Minorité-majorité

The Powers that Be

One of the first times I really realized I was a member of the privileged minority of people in the entire world was thanks to one of those lists of ‘if there were only 100 people in the world…’ to demonstrate the percentages of the world population with certain characteristics. 1 person, for example, would have a computer, 1 person would have a university education. These things often seem to those of us who have them so normal, inevitable, to be expected. Minority is a term related to power dynamics, to refer to groups not only with fewer numbers, but with less say. Many of the groups discussed here have been ones with larger numbers. Women, for example, generally make up 51% of the population. Palestinians started out far more numerous than Israelis. All colonial situations involve a small group of outsiders invading the much more numerous indigenous population.

In many cases ‘the masses’—large numbers of people making up one socially dominated group—are under the powerful elite. Situations where a whole country exhibits these dynamics in explicit ways are easy to make an example of. Many Arab countries, for example, have quite consolidated power amongst a small group, with little for the rest of the population. In terms of military might, financial means, international support, and education, the small ruling elite is more powerful than the rest of the nation. This ‘rest’ is majority in number but minority in power.

Except sometimes, the masses get it into their heads that they do have power, that they do have the right to all the same things enjoyed by the rich and powerful, that it’s not fair for the elite to be annexing all the power. And sometimes, the masses organize and protest the situation and exert their newfound belief in their own power.

The news of this winter was dominated by reports of popular uprisings across the Arab world. In Egypt, the people gathered to protest against the lack of democracy in their country. They exerted their power, and they were stronger than the government’s efforts to silence the movement. In this case, the people actually had more power than the small ruling group. The majority in number became the majority in power. This is perhaps what democracy really means. The government is meant to be accountable to the people who vote it in; the power to decide the fate of the government lies with the people.

But if we look closer, there are more complicated dynamics that led to the victory of the Egyptian protestors. The army decided against using violence to stop silence their message. This means that one faction of that small, ruling group used their power against the power of another small faction to help the large, dominated population. If this hadn’t happened, would the protests have worked? And if not, then do the masses really have more power after all? Brutal events point to a sober possibility that if the powers that be really want to stay in power, they will. World War Two, and every other international conflict, teaches that it takes other strong powers to end the reign of an oppressive regime. The wishes of a people may win out over the powerful rulers, but does it always take other powerful rulers to make that happen? 

Optimism would say not.