Neoliberal Economic Riot at the Base

Introduction

The purpose of this piece is to present a summary of how neoliberal economic features are acting and impacting at the lowest geopolitical space in a typical African entity. The reason is to extend the debate on post-independence collective degeneration. By moving away from national level arguments we show the dynamic processes and complex reactions at the grassroot. The political unit of focus in the autonomous community/republic.

Clarification of Terms

Neoliberal economics is a system of material and service exchanges where the primary objective is the maximisation of profit in a disequilibrium market. Uncontrolled market with limited government oversight is the king. It is liberal because its undergirding ideology assume that all participants in the market are discrete individuals with sufficient capacity for rational decisions. In this market everything is assigned a monetary value to be bought and sold. The market is rigged and controlled. Neo indicates the refinement of liberal thinking.

Where does this market operate? Anywhere in the world however the best examples are flag-independent countries i.e. countries where political leaders have limited ability to decide and act on their peoples' interest. Europe, Americas, Asia and Africa have thriving examples. However it is most severe in Africa, South America and Asia. The political, religious, cultural, civil and military leaders are hostages of external powerful interests even if they were elected. These leaders are powerful only on 3 grounds; allowing or ignoring peoples’ super exploitation and oppression, refusal to strategically invest in the peoples and deploying institutional violence on the peoples resisting and protesting in solidarity.

The Base

This is the grassroot, that reside in non-urban communities accounting for the majority of national populations. They are connected to the national and regional/state capitals from where most policies and decision are designed and implemented. Policy implementation is not guaranteed. Normatively, the capitals should be the primary source of resources, capital, investment and infrastructure. In addition grassroots depend on subsistence agriculture and secondarily by services. The social structure used to be strong, dependable, participatory and collaborative. This is the main safety net precisely located in families. There is no public neocolonial social security.

Governance-wise, the base seemingly endured with sophisticated indigenous mechanisms handed down from ancestors. However these are seriously challenged in the face of colonial realities. They have offices, structures, processes and institutions currently held by leaders with limited awareness of their basis, requirements and conditions. The leaders have no serious formation in indigenous knowledge, value system and cosmology rather are beneficiaries of Eurocentric methods whose relevance disconnects from facts on the ground.

The economy has been monetary and non-monetary with goods and services exchanged equitably in non-market and nearby market spaces. Usually food sovereignty is guaranteed in stable communities with sufficient arable land, water and labour. This guaranteed affordability and reliability.

Contemporary Experience

As neoliberal fiscal and monetary policies deepen from the capitals over time, incomes collapse, saving evaporate, costs rise from incorrect implementation of policies, limitation of statutory payments and lack of necessary goods and services. Simply put, the state fails to deliver its duties. Cashflow drastically decline with numerous implications. Cost of food begins to rise, as the cost of health care, schools and basic necessities. Costs are highest at the grassroot. This pressure is tackled in various ways by families and groups. How do the leadership react?

Despite the severity of the situation, it equally carries huge opportunities for leadership particularly in rallying citizens towards emancipatory and liberational search for solutions. At this point intellectual block and leadership suspension step in. Most indigenous, civil, political and religious leaders consistently fail to act because of their Eurocentric formation. Due to their delegitimised positions, they are inflexible to ground-up strategic solutions even as evidence of economic pain increase. In addition they have a spatially ontological blindness that disable them from grounding any credible response away from the capitals.

Most leaders are severely handicapped, incompetent and ignorant particularly the so-called Christian leaders who stew in brainwash. Their views of politics are distorted that they are content with colonial liberal theological focused on personal salvation without coherent asymmetric political framework. They forget that Jesus Christ was a colonised and oppressed subject of Rome. They are ignorant of economic structure, laws and impact as their demands intensify for more material sacrifices from oppressed members. 

This irresponsibility and lack of credible approach leads to distrust and mutation of places of worship for commercial purposes. The leaders mistake people’s focus on survival for their own competence and relevance. They blame the oppressed for lacking initiative, energy and lack of faith were applicable. They fail to see the strategic, institutional and collective dimensions of the complex processes and the begging need for credible response. Lightweight and miserable intellectuals evacuate the situation to poverty devoid of comprehensive long durée root-cause analysis.

Local markets shrink as fewer sellers go to bigger markets, while journey to bigger markets costs per capita rise in the absence of private transport. Many leaders still hesitate to approve new markets in proximity to retain capital and reduce waste at the base. Both grassroot production and quality decline in the absence of government support, community banks, cheap fund facilities and public social security. Insecurity, crime and immorality gain traction. 

Those with extra capital in the community set up shops to cater to customers with variable profit margins. Social relations slowly weaken as disputes grow. The unwell easily go to places of worship and questionable indigenous doctors. Debt, quality of life and standard of living rapidly. Death rate rises as lifespan decrease sharply in the face of collapse of preventive health care. Community composition, cohesion and identity gradually adjust negatively. Like controlled demolition, the grassroot is unravelled systematically over time. 

Conclusion

Collective degeneration from neocolonial policy is the natural controlled outcome from the colonial project. Its impact touches every part of a neocolonial state. Its mitigation is stalled by thoughtless, inflexible and delegitimised indigenous leadership formed on Eurocentric diet.  There are viable alternatives. Until leadership opens to indigenous value system and authenticity plus deleting the notion of history as a burden and embrace it as a treasure trove for reconstructing collective dignity of our peoples, comprehensive strategic action to reverse decline at any scale is remote.