Turkish parliament, fighting over a security bill.
One of the fun parts about living in a (sort of) democracy is transparency (at least, ostensibly). Governments like to make overtures to the people, meaning there is the promise that you may witness legitimate battles of power between politicians and representatives. In America, this means a lot of sniping, bitching, disingenuous rhetoric and sometimes maybe a little yelling. In other countries, this can mean actual fighting.
Below is a series of shots from recent Skirmishes between lawmakers from various countries. I’m not going to say it’s a better way to do politics—Ukraine apparently does this a lot, and they don’t really seem to have their shit together—but there’s something refreshing about this kind of legitimate passion. Part of me suspects that this doesn’t happen in America because most politics are actually done behind closed doors, between politicians and private interests.
Then again, you’ve got Rob Ford who just blindly stampeded a woman to go after hecklers. Ignoble of course, but more interesting than C-SPAN!
Ukrainian parliament, brawling over a presidential decree to activate reserve troops.
South African lawmakers who accused the president of corruption were removed by police
Someone threw a chair at a Nepali Constituent Assembly meeting.
A Jordanian member of Parliament fired a Kalashnikov (though not towards anyone) outside of parliamentary chambers.
Rob Ford goes after hecklers, knocking over a colleague in the process.
A brawl erupts Taiwan’s legislature in July 2010.
Below, Venezuela MPs in punch-up over disputed election
Via Mother Jones
