think how hard this actual work would be. the "deliberative agency" could only be real if people could express themselves openly and freely.
an example of where this failed was the gacaca courts in rwanda, intended precisely to have people in the local communities, where the genocide took place, to judge those charged with being genocidaires.
when these courts began, and people came and testified before the whole community, i think a positive healing process was underway.
not too long after the central government intervened and basically barred accusations against any tutsis. it became a set of one-sided forced trials where the government overrule eventually dictated results.
the hard part of your plan, moses, lies in finding a way to intervene, to get the people's participation, when a system of rule is already in place. weren't there vaguely similar notions under qaddafi w his people's courts and ethiopia under the derg? i don't remember all these instances very well, but come on, how would such an ideal beginning be able to occur, say, in biya's cameroon, or even in today's nigeria. how could you begin, especially if democratic procedures were not instituted at the outset?
i feel we are back to the early days of marxist revolutionary thinking or even french revolutionary thinking, when an avant-garde determines whether the people's consciousness is directing the revolution. here we'd have to clear the decks for a new start. how could that be implemented?
ken
kenneth harrow
professor emeritus
dept of english
michigan state university
517 803-8839
harrow@msu.edu
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Moses Ebe Ochonu <meochonu@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, February 1, 2022 3:15 PM
To: USAAfricaDialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Successful Coups in Africa
Sent: Tuesday, February 1, 2022 3:15 PM
To: USAAfricaDialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Successful Coups in Africa
Like me, the brilliant Saun Jacob at "Africa is a Country," rejects the false, dichotomous choice between strongmen dictators and liberal democracy. I may not fully agree with his prescription, but at least his premise is correct, which is that both liberal democracy and strongman dictatorship have failed in Africa. We need to imagine a new type of democracy for each African country, one that builds from scratch and starts with what Uchenna Okeja calls the "deliberative agency" of each African country's people. Let them decide first what type of structure they want for their country. Then let them do the hard, rigorous work of beginning afresh to construct a unique governing system for their country, one that reflects their peculiar histories, experiences, demographic makeup, and aspirations. They can call it whatever they like and do not have to align it with any existing isms or ideological political formation. If folks in the West do not like it, who cares?
On Tue, Feb 1, 2022 at 11:26 AM Harrow, Kenneth <harrow@msu.edu> wrote:
--moses threw down the gauntlet, and i would love to hear people's response.if western style democracies with elections are not the answer, what is?how would people suggest to change things into better, more responsive systems?for me it is easy to think of what is bad, or worse.my question is not a challenge based on the idea that there is only one good answer, as churchill boringly put it.what are some real alternatives that seem to have worked better or could work better than what is proposed under current dominant thinking?ken
kenneth harrow
professor emeritus
dept of english
michigan state university
517 803-8839
From: 'Emeagwali, Gloria (History)' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, February 1, 2022 11:45 AM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Successful Coups in AfricaPoint noted, Ken. We can put thatunder opportunistic, as well, andsubdivide that category.
Note, too, Egypt's Morsi, who wasdemocratically elected and removed by
el-Sisi.
Professor Gloria Emeagwali
Prof. of History/African Studies, CCSU
africahistory.net; vimeo.com/ gloriaemeagwali
Recipient of the 2014 Distinguished Research
Excellence Award, Univ. of Texas at Austin;
2019 Distinguished Africanist Award
New York African Studies Association
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Harrow, Kenneth <harrow@msu.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, February 1, 2022 11:29 AM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Successful Coups in Africa--Please be cautious: **External Email**
gloria, in a sense when someone hijacks an electoral process, and uses force to suppress opposition, isn't that a sort of coup? nkurunzima did that in burundi in 2015, occasioning enormous violence, many dead, 300,000 fled the country.
kagame didn't do that. he simply shut down the opposition, and museveni same deal in last election.are those "democratic coups"? maybe.ken
kenneth harrow
professor emeritus
dept of english
michigan state university
517 803-8839
From: 'Emeagwali, Gloria (History)' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, February 1, 2022 9:58 AM
To: Toyin Falola <toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu>; dialogue <USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Successful Coups in Africa--Useful map. Someone should do ataxonomy of coups. Here is mypreliminary list:
Opportunistic coups (Babangida,Abacha, el- Sisi) Nigeria, Egypt.
Patriotic coups to save collapse(Doumbouya, DamibaGoita) Guinea,Burkina Faso, Mali
Fundamentalist, theologicallyinspired coups(Bashir) Sudan
Developmental, growth motivatedcoups (EPRDF, Murtala MohammedObasanjo) Ethiopia, Nigeria
Revolutionary coups (Sankara; Rawlings 1)Burkina Faso, Ghana
Neo-colonial / externallymotivated (Kaka Deby, Taylor) Chad, Liberia
All subject to modifications and debate.
Professor Gloria Emeagwali
Prof. of History/African Studies, CCSU
africahistory.net; vimeo.com/ gloriaemeagwali
Recipient of the 2014 Distinguished Research
Excellence Award, Univ. of Texas at Austin;
2019 Distinguished Africanist Award
New York African Studies Association
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Toyin Falola <toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu>
Sent: Monday, January 31, 2022 7:38 AM
To: dialogue <USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Successful Coups in Africa--Please be cautious: **External Email**
Sent from my iPhone--
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