I LOVE MY PARTY
These opening words were spoken by the new
leader of the Democratic Alliance as he recently celebrated being elected.
He further reflected on the fact that this is
the same sentiment he felt when he was elected as eThekwini’s youngest ever
councillor two decades ago.
Nothing new!
Malema loves the EFF! Ramaphosa loves the ANC
and I can bet if questioned the various members of other parties will say the
same.
I don’t love any political party. And for
anyone to openly state they do is, for me, simply beyond the pale. “An intense
feeling of deep affection”- seriously? “Butterflies in the tummy”- really? With due respect any “love” one espouses for
a political party is bordering on insanity.
Allow me to delve a little bit further into the
idea of a “political party”. You say you “belong” to a political party. It owns
you? It is your raison de etre?
A political party is made up of the people who
form the party! Perhaps to stretch the analogy, you feel a deep affection for
all the people of the particular party. You do? Then clearly I stand corrected.
Or do I?
Nay! The new leader or espouses to “love his
country”. I served in the army and yes, fought in a war I did not understand,
(and still do not), to ostensibly “protect my country”. You also “love your country”? Really?
I do not love my country. What gives a country,
a land, the right to be loved except for its existence being a series of
developments/growths/setbacks/wars/destructions (natural or otherwise) to reach
the point where it exists at any given moment in time. It was there before the
first person ever set foot on it. Before the first person or group decided to
give it a name. It was perfectly happy I’d warrant, without a name, without
being fought over, without having blood shed on its plains. Should the country where I was born not first
love me? If the tomatoes grown in its fields were the sweat of my brow, why
would I love it per se? The philosophy
of many belief systems would have us believe that it is in giving that we will
receive. We give our energy our work to the land, the country and it gives back
what is due. But where is the concept of love?
Before I further this, allow me to add that
apart from me being conscripted to fight, my own father spent a few years on
various fronts from 1939-1945 fighting for freedom against the tyranny of those
who fought apparently against freedom. And we duly celebrate those who lost
their lives each year when we wear poppies and attend ceremonies. I do not say
we should not do this! Remembering the past and those who form the past is part
of mankinds culture in various forms.
But should the chest swell at the sound of an
anthem? Should the testosterone levels rise to extent where we become physical
if someone should have the temerity to say something negative against “our”
country?
I love my party! I love my country! You voted
for a political party, a government who now is more than restricting your
freedom under the guise of some mysterious virus. One which was to have wiped
out millions of people but has done little more than apparently expedite the
deaths of those who had, what we now call, co-morbidities. (a word I had no
idea existed until March 2020) Yet we wear masks…to protect us from? It is
apparently not airborn and everyone we meet and remain “socially distant” from is not ill anyway as
they would then be “self -isolating”. So we suffer and sweat behind masks and
duly do as we are told. And if anyone in the queue at the local supermarket
comes close then we glare at them with facial expressions only visible in our
eyes.
But enough for now.
If you love your party/country, and get a
tingly feeling when you think about either then please ignore all I have
said. You are welcome to both.
And I will vote!
But not because I love!
