Power Tends to Corrupt, That’s Why We Need to Resist It
Throughout my life, both as a person who is struggling to make sense out of the increasingly insensible world, and as a journalist, I have had a strong conviction that power — State, corporate or any other type of power — needs to be kept in check to prevent its misuse by those who have grabbed it from the people.
Because I am not among those who subscribe to the idea that power corrupts. I’m opposed to this generalisation. Everybody is striving for more power and, really, without it, it is fair to say that nothing can be accomplished. That is why I believe that power tends to corrupt and the people’s ability to resist it or their collective failure to do so is a strong determinant whether or not that power can drive crazy the powerful.
The press, or an independent press, can play a significant role in that direction. The geniuses behind the naming of the press the Fourth Estate, meaning an additional pillar in the structure of State formation apart from the Executive, the Judiciary, and the Parliament, had this appreciation in their minds, I believe. That the press’ main function is to ensure checks and balance in these three other branches of the State.
This is just one among several arguments for an independent press and the reason why I chose journalism as my vocation. As to many others in the industry, I did not become a journalist to be a millionaire. I chose journalism because I thought it was the best avenue to hold the power by its horns and thus force those who have it to direct it to more useful uses instead of using it against the powerless, the vulnerable, and the weak.
I leave it to my community to judge me as a journalist but I believe that during the short period of active journalism in the country — about three years — I have been trying, with some few successes and countless failures, to do exactly that. And while I do not have any intention to create a martyr out of me, it is exactly that which led to my being thrown away from the industry — at least for now.
In one among several sessions that I have had the honour of being invited to share my views on the human rights situation in Tanzania, I tried to convince my hosts, the people on the ground making sure that our human rights are respected, that in as far as the issue of freedom of expression is concerned it is important that they expand the scope and not just restrict themselves in government’s actions that are seen to violate that people’s basic freedom.
I emphasized to them that it was important that they also look at the suppression of the freedom of expression by other powerful non-State entities that behave and produce state-like effects on people. These include businesses and/or companies which formulate policies and guidelines supposedly aimed at governing workers’ social media activities while in reality they are aimed to censor and suppress workers’ basic freedoms.
Ironically, I fell victim to these draconian practices before the organization I offered my advice to even start to work on the suggestion. The earlier the intervention is made, however, the more the people will be saved from falling in the same victimhood as I did.
And this serves as my answer to the question: what exactly happened? I’ll tell you, I was fired because of expressing my opinion on Twitter, an opinion that my former employer said violated their Social Media Policy. According to these wise men and women, advising the people to organise rallies to get their government respond to their demands “brought into question” the company’s “editorial standards.” Well, I disagreed but it made no difference.
Listen, it made no difference because the power that has been left unchecked for many years was rearing its ugly and shameful head on my situation and worse still it wielded absolute authority over it. Bowing to the wishes of the powerful is anything but heroic, especially if the one doing so claims her mission is to hold the power to account. But that’s exactly what happened — they surrendered to power.
To the powerful, my dismissal was not enough though. They wanted me to be embarrassed. And they found willing accomplices in my former bosses who chose to issue a notice to the public disowning me even though I ceased to be their member of staff three days earlier. This was an unprecedented move from my former employer, to say the least, as many colleagues have previously left the company before and no notice was issued whatsoever!
But that did not matter to anyone at the company I fully-heartedly served for three years nor did the implications that that notice would have to my safety as a person (safety, of course, because they cannot damage my reputation even if that was the intention).
If the company bothered even a little to ask for my opinion about the notice, I’d advise them against it. Until the time of writing, the dust that the notice rose is yet to cool down. The notice caused unnecessary tension and set my family, friends, and relatives in a constant panic mode.
Some, in the wake of the notice issuance, asked if I was angry at the company. No, I’m not angry at anyone. I’m just sorry instead for my former bosses. The former bosses who made me and gave me a name in Tanzania’s media landscape. The great people who opened for me so many doors of opportunities that just three years ago seemed unimaginable to me. These are the people who taught me how to write good stories and how to utilise my full potential as a young man with a vision to change the world through constant training, mentorship, and coaching. The amazing people that I owe so much debt than I can be able to pay!
These are the people I am disturbingly sorry for because of the situation they find themselves in thanks to the country’s political circumstances where we have people who deep down their heart believe that it is their both moral and legal duty to decide how people think and behave, the maximalists, so-called. People who think possess the same power and authority that the medieval monarchs possessed. People who frown at every democratic principle as if they obtained the power through a coup or a revolution!
I dream of a day when the press will be free in Tanzania. A day when both the media and journalists will not need licenses from the government so that they can do their job. A day that when the powerful tries to influence editorial decisions, journalists and their management will have the courage to resist and protect their profession. A day when profit and being in good terms with the powers-that-be will stop being the main concern of our media houses and the focus on the media’s social responsibility and the Fourth Estate role will reign supreme. It is possible, I can see it on the horizon.
I’m Khalifa Said, an adversarial journalist based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and dictators’ and petty capitalists’ worst nightmare. If you like my works and wish me to keep them on you can support me here.