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 Memoirs of a Benevolent Despot
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Many of the members of the board welcomed me to the forum and invited me to write and contribute to the ongoing interesting discussion and debate. But because of the difficult times our home country Sudan is undergoing, any thing not political sounds trivial, out of place, obscene and banal. Yes I want to write something lighter, something that would bring a small smile on your faces, a nice memory of the good old times – no politics.
I decided that I hate politics. Politics brings out the Goering inside me – whenever I hear the word politics, I touch my gun. Politics drives me mad. Well, I really shouldn’t use the word mad; it is politically incorrect. I should say politics drive me off the wall. “The best of wine turns into vinegar when men start talking politics” – this is a famous quotation from Calphurnia, Julius Caesar’s wife.
If I become the ruler of Sudan I will abolish politics and anything to do with politics. I will declare myself a ‘Benevolent Despot’. I will have only one ministry in my cabinet – the Ministry of Good and Refine Taste, Arts and Good Behaviour. My dear friend Salwa Alsaeed will be my one and only minister. Period I don’t want anyone to discuss my decision. That is the idea! Salwa has good taste and excellent despotic tendencies exactly like me. She will make an excellent minister in my one ministerial government.
‘Rome has spoken, the matter is settled’ – Saint Augustine.
Khalid has spoken, the matter is settled, and Salwa is my minister. Period.
Anyone who defies Salwa or me will be locked up in an educational institution and to be taught how to behave and how to acquire good and refined taste in arts and literature.
My first experience of playing a ‘benevolent despot’ was when I was teaching at Juba University in 1988
To be continued.
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فيس بوك
تويتر
انستقرام
يوتيوب
بنتيريست