'Defending Democracy': A Note From Our Editors

At the end of last year, the three of us felt a desire to create a strong sense of community between the students at the BSB. We decided that to heighten the already existing close-knit structure of the BSB community, a newspaper would be ideal. As we worked through proposals, meetings and discussions, one concept kept recurring in our objective as a student-led newspaper: focus on the students. Creating this newspaper meant giving students a platform, a space for advice, comfort, and knowledge. As we revive the traditional Monthly Mayhem, with our individual flavours, we hope to incorporate salient issues both inside BSB and globally, while maintaining student interest. Ergo, with the global climate as the US elections reached a point of suspenseful climax and civil rights activism through social media progressed, we thought it would make perfect sense to revolve our first ever issue around democracy, but more specifically Defending Democracy. Democracy was first noticed in 500 BC in Greece where the Athenians can be applauded for originating this political system. Derived from the Greek words common people (demos) and strength (kratos), democracy has always been about the uplifting of the common people, since its beginning. Democracy has numerous variant systems, and one of those are constitutional monarchies. The democratic system of constitutional monarchies is well known as it is the political system in Bahrain and the United Kingdom. This system incorporates the power of a monarch and a legislature, like the British Parliament or Council of Representatives in Bahrain. Hence, democracy is not only globally applicable, but locally applicable and present, with the interesting variant system at place in Bahrain.

Continuing on with interesting politics, in light of the recent US election, protection of democracy has become increasingly crucial. The right of American citizens to vote allowed them to overcome a period of political uncertainty during President Trump’s term. During the 2020 elections, there was a record turnout of voters from the Millennial and Generation. Events like this remind us, the editing team of The Monthly of how people often overlook the beauty of democracy. Furthermore, especially the civil liberties it offers its citizens. Through democracy, a young person hoping to leave their mark in the world, can choose which future they wish for. The concept of choice reigns supreme underneath democracy, and gives the opportunity to all people of legal age to voice their opinions, and choose representatives of the beliefs they resonate the most with. The ability to express one’s desires for the outlook on the future is the cornerstone of democracy, a system where the power lays in the hands of the people.

The power of democracy is not just limited to framing futures, but also cultures as it transforms modern society. The role of democracy in modern society is seen by many as the epitome of western freedom. According to his majesty King Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa ‘Democracy is not just the constitutional and legislative rules; it is a culture’. Far from imperialist societies, Democracies promote the acceptance of minorities and majorities alike, bringing unity, peace and prosperity in many aspects and are a fundamental ideal in the westernized world, seen as the key component to a progressive society. Extensive research has also shown that the longer a country is ruled democratically, the better it performs across a variety of governance and development indicators, including economic performance. The Monthly defines a good democracy as an institutional structure that understands the liberty and equality of citizens through the correct functioning of its government.

During the period of rapid industrialisation during the 18th Century the citizens of many great nations such as the United States and the United Kingdom experienced an increase in income which in turn, created an increase in demand for democratic rule. The positive impact of modernisation in the economy was the progressive thinking that came alongside it, the common man was now aware of the value of money and concerned himself with the ruling of the nation that the workers collectively brought prosperity to. Democracy highlighted the significance of the power of collaboration and joint action, which paved the way for political debate and allowed justice to prevail.

The three of us spend many hours discussing, assigning roles, editing and compiling the newspaper alongside our hardworking team of students and co-operating members of staff. Whenever we find ourselves straying from our agenda for our meetings, we return to discussions on global affairs, and worldly matters. When discussing democracy, we did not overlook it’s intersections with other political concepts such as law, diplomacy, voting and activism. As well as invigorating pieces by the whole Monthly team, you can expect pieces of intellect by our capable crew on these intersecting topics. As we leave you to progress through the November issue of The Monthly, we express gratitude to all of our readers for joining us on this mission of creating a student platform, and to our teachers for their supervision and support. The editors at The Monthly cannot wait to bring high quality journalism to the British School of Bahrain, that will keep you on your toes. With love, Kaviesh Kinger, Anoushka Subin and Leenah Asim