…democracy as the possibility of the people making collective decisions for their common good is something that cannot be taught or imposed from the outside.
By Mpandashalo Mwewa.
Lusaka, June 6 – The efforts of the victims of China’s bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in and around Tiananmen Square 34 years ago will not be forgotten, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on its anniversary last year.
“The efforts of these brave individuals will not be forgotten. Each year, we honour and remember those who stood up for human rights and fundamental freedoms. While many are no longer able to speak up themselves, we and many around the world continue to stand up on their behalf and support their peaceful efforts to promote democracy and the rights of individuals,” Blinken said.
The 4th of June, 2022 marked the 33rd anniversary of Chinese troops opening fire to end the student-led unrest in and around the square in central Beijing. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, at a routine news conference reiterated Beijing’s line on the events.
“The Chinese government has long ago come to a clear conclusion about the political incident that happened in late 1980s,” he said.
While every life that is lost is regrettable and leaders must avoid confrontational political solutions, one has to realise that the export of multiparty democracy as a governance system by the West has proven to achieve only one purpose; weaken governments with divergent political philosophies.
I have always argued that democracy as the possibility of the people making collective decisions for their common good is something that cannot be taught or imposed from the outside.
One wonders why the United States is concerned about the lives of people in cultures it barely understands when it can’t protect its own citizens from internal terrorism coming from the archaic December 15, 1791 Second Ammendment that protects the right to keep and bear arms.
It’s such a useless piece of legislation but you won’t find China or Russia interfering in this mess. Had it been the other way round, it would have been enough reason to invade the host country.
One wonders where Iraq or Libya would have been today had it not been for the USA’s decision to take democracy there by force.
China would most likely have lost sight of its long term social economic development objectives had its leadership opened doors to an alien governance system.
What can Zambia learn from this?
We urgently need a new home bred governance system that must prioritize development over politics of patronage. How can funding an election be more important than providing safe drinking water?
Real knowledge demands that we know the extent of our ignorance. Truth be told, the current political system has done more harm than good to the welfare of this country. What the celebrated Western multiparty democracy has destroyed in Zambia is beyond measure.
KK had industrialised Zambia prior to the so much talked about multiparty democracy. Recently I have heard people talk about Rwanda and the VW car assembly plant and my brain just freezes at the thought of what we destroyed in the name of plural politics.
Our much hated dictatorial political system put up the first car assembly plant in Livingstone through INDECO, the Livingstone Motor Assemblers that was commissioned in 1972. The company’s product range of vehicles were Fiat and Peugeot saloon cars and pick-ups, Mazda saloon cars and also Mercedes Benz trucks.
Apart from the Livingstone Motor Assemblers, there were other major vehicle assembly plants like in Chingola, on the Copperbelt, where we had Marounouchi Motors, a plant that used to assemble Mitsubishi Galant saloon cars, Mitsubishi pick-ups of 1 ton capacity and other light trucks of the Mitsubishi range.
Then from the friendly City of Ndola, we had Rover Zambia that used to assemble Land Rover vehicles that had ready market from govt institutions and was a must to all military wings.
There was also Leyland DAF in Lusaka with facilities to assemble heavy commercial trucks. TATA Zambia Limited used to manufacture trucks and buses.
Lusaka Engineering Company (LENCO) of Lusaka’s heavy industrial area was a parastatal organisation that used to manufacture truck bodies, bus bodies and trailers. They were also manufacturing parts/components, including fuel tanks, seat frames, exhaust systems and air tanks.
It’s not multiparty democracy which is bad but our failure to understand it. Why adopt a foreign system in the first place when we can agree that democracy as the possibility of the people making collective decisions for their common good is something that cannot be taught or imposed from the outside?
We need a political system that can develop Zambia not one that must make someone Head of State. Zambia is bigger than any one individual.
Real knowledge demands that we know the extent of our ignorance. China’s crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in and around Tiananmen Square 34 years ago is indeed regrettable but should not be frowned upon because billions of lives around the world are benefitting from a preserved prosperous China today that a few disgruntled sponsored activists by the US would have blocked had the leadership been weak.
If you are a patriot who shares our beliefs and principles that democracy and development must be driven by Zambians, remember to follow Woodpecker’s Digest where we share why we need a radical change of mindset to develop Zambia.
©2022 Woodpecker’s Digest Inc.
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