Tuesday, November 12, 2024

PARTIES IN TROUBLE

Traditional political partiesare having difficulties securing enough votes to become governments in power. This situation has started to trouble the status quo, particularly those that have been well entrenched. BREXIT & TRUMPISM in the UK & US are concrete examples of changing reality. Germany just managed to form a coalition government after four months of negotiations. The recent Italian election ended up in a similar manner. In both cases no single party managed to get the required number of votes to form a government. In places like Greece it was the newly formed party that actually took power, probably to no avail. In these and other cases the stark reality is; traditional political parties are being crushed by newly formed entities that are positioning themselves to the far ends of the prevailing political spectrum. In Europe, the tendency is, by and large, towards the ‘right’!
To be fair, the new entrants in the arena of European politics have genuine and justifiable reasons to challenge the status quo. After fifty years of European consolidation that promised heaven on earth, (EU) the giant union ended up being nothing more than a bureaucratic colossus, unwieldy, intrusive and disempowering. To the European sheeple (human mass) that has been losing ground for over a decade, (for various reasons) the Brussels bureaucracy and its diktat became the target of its frustration. In regards to major issues relevant to the sheeple, the EU only extends lip service and not much more. Issues that are pushed by the major corporations, on the other hand, get the utmost attention by the EU bureaucrats. For example the European parliament,which is known for its generous remuneration to parliamentarians, is an entity without teeth, so to speak. Actual executive power resides within the European Commission and the European Council at the apex of the Brussels bureaucracy. It helps to know other major institutions like NATO, are also located there. In these collectives, the main interest is to advance the interests of transnational capital. The advertised economic benefits(since the euro) only accrued to few countries of the union. For instance, Germany benefited, rather immensely, from the EU and the Euro. On the other hand, Italy lost about a quarter of its manufacturing capacity since joining the Euro. Its youth are migrating to the other countries of Europe, US, Australia, etc., in droves. The Italian government estimates about two hundred thousands of its youth migrate annually. No wonder the Italians are up in arms, politically speaking! Surprisingly, even the Norwegians who are quite rich and secure in their homeland (Norway has one trillion USD of sovereign fund sitting around for rainy days) also seem to look for greener pastures elsewhere. Norway has one of the highest migration numbers in Europe, if not the whole world, relative to its population!
The case of Germany is a bit different. Though it is doing quite well on the economic front, the massive inward migration or immigration that is taking place became one of the main rallying factors for the new parties. What the German sheeple doesn’t realize is; Germany needs labor to keep up with its very dynamic economy. Admitted or not, labor is in short supply from within. In fact, the whole of Europe will need plenty of immigrants, if it wants to hold on to its current economic status. Demography or more accurately, decreasing population, not only in Europe, but all over the world will become a problem in the coming decades, except in Africa. In this regard, the existing order, which assumes continuous economic growth as its raison d’etre,need to be reexamined! We believe, the stabilization of the world’s human population should be taken as a blessing rather than a curse; as the earth’s resources are finite and cannot go on supporting billions and billions of people. We seriously need to come to terms with our excessive consumption (those extra stuff beyond basic needs) that has brought us neither peace nor contentment!
Africa seem to be ripe for another round of revolution, as the current polity has proved, yet again, to be not only thoroughly corrupt but also frighteningly incompetent. Flaunting thieving oligarchs as national champions or mortgaging countries to access temporal funds (to be embezzled by the elites) or celebrating dependence as achievement, selling natural resources for pittance etc., etc., have taken their tolls. As a result, the African youths are erupting all over, demanding probity, integrity, commitment, capacity, courage, etc., from their respective elites/leaders. Be that as it may, whether the current African ruling elites can actually deliver what is required of them is something that remains to be seen. In the mean time and unlike before, the African youth is not going to retreat to the background without a fight. What we are witnessing in places like Ethiopia is only a precursor of things to come! Had it been possible to expand the political space in earnest (on our continent),say like Europe, there would probably be a number of committed political parties imbued with convincing principles togalvanize the sheeple towardsa genuinely equitable and sustainable future!
Here is a statement from one who has been in the trenches: “A riot is the language of the unheard.” Reverend Martin Luther King. Good Day!

Related Stories