Activists need to have a say in the future of The Maldivian democracy!
As we know, the last decade or so has been a politically tumultuous one for the Maldives. Waves of popular protest and activism helped to bring back a rejuvenated democracy to the country by late 2018 after years of authoritarian rule.
Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s victory over then incumbent President Yameen in September 2018 was meant to be a brand new, accountable and fully representative democratic re-set. However, while the removal of any authoritarian regime should always be welcomed, what then should be the role of those activists and freedom fighters that risked liberty, life and limb to bring about that democratic restoration? Surely, they have pivotal roles to now play under President Solih? While you would like to think so, the reality is that things have seemingly already started to go a little sour.
The bottom line is that in any democratic model, all legitimacy is ultimately derived from the people it serves. That is true irrespective of whether that legitimacy has been established from long established peaceful political discourse or wrested from the hands of a dictatorship through protest and grass-roots activism.
So then, for a moment, can you imagine a post-apartheid South Africa without the guidance of Nelson Mandela? Or how about a post-communist Czech Republic without the services of Václav Havel? Yes, these are of course high-profile names that star-stud our history books. However, behind every such high-profile figures are an inevitable support structure of grass-roots activists and freedom-fighters that enable the democratic vision to become a reality that benefits the many and not the few.
Cronyism, appointing and maintaining government pleasing yes men and women, is a plague on the people at the best of times, making a mockery of supposed democratic credentials. Even more so when a country, such as the Maldives, has managed to finally shake off the constraints of de facto dictatorship. Therefore, it is imperative for the newly restored democratic apparatus of the Maldives to ensure that those who were prominent in the struggle against the authoritarianism of President Yameen have roles of stewardship and influence in the Maldives of President Solih. The question is though, does President Solih actually fully believe that too?
Surely the best way to insulate the trappings of an improved or overhauled democracy is to have activists and grass-root democratic proponents in the very apparatus of government? Conversely, surely the best way to undermine that same improved or overhauled democracy is to invite back into government or positions of influence many of those who served in the previously defective government or bureaucracy of a wannabe autocrat. Career politicians and bureaucrats that will readily serve any government at the drop of a hat are absolutely not what the Maldives need right now as the country tries to re-acquaint itself with being an actual democracy again.
The people of the Maldives who, as we have seen, are the ultimate source of political and sovereign legitimacy, were selflessly served by those very same activists that enabled them to get where they are now – free of authoritarianism. It is therefore unconscionable to envisage a post-Yameen democracy that excludes those that fought at the grass-roots level while at the same time promoting and recognizing those who were crony supporters of the authoritarian rule.
Where does that leave the true democratic credentials of the Maldives right now? That is a question that is very much up in the air at present. President Solih would do very well to reflect on that and just quite why, and how, he now finds himself in power. He should be mindful that history is littered with examples of at first promising democratic experiments souring over time. Take Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe as a prime example of that – hallowed freedom fighter turned to renegade despot. While Mugabe is an extreme example, the lesson still nevertheless remains – democracy is actually a delicate plant that needs careful nurturing at all times lest it starts to whither and die very quickly. And that nurturing includes grass-roots activists that helped to plant the thing in the first place.