By Owei Lakemfa
In my consciousness, humanity is defined as the trinity of fundamental human rights, democratic rights and workers’ rights. I believe that if we get these right, we would get our well-being right.
This is because, embedded in the deceptively simple words of these declared rights, are the needs of humanity, the laws of nature and social justice.
But since we are humans, our views on these rights can be coloured by our perception, culture, ideology, experiences, politics and well-being.
For example, the West makes the wild claim that it is the birthplace of democracy. It points at the 5th Century BCE practice of democracy in Greece. But was that really a democracy? Take the case of the philosopher, Socrates Aeschines who was accused of making the youths to think independently and ask questions.
The specific charges against him were that: “Socrates does criminal wrong by not recognising the gods the city recognizes, and furthermore by introducing new divinities; and he also does criminal wrong by corrupting the youth.” For these, he got the death penalty and was given hemlock to drink. So, could Greece have been a democracy if the citizen must believe in all the official gods, could not believe in any new god, had no freedom of speech and could not think independently of the official position of the state?
If democracy is a system of government by popular representation based on the consent or vote of the electorate in which the will of the people prevails, then it is not a creation of the West or its thoughts. Various states in Asia and Africa practiced these. For example, this was the practice amongst the Ijaws who eventually built city states. It was also widely practiced amongst the Igbos.
Regardless of its origins, contemporary democracy is a rainbow of various colours. Contrary to the bogus claims of the West, democracy is not a single concept. It has neither a single definition nor a monolithic interpretation. Its practice is also different. For instance, China, holds regular elections, has the largest parliament in the world with 2,977 Members, a judiciary and one of the largest press in the universe. Its democracy also delivers on free, qualitative healthcare and education and, it is the only country in the world that has virtually wiped out poverty. Yet many say China is not a democracy; they claim its elections are not ‘free and fair’ They also claim that its parliament, judiciary and press are not free from the ruling Chinese Communist Party. It is this mind-set that has led the Western press and the uncritical section of the media in Africa to refer to the Chinese media as “state-sponsored” Interestingly, the British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC for instance is funded by the British state which now raises an average 5billion pounds for it annually. So, what is the BBC, if not a “state-sponsored” press? The Voice of America, VOA, charged with carrying out American propaganda abroad, is funded by the American state which spends $200 million on it annually. These are just examples of state-funded media organisations across the universe. Yet these media organisations are not labeled “state-sponsored.”
The Chinese can argue that it is more democratic than most countries in the world including the USA because amongst other things, it meets the basic needs of its citizenry including ensuring that 1,425,142,254 Chinese or 22 per-cent of the human population are fed daily.
So, is the American democracy which cannot guarantee its citizens the basic needs of life like food, more democratic? Is the American democracy in which Donald Trump who in 2016 had 2.9 million less votes than Hilary Clinton was declared the “winner” and sworn in as President, the ultimate democracy in the world?
In his four years as USA President, Trump told 30,573 lies or 21 lies for everyday in the White House. When he lost his 2020 re-election bid, he and his supporters tried to reverse the elections by use of arms. Since then, he has been convicted on 34 counts of felony. Yet, today, that same Donald Trump is leading the polls in the scheduled Tuesday, November 5, 2024 USA Presidential elections. What kind of democracy rewards a felon, a cheat a liar and a person who has no respect for women?
So, for me, democracy is not a garb, but a way of life in which basic human rights are guaranteed to all, the people’s basic needs are met, their electoral choices are respected and, their sovereignty over all powers, are guaranteed.
These were some of the ideas I expressed on Thursday in Ilorin at the Michael Imoudu National Institute For Labour Studies, MINILS, 2024 Seminar Series.
I submitted that the International Labour Organisation, ILO, established in 1919 as a tripartite body of government, employers and workers, by its Conventions, deepen democratic and human rights far more than most organisations on earth.
The ILO’s core conventions include that of 1930 against Forced Labour; 1948 on Freedom of Association and Right to Organise, 1949 on Right to Collective Bargaining, the 1951 Convention on Equal Remuneration, the 1973 Minimum Wage Convention and the 1999 one against the Worst Forms of Child Labour.
I posited that the Nigeria Labour Laws are some of the best in the world. I explained for instance that while Nigeria has ratified 44 ILO Conventions, the USA has ratified only 14, including just two of the eight Core Conventions.
So, the problem of Nigerian workers is not the lack of good labour laws, but that of implementation.
In conclusion, I submitted that part of the drawbacks of the UN is that it is essentially a gathering of governments with five countries wielding the veto. In contrast, the ILO composes governments, employers and workers, and, is much more democratic with emphasis on social dialogue and consensus building. So, the the ILO tripartite structure, its social advocacy and consensus-building processes, offer a model, humanity can build on.
In answer to the questions by MINILS Special Duties Director, Adekunle Theophilius Tinuoye and Gabriel Akiwowo of the Food and Beverage Union on how to ensure labour laws are implemented, I said it is by praxis. I argued that if for instance, the managers of companies that deny workers their right to unionize as specified in Section 40 of the Constitution are taken to court and jailed, others will exercise caution.
MINILS Director General, Comrade Issa Aremu said the trilateral institute is the product of democratic gains; basic statistics such as on Minimum Wage, show that workers gain far more under democracy and, that workers and other Nigerians should not take democracy for granted. He announced that human and trade union rights would be mainstreamed into the programmes of the institute.
