of Chile in January 2006. hh

Democracy is a form of government that allows people to choose their rulers. In a democracy:

• only leaders elected by people should rule the country, and
• people have the freedom to express views, freedom to organise and freedom to protest

1789-the French Revolution. This popular uprising did not establish a secure and stable democracy in France. Throughout the nineteenth century, democracy in France was overthrown and restored several times.

Poland – 1980s

• 1980 – Poland was ruled by the Polish United Workers’ Party (Communist Party).
• The government in Poland was supported and controlled by the government of the Soviet Union (USSR)
• Strikes were illegal, because no trade unions independent of the ruling party were allowed.
• 14 August 1980– the workers of Lenin Shipyard (owned by the gov) in the Gdansk city went on a strike. A demand to take back a crane operator, a woman worker.
• Former electrician of the shipyard, Lech Walesa was fired for asking raise. Walesa became a leader.
• Demanded the release of political prisoners and an end to censorship on press.
• The workers led by Walesa signed a 21-point agreement with the government that ended their strike. (government agreed to recognise the workers’ right to form independent trade unions )
• A new trade union called Solidarity (Solidarnosc in Polish) was formed.
• Corruption and fraudalent government was revealed.
• The government, led by General Jaruzelski, grew anxious and imposed martial law in December 1981.
• 1000s of Solidarity members were put in prison.
• 1980- the support from Soviet Union was uncertain and the economy was in decline.
• Negotiations with Walesa resulted in an agreement in April 1989 for free elections.
• Solidarity contested all the 100 seats of the Senate and won 99 of them.
• In October 1990, Poland had its 1st presidential elections in which more than one party could contest.
• Walesa was elected President of Poland.

Britain (18th -19th century)

1. Series of political events reduced the power of monarchy and feudal lords.
2. The right to vote was granted to more and more people.

North America ( British colonies) declared themselves independent in 1776.

1. Few years later- these colonies came together to form the USA
2.  Right to vote was limited to very few men.

Soviet Union itself broke down in 1991.

• The Soviet Union comprised 15 Republics. All the constituent Republics emerged as independent countries. Most of them became democracies. Thus the end of Soviet control on East Europe.

Pakistan and Bangladesh made a transition from army rule to democracy in 1990s.

• 1999- General Musharraf brought back army rule in Pakistan.

In Nepal, the king gave up many of his powers to become a constitutional monarch to be guided by elected leaders.

• 2005- the new king of Nepal dismissed the elected government and took back political freedoms that people.

‘Universal Aadult Franchise’ or ‘Universal Suffrage

19th century struggles for democracy:

1. Political equality
2. Freedom
3. Justice.
4. Right for every adult citizen to vote.
   • Only people owning property
   • No voting rights for women
   • Blacks couldn’t vote till 1965

People wanted equal
rights- men or women, rich or poor, white or black.  

IRAQ became independent from British rule in 1932.

• 3 decades later there were a series of coups by military officers.
• Since 1968, it was ruled by Arab Socialist Ba’th Party (the Arabic word Ba’th means renaissance).
• Saddam Hussein= leading Ba’th party leader, played a key role in the 1968 coup that brought the party to power.
• Abolished traditional Islamic law and gave women the right to vote and several freedoms not granted in other west Asian countries.
• 1979- Saddam = President ,ran a dictatorial government and suppressed any dissent or opposition to his rule.
• Political opponents were killed & persons of ethnic minorities massacred.
• The US and its allies like Britain, alleged that Iraq possessed secret nuclear weapons and other ‘weapons of mass destruction’ which posed a big threat to the world.
• But when a UN team did not find any.
• 2003- Still the US and its allies invaded Iraq, occupied it and removed Saddam Hussein from power.
• The US installed an interim government of its preference.
• The war against Iraq was not authorised by the UN Security Council. Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary General, said that the US war on Iraq was illegal.

Myanmar, previously known as Burma.

It gained freedom from colonial rule in 1948 and became a democracy.

• 1962-  democratic rule ended in 1962 with a military coup.
• 1990- elections were held for the 1st time after almost 30 years. The National League for Democracy, led by Aung San Suu Kyi (pronounced Soo-chi), won the election.
• But the military leaders of Myanmar refused to recognise the election results.
•  Elected pro-democracy leaders, including Suu Kyi, under house arrest. Political activists accused of even the most trivial offences have been jailed.
• Anyone caught publicly airing views or issuing statements critical of the regime can be sentenced up to twenty years in prison.
• Due to the coercive policies of the military-ruled government in Myanmar, about 6 to 10 lakh people in that country have been uprooted from their homes and have taken shelter elsewhere.
• Despite being under house arrest, Suu Kyi continued to campaign for democracy. According to her: “The quest for democracy in Burma is the struggle of the people to live whole, meaningful lives as free and equal members of the world community.” Her struggle has won international recognition. She has also been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
• Yet the people in Myanmar are still struggling to establish a democratic government in their country.

20 yrs ago USA vs USSR made other countries to be in check. The countries maybe democratic but what about the world? The UN were made to deal with peace & flourishment of a just world.

Today 193 sovereign states that are members of the United Nations (UN) and have equal representation in the UN General Assembly. The UN is the world’s largest intergovernmental organization.

The vote of each country is weighed by how much money it has contributed to the IMF. More than 52% of the voting power in the IMF is in the hands of only ten countries (US, Japan, Germany, France, UK, China, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Canada and Russia). The remaining 178 countries have very little say in how these international organisations take decisions. The World Bank has a similar system of voting. The President of the World Bank has always been a citizen of the US, conventionally nominated by the Treasury Secretary (Finance Minister) of the US government.

The world is dominated as in influneced by US a lot. This is not to say that there is no urge or move towards global democracy. The urge comes from people who get more opportunities to come in touch with one another. Over the last few years the people of different countries have come together without their governments’ support. They have formed global organisations against war and against domination