Mike Davis on fundamental questions of post-colonialism
Liberation and Corruption: Why Freedom Movements Fail by Peter Hain published by Policy Press
Peter Hain goes to the heart of the matter. Why do freedom movements, on the front line of the battle against colonialism and capitalist exploitation, so often sink into the quagmire of corruption, malpractice and oppression themselves when initial liberation is achieved. Towards the end of this eye-opening, thoroughly researched and painstakingly referenced study, Hain quotes Archbishop Tutu, “the price of freedom is eternal vigilance”, and warns of the danger of yesterday’s oppressed becoming tomorrow’s oppressors.
Unsurprisingly for the veteran anti-apartheid activist, South Africa features centre stage in this study but many other countries that have successfully thrown off the yoke of imperialism are also examined, including many African states across to Nicaragua and Cuba to India and North Korea.
Several features jump out from this highly readable and persuasive analysis; the power of capitalist corporations and banks to reach into the new regimes; the inexperience of new leaders in governance and state building; the lack of liquid capital; the legacy of colonial practice; and, particularly noteworthy for socialists, the dangers of one-party states and Leninist theory invoked to underpin them.
One of the strongest chapters looks at the state and party. Hain provides a trenchant critique of Leninist and Maoist theories arguing that their Marxism never offered a blueprint for taking over the state beyond notions of “dictatorship of the proletariat” and an insistence that Marxist-Leninist (ML) parties were the sole agency of working class power. This is central because most liberation movements across the world, from the African National Congress, the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, Zapu in Zimbabwe and many other African freedom movements were heavily influenced by ML theory.
He quotes favourably from Rosa Luxemburg, who warned that Leninist centralisation undermines democracy and leads to the party substituting itself for the working class, leading to dictatorship and corruption. Criticism of the party equates with criticism of the revolution, dissent with betrayal. An elite emerges, fostering a culture of impunity, entitlement and repression.
Chapters dealing with African states are as revealing as they are depressing. Back in the 1960s, the noted African historian Basil Davidson asked whether anti-colonialism could transform itself into capable self-government. This partly depends on the effectiveness of the use of the nation’s resources. But it’s a double-edged sword: natural and human resources can generate wealth for the people and public services, but also cash cows for political elites.
And so it goes. Numerous independent African states went along the latter road. Hain reminds us of the Tuna Bond scandal in Mozambique; similar corruption in Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde, Angola and Nigeria to name a few. We are reminded that Nigeria’s rulers, from independence from Britain in 1960 to 1999, stole or misused £220bn, the equivalent of all the Western aid given to all of Africa over the four decades.
Hain asks if another political vehicle, social democracy, could have achieved the overthrow of the brutal apartheid state or the fascists in Nicaragua. This is the conundrum non-Leninists have to acknowledge. The Leninist notion of the party to power is a poisoned chalice, almost without exception, a formula for authoritarianism and corruption. What is vital is to develop a separation of powers: an independent civil service, a multi-party democratic system with free and fair elections, an independent judiciary, independent media, and transparency. So often these features are absent.
There is a big focus on the corruption of the Zuma regime in South Africa, which is particularly close to Hain’s heart. Hain identifies the enduring and nefarious role of global big business. While choosing his words carefully Hain argues the purpose is clear: “to maintain profitability, influence and some might say derail the transformative essence of the freedom struggle”. The corruption of Jacob Zuma, crony ministers, civil servants and the Gupta brothers – essentially state capture – is rigorously exposed. Companies like Glencore, KPMG, HSBC bank all have been implicated in corruption and bribery scandals exposed by the Zondo Commission.
We are also reminded that the enduring effects of historical exploitation profoundly shape governance structures, with most post-colonial states being post in name only. The corruption and exploitation of the Zuma period had precedent in the periods of Kruger, Rhodes and all apartheid governments. Hain also reminds us how “developed” countries namely the US, Canada, Russia and China as well as the UK and Europe, are culpable in corrupting the liberation of formerly colonised people. The chapter on the scramble for Africa yesterday and today is a salutary reality check on how wealth and resources are continually drained from the people.
Throughout the book Hain enters in first person, being a Labour government minister during many of the years in focus, providing accounts of encounters with many of the heroes and villains.
The coverage of freedom movements beyond Africa is less detailed but uncovers similar patterns. From Vietnam, Bangladesh, Haiti to Cuba, he acknowledges the problem of western capitalist state sanctions, and colonial mafia legacy alongside the gains in literacy and healthcare under Castro.
The final chapter, “A luta continua’, brings the reader back to South Africa. Hain’s concluding key recommendation is for a new International Anti-Corruption Court with real powers to investigate and prosecute. In this era of moral and political atrophy, a difficult call. He ends with, “South Africa will not emerge from its morass of corruption, dysfunctional public services, cronyism, crime, poverty, low to negative economic growth and unemployment unless everyone stands up to be counted and demands: Never Again”. This could be a rallying cry for us all in this orange era.