French Military as First Responders in Burkina Faso

What would you say is the condition that made it possible for French soldiers to be first responders in the West African country of Burkina Faso? Imagine Burkinabe soldiers as first responders in Paris. Can you imagine that scenario? Images below are from the BBC.
Image copyright AFP/Getty Images

Image caption French police officers helped tend to the wounded 

French forces operating in Burkina Faso.

What would Thomas Sankara say?

600 Days of #BringBackOurGirls

While most of the world has fallen silent on the fate of the missing Chibok Girls, one group of people who could not fall silent because the pain is too close to them is the parents of the girls. Today they mark 600 days since the girls were kidnapped by taking their case to the capital of Nigeria, Abuja. They cannot forget and cannot be silent even if the rest of the world forgets and falls silent.

Donald J. Trump and the Flatulence of "Making America Great Again"

Donald J. Trumps' presidential aspiration is based on the claim that he intends to make America great again. What seems to be happening with his campaign, however, is that he is increasingly bringing America into disrepute. This is no where more glaring than the fact that the British parliament is going to be debating a petition intended to keep Trump out of that country. America probably has a closer relationship with no other nation than it does with Britain. If  Britain is debating the possibility of not admitting one who aspires to be the President of the United States into the country, it shows that Trump's aspirations are already beginning to isolate America. Granted that the debate in the British parliament will not result in barring Trump from Britain, the very fact that it is being carried out is enough rebuke to his aspirations and a sign that his idea of making America great is toxic.

Contrast that with the wave of enthusiasm that was at play when Barack Obama was running for President. Compare the waves of crowd he drew during his visit to Europe and the fact that he has succeeded in reversing an economy that was going into the doldrums when he came to power, and you would see that Trump's claim that he would make America great again will actually regress America's status - first around the world and then at home. It is perhaps only in Trump's dictionary that being great clearly means being reviled.

The Three New Bad Men of Africa

Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Joseph Kabila of The Democratic Republic of Congo, and Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi. I name these three as the new bad men of Africa not because they are doing anything that is new in the continent but rather because they are a younger generation of African leaders (they are in their 50s!) who are perpetrating older stereotypes of African leaders as Presidents for Life. They have taken over a technique recently perfected by dictators like Paul Biya of Cameroon where they create the impression of running a democracy by giving a semblance of presidential term limits only to turn around and change the constitution to prolong their stay in power. In the past, African presidents did not care for such niceties. They simply declared themselves Emperors and Presidents of Life and then proceeded to kill anyone who disagreed, conducting elections and winning 99.99 percent of the vote. Given that democracy seems to be something that is cherished today, some of these African presidents have updated their bag of tricks with a façade of term limits. They still kill their opponents, like these three men under consideration do.

Paul Kagame seems to think that you may be President for Life only if the people want you be and if you still have much to accomplish for your people - apparently oblivious of the fact that this is a very old excuse many African dictators have used to perpetuate their misrule. These three men are the newest kids in the block to create an atmosphere that is very inhospitable for an opposition in their country, guaranteeing that only their voices would be heard. They interpret opposition as treason and treat the country as if it were their personal property. Like many African Presidents they have a savior complex - the country cannot succeed without them. We are in dire need of ordinary people, non-saviors, who simply want to play their part in improving the lives of their people in Africa, and then move on. I think President Barack Obama put it best when he stated that a President who does not create the atmosphere in which she or he can peacefully hand over power has done a bad job of being President. But again, Obama is the President of the United States and he even expressed the desire to continue to be President. Who knows what he would have done if he were a President in an African country like Burundi?

On the Fear of Witches and Terrorists

Terrorists are our new witches - at least in the West. Growing up in the village in Cameroon, one of the things we were scared of was witches. Witches, we were told, we very stealthy and one may never be sure of when they would strike. They were always plotting, waiting for the opportune moment to do in the unwary. People who were known witches or associated with witches were at best treated with suspicion or at worst exiled from the village. Witches, like terrorists, were dangerous to  the body politic. Witches were seen as the greatest threat to the village. Even though witches have bodies, they are often amorphous because it was not clear when and how one might strike. In fact, witches are spiritual in nature not only because they enlist unseen means to carry out their unholy activities but also because they could hardly be detected. In some African villages, there are witch-finders who are in charge of sniffing out those who are witches and neutralizing their malicious powers.

In a sense, the fear of witches found in some African villages is the same as the fear of terrorists in the context of the modern West. I encountered this fear when I first arrived in the United States. I came to this country when a person alleging to be planning terrorist activities was arrested on the border between the United States an Canada. I do not remember the name of this person but his picture was all over the TV and I could feel the fear of terrorism in the air. Since then, 9/11 has happened and there have been many other terrorist acts all over the world. However, one thing that has remained constant with all these activities is fear. Terrorists in the West are like witches in many African villages because these terrorists are seen as waiting to pounce at any moment, taking limb or life, paralyzing, maiming or killing. Terrorists are spoken of as if they are spirits - they appear to be hovering around waiting for the unguarded moment. Those associated with terroristic activities, like those associated with witches, are at best treated with suspicion. Right now, much is being expended on the equivalence of witch-finders but we call them counter-terrorism experts.

In many African villages, however, the fear of witches has not gone away but there has been evolution of witch-finders from traditional to Christian witch-finders. One wonders whether the fear of terrorism will go away in the West or whether, like the fear of witches in many African villages, it will continue to rule our lives.

ISIS As 21st Century Colonialist

Africans have often thought of colonialism as a nineteenth and twentieth centuries phenomenon that emanated from the West to Africa. Neocolonialism is often thought to be the remnant of colonial politics that is manifested in Africa, like the fact that France still has a very large military force stationed in many of it former African colonies to this day and dictate the nature of politics at the highest level there. There is however a new colonialist emerging today and that colonialist is coming from the Middle East. This new colonialist is the so-called Islamic State or ISIS which is spreading its control in many parts of Africa today, especially in North and Central Africa. It has bases in Libya, and, by pledging allegiance to the group, Boko Haram has extended the reach of ISIS in Central Africa.

Understanding the activities of ISIS in terms of colonialism is more helpful because it brings out the pernicious power play and exploitation that is characteristic of the colonial enterprise. ISIS speaks in religious terms and attempts to shroud its rapacity in holiness. This is not unlike Western colonial enterprises that were also couch in the religious language of spreading the Christian understanding of salvation. Just like colonialists enlisted Africans to do their bidding in dehumanizing their own people, so too is ISIS enlisting the help of Africans from North to Central Africa to do their bidding. ISIS has clearly declared its intention of establishing a caliphate, which means colonizing Africa as well. With groups like Boko Haram, this will easily come to pass, moving Africans from the shadow of Western colonialism to the that of the so-called Islamic State. It appears that there will always be people in Africa who are willing to hand us over to every new colonialist. It behooves us to be vigilant in order not to fall into the cruel hands of our various new colonial conquerors and suitors. Perhaps the place to start is to ask ourselves how we are enlisted to work against our own interests.

Christmas: A Celebration of Homelessness

Today is Christmas Day, the day Christians around the world celebrate the birth of Jesus who is called the Christ. It is a happy occasion in part because Christians, like most people around the world, generally tend to celebrate births. However, at the time the birth was happening it was not all happy. I am not only talking about Mary's birth pangs but the fact that she gave birth in a homeless shelter, in fact, in far less than a homeless shelter - in a place where animals live. That is how Luke 2 tells the story. How this child, born in such an ignominious condition, evolved one of the days in which people make billions of dollars around the world even as they still shove aside the homeless, is a strange tale to tell. But that is the reality - that we celebrate a homeless man without a tinge of irony in what we do. Should Christmas not rather make us to be ashamed of how we treat the wretched of the earth?