Skip to main content

Democracy 1-0 Intellectualism

Reacting to the result of the most recent referendum in Britain where they have voted to leave the European Union, I'd like to point out a positive lesson that is being ignored in the wake of the development. I am talking about the sheer honesty of democracy, albeit working against apparently superior reasoning. It is yet another example of how democracy takes power from the so called superior minority and places it in the palms of the vast and mostly ignorant majority, to do with it as they will. The people have spoken and history has been made. Whether it will be for better or worse is only a question of time.

This brings me to the issue that is weighing on my mind today. The right to Self determination is one of the core liberties of the individual as well as the society at large. If a person or people have that right taken away from them either blatantly or via proxy, such a person or people are automatically robbed of the imagination and courage required to develop themselves. In Africa, what we have in operation is a hybrid of pseudo as well as outright disenfranchisement. Consider Nigeria, Britain's erstwhile cash cow and the most populous black nation on earth. Here, institutions are no more than mere representations and relics of past and present elements of external control. Where access to quality education and government are strictly the prerogative of the rich who account for less than 5 percent of the population and for whose sole profit resources are distributed, to the mutual benefit of the external powers who dictate the tune at the very highest levels. Further down the spectrum of socio-political inequality we have the majority who mostly live in stark ignorance and fear.

Intellectuals and political critics in the western world like to lament about how the political elite employ all manners of underhanded tactics and ploys to manipulate their public into foregoing some of their rights. I laugh because the situation we have here is that the masses are practically dead to the fact that they posses these rights to begin with. What this does is to foster a truly cut throat,  jungle atmosphere where the strong conquer to rule whereas the weak wither and die, while the soul of equality is reposed in the degree of mass corruption across board.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The New Nigerian

Something remarkable is happening in Nigeria. There is a new generation of pan Nigerians emerging onto the scene. A group of young, driven, hopeful and hardworking dreamers, developers, and leaders who see beyond the limitations and drawbacks of political and socio-economic issues and are buying into a vision of a new world, a vision which is exploding at an exponential rate worldwide. A dream so big that it overshadows with ease, decades past of mistakes and offers incredible opportunities for the future and indeed the very present.   This group of people is not from Mars. They are amongst you and your friends. As a matter of fact, many of them have been dismissed by you and your friends as pipe dreamers or whatever else you might choose to call them. Call them what you will but they are here to stay and believe it, so are their dreams. I attended a conference recently where the majority of attendees were young entrepreneurs between the ages of 19 and 35. These folks and...
Post a Comment
Read more

Spare Me Your Outrage

Whenever I see a post that starts with "Pray for so and so", it irks me. The reason is not that I am against prayers or insensitive to the plight of the suffering, but more because I find it nauseating that people only feel compelled to pray for one place or the other only when the hype calls for it. So it is 2017 and slaves are still being sold. I see people getting on their phones and going "I cannot believe this is happening in 2017".  We all want to make trendy posts about the stuff like we only realised the existence of this issue yesterday and like nobody sold slaves in the years preceding 2017. Have you ever wondered where the diamonds and jewellery you are so in love with comes from?  How many of us can claim to really care about this stuff? Because slavery is not an end in itself but rather a means to something that does not seem to outrage people enough; CHEAP LABOUR! Please spare me your outrage and stop pretending that your being outraged on Instag...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Significance of Buhari's Appearance

We are at yet another trying period for our democracy. As speculations intensify about Mr President's health, Nigerians cannot help but wonder what the very near future holds for our nation. As someone put it to me recently "we are back to playing politics". Indeed it's fair to say that in the past year and half or so, governance rather than politics has dominated our national polity. Opinions may vary about Mr President's policies and actions or inaction, but one thing we can agree on is that for the most part Nigerians have  kept the focus of the debate on governance, much unlike the previous administration whose years were dominated by political hullabaloos and grand corruption culminating in the 2015 General elections. Mr President's health challenges have in recent times rekindled a familiar and bitter taste of political bickering over who should replace him come 2019. The rumour mills have been running on overdrive, talks of a resignation and even certa...
Post a Comment
Read more