guest column :Fr Oskar Wermter SJ MORE and more nation States seem to be ruled by one-man dictatorships. Every day we are shown mass protests, despite the coronavirus pandemic. Hong Kong, with its special status within China, has been up in arms for many months. Turkey is moving towards becoming a very authoritarian regime. Brazil’s right-wing president tried to ignore the COVID-19 epidemic and is now overwhelmed by it. Lebanon has seen the devastation of its capital Beirut by an accidental explosion of chemicals. Bad governance is blamed for this catastrophe. Russia, and now Belarus, are striking examples, even though they have democratic constitutions. Their presidents insist on staying in power, maybe for life (which means until death). Many African Statesmen suffer from this disease of being unable to step down at the end of their term of office. In South Africa, Nelson Mandela was a shining example of a president who did step down voluntarily and did not wait for a military coup to remove him from power. Tanzania’s Julius Nyerere stepped down humbly at the right time. Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia was reluctant to go, but eventually respected the law. Perhaps the worst case is that of the United States, which is presented to the world as a model of democracy. But American President Donald Trump claims “total authority”. How can “total power” fit into a democracy which limits power? Will the current president hand over power to his opponent if he is defeated? His slogan is “Amercia First”. International agreements mean very little to him. The US has no part in the International Law Court in the Hague. Its president refuses to cooperate with the international community on climate change. The US is leaving the World Health Organisation (WHO) even though a pandemic like COVID-19 can only be defeated by worldwide solidarity. Brexit (Britain’s exit from the European Union) is an irrational decision by nationalists. While other European countries tried to overcome selfish nationalism after World War Two, Britain stuck to its insular isolation and gave way to a national nostalgia for its imperial past. A suggested new law will break a treaty signed by the European Union and Britain in January 2020. But the time for individual nation states going it alone is over. Nationalism often goes together with militarism and racism. Trump from the beginning called for more weapons and a larger army. Such a State relies on firepower for the maintenance of law and order. Police is trigger happy and the number of civilians being killed on the streets or in police custody is steadily rising. Zimbabwe too, which attained its independence through armed violence, has a ruling party controlling government which relies on violence to retain its hold on power. Only international cooperation and solidarity can defeat the coronavirus. If an American laboratory succeeded in developing a viable and effective vaccine against COVID-19, would the US make this vaccine available to the rest of the world, especially to developing countries that need inter
