Saturday, May 26, 2012

2012 - II : Hot elections in sight in...Lesotho, "the kingdom in the sky" !

by Jean-Jacques COURTEY, Doctor in Economic Geography, Ph. D
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This year 2012 is more and more unsettled, when you think Japan and China are almost ready to make war for 8 desertic islets (Senkaku islands), even they may be a bit "oily". The question about war is not how to make it but how to end it then, after the mutually assured economic drop.
This unsettlement is also present in the world potential expectations surrounding the tiny kingdom of Lesotho, with the big question of the 2012 hypothetical Deluge.
Today are finally held legislative elections in the realm of Lesotho (30,455 sq. km, for around 2 million inhabitants).
Our present editorial is a following of our article written in French with a similar title on november 22th 2011 : "2012 : de chaudes élections en vue ...au Lesotho, 'le royaume dans le ciel' !"
At first, Lesotho doesn't evoke anything particular for the world, except a beautiful landscape "in the sky", because of its altitude.
So you have to remind about the "2012" movie of Roland Emmerich (2009) to understand how this topic can be hot.
Lesotho is an independant country mainly populated by southern Sothos - with some Zulu, Afrikaner, British, but also Chinese and Indian or Pakistanese minorities. Its peculiarity is to be totally enclosed in the center east of the Republic of South Africa. And both of them are sharing the famous Drakensberg mountain massif, which appears at the end of the picture as an haven of peace and renewed hope for the saved mankind : every spectator can still visualize several arks arriving overthere, and recalling strikingly Noah's Ark after the Deluge sent by the God of the Bible.

The only problem is Lesotho is not peaceful at all after periods of legislative elections usually !...
The last "mini-civil war" of 1998 is there to recall it. South Africa itself lost several soldiers when it made an intervention to reestablish order overthere.
Nobody knows if it wouldn't have a fourth flag, since the ex-British Basutoland independance in 1966.
The sudden change of political party by the Prime Minister last february, modified somewhat the political agenda. Pakalitha Mosisili (born in Maseru in 1945) passed with 44 MPs to the newly formed Democratic Congress (DC), from the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD). His aim is not to lose elections, that's all. He has been Prime Minister since May 29th 1998. And the problem is everybody think that he will have to make a coalition with the other two main parties at least, the ABC (All Basotho Convention)...and his ex-one ! Unhappily, this possibility is far to be assured. So there may be high tension and heat in Maseru, the capital, rather quickly. As a matter of fact, the most unsafe situation overthere physically is to be "Minister", except when it's raining. And the motto of the country is actually : "Peace, Rain, and Prosperity"!

As anybody can guess, the rather predictable upheavals of Lesotho internal politics are not quite a good sign, for a potential welcoming of very wealthy immigrants from the West and elsewhere...by the end of december 2012. Everything would fall in an hectic period, really.
So the possible "Survival Arks' coming from Himalaya (Chinese side, Tibet), should perhaps aim at going somewhere else, in case something terrific and frightening really occurs on December 21st 2012. The "new Deluge"would in that case be a prelude in a still more chaotic mess than expected initially. Let's add for information that life expectancy in Lesotho recently dropped from 40 to 34.5 years old, because of AID's scourge.
Of course, if the movie "2012" stays totally or partly an Hollywood fiction picture, things will be easier to sort out.
The unknown thing about God is his personal humor. Can he joke with human beings and take Mickey out of them the way they actually do at him ? That's a mystery which will be uncovered soon, in due time anyway !






If English doesn't present any difficulty for English speakers in Lesotho, Sotho language is more complicated to catch or pronounce correctly. But happily, both are official languages. Of course, leopards ("nkoe") would have to be approached with care, as they are carnivorious.

But it could be better to come back to reality and see things as they are, in order to prepare oneself well the way they should be. Half-jokingly, we could add that having some meat ready to apease leopards wouldn't be a waste for the "self-selected" very rich applicants to escaping.

Keeping cool, holding on, and having a good fun are certainly the best behaviour at the moment.
Everybody will certainly discover anyhow what's next in due time, and see an end to hidden angst and unwise displayed cupidity.

The problem of God in 2012 could be he doesn't see clearly enough who has to be saved or not, as he may be doubting more and more about human creatures' sincerity, devotion, and deep loyalty towards him. So like in the Euro song contest, people have to crack for him in time. Hence as in Roma "la verità viene a galla" (the truth is daylight) !

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