Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles - US Democracy, the flawed gift

 

The former ambassador to Afghanistan, Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, spoke with hardly a word out of place: slowly, purposefully and most impressively. Like a friend put it, 'It was great to hear a man whose job it is to persuade doing it formidably in an intimate setting.' Sir Sherard made us laugh while addressing this topic of epic importance, and in general displayed all of the oratorial arsenal of a Greek politician in the forum. Like a true classicist – and unlike the stereotypical diplomat – he gave a concise answer to the question:

'America has been an amazing force for good in its two hundred and fifty year life, more or less, but I don't think the American model of democracy is the right model for everyone around the world,' he began.

Inefficiencies of US Democracy

Former Ambassador boyishly pleased to be at ToMax (and clad in Valerie Goad)On the one hand, Sir Sherard held the American political system up to the light, divorcing it from the liberty and efficacy with which it is popularly associated. American democracy, he pointed out, 'is an 18^th Century system of government created by Eighteenth Century English gentlemen worried about an over-mighty king. They created a deliberately inefficient constitution, designed to shackle the chief executive and distribute power between the executive and the judiciary. They designed a barmy system, with elections every two years, so that everyone is continually running for office. They designed a constitution with an 18^th C system of political patronage, so that posts don't go to good people, like Tom and Max, appointed on merit, but to political loyalists – to people who, ideologically or financially, are committed to the present.'

Sir Sherard pointed out that in such a system policy decisions fall victim to the architecture of the political system itself, citing an amusing instance from his time in Washington:

“Using lobbyists, we persuaded congress to force the American Airforce to buy an aircraft they did not want. But it was made in Northern Ireland and it was the perfect congressional aircraft because the engines were made in Forth Worth, Texas, the home district of the speaker of the house of representatives, Jim Wright, and the aircraft would be serviced in West Virginia, the home state of the Senate Majority leader, Robert Bird.

Never a ToMax without a bar“This appalling aircraft, which nobody wanted, was sold to the Americans in great numbers, because, essentially, it was congressional pork. Pork for Texas, pork for West Virginia (...) We, on your behalf, in order to create jobs in Northern Ireland, exploited the American Democracy in this small and modest way. And if we did it, imagine what the Israelis were doing, what the Taiwanese were doing and what the National Rifle Association were doing."

"Inefficient" = "aggressive"?

For our first speaker, Andrew Alexander, mention of the NRA perhaps brought to mind what Eisenhower termed 'the military-industrial complex' as he left office. Simply put, manufacturing weapons creates jobs. Therefore it is in politicians' interests to secure defence spending and military contracts for their home states, thereby creating the employment which should get them re-elected. So defence spending goes up, and, the argument goes, America becomes ever more predisposed to military intervention. Such a line of argument was actually taken up by Andrew Alexander, who painted America as an essentially aggressive empire. (Sir Sherard did not share such a view, read on).

18^th C US Democracy Imposed Abroad – Worse than Inefficient

Same facts, different views: Journalist Andrew Alexander with Sherard CCBut while Sir Sherard was able to joke about the weaknesses of America's 18^th Century Democracy at home, he was more sober about the particulars of its imposition in Afghanistan:

'All of this is not to rubbish democracy itself. For even tonight our soldiers - your friends - are fighting and doing extremely brave, good things for democracy. But they are fighting to impose a constitution that is completely unworkable. When I arrived in Afghanistan, I discovered that the Taliban had not been defeated in 2001-2, they had just been pushed South and East....I discovered that they had not been invited to the 2001 Patersberg peace conference on the Rhine outside Bonn. And, even worse - and the point of these comments - I discovered that we had forced upon the country a constitution designed by a Frenchman (…) and imposed by an American, which was totally out of keeping with the grain of Afghan political history and geography. A constitution that specifies elections in fourteen of the next twenty years, a constitution that establishes district councils, and municipal councils, and Borises and Kens...and everything but the systems of Jirga and Shura.'  

The Answer?

Cowper-Coles' answer was concise: empires should seek to establish representative and accountable government; people want and deserve political leaders that are on their side. The devil is in the detail though: good diplomacy is required.

After the talks I looked up Jirga: 'Commitment shared by a community, made on all levels of society' I read.

Benevolent Empire leaving Early

Valerie Goad shirts on sale (even the speakers were tempted)While seeing the American system as such, Sir Sherard still expressed admiration for America in general, “the greatest republic and democracy in human history” and “a benevolent empire”. The best speakers at ToMax Talks have always been able to maintain apparent contradictions in their intuitions, sometimes paradoxically, sometimes not so.

“I use the term empire not in the sense of acquisitive, malevolent empire, but in the sense of a benevolent global power wanting to spread its goodies around the world for the benefit of all people. And that is the America I know, and the America I love, and the America I despair of.”

With the descent of America, he joked 'the outlook for you is extremely bleak':

“We should worry that America is losing the will to intervene, we should worry that America is borrowing money from China, we should worry that America is quitting Afghanistan early. You will remember that another empire left India early, leaving behind the problem of Kashmir, left Palestine early, left South Arabia early, leaving behind a problem that is still with us. It is not good when benevolent empires leave early, without brokering a political solution.'' 

I wonder how Sir Sherard would take recent news that US troops are to stay on in Helmand until 2024.

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Coffee, Conversation & Wine Under the Tracks

Entrepreneurial ambitions can be big or small, but fundamentally they involve the risk of doing something new. A railway arch under Loughborough Junction station is the unlikely scene for one such enterprise, the Beanery Cafe and (as of last Thursday) Wine Bar. There is nothing like it in Loughborough Junction. Great for locals; great for an early-evening glass of wine before a film at the Ritzy or other more raucous Brixton activities.

Since the cafe opened a little over a year ago, I have frequented this cute and cosy spot for Monmouth coffee and good conversation with the inquisitive-minded co-founder and hostess, Sabina Pieper. Like all great establishments, the décor is a reflection of the proprietor's character: hip yet unpretentious; fun; immaculately executed. The photos of Kenyan and Ehtopian tribeswomen were taken by photographer friend Tim Draper, but the designs on the walls are Sabina's own work and they perhaps symbolise better than anything the changes in her life.

Sabina moved to England from Cologne in North West Germany at a young age. It was hard to find work and she was therefore not very discriminating about the job she took and kept for years.

Co-founder Sabina Pieper“I ended up working for the presentation department in a large american Investment Bank. I do have a qualification in graphic design, but that was a long time ago, and I'm not really a designer by trade. I was grateful to have a job, but it didn't offer much creativity – no decision-making. It was such a big organisation that there had to be months and months of discussion before a decision was made.”

So when her friend Koyser proposed the project she jumped at the opportunity. There were four founders, but 'too many cooks spoil the broth' and it was soon just Koyser, who looks after the branding, and Sabina, who runs the cafe day-to-day. Life looked up:

“Now, I just decide and do. It is a very positive change for me. Every decision I ever make has an impact on the coffee shop and my life...on the customer and on the people who work for me.”

And so it was with the designs - conceived and promptly stencilled onto corrugated iron walls, as opposed to the paper of the presentation centre. Yet, Sabina has her own philosophical take on how life has changed:

“People always think of creativity as something to do with painting or literature. I think that making a decision and changing something is a very creative process. Creativity is actually problem-solving.

“And at first everything was a problem...railway cafes have a dreadful image; and there had been nothing like this in the area – greasy spoons, yes, but nothing like this.”

Koyser and Sabina admit that their project was not deliberately targeted at building community. However, it brings its own light to an area which feels somewhat forgotten. 

Loughborough Junction, often considered 'the ugly duckling' between Camberwell and Brixton, has seven bridges. It has a mesh of tracks. It has Coldharbour Lane – less a lane, more a through-road with thin pavements. On the one side is Camberwell, as I imagine it, a hive of humble, liberal-minded live-and-let-live do-gooders; on the other, the colours of Brixton's Jamaican community. To the South - wealthier and staid neighbourhoods such as Herne Hill and Dulwich. To the North – big estates. At about the same time the Beanery opened, the Sun and Doves, arguably the best pub on Cold Harbour Lane, shut down (photo above right).

Loughborough Junction has its life, as well as its sad aspects. It is hard to say why the area feels a little forlorn and neglected - whether it is the local heroes, to be met at all hours of day or night, or Cold Harbour Lane itself, or the ambulances screeching to and from Kings' Hospital. Then again, it depends on your mood. As Sabina put it, “These very things give the area a defiant identity. The local people like it and are proud of living in an area which has such a bad image.” A great recent initiative, The 7 Bridges Project, promises to turn each bridge into a canvas for an artwork, and it has a serious budget to achieve this. You could say that The Beanery has jumped the gun.

The cafe also benefits a different section of the community, the much-accused perpetrators of gentrification. Unbenownst to many, a slick overground line connects Loughborough Junction to the City, so that during rush-hour the station thrums with a mass of grumpy, sleeping commuters. Good coffee and food for thought is in fact a pre-requisite if I am going to travel with them.

On Thursday night, there was a novelty in LJ. Passers-by heard live music and even at midnight there was an excited hubbub spilling out onto the street. The Beanery was opening as a wine-bar. It was a brilliant evening which brought together all manner of people who might not have otherwise met. Indeed, the Beanery is small and facilitates sociability between strangers.

“I like it when people meet in my cafe, often through me. The beanery is a place where social differences don't exist. People from the local council estates enjoy the good coffee as much as the barrister who lives a couple of roads away." 

The Beanery, Loughborough Junction Railway Station, Coldharbour Lane, SW9 8SA

Open Monday-Wednesday 7am-3pm, Thursday-Friday 7am-11pm, Saturday: 7pm-11pm

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