"
The images that come out from this exchange are those of a doctrinal,
exaggerated and maybe even sombre Mann, in contrast to a bubbly,
open-minded, practical and wise Yeats. Reality, however, is rarely
natty; rather, it tends to be bland and sometimes even gruesome. The
events that occurred a little after that exchange and the history of
that season proved Mann’s views to be right and those of Yeats to be
completely wrong. Nazism and Fascism became real in Europe and
millions of lives were thrown into disarray by Roman (Italian),
Russian and Spanish politics, couples were separated, many of those
kinds of girls that took Yeats’ attention became widows, and even more
young men died without ever tasting the carnal joys a lover can give.
Political decisions and misdeeds in that season caused the deaths of
more than 62 million people, most of who were non-partisan civilians.
In the present
season, many people living in the Western world have a propensity for
political apathy; their reasons being mainly that their politicians
say more or less the same things. Researches have shown that most
eligible voters in Western Europe and North America don’t even trust
those politicians that promise drastic changes or undertake to provide
some needed services. They are conscious that nothing comes free in
life and are mainly concerned that political promises tend to mean
more expenses, and for these to be met more taxes may be asked for or
some public services will be reduced. Most people living in these
countries are protected by structures and reforms that were put in
place when many of their present political leaders were either babies
or not yet born. All they ask politicians today is not to destroy what
they already have. Consequently, who (save for some political
aspirants campaigning to win a marginal seat) really cares about the
number of voters in an election?
Things,
however, have not always been that way. History is full of examples
where Westerners have come out with force, sometimes with fury and
sometimes tactically, to challenge or to push for a position that
concerned them. Within the last hundred years, ordinary men and women
have taken up arms or formed resistance organisations to liberate
their countries and neighbouring ones from dictators and their
ideologies; women have taken to the streets to demand their right to
vote; people have forced the issues of social reforms into the
political agenda; voters have gone to the ballot boxes en masse to
change leaders perceived not be in tune with the voters or to keep
away some people or elements deemed dangerous for the country. A
combination of intellectual and popular pressure has forced the
environmental issues into discussions held in political and corporate
palaces. However, when there is peace in these lands, when
infrastructures are not threatened, when people continue to work and
to own and increase their assets, when everybody (including eccentrics
and provocateurs) is free to say what they wish, Westerners care
little about politics — they suspend their activism and revert to a
season of political apathy.
The situation
is completely different in Africa, and in most developing countries.
In Nigeria, roads are still bad, the public health system is a shadow
of what it should be, many of the educational institutions certify
rather than educate their students, people are waylaid and killed in
various parts of the countries, businesses are choked by lack of clear
and certain rules (many of them having to spend fortunes on common
amenities such as security and electric power supply), and as a result
cannot compete with their counterparts from other parts of the world.
Most young people are now forced into placing their hopes in making
the right contact or getting the right visa rather than strive to
apply their talents or skills. Most of the people in Nigeria are
poverty-stricken and don’t trust or respect their rulers; many of them
feel that a good number of their rulers should be in prison rather
than in power. We are in a season that needs a lot to be done,
politics still plays a central role in people’s lives but alas apathy
reigns.
Nigerians are
not normally politically apathetic people — while those in the West
are apathetic because they are more or less satisfied and do not
expect a lot more from politics, Nigerians tend to sink into apathy
due to frustration. It is a psychological and social shell of
protection for people who have been disappointed, cheated and
humiliated; it is a shell from where they judge political ideas and
politicians with suspicion and cynicism. Decades of arbitrary
regimentation, years of political uncertainty, fear of reprisal
against the lives and properties of those who dissent or point out
some basic facts when faced with an array of socio-political injustice
and a hypertrophy of clearly wrong legislations and nominations — all
have forced and fooled people into believing that the best one can do
is to find a way to survive, manage the manageable, mind their own
shed while the whole market is being ravished, and just pray and hope,
because there is little we can do.
The new season
we are approaching is one that gives us the opportunity to review and
renew things. It is a season where technology — mainly the Internet,
GSM telephones and digital and satellite TV — has made the world a
smaller place, easier to see, faster to communicate in and easier to
intervene in. We can now, real time, see in examples from around of
how to deal with tyrants, incompetent and illegitimate rulers. It is
now easier to communicate our anxiety and proposals to friends and
communities. There are now websites that comment on issues amongst
faceless strangers but with an osmosis that will suggest familiarity
and a sense of shared values. In Nigeria, preparations are on their
way for the 2007 elections, and political aspirants are rightly
getting their tools ready. It is a season to review the past and to
start afresh; politicians know they are not safe and they will do all
they can to stay or get into power. What seems to be missing is the
presence of that same civil society that laments the calibre of its
rulers and the quality of their stewardship. It will be rather naive
of people to count on aspiring and incumbent rulers to renounce their
power and ambition voluntarily or to improve their stewardship for the
greater good of the country. People have to compel political parties
to present only capable candidates, to induce these to talk only about
real policies and issues and to demonstrate how they can solve the
problems hindering the progress of the country. People have to come
out of their shells, suspend their political apathy and shape their
future.
The immediate
advantages of being active in this season are psychological and moral.
Participants will share some of the dividends that the valorial
definition democracy promises; they will enjoy the feeling of getting
their country back, setting the agenda for their country, like true
masters of their fate; they will be able to choose who serves them and
how they are served. Most people reading here are not just ordinary
helpless citizens. Those who read this kind of article tend to have
their own opinions and principles — you are people who can do a lot to
shape the future of your country if you decide to come out of your
political apathy. Merely reading and pointing out limits and merits of
an article is not enough any more. There is a lot each of us can do to
help improve the prospects of our country and it is not always
necessary to run for office, march in the streets or organise rallies.
Sometimes it is enough to point out to our friends and members of our
communities a candidate or an idea that we judge to be good or risky
for the country.
We can achieve
a lot by cautioning our friends and families about the risks of
succumbing to the whims of powerful but incompetent people and
practices. Even those who have successfully managed their own private
stall in a ravaged market will gain a lot if they decide to influence
the future of the country for the better. Talented Nigerians and
millionaires who deal in the international arena know that they
generally have more to prove than their counterparts, who maybe as
individuals have less to offer but have behind them a credible,
respected and stabile country. International and local businesses and
professionals will see concrete gains in operating in a country with
basic infrastructures. If invested with a forthright spirit, and for
the common good, a negligible part of our time, money, influence and
ideas can go a long way to improve things for our country.
It must be
said that, no matter how little we decide to do, it will still be a
sacrifice. We will have to deal with the scepticism, cynicism and
apathy of others, in a country with many paid sycophants and
opportunists; we might even be confused as, and be accused of being,
another one of them, but we should bear in mind the reason for our
actions, remember that we are doing something good, that good things
require efforts and sacrifices, that our allegiance is to our
conscience and to the future of our lands.
Not doing
anything or succumbing to history will erode the moral authority we
have to criticise incompetent or corrupt rulers and to be irritated by
public malpractices and disgraceful political misdeeds. We should all
come out of our shells, suspend our apathy and actively do something
for our future. We can choose issues we are most concerned about and
write about them to the bodies or offices in charge; we can make sure
the person in charge realises how important the issue is; we must
identify valuable candidates and ideas and support them. Let us all
imagine that one day our children, history and those that come after
us might ask us: “What did you do to make things better?” We should
have a credible and imitable answer to give.
In this season
I have decided that my personal commitment is to help in the process
of sanitising the public arena and to raise the level of the national
political debate. I will help those working for an issue-based,
policy-focused political campaign and a free and fair election. Pat
Utomi’s bid for presidency seems to be going in that direction, and I
am doing all I can to support it. I hope readers will join us to
support the bid, and point out others who are worthy of support for
the transformation we desperately need in Nigeria.
