The surge of the British Labour party in that country’s
recent snap general election has passed for abstract conversation on this African
side of the globe. Even in a former
colony of the British Empire such as Zimbabwe apart from curiosity as to what
the fuss was all about after glancing at global news networks, there has been
no extended discussion as to what a hung British parliament would mean for its
placement in global politics let alone its approach to foreign affairs. The latter which would have a bearing on
Zimbabwe’s long standing acrimonious relationship with previous Labour
governments and a preference by our own ruling Zanu Pf party for the Conservatives.
But beyond issues to do with potential (and relatively
speculative) changes to foreign policy between Zimbabwe (or Africa) if Labour had
pipped its Conservative party rival, its equally important to reflect on the
Labour party’s campaign as led by its popular leader, Jeremy Corbyn.
And no, this is not stretching it. Not least because what the British elections
represented for some of u has been the evident shift from celebrity style
politics and campaigning as shown by the phenomenal rise in support for the British Labour party. More importantly, there is an ideological dimension
to the result wherein the more social democratic aspects of the Labour Party’s
manifesto appeared to resonate with a greater number of voters, especially
younger voters.
My own immediate reaction was to compare our local
politicians and political actors with the Labour party campaign and its
leadership style during the same.
I began with the manifestos and saw that in Zimbabwe’s case
none of our major political parties have a people-centered and welfarist
manifesto. From the ruling Zanu Pf
through to the largest opposition MDC-T and any others that have bothered to
write a full manifesto, they have all remained enamoured to neo-liberal
propositions.
Their manifestos read more like they seek to impress not the
voter but some obscure investment brokering bureaucrat on any of the opposite ends of global financial
power (New York or Beijing).
Where they appear, as in the case of the ruling party with
its current spate of provincial youth rallies, to be popular, its not on the
basis of broad democratic values and appeal.
Instead it is on the basis of patronage, patriarchy and an intention to
quite literally utilise state resources in order to get votes.
Or where it’s the opposition and its recent rallies, it is
to make public shows of support and then excoriate young people for not voting
and not seeking to fully understand the reasons why they have limited
confidence in political processes. And
some of these same reasons lie squarely at the feet of the opposition’s perpetual
ineptitude and inability to embrace internal party democracy. AS well as its single message mantra of ‘Mugabe
must go’.
Any ruling party or opposition party activists will obviously
rush to defend their own campaign methods as we trudge along to next year’s harmonised
election. They will argue about
different contexts/realities between the UK and Zimbabwe. But that will be to miss the point.
While no one can import wholesale the strategies and tactics
of the Labour party in their last campaign, we can certainly draw key lessons
from it. And I will outline just three key ones.
The first being that in electoral contests, people centred
ideas really do matter. Not just by way
of populism and purchased media but by way of democratic values and
re-establishing a state that is ‘for the many, not the few’. While the global north is beginning to counter
neo-liberalism and austerity through for example supporting Labour in the UK or
Podemos in Spain.
In the global south and in Africa in particular we are regrettably
still falling victim to the fallacies of free market economic policies. Especially where it comes disguised in radical
nationalism such as that currently utilised by Zanu PF to, in reality, implement state-capitalism through privatising
the national capital.
The second key lesson is that ‘generational praxis’ matters
when articulating progressive social democratic policies. The young, the middle aged and the mature can
share the same progressive, people centered political values and work together
to ensure change for the better occurs. Ditto Corbyn being backed by a mixed
demographic buoyed by young people’s new energy for politics.
The third lesson to be drawn from the energetic turnout for
the UK’s Labour party is that context and direct interaction with the public
still matters in political action. This includes
relating to the very real concerns of people such as those of public services,
unemployment and pensions as they apply to lived realties and seek solutions that
are most readily understood.
*Takura Zhangazha writes here in his personal capacity
(takura-zhangazha.blogspot.com)
No comments:
Post a Comment