Democratic Blues

Let me start off by saying that I am a staunch beliver in democracy. It does not always work (as in the case of Germany in 1933, or, perhaps less drastically, the US in 2000) and often allows fools to gain power (the US again in 2004), but it is a very wonderful and fragile thing. To think that here in Burkina Faso, the president came to power in a coup and stages only mock elections every few years to maintain a poor air of legitimacy, is absolutely depressing. When I see triumphs like Solidarnosc in Poland, Chile ridding itself of Pinochet and the election of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf last fall in Liberia, it makes me happy to know that such a concept exists.

I also tend to believe that anyone who does not vote in an election has no right to criticize their leaders because they are only victims of their own apathy. Voting may be a legal right in Canada, but to me it is both a privilege and civic duty.

Now here is where I dropped the bombshell: I will not be voting in the Canadian federal elections on January 23rd. On January 23rd, I will be at the African Social Forum in Mali and, hopefully, will not be waking up the next morning to a Conservative majority.

Could I have voted from abroad? Yes. I most certainly could have. However, to put this into perspective, here is the process for a Canadian voting from abroad...

Step 1: Look up the process for voting from abroad at www.elections.ca
Step 2: Somehow manage to acquire no less than TWO pieces of photo ID with your home address on them or two bills from public utility companies to determine your constituency. (I am sorry Billy, but a health card simply will not do... why did you not pack your hydro bill in your luggage like a good little boy?)
Step 3: Mail (or fax) the completed form to Ottawa (which takes at least a week)
Step 4: Elections Canada must process your application and find your ballot
Step 5: Elections Canada mails your ballot to either your address abroad or to the nearest embassy/high commission (which takes at least two weeks)
Step 6: Receive the package (if it gets that far), fill out the ballot and mail it back to Ottawa (another week)
Step 7: Pray that the package arrives in Canada before midnight of the 23rd of January.

Could I have successfully completed this process? Yes, but considering it would take about a month from steps 1 to 6 (plus whatever delays the Christmas holidays might entail) and recalling that I would only be in Accra until the 14th of January, I would have had to fax/mail the application out in early December.

Long story short: that is a damned difficult and inefficient way to exercise a civic duty. In this day in age, there should be better resources available for people in our situation, perhaps using the internet (or even the fax machine, if people still know how to use them).

So what can a poor boy do? I may just shut my trap for the next four years (if the government indeed lasts that long), but more importantly, I want to tell people that they should get out there and vote, no matter what idiot they will be supporting. When you see countries in which democracy is non-existent, (eg. Côte d'Ivoire, up until last year Togo) a farce (Burkina Faso) or simply just not working for the people (Ghana), you really learn to appreciate those rights and freedoms that so many of our brothers and sisters around the world can only dream of having.