PARIS (AP) – As the world watched the American institutions shaken to the core by an angry mob, officials and ordinary citizens wondered: how fragile is democracy and how much stress could its own political systems withstand?
“If it can happen in the United States, it can happen anywhere,” said Gunjan Chhibber, a 39-year-old who works for an American technology company in India, the world’s largest democracy. She stayed awake all night, watching and worrying at her home in Delhi, while the chaos unfolded in several time zones.
In Germany, whose modern system of government has been fueled by successive US administrations, Chancellor Angela Merkel was unusually blunt on Thursday, drawing a direct line from President Donald Trump’s refusal to admit electoral defeat in the atmosphere of the assault. US chapter possible supporters.
“A fundamental rule of democracy is that, after elections, there are winners and losers. Both must play their part with decency and responsibility, so that democracy remains victorious, “Merkel said.
Eva Sakschewska, a German who watched the news closely, said the events in Washington were almost inconceivable.
“You can be afraid of how far this can go when the populists come to power and do such things,” she said. “You know that in the United States, democracy has a long history and that such a thing can be achieved – yes, it is feared.”
Even the United Nations has offered the kind of statement usually reserved for fragile democracies, expressing sadness and calling on unidentified political leaders to encourage respect for “democratic processes and the rule of law.”
In Iraq, where the violent US-led overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003 led to years of sectarian conflict and a deeply flawed democracy, many have watched and marveled at the scenes in Congress.
Iraqis have suffered for years through power-sharing agreements between competing elites divided along sectarian lines. Transactions behind the camera are common to avoid political paralysis, and democratic ideals have been affected by a deep-rooted system of patronage through which state jobs are distributed in exchange for support. Political parties also have affiliated militias that have significant power on the streets. From afar, the violence in Washington had a contemptuous familiarity.
“Iraq is urging the US regime to abide by the principles of democracy or will intervene militarily to overthrow the dictator,” Mustafa Habib, a well-known Iraqi analyst and researcher, said in a tweet mocking Washington’s actions abroad.
Venezuela, which is under US sanctions, said the events showed that the US “suffers what it has generated in other countries with its policy of aggression.”
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has survived US-backed opposition efforts to eliminate him despite allegations of human rights abuses, civil unrest and a humanitarian crisis that has forced millions to flee the oil-rich country.
“We have exported so much democracy that we have no more left,” US-Palestinian researcher Yousef Monayyer wrote on Twitter, Trump’s favorite social network until it was blocked late Wednesday.
His comment joined the growing tension of sarcasm surrounding schadenfreude on the part of those who have long resented America’s perceived tendency to punish other countries for less than perfect adherence to democratic ideals.
This time, however, it was an attempt by Americans to stop a peaceful transition of power to President-elect Joe Biden after democratic elections in a country that many around the world viewed as a model of democratic governance.
In China, which has had constant friction with Washington over trade, as well as military and political issues, people have harshly criticized Trump and his supporters, citing both the coronavirus pandemic and the mob action.
Communist-led China has long accused the US of hypocrisy in its efforts to promote democracy and advocate for human rights abroad.
The Communist Youth League made a photo montage of the violence in the Capitol on its Weibo microblog, similar to Twitter, with the title: “In the sixth, the US Congress, the most beautiful site to watch.” This seemed to mock the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, for his June 2019 comments, praising the violent anti-government protests, sometimes in Hong Kong.
“The United States is not as safe as China, is it? I think Trump is a selfish and selfish person, “said Financial Adviser Yang Ming.
Iran, which faces routine US criticism of human rights abuses and democratic values, has jumped into chaos as evidence of American hypocrisy.
The semi-official Fars news agency called the United States a “fragmented democracy,” while Iran’s pro-government Twitter accounts boasted, circulating photos of crowds with hashtags that included #DownfalloftheUS.
The events have tarnished the American insistence that it is a bastion of democracy for countries that have given up only in recent decades, in some cases, the abandonment of autocratic or military-controlled forms of government.
“The beauty of democracy?” with a shrug of emoji was the reaction published by Bashir Ahmad, personal assistant to the President of Nigeria, who has known several coups since independence – including one led decades ago by President Muhammadu Buhari, who was elected in office in 2015.
Some legislatures in Asia – South Korea and Taiwan, for example – have sometimes been affected by screaming quarrels and matches, but democracies across the region are normally stable versions of European and American models of legislation.
“It is shocking. I hope this will serve as a chance for Americans to review their democracy, “said Na HyunPil at the Korean House for International Solidarity, a Seoul-based NGO. “Trump is fully responsible for this incident. After four years of rule, it is difficult for Americans to tell other countries that their country is a good model for democracy. “
Several countries, both US allies and antagonists, have issued travel warnings to their citizens, although with growing coronavirus infections in the United States, arrivals from abroad are on the rise.
Ally after ally, he expressed his shock, followed by statements that American democratic institutions will withstand the unrest.
“All my life, America has represented some very important things: an idea of freedom and an idea of democracy,” said British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. “To the extent that he encouraged people to storm the Chapter and to the extent that the president he continued to question the result of a free and fair election, I think it was completely wrong ”.
For others, less friendly, he was described as a last gasp and belonged exclusively to the Americans themselves.
“American democracy is obviously faltering on both feet,” said Konstantin Kosachev, head of the foreign affairs committee in the upper house of the Russian parliament. “I say this without a shadow of joy. America no longer draws a course and has therefore lost all rights to set it – and even more so to impose it on others. “
Associated Press journalists from around the world contributed.