Party
identification, identifying with a political party within a nation (which we
here call partisanism), is the defining feature of a democratic political
dispensation. For any country to be considered democratic there must be a
number of political parties and individual actors competing for a share of the
people’s political power and public offices. Where there is only one party in a
country or if the party in power is oppressive and intolerant of dissent,
partisanism will still exist because people will identify with the parties of
their choice whether these parties are allowed to operate legally or not, and
whether the single party in power likes it or not. Partisanism is therefore an
integral and inevitable aspect of political life in a nation-state.
However,
partisanism may often degenerate into blind loyalty and political bigotry. In
authoritarian states like the ousted Jammeh regime’s, identification with the
party in power is erroneously equated with a sense of political omnipotence,
infallibility and an unrestrained right to enjoy special power and privileges
within the nation-state. This kind of partisanism is dangerous because it
subsumes the nation and the national interest under the parochial interests of
a specific sub-national political entity. Under such unhealthy political
conditions, the party in power suggests to its supporters that they literally
own the political space to the exclusion of other equally legitimate and
entitled entities within the nation. The consequences could range from brutal
repression, mindless nepotism and cronyism to widespread political hostility
and a culture of angry silence that smothers the nation’s intellectual,
creative and economic potential. The party in power manages through repression
to impose a peace of the iron grid, an illusory peace that sooner or later
explodes into varying forms and degrees of civil conflict. In some cases it
leads to violence that consumes the nation and wreaks almost irreparable havoc
on the country. In The Gambia between December 9, 2016 and January 19, 2017 a
cool-headed and measured intelligence denied the ousted dictatorship an
opportunity to orchestrate a deadly repression that would have been supported
by the dictator’s blind loyalists.
Blind
partisanism can easily morph into a kind of fascist sub-nationalism. In The
Gambia, blind loyalty to the ousted dictator and his party over and above the
Gambian nation by both civilians and segments of the security forces helped
perpetuate a regime of brutality and terror whose nature is only now becoming
known to some Gambians.
As
the discovery of evidence of extrajudicial killings and unmarked graves
continues, Gambians must keep in mind that blind partisanism is partly
responsible for the perpetuation of these crimes. There is no harm in
supporting parties and leaders of our choice; but it is dangerous to render so
much support to these sub-national entities that we come to consider them more
important than the nation to which they belong and within which they are
embedded.
Blind
partisanism generates a culture of political hostility in the body politic. It
discourages healthy political debate and discourse, shuns fair competition and
fosters a politics of insults and lack of respect for political opponents and
differing opinions. It encourages unquestioning and unconditional loyalty and
support for party leaders and precludes critical evaluation of their
pronouncements and actions. Whatever the party leaders say or do is considered
beyond question by their supporters who also insist that it must be so accepted
by the opponents of the party or its leader. It therefore denies and rejects
the human capacity for making mistakes and errors of judgment and therefore
ascribes to the party and the leader a semi-divine status that borders on
sacrilege. A party that promotes and thrives on blind partisanism may win power
and hold on to power for any length of time, but it is inevitably doomed to
failure and will wreak considerable damage on the nation-state it presides
over. Non-governing parties that encourage blind partisanism in their
supporters also foster a culture of political hostility that is inimical to the
wellbeing of the nation.
At all times and under all circumstances,
especially in our beautiful little Gambia, party leaders and supporters should
remember that while it is okay to disagree and even quarrel across party
political lines, it is never okay to allow such disagreements and quarrels to
degenerate into a hostile enmity that poses a threat to our national wellbeing.
We have succeeded in dislodging a divisive and violent leader and his
jingoistic party from power.
But
recent unsavory exchanges between political parties and their supporters
suggest that our partisanism is at risk of morphing into a form of virulent
sub-nationalism inimical to our healthy progress as a nation. We all have and
should freely enjoy the right to support the party of our choice. But being a
member and supporter of one particular party should not translate into
considering the members and supporters of any other party as our enemies with
whom we must engage in a battle to the death over who enjoys more legitimacy or
who should be in power now or in the future. Let us think of ourselves as
belonging to one extended Gambian family for in reality, that’s what we are.
Gambians
of all religious, ideological and political persuasions must always put love of
country above support for any single entity with the nation, whether this is a
party, a region or a leader. We must expend conscious effort to build a spirit
of Gambian nationalism that transcends all forms of ethnic, religious, and
party political loyalties and places the supreme interest of the nation above
all sectarian interests.
Democracy
is built upon a culture of political pluralism, competition, debate and
disagreement. But we must constantly guard against the ascendancy of a politics
of blind partisanism and bigotry that thrives on insults and degradation of
political opponents and critics for no reason other than that they are not
members of our political party, or do not agree with the words and actions of
our party leaders.
Where
partisanism is pitted against nationalism, nationalism must be made to triumph
for in that triumph lies the salvation of our beautiful little nation.
