PSD, The Owner Has Noticed

In Chinua Achebe's, A Man of the People, the narrator, Odilli, describes an incident between villagers and a greedy local shopkeeper, Josiah. Although he was disliked by many, the villagers could tolerate his greed so long as the shop remained well-stocked and convenient. But one day Josiah is caught stealing a blind beggar's walking stick. He was planning to use it for a medicine that would "turn [the villagers] into blind buyers of his wares." This act epitomizes Josiah's greed and turns the entire village against him. "Josiah has taken away enough for the owner to notice," a villager says.

"I thought much afterwards about that proverb, about the man taking things away until the owner at last notices. In the mouth of our people there was no greater condemnation. It was not just a simple question of a man's cup being full. A man's cup might be full and none be the wiser. But here the owner knew, and the owner, I discovered, is the will of the whole people."

If you're wondering why people in Romania are going out to protest, night after night, barely a month into the new government's four year mandate, it's because the owner has finally noticed.

We all knew about the kick-backs, the graft, the petty bribes. Every city hall and institution in Romania has their share of scandals. This was initially tolerated because, "that's Romania", and, more recently, because Romania's National Anti Corruption Directorate (DNA) are prosecuting more corruption cases than just about anyone else in the world.

The Josiahs in the PSD* think they can use legal loopholes as medicine to immunize themselves against prosecution, while simultaneously blinding the people into acquiescence.

But, "within one week, Josiah was ruined." Odili tells us.

Let's hope it won't take much longer in Romania.

See you out there

*The PSD is Romania's Social Democratic Party, the heir to Romania's Communist Party, who governed the country during most of its post-communist era. PSD leader, Liviu Dragnea, was convicted of electoral fraud and many of its top members are involved in other corruption related cases.

Comments

Arabella McIntyre-BrownFebruary 03, 2017
Excellent allegory - well chosen. Let's hope Sef Josiah and all his little follower josiahs will be ruined swiftly.
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