(This column was first published in the Amandala edition of Sunday, August 6, 1995)

An observation … Steel Feathers …

Always the dilemma confronting the aspirant for political office is the necessity of financing his campaign. As this is very expensive he has to find sources with this kind of money to contribute, whether these are individuals, groups, or corporations. We all know that nothing is free, or can ever be free on this side of the pale. If money is contributed, a return is expected – at a profit of course. But not always are the returns expected to be financial: sometimes they may be influence, sometimes the desire to be considered to be “IN”, the exhilaration of becoming a policy maker, or a hoped-for ambassadorship.

However the aspirant must win, so he goes to the masses begging, cajoling, and lying to get their votes. He caters to their fears, their hates, their disenchantments, and their hopes. He promises them anything and everything. Anything they want to hear he tells them, acting on the time-honoured and successful formula: that the masses of the Third World listen not to “what you say, but how you say it!”

From the “get-go” he has compromised himself, for while he promises “heaven” to the members, he has to pay off the financial debts to his financiers. When and where have you ever seen the interests of the rich subordinated to those of the poor? Whose interests do you think will have priority of legislation? If he writes statutes in the interests of the members his financiers will desert him, but if he does not create the “heaven,” his members will abandon him.

“What goes around comes around.” In this colonial society where the portfolios are under foreign control, he soon discovers he is unable to create the plenty, so he is forced to featherbedding, i.e. the employment of excess staff. What better avenue is there for this than that of the civil service, after replacing those employed in the same way by the previous administration. The result has been a bloated, inefficient and indisciplined service made even more inept by political protection: after all, who will dismiss the bureaucrat appointed by the “people’s choice.”

When the service can absorb no more, he turns his attention to the mid/low level recipients of his “favors.” Suddenly there appears at the office or work site of the latter a number of people with a note from their representative requesting a “little end.” This request is in fact a directive: take them on or else … You know the rules of the game. These employers soon find themselves burdened with unqualified, inexperienced, indolent constituents who either perform no work or at best, do a bad job. This experience results in the more honest employers backing away from seeking further favors. And as the representative is unable to foster an environment for creating jobs, the overall effect is compounded unemployment.

Now that we have gone down to the sea in the ships of the IMF, NAFTA, GATT, VAT, ICBs, and ICBAs, this tradition of featherbedding has been tossed down the hole. Knowing us as they do from the interminable surveys they’ve conducted over the years, they are threatening to throw us overboard if we do not retrench our civil service, repay our loans on time, open our doors to free trade, and destroy our unions. Having orchestrated the mortgage of our major revenue–earners and suckered us into future underdevelopment by “reserving” the land (and thus protecting their portfolios), we are now commanded to follow these dicta. But know that to follow these is to remain in the hole. Just check their history: “white men speak with forked tongues.”

Featherbedding went around; featherbedding has come around. Only now the feathers are steel.

As-salaam-alaikum.