Politics of violence
Politics of violenceBy Editor
Saturday February 02, 2008 [03:00]
Following Thursday’s political violence in the run-up to the Kanyama parliamentary by-election, we wish to express our views clearly. Condemnation is always proper judgment on political violence. Crimes of this nature defile those who practice them, notwithstanding any reasons offered.
Our people are just as decisive in rejecting political violence which becomes cruel and uncontrollable when it is unleashed. Criminal acts can in no way be justified as a way to campaign for political office. Violence inexorably engenders new forms of repression, which usually prove to be more serious than the ones our politicians are allegedly trying to liberate or protect us from.
But most importantly, violence is an attack on life, which depends on the creator alone. And we must also stress that when politics appeals to violence, it thereby admits its own weakness and inadequacy.
Our responsibility as peace-loving citizens is to use all possible means to promote the implementation of non-violent tactics in the effort to re-establish justice in economic and socio-political relations. We cannot fail to praise those who renounce the use of violence in the vindication of their political rights and who resort to methods of defence which are otherwise available to weaker parties too, provided this can be done without injury to the rights and duties of others or of the community.
We are obliged to state and reaffirm that violence is neither Christian nor evangelical, and that brusque, violent political changes will be false, ineffective in themselves, and certainly inconsistent with the dignity of the people. The fact is that we realise that even the best structures and the most idealised systems quickly become inhuman if human inclinations are not improved, if there is no conversion of heart and mind on the part of those who are living in those structures or controlling them.
As we have stated before, no doctrine, no principle or proclaimed political position can justify atrocious acts such as the political violence that we saw on Thursday in Kanyama. No crime can be committed in the name of politics and election campaigns.
What is distinctively lacking among our politicians and their cadres is a culture of tolerance and humility which places the humanity of others before self and accepts that all citizens have a right to participate in the shaping of their destiny directly without fear of being injured or killed. Intolerance belies the fact that our pre-colonial societies had evolved this quality to a degree which makes us look like veritable primitives fit only to be seen in suits. Our modern leaders, our politicians and their cadres are everywhere the trouble-shooters.
Tolerance and respect for our fellow citizens should make us allow our political opponents to campaign freely and without inhibition, whether we like what they are saying or not. At the same time we should expect the same treatment when our turn comes.
This is not something we achieve instinctively. Rather, we develop it consciously and respectfully. For, our very instincts would drive us to throttling our opponents or, better still, smacking them with a deadly blow. It is quite true that tolerance implies the highest respect for the human ideal, and its denial suggests a conscious and unconscious lack of humanity on our part. Intolerance must surely rank as one of the worst forms of immorality in human affairs. We can see the horror of this in people who go out of their way to organise violence against someone for simply belonging to another political party.
What we are striving to say is that we should take pride in our political opponents, whether we like them or not. Until our politicians and their cadres redress the imbalance between selfish pursuit of power and concern for the human lives they want to be elected to serve or protect, between arrogance and self-respect and humility, between tolerance and mutual tolerance, we will forever be marching backwards in very long strides.
This is our tragedy, the inability to value every single innocent life and bring happiness to our people without attempting to brutalise them into fear. This is not democracy. Elections that are based on violence can never be said to be free and fair because people cannot be expected to freely express their will in such elections.
For us, true democracy is a growth in the confidence in the power of ordinary people to transform their country, and thus transform themselves. It is a growth in the appreciation of people organising, deciding, creating together. It is a growth of fraternal love.
What all this electoral violence seems to mean is that we have not yet come up with a viable policy which can broaden democracy in Zambia.
There must be recognition in Zambian politics that our political practices must be based on sound moral values which serve to bind us as a nation. A political system that recognises individual freedom and dignity is better placed to promote political participation.
That is, the right of individuals to self-determination in the pursuit of their constitutional rights in an open society not subject to politics of intimidation, blackmail and violence. And this should promote rational voting, that is, the right of individuals to chose their representatives under an institutional background which entrenches human freedom and dignity. Rational voting cannot take place in an electoral system based on intimidation and violence.
We want to hear more condemnations of violence by our politicians themselves, especially those whose cadres were involved in Thursday’s violence in Kanyama. We would like the police to investigate the Kanyama violence and bring the culprits to book. And this should be done not in ways we have seen before where there’s protection of cadres of the ruling party.
Let us not forget that peace is the fruit of honesty, truth and solidarity; it is the tranquility of order. And to guarantee peace, to remove electoral violence from our politics, all are called to maturity, tolerance and responsibility. Peace is a project, that is, it is something that we must work to obtain.
Labels: CADRES
posted by MrK @ 1:21 PM
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