If you thought that the West in Ukraine helps defend democracy, you are wrong. Because in other areas democratic principles are thrown overboard. In order to thwart Russian leader Putin, we are sparing democratically contested EU countries such as Poland and Hungary. And because we need cheap oil and gas, we do business with autocrats in Saudi Arabia and Egypt. So why defend democracy?
That was the message from Kenneth Roth of Human Rights Watch in an interview with de Volkskrant. His human rights organization plays an important role in keeping Western democracies on their toes. Still, I was annoyed by his statement. I do not believe that the West in Ukraine merely pretends to defend democracy in words as he argues.
The West refuses to accept that the autocrat Putin is dismantling a democratic and sovereign country and that international treaties on the inviolability of borders are being trampled underfoot. Of course there is also the question of power – counterplaying Russian expansionism – but it is also about defending essential principles, such as democracy, sovereignty and international law.
activist bug
Roth’s way of thinking is an interesting case study in the eternal field of tension between the ideal world and the real world. His reasoning is that the West in Ukraine wrongly poses as a defender of democracy because at the same time it ignores that same democracy in its relations with authoritarian and autocratic regimes. Loosely translated: either you are a 100% democrat, or you are not.
It’s the nature of the activist beast. Anyone who fights for what he sees as a good cause, whether that be human rights or survival as a farmer, quickly thinks in a straight line in terms of either-or. It’s right or wrong, all or nothing. Only foreign policy does not lend itself to such sharp binary choices.
Western democracies have traditionally carried this problem with them. In the fight against communism, they were accused of supporting dictatorial regimes as long as they were against Soviet Russia. Now, US President Biden and his French counterpart Macron are reaching out to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the hopes that his oil and gas will help offset Russia’s power outages.
Credibility
These advances chafe with a notorious human rights violator, indeed, yet I do not think that the West will immediately lose all its credibility. It’s and-and. It can try to strike a bargain deal with dubious oil sheikhs while being sincere in its support for democracy in Ukraine.
The bottom line is that moral purity in politics and world politics is practically unachievable. Often a choice has to be made between different evils. Currently Putin is the greatest evil, resisting him is the top priority. In addition, Western governments want to prevent their populations from turning away from their Ukraine policies and even revolting because of possible energy shortages and skyrocketing energy bills as a result of the confrontation with Putin. If that means doing oil business with autocrats, then so be it. Then that’s the lesser evil.
independence fighters
It is a matter of arranging all interests and making choices, no matter how painful. We like to leave that work to politicians. Activists, intellectuals, commentators and columnists never have to haggle. They are, to quote Robert Kaplan,’free of the burden of real-world bureaucratic responsibility, make choices in the abstract and treat morality as an inflexible absolute‘. In other words: they are not about anything, cannot be voted out by voters and can therefore flaunt the noblest views untested.
There are limits to the pragmatism that the real world can force, but these must be determined on a case-by-case basis. It’s always complicated. The story of Albert Camus, the French writer born and raised in Algeria, is well known. He thought the Algerians’ efforts to break away from the French colonizer were justified, but he disapproved of violence. If independence fighters dropped bombs at a tram in Algiers that could hold his mother, he said, “I would prefer my mother to justice.”
I wonder what Roth, or you reader, would do in the face of such a choice.
Arie Elshout is a journalist and writes a column every other week.