8 October 2009
editorial
THAT the civil society has agreed though begrudgingly to call off honking is a welcome development and hopefully a sign of good things to come.
Apart from causing noise pollution and public nuisance, it is a fact that blowing car horns as a form of protest denotes a lack of seriousness on the part of those engaged in it.
That conduct can best be likened to a kind of hooliganism and disorderly behaviour that one only sees after the loss of a football match.
In any event, protests of that nature, as opposed to dialogue and consultation do not work. Examples abound elsewhere.
It in part explains why, last Friday apart, from the few privileged car owners who were confined to certain high class areas, the larger part of the population in the high density townships were going about their business as usual.
In as much as freedom of expression is a right, there are more dignified ways of going about it, and certainly honking is not one of them (although civil society organisations would want to argue otherwise).
Why don't the civil society representatives take a cue from the three Church mother bodies who earned themselves great honour and will go down in history, for many years to come, as great men and women for the manner they stood in the way of political turmoil in 1991.
By that single act of persuasion and dialogue -not honking or whistling- the Church was able to broker peace in a deal that saw the historic return to multiparty politics.
But now, we see a situation where the civil society rather than dialogue, are in the fore-front of fanning anarchy and general despondency in the country.
If protesting against the acquittal of former president Frederick Chiluba is such a noble cause, why should the civil society led by men and women of honour use undignified ways to drive their point home.
One can only hope that the meeting with the police service over the last two days which culminated in the calling off of honking protests is the beginning of the civil society's ability to reason.
As Benjamin Franklin once said, he who cannot obey, cannot command.
Civil society cannot purport tobe representativesof the masses if they have the propensity to break the law.
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Wow! The writer of the article quotes Ben Franklin and praises women of religious institutions that have subjugated Africans from the onset. All to back a common Presidential thief (Chiluba)who's 1st task was to demean the great President Kuanda. My question for the author is "who is paying you and how much?"
A typical pro-government article by a paper owned by the government. Little sense, but no understanding at all. The writer of this article must get a life!