BERLIN – As an enraged crowd invaded the heart of the world’s most powerful democracy, the rest of the world watched the once unimaginable scenes that unfolded in Washington with dismay and disbelief – and deep concern over what the turmoil could mean as it authoritarian forces gain strength around the globe.
Many of those who followed the live broadcasts of armed rioters forcing their way to Capitol saw this as a harsh and disturbing warning for all democracies in the world: If it can happen in the United States, it can happen anywhere.
“We are currently witnessing an attack on the very foundations of democratic structures and institutions,” said Peter Beyer, the German government’s coordinator for transatlantic affairs. “This is not just a national issue for the United States, but it shakes the world, at least all democracies.”
One by one, authorities around the world responded with the kind of statements previously issued by the United States Department of State when political violence consumed other countries.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia condemned the violence, calling what unfolded in Congress “very distressing”.
Matteo Salvini, the leader of the Nationalist League party in Italy and a great admirer of President Trump, wrote on Twitter: “Violence is never the solution, ever”, while India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for a “transfer orderly and peaceful power. “
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg took the highly unusual step of weighing in on a domestic issue in a member state, writing: “The result of this democratic election must be respected”.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she and her compatriots were “devastated” by the events, but expressed confidence that democracy will eventually prevail. “The right of people to exercise a vote, to have their voice heard and then have that decision peacefully sustained should never be undone by a crowd,” she I wrote on twitter.
The attack on the Capitol – less than a day after the Hong Kong police arrested more than 50 democracy activists – was seen as a profound blow to America’s global credibility, making it more difficult for the United States to hold authoritarian leaders accountable across the world that trample on democratic values.
The authoritarian leaders of the world “must be euphoric and celebratory”, wrote Yossi Melman, a writer from Haaretz, the Israeli newspaper, mentioning President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, President Xi Jinping of China, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
In Cambodia, Sok Eysan, a senator and spokesman for the Cambodian People’s Party, cited Trump’s claim that the US election was tarnished when he asked: “If the US has electoral fraud and corruption, which country is cleaner ? “
Many blamed the American president directly.
“This is what happens when you sow hate,” Stéphane Séjourné, a member of the European Parliament and a close ally of President Emmanuel Macron of France, I wrote on twitter. “We are going to defend and protect our democracy, because it cannot be taken for granted.”
German Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz I wrote: “The peaceful transfer of power is the cornerstone of all democracy. A lesson taught once to the world by the USA. It’s a shame that @realDonaldTrump is undermining you by inciting violence and destruction. “
Charles Santiago, the opposition lawmaker in Malaysia who also chairs the ASEAN Parliamentary Human Rights Association, said Trump has joined other world leaders “to subvert democracy and the will of the people”. He cited Prime Minister Hun Sen of Cambodia and President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines.
“The United States has lost its moral authority to preach democracy and human rights to other countries,” he said. “It has become part of the problem.”
Marzia Rustami, a women’s rights activist in Afghanistan, read the news about what was going on in the United States as Taliban fighters attacked a military base near her home in the northern city of Kunduz.
“In the United States, I see that the dialogue has given way to chaos,” she said, describing how she heard explosions and gunfire from a distance while watching the news online. “In my country, it has been like this for 40 years, and now the failure of the United States in this country has made the situation worse for us.”
For many foreign leaders, the scenes in America were also reminders of recent political attacks on democracy at home.
Heiko Maas, the German foreign minister, drew a parallel between the taking of the United States Capitol and the recent attempt by a German far-right crowd to enter the Reichstag, the building that houses the German Parliament.
“Provocative words will lead to acts of violence – on the stairs of the Reichstag, and now on the Capitol. Disdain for democratic institutions has a devastating effect, ”Mr. Maas I wrote on twitter. He added: “The enemies of democracy will be happy with these unbelievable photos of Washington, DC”
And they went.
In Russia, violence fits perfectly into the Kremlin’s propaganda narrative of a dilapidated American democracy. Russia’s state-controlled news channel Rossiya-24 broadcast chaos at the Capitol on a split screen, one side showing happy Orthodox Christmas festivities in Russia, the other the violent chaos in Washington. President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela went on state television to lecture his ministers on the virtues of democracy, while Iran’s official media offered minute-by-minute updates highlighting Trump’s role in instigating violence by making false claims about electoral fraud.
In China, The Global Times, a nationalist newspaper controlled by the Communist Party, ridiculed American support for the huge protests that took place in Hong Kong, which at one point included the takeover of legislative power in 2019.
Similar accusations of hypocrisy have circulated widely on China’s highly censored social media, often citing a 2019 statement by Nancy Pelosi, the mayor of the United States, that the protests in Hong Kong were “a beautiful sight to behold.”
One of the besieged opposition activists in the territory was quick to distinguish the brief takeover in Hong Kong from the takeover of Congress.
“Let me be clear, there is no way anyone can justify what is happening in the United States today with what happened in Hong Kong”, Joey Siu wrote on Twitter. “Yes, both entered the legislative chamber, but one determined to sacrifice himself for the defense of democracy and the other trying to harm it.”
A sense of schadenfreude surfaced in other parts of the world that had received advice on good governance from Washington.
“Like Africa, we ask Americans to respect democracy, respect the rule of law and allow a peaceful transition to power,” wrote Mmusi Maimane, a former South African opposition leader on Twitter. “Follow the example of large democratic states like South Africa, which respect the results of the elections.”
Amid the expressions of alarm, there were several hopeful voices insisting that this was a last upheaval of the Trump presidency, not the beginning of the end of Western democracy – and that a Biden presidency would change things.
“I trust the strength of democracy in America,” tweeted Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. “The new Presidency of@Joe Biden will overcome this time of tension, uniting the American people. ”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada has also taken an optimistic tone in a tweet. “Democracy in the United States must be maintained – and it will be,” he wrote.
Others have warned that the crisis of democracy goes beyond Trump and that America could take years to repair.
In Germany, where democracy succumbed to the Nazi regime after a volatile decade of marauding far-right militias and failed coups, images of an armed mob attacking the seat of US national power evoked unsettling echoes of history.
“After our catastrophic failure in the 20th century, we Germans were taught by the United States to develop strong democratic institutions,” said Andreas Michaelis, the German ambassador to Britain. “We also learned that democracy is not just about institutions. It is a matter of political culture as well. “
Still, others found black humor in the day’s events.
Lebanese-British comedian Karl Sharro drew a blinking parallel between Trump’s encouragement to the Capitol crowd with the United States’ history of helping to oust leaders from other countries. “Trump basically imported US foreign policy into the United States,” he wrote on Twitter.
Felipe Neto, a popular Brazilian political commentator, shot in the United States.
“I am waiting for the United States to invade the United States so they can ‘restore democracy'” he wrote on Twitter.
Katrin Bennhold reported from Berlin and Steven Lee Myers from Seoul. The report was contributed by Melissa Eddy and Christopher F. Schuetze from Berlin; Andrew Higgins and Anton Troianovski from Moscow; Natalie Kitroeff and Oscar Lopez from Mexico City; Aurelien Breeden from Paris; David M. Halbfinger, Isabel Kershner and Adam Rasgon from Jerusalem; Mark Landler, Megan Specia and Benjamin Mueller from London; Ernesto Londoño, from Rio de Janeiro; Anatoly Kurmanaev from Caracas, Venezuela; Julie Turkewitz from Bogota, Colombia; Vivian Yee from Tunis; Jason Horowitz from Rome; Catherine Porter of Toronto; Farnaz Fassihi of New York; Ruth Maclean from Dakar, Senegal; Matina Stevis-Gridneff and Steven Erlanger from Brussels; Austin Ramzy from Hong Kong; Emily Schmall from New Delhi; Thomas Gibbons-Neff and Najim Rahim from Kabul, Afghanistan; Damien Cave from Sydney, Australia; Hannah Beech and Richard C. Paddock, from Bangkok; Sun Narin of Phnom Penh, Cambodia; Choe Sang-hun from Seoul; Motoko Rich and Mikiko Inoue from Tokyo; and Amy Chang Chien from Taipei, Taiwan.