During the last
couple of years, I have realised something significant. As a writer, you are
always realising things because of the process of writing, research, analysing,
reflecting and writing again. The biggest help are readers. Where will we be
without our beloved readers? There are
two sides to every coin. One,
pessimistic and realistic. End of the world, sins, doom, gloom, misery. The
other is optimistic and positive. Things happen for reason. We shall overcome.
Do not worry; be happy. Be.
Yes, just be.
Pessimistic?
Mmmh. You tend to consider options. To suppose and
imagine how to finish the misery. I am wounded because I was stupid. Death
happened because God willed. Beliefs and justification. For optimism stands
apathy and taking things for granted. Ah, things shall be ok. Keep on walking.
What am I trying
to say?
When I was a kid
in the 1960s, the whole world was waiting for the atomic bomb to explode. Our
parents spoke of Fidel Castro and Cuba and the Russians fighting Americans and
we being blown off ...by we, meaning, us small people.
Africans...
Soon there
developed a political movement called non-alignment found and led by Yugoslavian
leader, Field Marshall Josip Tito, India’s Jawaharlal Nehru, Egyptian’s Gamal
Abdel Nasser and Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah. Mwalimu Julius Nyerere later joined too. Non-aligned
nations were allies. In unity, there is
strength.
1960s, passed. No
end of the world. In the 1970s, there was widespread call to arms and freedom
from some ruling monster. Then there were the threats. The economic chaos and
recession through raised oil prices. The rise and fall of new music. Disco –
developed by blacks in America was very threatening. It had to be stopped. Big business is always
wary. Politics.
The Chic band
musician Neil Rodgers, whose autobiography is a masterpiece says; “ Whether it
was early Elvis, the Beatles, Tom Jones, Roy Orbison, white people doing black
music has always been a tried and true formula...”
What the Chic
guitarist (listen to Le Freak, 1978) is trying to remind us is that whenever a
white star sings black music comes global success. Change “black” to African.
Imagine a Mzungu artist recording a Ndombolo hit. Tell me you will not hear fireworks.
In the 1980s AIDS and HIV was the new murderer. Pessimists
cried end of the world. HIV was first
called a homosexual disease. Then it became an African illness. Now- the Ebola era- you often hear
the conspiracy theory. HIV and Ebola “created in the laboratory to wipe off
blacks...”
The 1990s for me
was a decade of mass killings and rise of religious terrorism. In 1998 East Africa was the first to taste the acid of
Al Qaeda in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, respectively. Three years later, like a
baobab tree, our green- blue planet stood
up and listened. New York , capital of the world, on fire. 11 September 2001.
It is ironic how
things only appear serious when they
happen in the developed world.
Right now refugees
and immigrants are causing serious havoc
in Europe. The UK wants to leave the European Union. Germany is in limbo after welcoming Middle East and African refugees en
masse and regretting. In January, there were alleged rapes in some German
cities, i.e. Cologne. Sweden has been experiencing similar stuff.
Since 2001, fear
of dying in a bomb blast has escalated. Which is the safest place to be?
I remember
interviewing a London based Tanzanian Imam and lawyer in 2003 at the start of
the Iraq bombing. He warned it was the
most stupid the big powers did.
“It shall create suspicion and further
bloodshed...”
How prophetic.
With all that in
mind, London elected a new mayor, a Muslim. Sadiq Khan.
I listened to a white Radio journalist on You
Tube early this week. He warned that
white people are afraid to show unity. Whereas Muslims, blacks , Asians and so
on unite to vote and fight. The message behind the psychology is that white
people are now scared of speaking the truth, or showing any disagreement lest
they be accused of racism, bigotry or prejudice. This week a police, exercise
attracted media attention because the guy playing a terrorist shouted Allah Wa Akbar.
That is what
suicide bombers scream before detonating their evil.
However, the police were blamed for
insensitivity. Prime Minister David Cameroon was also accused of insensitivity
when he was allegedly heard saying Nigeria and Afghanistan are the most corrupt
nations in the world. He was speaking to the queen and other top leaders and
was unaware the microphone was on.
White people are
on edge.
A hundred years ago,
they ruled and terrorised everyone through imperialism and colonialism. What
does all this mean now? Where are we
going?
Published in Citizen Tanzania, 13 May, 2016
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