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Africa
and Latin America: Democracies with Content
Mukoma Ngugi
September
17, 2006
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=2&ItemID=10991
Roots of Optimism and Contradictions
The Berlin Wall is dismantled
brick by brick in November of 1989. It becomes a symbol of freedom
and new beginnings. A few months into 1990 the Soviet Union collapses
and from its ruins a plethora of nations re-emerge or are newly
formed. In Africa, Namibia wins its independence from an Apartheid
government in retreat. In 1990, Nelson Mandela is released and in
1994 leads the ANC into victory. People form opposition political
parties, take to the streets and engage in national strikes that
make countries ungovernable. Dictators like Moi of Kenya have to
make democratic concessions that overtime sees them out of office.
The fear spawned by years of civilian and military dictatorships
is gone. All is possible. In short, the 1990’s become a time of
hope.
But in the euphoria two questions are
left unanswered. The Cold War was between two Empires. What will
the victor do with the spoils of war? And if Communism was an answer
to a problematic capitalism, what happens when a vaccine fails to
inoculate? For the first question a New World Order that projects
a gentler and kinder US is declared into effect by George Bush Sr.
And for the second question Capitalism as victor becomes capitalism
as cure. The problem becomes the Welfare State, bloated bureaucracies,
and corruption not capitalism. Enter the world of global capitalism
and I.M.F. Structural Adjustment Programs whose mainstay is the
privatization of government subsidized social programs. Free or
government subsidized health, education and housing programs are
privatized.
For the world majority poor conditions
remain stagnant or worsen. According to Globalpolicy.org, "3
billion people live on less than $2 per day while 1.3 billion get
by on less than $1 per day". In Africa, a Human Development
Report through the office of the United Nations Development Program
(UNDP) indicates that close to half of Sub-Saharan Africa’s population
"some 313 million people – survive on less than $1 day [and]
poverty incidence today is roughly the same as in 1990". The
report also states that it is in only in Sub-Africa where the number
of infant mortality, a staggering 4.8 million each year, is on the
rise.
In here then is the problem which comes
to a head first in Latin America and which in Africa is reaching
a boiling point. On the one hand a Western democracy that promises
checks and balances of the Executive Branch, Judiciary and Legislature
but without the content that would make democracy meaningful. In
effect the end result is a façade with the three pillars
of democracy rising out of growing seas of poverty. Forgotten is
that democracy is desirable only if it can deliver what it promises.
For the poor freedom ought to bring with it better housing, health,
education and the promise that one’s children will have a better
life. But in effect this democracy becomes one that preaches freedom
while in real day to day living terms increases suffering. It is
this contradiction that fuels the move toward the left in Latin
America.
People Power and Democracy
with Content
In Latin America this
contradiction is best captured by fight for water. The attempt to
privatize water, a natural resource that as far as most people are
concerned falls free from the sky comes to symbolize the New World
Order and the myth of a global village. If water rights can be sold
off to the highest bidder and the village watering hole belong to
a United Something Company, where it will stop? Take Bolivia for
example. The Bechtel Corporation is granted a 40 year water right
by the Hugo Banzer’s government. Immediately Bechtel doubles the
water rates for the already poor. The poor take to streets; the
government meets their protests with riot police in which lives
are lost. More protests and the government concedes defeat and the
contract is cancelled.
In Bolivia and other Latin American
countries, people have learned that People Power (first used successfully
in the Philippines against Ferdinand Marcos) can be a fourth pillar
in the triad of the executive, legislature and judiciary. In fact,
it can even change governments. Before Evo Morales, there is Hugo
Chavez of Venezuela who with popular support in 1998 leads the Fifth
Republic Party into power. In 2002, Néstor Carlos Kirchner
in Argentina, following a devastating economic collapse, comes into
power. In Chile, Michelle Bachelet, described as either a socialist
or center-left in January, 2006 was elected. What unites all these
leaders, in spite of a difference in ideologies and their own set
of contradictions is a common platform that is opposed to the excesses
of neo-liberal policies, global capitalism and dependency on the
World Bank and IMF. And they are People Power leaders.
Africa seems to be moving in the same
direction. In South Africa movements against the privatization of
water and public services or what they term as ‘neo-apartheid’ are
on the rise. In Nigeria, the excesses of oil companies are being
opposed in the Delta region. In Kenya, when the government closed
down a national paper, The Standard, earlier this year citing a
national security threat, thousands of people took to the streets.
The paper was running the following day. The World Social Forum
(a powerful anti-globalization forum) held its 2006 annual meeting
in Bamako, Mali as well as in Caracas, Venuzulea. In 2007, it will
be meeting in Nairobi, Kenya. It is not difficult to project that
as the contradiction of a democracy without content becomes more
pronounced, grass root organizations will field their own candidates
or support those candidates that share a similar platform as the
People Power leaders of Latin America.
It should be noted that Africa is also
registering protest against the New World Order by "Looking
East". China has growing trade and military relations with
countries across the African alphabet – Angola to Zimbabwe with
South Africa as its largest trading partner on the continent. In
April 2006, China reached an oil deal with Nigeria and in early
May signed an oil exploration deal with Kenya. The West can no longer
assume a monopoly that goes unchallenged. But "Looking East"
is also problematic. China as it is now understood is a country
with a communist head and a capitalist body- and it is hungry. "Third
worldism’, an ideology of comradeship that tied China to Africa
in the past no longer holds today. As cheaper Chinese goods are
imported, what is happening to local African industries? Will an
asphyxiating Chinese bear hug replace Russian and Western bear hugs?
Is Africa simply trading one master for another?
Longetivity
The question of whether
People Power can be sustained for a long period of time remains.
Popular energy cannot be sustained. People coalesce around an immediate
threat and disperse when the threat seems to have subsided. As global
capitalism learns to make concessions People Power will loose momentum.
There is also an impressive array of forces against People Power:
Local and international business interests, a hostile local and
international media and a Washington that seeks to undermine these
new leaders. African countries that model themselves along Latin
American lines can expect to face the same forces of opposition.
Unless South Africa, Nigeria and other wealthy African countries
are in a position to play the same role as Venezuela of supporting
other People Power governments, longetivity will be out of the question.
There are two things however that might
suggest otherwise: changes that benefit the people once made are
difficult to reverse. The economic, social and political gains in
Latin America also serve to protect the governments in power. In
Latin America there is an axis of mutual support where rich oil
Venezuela can bail out a cash strapped Argentina when need arises
thereby cutting out the Western aid which comes with anti-people
conditions. This means that an example of alternative approaches
to change is there for all to see and emulate and African People
Power leaders can look to Latin America for support. Previously
only a Cuba under siege was willing to play this role but now there
are more avenues of support.
Secondly there is the historical connection
between Africa and Latin America that goes way back to the days
of slavery and today there are large populations of Latin African
Americans. As democratic spaces open in Latin America and racism
against Afro-Latinos lifts up, they will demand foreign policies
that are cognizant of this historical relationship.
Addressing the Caracas World Social
Forum earlier this year, Hugo Chavez said that "We [Latin Americans]
carry Africa inside us, Africa is part of us, Latin Caribbean America
cannot be understood without Africa and the sacrifice of Africa
and the grandeur of Africa, brother continent, brother people".
For African political activists, recognizing that they are locked
in the same struggle as their Latin American counterparts is really
a question of mutual survival. As more People Power governments
come into existence, the likelihood of their survival into the future
will also increase. In a sense then, People Power governments are
here to stay as long the people will it.
Mukoma Wa Ngugi is the author of
Hurling Words at Consciousness (Africa World Press) and Conversing
with Africa: Politics of Change (KPH). Mukoma is also a columnist
for the BBC Focus on Africa Magazine. A shorter version of this
article first appeared in the July- September 2006 issue of the
magazine.
Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.
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