Perhaps President Vladimir Putin of Russia is right after all. In a widely reported interview with the Financial Times ahead of the G20 summit in Japan last week, Putin said liberalism is spent as an ideological force and that "the liberal idea" had "outlived its purpose".
What does Putin mean by the "liberal idea"?
He means many of the things that those of us who live in open societies have come to take for granted: democracy expressed through regular free elections; respect for human rights; multiculturalism; a free and independent media; and deep and meaningful tolerance.
So what does Putin want to see replace these values? I can tell you now: he wants dictatorships and authoritarianism. He wants that which comes with such regimes: intolerance of free speech; hatred of foreigners and migrants of all types; growth of personality cults such as that which he has cultivated around himself in Russia; and, of course, the rise of criminal elites who stuff their money in Swiss banks while locals suffer the consequences of their misrule.
Here in Africa you will remember that, as the people of Sudan rose up against the dictatorship of the murderous Omar al-Bashir in recent months, the Kremlin supported his undemocratic regime. Reports abounded that Russian-speaking mercenaries helped the Sudanese authorities crack down on street protests. Al-Bashir is the same sick despot that Jacob Zuma, our former president, helped to evade the law here in SA.
Putin is wrong to say that the liberal values that have grown and brought economic prosperity to large parts of the world over the past 75 years or so have outlived their purpose. He is right that they are under siege and are in danger of being destroyed or defeated — by people like him. That is largely because liberal values have no real defenders on the global stage anymore.
‘You don’t have this [fake news] problem in Russia,’ Trump said to Putin. ‘We also have,’ said Putin
Take the extraordinary scenes at the G20 summit in Osaka last week. On Friday, as reporters and photographers entered a Putin-Donald Trump meeting room to set up for a press conference, the American president sneered at journalists.
"Get rid of them," Trump said to Putin. "Fake news is a great term, isn’t it? You don’t have this problem in Russia, but we do."
"We also have," Putin replied in English. "It’s the same."
The so-called "leader of the free world", Trump, was essentially denigrating a central tenet of traditional liberal societies: a vigorous, free press. As The New York Times pointed out, the Committee to Protect Journalists has documented the murders, "accidents" and suspicious deaths of 58 journalists in Russia in the post- Soviet period.
On Friday morning Trump had breakfast with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia. The Saudi ruler has been identified by the Central Intelligence Agency and the UN as the man responsible for giving the order for the kidnap, torture, murder and dismembering of The Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi embassy in Istanbul last year.
Trump was full of praise for MBS, as he is called.
"I want to just thank you on behalf of a lot of people, and I want to congratulate you. You’ve done a really spectacular job," he said. Wow!
Trump complimented MBS for granting women in Saudi Arabia the right to drive but said nothing about the fact that the activists who fought for this right have been detained and tortured.
Here in SA there is a lot of nostalgia about the Soviet Union and loads of love for Russia. Zuma rushed there when he was "poisoned". Deputy President David Mabuza did the same. ANC leaders like former intelligence minister David Mahlobo extol Russian values — and its nuclear capabilities.
Yet we should tread with caution. These are not people who share our values. They don’t believe in free elections. They don’t believe in a free press. They don’t believe in meritocratic business practices. They don’t believe in tolerating migrants. They don’t believe in basic human rights. They don’t believe in an open society.
They believe in the backward, right-wing populism currently sweeping through Europe and its strongmen leaders.
Treat such "friends" with caution.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.