malawians-still in chains

game · Guru

malawians-still in chains

guevara · Senior Member

game wrote:

I think malawians are still living in chains and mental bondage with no hope of someone standing up to the government without being prosecuted.Bingu has destroyed every malawian's hopes of freedom.He has arrested lucius while some of his own ministers still have fake documents, does this mean there will always be one set of rules for those in opposition and those on the same benches as the government? Or maybe the older frail and ageing leaders have finally shown signs of incompetence now we need new blood. The state of malawi politics will continue to be screwed up if the youth dont take action now. Maybe we need a little gun fight like somalia, other wise these misers and tyrants will continue to oppress and corrupt the warm heart of africa forever.

Our media is nothing but a means these people use to conceal their dirty works, they are using the same media to wipe out youth intellectualism which is by far trying hard to reshape the future as it is heading for calamity,the media is so weak that it has failed to create a culture of journalism and intellectual enquiry.The malawi broadicasting corporation finds it expensive to deliver information in all the major languages,and our newspapers are peculiarly marginalised by the powerful elite,the rich,the politictians and print media.i ask myself whether lack of effective journalism is because of our reporters and producers being less educated and very poor to support their families so they end up setting a palm oiling scheme to satisfy their greed.

malawi is now heading into 13 years of democracy but the media is still backward and colonised,it cant even develop a common strategy that the board,editors,journalists and the public can relate to.It has never attemted to tackle obvious things like impartiality and accuracy,you ask yourself when will our reporting be credible?why let the government act as an individual?deciding who to prosecute and not who to prosecute?our member of parliament are even worse,should we just go into guerilla war,maybe they will change.

Guerilla war is not a solution son.like Mao said,'revolution is not about taking arms,but replacing the old with the new'.Question is,how do we do it?Are we creative enough?Are we wise enough?Are we intelligent enough?And above them all,what is the purpose?And only then shall we say,'HAIL FREEDOM!'

abre les ojos · Guru

You see I'm wary about people who wax lyrical about the problems in Malawi and how much change is needed and don't live there. Diagnosing the "problem" even offering solutions that might or might not be practical with out consulting the people that these changes would effect the most i.e. the Malawian people themselves.

Isn't that in effect colonialism?

Don't blame the media. The media everywhere is a rubber stamp. If you think the media in Malawi is bad, look at the media in America!

Malawi does not need a revolution. It's problems are not bad politics (maybe bad politicians yes) but poverty. Illiteracy. Revolution doesn't put food on the table and if you change the state of Malawi politics what do you replace it with? Who? I guess of course that you'll probably suggest yourself.

We don't need another pointless war in Africa where the only beneficiaries are the foreign arms dealers. Neither do we need talk of violent uprising and near homicidal rants about "gun fights" and youths taking over.

Let's face it. Youths are no good at anything but fashion and chasing the opposite sex. There is a reason why politics is a older person's game.

awmygawd · Guru

Just how often does civil war benefit the people it's purportedly fought for? Somalia?!? In addition, there is always the problem of mandate (or a lack of it) attached to such 'solutions'; imposing civil war on MW would make you part of the same 'problem' you're out to fight. A few the issues you point out are only 'problems' depending on ones personal viewpoint (eg the Lucius Banda issue).

abuhakim · Senior Member

The gun fight can’t get to the bottom of any-thing. In fact things can be much worse if such thing is happening in our peaceful country. The Justice DEPT. challenged any-one to come up with names of those who are possessing bogus certificates. Until now no-one has yet done that. Talk is cheap, but to put words into action is a problem. Rumour has it that a lot of people in various institutions have gone AWOL for fear of the same persecutions. The vote is the only weapon.

Atame · Veteran Member

Sam Mpasu did metion some names of some of the DDP members but nothing has happened and those mentioned didnt refute or commet, and I wonder what that silence means.

abuhakim · Senior Member

If names have been mentioned and are silent, it means guilty conscious. And if the government is not taking any action it means Banda’s arrest was political persecution, for moving the motion to have the president impeached and making a lot of noise in parliament.

eetchef · Senior Member

It is interesting to note how Game mishandles Lucius Bandas imprisonment case and misuses documentation to back up his vilification program for Malawi. Game is disturbed by what I take to be a truism, namely, that the intellectual (like anyone else) has a responsibility to speak the truth and to expose lies(Do we surely have gov .ministers without proper qualifications? ). Let me then add a word of clarification. I would feel no hesitation in saying that it is the responsibility of a decent human being to give assistance to a child who is being attacked by a rabid dog, but I would not intend this to imply that in all imaginable circumstances one must, necessarily, act in accordance with this general responsibility. One can easily mix-up imaginary situations in which it would be inadvisable, even immoral to do so. Surely everyone understands that today Malawians have no simple formulas that determine proper political behavior in all conceivable situations. All the same , Abres is right to say you don’t open your mouth that way as you don’t live in Malawi at the moment. Take leave of those Plato and them theories from the library and spend time riding in buses / matola and visit open markets to exactly come into face with the concept of politics. I base this judgment, of course, on the assumption , but I believe these are quite substantive issues, which constantly arise in all forms of political action.

Lucius is gone where he belongs . He jumped from one wagon of music into the political furnace .Bingu doesnt know how to play ndale , he warned : he plays politics. Guevara tells something here, no war for peace. I realise that we humane make different decisions, based on our tactical judgments and personal preference, as to how to distribute our commitments and actions among the various possibilities that the society allows. Thanks you have chosen to dedicate yourself almost completely to organizing and direct action. Malawis politics !!!!How do we go about it ? I've chosen a somewhat different mixture, and it has varied at different times. When I was in secondary school , for example, I was much more involved in direct action on both campus policy and domestic issues at home than I am today, the reasons being a different judgment as to how I can most effectively use my energy, my talents, and my privilege.

-- Edited by eetchef at 13:58, 2006-09-06

Pope · Guru

abre les ojos wrote:

You see I'm wary about people who wax lyrical about the problems in Malawi and how much change is needed and don't live there. Diagnosing the "problem" even offering solutions that might or might not be practical with out consulting the people that these changes would effect the most i.e. the Malawian people themselves.

Isn't that in effect colonialism?

Don't blame the media. The media everywhere is a rubber stamp. If you think the media in Malawi is bad, look at the media in America!

Malawi does not need a revolution. It's problems are not bad politics (maybe bad politicians yes) but poverty. Illiteracy. Revolution doesn't put food on the table and if you change the state of Malawi politics what do you replace it with? Who? I guess of course that you'll probably suggest yourself.

We don't need another pointless war in Africa where the only beneficiaries are the foreign arms dealers. Neither do we need talk of violent uprising and near homicidal rants about "gun fights" and youths taking over.

Let's face it. Youths are no good at anything but fashion and chasing the opposite sex. There is a reason why politics is a older person's game.

I like you that way.

game · Guru

It looks like all of you did not understand my point,i used "maybe" we need a little gun fight,as far as the masses are concerned,malawi needs change,if we sit back and ignore these people we are heading for disaster,our society is politically unstable,you dont need to live in malawi to see that,i speak to my folks who are politically rooted to know malawi is upside down, this is not a question of where you are,its a question of finding the right path,we need freedom.and you abre,didnt you call malawi a dump?are you in malawi now to think its a dump or because you been there and you know what you saw?

we have to examine all the forseeable dificulties that are threatening the survival of a stable country,Bingu is no different to his predecessors,at least kamuzu ruled in an undemocratic regime,thats understandable,but this guy is leader in a democratic malawi,his duty is to give malawians the democracy they fought for by serving them right.In lucius bandas case,he deserved what he got,although it is crystal clear that the government was out to get him.the government is in power yes,but to use the power headlessly is an act of violence,and while complete non-violence may not be attainable in malawi,it remains the government's duty to aim for an ideal form of non-violence in everything it does.

Our media is so inept,this is because all media outlets are owned by politictians in government,you will look in vain for historical evidence that the rich politictians live in harmony and more at peace than the poor,but then you cant even argue that with good media,they have never felt more secure against the poor,their aggressiveness stems from fear;its only the poor who are victims,Bingu came in as the messiah,when he was the devil incarnate.if malawi dont need revolution,i wonder what will bring change.

Black Panther · Senior Member

I wabnted to quote on the media comment. I am all for free press as long as the press acts ethically. I dont know how many times things are printed in Malawian Newspapers that are untrue. If the press is giong to be free, it needs to act reponsibly. Its a two way boat there.

bob Marley said we should 'emancipate our sefl from mental salvery. " He was right. Decolonization is an ongoing process.

In order to make sustainable change in a country. there are certain conditions that have to be there. There is scientific formula to social change/revolution and all factors need to be in line before that can happen. (compare this to situations that need to be aligined before a war can take place.. thei is traceable, and repeated) - in anycase. I think in this day and age, if some ones going to spark a social revolution they need to be aware of the fators that needs to line up - Im sure if you google "social revoulutions" u can find out what they are - I studies sociology so I do know but its a long conversation. My point however is that it is still posiibloe to have a social revolution in this day and age in Malawi and change the mind set of people sop that they think progressivley, and independantly. Now it wont happen overnight. but it will happen all it needs is patience and a dedicated leader with a plan and vision and one that has the welfare of Malawians in mind. this woudl probably mean that thi leader should not be easily dazzled by material wealth (for Malawian terms) - and should have the humility to be able to work with any one with good ideas ... taking risks woudl be needed, and the one thing that any politician or leader should have is passion and love for theri cause in thei case, Malawi...

abre les ojos · Guru

I think that we are being too idealistic. Such an ideal leader is unattainable. Yes it would be nice to have a Chavez like leader of a Castro in Africa but lets be honest, that isn't going to happen in our lifetime.

Whatever we have to say about Muluzi, he managed to pull it off. Now he might not have the perfect statesman (whatever the hell that means) but in this day and age, they are a dying breed. Presidents or PMs are like mangers of large corporations and as long as they don't sink the ship they are doing an honourable job.

Sadly, Africa can ill-afford that.

Do we need revolutions? How and why? For what change? I'm yet to see any successful revolution in Africa. Africa, unlike South America doesn't have the cultural history of revolution - we are tribal by nature and the very fact that the west cut up Africa without taking that into account is the very essence of the problems in Africa.

As for the media? Come off it, the media in America is even worse. So many voices yelling and no one making any critical analysis of what is really a crucial point in US history. It's all corporate owned. How can it act ethically that way?

Waeti · Newbie

Game's contributions to this forum have always touched me. They provoke and unprovoke my desire to respond. However picking up on one piece/idea thus being selective. But this time, I will pick this excerpt: "Otherwise these misers and tyrants will continue to oppress and corrupt the....." I personally believe that it's not only Malawians who are still in chains. All Africans are in chains and that could be one of the strategic reasons why many African talents (hope-fulls) migrate to these golden islands. My interpretation is that we have evaluated and compared the degrees of slavery that we have at our home countries with the one we have in these unwelcoming continents(Europe and America). Ideally it is better to suffer in the hands of someone who is different to us, than to suffer in the hands of someone we know, and even trusted with our votes....

As I raised before on this forum about corruption and corrupt attitutdes, I will repeat, these misers cannot and will never change their attitutde towards power and public property because of mass injection or revolution. Abre is right there is no recorded fact that Africans triumphed through mass revolution....Neither war has ever brought peace nor change. Pope John Paul II was fond of words like: Peace is the outcome of Peace....suggesting war does not yield peace at all other than miseries.

Now all have commented. I'm very much impressed that people have responded very profoundly. It shows that we all love to see a better Malawi. Now different from anyone who have contributed before, I would say, the problem is not about who leads malawi. The problem is the culture in which are being brought up? It is a norm today that for me to feed my family, get a decent job, buy a good car, get promoted.... i have to bribe someone who is in control. I strongly believe that this attidtude was not introduced either by Muluzi or Bingo. It is a sociological issue for survival in the difficult environment. The most unfortunate thing is the follow up. All those who used to be the public watchdogs were passed by the events. They were sleeping to the events. The church, traditional leaders etc were not ready to confront the change. Hence, it became the accepted norm. Now it has become pretty difficult to root it out of the minds of those who benefits from it. So to root it out, does not matter where we are, but help each other, educating each other about the effects of this attitude both individually and in the public places. This way, our presidents and any elected representative will be the product of this brew. Unless our society is free of corruption, no leader will be free of corruption manace. This corruption manace is the hub of all our social problems in the world. Other nations are hit heavily and more expressive due to their inabilities to sustain their economies. But nations like USA, can contain the social outcomes of their highly rated corruption.

A new education syllabus must be key to eradicate this mentality of thinkg small, and easy way to success, easy living. It is a good topic that we do not just leave it here. We got to go on discussing it with creative mentality though.

Therefore, I only concentrated on the attitudes toward corruption. I know many will find me drifting away from the main topic, I may have done that cause I still rate corruption as the highest cause of our social problems.

abre les ojos · Guru

Is Malawi really oppressed? You see I chose to differ on that.

I remember, and I'm sure al great deal of you here would do, those Kamuzu days. Living in a state of total subservience to a megalomaniac demi-god. Where some uneducated idiot in a uniform could stop me on the street an assault me because I had a "panke" (spelling?) haircut. Where women couldn't show their legs in public and the list goes on. Now that to me was oppression. My early days in Malawi required a great cultural shift - I had never seen anything like it before - and I had been to communist Russia twice.

Is the present system any better? Of course it is! Has the gap between the rich and the poor increased? I'm sure it has. Is there more accountability in the government? You only have to look at this forum and see how politically astute the members are. The sort of challenges we have to the government where unheard of during Kamuzu's rule. People used to whisper inside their houses just talking about JZU.

Of course there's room for improvement. Let's not compare our system to other western states. In a lot of things there is way more freedom than here in the UK where I'm being watched all the time. Being monitored by CCTV as soon as I step out. I use my Oytser card and they know where I go. My bank card, and they know what I like to buy. Even within my home they can profile me by the programmes I watch or my internet usage.

Compare that to the total serenity of Malawi. I must say even though I was poor I had a lower-blood pressure that's for sure.... (Some trade off eh)?

Malawi is still sub-consciously reeling from Kamuzuism. It takes an outsider sometimes to see and analyse it. Collectively,Malawians can be wilfully ignorant. Always in obstinate denial and closed-minded and very unadventurously so. Those are pretty much the basic symptoms of living under Kamuzu for so long. Still a new generation is all it takes to break that cycle.

Pope · Guru

abre les ojos wrote:

Is Malawi really oppressed? You see I chose to differ on that.

I remember, and I'm sure al great deal of you here would do, those Kamuzu days. Living in a state of total subservience to a megalomaniac demi-god. Where some uneducated idiot in a uniform could stop me on the street an assault me because I had a "panke" (spelling?) haircut. Where women couldn't show their legs in public and the list goes on. Now that to me was oppression. My early days in Malawi required a great cultural shift - I had never seen anything like it before - and I had been to communist Russia twice.

Is the present system any better? Of course it is! Has the gap between the rich and the poor increased? I'm sure it has. Is there more accountability in the government? You only have to look at this forum and see how politically astute the members are. The sort of challenges we have to the government where unheard of during Kamuzu's rule. People used to whisper inside their houses just talking about JZU.

Of course there's room for improvement. Let's not compare our system to other western states. In a lot of things there is way more freedom than here in the UK where I'm being watched all the time. Being monitored by CCTV as soon as I step out. I use my Oytser card and they know where I go. My bank card, and they know what I like to buy. Even within my home they can profile me by the programmes I watch or my internet usage.

Compare that to the total serenity of Malawi. I must say even though I was poor I had a lower-blood pressure that's for sure.... (Some trade off eh)?

Malawi is still sub-consciously reeling from Kamuzuism. It takes an outsider sometimes to see and analyse it. Collectively,Malawians can be wilfully ignorant. Always in obstinate denial and closed-minded and very unadventurously so. Those are pretty much the basic symptoms of living under Kamuzu for so long. Still a new generation is all it takes to break that cycle.

Impressive!! though needs some corrections here and there I will come back.

game · Guru

waeti,

corruption in malawi is a disease,these politictians dont think any different from a vendor selling tomatoes in lilongwe central market,they might only differ on educational credentials but thinking is the same,day and night they plan on how to rip people off without being called corrupt,thats exactly what bingu is doing,its like when you meet a woman on the first date,you work overtime hiding your real self,when she succumbs to your sweet clean cut image,she sees the next phase in you which is rotten,aggressive and ugly.

Every politictian has a plan,a statement of intention,this kind of statement can be used inseperable from power,it is so natural for everyone with power to have a long term plan,Bingu's plan was to use power deliberately and consciously,he made the mistake of concentrating all the power on one thing which was corruption,we have to know that the concentration of power on one point imply the end of freedom,genuine planning is co-extensive with power,the only intelligible meaning of a corrupt free malawi would be the fullest possible statement of intentions by all people wielding substantial economic powers,some statements must be collected and collated by some central agency.Bingu being an economist,he must be aware of this,but prior to becoming president,he was reading too much of the "county of monty cristo" everything to him was about revenge,if you follow malawi politics,you will find out that muluzi's government stabbed bingu in the back when he was president of comesa.

As a malawian who has dreams of bringing change to my motherland, knows for sure that bingu is shackling malawians for a period of time untill his mission of revenge is accomplished.he is multitasking,the cancellation of debt by donor communities is one of his expatriate persistence to cover up his mission,if people want to criticise bingu they will think twice considering what he has done economically so far.so dont be fooled malawi.its not a crime to keep changing leaders and our political system till we find the true malawian dream.