Cambridge Analytica election scandal: The True Reflection of Democratic Fallacy

News:

An investigation that revealed the role of Cambridge Analytica – the British data company in the Kenyan elections has elicited mixed reactions from Kenyans on social media. The investigation, aired by British public service TV Channel 4 News, showed one of the company’s top bosses, Alexandar Nix, bragging on how they run the 2013 and 2017 campaigns, how they rebranded both TNA and Jubilee parties, wrote speeches and manifestos, conducted two researches on behalf of the parties, “stage the whole thing” and “ran every element of his [Kenyatta’s] campaign”

Comments:

The latest scandal has exposed the true fallacious nature of the so-called ‘Democracy’, which has been peddled as the system of hope and savior by the secular capitalists. However, in reality Democracy is a mafia system of governance used by the rich elites to exploit the majority squalors into using them as voting machines to legitimize their office occupancy. The rich elites use all means at their disposal to ensure they win political contests at all costs. Since the occupier of the office is the king, the rest are subject to his rule, and implements policies that are drawn to ensure the squalors remain in their same poverty-stricken status and the rich continue to amass and plunder public resources with no fear of any retributions. It is not about bringing genuine radical change that guarantees to improve the livelihood of the voters. Since most of the voters view the electioneering period as their do or die opportunity to elect their representatives who will in turn serve them diligently and bring about policies that shall uplift their living conditions from bad to good but the outcome is always vice versa it is from bad to worse!

The desperate voters identified by the rich elites as their voting machines are susceptible to manipulations during the elections campaigns as most politicians engage in hotly contested positions to either ascend or maintain power. Such manipulations include but not limited to voters’ bribery, propaganda and counter propaganda wars directly or indirectly targeting followers of politicians with use of lies and foul language at its peak. All that is happening because the objective justifies the means hence everything is explored as long as it will ensure ascendance or maintenance of power. The advancement in technological development has seen the rise of secular capitalist business companies that make money by collecting and selling records of private lives to the highest bidders without caring about the usage purpose, by whom, how and when will such records be used. Since the secular capitalist viewpoint on actions is anchored on benefits and as long as there is, profit nothing can be an impediment.  Such companies then known as surveillance companies later rebranded as social media and since then have enticed millions of users to their platforms, which include but not limited to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp, etc. Through these platforms, liberalism and freedoms are spread like fire in dry grass. However, any attempts to use the said platforms to awaken the Muslim Ummah to think ideologically and embrace their Islamic ideology under the Khilafah Project are thwarted and blacklisted as hate messages and those engaged in the same are branded extremists or terrorists e.g in Uzbekistan, Russia, and Syria etc.

With millions subscribing to their services, it also opens up the Pandora’s Box for the users being manipulated especially by companies, which work conspiring with owners of those platforms contracted by e.g. politicians’ hell bent to ensure they seize power not by running their campaigns based on policies and facts but on false and manipulation of desperate voters’ emotions. As it was confirmed by the Cambrige Analytica’s (CA) employee who stated, “It is no good fighting an election campaign on the facts because actually, it is all about emotions”. In the Kenyan scenario where tribalism is the engine of politics so it saw the companies like CA taking advantage of the tribal inclinations of the desperate voters and used it to their advantage to whip up ethnical emotions in support of their paymaster and against their paymaster’s opponent. It worked effectively considering that both Kenya’s smartphones and internet usage is at its highest levels compared to its neighbors in East Africa standing at almost 80%.

Therefore, the uproar should have not been about CA influencing candidates win election or not but it should have been about replacing of a ‘mafia system called democracy and its secular capitalist ideology’ which are the root cause of the circus-driven crises facing humanity today. The existence of CA and other like companies are founded up on secular capitalist ideology and so their shutting down completely calls for the total replacement of the evil ideology that gave credence in their existence. It is only Islam as the alternative divinely revealed ideology from the Creator implemented comprehensively. It will usher the true reflection of elections results governed by the seeking of Allah (swt)’s pleasure. Occupants of the positions of power will be motivated by being granted access to gardens of highest levels of paradise due to their honest and accountability in executing policies that improves humanity’s livelihood and quest to satisfy their perpetual thirsty for world wealth.

Ali Nassoro Ali

Member of the Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Kenya