Death of the left? :: Mmegi Online

I was not born by 1965. The BNF was. Changes. And change is not necessarily bad. All party electoral juggernauts are in full swing. Neo liberal fervour is at its best, marking a stage in the history of the republic where it appears there is a convergence of views. A truce of sorts among political rivals-at least an unwritten code from all accepting that the only way forward for the republic is to have in place some variant of neo-liberalism. Is this the death of the romance of the left?

“A spectre is haunting Europe – the spectre of communism”, Marx & Engels, Communist Manifesto (1848). A century and a half later, Francis Fukuyama argued that the global spread of the West free market capitalism and its lifestyle may signal the end point for humanity’s sociocultural evolution and become the final form of human development. The dearth of the left in this general election is confirming this thinking somewhat it appears. No?

MELS and Themba Joina, however inept, are in the clutches of the master swallower, Botswana Congress Party (BCP). Firmly planted at the bosom of the BCP tactical submarine, MELS is not even squeaking the usual scientific socialismo rhetoric. Themba Joina is no more, not Themba Joina, but The Themba Joina. He has moved his party/movement to the centre, ever closer to the right. Basically, he has planted it to the neo-liberal centre with the BCP. Not a bad move for impact, and perhaps survival. Not a good move for leftist politics.

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