Egypt and The Baradei …..(2)

If Dr. Baradei indulges in the presidency race without preparations, he shall not have any vote. The reality is that 80 percent of the voters are passive voters. At least 50% of t hose passive voters might not have heard about the achievements of Dr. Baradei and if it happens that they know, they do not care about his international achievements.

The only way that Dr. Baradei may be able to attract the passive voters is through a declared detailed vision that can touches on the livelihood of those silent protesters.

Dr. Baradei has been subject to character assassination in the state media, which is, to the majority of the Egyptians in peri-urban and rural population is the government voice and it is subconsciously obeyed. The state media contents steams from excessive researches about the nature of the belief system of the Egyptians. They are the same population that complain vehemently about every aspect of governance yet they, in hypnotized like manner, vote for the ruling party, either willingly or unwillingly through other means.

Such belief system is fed continuously through proverbs, test balloons and rumors that touch on their routed fear of risk. A typical Egyptian is not a risk taker, thus by nature is the enemy of change. Such attitude results from poverty and deprivation of choices. Another reason being is geo-political nature of Egypt itself, and the socio-economic relation between the government with its brutality from one side and the interest of the individual in avoiding risks.

The ruler of Egypt has to be autocratic, even unwillingly; he is forced to such situation by the workings of the oldest bureaucratic machinery known to mankind. Most of the speeches of the Egyptian rulers are empty of any sign of respect to the voters’ opinion, or that Egyptian leaders are elected to oversee the people’s interest. That shall be a major challenge to Dr. Baradei success.

Another aspect that Dr. Baradei has to face is the brutal and selfish capitalism that exploded in Egypt in the past ten years. Such Capitalists are ready to invest in the sustainability of the current political system at any cost to maintain their monopoly and protect their interests.

Dr. Baradei has been outside the loop of such groups and has been tagged now as a threat to the system, so financing his campaign is confronted with a waves of counter investments and he shall not have except the good will of a bunch of middle class thinkers, that have hardly made a difference in the political landscape of Egypt in the past.

Dr. Baradei has won elections in international institutions through lobbying limited identified interest groups. He has worked through limited campaigns with limited budgets, how would he finance a campaign to 80 million interest groups with high illiteracy rate. That for sure is a challenge that need to budgeted and planned for.

Another aspect is that Dr. Baradei is a technocrat, he is used to office and interest groups politics through a defined set of rules that can be bent but not broken, how would he manage his campaign through presidency’s election landscape in Egypt, where every law could be, if not already, broken.

The wondering mind of

NED

Africa Re-colonised….

Along the years of my traveling in Africa I was always observant to demographic variations among air travelers and passengers, from empty seats, to Franco-phone African talking about “L’Afrique”, to the Europeans who think they shall get the elephants to mount them, to Americans who just came out of World Bank pockets as the solution, to the missionaries talking about the despair, yet collect more donations from the needy, to the Chinese who do not speak anyone except the Chinese!!!!. The problem this time, they were almost 35% of the passengers on the flight.

I always judge people with their belief system, and none I awe more than those who adopt the following proverbs saying:

• If you are patient enough you shall see the corps of your enemy floating down the river.
• Don’t give me a fish, but teach me how to fish a fish.

I believe that the above two proverbs are the inherent rules in the Chinese belief system and the main strategies that they use to conquer the world. China has adopted same strategy against USA and now it is watching the American Corp struggling to survive down the financial turbulent and turbid river.

The Chinese danger is that they are looking at “the bottom of the pyramid”, and they are uprooting the grass-roots’ opportunities in Africa. Those who have some small trading jobs here and there…..I am not saying the Chinese are wrong in their strategy to invade and colonies Africa peacefully. It the solution to their problems, where a low productivity, corruption coupled with low population density. It seems African to be the solution to all Chinese current social and demographic problems; but it seems that the African countries their and governments have lost contact with and vision of their grass-roots and they cannot hear anymore their hunger roaring

The reader may agree that those governments need the blessing of the new up coming master, but the problem that this master is not coming with new technology or development techniques, the Chinese are coming with ethnic replacement… they are creating closed communities competing with small traders, and they are financially supported by the their government, through subsidiaries schemes and incentives,

How can the poor and the helpless grass-root Africans compete with that?….at least when they used to import from china and sell in their mother land and continent, they had a job then, but now with the demographic replacement of the Africans by Chinese is dangerous, especially when they are up-rooting the citizens from their jobs, then they will create a monopoly of production, supply and afterwards ….politics

Wake up Africa and “don’t inhale”…

Politicians as economic good….

Tomorrow the world celebrates the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (October 17^th) by turning a lot of middle class people into poor. This sacrifice to the blood sucking poverty is a pledge to let major financiers and board directors survive the markets crash and maintain their mansions in the Riviera and alike.

The same head of states and leaders who rushed and instantly committed a lot of money and made budgets available to support and save their friends and golf-mates in the financial institutions, dodged committing same amounts for social needs, medical and education security for urban poor communities, in the name of market dynamics and finance mechanisms. Suddenly all the cash is made available to bail their financiers from their crisis.

From the preceding and by logical deduction, it is obvious that financing political campaigns is the best investment in the market and politicians are the best economic good that money can buy.

I would call on all governments to make available a list of the major share-holders and the annual accruals and benefits of all persons sitting on the boards of directors of those stumbling financial institution, for the tax payers to know which fat cows they salvaged.

Tax payers should be proud that they saved such miserably rich people; who embezzled millions of dollars on golf tournaments, cocktail parties and bribing their venal politicians all over the world. They should take pride at every roadside and celebrate the poverty day by embracing poverty themselves and their siblings for years to come.

The politically deprived mind of ,

Ned

Democracy and The Poor

Prahalad in his masterpiece “The Fortune At The Bottom of The Pyramid” enumerated the poor of the world to be about 4.0 billion people out of the 6.5 Billion occupying our planet (excluding UFOs of course). He said that the poor represent a “latent Market” for goods and services. He saw the numbers in that market, the same way the politicians see the poor during election times. Prahalad mentions that the basic economics in the markets at the BOP is based on small packaging of units, low margin, high volume and high return on the capital employed. I may have misunderstood him but what he mainly says to the multi-nationals is package your products in small packages, yet with the same profit margin or higher and use the poor. The previous statement is reflected during a discussion group in the elegant study of Naryan and al “The Voice of The Poor -Crying Out For Change” The study stated that the people in poor areas sometimes have to pay more for what they do get or have to provide services for themselves.

The position of a politicians during a political campaign may not differ in context but may differ in content. The needs of the Poor are simple, as emphasized by Naryan’s study; a simple job, an effective public health service and usable infrastructure. Yet they are not getting it. So now a politician role is to package those demands in little packages and make promises.

In developing countries of Africa, usually the poor finds it quite entertaining and profitable to attend the election campaigns. In some places in Africa it was recently announced that the bidding cost for vote’s can go up $3000 each. While in the North Africa the situation did not differ much but the cost is far less. Usually the women are the prime customers or targets of those campaigns, where campaigners or their sponsors promise them a basket of food and some cash that varies between U.S.$2.0 to $20 per vote. The same voters are also warned not to renegade as they are watched closely even in the privacy of the cubicles of the election station. In other sub-Saharan Africa the election process is less costly; rigging of elections is the main theme of the day. Some people were talking about ghostly election and that the dead are so loyal to the system and keen on voting, to the extent that their papers voting papers fill the ballots before those of the living.

Of course it is quite cheaper to pay such immediate tributes – especially if it is coming from the state coffers – than trying to achieve the long term investments in the dreams of the poor and realizing it. The later process requires a lot of work, determination and energy. While politicians in the election aftermath are usually either busy recovering investment or expanding their investments portfolios.

The question is “can people under dire needs elect”, can a group that is suffering the eco-harshness and illiteracy elect or can people suffering from epidemics and contaminated water, plants and soil elect. Do they have really the freedom of thought? Can they compare and question a politician or those sponsoring him, asking them for change? What are their tools for enforcing their will in case he or she failed to deliver on the campaign promises?, rather to remain waiting for the next campaign that may be rigged or never come? Are they educated enough to know their rights?. Are they allowed the freedom of speech to negotiate and discuss their future without being harassed by military or police brutality? Does anyone listen to them? Of course the purpose of these questions is not recommending exclusion but devising a real mechanism for performance monitoring for politicians, especially in Africa, without the interference of any influence group, super-power or interest group. If any one claims that parliaments in Africa and alike can monitor, I fail to agree, as they need to be monitored. It is a mind probing question.

While International Organizations talk about reinforcing NGOs to monitor, they only finance those who can dance to their tunes. One of the most entertainment sessions is when you see an employee of an International Organizations or official talks about their work for the poor and how they care for them. The funny aspect is that the offices of such officials in the African countries are always located in the richest business areas (miles from poor) and after work they drive to the rich neighborhoods, to enjoy a full belly, good pints of Blue Label or parading from one nonsense reception to another.

How can they feel the needs of the poor and how can they really assist the poor when they failed to stop all the criminal military activities and the wars in Africa. Recently when I was listening to one of those officials talking about Darfoor, I wanted to ask him “what did you really do to assist?, send bags of food and bunch of armed soldiers that systematically abuse and rape girls in those declared peacefully kept areas!!!…that is all…

Getting the people in these devastated areas busy working, doing something useful, is better than the allocations to military arsenal and peace claimed operations. Proposing or building industrial areas and giving it to the people to manage or create some management team from your posh employees to generate income in the communities can be more worthy. Building roads and providing water, away from the antics of the World Bank, can be more effective than the state of indecisiveness which only the technocrats enjoy as excuse to extend their employment contracts.

The ora-politics (from oral) of International Organization or their lip services are impressive, when it comes to covering up the ill deeds. I think it is time for this world to seek better and honest endeavors than financing arms and members of secret societies. It is time to listen to demonstrations of human rights groups rather than using them only when need arises to destabilize impudent states.

I hope above can start a meaningful discussion in that regard.

Criticned