I don't see how this is not declarative

Great example of a declarative program in what's usually considered an imperative language. I also think many features of languages are declarative in nature, e.g. how we can specify base classes by just just listing them in the definition. I now don't see declarative as a very useful description. TBH, I think whether some expression is a 'what' or a 'how' is not an inherent property of the expression but depends on the context.