Legitimate?

Right now, the leaders of eight countries are sitting at Kempinski Grand Hotel in Heiligendamm, Germany, behind a 12 kilometre long steel fence. Outside, thousands of protesters are demonstrating. I believe that it is democracy at its finest when people take to protesting against or for things that are important to them, but the current scenario is beginning to look like we are one ring short of «Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus». In the first ring, we have the politicians and in the second we have the protestors. Some may claim that this shows how politicians have become kings and queens, removed from reality. Others – like myself – see this as a sad necessity brought on by violent protestors.

But the first thing to annoy me is the claim that meetings like G8, WTO and the World Economic Forum are not legitimate.

Christoph Kleine, a spokesperson for the collective, said their protest is a «clear sign of our rejection of the G8 and our belief that the G8 is completely illegitimate.

«These are the governments of eight countries who think they can rule the world because they are the richest and most powerful. This is not democratic.

«We can see the result of domination by these countries - war, social injustice. They stand for the danger of climate change. They are the countries who are responsible for most of the emissions.»

-From the BBC

The claim is, that G8 (as an example) is illegitimate because they try to rule the world and they are not the elected officials of said world. True, they are not elected on behalf of the world. They are elected by majorities on eight countries (we’ll ignore Russia as an example of a non-democracy in action). The G8 does not have any formal power, and can therefore only work at all if the eight countries agree and try to enforce the agreements.

Tricia O'Rourke, spokesperson for Oxfam, said: «We are reminding them that they have to deliver.»

«In 2005 in Gleneagles they promised they would increase aid to $50bn (£25bn) by 2010, but we recently calculated following current trends they will be short by $30bn.»

-From the
BBC

It sounds like an organisation with the ability to make and keep promises, right?

The G8 – like the World Economic Forum – is a gathering of people with power and influence who talk – don’t rule, but talk. Last time I checked, it’s a good thing when people talk. But apparently, it is a bad thing when the people talking actually have power.

So who can talk without democracy suffering? Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe? Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran? Hugo Chavez of Venezuela? Or maybe the few thousand demonstrators who set cars on fire in Rostock this week as part of their protest?

I think I prefer a world where people with power talk instead of throwing bricks and molotov cocktails.