Svetlana Alexievich Quotes

It's true that General Musharraf opposes my return, seeing me as a symbol of democracy in the country. He is comfortable with dictatorship. I hope better sense prevails.

Dictatorships are one-way streets. Democracy boasts two-way traffic.

Thank God we in Iran have neither the desire nor the need to suffer from democracy.

Iraq is better without Saddam Hussein than with Saddam Hussein. Without a doubt.

There's nothing to fear. I'm not a dictator.

Right now, we have no possibility of politics because we have a one-party state.

We have a war dictator who was not elected, he snuck in. so he punishes people that threaten him in any way, or even say something he doesn't like. It has no resemblance to democracy.

When the United States aligns with dictatorships and totalitarian regimes, it compromises the basic democratic principles of its foundation - namely, life, liberty and justice for all.

British chancellor is telling the rest of Europe it must abandon democracy. It's appalling.

If Bangladesh succumbs to the rule of one family, it would be a major step backward for the region.

I think we have very steady records of President Putin, who inherited the country with democratic values.

The Communists automatically violated the daily practices of democracy to which I was accustomed.

Being born in Cuba, a country where freedom of speech is non-existent, it's startling to observe how Venezuela, where I was happily raised, is fast becoming Cuba's mirror image: Dismantling of fundamental democratic rights deserved by its people and citizens of the world.

Mobutu was mainstream Africa. Every independent African Government was a one-party state at the time. None allowed opposition. Every one of them had rent-seeking political leaders. The only thing that set Mobutu apart was how ostentatious his theft was.

There is a very long history of oppression in the Arab world, particularly in the states he mentions: Iran, Iraq, Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, as well as in Sudan and Tunisia. These regimes are not based on democracy and their legitimacy comes from military dictatorships or inherited systems. The basic right of an individual to voice his or her opinion is not granted in any kind of form in the Arab world.

To trample democracy with one’s feet and to give power to a single man over almost eighty million people is so terrible that one can very probably tremble over the events which will come here.

I do not want to be recorded in history as the man who bequeathed a tyranny.

One doesn't want one's democracy to behave like a dictatorial or fascistic police. One doesn't.

Dictators don't come from elections.

Even if the country is run by a Mussolini, free speech will find its way.

I grew up under a dictatorship. I knew what it meant for people to not have the ability to freely express themselves.

Donald Trump ran for autocrat, he didn't run for president. The first thing in autocrat does is take over the media, or alienate the media, which is what Trump is doing, he is doing it actively.

In 2014, we were opposing President Xi Jinping. Five years later, we are opposing Emperor Xi Jinping.

Mobutu does not think he is God.

Maduro distanced himself from democracy. He deconstructed the entire judiciary and blocked parliamentary processes.