Africa’s elites, minus its extremely few ‘organic intellectuals’, are way out of their depth when it comes to understanding, let alone solving, the formidable and protracted problems facing the continent. All across the region, the African sheeple (human mass) seem to have resigned to the fact that its current crop of leadership, not only political, might not be up to the task. Hence, the more daring youth are voting with their feet, while the silent majority, restless as ever, is waiting for the right moment to pounce on perceived enemies! In the mean time, the politicos, in conjunction with their hand picked parasitic oligarchs are enjoying their loot, seemingly oblivious to simmering resentments. They better learn from MENA (Middle East & North Africa)! See Yash’s article on Mugabe next column and others on page 44.
What is sad is; African leaders fear their own people. They have literally stopped consulting their populous on vital matters concerning collective life. They tend to rely on outsiders on how to deal with the continent’s severe problems. Running around the world, begging for funds to cover shortfalls in government revenues or take massive foreign loans to sustain unsustainable life styles, etc., etc., cannot secure the future; and the sheeple knows it! Pretension after pretension cannot build trust. As situations deteriorate, our leaders, instead of opening up to new alternatives (ideas/plans/trajectories, etc.) are doubling down on old unworkable formulas. In addition, our compromised elites/useful idiots, holler for increased subjugation. Where in the world have we seen countries bettering their lot by the wholesale abandonment of self-responsibility? Unsurprisingly, these ‘useful idiots’ or more like ‘useless idiots’ are given free reign to disseminate their propaganda, leveraging paid media, (both state and private). Prudent analysis challenging the lopsided world order, with a view to introducing trajectories that promise a more egalitarian, a more democratic and a more resilient livelihood is systemically relegated to the back burner, so to speak. This is one of the reasons why we have always been advocating for various media platforms under the control of living communities. Community media fully funded by the state, but with complete autonomy from the state and the market (managed by popularly elected individuals) is of the essence, if the sheeple is going to be enlightened about the real workings of the world system. Not allowing facts & truth to come to light will not guarantee a promising future. It is obvious that mouthpieces of the state and big business (adverts, sponsorship) do not want the sheeple to be well informed. What they want is a dumbed down populous for easy manipulation and gluttonous consumption, in short-the reproduction of zombies! See The Saker’s/Orlov’s article on page 44.
Africa, as the last frontier (at least to the daft system that only regards nature as a mere geological entity for resource exploitation) is still in contention amongst the powerful, both old and new. Transnational capital and its subservient hominoid, who are not amenable to the logic of life, are working to weaken/destabilize the continent with the hope of accessing one of the earth’s last remaining resources. We admit, trying to carve a more sustainable livelihood without bowing down to the destructive prevailing order, is not for the faint hearted. This project requires committed, creative, competent, confident, conscience, consciousness, co-operative, compassionate and high caliber leadership. These C’s are very important, if we want to have dignified existence worthy of its name. That is why there is an urgent need for a new breed of intellectual revolutionaries endowed with as many C’s as possible, to tackle the serious challenges we are all facing. To start with, we need to go back and examine the basics; do we produce what we need? If not, what are we going to do about it. Why should we embark on a blind trajectory that is certainly not sustainable? We Africans should realize that it is only life that is sacrosanct; everything else is secondary. When the globally operating polarizing economic system threatens life, we should reject it, comprehensively, before it destroys us all; period! Our experimentations with dead end paradigms should end, once and for all.
Developmentalism is superfluous when conflicts (actual/pending) rage on the ground. To galvanize the sheeple to the cause of ‘developmentalism’, capable leadership (not only political) needs to legitimize itself, first and foremost! But legitimacy is a complex animal that cannot be tamed at will. It is based, essentially, on moral integrity, proven through time. It cannot be attained by various quick fixes. Had that been the case, the Saudi royals and their billionaire oligarchs in custody would have secured it long ago. Their stolen money peddled out to charitable organizations (many of them dubious), should have helped. Their propaganda machine employed all over the world, to give them aura of invincibility and credibility should have elevated their status from crookedness to uprightness. Instead, over 90% of Saudi’s sheeple supports their imprisonment and the confiscation of their loot. Legitimacy is also based on transparent achievements. It cannot be superficially imposed from the top down, but has to grow from the root up. Thieving leadership (political, business, etc.) can never attain genuine legitimacy. Mediocrity (a common feature of the bureaucracy) and impostering (a common feature of criminally oriented businesses), which are currently let loose on the gullible global sheeple, don’t build legitimacy! See Smith’s article on page 46. Moreover, oligarchs and their degenerate culture can hardly appeal to the masses, however much it is pushed by the parasitic entities of society. In fact, flaunting decadence, facilitated by stolen money is an insult, an affront to those who bleed and sweat to make ends meet. Let alone legitimacy, even credibility needs proven history. Even though credibility is mostly about proficiency and tends to be morally blind, it still has its purposes. Don’t have any doubt; the global sheeple will soon be out on the streets with its ropes and pitchforks. Only genuine engagement with the large majority of people, however difficult, can secure peace and stability. There is no way out!
A wing of the Saudi royal family was willing to affect a purge in the fiefdom of blood relations, to save their skin. Why on earth should this be difficult in many of the African countries that had undergone serious revolutionary upheavals in their recent history? Here is a timely warning: “Revolution never comes with a warning, and this is because it usually seethes on the back burner until the top blows off.’ Gary Franchi. Good Day!