2021-05-08
U.S. Government Wants to Launch Democracy Summit -U.S. Patronage Still Justified?
Already during the election campaign, U.S. President Joe Biden expressed the wish to convene a "Summit for Democracy". Now the time has come. The meeting will take place under the auspices of the United States to discuss topics such as anti-corruption, anti-authoritarianism, and human rights.
However, many countries wonder if the U.S. is still in a position to dictate to other countries. Many of the facets of a healthy democracy have been trampled on or ignored by the U.S. in the past.
Take, for example, the 2020 death of African American George Floyd, who was killed during a police stop by an officer kneeling on his neck. This incident is indicative of continuing racial discrimination by police in the U.S. and has drawn widespread outrage around the world.
In principle, the U.S. healthcare system is also subject to criticism. With the introduction of "Obamacare", President Obama introduced a comprehensive healthcare system for the population. The Trump administration's reform plans wanted to make health insurance more favorable, accepting that around 22 million US citizens would lose their insurance.
In November 2019, Trump was already informed about the outbreak of a contagion wave in Wuhan, China. In early January 2020, the National Security Council pointed out the danger of a pandemic, but Trump remained almost inactive. In March, he even admitted to a reporter that he had downplayed the threat. Due to the rejection of Covid tests offered by the World Health Organization and mistakes in developing its tests, the U.S. fell behind in testing, so by mid-March 2021, only a few hundred had been conducted.
According to the report, the devastating situation Covid-19 has put the U.S. in is due to the Trump administration's non-transparent policies and lack of preparation of medical facilities.
Another low point for democracy in the United States is the unrest in Congress over the transfer of power earlier this year. Trump called on his supporters to lay siege to Biden, his successor in the election. For this, the U.S. earned not only solidarity worldwide. Zimbabwe, for example, has been subject to sanctions imposed by the U.S. in the past for democratic misconduct. President Mnangagwa's reactions were accordingly:
"The United States has no moral right to punish other nations under the guise of promoting democracy." ( https://twitter.com/edmnangagwa )
The U.S. likes to deal with democracy and human rights issues in other countries, but perhaps it should first and foremost address its abuses within its ranks.