There was a TV moment of utter democratic pathos this week. Then—Palestinian cabinet minister Mustafa Barghouti was asked on CBC Newsworld what could be done about the descent into chaos and mayhem in Gaza. He heads a small party that is secular, left-wing and non-violent. He is a doctor and a sophisticated man. He joined the “unity government” formed a few months ago, to try to head off what has now happened. He said Palestinians must stabilize and solidify the democratic institutions they have managed so far to construct. What a calm, mature approach. The interviewer kept asking about failed leadership, and he spoke of trusting people despite their leaders.

This whole period since the end of the Cold War was supposed to be about democracy, its triumph and inevitable spread. So the Palestinians go and vote democratically for Hamas, a religious party propped up by Israel early on as a counterweight to the nationalists of Fatah. The democratic West withholds funding as punishment. Israel refuses to turn over tax revenues that legally belong to the Palestinian Authority. People there, especially in Gaza, are living in what amounts to an outdoor prison, now complete with a wall, and almost no functioning economy. So three months ago, in order to meet the demands of Israel and the West, they create a “unity government” that includes Fatah — and still there’s no movement and none of their money. What can you say? They tried the democratic route and were treated with contempt — the blood is on everyone’s hands. Yet, Mustafa Barghouti still looks to the democratic process as the sole source of hope. It’s like a non-religious version of faith, even if it’s doomed in the short run.

Back home in Ontario, about as far from Gaza as you can get (though everyone has their problems), we’ll have a chance to vote next fall for a new, improved system of democracy. It’s called MMP, mixed member proportional. (What a benign place we live in. Even the language of extreme conflict seems decontaminated. This week, it was about “excluding resource revenues from equalization payments.” The most visceral it got was “clawback.”)

Everyone knows our democracy isn’t very democratic. We rarely get a majority government that is elected by a majority of votes. It only happened four times federally since 1900. Some votes, rural or regional, count way more than others. Often enough parties with fewer votes than others form the government. And that’s just the problems with the voting system. The MMP system we’ll get to vote on in October is no great democratic feat, in my opinion. It doesn’t touch the real questions of democracy and citizenship because it’s still about electing representatives who expect us to go away and leave them alone once they’re in, rather than everyone talking through and making decisions together. But it would outstrip what we’ve got by miles and, amazingly, it could happen this year.

What I mean by amazed is that it is happening at all. A national movement for voting reform has been advancing stealthily for a while. There are people and groups working hard at it, but that’s true of many worthy causes. There was no reason to expect this one to have a real shot, this soon. It isn’t an idea whose time has come, it’s just a good idea. It isn’t pushed by any of the truly powerful forces in our society, as globalization and free trade were. It’s mysterious, as if things can occasionally occur because they make sense, or because enough bad things have happened and it’s time for the alternative.

It may not pass. The bar is high, at 60 per cent, way higher than for free trade, the Charlottetown accord or any of the majority governments that get around 40 per cent. But it’s our chance to participate in the grand current of the history of our time, or find out that it wasn’t the grand current after all. One thing you can say for Mustafa Barghouti: He keeps doing his part.

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Rick Salutin

Rick Salutin is a Canadian novelist, playwright and critic. He is a strong advocate of left wing causes and writes a regular column in the Toronto Star.