“Ding Dong! The Witch is dead. Which old Witch? The Wicked Witch!Ding Dong! The Wicked Witch is dead.” – The Wizard of Oz Cast Munchkins
Like the majorITy of NATION readers, the preceding theme from the Wizard Of Oz never really caught my attention until a few days ago when it, for some reason, soared to the top of the United Kingdom charts in a bizarre reaction to the death of former British Prime Minister Dame Margaret Thatcher.
Interestingly enough, I only recently completed her book, The Downing Street Years and as such, I have been reflecting on the life and work of this outstanding Briton.
In response to the news of her death, I noted via Facebook that Thatcher was one ultra-conservative woman who I grew to respect in later years. I thought her life was “a good innings and an outstanding contribution to global development”.
Needless to say, this comment was immediately greeted with responses both on and offline from persons who were curious to know if I had taken leave of my senses. It is somewhat ironic that within 48 hours our Prime Minister said much the same thing, which puts me in some interesting company.
I am always happy to explain and defend my comments and would begin by placing my reflection in an appropriate context, noting that which the Prime Minister of Barbados himself said, which is that she was one of few leaders emerging from this era who “earned” an “ism”.
Certainly “Thatcherism” did carry substantial baggage, but any student of politics will quickly learn that a detailed reflection on the life and contribution of any outstanding leader will reveal blemishes which in some instances would cause a person to pause and ask whether the bad outweighed the good.
As such, one could ask whether any person who extols the virtues of Leninism or Stalinism should be comfortable with the fact that Joseph Stalin was responsible for the death of close to one million of his own people, and V.I. Lenin a few thousand.
Similarly, persons like myself who believe Winston Churchill was one of the most outstanding leaders of the previous century, are forced to pause and reflect when attention is drawn to his unrepentant backwardness with regard to British colonies and his desire to use mustard gas on the Germans during World War II.
In political science, one quickly learns the importance of history and context when examining the life and contribution of any individual. It is for this reason that it is perhaps better to assess a leader at the end of her era with the benefit of a knowledge of the impact that person might have had.
As such, any of us living in Barbados now cannot help but be struck by the extent to which Thatcher was forthcoming with respect to her vision for the UK and moreover, her agenda for its development, which she articulated with clarity throughout her time in office.
There can also be little question that the British invested heavily in Thatcher’s vision if the results of any of the three elections she won are any gauge. In a country where leaders seldom survive two elections, Thatcher survived three and increased her majority in the second, which is an unquestionable political endorsement.
Suffice to say that more recently I have come to value this type of leader since one knows where that person stands and where they plan to take “you” as a citizen of that country. In the same way that Stalinists and Leninists would argue that those excesses were in defence of a revolution, Thatcherites could cite the “winter of discontent” as an economic enemy of enormous proportions which was effectively defeated by the time she left office in 1990.
Her reaction to the unions and broader social environment was harsh and excessive, but the more important question however was the extent to which the British economy and society “recovered”.
One could also argue that the fact that “New Labour” emerged after Thatcher defeated old Labour and there was no return to the old ways under the hugely successful Tony Blair, speaks volumes about the wisdom of Thatcher’s model.
• Peter W. Wickham ([email protected]) is a political consultant and a director of Caribbean Development Research Services (CADRES).
