FUTURE VISION
Leftists need to ask new questions about how Africa should function
Interrogating the suitability of a democratic model inherited from Europe could be key to moving us forward
Progressives today are united in their hostility towards capitalism and nationalism. The former they’ve got pegged as the primary source of global suffering, while the latter is reviled as a fiction and a scourge. There’s been unanimity on these issues for decades — but that hasn’t always been the case. Progressivism is ultimately about fairness; a commitment to a better world in which there is less injustice and less avoidable suffering. Karl Marx spent a great deal of time and energy on the "science" of dialectical materialism, but his legacy was a simple idea of a classless (and therefore peaceful) society. Economics was the basic driver of all human affairs and it followed, on his reading, that when the "contradictions in the material base of society" were finally eliminated, phenomena such as racial and religious attachments would wither away. Today, 140 years after Marx’s death, his philosophical heirs talk of "social constructs" (rather than "false consciousness"), but the es...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.