Foolishness of tribalism

Those who follow this column know that I have been dealing with the plight of the black race for a couple of weeks now.

Several other people of colour have decried racial oppression of the other races by whites across generations. I decided to lend my voice to the outspoken few who oppose the cruelty of racism.

Lately, I began to think about the evil of tribalism, which, in my view, is even worse than racism.

I can understand the white man’s superiority complex, their widely held view that black people are inferior, lacking intelligence and other human qualities. I don’t know what to make of discrimination between black brothers and sisters. I wonder why intertribal hatred on account of religious and linguistic differences is common in black nations.

It beats my imagination to see black people being torn apart by tribal rivalries and needless disputes.

Some of the conflicts we see in black nations are rooted in the arbitrary national borders and the indiscriminate lumping together of ethnic nationalities by the colonial masters.

In creating the nations that they colonized, the imperialists did not consider the peculiarities of different nations, as well as the homogeneous natures of the subject peoples they governed in carving our national boundaries.

This has resulted in forced cohabitation of people with diverse and disparate characters, traditions, cultures, religious beliefs, languages and philosophies.

This is the basis of the ethnic divisions and bitter rivalries being experienced today across black nations.

The colonial masters created nations with a time bomb of cultural landmines, which exploded after independence, resulting in ethnic divisions that led to coups and civil wars.

The instability that has eluded Black Africa is the consequence of the poor management of diversity by the indigenous leaders who took over power from the departing colonial masters.

In most black nations, ethnicity and religious rivalry dominate political campaigns and determine the outcomes of electoral contests. The fallout of all these, in most nations, is post-election violence, dissention and, in some cases, wars.

If the truth must be told, unless we get rid of tribalism and unite, white supremacists will continue to oppress blacks in white-ruled nations. Blacks must unite to form a common front to fight racial discrimination successfully. No nation can do it alone. We must harmonize our resources, strength, ideas and gifts to pull our race out of the dungeon of neocolonialism, mental slavery and bondage, which we still experience in different forms all around the world.

Black people are one. We are brothers and sisters. We have similar cultures; our lifestyles, dressings, languages, food, music, physique and mental make-up are the same.

What black need today is unity, peace, stability and progress. We have lagged behind for too long. We are encumbered by the negative legacies of colonial rule, part of which is tribalism. The white man wants us to be bugged down by internal conflicts, civil wars and other existential challenges so that, having exhausted our energy and resources on the crisis of nation-building, we would have no time to think about real development.

In most black nations, it’s so sad that political leaders are using ethnicity and religion to divide the people to promote their selfish interest. Lacking ideas and governing abilities, the political elites in black nations fly the banner of tribal phobias to justify their quest for political power, supposedly to protect their own people from domination or oppression by rival ethnic groups. This is called playing the ethnic card.

Political leaders in typical black nations shoot tribal arrows at imaginary enemies of their tribesmen to stay relevant politically.This crude tactic works because most black nations have low literacy rates, consequently, political awarenesses is usually non-existent.It is easy for politicians of fortune to take advantage of the ignorance of the people to hold onto power.

It should, however, be noted that, in most communities, people of different tribes and religious persuasions live together in harmony, when electioneering is not in the air. It is only when political competition becomes the critical issue that tribalism rears its ugly head.

There’s no gainsaying the fact that the political elite enjoy ethnic division because they thrive by it. They use it to climb to power at the expense of the masses.

This is the bane of most democracies in black nations. Our people must realize that our leaders are our enemies. They have continued the divide and rule tactic of the imperialists.

Leaders of black African nations want their people to remain in perpetual bondage, that is why they refuse to offer good governance.

Now is the time to get rid of tribalism and let brotherly love prevail. Ordinary folks live in harmony. We live in peace and share our joy and sorrow. Politicians are the real enemies of the people who play up ethnic sentiments to appropriate political power and keep people in servitude. The earlier we realized this fact, the better.

The World Black Congress being advocated has its hands full. The first assignment of the congress, when convened, is to educate the masses in black nations to learn to take their destinies in their own hands and make liberation front enemies within and without a reality.