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Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Nov. 28, 1996
issue of Workers World newspaper
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Editorial: Democracy? Give us a break

The United States government professes to be the champion of democracy. Reality is otherwise.

Case in point: On Nov. 12, the United Nations General Assembly approved a resolution calling for an end to the U.S. embargo against Cuba-by a vote of 138 to three, with 24 abstentions. This is the fifth year in a row that the UN body has passed this resolution, and with the widest majority yet.

For the first time, all 15 members of the European Union, which includes major capitalist countries such as France and Germany, voted against the United States government's position. So did Canada.

Only the United States, Israel and Uzbekistan voted in favor of maintaining the 36-year-old blockade.

Spurring on this year's vote was the Helms-Burton Act. Early this year President Clinton signed this law that seeks to penalize companies and individuals doing business in Cuba. All of Washington's imperialist rivals, including Japan, have condemned this reactionary legislation. So has every country in Latin America.

Despite this overwhelming world opinion, however, every U.S. government administration-Democrat and Republican alike- continues defending the anti-Cuba position. Simply put, the U.S. government says the whole world is wrong and it alone is right-global majority vote notwithstanding.

This blatantly anti-democratic aspect of U.S. imperialism is one of the primary reasons why rulings from the UN General Assembly-which represents all the world's countries-are considered "non-binding." Votes from the much smaller and imperialist-dominated UN Security Council have much more political weight. But even in that body the U.S. government has used its veto power to push its influence.

The U.S. respecting majority rule? Give us a break.

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