In the midst of all this, the world seems to be moving closer together economically and culturally through the process of globalization. But it is a process that is likely to bring in Africa as a very weak appendage to the whole global system. Africa's weak economies are expected to open themselves up to world trade liberally within the rules set up by the World Trade Organization (WTO), thereby risking Africa's producers being turned into mere hewers of wood and drawers of water. Likewise, investments are expected to flow in and out of Africa equally liberally under the Multilateral Agreement on Investments (MAI), thereby making national governments have very little bargaining power against multinational corporations from the already advanced industrial economies.

There has been a growing fear that the "forward match" in terms of economic growth and investments that the globalized world economy is expected to promote may still leave Africa behind for a long time. Internally, the mass of Africa's poor people will continue to serve a small privileged elite that run the state machinery and interact with the external world in terms of commerce, information, intellectual discourse, culture and political power. Externally, the "legitimacy" of such forms of domestic political systems will be "manufactured" through periodic formal elections that are standardized by an international political culture as democratic.

Thus gross economic inequalities, unequal access to both political power and economic opportunities and the structural marginalization of Africa's economies in the global economy may be typical of the world ordinary Africans will live in for some time in the coming future.

Social democracy believes that this situation is not God-given, nor need it be left fatally to be so for ever. With some deliberate subjective political intervention to change objective conditions, African peoples need not be so poor, and economic opportunities need not be denied so many people with so much potential to improve their life chances. The productive potential of an economy need not be consigned so fatally to an impersonal force called the global economy and politics need not be the preserve of a small elite that uses power so selfishly and unproductively. As Octavio Paz, the Mexican Nobel laureate for literature, once said:

The global order of private capital and market forces likes to assert that there are no alternatives to the present world economic and political order. Social democracy, as has been increasingly proven in two thirds of the European Union and as the ANC government in South Africa has contended, is that alternative.

Social democracy is based on the real dreams of real people. Social democracy means trying to get at the heart of economic power, not succumbing to it. It means trying to turn human needs (basic needs) into economic demands. It means not accepting that an individual's whole life will be predetermined by characteristics at birth, such as sex, color, ethnic identity, race, region of origin, potential income or class.

Colonialism predetermined the future of African people as subjects of their various colonial masters. Apartheid in South Africa, and its shorter-lived versions elsewhere in Africa, predetermined the future of African people in terms of race and color. The rise of nationalism and the dawn of independence aimed at politically liberating the African people from the bondage of these various forms of predetermination. Yet, since independence, the African people have not all gained full citizenship in their various countries. Nor has formal citizenship led to enhancing economic opportunities for the majority so that they can have better access to economic and social well being. If anything, such dogmatic comments as "tribalism is here to stay" are often used to justify the politics of tribal predetermination by the neocolonial elite and to discourage ideological politics that the Social Democratic Party believes is a more progressive alternative.

In many different ways, the nationalist project in Africa was by and large a social democratic project. It sought to free the Africans from colonial domination so as to become full citizens of their own countries with political and economic rights. In Kenya, for example, the critical economic issue, after every adult had been given the vote, was land. Since white settlers had deprived African peasants of their land and rendered them poor, the proper economic dispensation was to "give the land to the tiller" after independence. This was done through the intervention of the state as well as the market. There was a sharp disagreement among the nationalists on the land issue regarding what mechanism was to be used in giving land to those disinherited of their land. Was the state to underwrite the cost or was the market to ensure that willing buyers bought from willing sellers?

Initially in Kenya, the state underwrote the million-acre settlement project. Subsequently, however, the state capitulated almost totally to market forces and the disinherited who were never catered for have been left in limbo. The land issue still remains to be settled democratically.

Social democracy represents an orientation in politics that accepts the capitalist market-system as the best way of organizing the production of the goods and services required in meeting material needs. Nonetheless, it aims to use the state to ensure that the benefits of this system are developed and distributed in a way that ensures the fullest possible life for all.

It is in the interpretation of this fullest possible life for all in terms of concrete programs that social democracy must become meaningful to people. How would a social democratic agenda for development differ from others?

First, a social democratic agenda begins from the premise that Africa's independence needs to be consolidated. A return to any form of colonial subjugation, either by foreign nations or by multilateral agencies, would deny the African people the basic and fundamental tenet of individual freedom and citizenship rights.

Second, unlike liberal democracy that lays emphasis on individual freedoms without necessarily paying full attention to the socio-economic aspects of realizing full human potential , social democracy puts primacy on basic rights as basic needs. These rights and needs cannot be realized by chance; they need the conscious organization of society and the deliberate allocation of resources for their realization. That cannot happen without political programs put in place by a social democratic government. Such programs will provide the opportunities for the realization of these needs.

Majorities in many countries have learnt that the kind of society and the kind of world they want for their families will not emerge simply through the free play of economic self-interest in the market-place. The market does not always allocate resources fairly; nor does it always reward the most hard working and the most productive. If anything, market distortions, quite often the result of an interplay between politics and the inherent imperfections in the market, result in injustices and inequalities detrimental to the growth of the human potential.

Social democratic politics consists in correcting the unfairness of the market, protecting the income of the poor or disadvantaged, and building the basis of a welfare program. In this regard, social democracy views poverty as the greatest enemy of the human civilization today. It is also the primary enemy of the growth of a market economy. It dehumanizes human beings and creates artificial barriers among people based on unfair use and distribution of resources. The social democratic project aims at building a society of solidarity in a market economy. This is why, at the re-launching of the Social Democratic Party in 1996, our ideological document was called Poverty and the Politics of Basic Needs. This was well before poverty became the "in thing" in liberal development discourse.

Poverty cannot be eliminated unless and until all human beings enjoy basic standards of civilized living with regard to health, education, employment for all, a clean environment, proper and decent housing, internal security, and human rights. Without the intervention and commitment of the government to promoting such a society, elimination of poverty will only exist in theory among "development talkers". Yet governments are made and created by men and women with certain ideas and interests. These ideas and interests need to be social democratic if they are to address the problem of poverty adequately and effectively.

That, however, does not mean that social democrats only believe in a state-run economy. Far from it; social democrats accept an economic order in which the control of productive enterprises lies principally with private owners responding to the imperatives of competitive and not monopolistic markets.

In that regard, social democrats do not accept capitalism as an end in itself, nor do they believe in the divine rights of entrepreneurs to compete and make profits, or in the pursuit of material self-interest as the highest human value. Rather, social democrats are convinced that capitalism is the only economic system capable of producing the wealth needed to sustain a full and rewarding life for all citizens. But capitalism must be managed under values, public institutions, agencies of government and democratically elected bodies safeguarding citizenship rights to basic standards of civilized living.

In contemporary African politics, social democracy needs to secure the rights of all citizens to education, health, housing, social security, cultural dignity and effective participation in the political life of the nation. These were the promises of African nationalism. But their pursuit was destroyed by authoritarian and corrupt regimes that have squandered national wealth in favor of the self-enrichment of the politically powerful. The current neo-liberal dogmatism of discrediting the state (and the public sector in general) is yet another radical swing to the right that will make individual citizens extremely vulnerable to the cruelties of savage capitalism.

A strong democratic and accountable state is the necessary counterpart to a socially responsible process of liberalization. Such a state is bound to provide the necessary regulatory framework that will ensure that the market is socially responsible and responsive. A social democratic government does not choose between "private" and "public"; but rather it combines both into what might be called "publi-vate". Further, social democracy does not seek to replace private capital and ownership with the public sector. It rather attempts to use democratic means--legislation, education, infrastructure investments and political leadership--to stimulate economic development in the desired direction. In some cases, social democrats may privatize or abolish old institutions no longer serving the desired purpose. In other cases, it may be necessary to establish new state agencies and even nationalize some private enterprise if there is a clear public need.

Almost in all African economies, the gap between the rich and the poor is widening. The ability of the state to provide for social welfare has been greatly undermined and curtailed. While the rich can afford to send their sick to expensive private hospitals and their children to equally expensive private schools, the poor die in their millions while ignorance, like buffaloes, step on their children. This need not be the case in present day Africa.

If social democracy is to be a truly alternative political project to neo-liberalism, it must provide an alternative economic growth model that incorporates human development as an important component of economic growth. The social democratic political project comprises the following:

• Establishing a social welfare state on democratic foundations, with structures of democratic government from the grassroots to the top.
• Removal of all structures of discrimination in society that encourage, tolerate, excuse or rationalize tribalism, sexism, social bigotry and racism.
• Encouraging and actively promoting nationalism and pan-Africanism.
• Institutionalizing the social welfare state through economic planning and growth that will provide universal free primary education, and a public health system accessible and affordable to all. It will further guarantee a social security system for all citizens; a national hospital insurance plan available to all citizens; a national housing development scheme that provides affordable mortgages, decent housing and eliminates slums. While employment will be progressively guaranteed as economic growth picks up, the state--in the long run--will also put in place a system of unemployment benefits through a well managed national social security system.
• Mobilizing investments in the productive sectors by putting primacy on value addition in agriculture so as to link it more directly to industrial development in the growth of a home market. In this regard, the development of a home market will spearhead production for export rather than the other way round. This means that the comparative advantage that Kenya has in the provision of services within the region and internationally will be given priority so as to boost foreign exchange earning domestically rather than through exports.
• Ridding the government of the corrupt, inefficient and destructive individuals and persons that are currently engaged in the underdevelopment of the national economy and putting in place a clean and effective government from the grassroots to the top. This will enhance democracy, security and public confidence.

The international policy of social democracy is based on the promotion of peace, universal disarmament and equality among nations in the use of global resources. As such, social democracy at the global level welcomes globalization that will drastically reduce global poverty and eliminate violence and threats to the security to human beings as well as the global environment.

Social democracy therefore calls for reforms in global capitalism. This requires social democratic politics at the global level, a call that has frequently been made by developing countries and social democratic governments in international fira of the UN and multilateral agencies.

Realizing that the interests of capital is dominant in almost all multilateral agencies and UN institutions, a social democratic agenda on a global scale presents a lot of challenge in trying to overcome the limits of global capitalism to meeting the needs of the poor. How can social security be enhanced for all when the economies of developing countries cannot grow fast enough to create opportunities for employment due to the international debt burden, among other things? What will guarantee ecological security when multinational oil companies destroy the environment with impunity in the Third World?

Governments, both national and international, must be strong enough to improve the economic life of the people. This means they must be democratic, not just in terms of holding free and fair elections but giving content to such elections by putting into power responsible and knowledgeable men and women who will govern competently and truthfully.

Much has been said about democracy having to do with accountability and transparency until these two terms have begun to sound almost hollow. Without truth and honesty the hollowness soon becomes a reality.

The public has become disenchanted with political leaders not just because they tend to use political power for personal gain, hence engage in overt corruption. But more because they fail to tell the people the truth, or simply tell the people what they want to hear and not what they need to know, hence engage in covert corruption.

The worst form of corruption in politics is populism — telling people what they want to hear and not what they need to know. It leads to adventurerism, politics without programs, inventing ill-defined frontiers for ill defined political battles. It is enhancing the politics of grand standing at the expense of the politics of principled stands. It predisposes people to the politics of spontaneity rather than the politics of institution building and the development of stable political cultures.

Social democracy on the contrary, believes in principled politics. It abhors the politics of spontaneity. Social democracy believes it is corrupt to neglect diligent preparation, unselfishness and sincere vocation to serve in public life and in political office. Corruption degrades not only individuals and societies but also the entire democratic system.

The international conference being convened in Nairobi, Kenya to discuss social democracy in the African Context is more than timely. African societies, social movements and political parties are currently faced with hard ideological choices that involve a refocus on the role of the state in the economy, and a redefinition of the boundary between government and civil society in uplifting citizens from abject poverty to civilized living.

• Social Democracy: theory, history, practice
• Social Democracy experiences in Africa: Programs of political parties, social movements and governments
• Social Democratic Policies in specific areas like health, education, social security, housing, employment
• The development of social democratic society: what are the economic and political underpinnings?.

The social Democratic Party of Kenya welcomes contributions from individuals, political parties and social movements to this conference. Once the papers are received, the organizing Committee will divide them into various "commissions", chaired by various leading social democrats.

This being the first major international conference on Social Democracy in Africa, we would be grateful if those intending to participate also use the occasion to meet various individuals engaged in social democratic work in Africa.

The organizers welcome suggestions from participants on "topics’ for panel discussion" that can be included in the program.

1. all those intending to participate should signal their intention by 30^th May, 2001.
2. All contributing papers should send in the summaries of their papers 2-4 pages, to the organizers by 30^th June, 2001.
3. Organizers will inform participants of travel arrangements by 30^th August, 2001.

REGISTRATION FORM

Name: _______________________________________________________________

Address: ____________________________

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Telephone: ____________________________ Fax:___________________________

E-mail: ____________________________

Party Affiliation:_______________________________________________________________

Social Movement Affiliation:______________________________________________________

Trade Union Affiliation:__________________________________________________________

I intend to prepare a paper for the conference on______________________________________

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Local Costs US$

1. Travel and Transport Local participants 4,000.00

2. Meals and Accommodation 24,000.00

3. Conference Materials 2,000.00

4. Contingencies 10% 3,000.00

GRAND TOTALS 33,000.00

20 participants are to be invited from Africa and internationally. These include Samir Amin, Peter Russell, May Broadbent. The total budget should be about US$ 65,000.00 including international travel.