In many
African languages, there are proverbs admonishing us to love our mothers
regardless of how ugly they might be.
Patriots are
expected to show the same unflinching love for their countries. By extension,
citizens of these countries are supposed to reserve the same kind of patriotic
love for any union of countries trying to advance a common agenda.
It defeats
logic that the just concluded 28th African Union Summit in Ethiopia did not see
it prudent to officially condemn the action by President Trump to ban citizens
from two of its members from entering the US, simply because a majority of
their citizens happen to be Muslims.
It doesn’t
matter that we are poor and donor-dependent. There is pride in speaking up
against wrongs that are targeted at part of your community.
In an
African sense, you cannot run away from your own ugliness. It belongs to none
other than you. Everybody else must accept you as you are.
Hunger
and disease
History
tells us that Europe’s chaotic past had some striking similarities to what is
happening today in the Middle East, Africa and to some extent Asia and parts of
Europe.
The
forefathers of the promoters of America’s ultra-right movement were themselves
refugees who had run away from wars, hunger and disease in Europe, who were
accepted by the Indians as they were.
The US is
largely a country of immigrants who arrived over the course of the last 500
years and the contributions that immigrants continue to make in the US economy
is enormous.
The US
technology companies started by first and second-generation immigrants include
Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon, Oracle, IBM, Uber, Yahoo, EMC, eBay, AT&T,
Tesla and Reddit.
That list
contains virtually the entire tech sector in the US. No one, therefore, has a
moral right to discriminate against any other on the basis of religion.
Outspoken
critic
Perhaps the
AU has selective amnesia, or perhaps AU leaders have never stumbled upon on
Martin Niemöller’s famous quotation. Else they would have acted swiftly in
responding to Trump’s actions.
Niemöller is
a prominent 20th century German Protestant pastor, who became an outspoken
critic of Adolf Hitler. He spent more than seven years of Nazi rule in
concentration camps, and in his reflection, he said,
God knows
who President Trump will target next. By then the African Union will have no
moral authority to fight for anyone. By not officially admonishing President
Trump, the AU effectively endorsed his actions on their very own brothers and
sisters.
It is true
the countries targeted by the US have challenges to which several countries,
including Kenya, have lost many lives. However, the approach the Trump
administration has taken is by no means guaranteed to stop terror attacks.
It presents
opportunities, not to innocent citizens but to the terrorists, to rain terror
on innocent people globally, including inside those countries, and we may never
be able to gather intelligence from isolated countries.
The first
Americans to react were American corporations. These corporations have invested
heavily across the world including in Africa. Some of the talent they have
comes from Africa.
An equal
partner
In essence,
Africa is not a powerless beggar. It has leverage, just like Europe, and must
learn to speak out whenever it is affronted. However, the AU’s ineptitude must
end if Africa is to become an equal partner on the world stage.
Although the
outgoing AU commission head Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma blasted the US in her
remarks at the meeting, it was not enough. This is what she said:
The very
country to which many of our people were taken as slaves during the
transatlantic slave trade has now decided to ban refugees from some of our
countries.
Compare that
with what European Union Council President Donald Tusk said, separately. He
said the bloc must take “spectacular steps” to avoid disintegration.
He added
that if this did not happen, separated European nations would become dependent
on the US, China and Russia, and noted that the US under Trump was among the
external threats to the EU.
Pretty
smart fellows
Africa must
wake up to the fact that Trump has pretty smart fellows who have a specific
strategy with which to control the world on their own terms, and to do that,
they must disrupt the status quo.
Experts in
strategy would tell you that the series of executive orders isn’t exactly the
big deal that ordinary citizens are making it out to be.
They are
just a smokescreen, meant to hoodwink not just Americans but the entire world,
while the Trump White House works on the real disruptive policies that will
impact the world for years to come.
We must be
vexed about what they are not saying. Remember that what Trump is leading is a
movement, if not a revolution. We must therefore not react to Trump’s agenda in
piecemeal.
Some serious
strategic decisions must be taken and adopted by regional bodies like the AU
before we find the entire world in complete disarray. In so doing, the AU can
learn from the EU, which has already sounded some warnings.
The
barbarians
The notion
that America had the moral right over many countries is gone. The emerging
narcissist movements don’t care.
If the South
Sudanese people or Central African Republic slaughter their own, they will say,
"Let the barbarians do what they know".
It is up to
us to change and perhaps begin to emulate what the Economic Commission of West
Africa States (Ecowas) did to liberate the small Gambian republic.
Never in the
history of Africa have we seen neighbouring countries ensuring political
justice as it happened in The Gambia.
We must
never wait for other people to solve our internal conflicts. As Buddha says:
A
thousand battles.
“It is
better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is
yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or
hell.”
It may well
be that Trump is a blessing in disguise that will eventually see Africa deal
with her own problems.
Imagine if
East African countries intervened in Burundi to save lives and restore justice.
We were not honest in dealing with Burundi, which is why the region floundered
on the election of the AU chairperson.
We cannot
wait for others to fight on our behalf. It is a sign of defeat when we fail to
make our voice heard on the injustice to our neighbours.
Rights of
humanity
We can even
learn from our coloniser, Britain, where the people have petitioned the Queen
not to welcome the US president to Britain. A photo opportunity with Queen
Elizabeth II is a huge endorsement, which Donald Trump desperately needs.
The AU’s
silence is an endorsement of what Trump is doing. Africa must join the rest of
the world in defending the rights of humanity. American poet and philosopher
Suzy Kassem sums up in the following terms the true nature of being and the
world we live in:
“The truth
is, there is good and bad in everybody, in every nation, in every race, and in
every religion. To hear someone say that all the people that belong to a
certain country, race, or religion are bad — is extremely untruthful and makes
the person making the statement lose credibility right away. We are all flawed
and even nature is flawed.
Nobody is
perfect, and no country, race or religion is perfect. Duality and polarity are
imprinted in everything in nature — in all humans, and even within ourselves.
For example, there are those who are ignorant, and those who are wise.”
The
writer is an associate professor at University of Nairobi’s School of Business.
Twitter :@bantigito
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