We need an Ideology!
It has come to my attention that we as Africans, do not have a core ideology, the yin of our scheme, the ideology that defines what we stand for and who we are.
Every organisation, country requires and core ideology, that is a constant vison of what the organisation stands for, which is more important than where it is going, as where you are going may change as the external environment changes. Americans have a core ideology, that sets them apart from the rest of the world. This ideology is part of who they are, regardless of the state of the economy, the state of national and international politics. Their core ideology is well defined, and every American understands, whether they are white or black, young or old, democrat or republican, even immigrants understand it and try assimilate into this ideology. What is our core ideology? What ideology is our military trying to protect? Can we envision upholding this core ideology in 100 years?
South Africa’s core ideology maybe what Archbishop Desmond Tutu coined the Rainbow Nation in 1994. What is this Rainbow Nation? How does it affect the individual on the street? Does Afriforum stand by this ideology? Other ideologies have been “Ubuntu” and now “Thuma mina” have been thrown around. What do these ideologies mean? How do they inspire a nation? Ain’t these just marketing fads by those in power.
In 1997, Botswana came up with Vision 2016 which outlined goals for the year 2016, as set out by the elite members of the ruling party. The country failed to reach these goals as all the goals did not have a common ideology, they did not get buy in from the citizenry. Then came the 4 or 5 D’s conjured up by Dr. Ian Khama in 2008, which also failed, as they were his own personal ideologies which he wanted to impose on the country. We all heard them we said “who is he kidding? Democracy?”
Why do we need a core ideology? “A core ideology defines the enduring character of an organisation — a consistent identity that transcends product or market life cycles, technology breakthroughs, management fads and individual leaders” (extract “Building Your Company Vision”, by Collins and Porras). We need a core ideology that resonates with everyone, it does not change when the president or the ruling party changes. At the moment, each president comes with their own set of ideas and values which may not be shared by masses and it takes a long time to for us to autocorrect the damage that the president has caused. Eleanor Roosevelt once wrote ‘Man cannot live without hope. If it is not engendered by his own convictions and desires, it can easily be fired from without, and by the most metricises and empty promises.” The core ideology will be the measure by which we know if something is good for us, we would tell when the Chinese loans are not in our best interest, whether land expropriation or nationalising banks is in our best interest.
So, what is the American dream? The American dream as defined in the Epic America is “the dream of a land in which life should be better, richer and fuller for every man with opportunities for each according to his abilities and achievement.” The dream is based on people’s ability, provided they use enough effort, to reach any goal. Eleanor Roosevelt in her Cold War Essay “What Has happened to the American?” explained the American dream as “No single individual, of course, and no single group has an exclusive claim to the American dream. But we have all, I think, a single version of what it is, not merely as a hope and an aspiration, but as a way of life, which we can, which we can come ever closer to attaining in its ideal for if we keep shining and unsullied our purpose and our belief in its essential value” Do we as Batswana or South Africans hold core ideology?
For now, we do not have a core ideology that defines us, this is why we send millions, trying to advertise ourselves in Europe. An Israel MP suggested that we do not have culture. Culture is not what we lack, we lack a core set of ideologies that define who we are.
By Irwin M Chelenyane