How ought Ugandans organise themselves politically today?
central africa |
miscellaneous |
opinion / analysis
Wednesday May 18, 2005 21:40 by joram jojo - ?
Ugandan anarchist on the problems of the party system
The party system is the modern equivalent of the tribal or sectarian system. A society governed by one party is similar to one which is governed by one tribe or one sect. The party, as shown, represents the perception of a certain group of people, or the interests of one group in society, or one belief, or one region. Such a party is a minority compared with the whole people, just as the tribe and the sect are
Uganda anarchist looks inside Political Wankers
The problem of the instrument of government entails questions of the
following kind. What form should the exercise of authority assume?
How ought ugandans to organise themselves politically in the modern
world? Do politicians care about the suffering especially in northern
Uganda?
The conflict in northern Uganda is the result of the failure to
resolve this problem of authority. It has clearly become more serious
with the transtion to "multparty democray that power has been put
before the plight of our brothers and sisters in northern uganda.
The populace today face this persistent question in new and
pressing ways. Ugandans are exposed to the risks of uncertainty, and
suffer the grave consequences of wrong answers. Yet none has
succeeded in answering it conclusively and democratically. THE All
political systems in the Uganda today is a product of the struggle
for power between alternative instruments of government. This
struggle is pathetic, as is evidenced among NRM-O, FDC, UPC, DP and
individuals. The outcome will be the victory of a particular
governing structure - be it that of an individual, group, party or
class - and the defeat of the people in northern uganda; the defeat
of genuine democracy and Justice.
Political struggle that will result in the victory of a candidate
with, for example, 51 per cent of the votes will lead to a
dictatorial governing body in the guise of a false democracy, since
49 per cent of the electorate are likely to be ruled by an instrument
of government they did not vote for, but which has been imposed upon
them. Such is dictatorship.Besides, this political conflict may
produce a governing body that represents only a minority mainly from
western Uganda. For when votes are distributed among several
candidates, though one polls more than any other, the sum of the
votes received by those who received fewer votes might well
constitute an overwhelming majority. However, the candidate with
fewer votes will win and his success will be regarded as legitimate
and democratic! In actual fact, dictatorship is established under the
cover of false democracy. This is the reality of the political
systems prevailing in Uganda today. They are dictatorial systems and
it is evident that they falsify genuine democracy.
PARLIAMENTS
Parliament is the backbone of that conventional democracy
prevailing in Uganda today - they preach to us. Parliament is a
misrepresentation of the people, and parliamentary systems are a
false solution to the problem of democracy. A parliament is
originally founded to represent the people, but this in itself is
undemocratic as democracy means the authority of the people and not
an authority acting on their behalf. The mere existence of a
parliament means the absence of the people. True democracy exists
only through the direct participation of the people, and not through
the activity of their representatives. Uganda Parliament has been a
legal barrier between the people in north and the exercise of
authority in the south, excluding the masses from meaningful politics
and monopolising sovereignty in their place. People have been left
with only a facade of a democracy, manifested in long queues to cast
their election ballots and ques for handouts in concentration camps.
To lay bare the character of parliamentarians, one has to examine
their origin. They are either elected from constituencies, a party,
or a coalition of parties(G-6), or are appointed(NRM). But all of
these procedures are undemocratic, for dividing the population into
tribal constituencies means that one member of parliament represents
thousands, hundreds of thousands. It also means that a member keeps
few popular organisational links with the electors since he, like
other members, is considered a representative of the whole people.
This is what the prevailing traditional democracy requires.
The masses are completely isolated from the representative and
they, in turn, are totally removed from them. Immediately after
winning the electors' votes the representative takes over the
people's sovereignty and acts on their behalf. The prevailing
traditional democracy endows the member of parliament with a
sacredness and immunity which are denied to the rest of the people.
Uganda Parliament, therefore, has become a means of plundering and
usurping the authority of the people. It is the right of Ugandans to
struggle, through popular revolution, to destroy such instruments -
the so-called parliamentary democracy which usurp democracy and
sovereignty, and which stifle the will of the people. The masses have
the right to proclaim reverberantly the new principle: no
representation in lieu of the people.
If parliament is formed from one party(NRM-O) as a result of its
winning an election, it becomes a parliament of wankers and not of
the people. It represents the party and not the people, and the
executive power of the parliament becomes that of the best wankers
and not of the people. The same is true of the parliament of
proportional representation in which each party holds a number of
seats proportional to their success in the popular vote.
The members of the parliament represent their respective parties
and not the people, and the power established by such a coalition is
the power of the combined parties and not that of the people. Under
such systems, Wanainchi are the victims whose votes are vied for by
exploitative competing factions who dupe the people into political
circuses that are outwardly noisy and frantic, but inwardly powerless
and irrelevant. Alternatively, the people are seduced into standing
in long, apathetic, silent queues to cast their ballots in the same
way that they throw toilet paper in the toilet. This is the
traditional democracy prevalent in Uganda, whether it is represented
by a one-party(NRM), two-party(UPC-KY), multiparty(G-6) or non-party
system. Thus it is clear that representation is a fraud.
Moreover, since the system of elected parliaments is based on
propaganda to win votes, it is a demagogic system in the real sense
of the word. Votes can be bought and falsified. Poor people are
unable to compete in the election campaigns, and the result is that
only the rich get elected. Assemblies constituted by appointment or
hereditary succession(Museveni's / Obote's son) do not fall under any
form of democracy.
Thinkers, and writers advocated the theory of representative
parliaments at a time when people were unconsciously herded like
goats by kabaka and colonialists. The ultimate aspiration of the
people of those times was to have someone to represent them before
such rulers. When even this aspiration was rejected, people waged
bitter and protracted struggle to attain that goal.
After the successful establishment of the age of the republics
and the beginning of the era of the masses, it is unthinkable that
democracy should mean the electing of only a few representatives to
act on behalf of 2 million people living in Museveni's concentration
camps. This is an obsolete structure. Authority must be in the hands
of all of the people. The most tyrannical dictatorship Uganda has
existed under the aegis of NRM parliament.
THE PARTY
The party is a contemporary form of dictatorship. It is the
modern instrument of dictatorial government. The party is the rule of
a part over the whole. As a party is not an individual, it creates a
superficial democracy by establishing assemblies, committees, and
propaganda through its members. The party is not a democratic
instrument because it is composed only of those people who have
common interests, a common perception or a shared culture; or those
who belong to the same region or share the same belief. They form a
party to achieve their ends, impose their will, or extend the
dominion of their beliefs, values, and interests to the society as a
whole. A party's aim is to achieve power under the pretext of
carrying out its program. Democratically, none of these parties
should govern a whole people who constitute a diversity of interests,
ideas, temperaments,regions and beliefs. The party is a dictatorial
instrument of government that enables those with common outlooks or
interests to rule the people as a whole. Within the community, the
party represents a minority.
The purpose of forming a party is to create an instrument to rule
the people, i.e., to rule over non-members of the party. The party
is, fundamentally, based on an arbitrary authoritarian concept - the
domination of the members of the party over the rest of the people.
The party presupposes that its accession to power is the way to
attain its ends, and assumes that its objectives are also those of
the people. This is the theory justifying party dictatorship, and is
the basis of any dictatorship. No matter how many parties exist, the
theory remains valid.
The existence of many parties intensifies the struggle for power,
and this results in the neglect of any achievements for the people
and of any socially beneficial plans. Such actions are presented as a
justification to undermine the position of the ruling party so that
an opposing party can replace it. The parties very seldom resort to
arms in their struggle but, rather, denounce and denigrate the
actions of each other. This is a battle which is inevitably waged at
the expense of the higher, vital interests of the society. Some, if
not all, of those higher interests will fall prey to the struggle for
power between instruments of government, for the destruction of those
interests supports the opposition in their argument against the
ruling party or parties. In order to rule, the opposition party has
to defeat the existing instrument of government.
To do so, the opposition must minimize the government's
achievements and cast doubt on its plans, even though those plans may
be beneficial to the society. Consequently, the interests and
programs of the society become the victims of the parties' struggle
for power. Such struggle is, therefore, politically, socially, and
economically destructive to the society, despite the fact that it
creates political activity.
Thus, the struggle results in the victory of another instrument
of government; the fall of one party, and the rise of another. It is,
in fact, a defeat for the people, i.e., a defeat for democracy.
Furthermore, parties can be bribed and corrupted either from inside
or outside.(Ask DP & UPC)
Originally, the party is formed ostensibly to represent the
people. Subsequently, the party leadership becomes representative of
the membership, and the leader represents the party elite. It becomes
clear that this partisan game is a deceitful farce based on a false
form of democracy. It has a selfish authoritarian character based on
maneuvres, intrigues and political games. This confirms the fact that
the party system is a modern instrument of dictatorship. The party
system is an outright, unconvincing dictatorship, (Obote &
Semogerere have headed their parties 20+ years)one which the world
has not yet surpassed. It is, in fact, the dictatorship of the modern
age.
The parliament of the winning party is indeed a parliament of the
party, for the executive power formed by this parliament is the power
of the party over the people. Party power, which is supposedly for
the good of the whole people, is actually the arch-enemy of a
fraction of the people, namely, the opposition party or parties and
their supporters. The opposition is, therefore, not a popular check
on the ruling party but, rather, is itself opportunistically seeking
to replace the ruling party. According to modern democracy, the
legitimate check on the ruling party is the parliament, the majority
of whose members are from that ruling party. That is to say, control
is in the hands of the ruling party, and power is in the hands of the
controlling party. Thus the deception, falseness and invalidity of
the political theories dominant in the world today become obvious.
From these emerge contemporary conventional democracy."The party
represents a segment of the people, but the sovereignty of the people
is indivisible."
"The party allegedly governs on behalf of the
people, but in reality the true principle of democracy is based upon
the notion that there can be no representation in lieu of the
people."
The party system is the modern equivalent of the tribal or
sectarian system. A society governed by one party is similar to one
which is governed by one tribe or one sect. The party, as shown,
represents the perception of a certain group of people, or the
interests of one group in society, or one belief, or one region. Such
a party is a minority compared with the whole people, just as the
tribe and the sect are. The minority has narrow, common sectarian
interests and beliefs, from which a common outlook is formed. Only
the blood-relationship distinguishes a tribe from a party, and,
indeed, a tribe might also be the basis for the foundation of a
party. There is no difference between party struggle and tribal or
sectarian struggles for power. Just as tribal and sectarian rule is
politically unacceptable and inappropriate, likewise the rule under a
party system. Both follow the same path and lead to the same end.The
negative and destructive effects of the tribal or sectarian struggle
on society is identical to the negative and destructive effects of
the party struggle.
Uganda Political parties are built on a foundation of wankers!
LET'S SHARPEN THOSE WEAPONS FOR A TRUE REVOLUTION!
By joram jojo:
Article taken from
http://uganda.blogspirit.com
See also
http://www.geocities.com/ugandanarchism/
Mailing list
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ugandanarchism