[Assam] An excellent insight into western democracy where consent is given by the citizens to rule them with manipulation opportunity of the system. The writer’s vision a fact amongst Naga Tribes and XoncorDev’s Haati system(somewhat) at Borpeta of yore.

[Bartta Bistar]

We need a new kind of society, a new kind of politics

http://www.bangladesh-web.com/news/view.php?hidDate=2007-02-21&hidType=OPT&hidRecord=0000000000000000151691

Monday February 19 2007 18:05:29 PM BDT


 <talha.j.ahmad at gmail.com>

By Talha J Ahmad, UK <talha.j.ahmad at gmail.com>



I have written extensively on the current crisis engulfing my country. I
have spent many nights and day, many hours of my busy life far away from my
homeland, I have spend hours debating, discussing and arguing about the
developments in my country, often told 'why you bother when none of this
affects you, when your opinions would make little difference if at all'. I
wondered on the comments yet my brain continues to think, the love for my
motherland is on the rise and is showing no sign of abating.

I wondered about the past of my country, present and the future. I wondered
of the patriotism of my leaders, political and otherwise, I wonder even now
of the patriotism and the genuine motives of the current government, I
wonder of the extraordinary remarks of our head of Armed forces. My
wondering comes to no end, it continues without an end on the horizon. But
why do I wonder? I pondered on possible answers to my paradox, but found
none credible. However, I guess I can confidently say all these wondering of
my mind is a process instigated by my feeling and concerns for my country, a
country that has not given me much, but I still feel indebted to. It is my
love and affection for my country, my genuine desire to see her flourish
with all her children, my firm belief on her potential that keeps telling me
to wonder further and as part of that process I seek to speculate on some
ideas.

The turn of 20th century has been marked by freedom movement, wanting to be
free from repressions, colonisation. People wanted to be free to speak, to
earn and to work. Freedom movement lead us to have new states with new
political culture.

The triumph of the last century however was the end of love for dictatorship
and the rising of a new era for democracy. Democracy seemed to have offered
hope to bring about social justice and economic freedom. Democracy has shown
us sign of empowering people and giving all citizens a way of being their
own master, the master of owns destiny.

But what has democracy really earned us? Or have we got the right kind of
democracy? Our nation for instance paid heavily for democracy, from the days
of East Pakistan to present, many hundreds of thousands of people marched at
different times to ensure democracy prospers in our land. People were made
hopeful; every one expected a better life. It was the prospect of democracy
that leads us to the bitter struggle for freedom, the war of independence;
we earned independence only to march again to slay the leaders of that
independence. We hoped of economic development, the betterment of education,
life standard, justice and equality, we have achieved some progress but we
cannot certainly say that we would have not achieved these prosperity
without all the bloods that we had to spare.

We marched, we fought, and we sacrificed to achieve economic freedom, social
justice and equality in a country where we all would be equal participants.
We hoped that in our country we would have no masters; people in power would
be accountable. We rebelled against dictators because we thought they were
not accountable to us. But democracy does not seem to have offered us
accountability either.

Our current government for example, they are said to be good, but how do we
hold them accountable? How would people seek to redress any wrongdoing
committed by current government? We have no true accountability. Only might
and might alone seem to have its way in terms of accountability, but not
people. Ordinary man and women do not seem to have the power to hold social
elites accountable. But this presents us with a dilemma.

We have to have government, we have to have some kind of people's
participation in the governance of our country, and we must have some means
to hold our governments accountable. But how? In lands of England, the Birth
place of modern parliamentary democracy, there are disaffections, the
parliament elections are at times attended by as low as only 37% of the
population. Famous names with huge reputation in politics raising their
concern regarding accountability.

A former cabinet minister went as far as saying the current parliamentary
system is not capable of holding the executive accountable, and she has
decided to stand down as an MP from her party in order to campaign for a
change, for a better, more representative and accountable system. If that is
the condition of democracy in the land of where it was born, I think we can
get a pretty good idea as to where we stand. Our MPs are like our lords,
they are the king, queen, whatever one may wish to think. Our ministers are
the most powerful of people so much so that they can get away with whatever
they wish, so it seems. But how we change such situation?

Dr. Yunus and many others seem to think that corruption is the culprit and
good people entering politics may be the answer. Dr. Yunus himself decided
to put his reputation and hard earned celebrity status on the line. He will
form a new political party that will raise the hopes and aspiration of our
nation. But he will be joining a system that has failed us, there is nothing
to suggest that it was not systems fault too that we ended up with 'bad'
politicians. So I wonder why a Yunus factor should make me feel good. I do
not want to think that one man can change my country, I do not believe in
super human. I would like to think it is not just a few people who are the
problem; I would like to think that there is something with system too.

We have a very large number of educated people now, working in good jobs yet
many struggling to find an appropriate job. We now have a new generation of
middle class and affluent people. We no longer see the generation of trade
unionists, nor do we see the peculiar scenes of student politics. The
politics of fighting to take control of universities seem to have lessened
to some extent. The trend among the youths no longer is as strong towards
joining politics as it used to be. And that in some way is a bad sign. And I
think therein lies the first problem.

Increasing economic sophistication made our societies complex. The
advancement in technology made our world a global village. But that means
our affairs now have more factors in it, our affairs now involve a much
wider ecosystem and not just us. Bangladesh is part of the global community,
and our problems needs to be thought from global perspective too, which
obviously means our affairs are now more complex and requires much
sophisticated solutions. Our thinking however has not sophisticated;
politically we are now less mature and less sophisticated. Our politics
remain the same in terms of its norms and fundamental roles.

A complex society requires extraordinary citizens who have intellectual
sophisticacy, citizens need to be more aware an better knowledgeable of
situations, but that has not happened to our new generation that has grown
into the mainstream society now. So what we need is a social class who
command the society with understanding and clear vision. We need a new kind
of social movement that seek to re-energise our citizens by making them
intellectually sharper, more demanding and sophisticate. We need social
movement to instil in our citizens patriotism and give them a common vision
of our future.

Of course it is not enough to have a new social movement that will create a
new class of citizens who will be intellectually rich, politically aware and
sophisticated in their thinking. We need political forces and platforms that
will make good use of this new class.

We need political platform and political leaderships who understand and
conform to the desire of the people and rise to the challenge of building a
new society. But it is probably now fair to say that the current
parliamentary, party political system has failed. It is not so evident
because the failure is covered by other issues such as corruption and the
style of governance.

But why do we have corruption? Corruption is merely the symptom of a bigger,
much wider failure. An effective government which is accountable to its
citizens cannot be corrupt, it is not possible. So if government or people
within government become corrupt and the system cannot stop it, it is the
systems fault and not those who actually are corrupt. The accountability
issues is not just a big issue in our country, it is an issue all over the
world now. UK, USA and most western countries have the problem too.

Current prevailing system of governance is that of the cabinet who are
elected along the party political line. Political arguments are presented
along the party identity. Loyalty lies to the party. Because of the party
system which has strong disciplinary force that seeks to suppress certain
views and promote certain others it is difficult to have true
accountability. Largest party in government occupies the position of power,
when the other parties attack the government, the whole party behind the
government stand in defence.

As long as the party remains largest, there is no way we can hold the
government accountable. Some times, even all the major parties have no
significant difference between them, who should people choose in those
circumstances? Due to the existence of political parties, once again new
initiatives and thinking cannot take root. It is not a level playing field,
yet the whole essence of democracy is that all citizens should have equal
opportunities. I therefore intend to resolve that we need to fight to break
the party system; we need a new kind of politics in which citizens
participate freely without party loyalty.

We should have one broad vision to unite us that is our patriotism and our
desire to form a better society. Apart from that we should all come to play
with ideas to tackle our social issues. If we can truly demolish the party
controls we can have an energise population where people will make their
case, articulate their ideas and in the end passionate people with
articulated ideas will be charged with responsibility to govern. We will
have true democracy, we will have genuine accountability.

Of course, some would say that this is an unworkable system; I would argue
we cannot be so sure. Of course we need some kind of organisation. But that
organisation does not have to be along the party lines. Our local meeting
places, auditoriums, libraries and social clubs could be the place to
debate. A new consensus will emerge. We ca have our civil society to guide
the nation in its argument. We could have our academics, entrepreneurs and
others to influence and inform debates through their participation. But that
will mark a new kind of politics which will have no place for dynasty, no
room for one man dominance and no room for corruption. No one will be strong
enough to have it all, and no body will be too weak to have a say. Such
society would be a genuinely democratic society where social justice and
equality will thrive, human dignity shall flourish.
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