I have heard a lot
of political debates in Ethiopia: from emotional facebook arguments to the
literary works of academicians. All of them, at least those of I read, refer to
the two extreme political spectrums, namely left and right (usually the term wing
is hyphenated as suffix of them) but never got a chance to know their true
meanings nor what is in between them.
In our political
discourse, right wing is usually referred to as a political belief in which a
person/group believes in individual rights over group rights whereas left wing
is a political ideology where group rights come first. The worst part of this conventional definition
is that you’ll be decided whether you’re a left or right wing (and nothing
else) activist/politician only after your opinions on ethno-national versus
national political movements are reflected. Those politicians who struggle
focusing on ethno-nationals questions are generally considered as leftists. On
the other hand, people who focus on multi-national issues are considered as
rightists. Having this definition, the two wings consider each other as
sinners. This is what I call Wrong-Wing.
To right the wrong
wing in our discourse, below here, I put
a few lines of political spectrums from left to right (based on what I gathered
from different sources) to show how they are really defined and so, in
accordance to the definition, we start labeling the right item with the right
tag:
Right Wing
The basic
characteristic that distinguishes rightists from the others is that they value
tradition, they are concerned about equity, survival of the fittest, and they
believe in economic freedom. They typically believe that business shouldn’t be regulated,
and that we should all look after ourselves. Right-wing people tend to believe
they shouldn’t have to pay for someone else’s education or health service. They
believe in freedom to succeed over
equality. (E.g. of far right system is Neo-liberalism)
Left Wing
Leftists believe it
is the responsibility of the succeeded to support those who are left behind. They
[the leftists] look to the future, aim to support those who cannot support
themselves, are idealist and believe in equality. People who are left wing
believe in taxation to redistribute opportunity and wealth - things like a national
health service and job seeker’s allowance are fundamentally left wing ideas.
They believe in equality over the
freedom to fail. (E.g. Communism)
[In both cases, the
definitions determine people as rightist and leftist based on their views on Freedom versus Societal Economic equality.]
Centrism
This one is a
moderate approach between the far left and right wings of the political
spectrum. It describes a political outlook or specific position that involves
acceptance or support of a balance of a degree of social equality and a degree
of social hierarchy or social inequality; whilst opposing political changes
which would result in a significant shift of society either strongly to the
left or the right.
Center Right
Center-right is
practiced in most democratic countries and provides individuals “with the best
conditions for political liberty, personal freedom, equality of opportunity and
economic development under the rule of law; and therefore being committed to
advancing the social and political values on which democratic societies are founded,
including the basic personal freedoms and human rights, as defined in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights; in particular, the right of free speech,
organization, assembly and non-violent dissent; the right to free elections and
the freedom to organize effective parliamentary opposition to government; the
right to a free and independent media; the right to religious belief; equality
before the law; and individual opportunity and prosperity.”
Center Left
The center-leftists
are those known as Social Democrats or
Social Liberals and lead with mixed
economic systems as in practiced in many European countries. They
[Center-leftists] believe promoting equal opportunity brings about social
equality. Center left, unlike the far-left ideology, claims that equality of
outcome is not possible (and sometimes not even desirable), but that equal
opportunity improves social equality in society.
The centre-left
opposes a wide gap between the rich and the poor and supports moderate measures
to reduce the gap, such as a progressive income tax, laws prohibiting child
labor, minimum wage and laws that regulate working conditions, limits on
working hours, laws to ensure workers' right to organize.
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