The prosperity of a society lies in the rules it creates for its members and their adherence to them. This is how the great African philosopher, Marcus Garvey, viewed social machinery. As we find ourselves in unfamiliar territory thanks to Covid-19, it is incumbent upon those of us who cherish Garvey’s wit to ask ourselves a pertinent question: “What would Garvey say in this situation?”
As a result of my meditation on this question, I have revisited Garvey’s seminal work, Message to the People, which has served as my inspiration for most of my professional life. In one of his essays, Garvey speaks to our present conditions, especially with more than 90 countries in lockdown over the world. The essence of this article is therefore considered a by-product of Garvey’s work, and no claim of originality is made on anything written here.
In the essay titled “The Social System”, Garvey argues that society is organised by mankind to safeguard and protect its own interests. When society is organised and is made evident by regulations, rules and laws, every member of that society must obey the rules, regulations and laws. Likewise, the government took decisive measures such as closing of ports of entry, harbours, schools, churches, restaurants and liquor outlets in order to reduce contact between persons through the institution of social distancing. This brings us to the origins of political order.
The purpose of this article is to fill some of the gaps of historical amnesia, by giving account of how basic political institutions arose in the same societies that now take them for granted. For starters, these institutions comprise of the state, the rule of law and accountable government (Fakuyama, 2011).
The modern liberal democracy combines all three sets of institutions in a stable balance. The fact that there are countries capable of achieving this balance constitutes a miracle of modern politics, since it is not obvious that they can be combined. In this regard, the state, after all, concentrates and uses power to bring about compliance with its laws on the part of its citizens and to defend itself against other states and threats. The rule of law, in line with government accountability, on the other hand, limits the state’s powers first by forcing it to exercise its authority according to certain public and transparent rules, and then by ensuring that it is subordinate to the will of the people.
In this instance, to leap on to the curve-flattening bandwagon amid the Covid-19 crisis, the President of the Republic of South African and Commander-in-Chief, Cyril Ramaphosa, introduced lockdown measures which should be observed by citizens over an extended period of time.
To this end, the Covid-19 command council was established and led by the Department of Health and supported by other departments such as transport, trade and industry, police and defence to provide support regarding lockdown measures. The command council accounts for the day-to-day activities of its work and thereby provides statistical data on confirmed infections and updated lockdown regulations.
However, since the introduction of these measures, there have been pockets of resistance in some sections of society. The country witnessed a new phenomenon of panic-buying, people pushing large trollies as if tomorrow will never come. The rich and the middle-class were found in the midst of panic-buying while the poor remained spectators of toilet paper wars in a monument of capitalism. They panic-bought as if South Africa was about to lose its status as a food-secure country that supplies most African nations and some parts of Europe.
So far 21 days have gone past and the country has witnessed a series of disrespectful actions by individuals regarding the rules and laws governing the lockdown. The supporting departments and the ministers were hard at work trying to break down and simplify these rules to an extent that police minister Bheki Cele ended up threatening that, “these rules will be enforced and those found wanting will see the might of the state.” Disgruntled protestors ridiculed him on Twitter, clearly unhappy with regulations meant to save their own lives.
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Unfortunately, among these protestors are the so-called “woke” intellectuals who often quote gurus such as Garvey. May I humbly remind them that Garvey emphasized the importance of police work and urged society to adopt a friendly attitude towards the police in their communities.
This erstwhile founding father of the Universal Negro Improvement Association was speaking to those who were oppressed. It is common cause that millions of people (black or white) under lockdown across the globe are feeling oppressed. It is at times like these that we can witness the likelihood of mini-uprisings should the people continue to feel like these lifesaving measures are some form of punishment.
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They need to understand Garvey’s view of our police system, especially one under an elected government. Garvey states that the police force is that civil body of officials who are supposed to protect the citizens and see that their right are not infringed upon. He adds that society should always welcome the police, as the police are not the public enemy, but the public protector. He further asserts that society must assist the police to help maintain public order because if a community loses its peace, riots and bloodshed will follow.
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Garvey warns that as citizens, we are not brought into this world to overthrow the law but we created the law in order to govern ourselves, to avoid anarchy. He says when the riot act or martial law is read or proclaimed, we must keep indoors. When you riot against your government, you are rioting against yourself, because the government cannot exist without you.
