Sunday, August 11, 2013
RWANDA: WHAT WILL FOLLOW KAGAME'S TOTALITARIAN DICTATORSHIP?
By David Himbara
The Rwandan
August 8, 2013
As Rwandans begin to find their voices and organize political parties
both inside and outside the country, it is crucial that we reflect
much more broadly than formation of political parties.
There is a far bigger challenge than forming opposition parties.
The bigger question is this – abandonment of the political culture in
Rwanda whereby citizens are reduced to bystanders blocked from
actively participating in the political process; in an environment
where Rwandans fear and follow authority like sheep.
Personally I have failed to fully understand where the fear of, and
the worship of authority came from – this has thrived for perhaps
centuries. But what I have witnessed in Rwanda is simply shocking.
Even the younger generation, does not dare challenge the over-bearing
and controlling regime of the day that seems not only love the
absolute power they exercise, but the relentless attempt at
controlling all aspects of Rwandan people's lives. This culture leads
to fear of authority to an extent I have not seen anywhere else.
Let me be clear. What we have in Rwanda today is no mere dictatorship
as in Habyarimana days – no. We have more and worse. We have what I
may call "totalitarian dictatorship." Ordinarily, the terms
"totalitarianism" and "dictatorship" are not the same things according
to political scientists – and I am combining them deliberately to
illustrate the extreme case of Rwanda.
"Dictatorship" refers to an autocratic or authoritarian form of
government in which the state machinery is dominated and ruled by a
single dictator or by an authoritarian party. This is the sense in
which the Habyarimana regime was a dictatorship. But "totalitarianism"
goes beyond mere dictatorship. "Totalitarianism" defines an autocratic
government that involves itself in all facets of society – its goal is
to control all economic and political matters, attitudes, values,
beliefs and everyday lives of citizens. The uniqueness of the Kagame
state therefore is that it combines totalitarianism and dictatorship –
that is why I am inventing the term "totalitarian dictatorship" to
describe the current disorder.
WHAT OF POST-KAGAME?
Rwandans must not wait for the arrival of another brand of
dictatorship, or totalitarianism, or the combination of the two under
which we currently suffer. As those that are politically-inclined
organize parties, we must not lose sight of the fact that a bigger
challenge lies ahead – that creating a mass movement of
non-partisanism that will become the basis for challenging power by
citizens. By "non-partisanism we mean a political environment whereby
citizens are not forced to support, and are therefore not controlled
by, or affiliated with any of the established political parties – and
are not victimised for their freedom to choose governments on the
basis of their capabilities to deliver services.
This begs the question: After Kagame, who among Rwandans will sit on
the negotiating table to determine their future of Rwanda? NOT ONLY
POLITICAL PARTIES AS IN THE PAST! On that table should be also
non-partisan Rwandans together with political parties with a clear
understanding that it is game-over politics in which citizens meekly
follow political parties like sheep. Henceforth, it should be politics
whereby those who seek political office are the servants of the
people, and not the other way round.
Only then can we say that we have a genuine chance for abandoning
dictatorship and totalitarianism that have manifested in Rwanda since
Queen Kanjogera's Coup d'état in the late 1890s.
posted by Mamadou Kouyate @ 12:49 PM
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