Social Movement and the Failed Message

The Turnaround

In a society that upholds democratic values; social movements are one of the key pillars of it civic and political system. In Tanzania, social movements have significantly contributed to many reforms such as; a call to a multi-party system, women empowerment in leadership, to the review of a national constitution. Social movements have been there for the people, to amplify their voices, for the truth and as hope in chaos or despair.

During the past three years, Tanzania has observed a drastic shift in its political landscape, from a a free and a hopeful bird, to a fearful, caged bird; ruled by a cult of personality that seems to be beyond any legal codes, norms or the will of the people. The striking accident of this change is that in the process, social movements were derailed into a prolonged unanticipated shock. To date, it seems the social movement is yet to find the right balance or strategy in countering or keeping the beam of hope alive.

Undisputedly, there is great work being done by some members of social movements, some of this work is even at the expense of personal freedom, or even putting their lives and loved one at risk. With all this effort, the realities on the ground are substantial barren without a significant change in the social structures. For example, two 2018 surveys (survey one, survey two) shows that; even when people are not happy with their environment, when it comes to action, people will still vote or protect the same people that cause the mischief. On the other hand, people want good education, health, employment, infrastructure but the same people shows not to care about good governance and accountability. What does this mean? Where did we go wrong? What can we do?

Strategy

While it might upset some, clearly for the past three years social movement has hibernated in a lengthy vicious shock. Some call this a self-preservation strategy, but with the sky falling and a hula-hoop of reacting; this is clearly a deficiency of a strategy. There is a need of a STRATEGY; a vacuum that calls for a cumulative agreement on a future we want and actions to take, a wake-up call from this shock. To build this strategy, we have to first take a moment for a honest reflection, a reflection of our past and present; looking at success, failures and gaps within us. Between now and 2020, we have a great opportunity for a seat down; to try to be in a control of our future as the People. There has to be a road-map toward a long-term vision, or we risk for a a much obscure future as moments pass-by. We have to move past moments of reacting to every change of the wind; this not only limit the power of negotiations, it make us stuck and make business usual a token to the guardians of the status quo.

Message

In building a notable strategy, there has to be a firm and relatable message to the People. We might have years of experience in our message, but results shows it’s still not enough. Looking at the inner working of some of the power structures, you can see there is greater level of propaganda mechanism and carefully efforts on influencing people’s emotions. You can hardly change a mind of somebody who for the past ten years has been part of meetings, where in each gathering; they use four to five hours, singing songs of admiration to the status quo and the old guards. It makes it even harder, to try to change the mind of a person who has been chanting songs of the nostalgia to a past that never happened; and has been carefully manipulated to believe that a better future will only happen when the old guards are protected and cherished.

Understanding this context put us to task, how can you change a mind of a person who spent significant part his life under propaganda opioids? Second dynamics is in the new generation, people who are still looking for a cause, an idea to cling to; the group that people do not take them seriously enough on the notion that “they love gossiping and aren’t decent, matured or intelligent enough”-this group will decide the future one way or another.

I will use the famous phrase “Simplicity is the ultimate Sophistication”. The impact and longevity of our strategy will depend on the message accompanying it. Will the message address the fear, hope and expectations of the people? Will the message be reactionary or about the future? In all this, simplicity will be the ultimate ingredient. The strategy has to have a message beyond political factions, message enshrined in the understanding of the past, present and the future people want, it has to be a message of ‘Hope’. After the content, we should remember the medium of delivery is as important as the message. Creativity has to be a currency in delivering this message; there has to be more and we shouldn’t shy from being eccentric.

A blockchain of movement

The basic idea here is about unity; the type of unity where one is strong like a ‘hundred’ and a ‘hundred’ is strong like one. When we have a road-map, it shouldn’t need a workshop for it to be implemented; there has to be an individual ownership and a collective responsibility. At this point, words need to have life and documents have to breathe.

It’s disappointing to see when folks run into trouble people isolate them, mark them with names and ultimately help the abuser. Have you heard statement like ‘we are not like them’ or ‘our approach is different’ or ‘we can’t work with them, we have to look neutral’. It’s even sadder when there is a back-stabbing and naming across boardrooms based on personal grudges or just plain arrogance. These things suck the life out of social movements. Some folks give up on all of this, because they feel alone, broken and left-out; and we need each other now more than ever.

A BLOCKCHAIN OF MOVEMENT is a consistent unity toward the agenda, the type of unit that won’t be slowed when one node is suppressed, the type of unity that will quickly run to the defence of one node, heal the wound of the other part while keeping the agenda in constant motion. The type of unity that shields when the going become tough, in a terrain of disinformation, terror, co-option, character assassinations or malice of any kind. We need to build a blockchain of movement.

When the worse come…

One of the greatest opportunities that members of the social movements have in this time is the support from partners. We should be grateful and utilise every opportunity with great vigour and honesty. But what will happen, when environment make it harder for folks to receive assistance or provide a more palatable agenda to partners than that of Tanzania we want? Will we be here, will all of this matter, and does this really matter to us? Great captains, work on plan B when the sea is still navigable.

Let’s have an HONEST REFLECTION of our state, build a STRATEGY with a MESSAGE that live beyond the news circle. Let’s build a new type of movement, where one is strong like a hundred and a hundred is strong like one- A BLOCKCHAIN OF MOVEMENT. Let’s not be surprised anymore, we should prepare for the worst and live for the best in each moment.