Sunday, January 29, 2017
Friday, January 27, 2017
On Good and Bad Government
The Allegory of Good and Bad Government. An old idea with contemporary relevance.
Thursday, January 26, 2017
Francophones Should Support the Southern Cameroons Struggle
Narratives on the Anglophone Cameroon struggles may give the impression that Anglophone Cameroonians are against Francophone Cameroonians thus leading Francophone Cameroonians to be apprehensive of what Anglophone Cameroonians seek. The idea of the Francophone system being forced down the throats of Anglophone Cameroonians may give the impression that Anglophone Cameroonians are against Francophone Cameroonians. This would be to simplify the matter. What Anglophone Cameroonians are decrying is a form of plunder by successive post-independence regimes in Cameroon that have ridden rough shod not only against the spirit and letter of what Cameroon was supposed to be but against the well-being of the peoples of this geographical triangle. Southern Cameroonians would not be protesting and being killed by the Biya regime today if they had the end of the deal which the independence agreement stipulated. Sticking to this deal would have provided the benefit of peace which, I believe, all Cameroonians seek.
The decrying of the marginalization that assimilates Anglophone Cameroonians into a unitary system is a function of the despoliation which the Biya and Ahidjo regimes have visited on Cameroonians for over fifty years now. The Anglophone struggle should not give the impression that Francophones have a more decent life in Cameroon than Anglophones. This is far from the truth. The justice Anglophone Cameroonians seek is a justice that would also benefit Francophone Cameroonians. The centralization of the government in Yaoundé has robbed both Francophone and Anglophone Cameroonians of their voices and creative potential and so Francophones should support the Anglophone cause because regional autonomy has the potential to unleash the creativity and dynamism of both the Francophones and Anglophones. The current Anglophone crisis actually gives a cover to Paul Biya because the silence of Francophones may give the impression that the Biya regime has been good to them. This is also a false impression.
The current crisis should therefore not be seen as only an Anglophone Cameroonian struggle but rather as a Cameroonian struggle. Francophones should be supporting the Anglophone cause because in doing so, they also raise their voice against a regime that is despoiling them.
The decrying of the marginalization that assimilates Anglophone Cameroonians into a unitary system is a function of the despoliation which the Biya and Ahidjo regimes have visited on Cameroonians for over fifty years now. The Anglophone struggle should not give the impression that Francophones have a more decent life in Cameroon than Anglophones. This is far from the truth. The justice Anglophone Cameroonians seek is a justice that would also benefit Francophone Cameroonians. The centralization of the government in Yaoundé has robbed both Francophone and Anglophone Cameroonians of their voices and creative potential and so Francophones should support the Anglophone cause because regional autonomy has the potential to unleash the creativity and dynamism of both the Francophones and Anglophones. The current Anglophone crisis actually gives a cover to Paul Biya because the silence of Francophones may give the impression that the Biya regime has been good to them. This is also a false impression.
The current crisis should therefore not be seen as only an Anglophone Cameroonian struggle but rather as a Cameroonian struggle. Francophones should be supporting the Anglophone cause because in doing so, they also raise their voice against a regime that is despoiling them.
Monday, January 16, 2017
Development Aid As Magic
While development aid has been critiqued from various perspectives for a while now, the magical side of aid has hardly been as effectively demonstrated as a very short piece in The Guardian has recently done. While there are many significant insights in this piece, the central point is that developing countries are actually giving aid to developed countries rather than the other way around. The magic in it all is that, like in most magic, there has often been a sleight of hand that causes misdirection - portraying the takers as the givers and the givers as the takers. Thus, even though developing countries have been giving far more aid to developed countries, the narrative has been popularized that it is developed countries that actually give aid to developing countries. In other words, the narrative makes the beggar to become the giver and the giver the beggar. Pulling off such magical feat is astonishing.
Wednesday, January 4, 2017
Dying to be British or French In Cameroon
Postcolonial theory has all along been theorizing how former colonists may come out of the shackles of their erstwhile colonizers, seeing the colonial situation as having hampered the flourishing of dominated peoples around the world. In order to overcome their colonial situations, one of the premises on offer is that the suppressed voices of the former colonies need to be brought to the fore and local worldviews have to shape the life of the people. Theorizing the end of colonialism is however being seriously undermined by a very complex problem in Cameroon, one of only two countries in the world (Canada is the other) that have English and French as their official languages.
The problem in Cameroon is called the Anglophone problem, that is, the marginalization of the English-speaking regions by the French-speaking regions of the country. This problem has recently come to the fore with deadly consequences, especially in Bamenda, Cameroon. The disruption caused in the country has led a group of Roman Catholic prelates, always more politically informed than their Protestant counterparts, to send a letter to Cameroon's dictator, Paul Biya, calling for urgent measures to be taken to address the situation.
The situation flies in the face of most post-colonial theories in that the claims made by English-speaking Cameroonians against their French-speaking counterparts is rooted in colonialism. English-speaking or Anglophone Cameroonians are claiming their British heritage, which they claim is far more democratic and respect the rule of law than the French-speaking system. As the Roman Catholic prelates note, what is at stake is the "Anglophone identity," which "goes beyond the mere ability to speak or understand the English language. It speaks to a core of values, beliefs, customs, and ways of relating to the other inherited from the British who ruled this region from 1916 to 1961. ‘Anglophonism’ is a culture, a way of being which cannot be transmitted by merely learning a language."
It is quite interesting that the postcolonial struggle here does not draw from any perceived African way of being but rather on a way of being inherited from the British. In other words, Cameroonians are fighting and dying in order to determine whether they want to be British or French. How would postcolonial theory theorize this without risking being out of step with the people, as Frantz Fanon once charged? Or as Achille Mbembe noted in the opening paragraph of his On The Postcolony, is it possible to theorize Africa without repeating the same things in different ways? In this case, is it even possible to speak of a postcolony or should we rather speak of the continuation of colonialism in another way?
The problem in Cameroon is called the Anglophone problem, that is, the marginalization of the English-speaking regions by the French-speaking regions of the country. This problem has recently come to the fore with deadly consequences, especially in Bamenda, Cameroon. The disruption caused in the country has led a group of Roman Catholic prelates, always more politically informed than their Protestant counterparts, to send a letter to Cameroon's dictator, Paul Biya, calling for urgent measures to be taken to address the situation.
The situation flies in the face of most post-colonial theories in that the claims made by English-speaking Cameroonians against their French-speaking counterparts is rooted in colonialism. English-speaking or Anglophone Cameroonians are claiming their British heritage, which they claim is far more democratic and respect the rule of law than the French-speaking system. As the Roman Catholic prelates note, what is at stake is the "Anglophone identity," which "goes beyond the mere ability to speak or understand the English language. It speaks to a core of values, beliefs, customs, and ways of relating to the other inherited from the British who ruled this region from 1916 to 1961. ‘Anglophonism’ is a culture, a way of being which cannot be transmitted by merely learning a language."
It is quite interesting that the postcolonial struggle here does not draw from any perceived African way of being but rather on a way of being inherited from the British. In other words, Cameroonians are fighting and dying in order to determine whether they want to be British or French. How would postcolonial theory theorize this without risking being out of step with the people, as Frantz Fanon once charged? Or as Achille Mbembe noted in the opening paragraph of his On The Postcolony, is it possible to theorize Africa without repeating the same things in different ways? In this case, is it even possible to speak of a postcolony or should we rather speak of the continuation of colonialism in another way?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)