Freedom
House’s “Freedom in the World” studies find
that 49 countries—over a quarter of the world’s governments—are
“not free”. They are dictatorships of an individual or a party.
The
United States provides military assistance (training, sales and aid)
to three-quarters of them.
86-year-old
Paul Biya, the longest serving non-royal head of state in the world,
has held office in Cameroon since Gerald Ford was president. He
recently won a seventh term in office that has described as a
“farce.” Cameroon has been in the news of late, due to the
government’s human rights abuses pushing the country to
the brink of
a civil war. Freedom House considers it
to be one of the least free countries in the world. The New
York Times
presents him euphemistically as “one of the world’s
longest-serving presidents.” In fact, for over 20 years of coverage
in the Times,
Biya was never once described as a “dictator,” “despot,”
“tyrant” or any other similar designation.
In
Egypt Gen.
Abdel el-Sisi came to power in 2013 in a military coup that
overthrew the democratically elected government of President Mohamed
Morsi. Sisi recently announced his plan to rule until
2034—effectively in perpetuity. He
enjoys strong support from around the world, endorsed by the US and
France and is seen as a “bulwark against Islamist militancy” in
the region.
Another
ruler propped up with US military aid is Nursultan Nazarbayev. The
85-year-old, in power since 1989, recently announced he
would step down. It was also revealed that Kazakhstan’s
capital,
Astana, would be renamed Nursultan
in his honour. Nazarbayev has a long
history of
cracking down on freedom of speech, the press and religion, and
uses torture against his political opponents. US media praise him as
a visionary strong leader. Freedom House, that notes that
“none of the elections held in Kazakhstan since independence have
been considered ‘free and fair’ by credible international
observers.” Nursultan was declared to have won 98 percent of the
vote in 2015.
The
choice of whether to use a word like “dictator” frames a country
in a way conducive to elite US interests
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