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Unmasking the oppressor in Malawi
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By Cryton Chikoko |
February 18, 2012 · 19 Comments |
A series of online lectures:
Are you in despair because of the injustice we are experiencing in Malawi? Are you immobilised because you don’t know what to do to have the status quo changed?
If your answers to the above questions are yes then you are the right student to grace these teachings. Welcome to the online class!
Well, cast your eyes around the classroom and as you can see you are not alone who is in despair. We have the whole nation reduced to its knees crammed in!
Generally speaking Malawians experience oppression in many forms. We have, and we are, going through most of ugliest injustice one can think of. The most embarrassing poverty being the by product of the ill-treatment we get.
Our past, recent and current affairs are all littered with oppressors having their dirty feet on our necks.
The oppressors manifest themselves in the form of the village headman, the supervisor at the workplace and the politician we elected in office. Bad leadership hit us from all sides. One cannot be wrong to suggest that all Malawians deserve to be awarded PhDs in being oppressed. We have had our good share!
Your despair, cynicism and laziness may insist to you that nothing really changes and that you can never really make a difference. Thus not true. You can make the difference.
C.S. Lewis makes a startling statement. He writes that “Despair is a greater sin than any of the sins that provoke it”.
These lectures are going to give you an understanding of what oppression is all about. The good news is you are also going to be well equipped on how to dig out oppression from its roots (The oppressor shivers!).
It is possible to move out of the paralysis of despair simply by coming to a better understanding of what lies in the mind of the oppressor.
What exactly can you do? How can you actually make a difference? What practical steps are you supposed to take?
Down the series we will expose practical steps you can take in the face of suffering to deal with oppression.
Gary A. Haugen writes that “Instead of confronting injustice from a blurry distance as something dark, vague and overwhelming, we can examine it, dissect it, lay bare its make up and demystify its power”.
In these series this is exactly what we are going to do; expose the anatomy of injustice in Malawi and learn practical steps on how we can investigate and intervene successfully.
And hopefully we can move beyond our habit of indulging in our own self-pity and practically face oppression head on.
In these introductory remarks suffice to unmask that oppression is the way powerful people use deception to hurt those who are weak. They use their lofted position to ply on those below them.
Here we pause to salute the minority good leaders and the few who are fighting oppressors.
Make sure you come first in our next lecture!
*Cryton Chikoko is a Barrister-at-Law, ex-broadcaster and ex-dentist. He has Masters’ degrees in Law, Media and Theology. He tweets latest UK legal news @cryton (https://twitter.com/#!/Cryton
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Tags: democracy, governance, human rights
19 Responses to “Unmasking the oppressor in Malawi”
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As I watched the funeral service for American singer, Whitney Houston, on television, I was overcome by a feeling that I was also watching a requiem for my beloved Malawi. Like Ms Houston, Malawi is beautiful, enchanting, filled with talent, and bursting with potential still unfulfilled. And like Ms Houston, Malawi suffers from a crippling addiction that erodes its talent and circumscribes its future.
In Malawi’s case, the addiction is to corrupt, oppressive leadership. As a nation, we need to rehabilitate ourselves before 2014 or we shall end up with more of the same politicians, and this time the condition of the nation may be terminal.
There can be no real national democracy without local grassroots democracy. While we watch the national politicians position themselves around the trough that holds our national assets, we should be using all of the local, national and international resources available to educate and energize every Malawian, no matter how remote their location, to participate fully and effectively in local government reconstruction, function and development.
Effective local government can help to keep national government honest. This is why national government has marginalized it. Local government can play a key role in national rehabilitation, if it is facilitated, instead of being emasculated.
Let us spend the time between now and 2014 in rehab, identifying at all levels candidates who have our interests at heart, not just their own – Malawians who will represent as well as lead – Malawians who will cast aside the current political anthem: ‘Give me money; that’s what I want!’ and sing along with all the other decent Malawians: ‘Malawi, I will always love you’.
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ReplyI beg to differ with those who think articles or theory is not important. Karl Marx and others have changed the world by putting down thought on paper. So while articles won’t bake bread, but sometimes bread is baked because someone somewhere had put down a recipe.
If I wouldn’t care less about this, I would not even bother to comment. I would be out there doing action!
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Replytogether pple can fight for change. good luck everybody.
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ReplyHidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Poorly-rated. Like
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Replyukuoneka ngati u heard about cryton but dont know him very well.the little i know about him is this; principled man humble,excellent character, hard working,, intelligent and well educated and still pursuing education. loves GOD.Thank you myfriend.
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ReplyI hate him
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ReplyACTION ACTION ACTION IS WHAT WE NEED NOW. OTHERWISE THIS WILL BE REFLECTION WITHOUT ACTION (VERBOSITY)
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ReplyI like this article and its objectives as it has touched the issues i deal with in my professional practice, masters studies and above all it will provide the lenses needed to see the injustice and help us to become a society that question the answers to our questions and act together in search of social justice in the areas you have highlighted. Do not forget the misery experienced as a result of our aptitude towards paternalistic values. People need to know their rights and act selflessly for the greater good of the majority.
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ReplyOnly action on the part of Malawians will bring real change , ma articles olo 2 thousand won’t help us
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