The protest march on Black Friday. Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff
CIVIL disobedience can be used to achieve greater fairness, accountability and performance from government if it is organised and clearly directed, a university lecturer has advised.
Dr. Ian Strachan, a political analyst and professor of English at the University of the Bahamas, shared his views in an app.earance on a weekend radio talk show on how Bahamians can go about getting better representation from those currently in government or those seeking to be elected to public office in 2017.
Dr. Strachan, who has been critical on social media of the recent demonstration by We March Bahamas, is not opposed to the public using civil disobedience get what they want.
Organisers of the protest issued a list of 23 non-partisan demands to Prime Minister Perry Christie and several of his Cabinet ministers on November 9 and again on November 22. Mr. Christie responded to organisers by letter on November 24, in which he invited leaders to meet with him at his office. However this offer was rejected.
A new letter sent to Mr. Christie on Thursday outlined more than 30 demands.
During an appearance on the 96.9 FM show “Eye Opener” on Saturday, Dr. Strachan stressed that “Bahamians have to open their eyes and create the protections that will enable a greater level of fairness”.
“You will never be able to eliminate all corruption from government,” he said. “You will never create a perfect system. But you sure as hell can get a better one than this one. And I think what we need is, organised, systematic, very clearly directed civil disobedience.
“You can’t come at the government with 50 demands. You have to be clear. What’s the most important thing that you want today that you need to see change? And you get the folks around the table and you come up with your strategies and if it means boycotts, if it means sit-ins, if it means marches and demonstrations, but you do it in such a way that you apply the pressure that’s needed.
“It’s clear what everybody is going out for and it is clear you know when you’ve gotten it. And I think we’re out of practice but we have to get back into practice doing that,” he added.
In responding to a caller that he had no intentions of entering politics at this time, Dr. Strachan said that with a general election on the horizon, people wanting a change in governance must ask political hopefuls whose interests they are representing.
“We want to know who is funding your campaign? To what level? And what is attached to those funds? What’s a fundamental issue in this country is the fact that these parties have been able to do these elections for 40 years and never had to tell us where the money was coming from. We get little bits and pieces.
“The problem is, there are things attached to these funds. This is why I support publicly funded election campaigns. In other words, if the corporations want to provide funds, you put it into a general pool as well as there are tax dollars that fund it and each party gets a certain amount and there has to be a certain number of debates and a certain number of primaries. But you don’t get to buy elections because you have a bigger treasure trove than the other guy,” he said.
“You create fairness in your election. You give people an opportunity to actually be considered on their merit. What we have in this system, and it’s happening in America too, people are able to buy elections by flooding the elections to buy commercials and t-shirts, in our case t-shirts, and this is what causes certain elite groups to be able to hijack your government, making sure it serves them and not the majority.”
Just over 1,000 We March Bahamas protesters marched from Arawak Cay to Rawson Square on November 25. Organisers have another march slated for the 50th anniversary Majority Rule Day on January 9.
Lamech Johnson, Tribune Staff Reporter
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