Luckson Phala’s Post

Faulty narratives ROGER SOUTHALL a highly respected academic appears to be out of touch with the raison d’etre for liberation movements in Africa and South Africa. His argument appears to privilege diversity: “If any movement could lay claim to having “liberated” South Africa, it was the ANC. However, while aspiring to unity, the ANC was never a monolith. Indeed, it was precisely because it was always a coalescence of diverse tendencies, notably of communists and non-communists, and of “Africanists” and those committed to “non-racialism”, that so much importance was attached to the notion of its being a “liberation movement”. No, Roger - all of these forces, structures and organizations were committed to ridding South Africa from the scourge of legal apartheid. That was a system that produced racialized harms and Black Africans were at the bottom of the hierarchy. It is a testament to the ANC that many different constituencies were enrolled in the fight, but you appear to be confused about strategic intent. That confusion may actually explain why there is not more clarity around who should be the priority of any economic strategy in South Africa. We all know that thirty years after democracy, it is a much higher percentage of Black South Africans represented among those that are economically excluded and face squalor. Liberation must include economic conditions that promote human well being. I certainly hope the ANC does not follow your advice that appears to be asking for non-racialism, diversity and colorblindness to be centered. The rainbow 🌈 nation can only be a meaningful goal, when Black Africans are not at the bottom of the economic pile. Aluta Continua

🗣✏️ If any movement could lay claim to having “liberated” South Africa, it was the ANC. However, while aspiring to unity, the ANC was never a monolith. Indeed, it was precisely because it was always a coalescence of diverse tendencies, notably of communists and non-communists, and of “Africanists” and those committed to “non-racialism”, that so much importance was attached to the notion of its being a “liberation movement”. A political party was seen as just that: a grouping which represented just a “part” of the people. In contrast, the ANC was presented and viewed itself as embodying the essence of the people, the soul of the nation, and as capable of reconciling differences which might otherwise blow a historically and racially divided nation apart. It followed that those who opposed it were divisive. In other words, there was always a tension at the heart of the ANC’s notion of democracy. It was always a difficult balancing act. At one moment, it celebrated the diversity and plurality which found its form in a new constitution which was largely based on the tenets of liberal democracy. At another, it insisted on the unity of the nation under its own leadership, which was distinctly illiberal, even totalitarian. https://lnkd.in/dC74fw8q

As a new dawn ushered in this day, the 27th of April 1994, few of us could suppress the welling of emotion, as we were reminded of the terrible past from which we come as a nation; the great possibilities that we now have; and the bright future that beckons us. And so we assemble here today, and in other parts of the country, to mark a historic day in the life of our nation. Wherever South Africans are across the globe, our hearts beat as one, as we renew our common loyalty to our country and our commitment to its future.” president Nelson Mandela addressed Parliament. Today commemorates the first post-apartheidelections held on that day in 1994 and the day on which the new constitution was introduced. This happened after over 300 years of colonialism and decades of Apartheid. The elections were the first national elections where everyone of voting age of over 18 from any race group was allowed to vote. A total of 19 political parties took part in the 1994 election, and about 20 million people voted. The election was peaceful, and international observers declared it free and fair. The African National Congress won the election. On May 10, 1994, Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as the first democratically elected president of South Africa. Freedom Day is significant to South Africa’s past, present and future. It was a pivotal point in time which determined how the country would move forward after hundreds of years of racial and systemic oppression enforced by a white minority and today marks the 30th Anniversary of the country’s pivotal first democratic elections in 1994 that announced the official end of the racial segregation and oppression of apartheid.✊🏾✊🏾✊🏾 Happy Freedom Day #30YearsOfDemocracy #FreedomDay #OrganizingForSurvival #FundTheFight

Who is the greatest democrat? Part 1 Determining the "greatest" democrats in the world can be subjective and depends on various factors such as their contributions to democracy, political achievements, and impact on society. Some notable figures often mentioned in discussions about great democrats include Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Winston Churchill, and Abraham Lincoln. Each of them played significant roles in advancing democratic principles and fostering positive change in their respective countries. Democracy is a government system where power is held by the people or their elected representatives. Its key principles include political equality, the rule of law, civil liberties, majority rule with minority rights, free and fair elections, and pluralism. These principles ensure accountability, protection of individual rights, and inclusivity in decision-making. Sure, here's a brief profile of each: 1. Nelson Mandela: A South African anti-apartheid revolutionary and political leader who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election. 2. Mahatma Gandhi: An Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead India to independence from British rule. He is revered as the "Father of the Nation" in India. 3. Winston Churchill: A British statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during World War II. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders and orators in history. 4. Abraham Lincoln: The 16th President of the United States, who led the country through its Civil War and played a crucial role in the abolition of slavery. He is revered for his leadership, eloquence, and commitment to democratic principles. Would you pick MKO for Nigeria? Happy Democracy Day #DemocracyDay #Nigeria #democracy #africa

Here's a new blog piece from our D&D Fellow, Dr. John Osae-Kwapong. This time, he recalls President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo's March 6 "Our Democracy, Our Pride" speech, in which he urged citizens to be tolerant of competing viewpoints. John shares the same views: "A vibrant civic space where partisan citizens debate with passion important matters of national development should be encouraged as a necessary ingredient for building and sustaining a healthy democracy." Read the full piece here and offer your thoughts, in the spirit of tolerance: #CDDPublications #ToleranceForDemocracy

Happy Election Day, South Africa 🇿🇦 ! The 1994 elections opened doors for young dreamers and unlocked opportunities for Black South Africans who had been denied their potential. This historic day lifted the ceilings off countless lives, allowing dreams to flourish and ambitions to soar. Today, as we vote, we are reminded of that newfound freedom and the enduring promise it holds. Our choices shape the future, ensuring that every South African can continue to dream, achieve, and thrive in a nation built on the foundations of equality and opportunity: https://lnkd.in/gcT2e4Vs

This is the second part of a three-part series on political ideology in Canada and the United States. In the first part, I showed where Canadians and Americans place themselves on the political spectrum (a left-right spectrum in Canada, and a liberal-conservative spectrum in the U.S.). In this part, I will look at the relationship between political ideology and vote intention. It’s hardly surprising that, in Canada, NDP supporters are more likely than others to place themselves on the left, and Conservative supporters are more likely to place themselves on the right. But what’s much more striking is that the majority of the supporters of each of the three main federal parties place themselves in the centre. Read more here 👉https://lnkd.in/eX46M7_x

Today, Feb. 7, is an important day for #Haiti. It marks the deadline - yet again - for Haiti’s corrupt de facto Prime Minister, Ariel Henry, to step down. It also marked the end of the brutal Duvalier dictatorship in 1986, and the swearing in of Haiti’s first democratically-elected president in 1991. Feb. 7 thus represents both the promise of democracy and #Haitians’ remarkable capacity to organize themselves out of a dictatorship from the grassroots up. For actors like the United States, whose anti-Black racism has fueled their continued usurpation of #Haitian self-determination, Feb. 7 should also be a reminder that while the US government supported the Duvalier dictatorship and the years of “Duvalierism without Duvalier” that followed, Haitians were the ones building their democracy from the ground up. In the four years after the Duvalier dictatorship ended on Feb. 7, 1986, the US government backed a series of former Duvalierists who forced fraudulent elections and violently repressed opposition. Despite all odds, Haitian grassroots and civil society actors still organized their way to holding the country’s first free and fair elections in 1990. Haitians turned out in droves to elect President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was sworn in on Feb. 7, 1991. After Haitian elites - allegedly backed by #CIA agents - staged a coup that overthrew Aristide in September 1991, Haitians mobilized again to reelect Aristide in a landslide in 2000. But the democracy they built was cut short - in 2004, the #US government, threatened by Aristide’s pro-poor, anti-imperialist policies, orchestrated another coup to remove the Haitians’ chosen leader from power. Since then, Haiti has been run by a series of US-backed governments that have failed to hold a single honest election and have dismantled the democratic structures the Haitian people so painstakingly built. US support for undemocratic regimes was an impediment to Haitians building their #democracy in the ‘90s and ‘00s, and it continues to be an impediment to Haitians mobilizing to reclaim their #democracy today. Just as the US government supported the Duvaliers even as they declared themselves “Presidents for Life” and committed grave abuses against the Haitian people, it installed and continues to prop up de facto Prime Minister Henry, who lacks a constitutional or popular mandate to govern and has continued the corrupt, repressive policies of his US-backed predecessors. Even as Henry’s corruption and intransigence fuels Haiti’s insecurity and constitutional crisis, the #US government seems committed to keeping him in power for as long as that crisis persists. In doing so, the United States is not only greenlighting Henry’s undemocratic behavior, it is incentivizing him to keep doing it. This Feb. 7, we are calling on the #US government to stop propping up the undemocratic, illegitimate actors keeping Haiti unstable, and to give Haitians the space to organize their way toward #democracy.

#politics #society #nobelprize As expected France’s centrists led by Emmanuel Macron have ceded ground but not yet the majority to Marine Le Pen and the French right wing in the parliamentary elections, though they may, once all the votes are counted, giving the conservatives a majority in the country for the first time in a long time in the socialist history of France, beginning with Macron who moved it right on economics. Now the Le Pen conservatives want to move it further right on culture. America has got its own ongoing culture problem and Donald Trump’s prescription for it to overturn Barack Obama’s woke and the 1619 Project canard by intended distortion of history is to potentially end American democracy by some form of quasi white political, economic, and social dictatorship to prepare for a colored majority, white minority country by 2045, because of white replacement anxiety. These are hard census data protections. The path to 2045 began after World War II Marshall Plan reconstruction of Europe when Adolf Hitler’s Nazis were defeated. Europe got back on its feet economically, many European countries became democracies as European colonialism was pushed back around the world. The continent was split between the NATO West and Josef Stalin’s Soviet Union in a pact of convenience and political expedience to end the more destructive Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich. Europeans stopped immigrating to America and LBJ opened up U.S. immigration to the rest of the world for economic growth after which colored populations began to rise leading to the 2045 census projections. Now both monarchism and Stalinism is back in Russia and European cultural conservatives, across the entire continent, never liked either the European Commission or the euro. They prefer, like Trump, to work with Vladimir Putin and do not like the ongoing war in Ukraine one bit.

I am taking a moment to share my Letter of the Day, published in the Jamaica Gleaner: Critical to have youth participation in politics “The notion of a political voice goes beyond mere rhetoric or partisan allegiance – it embodies the collective expression of aspirations, concerns, and demands for a better future. It’s about having a seat at the table where decisions are made and policies are crafted.” Read the full letter via the link: https://lnkd.in/eq65MHcV