Macron win a beacon of hope
Mmegi Editor | Tuesday May 9, 2017 11:21
The election of Donald Trump last November, the electoral victory of the Conservative leader, Theresa May in the United Kingdom running on a protectionist Brexit ticket and the rise and growth of radical right wing parties in Europe has certainly turned the tide in global geopolitics of late.
The refugee crisis has certainly not improved matters, stoking anti-immigrant and de-globalisation sentiment across the developed world and feeding the jingoistic fires that are spreading across Europe and America.
Macron, running against far-right supremo, Marine le Pen, represented a final frontier of sorts for Europe and indeed broader geopolitics, in that his loss would have cemented a shift to the types of policies Trump and May are aggressively pursuing to the detriment of the Third World.
Had he lost, Germany’s Angela Merkel would have been left as the last major proponent for the unity and economy of European Union, an organisation intimately connected to the economic stability of African states, including Botswana.
With Trump and May keen to return their countries to a form of isolationism, volatile, unpredictable centres of power are gaining traction, personified by unknown factors such as Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping.
While Botswana’s economic interests are best served by diversifying its global alliances, as opposed to treading the traditional Anglo-American line, they can only be undone in a world of geopolitical turmoil.
Diamonds are a highly sensitive product, which is particularly prone to variances in not only the global economy, but also consumer demand and outlook, which are in turn inexorably linked to global politics and global centres of power.
The brinkmanship Trump has been pushing for months with North Korea, the building of walls and tightening of borders, the cuts in development aid and the possible breakdown of the European Union, are threats to Botswana’s economy.
Macron’s win, at first glance an event far removed from Gaborone, is important in returning the developed world from the edge of reason and back to a kind of balance that fosters relationships within which more growth, for more people, is possible.
It is also an important check on the tide of right-wing politics that has been sweeping the developed world, to the extent that hate groups in countries such as Austria have organised themselves into legal political parties and even won local elections.
No doubt much more needs to be done to resolve the political and economic crises facing the world, but the search for these answers cannot be given to leaders who believe that every problem is a nail and solvable by a hammer.
Macron appears to have more in his toolbox.
Today’s thought
“When politics is no longer a mission but a profession, politicians become more self-serving than public servants.”
- Emmanuel Macron