Confusion of History in the African (Home and Abroad)

Introduction

The issue of history for Africa and Africans is very complex especially in the last 2 generations and almost everywhere Africans are found currently. The confusion of an average African when it comes to his or her history can be disturbing. While it is very clear that a dramatic shift emerged with colonialism, this shift seem to have morphed into consolidation of nonsense; the abrogation of African history. Of course if you do not know your history you are not only lost, your trajectory is equally a lost path no matter how temporally rewarding it may appear. Let me do a brief survey of my contentions in confrontations with history for Africans.

Assignment 1

In an era when the northern countries have ‘conquered history’ by attempting to re-write the historiography of human interaction in part through allowance for relationships of negatives, double negatives. A counter-productive and regressive affront on compendium of certified human historical precedence! A concerned individual agape at the confusion is best served to know oneselves with certainty before taking a plunge. Let us inject some tasks by tackling the questions, Who are you? Who are your fathers and mother at least to last 4 generations? Where did each generation reside? Do you believe as ‘instructed’ that data is unavailable or unreliable where it is available?

Plain Truth Ma’am/Sir

Few items to clarify! I have stated in an earlier piece that the biggest battle for mankind is the battle of the mind. It will be the most contested piece of ‘real’ estate as evidence increasingly shows that concentration of attention on the material is waning. What is attracting most attention of power elites is the means to control the mind of those controlling/consuming resources especially what I call hidden or unknown but knowable knowledge. Nothing esoteric! Reflect back on the various battles fought with so much blood to testify the dignity of African person. The earlier generations of Africans suffered, perished and decimated because they are human but denied their dignity.

When this battle was won on the back of irrefutable evidence that the ‘conqueror’ is rather a child of the conquered hence came from a common origin in Black (East) Africa, naturally the discursive calculus was shifted to culture. That all human beings are Africans including the Chinese and Indians, that no one is superior to Africans and vice versa. A powerful conclusion in the face of slavery and racism and other discriminatory strategies institutionalised even in God’s name! In essence the case is finally settled that we are all (equal) human beings but gaps remain in the cultural sphere. Have you noticed how mainstream media and establishments in the Anglo world attempt to portray their view of underground racism? How they avoid the biological question but focus on culture whatever-it-means when equality issues by minorities come to public attention? Then such attitudes will be trivial challenges to Africans at least for the effort of Dr Chiek Anta Diop whose indefatigable scholarship finally laid bare the truth of Africa and Africans. His books are legendary in setting in stone who Africans are. The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality?, Black Africa: Economic and Cultural Basis for a Federal State, The Cultural Unity of Black Africa, Civilization or Barbarism etc.

No Obstacles

Those who spent sometimes in formal studies in Africa in the last few generations must have confronted parts of the brainwashing that suggest African peoples/communities’ isolation, siege mentality and erstwhile fear of their neighbours including impossibility to conquer their physical environments and elements.  One point is that Sahara Desert was an obstacle to interaction between African peoples while evidence points in the opposite direction. Another salient point was the determinism enthroned that the peoples/communities inhabiting jungles of tropical equatorial climate stagnated in the shrub areas of impenetrable vegetation, suggesting their lack of technological initiative/infrastructure to dominate and control their environment and intellectual advancement to trade, share, exchange and interact. Evidence equally points in opposite direction.

The second case continues to raise its head with most peoples of Southern Nigeria in their argument against errors of colonialism that forced different peoples under the same political/geopolitical umbrella. Yes, differences exist but were similarities totally absent? Were interactions between communities totally non-existent? If these peoples come from the same origin in East Africa, how come difference rings the bell more than similarities? Does the failure of imposed political experiments eviscerate prior indigenous models and structures of interaction between communities prior to colonialism? Weren’t communities engaged in trading across thousands of miles? Are Igbo totally isolated from Yoruba, Nupe, Hausa, Angas, Birom and the rest? Prof John Oriji’s effort in this direction is laudable at least in delineating the temporal and spatial dimension of interconnection and interaction between Ndigbo and their neighbours over time.

Common Identity

Are our historical endeavours serious when attention is focused mostly on unique differences and narrow cultural nationalism? No offense to Ijaw/Ijo family members but Prof E Alagoa made this type of historical scholarship his fort in the attempt to erase Igbo connections in space and time. At a sundry level, doesn’t the current Nigerian President possess Igbo heritage in his names despite being Ijaw? Whose interest is best served by such academic and political polemics? Is it not the case that every community or people in West Africa finally settled in their respective geographies after setting on westward migration from East Africa many generations ago? Naturally languages are lost and gained; defensive-oriented dispersal produced new losses and gains, cultural reduction and enrichment as well.

Is it logical to claim the Berlin Conference boundaries are unrepresentative while simultaneously deny the obvious brotherhood/sisterhood littered across common words, similar manners, similar rituals and accepted hospitalities? Divide-and-rule seems to be the lesson most (African) elites accepted hook, line and sinker.

One of the saddest outcomes of independence is the confidence colonisers maintained and continues to do so that their expectation will not fail. The confidence that the new elite in various African countries will maintain the status quo. In essence that the new elite will never recover their history, they’ll never know who they are. It is a powerful faith even for the theologically faithless. Part of this outcome originated in the universalist imposition of cultural imperialism by sadistic purveyors of Christianity & Islam. Their ultimate goal of creating new men and new women rested in their prior total destruction; their historicide. At this point one can surmise some correlations between rendering of unique history of peoples and the propensity to concentrate power in a particular people to dominate others.  Few African countries actually pursued sound historically-oriented development post-independence where citizenship of the new political entity doesn’t clash with original nationality.

The knowledge of history is the beginning of wisdom. Until Africans begin to see and believe that all Africans regardless of their pigmentation come from the same source, the same origin, the same hearth; then previous mistake occupy the conveyor belt for the next run. History is not just about yesterday; it is equally about living connection with events of long time ago, appreciating the highs and lows of these interconnected actions of peoples, deep reflexive reception of one’s heritage as historical/value priority without bigotry and devoid of puritanical fit.

A spectre is haunting the world, the spectre of change. This change is gradually emerging even as many deny it. It is not just about the decline of North America and Europe, it is rather the obvious reality that political experiments of the last 100 years will modify or go away. For those who are thumping their limbs as archpriests and apostles of one brand of democracy or another, such realities will decline. Look back to the history of Africa and other continents up until 1900, political power is mostly concentrated in few individuals and is definitely hierarchical. The delusion that the current generation is special and privileged is nonsense. Only lack of historical knowledge can generate such conclusions.

Conclusion

I’ll conclude this piece with a comparative rendition of 2 men’s understanding of history, their distinct managements of state affairs and how their platforms have survived their legacies.

Dr Kwame Nkrumah burst into the colonial scene with vigour and clarity of his place, the place of Africans and the place of the coloniser in history. He was not a child of privilege or sufficiency. He was quick, aggressive and too shrewd a player for London. In a sense he was isolated at the time even in his own (West Africa) backyard. While Ghana (Gold Coast) offered him a platform to resist the coloniser he had no illusions of his limited resources and it in part contributed to his leaning toward utilisation of communist opportunities. Nevertheless he accepted the historical vision of one people, one heritage and one continent. Geopolitics dominated and underpinned by African history and experiences! While he was overthrown under the auspices of the West, Ghana at least remained intact and continues to do.

Mr Felix Houphouet-Boigny (Le Vieux: Old Man) burst into the scene as an aristocrat and privileged. As an assimilated French person he saw himself as an extension of the metropolitan France hence Ivory Coast is solely an appendage of the Republic in the north that happened to be in Africa. His position and strategic interest conflicted with his African origin as expressed in Franz Fanon’s conclusion in Wretched of the Earth. Le Vieux was aware and could have been present in Paris when General De Gaulle denied gallant African troops glory in WW2 victory parade. There is no evidence he protested such racism. Today, he’ll be regarded as a moderate in the true sense of the word. His understanding of history is rather confusing but at best accommodates subservience.

As time will have it he served as useful conduit for destabilising Nkrumah’s Ghana and contributed to his overthrow and exile. While he stood in power for the next 3 decades, Ivory Coast, his baby, became a model with ‘achievements’ including a replica Vatican in Yamoussoukro his village when majority of his subject had little to eat. When he died in 1993, his baby equally died with him. But before that he played a part in the murder of another proud African whom he despised as a challenger, Captain Thomas Sankara. Captain Sankara’s murderer, Captain Blaise Campoare heeded his father-in-laws advice to do the honours and Captain Sankara was cut down in his prime because he knew and relished his African history.

In a twist of history, Ivory Coast has never seen peace since Le Vieux’s exit to the point that his Paris deemed it strategic to attack the country twice. Just another piece of real estate! Of course Le Vieux approved of General De Gaulle’s genocide of Africans.

In a history of 2 histories of 2 men, one was driven out in ignominy because of his assertiveness and acute sense of history. The other held on for tactical victory only for the heritage amassed from his poor sense of history to go up in flames.  Lessons of history are not only acquired in classroom rather enriched in willing hearts out of great experiences and proud associations drawn from greatness of men and women who lived before.

Where is your money and where will your money be?

Introduction

Talking and writing about money in a personal way can be challenging at a time it requires expertise to do so.  Nevertheless my concern and its expression through the title question is rather a confirmation that a major shift in our (diaspora) thinking of effort, work and reward in Europe and US has occurred in a radical way albeit latent. Events of 2007-2008 alerted everyone that the erstwhile economic normal has vanished.  The main question remains if we (I mean adults, parents) have received the new economic lesson and its implication for the future especially when it comes to hard-earned cash.

The Old Known

Ever since the dawn of man in East Africa and with distribution of various people across the world, man in various communities have consolidated the art of wealth accumulation, monetary exchange and interaction, and investment management. Call it whatever you like, each community or peoples have articulated market and economy as can be observed in their on-going survival and or prior to their genocidal extinctions.  Economy, market and capital (ism) is nothing foreign to most of the world’s peoples; what is different is application, purpose and motivation. The over-arching argument of all at the base level is that investment is a risk and if an investor fails to obtain returns, then loss accumulates.  The reverse holds for returns and profits. No one needs Adam Smith or Dr Karl Marx for enlightenment.

It was also a known fact the banks are a sources of wealth creation or substantial income accumulation for individuals, families, institutions and the state through interest-yielding instruments.  This is based on the ground that interest rate as national policy appreciates that citizens and people (not select classes) are the highest (potential) wealth of nations/states.

The New Known

The reality arrived in 2008 masked as global economic bubble burst accelerate by global banking elite virulent machination of US housing market. Sadly this is part of the truth which commenced earlier with Reaganomics, and earlier by delinking of US dollar from gold in the 1970s. In a simple language, at this time the interest of the powerful global political elite converged with those of the powerful global money/banking elite. In Gramscian conclusion, it is a re-hashing of merging of state interest with those of the corporate world.(1)  Recent increases in domestic energy prices in the face of UK government platitudes is a classic example. Sadly many in the diaspora ‘believe’ it is a sound economic/fiscal policy. Genocide without firing a shot!

For these select (poor) performers, the world is the only geography of interest with states as convenient appendages for realising tactical and strategic objectives. Backed with deadly military power, any state that obstructs this plan is reduced back to Neolithic age. Examples litter the highway of mangled conventional wisdom!

This implies that politicians of Europe and US answer only to their co-elites. The people or citizens have vanished.  The banks are free to mess up ordinary peoples’ deposits including losing it without compensation to owners.  Failed banks in contrast to the old known become too big to fail. Responsible individuals within failed banks are sacrosanct and rewarded with huge bonuses while failed banks are recapitalised with public fund.  With US leading the way, the so-called developed world finessed their emporium of virulent capitalism by unleashing austerity on powerless, confused and raped populations accompanied by the media cabal.

Real Outcomes

When you reward a bandit, he comes for more.  When the bandit is too powerful, then he drafts the enabling laws. So this is the state of event in the self-inflicted declining US-dominated geopolitical and geo-economic space. (2)

First of all the banks have changed. With Central banks moving away from managing the national economy to now making cheap money available, accelerated by money printing to enable money elite consolidate their destructive speculations.  Commercial banks are reduced to accomplices of national rapes and manipulations that leave populations and cities impoverished, mangled, wasted and demoralised. European and North American banks no longer serve as points or sources of wealth accumulation, income aggradation and safe deposit management for ordinary people. Underpinning the whole edifice is low (0%) interest rate across the board only accessed by a privileged few and austerity unleashed on the majority.

Implications

As for many diaspora working very hard under challenging circumstances, there is a reality which most of them confront but seem unable to admit. That is the fact that so-called development of the developed Europe and North America has hit the buffers, in a sense the centre is not holding. No shaking!  Remember Fela’s song, “Army robber…”! Then the army was in power in Nigeria, hence the government was stealing from the state according to the lyric. Fast forward the same lyric to post-2008 Europe and North America.

Now, have we bordered to unpack the meaning of 0% interest rate plus austerity for individuals and families? We read and hear it so much that its serious daily impact is lost. For starters, you cannot save money in a bank. Secondly, your work time is shortened. Thirdly, income diminishes aggressively as days go by.  Have you guessed or thought that a possible correlation exists between 0% interest plus austerity and criminality in the society? The challenge of making ends meet for families is getting increasingly savage.

Now the questions! Do you in good conscience believe that your hard-earned money is safe in any bank? Can you advise your child that banks are safe depositories for hard-earned cash? Will you deny that the pillow you sleep on offers better service than today’s banks?

With common people devastated and their hard-earned money dissolved through collective punishment via low interest rate, the door to income aggradation through bank instruments is closed. Survey banks in UK and confirm if any product offers up to annual return of 5%? If you deposit 1000 units of any currency in any European bank in January 2013, are you certain that at least 50 units will be added as interest? This is your hard-earned money.

Considering the fact that many diaspora possess an insincere image of their ontology and their original geography, I am hamstring in offering fresh ideas. Somebody gave me a serious warning, which is that one mustn’t assume individuals/families want to improvement their lives. However for the sake of the children I’ll pose a few questions. Read these questions back to yourself as if your child is asking them. Does your homeland offer viable investment opportunities? Does commercial banks in your homeland offer better return on deposits of their instruments? Does your homeland’s central bank offer better returns on treasury bills/bonds?

Conflict of denying Change

Change is complicated even when one is at the centre of it. Diaspora or being one is part of complicated and complex change. The wear-and-tear naturally wants one to settle for the initial consolation prize.  In truth very little matters! Nevertheless consider seriously your sacrifice, effort and deprivations.  Consider current and future state of your hard-earn cash in Europe and North America. Convergence of political and money interest means that citizens/people have much to lose.

Perfect example is the recent past economic 2013 debacle in Cyprus. For the first time European Union approved official stealing of peoples’ bank deposits in the name of haircut. The dirty part of it was the mainstream media insincerity in refusing to add the preceding adjective, ‘imposed’ haircut. It was done under duress, imposed by force, stolen by legal impunity. A collorary is that Greece is currently and for a long time will be ‘living in bondage’ under the Troika! Remember a Nigerian film with similar title!  Whether its presence in Europe is a geographical accident is a debate for another day! Portugal and Ireland are also European too.

It was a first and so will happen again. The colour of one of your passports, if it is red will not guarantee your protection. As Ndigbo home in, “The manner a quail is savagely dealt with will be template for dealing with the chicken”.

Notes:

1. Selections from the Prison Notebooks by Antonio Gramsci. International Publishers

2. World in Crisis: The End of the American Century by Gabriel Kolko. London: Pluto Press

Who are you and who are your children?

Introduction

The purpose of this article is to survey challenges of maintaining identity for diaspora and their offspring. While the scope of the issue in the title can be generalised, the focus is rather restricted to Africans and Ndigbo specifically in the diaspora. One cannot but observe different dimensions identity crisis express itself in diaspora populations as a result of various structural forces among others. Fact is diaspora is a minority. In the grand scheme of things, a minority is a legal, religious and cultural after-thought of the host country. Of course there is no reason to suggest a puritanical agenda which is not only impossible but is humanly counterproductive. Sparta and Apartheid South Africa are perfect examples of puritanical extremism based on myopic view of heritage.

Journey of Life

One of the most ubiquitous artefacts of diaspora (not induced by conflict) is the sense of unpreparedness for the length of time spent on the road. For a great minority, it was anticipated and for the majority it comes as a shock. This is irrespective of whether the first trip was made with eyes open or not. Men are in majority of this experience. Memories of home is sustained by various ingenious ways including but not limited to family meetings or networks clusters especially in police states of Europe.

These men and women struggle a great deal and their inspiration is mostly drawn from events from home. In few cases did the pain of settlement compel them to marry indigenes of their host countries, in most cases they marry by importation. By importation I mean arranging/travelling to the home country if possible to find a wife/husband from within the community. This is one way of sustaining one’s identity.  No doubt one remains the son or daughter of their father including those who married outside the community.

Second Base

Given the social/legal structures of host countries, diaspora quickly realises that the underlying forces where not tailored to his/her interest, history and ontology. The struggle to survive, regularise stay, get a decent job, improve one’s prospect add to the stress that weighs down historical dimensions of existence. In the first instance the host language diminishes one’s existence regardless of one’s fluency because it can only render truly its own history. It is very clear that history of a people is best transmitted in their own tongue and (top) women in this case are the undisputed inter-generational teachers.

The stress of life challenges and in some cases diminishes sustenance of identity stability in the guise of extended periods of time between home visits, poor connection/communication with umunne/umunnadi, removal from social, economic and political changes in the home country; and where children are involved, poor linkage between children and aunties, uncles, cousins and the physical identify of the community.

Third Base

Addition of children into the equation adds a new dimension to the complexity of identity. Level of cultural pride indicates the direction of travel. It is anticipated that in host country’s cultural space where indigenous culture is dominant and unshakable especially in language and religion, diaspora identity could be sustained by exposing the children to their parents’ first language.  Fluency in speaking, reading and writing should be the ideal. Indians, Pakistani, Vietnamese, Chinese and lately the Poles have shown the way in United Kingdom. Many of their children are not only multilingual but perform excellently in schools including post-secondary formal developments.

Cultural immaturity of parents only prevents such development in African/Igbo diaspora. Many parents who discourage their children from speaking their first language fall into this category and for them the colonial languages are the viable tongues. This is equally a carry-over from various home countries where interactions between nationalities were reduced to bidirectional exchange across imposed colonial linguistic relic. In addition for this lot, their first language is deemed inferior, an intellectual handicap and an inconsequential colloquial necessity.

Reviewing many school curricula in Europe, obviously diaspora/minority has no place. The on-going changes in the UK education system are further testament that future history will be contested in terms of minority contribution. For any diaspora/minority parent to expect his/her children to learn the history of their (African) peoples in a European classroom borders on the lunatic fringe. It is the responsibility of parents to provide their children with histories, cultures and metaphysics of their peoples through home readings, encouraged historical readings, walking through both sides of genealogies. By so doing these children of tomorrow should be able to see themselves as personages of multiples heritages and multiple cultural experiences with none less or greater. Parents should network to share information on resources, publication and new developments.

Cold Reality

 The biggest battle that has confounded man/woman is the battle of the mind. The mind remains the last frontier, a contested geography where each parent must prepare their children and consolidate their identity, cultural maturity and cultural pride. Such values allow children to navigate seamlessly between cultures without supressing and disrespecting themselves or even go as far as condemning themselves in ignorance.

Many parents will surely work assiduously to provide material things, intellectual development and security to their children. In the absence of clear understanding of cultural identity, their ability to have a balanced understanding of their inclusive heritages; only disaster waits in the corner of time. Even the investments and assets purchases in the home country for the children’s future management remain doubtful. According to Ndigbo, those who are ignorant of a particular burial (process) start exhumation from the feet. Surely not a good sign!