If not autocracy or democracy, then what?
If not autocracy or democracy, then what?
The world is not made up of democracies and autocracies. The complexity of each nation largely conflicts with such a reductionist…
The world is not made up of democracies and autocracies. The complexity of each nation largely conflicts with such a reductionist classification.
In a previous article, I wrote about the faults & contradictions of democracy.
A few weeks ago, @the_unfathomed asked a brilliant question (linked to below) on Twitter which I expressed my views on but now writing this article to provide a broader context.
Why is the reductionist view?
Africans & the Global South (GS) have largely been programmed to only see the world through the western lens, perfecting the reductionist narrative which divides the world into a collection of democracies and autocracies.
We seem not to understand the lack of difference between this two which are simply opposite sides of the same coin. We possess an acute fear of the past, and a desire to build on lies and faulty foundations.
The foundations laid in Africa by aliens still survive today without the crucial effort for much-needed restitution and healing. We simply keep moving forward in the hope that somehow we will overcome the gaping hole in us and achieve a miracle that time is not likely to permit.
As we are human, like any other group on any other continent, we cannot escape the contradictions that exist all around us and the proven solutions to them. We will not simply wake up tomorrow morning and act like robots, we are Humans with all its implications — good, bad & ugly.
That our reality and ideas can be boiled down to a simplified impersonation of western language, ideology, and post-modern liberal narratives (most not proven to stand the test of time) shows a fundamental problem with our understanding of the world. The world is not made up of democracies and autocracies. The complexity of each nation largely conflicts with such a reductionist classification.
Beyond the reductionist views
For Africa, beyond the reductionist views, there exist alternatives that worked for an eternity before aliens came to burn it to the ground. These systems are not without faults but they were created while taking into consideration the relevant realities of each culture including their language, ideology, geography, religion, history, and desired outcome. All these were cast out by vagabonds from Europe who without any understanding of the continent met in Berlin (1884) to simply draw lines on a map that determine what later became African states lacking legitimacy in the hearts of the people even today.
As with other systems of governance, these systems which were employed by differing groups to govern themselves and their geopolitical relations with others were not perfect, and in certain instances not fit for today. But the necessary updates can be applied to make it better suited for the modern world. It is possible to iterate through versions of it for a better outcome — an evolution of what was.
That our reality and ideas can be boiled down to a simplified impersonation of western language, ideology, and post-modern liberal narratives (most not proven to stand the test of time) shows a fundamental problem with our understanding of the world. The world is not made up of democracies and autocracies. The complexity of each nation largely conflicts with such a reductionist classification.
The lack of such innovation/evolution across Africa stems from our collective inability to take on the responsibilities of our existence, to stop wishing for miracles/messiahs, to acknowledge the myth of a strongman/benevolent dictator, a fear of the unknown, and an attempt to perpetuate the colonial imposed reality & borders.
These problems which are a result of the internal contradictions rooted in each African state cannot be wished away and their solution, complex as they are today, will not change but increase complexity & difficulty over time.
The American Dream
Africans must not wish the American dream on themselves. It is nice from afar but the price of such a reality is one we must not hope to pay.
We cannot be like America without the determination to cleanse Africa of its Indigenous Population, import aliens to settle and exploit the land along with its people to the absolute limit. Believing otherwise is a fool’s errand because there exists no nation on earth like America and other settler colonies (Canada, Australia, etc) built by Western Europeans across the world.
There’s a reason why those settler colonies in the new world were not built by Europeans on their indigenous lands. It’s not simply a case of insanity nor is it for the lack of trying, they tried but failed. After endless wars and genocides between different ethnicities, they realise drawing borders based on ethnic realities is the road to peace. Luxembourg, a nation of about 650, 000 people has its sovereignty and borders. Such in Africa is still a dream because of the acute fear of differences that have been instilled in us.
It should be noted that the same groups that fought among themselves for an eternity in Europe went on to create America on land located on the other side of the world. In America and other settler states, a planned industrial genocide of the indigenous people was carried out over centuries to create the land of the free & brave, where anyone from anywhere can come and realise their dreams.
But in all these the indigenous people have been forgotten, and no one asks or cares for them. Everyone salivates at the American dream without a thought of its costs or the indigenous people of those lands. A scream of diversity and inclusion is heard today but as a tokenistic measure to accommodate those same people whose lands are continuously occupied. The irony is lost on us all.
A lost generation
For all its attempts at simply skipping over its inherent contradictions, Africa continues to stagnate with no hope of a future. The lost decades have not prepared us for what’s to come in the current multi-polar world.
We jumped on the democracy bandwagon in the hope of utilising it as a magic bullet to prosperity, development and respect without the desire to discuss/undo the colonial/European imposed borders and realities. For all our efforts to ignore our contradictions and history, we have failed spectacularly.
There’s a reason why those settler colonies in the new world were not built by Europeans on their indigenous lands. It’s not simply a case of insanity nor is it for the lack of trying. They tried but failed. After endless wars and genocides between different ethnicities, they realise drawing borders based on ethnic realities is the road to peace.
Let my people be
Africa’s alien imposed contradictions require urgent attention, restitution and resolution. As a Yorùbá who through luck was born on the Nigerian side of the division of our nation across a series of West African states, I have come to appreciate the importance and utility of sovereignty for my people. These days my thoughts can be clearly expressed with the quote:
Let my people be.
I desire to be free of the extensive contradictions of Nigeria and its inevitable implications. In defining a future, I wish for my people, that, which has proven to work across much of the world in every continent and in a majority of those nations especially those who were built on the inheritance of ancient civilisations like China, Japan, Iran, Germany, United Kingdom, etc. I wish for a sovereign Yorùbá homeland free from the interference and mechanisation of others as all other groups possess today.
A nation governed by Yorùbá based on our principles and ideology — bí a ṣe bí ẹrú la ṣe bí ọmọ. We have always governed ourselves in ways, though different, but perfect for us, not just once but multiple times in history through multiple kingdoms and empires. It was never perfect but it’s something we worked on over generations, and evolved to a better state with each generation. As we did in the past, so can we today while also applying the many teaching of modernity and innovation towards achieving a better prospect for our people as benign as we can. A sovereign Yorùbá nation will exist one way or the other, it is inevitable.
I fear those who continue to hold the desire to be like America. I fear that such a reality will not come without the corresponding price. The indigenous people of the Americas, Australia, Canada and New Zealand paid in blood and soul for the settler colonial states to be built on their land, where till today they still fight for recognition including being able to speak, learn and exist with their language.
It matters not what it is called
It matters not what it is called or if its foundation is built on democracy. What matters in how we express our desire for sovereignty, is how fair and benign it is to our people, and its ability to give them the best opportunities and prosperity in life. The colonial reality must be upturned so the people & nations trapped within the Berlin-carved borders can finally breathe and be free.
The fundamental issues of African societies are not democracy or otherwise system they wish to be governed by, but the realities that came about due to 1884, Berlin West Africa Conference. This reality must be relegated to the annals of history. Above all, the trapped cultures in the current colonial border must be allowed to determine how they reflect and govern themselves. Like all geopolitical realities, Africa must reevaluate itself in a way defined by us and not others.
What a solution looks like
It is common for people to fear the future of such an Africa that has broken out of the colonial boundaries. There will be strife between nations at such a time but that can be better managed as it has across the world by responsible institutions, diplomacy, policies, and the implementation of the Mutually Assured Destruction principle. Those states must also be allowed to determine their fate as they desire, as each nation has crafted its own unique path for itself, so must they be allowed the same freedom. Such a future is better managed that the current reality of the escalating levels of conflicts within African states among ethnic groups with no love for each other. Its easier to be friends from afar, trade and live with a managed peace as we see every day across the world with interdependent states (e.g Japan, Korea and China) that without borders will fall to a level of chaos no different from the reality in any one of Africa’s state.
A final view of such a reality may consist of an African Union (AU) that functions more like a United Nations, a series of regional blocks which serves the role of the AU currently, and a redefined border of African nations that can work together within their interest to build institutions similar to a European Union where the constituent ethnic nations are free to express their sovereignty and borders.
A sovereign Yorùbá nation will exists one way or the other, it is inevitable.
Lastly, Africa needs to engage in exclusivity as other groups do with their identity. The limits of what is African should be defined within the confines of the Sub-Saharan sphere and others who choose to be African to the depth of their soul like the Caribbean nations.