Sometimes, one of the best hopes when facing up to authoritarian regimes is to depend on their ability to shoot themselves in the foot at critical moments. In some cases, such as in “the greatest country on earth” still aspiring to make itself great again (what a contradiction!) under its omniscient no-one-knows-about-fentanyl-more-than-I-do president, it is more of a self machine-gunning, while in other cases it is more of serial bursts of gunfire.
The latter seems to be our case. Time and again, the wrong people are caught at the wrong time, and after a lot of persecution of the accused and massive waste of time and money, the charges are dropped and the offenders are cleared or released and expected to continue with their lives as if nothing had happened.
No doubt, the architects of such schemes might argue that theirs was persecution rather than prosecution, to reduce others to silence for fear of what might also happen to them too.
I guess that it does work with some people, but it does nothing for the image of a government that tries to present a peace-loving and democratic face to its own citizens and, more importantly, to the foreigners it wishes to woo. If you want money from a boyfriend, it doesn’t look good if you are kicking your kid at the same time, however troublesome you might consider the kid to be.
And selfie foot-shooting is back in the news again. You put an opposition leader in prison for daring to pronounce No Reforms, No Elections. You claim that this is not only absurd since our country is so peacefully formed that no reform is necessary, and indeed it is “treasonous” even to question the greatness of our peace. Fine. We await the case that will prove your point.
But then, when a few people turn up, peacefully, without weapons of any kind, to listen to the case against such a fearful rabble-rouser, you peacefully beat the hell out of them, drive others around the whole day using uncountable litres of government petrol and threaten them with death for their peaceful assembly.
Proving the point
This would seem to prove the point that the fearful rabble-rouser was making in the first place. If people cannot assemble peacefully to hear a case in the courts, just sit and listen, what does that say about the nature of peace in our country as a whole, and about the possibility of a peaceful election where many hold opposing views?
What happens when they peacefully turn up to vote for someone else, or peacefully share or question the results? Once again, you may argue that, by terrorising people into silence, you have maintained the peace, but Frantz Fanon saw through that a long time ago. The following is an excerpt from Fanon’s famous book, The Wretched of the Earth:
“The political party in many parts of Africa, which are today independent, is puffed up in a most dangerous way. In the presence of a member of the party, the people are silent, behave like a flock of sheep and publish panegyrics in praise of the government of the leader.
“But in the street when evening comes, away from the village, in the cafes or by the river, the bitter disappointment of the people, their despair, but also their unceasing anger, makes itself heard.
“The party, instead of welcoming the expression of popular discontent, instead of taking for its fundamental purpose the free flow of ideas from the people up to the government, forms a screen and forbids such ideas. The party leaders behave like common sergeant-majors, frequently reminding the people of the need for ‘silence in the ranks.’”
He saw it all, the wachawa singing panegyrics of praise, the arrogance of the party, and the silencing of those with alternative views. But the panegyrics of praise may drown out the voices of disappointment, despair and anger, but those voices remain and grow ever stronger.
The sea may seem calm, but the undercurrents are deadly, not forgetting the sharks roaming unseen. Hitting the sharks or any other sea creature over the head is not going to remove the undercurrents of bitterness and frustration.
Thoughtcrime
Which brings me to my second point. In his book, Nineteen Eighty-Four, the famous English novelist George Orwell invented the concept of thoughtcrime. People were accused, indicted and sentenced on the basis of what they were considered to be or accused of thinking.
Only thinking, not doing, and a horde of spies, informers and surveillance methods were used to identify and eradicate such crimes. Have we perfected the art? No need for spies and informers. No need to identify any weapons or violent actions.
It seems our heroic baton-wielding peacekeepers can read the minds of the assembled few outside the courts. Without any evidence, they already knew that these people were going to be violent and therefore had to be met with greater violence. Their “intelligence” is so intelligent!
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Which brings me to my third and maybe most poignant one, as it only proves the first point made. There is no need for citizens to try and read the minds of our heroic defenders of the peace in return, as they have stated on multiple occasions that the best way to maintain peace is to break the peace.
I remember watching a peaceful demonstration in Arusha where the demonstrators had already walked in peace for a long distance, total peace until they were confronted by the keepers of the peace and peacefully attacked and beaten till the blood ran peacefully down their cheeks.
Bloodthirsty
We have witnessed the purchase of bigger and more threatening vehicles of peace. And we have done nothing except hurl insults at these vehicles and continue to Fanonise in the bars or on the streets in the evening.
And before each “illegally peaceful demonstration,” the men in uniform compete as to who can use the most bloodthirsty, bloodcurdling threats to the peace makers and then order those below them to turn a threat into reality.
But that does not stop them from shooting themselves in the foot at the same time. Once more, I return to German playwright Bertolt Brecht, whose play, the Caucasian Chalk Circle, we studied in the 1970s in our literature classes in school. The following lines from the play read refreshingly relevant:
“O blindness of the great!
They go their way like gods,
Great over bent backs,
Sure of hired fists,
Trusting in the power
Which has lasted so long.
But long is not forever.
O change from age to age!
Thou hope of the people!”
Richard Mabala is an educator, poet, and author. He is available at rmabala@yahoo.com or on X as @MabalaMakengeza. These are the writer’s own opinions, and they do not necessarily represent the viewpoint of The Chanzo. Do you want to publish in this space? Contact our editors at editor@thechanzo.com for further inquiries.
