BY MULUGETA GUDETA
Since independence, Africa has been bleeding dry from civil wars, border conflicts and internal feuds that brought untold misery, tears and blood to the people of the continent. The damage caused by these internal wars or conflicts may be even more devastating than the wars that were fought for independence against European colonialists. Africa has long become its worst enemy as its children have failed to live in peace and work for prosperity in accordance with the lofty visions of the founding fathers who fought so much for its unity envisioned.
If the pioneers of African independence were to rise from their graves and see what is going on around the continent these days, they would not only be shocked by so much violence but also by so much unresolved issues they left behind and continue to cause so much tragedy Africa has not yet overcome the demons of post-independence. It is wrestling with new ones that raise their heads every time internal and external pressures produce new challenges.
The guns have never fallen silent for much of the post-independence era in Africa. Some of the most tragic bloodletting occurred as the continent was readying itself for the much-coveted period of peace and reconstruction and progress. The actors of these tragedies were Africans who fought against African brothers for a piece of desert land, or a slice of power and prestige. As a result of all this, Africa is hosting the largest refugee population, the poorest countries and the most starving people in the world.
In a continent where the culture of political tolerance and democracy are largely unknown, the weapon of choice for resolving political differences and tribal conflicts are guns and bullets that were left behind by former colonialists. Some of the devastating more weapons were bought by African countries for self-defense that are also used to quell rebellions and claim new territories from neighboring states by force. The forms of violence might have changed but their consequences remain the same. Instead of using the ballot box or any other African version of democracy to access power, Africans are cherishing the same culture of violence over reason and dialogue.
Sudan is obviously the latest victim that is bleeding from past political culture of power struggles military takeovers. Sudan is generally considered a country that was better positioned to adopt the culture of democracy and the language of peace and civilized dialogue. Its educated elites, most of which were graduates of prestigious western universities were the envies of their peers elsewhere in the continent. Unfortunately, these educated intellectuals have failed to change or avoid the culture of violence and engage the Sudanese people into constructive dialogue.
As a country that straddles both Arab and African worlds, Sudan was better positioned to inject a high dose of reason and logic in its political discourse. Its Arab and black African heritages should have enriched its political culture since it achieved independence from British colonialism. Although the era of military coups and counter-coups as well as power struggles looked remote, the country has often had the spasms if not earthquakes of sudden political crises that tore the country apart and led to the creation of a new nation south of its borders. Sudan has always been a mixture of hope and hopelessness but the former seemed to have taken the upper hand until the recent political crisis that has brought back the old African demons of power struggles to the surface.
The old demons were not dead but simply sleeping until they found an ideal moment to rear their ugly heads. Everything looked quiet and normal until political violence recently erupted almost unexpectedly. This is another proof that the old demons are still lying low while a semblance of peace and stability disguised their brutal returns to the same old and fatal equation of power struggle within the ruling military regime erupted once and led to the present situation where a once vibrant and promising society is torn apart in a matter of weeks if not days. Even in a country where the political culture of its people was relatively more developed than in any many African countries, the people have proved unable to defend their decades-long democratic gains simply because they left the political arena to ambitious military elites whose targets of choice are often money and power rather than nation of people’s welfare.
Political culture needs a long period of continued gestation to develop into a functional democratic culture that truly reflects the will of the people. Patience and mutual tolerance should accompany the birth of a functionally democratic polity. These things were clearly absent in Sudan during the pre and post-Al Basher era when the military held the helms and did not care a damn to develop the culture of democracy and tolerance. Democracy is believed to be Africa’s political redemption. Yet, democracy is rarely given a chance to prove itself a viable alternative in Africa while traditional forms of democracy have not yet taken strong roots in the political landscape. Africa’s political culture largely remains as backward as it was when European colonialists left the continent.
The anti-fascist Italian philosopher Antonio Grmasci once wrote that cultural hegemony is more important than political supremacy because it is through cultural supremacy that politics finds its proper place. What we may call Africa’s dilemma of independence consists of the divergence or contradiction between its political freedom from colonialism and its failure to achieve cultural supremacy at the global level or play a determining role in global cultural competition for the front seat. Africa is still following Western culture instead of developing its own independent form of traditional or self-generated forms of government. Africa is probably the richest continent as far as cultural heritages are concerned but this has not enabled it to take the upper hand in global cultural expression. In other words, Africa being a potentially powerful continent has so far failed to make its cultural diversity and richness serve to assume its rightful place in global politics. The United States and Europe are not as diverse or as rich as Africa in terms of the wealth or diversity of available cultural heritages.
Yet they are using a handful of cultural institutions to dominate the world politically and economically and continue to strive to achieve further hegemonic gains on the global stage. In this sense, Hollywood alone is enough to serve as soft power that is controlling the hearts and minds of the entire world and that of Africa. Africa cannot aspire at this stage to dominate or lead the world. Nevertheless, it can hope to change the culture of violence that has taken the upper hand during the post-independence decades, and change it into the culture of peace and tolerance without which a genuine African political renaissance is hard to imagine.
The culture of violence that is now evident across Africa and is expressed through conflicts, military coups and democratic dysfunction are not entirely the invention of Africans themselves. Some of them were imported from the West or imposed from outside. In other cases, the violence assumes the nature of inter-tribal or inter-ethnic conflicts around scarce resources and political power. This kind of culture of violence can be largely dealt with by Africans themselves because they are in possession of diverse cultures of conflict resolution and democratic governance that are suited to African realities.
In its historic document signed by all member countries back in 2004, the African Union had coined a term to describe one of the most urgent tasks at hand, namely the need to ‘silence the guns’ everywhere on the continent without which the vision of African renaissance would remain insignificant or hollow. In other words, stopping all internal conflicts in individual countries has become a precondition for the Africa’s rebirth and the realization of Africa’s economic union by 2060. The idea of silencing the Guns in Africa was floating around for quite some time although its implementation left much to be desired. Africa continues to be captive of civil wars and ethnic conflicts inspired both by internal political actors as well as their external mentors who want to bring to power puppet regimes that would take orders from them and implement their neocolonial master plan while the elites would consolidate their niches of power and wealth.
Silencing the guns in Africa cannot however be a wishful thinking but a dynamic process whereby ordinary Africans are increasingly empowered as the real owners and pillars of this vision. It is not enough for the African Union to repeat the vision at every conference but take practical action and regularly reassess it progress and challenges in light of new developments, like the ongoing Sudanese military crisis. New lesson shave to be learnt and new approaches tried or implement with the growing spirit of solving Africa’s problems with African solutions.
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD SUNDAY EDITION 21 MAY 2023
