Liberalism is not nasty
I refer to Ghaleb Cachalia’s most recent column (“Liberal tradition is a noble path that is lost,” April 8).
For many South Africans the ANC has successfully and deliberately defined “liberalism” as a synonym for racism, elitism and “individualistic” greed and nastiness.
It is no surprise that the ANC would do this. Liberal ideals were always going to be the greatest long-term threat to the ANC remaining in power.
The DA has been complicit in this information operation, first by the regularity of its tin-eared shrillness, and second by consistently failing to make a public argument for what “liberalism” actually stands for. As a consequence, the DA has denuded its potential strength in a battle of hearts and minds, limiting itself to being the party of clean audits and better roads.
If it does end up in government, the DA’s image will be further dented by the large number of difficult decisions it will have to take (retrenchments, salary freezes, selling stateowned enterprises, far more vigorous law enforcement and so on), and it has no “just dream” narrative with which to blunt the edge.
It risks defining not only itself but liberalism in general as nasty and exclusionary for generations to come. That would be a big problem.
The DA really should stop focusing only on what’s gone wrong, and start communicating what it is we are all trying to build.
I suspect that a plurality (at least) of South Africans would accept most of what liberalism is about if only someone took the time to explain it properly, consistently and sensitively.
Johan Prins Via BusinessLIVE