July 7, 2006

SPPF’s LEGACY

By Zonm Lib

The most visible legacy of the SPPF is an iron man in chains; the only feature lacking is an AK 47. A legacy of failed economic policies, of black market, of shortages and humiliating queues for food; a culture of intolerance for diverse political opinions, a culture of corruption, a culture of State dependency and patronage, a legacy of State sponsored intimidation and victimization; a legacy of secret deals detrimental to the national interests, a mockery of democracy and the separation of powers; a legacy of pervasive and invasive control and manipulation of the individual called security clearance; a legacy of human and moral degradation.

The Opposition never wins, the Government loses

The power of propaganda is evidenced by the fact that the despite the obvious, the SPPF has managed to convince the masses that the iron man in chains symbolizes freedom/liberty. Despite the apparent show of strength the SPPF is already the Great Has Been. This government has already lost. Losing is not an overnight phenomenon but a process. Losing at the ballot box is but the final manifestation of this process.  Albert Rene started that process the night he abrogated the Constitution and orchestrated the Coup. History has repeatedly demonstrated a simple truth; legitimate governments are never born from the muzzle of a gun. That is why the act that brought him to power is called Treason. It is the highest or most heinous crime one can commit.  A person or political party that comes to power in that way, of necessity has to commit further crimes to maintain its grip on power. The Constitution as the Supreme law of the land has been replaced with the Gun as the Supreme Law.

What other crime did SPPF perpetuate in order to remain in power? Murders, assassinations, thefts, deportations, illegal acquisition of private property, mass detention without trial are but a few. Can a country flourish when it is watered with the innocent blood of its people?  Albert Rene’s regime is the knife that ripped the cohesion of our society apart. That night 29 years ago saw the beginning of the destruction or the falling apart of our society. That is no cause for celebration. That is a cause for mourning.

No one walks away from happiness. The vast numbers of people who chose exile rather than live under a totalitarian dictatorship is evidence that Albert’s regime was no winner. With absolute power in the hands of this organized minority the creation of a mass army with the President as its Commander-in-Chief was the next step. The sole function of the army was to protect the dictator and his stranglehold over the nation, and to hunt down and destroy dissidents. The one and only occasion Seychelles was invaded by mercenaries the army was powerless to protect us. Rene’s army became the SPPF tool of repression, systematically killing and torturing our population. An army is different from the police in that, its raison d’être is the protection of a nation and the national interest. In Seychelles every time the army has fired a bullet it has been to kill a son or daughter of the land. I am confident that the army we now have will assume its proper role in the New Seychelles, by protecting and respecting our fledgling democracy.

Control – the hallmark of the SPPF

On 29th June 1976 The British handed over power to the Seychellois Nation. That day Seychelles, had it all on a golden platter: tourists, investors, health care, private enterprise, and Victoria had a booming nightlife. Hard currencies were overflowing in the banks. Today Victoria is dead after 5 pm. A regime that kills its own capital is a loser. A Regime that raids its own banks of its reserves and legalizes humiliating body searches for foreign currency is a loser. A regime that drives away tourists from its shores is a loser. A regime that has, as its greatest achievement the making of the country into the world’s most indebted nation is a loser.  A regime that bankrupts its economy is a loser. So the bottom line is the SPPF has already lost. The 30th of July 2006 will only be the final manifestation of a process that was started 29 years ago.

The hallmark of SPPF rule has been CONTROL. Instead of the institutions controlling the actions of the government, it is the government controlling the institutions, in fact the Party controlling the institutions. Albert Rene did not “struggle” for independence by any stretch of the imagination. Independence of the colonies was the policy of the British Government of the time. One does not struggle/fight for something that one is given.

But this is not to say that in Seychelles there has not been a struggle. The people of Seychelles has been fighting/ struggling for independence the last 29 years, Independence from a Dictatorial Totalitarian Regime. This struggle has had several flash points. In 1982 there was mercenary debacle, next came the mutiny of soldiers at Union Vale, followed by the incident when France Albert Rene had to curtail his attendance of the Commonwealth Heads of State Summit in Harare in 1986. So on 31st July 2006 Seychelles will finally become independent. Independent from a brutal dictatorial regime imposed on it by FRANCE ALBERT RENE. On that day the people of Seychelles will spontaneously celebrate their true independence. You can kill a man’s body but not his spirit.

So on the eve of the most decisive election in our history I am happy to join with you in what will go down in history as the greatest push for freedom in the our history, the push to remove my shackles.

Zonm Lib is still not free

Thirteen years ago, the people of Seychelles adopted a new Constitution as the Supreme Law of the land. This momentous document came as a great beacon of light and hope to Seychellois all over the world as a sign that henceforth we shall have justice and freedom. But sadly, it was not to be. Constitutions are not something that the SPPF recognizes as the source of legitimacy emanating from the people. Having abrogated the first one why should it respect the third one? To hundreds of Seychellois exiles and locals who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice, it came as a sign of hope that things will get better.

But thirteen years later, Zonm Lib is still not free. Thirteen years later I am still shackled. Thirteen years later the Seychellois live as exiles in their own land. And so I find myself in a situation where I have to dramatize our shameful condition.

We are going to vote the SPPF out because it has reneged on its promise of freedom, justice and prosperity for all. It has reneged on its promise of making the indigenous Seychelles master of his country. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Third Constitution they were signing a social contract to which every Seychellois was to benefit. This contract was a promise that totalitarian dictatorships would be a thing of the past in Seychelles and that everyone would be guaranteed the “unalienable Rights” of “Life, Liberty and human dignity. But thirteen years later the Constitution is dead, killed by the judiciary.

It would be disastrous for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. It would be disastrous for the SPPF to deliver on its promise of sweeping away all dissent from within our country and continue its policy of political victimization. Our legitimate discontent will not pass until there is freedom, equality and respect for the Constitution. The whirlwinds of discontent will continue to shake the foundation of our nation until justice, freedom and equality emerges.

To quote Martin Luther King Senior: “In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.”

We cannot be satisfied

We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead, we shall never again spill the innocent blood of our people, we shall never rule by violence and the gun. We cannot turn back.

There are those who ask: “Why are you not satisfied with all I have done for you, why the ingratitude?”  “We can never be satisfied as long as the Seychellois is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality, and indiscriminate killings by the army.

We cannot be satisfied as long as our basic salary is insufficient to provide for our families. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their innocence and the most vulnerable in our society remain the victims of widespread abuses and social injustice. We cannot be satisfied as long as our compatriots overseas are disenfranchised, and our youth believes he has nothing for which to vote.

We can never be satisfied as long as foreign doctors with sub-standard qualifications run our health care and our education system is in shambles. We can never be satisfied as long as our police force remains unfunded, untrained and under-equipped. We will not be satisfied as long as our land is partitioned and sold for one rupee for the financial gains of a select few.

No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until “justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream, and our constitution is respected as the Supreme Law of our country.  No we will never be satisfied until our judiciary is localized and WE WILL NEVER BE SATISFIED AS LONG AS 45% OF OUR PEOPLE IS DISCRIMINATED AGAINST AND VICTIMISED SIMPLY FOR THEIR POLITICAL VIEWS”

Like Martin Luther King, Zonm Lib too has a dream: