Africa: We Substitute Emotional Ejaculations for Strategic Thinking
(from my archives)
“The truth is not always beautiful, nor beautiful words the truth.” ― Lao Tzu
“Men who wish to know about the world must learn about it in its particular details.” Heraclitus
Like many old traditionalists, our ancestors deduced the unity firmly embedded in nature just by observing it.
Examples abound wherever we look: Hot is balanced by the cold. Day turns into Night. Male and Female. Visible versus invisible. Wet and Dry. Essence and Existence. Dark and Bright. Negative and Positive. Matter and Anti-matter, etc, etc.
Through observation, our ancestors understood that a complementary principle of immutable duality governs the vast cosmos.
They further deduced that even the worst catastrophes bring profound opportunities and limitless possibilities. Destruction results in Transformation.
My Yoruba people associate Ejiwapọ (twoness) with a balancing force which they deduce influences the cosmic order. Hence, their veneration of Ibeji (twins) whom they, with the Hunchback and the Albino, are considered emissaries of Ólodumaré (the Supreme Yoruba god).
In the Yoruba interpretation of the Cosmos, Takọ Tabo (male and female) means that everything in nature must have an opposite.
Thus, it is inconceivable in the Yoruba cosmogony for a half to exist in and of itself without its complementing half.
The Chinese call it Yin and Yang. Some philosophers grandiloquently call it Dialectical monism, dualistic monism, or eschatological dualism; they all mean the same thing.
A few rather well-meaning Africans, aggrieved and offended by the treatment of some Africans in China, are calling for the expulsion of Chinese from Africa and the boycott of Chinese goods.
I understand the anger, but I think the calls are not only myopic but also premised on emotional outbursts totally devoid of any strategic depth. They appear to be the deployment of emotions when what is called for are strategic responses borne out of deep introspection and high-quality considerations.
The Yorubas have a proverb: Ti a ba nsọkun, a ma riran / Crying should not stop us from seeing.
Lao Tzu said, "New beginnings are often disguised as painful endings.”
Our present anguish should not make us blind to our objective reality, which is that we are so terribly behind the rest of humanity that no one reckons with us in geostrategic considerations.
Africa counts for little or nothing in the global scheme of things. Painful, but that’s the sad truth.
Rather than go into nasty funks, we should wake up and recognise that the world is one large classroom and that the best we can, and should, do for ourselves is to try and learn from wherever we can, to get the best advantages that will aid our yearned-for rediscovery, renaissance, and development.
Luckily, there’s no need or reason for us to reinvent the wheel.
We might not like it, but the sad reality is that we live in a world where we have two MASTERS from whom to learn, copy, or steal:
1. The European - they have misled us for about 600 years, if the truth be told;
2. The Chinese - the new Sheriff in town.
Before we can get anywhere, we must realize an important lesson: the world is not ruled by emotions, but by cold facts.
As the great leader and teacher, Marcus Garvey, said, “The whole world is run on a bluff.”
A cold fact we can ignore only at our peril is that the Chinese did not have it easy.
The Chinese followed the admonition of one of their most outstanding teachers, Lao Tzu: “Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them – that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.”
My late mother of blessed memory said, “What cannot be avoided must be endured, as what doesn’t kill you will only make you stronger.”
Even a cursory glance at modern Chinese history will show that they are a people who suffered enormously and paid a huge price to get to where they are today. People know about the 6 million figure the Jews bandied about on the holocaust, they are also aware of the 27 Million Soviets killed in the Nazi war. How many people knew that the Chinese lost 20 million people in the war?
No, China’s successes were not cheap and were certainly not given to them on a platter.
A parade of colonialists beat the Chinese, and they stoically accepted their humiliation for centuries. They knew nothing personal in their defeat and occupation; they were overwhelmed by people with superior technical knowledge and means. Their conquerors were simply obeying the evolutionary imperatives of consuming weaker species to stay alive.
The Chinese recognized their inferiority, but rather than sulk and whine, they worked assiduously to fix it. They patiently took their time to learn. It took them a great time and many sacrifices, but they emerged much more powerful than all their tormentors combined.
Today, the Chinese are Masters of all that they survey. The world combined cannot confront the Chinese Behemoth. Were it to be in their nature, there is no force on earth today to stop them from becoming a Hegemon if they so desire.
What the Chinese did not forget was that they were a people with a history of 5,000 years.
They saw the defeats and occupations by foreign forces as accidental interregnums that could be mastered and conquered. They reached for strength from their sages, Confucius, Lao Tzu, and others.
The emergence of China as a Great Power teaches incredibly valuable lessons to those of us in Africa. The main question we face is: Are we prepared to be good students and learn, or will we remain eternal whiners?
Huffing and puffing and beating of chests are good for venting our impotent rage and anger, but how will they help us?
Let’s listen to Tzu Lao: “For the wise man looks into space and knows there are no limited dimensions.”
Whichever way we throw it around, we remain a CONQUERED and OPPRESSED PEOPLE.
Despite all the fanciful appurtenances we display as emblems of sovereignty, we are mere colonial appendages of the Metropolitan Powers. Our so-called presidents are mere plantation supervisors.
I am not trying to distress anyone; these are just cold facts.
The critical and urgent thing for us to do is to accept our sad fate and work towards redeeming ourselves.
We should not fool ourselves into believing that the world will pay any heed to our empty sloganeering. We are too inconsequential in the Global scheme of things to make our anger count for anything.
It is sad, but we are not only powerless; our voices also count for nothing.
Continuing to deploy impotent rage might make us feel good and may satisfy our local constituency, but they are not the antidotes to what currently ails us.
Let’s leave the sloganeering and empty rhetoric alone and begin to use our brains to generate useful ideas.
COVID-19 has revealed to the world the decrepit state of our structures and infrastructures. It has enabled the whole world to see what our misrulers, plus their friends in the media and academia, have been hiding with empty bombast—an Africa that cannot feed, house, and clothe itself without foreign assistance.
Let me end with this Yoruba proverb: A kì í fi iná sí orí òrùlé sùn. / No one goes to sleep with the roof of his house on fire. [A serious issue requires prompt attention; a stitch in time saves nine.]
Will we seize the opportunity and engage our brains in serious national-building efforts, or will we pretend all is well and continue to revel and dance to our self-generated lullabies?
The choice is ours.
Since one of life’s lessons that I took to heart was my late mother’s admonition (mentioned Supra): “Whatever doesn’t kill you should make you stronger”, I urge that we seize the opportunity!
“There is no force like success, and that is why the individual makes all effort to surround himself throughout life with the evidence of it; as of the individual, so should it be of the nation.” - Marcus Garvey
Let’s all put on our thinking caps and begin to generate ideas. Thank you very much.
©️ Fẹ̀mi Akọ̀mọ̀làfẹ̀
(Farmer, Writer, Published Author, Essayist, Polemicist, Satirist, Social Commentator, Chronicler of collapsing empires.)
My Mission: Stultitia Delenda Est - Stupidity Must be Destroyed!
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Femi, this was an excellent article!
Sober, honest analysis. Thank you.