Comment: The sky will not rain in Gold!
The sky will not rain gold, but the waters can bring life and prosperity if you use it well after the rainfalls. The point is: nothing comes without positive energy, innovation, initiative, effort and collaboration. So simple. Last week we zoomed on the need for all Batswana to wake up to lift the country higher, and help prepare it to face the future hardships that are inevitably coming sooner or later, no matter how ready we are or not to meet them.
The hardships are many. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see this - a shaking international system that is not auguring well; a growing economic crisis that is hammering the biggest economies in the world, and will certainly throw its calamities on smaller ones, if it is not already doing this; an apocalyptic climatic crisis that none can really foresee how and where it will hit first and how hard; and worst of all, an increasingly imprudent “leaders” who tend to opt for wars, conflicts and might to manage their international relations, or even seem to care more about small, tactical gains over the strategic need to really lead humanity to avoid the coming gloomy days in total solidarity, respect of international law and mutual aid. We said last week that our political parties, civil society, trade unions, local authorities and even intellectuals, Academia and Media bear their part of the responsibility and must meet and honour their social contracts with Batswana. We, the people of Botswana, like all peoples around the world, we elect and vote for and pay these “elite” to lead by example; to come with initiatives and push towards achievements; to give us the feeling that our ship is well sailed to overcome the stormy seas before us. Not to hear them brawl over seats and positions. Why don’t we see political parties conducting other activities than electoral ones? Is fighting for Parliamentary seats all that political parties can do?! Why don’t we see trade unions leading popular campaigns to educate their members first, and the new generations too, on how to serve your nation by doing something for your society?
Let’s brainstorm a bit more on what trade unions can do for example: Organising academic and popular activities to educate the workers and other stakeholders on various issues that impact the world of work in the future. Let’s say for example issues related to demographic growth and unemployment; growing technologies and the jobs of the future versus the jobs that will disappear; economic and social dialogue and their impact on the political life. The role of Trade Unions should not only be to bargain on behalf of workers today, but to prepare to bargain for them in tomorrow’s world.
As for the Civil Society, we have a number of organisations that cover a variety of sectors, but what are they really doing? If they are doing something, then they are certainly badly communicating it to the society. Civil society organisations must innovate in their approach to serving their society. They must go to the smaller units of the society, work with the masses to impact the lives of the most vulnerable, those who can be overlooked by the “capitalist” business that we seem to have heartily embraced in our country, and complete the efforts of the government to provide basic services, not compete with it.
They can also lead discussions on what really is the socio- economic system that we should adopt to face tomorrow’s challenges? Is capitalism really the solution?
We have it in front of our eyes struggling to hide its failure everywhere. Shouldn’t we rather come up with our own African hybrid system that takes from all economic examples we have in front of us, one based on decent work, innovation, use of traditional knowledge, focus on producing locally to serve our needs first before going to imports, and caring for everyone in the true embodiment of our culture of “Botho”, so that no one is left behind. Once again, wake up Batswana! Wake up early and tackle the future before it tackles us.