What’s the point of the ‘European convention on Human Rights, when so few people litigate under it?’ That was the question my tutor asked me. I replied because to the minority who do, it matters to whole world.
(Sidenote; I went on two decades later to use in the High Court the Convention and Article 8 protections (Right to Privacy)).
As a young politics student, I was privileged to have tutorials, one to one, with David Butler. These for my ‘Modern British Government’ elective were over the summer because I was to spend a semester in Washington working in the US Congress.
David had met and sat down with Winston Churchill and at the time of our tutorial (Major was PM) every PM since Churchill.
So we have a problem one or two people whose experiences can be magnified to present a narrative which neglects the data for everyone else.
Take India as a political case study. 1.3 billion people make for great experiments. So this past week the Financial Times had the narrative “Crackdowns, lawsuits and intimidation: the threat to freedom of expression in India.”
And the BBC had “US Immigration: Why Indians are fleeing halfway around the world.”
The narrative from the few, magnified by news media is worrying. But the data does not support the amplification.
According to Pew Research: 96% of Indians are very proud of their country. Those who are proud would not leave via Mexico presumably. One not proud is too many you might argue.
Indeed 90% of those polled by Pew completely or mostly agree that Indian culture is superior to others. Not what you’d expect from the Western media headlines.
Of course the narrative in the Western media is really about the BJP. Well Pew found half of Hindus did not vote for BJP. The BJP is a minority party among Hindu voters. So who did vote for it? Muslims (19%) and Sikhs and Buddhists – basically it is the other minorities that give BJP governing power.
Data or narrative? Here’s the kicker. Asked if they prefer a democracy or a leader with a strong hand – more (48%) said the latter!
Maybe an Indian form of democracy then. Not all democracies are identical after all. A democracy with a leader with a strong hand is what the people want it seems.
Whilst no democracy should be a dictatorship of the majority, it should certainly not be a dictatorship of the minority.
