Attacking social injustice anywhere

By Ardain Isma

CSMS Magazine

I’m sending a big “thanks” to all the readers who commented on some of the recent articles I wrote this week. Yes, in the logic of maintaining one’s privilege, the weak and the most vulnerable always stand in the most precarious positions. The nouveaux riches as well as those who acquire wealth through inheritances, therefore occupying the reins of power, will always want to maintain their status quo forever.

It’s the law of the jungle. What is new in this 21^st century is the sophistication of the rules as well as the level of devastation that can occur in the events the marginalized citizens resort to violent means to try to change or turn around their dehumanized conditions. As a result, violent clashes have become a daily routine in Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and Southeast Asia, where the dominant classes have forged alliances with northern industrialized nations at the expense of the disenfranchised masses.

Whether in Haiti, in Guatemala, in Burkina Faso, in Libya etc…, it is always those who are willing to betray their national interests that are favored to hold the reins of power. What the stronger nations look for is not democracy/prosperity for all, as they like to say. Every country that tries to achieve this is always met with a fatal contempt and constant threats of boycott, sabotage and ultimately direct military intervention if the threats are not strong enough to reverse the trend and turn things in their favors.

Never in my wildest dream that I thought one day could I have wakened up — from a nightmarish dream— to find Sweet Micky Martelly as president of Haiti. I think for all patriotic Haitians and every person of good heart who is well informed about the country’s glorious past, its current humiliating problems will understand this is a bitter pill to swallow. Anyone who thinks I’m too pessimistic may watch Raoul Peck’s latest documentary, Assistance Mortelle.   

In the process to remove Kaddafi from power in Libya so they can lay their hands freely on the country’s vast oil reserve, they’ve destroyed its total infrastructure. Analysts say it will take years to bring the country back to prewar level.

In Iraq and in Syria, it is the same. In the premise of the jungle’s rules, the lions reign, but they don’t always win every battle. A people united can indeed achieve political independence, the cornerstone of every true democracy—participatory democracy where the masses become active players in the decision-making process.

Note: Dr. Ardain Isma heads the Center for Strategic and Multicultural Studies (CSMS). He teaches Cross-Cultural Studies at the University of North Florida (UNF). He is a novelist and also chief editor for CSMS Magazine. He may be reached at: [email protected]