{"id":7742,"date":"2022-06-17T15:36:32","date_gmt":"2022-06-17T15:36:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/we-are-all-political-prisoners"},"modified":"2022-06-17T17:10:37","modified_gmt":"2022-06-17T17:10:37","slug":"we-are-all-political-prisoners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/we-are-all-political-prisoners","title":{"rendered":"WE ARE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Eswatini. <\/strong><\/span>A political prisoner is someone who is imprisoned for their political beliefs or actions.<\/b><\/p>\n

With this meaning in mind, I keep thinking about the number of times one is threatened with \u2018utawuboshwa\u2019 (meaning \u2018you will be arrested\u2019) each time he or she makes a comment, jokes or mentions anything about the political situation in the country. No one dares to say anything live or on social media, even in jest. Look at the vetting process and the number of people who have been denied the opportunity to be given a fair chance to be members of the army in an exercise that is currently taking place. One comment on Facebook can ruin your future. That, to me, is a definition of a political prisoner.<\/p>\n

Breeding<\/b><\/p>\n

It is almost like the country wants and is breeding a bunch of people who cannot reason, question or even raise their concerns. And yet, that same group of people is expected to move the country forward and out of Third World status. But how? I\u2019m reminded of a conversation I had with someone who ended up telling me I will see no blessings as long as I question the Bible. My come-back was that I\u2019ve always suspected that to many people questioning the Bible is the same as disbelieving it. Which is weird because the reason one wants to support a certain system is because they had questions about it and ultimately found answers that made them love it, hence the undying support.<\/p>\n

Restricted<\/b><\/p>\n

Who would have thought that one day we would all be restricted to the point of not being able to exercise basic rights, such as freedom of expression? The same right that is given to each Eswatini citizen by the Constitution? Whatever the case, this restriction is dehumanising and devastating.<\/p>\n

We are given the opportunity to free and\/or affordable education by our government, we are thankful for that, but when this education affords us the ability to want to bring positive change, we are gagged? That is not okay.<\/p>\n

The imprisoned generation has to stop with us. I am aware of the fact that a number of so-called \u2018freedom fighters\u2019 have no idea what they are doing, but there is a larger number that has the knowledge, skills and the passion for a better Eswatini. And that is the group this article is primarily focused on today. But we cannot leave out the former group, even though their lack of education on politics leads them to destroy property, insulting the authorities and generally being rowdy and unruly. But instead of \u2018bothering\u2019 them, why don\u2019t we focus on political education? In that case, everyone will have an almost similar understanding and maybe we will see less aggressiveness and more meaningful engagements? Speaking of meaningful engagements, I trust that soon the date for a national dialogue will be announced and the process will commence. Yes, a process. I\u2019m aware that so many of us believe that the national dialogue will be a one day event, or a one-time roundtable conversation. It\u2019s not. This is why we need political education.<\/p>\n

The efforts to educating the youth will mean that as a society we focus on building people, not prisons. It means that we believe people have the power to change society. There is no reason why for over 50 years, Eswatini has been a developing country, something needs to change, and soon. Let us come together to figure out what it is that needs to change, and how do we get there without shedding blood and turning each other into enemies. Let us focus on advocacy that changes minds and focus on services that change lives. Being selfish with information and resources will not put our country on the map, unfortunately.<\/p>\n

Until all that is currently happening changes, we should stop thinking that political prisoners are the people who are behind bars; we are all political prisoners. As long as what I say, whether publicly, privately or on social media may be used against me, that makes me a prisoner. I am not free. As long as I cannot freely point out how leadership can improve to make our lives better without being censored, then I am a prisoner.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Eswatini<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Eswatini. A political prisoner is someone who is imprisoned for their political beliefs or actions. With this meaning in mind, I keep thinking about the number of times one is threatened with \u2018utawuboshwa\u2019 (meaning \u2018you will be arrested\u2019) each time he or she makes a comment, jokes or mentions anything about the political […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":7741,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6,8,16],"tags":[234,248,249],"class_list":["post-7742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","category-homepage-english","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-eswatini","tag-eswatini"],"yoast_head":"\nWE ARE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS! - Eswatini<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A political prisoner is someone who is imprisoned for their political beliefs or actions. 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