Democracy for Breakfast. Unveiling Mirage Democracy in Contemporary Africa

Tatah Mentan

Description

Democracy is the faith that the process of experience is more important than any special result attained, so that special results achieved are of ultimate value only as they are used to enrich and order the ongoing process. Africans must therefore be allowed to apply their cultural and historical experiences and talents in working out a pattern of 'government of the people, by the people, and for the people' according to their own understanding and as their own peculiar circumstances demand. Those who do not want the vertical 'Western-Style Democracy' must be given a fair chance to demonstrate an alternative African horizontal democracy. Perhaps what they come up with might be of benefit to politics even in the West, provided that their radical system of horizontal democracy protects the life, liberty and property of citizens, and provided that the people want it. The question of externally imposed or market-driven multi-party or dual-party or non-party is a matter of modality and should not occupy the center stage in Africa.

Sujets

• Political Ideologies
• Political Science
• African
• African people
• World
• Democracy

Informations

• Publié par: Langaa RPCIG
• Date de parution: 11 août 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9789956791040
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 4 Mo

Extrait

DEMOCRACY FOR BREAKFAST? DEMOCRACY FOR BREAKFAST? U NVEILING M IRAGE D EMOCRACYIN C ONTEMPORARY A FRICA

TATAH MENTAN

DEMOCRACY FOR BREAKFAST? Unveiling Mirage Democracy in Contemporary Africa Tatah Mentan

L a ng a a R esea rch & P u blishing CIG Mankon, Bamenda

Publisher: LangaaRPCIG Langaa Research & Publishing Common Initiative Group P.O. Box 902 Mankon Bamenda North West Region Cameroon [e-mail] www.langaa-rpcig.net Distributed in and outside N. America by African Books Collective [e-mail] www.africanbookcollective.com ISBN: 9956-791-27-X ©Tatah Mentan 2013

DISCLAIMER

All views expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Langaa RPCIG.

Dedication

To

Daniel Yang (Fai Mbuh)

Sammy Chumfong

Bernard Fonlon

who taught us to:

Listen attentively

Read critically

Think profoundly

And

Write addictively

Table of Contents Foreword……………………………………………………….vii Part One: Profile of Neoliberal Ideology……………………..1 Chapter 1: Introduction: Context, Concepts and Substance…… 3 Chapter 2: At the Core of Neoliberal Ideology…………………37 Part Two: Neoliberalism, State and Global Governance……105 Chapter 3: A Critique of Market-Driven Democracy….………..107 Chapter 4: The Neoliberal State in General……………………. 133 Part Three: Neoliberalism and Thought Control In Africa….183

Chapter 5: Thought Control: Unveiling Corporate Manipulation: The Media……………………………………………………...185 Chapter 6: Unveiling Neoliberal Thought Control: Education………………………………………….…………...239 Part Four: Future with African Democracy………..…………277 Chapter 7: Summary, Reprise and Typologies…………………. 279 Chapter 8: Toward African Democracy?.......................................... 315

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Foreword

“Even Jesus Christ cannot conduct a free and fair election in Nigeria”-Obasanjo, Olusegun inGbengaToye’s Blog,accessed 6/24/13. “Democracy is like beauty: you know it when you see it” – Anonymous. “Just too much democracy in Ghana! But… No water! No electricity! No food! No money! Do we eat democracy? Do we feed our children with democracy? All politicians-rogues! They come to us only when there is election! After election, you don’t see them again!” Anonymous Accra Market woman to a BBC Reporter, 12/17/2012. “Development is dead. Only politics is alive. When you wake up and tune to CRTV you only hear politics. Politicians led by President Paul Biya give us democracy for breakfast, lunch and supper. CRTV gives the impression that Biya Popol has given us life. He is the only God to be praised for giving us life as our life President. Under Popol Cameroon don die finish. Today it is démocracie avancée; tomorrow it is démocracie apaisée. No! No développement avancé? No développement apaisé?” Source:groups.yahoo.com/group/SCMG NOTICEBOARD/message/1862?var...accessed 4/9/2010. In Egypt, young revolutionaries feeling despair, “Some of those who acted as the shock troops of 2011’s revolution in Egypt see themselves as lost under the ruling Islamists,” January 01, 2013,by Reem Abdellatif,Los Angeles Times. “I can’t believe we are fighting again for the right to vote.” ZANU(PF) election slogan, June 2000. In March 2002 there were variations on the theme such as ‘People First. Our land is our prosperity,’ ‘Work the Land, Reap Prosperity; Build the Nation,’ and ‘What Would You Vote For? Plots to Kill … or Plots to Till. On March 9 and 10 Vote for Your Land, Vote for President R.G. Mugabe.’

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Introduction These disparate and desperate voices of despair all point to the fact that democracy has become a mirage in contemporary Africa. In fact, “Democracy” is in, and “development” is out as buzzwords for Africa. The very “development” idea and word are in apparently terminal crisis. The new idea to replace it is “democracy.” Why? The reason for the proliferation of these discordant voices is that neoliberalism or corporate market-driven economics has become the dominant economic ideology of the last decades which insists upon an extreme separation of government and capital so that the market can operate “freely.” According to this reasoning, the market operates only in the interests of individuals without allegiance to the collective society. Government exists solely to provide basics such as standards for weights and measures, laws and courts to protect property and infrastructure for the market. The ideology welcomes state intervention only when that intervention is to corporate advantage as in trade agreements, bailouts or corporate welfare. Under neoliberalism, state resources and public programs such as health and education are decreasingly funded and increasingly privatized. The agenda of neoliberalism is to create globalized states in Africa. The government of any globalized state serves the interests of transnational capital devoid of any real connection to the people of the nation. The globalized state rules through economic structures such as trade agreements, the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, World Trade Organization and through international military actions. Neoliberalism therefore is the default position of capitalism to which it reverts unless restrained by popular struggles against its institutionalized rule in political systems such as neofeudalism, managed democracy and inverted totalitarianism. Neofeudalism: This is the reconfiguration of a political and economic system to create an empowered tiny oligarchic elite class. It bears the structure described by George Orwell in “1984” in which there is an inner party (2 to 4 percent) of corporate and political managers, an outer party (12 to 14 percent) that consists of managers, the national security state and the propaganda arm, and the rest of the

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population exists as “proles.” This is commonplace not only in South Africa but also in countries like Morocco and many others in Africa. Managed Democracy:is a governmental system that This includes widespread voter franchise and competitive elections. But, the elections are managed so that no matter what candidate(s) are elected, the elites win. The role of citizens in government is to choose between two pre-selected candidates, neither of whom will represent the people’s interests and both of whom will represent solely the corporate elites’ interests. The main feature of such a system is political theater. One sees such a system in all Francophone countries in Africa. Inverted Totalitarianism:Classical totalitarianism is the model of Hitler or Mussolini. In this case an all-powerful government is led by a charismatic leader that partners with business interests in a national security state. Inverted totalitarianism is a similar marriage of government and business, but the measures employed to maintain this relationship are more subtle. It is the coming of age of corporate power, maintained through a security state working in tandem with corporate propaganda that permeates influential institutions such as the media, education, popular culture and evangelical religion as in Nigeria. A new vocabulary is thus developing to describe the current state of democracy under neoliberal globalization In Africa. Strangely, instead of: “Democracy”demokratiademos+ = kratia; or democracy = people+power, one finds this distortion:Capitalism=Democracy. The peddling of this equation is deceitful in that capitalism is an economic system based on private ownership of capital, goods and the means of production. Goods and services are produced for profit. It is an inherently unequal system. Under capitalism therefore, there is a separation of political and economic power, which gives people the false impression of democratic participation. The argument of this book is therefore that for democracy to flourish and deliver on its promises in Africa-including political participation, human rights, access to justice, a good education, an improved quality of life, a healthy environment, and personal security—its citizens must be informed, engaged, empowered, and assertive. Similarly, institutions of governance must be culturally

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