© Numero Unoma
Someone said about my last article that the “largely valid points” I made could “only be taken seriously” if I “spend energy showing how things could be improved”.
Well, FYI I am no longer in the business of trying to improve Nigeria, They say if at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again. Been there done that. And after many more than just three tries, many more than just three years of trying, indeed more than even three decades of trying, I am indeed, as the same reader rightly observed, and aptly put it, “above the fray”. I don tire, biko!
It’s a case, for me, of (s)he who has ears, let them hear. But since I greatly appreciate and respect my readers, especially when they engage me with feedback, I will make a modest offering.
But first, I was not yet done with talking about the cages. Freedom begins in your head, heart and soul. As Bob Marley said.
“How many rivers do we have to cross
Before we can talk to the boss?
All that we got, it seems we have lost.
We must already have paid the cost”
Yes, indeed we have survived so many struggles, and yet we are still not free! There is a seemingly interminable pattern of self-depreciation that continues to thrive among us black people in general. Sure, there are some aspirational achievers out there, but what do they count for if they cannot take the rest of their people along? Besides, even among those, many still secretly, sometimes subconsciously yearn for the acceptance and approval of Whiteness. And too many of us are guilty of crabs-in-a-bucket syndrome.
In general, there is something prevalent among us that some folks refer to as self hate. It manifests in a myriad of ways, not least (Ladies first!) the awful wigs and weaves our women wear to look more err, more what actually? Or are they trying to look less something or other? Because if that is the case, they are definitely succeeding. They end up looking less than. Full stop. Less than. Certainly less than the beautiful stunning sisters they are more naturally.
Listen, I enjoy dressing up and expressing myself just like everyone else, and there’s nothing wrong with experimenting and playing around with different looks, but when on top of it becoming plastic pollution, that stuff also seeps into our definition of beauty or success, then we have a problem, Houston.
As for the Gents, while your transgressions are not exclusively committed by males, historically you have had agency where we Ladies for the most have not, so that ostensibly much of the selling out that has happened in the last few hundred years can be ascribed to you; from the sale of slaves, to the sale of public companies and assets, to the mortgaging of our collective future through the incurrence of questionable debt, and the dubious disbursement of those and other public funds.
The issue of self hate is a deep-seated and complex one, so who better to dissect it, one would think, than a ‘shrink’. In his 1952 book ‘Black Skin, White Masks’ the Martiniquais philosopher and psychiatrist Franz Fanon tells us that the first thing the colonizer did was to “plant deep in the mind of the native population the idea that before the advent of colonialism their history was one which was dominated by barbarism. Colonization is something the native ultimately does to himself, having been persuaded of his own inadequacy.”
This, combined with policies and methods such as Lord Frederick Lugard’s indirect rule, began an erosion of the components of the identity of Africans, as they imbibed the devaluation of their cultures, religions and value systems and embraced ‘betterment’ through replacing these with Christian (or Islamic) morals, and Eurocentric philosophies and education.
The real question is that if it was so easy to change one way, then why is it so difficult to simply change back again? Again, it’s complicated. The underlying psychology has been cemented by globalisation and consumerism, and those generations who were most steeped in and connected with their own cultures have long joined the ancestors, leaving us hapless descendents, who cannot seem to find the way back home.
Despite this ideological attrition, Nigeria is a country that has in many ways preserved ancient customs and traditions, some good, others less so. Unlike Zimbabwe for instance, which does not have widespread ancient textile traditions outside of their Ndebele region, Nigeria has Asooke and Adire from the south west, Akwa-ocha from the midwest, Akwete and Ukara from the south east and A’nger from the middle belt, to mention a few. But to observe the evolution of these fabrics, both in terms of the materials used to produce them and the design and patterning, is to see how much non-Nigerian, indeed non-African influences have crept in to adulterate them. I should add that despite not having a textile culture, Zimbabweans more than make up for this in terms of their indigenous spirituality, but more on that in another article.
Nigerian weddings are supposedly another stronghold of tradition, and through they have always been somewhat colourful, dramatic and elaborate, one cannot help but wonder at today’s shows of pomp and pageantry, which seem to have more to do with consumerism than the authentic charm of tradition. The level to which the spraying of money is taken these days, for example, is particularly sickening, especially given the state of the country’s infrastructure and economy, and the growing disparity between the have and the have-nots, both in terms of numbers, as well as net worth. I think a really good solution to that particular ill would be for us to just buy up all the freshest of the old Naira notes, and use them at weddings and functions in the same way that we use Monopoly money. After all, even the bride price is only symbolic these days, nobody in their right mind thinks he is purchasing a spouse, surely!
But, I digress, and let me balance things out a little. I have seen many Africans act quite obsequiously with Whiteness, including some Nigerians, btw. I shuddered in horror when I recently heard a domestic staff refer to his caucasian employer as ‘master’. I mean, who still says that?! However, Nigerians at all levels of society generally no longer stand for nonsense from ‘Oyibos’. As the most recent entrants to the fray, the Chinese seem to be paying for all the decades, even centuries of oppression we have suffered at the hand of the British. Admittedly they can be particularly ill-mannered, but I am not sure how effective barking at badly behaved foreigners is, I think in general we need a more concerted, a more organised approach.
In order to seek a solution, we must identify the problem. So let’s call it loss of self-determination. How now do we begin to regain it?
Well if you ask me (dear Reader, who requested me to proffer solutions) historically the most effective movements have been underground movements. Let’s face it, they greatly reduce the risk of sabotage, whether from outside or from within. Another thing Franz Fanon said was that “Freedom cannot be regained by negotiation, but only by a redemptive act. The violent occupation of lands and minds can be answered only with violence of the heart and hand”. (NB Preferably, violence should not lead to physical harm).
Before Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Declaration of 1863, the so-called Underground Railway was instrumental in the freeing of an estimated 100,000 slaves. It was a network of abolitionists and safe houses along routes that led to places like Canada in the north and Mexico and the Caribbean in the south, where escaped slaves could live in freedom.
With no knowledge of the Underground Railway, exactly 20 years later, in Anioma (the good land), in what is now known as Delta State, the Ekumeku Movement was another underground initiative. The men of Anioma employed guerrilla tactics such as ambush attacks on the encroaching British colonisers, and even booby-trapped bunches of bananas hanging in the trees with gunpowder, because these were a favourite energy-rich and sterile food source for the British troops. This movement staved off the British colonisation for 30 years, before they were crushed in 1914.
Another 50 years later in apartheid South Africa, the ARM (African Resistance Movement), originally known as NCL “initially focused on helping hunted people escape the country, then progressed to sabotage government installations and services, explicitly eschewing violence against people”.
Such movements were driven by ideology and a passionate conviction for the cause. Members were fiercely loyal and secretive, and demonstrated tenacity through clever strategising and implementation. **[I would like to state unequivocally that I do not condone sabotage, though we have seen it employed by groups like Boko Haram and MEND alike.]
One way out of our mess would be to wise up and go underground, Rather than being subversive, going underground might involve quietly and strategically pooling economic resources and power, mobilising numbers, implementing strategies, assessing and planning for the mitigation of challenges, and importantly, creating a plan for continuity. This last point was something that people like Thomas Sankara, Fidel Castro and Muammar Gadaffi did not do, and I am hoping that Paul Kagame has been more astute about it.
The Buy Black Movement is one idea that could be developed as a broader concept. It is powered by TAG TEAM Marketing, whose name is a very interesting acronym (see link).
Our power lies in demographics, intellect and economics. We must simply rise above base instinct and be practical and pragmatic.