The political ideas characteristic of shallow citizens,
politicians, and analysts are those of gossip, prejudice, and shibboleths. On
the other hand, political ideas characteristic of candidates to be a leader of
society brigade member are facts, truth, impartiality, and being unconventional.
What
broad pooling of ideas and trailblazing should be about is generating ideas
that will affect our society and its politics. 'Ndhavuko ya mihleketo' is as
important as these ideas’ effect on society. We should be in it for the sake of
ideas; posterity is etched therein.
An
acute divorce between the formal meaning and real meaning characterises the
bulk of what we write and speak about politics. For instance, formally, we
might be dealing with energy restructuring as a condition necessitated by
managing South Africa's climate change obligations, and the real meaning might
be moving from the state balance sheet energy
generation-transmission-distribution assets onto private sector balance
sheets.
Whilst
the climate change principle is appealing as an idea, the truth is that any
political economy-impacting discussion involving a compelling enough principle
is simply a matter of competition between interests.
In
the end, ideas that ultimately predominate mainstream discourse on anything
will enjoy legitimacy to the extent that they allow the establishment’s
interests to express their demands. On the other hand, the same discourse can
easily be calibrated to facilitate a climate of opinion in which selfish and
selfless interests can convincingly converge and blend.
Similarly,
the selflessness of the step-aside rule in the post-2012 ANC conference has had
benefits of its formal meaning to the extent that it became a deterrent to brazen
corruption. Equally, its real objects in politics have had selfish-definable
benefits to how the unfolding shifts of political power are setting.
When
selfishness and selflessness converge without tension, the consent manufactured
therein can never be for the good of society. Evidence suggests that would be a
moment when ideas, which are supposed to be the activity that serves to solve society’s
problems, become the problem themselves, then they cease to be ideational but
rather political.
The
goodness of the narratives our ideas generate should be more than a description of what
happened. They must evaluate what happened and take a stance. They cannot
afford to be neutral if they pursue democratic values, social justice, and
fundamental human rights. As generators of ideas and the substrate of the
leader of society brigade our country so desperately needs, we must become more
assertive in our minds and our hearts when we turn our lived and yet painful
experiences into growth.
As
a thinking generation, we must stand up and play our role. We must gradually
move from the generation that fought for freedom to a generation that is
becoming a product of our democracy. We must sit in boardrooms as
representatives of shareholders we approve to be committed to the social
justice we are pursuing. We should be lawyers, doctors, engineers, and
journalists whose professional principles are about guaranteeing the liberation
promise our Constitution is about.
It
should always be the context in which we make decisions that influences us
noticeably and almost always deliberately. We must behave like the first-generation
living part of our lives in post-apartheid freedom and the real world. This
means we are citizens of a borderless free world whose regulation and
government can either be through the anarchy of liberation ignorance or the
arrogance of being informed about our liberation's true meaning and benefits.
Unlike in our real and still apartheid-believing world, those violating our undefined
yet existing rights do so with the impunity of knowing the difficulties of the
jurisdiction in our Constitution-legalised liberated world.
The
factional oligarchies that our political coalitions, also called political parties,
which have abrogated themselves to provide a veil of plausible denialism,
should be isolated by the nature and impact of our thoughts and continuous
thinking. Our urge towards ideas must resemble our desire towards lawfulness;
it must express our longing for order and arrangement in society, a standard with
which most of our acts will be judged. The rigidity and conviction of our ideas
should be justified by their relationship with what is going on.
As
a process of endeavours, the essence of ideation should always aim to transfer
power to society. Such a power should be for political, economic, and social
control. The ultimate objective of our ideational endeavours should be the building of a non-racial, non-sexist, united, and democratic country. The leader of society
brigade should set goals for each phase of the endeavour through a strategy and
tactics development process.
The
greatness of ideas should always be understood and assessed based on the extent
to which the opposing forces in the ideation contestation are balanced. The
strategic pillars of the ideation endeavour should include societal enrolment
and institutions of leadership building. There should be overt and covert work
within ideas pooling constituencies to give leadership to the endeavouring
process.
Change
or transformation of society should be driven or pushed by those who will
benefit from the ideation endeavours. Central to this process should be how
idea generators understand the current phase of their endeavour. What should be
the objectives of the change or transformation about the various facets of
human co-existence, access, rights, the economy, and human development?
It would be a hollow ideation endeavour if it does not report on progress made and what obstacles were identified. Therefore, thinking and ideation be the integrative points of departure for a society which is taking its future seriously. The absence of consistency and sustainability is always a function of past generations which ignored thinking as a foundation of its identity beyond itself. We cannot fail. We must not rush. We must appreciate the urgency to think first, including thinking about thinking. CUT!!!
🤷🏿♂️Ideas are free. What is costly is when they are ignored.
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