No conversation among opposition activists would be complete without throwing in the word ‘comrade’ in the discourse.
But where exactly does this word emanate from and what does it really mean?
According to the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, the word comrade denotes a feeling of togetherness or a people united by a common goal.
“A person who is a member of the same Communist or Socialist political party as the person who is speaking,” it says.
From the above definition, one easily draws the origin of the word as being Socialist-oriented, thus related to the ideals of the political philosophers in the mould of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels and Lenin, who are credited for founding Socialism.
The fact that the three political pundits’ politics were revolutionary and rooted in attaining objectives through an armed struggle, gives the word ‘comrade’ an urge to leftists “brothers and sisters in the struggle” to always remember their main objective - to work on taking power from the ruling party.
It is this understanding which makes the word suspect among some people, especially those inclined to right wing politics.
Executive Secretary of the BDP, Dr Comma Serema, says that there is nothing wrong with the original meaning of the word. He says it used to mean companionship or friendship among people. But it started to carry a new meaning when Socialist parties roped in the word into their vocabulary.
“It had a connotation because it was used by Socialists and Communists parties. It was then associated with Socialism,” he says.
The party spokesperson says that as parties are moving more into the centre politics, with the right wing and the left wing parties meeting in the centre, the word, like a snake, is shedding off its slough skin and likely to go back to its original meaning, which is free from political influence. This, he says is due to the change in the political landscape that has taken place since the collapse of the USSR under Mikhail Gorbachev in 1989.
“The opposition parties here in Botswana are not necessarily into pure Communist ideologies, as they imbibe some capitalist ideas. Even the BDP is moving into the centre politics. We have social development programmes, most of which are aimed at developing the welfare of underprivileged sectors in the society, such as orphans and the needy, something that is pro-socialist,” he reveals.
Despite the change in the political climate, Serema says that should the unimaginable happen - that the opposition and ruling party change seats, the ‘Democrats’ would never refer to each other as ‘Comrades’. Perhaps they are shying away from the Socialism tag or rather the brothers-in-arms connotation that is attached to the word?
“We don’t and we will not call each other comrades because we are not into Socialism. We are not comfortable with the word, as we know it has been associated with organisations who wanted to change political systems through armed struggles. Should it happen that by 2009, the opposition takes over, though it can never happen, we will not use it for after all we are not a struggle party,” he asserts.
A lecturer in the University of Botswana’s department of History, Dr Rodgers Molefi, whose brief includes teaching political history, says that people nowadays are fond of misusing words. They just adopt words without necessarily interrogating their meanings and histories. He says that though words like ‘comrade’ have become so fashionable among Batswana, not a lot of people are versed in what it really means.
“People just use words in dialogue carelessly. To a lot of people it is a meaningless word just to be thrown around in greeting,” he says.President of the Botswana People’s Party (BPP), Bernard Balikani is of the opinion that the word can mean different things to different people at different times. It really depends on the context in which it is used, he says.
“The word has come to mean solidarity. We use it to symbolise our solidarity in the struggle against social problems such as neo-colonialism, disease and ignorance, unemployment and poverty, which we think is government sponsored. Poverty in Botswana is created by poor economic management by the government,” he says.
Contrary to what the BDP spokesman believes, Balikani said that the word ‘comrade’ is quickly making inroads into Botswana’s right wing politics as some people in the ruling party use it to address each other.
“People used to understand it to refer to something negative. The other thing is, they do not want to openly say they are struggling against the government. But nowadays in the current political set up, even the BDP people have accepted the use of the word comrade. They call us comrades. This is a sign of development in the right direction,” he says.
