L'Oiseau Libre
"The Zimalian youth needs to be more outspoken on Vaguzian politics."
We visited Vaguzian-Zimalian rapper Manqoba Kito in his home in the Zimalian quarter in Saburi, the place where he was borned and raised, to ask him about his political views and his Zimalian background. Manqoba is the son of Zimalian immigrants who came to Vaguzia in the late 80s , here his father would start working as a taxi driver and his mother as a cleaning lady. "My parents didn't have the best paid jobs in the world but they did what they could to make my life as good as possible, which meant that i did not see my father for days which meant i would be alone at a lot of evenings because then my mother was also away for work. But in the end this was worth it, they gave me a very good youth, which can be very hard in these poor neighborhoods of Saburi."
When Manqoba reached puberty, he also learned the dark side of the streets of Saburi, where he also got involved in gangs, drugs and weapons "To be honest, it is a shame that i have to say this, but as a Zimalian in the Zimalian quarter it is sort of impossible to not get involved in crime. You have to understand that these kids in the Zimalian quarter are being confronted with extreme poverty from since they have been a baby, this gives these kids almost no perspective, which almost always results in them starting to criminal things to get money. My parents were able to keep me away from crime for a long time, they kept me off the street when the night came and always tried to make sure someone was keeping a eye out for me when they were away for work, of course i had some idea what was going on in the streets of Saburi, i saw the news reporting on countless shootings in the Zimalian quarter and when i walked into my flat, i saw countless people dealing drugs in the building. I only really got involved with these gangs when i was about 14, i found school boring so i skipped lots of classes, started experimenting with drugs, which eventually got me involved into drugs dealing. From drugs dealing i went to robberies and i thank Izra that i eventually never got involved in actual shootings, i could not have lived with the feeling of having killed someone. "
When Manqoba reached the age of 18, he like all other Vaguzian boys, got a letter from the Ministry of Defence, that he was called up to defend his nation against tyranny and foreign invaders.
"Military service literally saved me, i never went to school, always was on the streets, had been arrested around 20 times, and had also been in a youth prison, and now that i was called up for military service, i could finally mean something to these beautiful community. I would serve in the Marines, and here i saw how military service united the Vaguzian people, Northerners, Southerners, Zimalians, Phuebrans, Morelanders all saw each other as brothers because they knew that they had to be able to trust each other to survive on the battlefield. After around 7 months i got send to Academica to fight different rebel groups who had also fired rockets at Vaguzia, i lost a lot of fellow marines and friends in this horrible war. After i returned home from the Academican civil war, i didnt have to finish my military service because i had fought in serious combat situations multiple times. Now everything was the same again, all the poor boys who went to war were still poor and got practically nothing for it. This is when i started to get interested in rapping about whats wrong with Vaguzian politics right now, i also want the Zimalian youth to be more outspoken on Vaguzian politics, because most politicians have been ignoring the big Zimalian community for years, that got to stop now, us Zimalians go to school, fight in the Military for our country and almost every Zimalian has a job, so we got every right to be heard."
A big shift to the Left in Vaguzian politics?
Elisabeth Cortez of the Green Party speaking on a rally of the workers unions
If we look at the current trend of the polls we can clearly see that it looks like Vaguzia is making a big shift to the left wing, while for literally centuries right wing parties have been ruling the country, it looks like we soon may have the first Socialist government in the history of our nation. And it is not hard to see why this shift is happening, for years there has been a big split between the rich North and the poor South of our nation. The South has always voted very socialist and left wing, before the civil war even communist, the North has always voted Conservative and right wing. But because the turnout in the South has always been so much lower than in the north (58% compared to 89%), the left could never made a good fist against the right in Vaguzia. But this is now changing, not only are politics more alive in the South than ever, in the North students are now also speaking up and getting active in politics, and probably the biggest reason for this shift is the fact that immigrants are finally getting interested in Vaguzian politics, so with the South letting their voices be heard and the North also shifting to the left, it now looks like we are heading to a socialist government.
We talked with the leader of the Green Party, Elisabeth Cortez
"I think people are now finally tired of the horrible policies of the past government that have hurt the normal Vaguzians so much, a lot of Vaguzians can not pay their bill for going to the Hospital, going to University or are struggling to simply have food 3 times a day or a roof above their head, so now the Vaguzian people are standing up against this bigotry of the Vaguzian government against its own people. We can also see that the South is finally going to the polling station, so the South is now balancing to what the North is voting, so now the votes of the South will count as much as of the North. It is time for a social Vaguzia, in which every Vaguzian citizens can enjoy good healthcare, can go to a University and to have a decent pension when they turn 60, these are simple principles that the Government doesnt even want to fight for, but they shall be punished for this arrogance. I am also very proud to see that women are finally standing up for their rights, because the abortion law that Vaguzia has right now is medieval, while we are supposed to be one of the more civilized countries of Mundus, but in our country you can only have an abortion if your life is in serious danger, this is absolutely ridiculous and i am happy to see that Vaguzian women are also going on the streets for this, it is time for a Progressive and Social sound in Vaguzia. "
We also talked with the leader of the Socialist Party, Samuele Alberti
"Well we see loads of young people going on the streets now, protesting for a better future, protesting against the injustice that is being done against them. Houses in for instance Domanti have become unpayable for normal Vaguzians, which forces a lot of people to move to the already overcrowded city of Saburi, this situation is getting out of hand and people are seeing this and also see that this is the result of a Conservative government. If the Conservatives and Izraïte Union keep going on with their horrible Neo-Liberal policies, they will pay the bill for it in the elections. "
