Tribal Entitlements
The pain that the powerful visit upon those who depend upon them obviously is no incentive for the rulers to have compassion on those whom they rule.In the instance of a democratic society where legislators have a habit of representing the broad middle class and who make their alliances with their countries' corporate interests, it is the lower middle class and the poverty-ridden who tend to suffer. But good news: they live in a liberal democracy that allows them to voice their discontent and to vote in replacements who will do just the same when their time comes.
Besides which, although most individuals living in a democratic society with liberal values have the option of decrying discredited political values and policies that serve no interests but those of the advantaged, are able to groan their pain in public, they seldom complete the process by expressing themselves collectively through a determined vote. Still, if and when a change is really required, to offer hope to the disadvantaged, it can be done.
Those descriptives belong to long-established civil societies who have managed to groom their societies to reflect, more or less, an image and a result that does advantage the greater proportion of the nation's inhabitants, however. These are liberal democracies of long standing; effectiveness or lack of, notwithstanding. They are still answerable to the call of their voting populations, and draw back from truly egregious self-availments.
Not so in emerging nations, who have latterly come to self-rule and the determination to manifest their governments' emulation of political agendas reflecting those to whom they represented colonial riches in the near past. Their cultural traditions relying so heavily on tribal affiliations and feudal protections remain close to the surface, surmounting at times of social stress the overlaid veneer of liberal gentility.
And this is precisely when competing tribal interests clash, when ascendant representatives from one tribe or another seek to maintain their aerie of privilege, trickling down to their tribal associates, while enabling those at the highest echelons to line their pockets rather than enrich the nation. Needless to say, this interpretation becomes the accepted mode, and the agitated alter-tribe becomes restive when their opportunities don't present as anticipated.
When these electoral contretemps present themselves, the collective rage is revealed and the consequences are beyond horror. As was seen in Rwanda a mere decade-and-a-half earlier when ethnically-driven mass slaughter of tribal innocents by bloody tribal convention of times long past but easily recalled, shocked the world to inaction.
Rwandans, living now in peace, shudder at the unwanted memories flooding back as they look on with anguish at Kenya today.
These are not national interests that drive a politician to run for office for the purpose of representing the best interests of all the inhabitants of the country. These quests to conquer are motivated by a desire to compel other tribes living in geographic proximity to submit to the superiority of the ruling tribe.
The process one of enablement for the successful candidate to realize personal ambition and enrich himself and his political cronies at a cost to national interests.
It's an accepted and well-understood process, and human nature being what it is, everyone aspires to share, turn-about, in the procedure of power and enrichment. Mwai Kibaki and his Kikuyu have enjoyed their opportunities, and Raila Odinga and his Luo tribespeople merely wish to claim their opportunity to do likewise. In the process, admittedly, selling the notion of selfless dedication to the country; the reality being quite otherwise.
That 600 people have been murdered in revenge killings and a quarter of a million Kikuyu displaced is regrettable, but of no moment. The bigger picture not the loss of lives and the fear and the mass migration of people fleeing ethnic slaughter, but who wins the booty, a representative of one tribe, or the other.
While the world looks on in dread and sends its dignitaries and diplomats in an attempt to broker peace between the factions, chaos continues.
How can the people of Kenya have confidence in such leaders? A country known for its former peaceful relations among its disparate parts, despite envy and occasional displays of enmity, all glossed over because of the economic wealth of the country, its transparent well-being as an African country living in prosperity, under the protective canopy of Western democracies' approval.
Reverting to the ungoverned passions of tribal warfare.
It hardly matters that the presidential contender has unveiled instances of vote-rigging set up by a corrupt administration. It matters very much that the same contender crying foul has also encouraged his tribespeople to "protest" the manifestly unfair situation, knowing full well what direction such protests will take, as a leverage, a tool with a long honoured past.
In the process unveiling his own contempt for legitimate and due process, willing enough to sacrifice innocent lives to his own ambitions.
Raila Odinga calls upon Western powers to intervene, to save Kenya from the corrupt grasp of Mwai Kibaki, yet will be the first to protest in great indignant dudgeon once Kibaki has been removed, should suggestions and recommendations emanate from those same Western sources, "interfering" with the legitimacy of his own democratic rule.
Which most Kenyans anticipate will degenerate, given time, into the same systemic corruption that he seeks to unseat.
It's easy enough to state the obvious: the political leaders must take steps to stop the violence for innocent people are dying. They choose not to. This is tribal democracy in action. The primitive past is simply not sufficiently past. As is evidenced by the sheer inhumanity of the collective punishment by one tribe against another. As is seen by the ungovernable passions unleashed eager to destroy all that stand in their path.
As seen in looters returning their spoils to the sources because of their fears unleashed by their belief in witchcraft. Subscribing to a vivid apprehensions brought forward by the ghosts of those they've slaughtered seeking revenge. Fearful of the supernatural powers that have evoked the power of evil spirits to wreak revenge upon the avengers seeking their own revenge.
The rank odour of humans fearing that other humans will invoke the dark powers of evil to return hate and destruction upon those who have brought it to them drives the salve of reason and compassion from human spirits.
Labels: Political Realities, Terrorism, Traditions
posted by Pieface @ Tuesday, January 08, 2008
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