 |
| ByRandolph Nkwelle |
When the US President,
Donald J. Trump, referred to Africans in the US as coming from Shithole
countries, it brought in a wave of consternation to Africans and to the
continent at large. Many African leaders were calling on US ambassadors in
their respective countries, to give further clarifications on what they thought
was an ill-advised statement from the US President. The purpose of this
literature is to paint a picture of the African continent as it has been
accurately described by some authors of Contemporary African Literature,
unfortunately, and show how, or maybe the statement of President Trump may have
been spot-on. The writer will defer any such critique of this write-up to his
readers to draw their own conclusions as to whether African countries were
appropriately described by Trump as shitholes or not.
Postcolonial African literature
is an embodiment of literary writings that put into perspectives the problems
and consequences of a people or country. It addresses contemporary issues
relating to the socio-political and cultural independence of those who were
once subjugated to colonial rule and, have not developed the ability to evolved
from the oppressed-mentality, to change their countries for the better. We are
no strangers to the aftermaths of colonization and how it (has) affected the
African people. As a result, a wind of change blew across the continent in the
early 1960s with the quest for independence believing that, life would be
better with Africans themselves having control of their destiny. It is worth
mentioning that movements like Pan-Africanism and Negritude contributed a great
deal in opening the minds of the African founding fathers at that time. The
whole idea was to unite the African people in the entire continent to defeat
the imperialist forces. The troubling issue today is to discern what has
changed from the time of colonialism to this moment? It is true that the
present leadership in most African countries but for a few, are simply
extensions of colonialism or as they have coined it today, neo-colonialism. And
the situation in most African countries have caused resistance and constant
conflict between the present old (analog) leaders, who continue to have a
stranglehold on power and the new (digital) population who cannot continue to
be impressed by their style of leadership. Or could Trump’s reference of Africa
as shithole be considered a clarion call for African leaders to reorganize
themselves and their respective ‘Shithole’ countries? These are some of the
grappling issues Postcolonial African Literature has been wrestling with for
decades which they have been hoping that their leaders would one day address
them. As my teacher, Dr. Bate Besong (late) would often say, you cannot be writing love poems when your
country is on fire. Thus, this essay is an attempt to depict the struggles of
development that Postcolonial African Literary writers have portrayed in their works
from the dawn of independence till date and how the US President’s reference of
Africans and their African countries as shithole could be an accurate depiction
of them and their continent.
Having mentioned Bate
Besong, who was fondly referred to as BB, a Cameroonian Playwright, we should
therefore examine one of his works titled The Most Cruel Death of the Talkative Zombie.
This play, published in 1986, decries the socio-political outcome of the
society (Cameroon) that is constantly killing and brutalizing its citizens as a
way of intimidating them. Besong presents the vices and foibles through a
satirical approach, by heightening and exposing terror that has captured the
essence of our society, where those in power have completely lost the spirit to
govern the vulnerable. We are therefore not surprised with Toura’s statement at the end of the play when he said, and to trap a handful of secessionists, he
decided to Hiroshima a whole region. Putting this in perspective to the
fight for African independence where Africans are expected to take the
responsibility of their affairs contrary to the ill-treatment received from the
tragic effect of the colonial-past, does it therefore, in any way, have any
relevance with Trump’s reference of African countries as shithole?
It is my fervent belief
that, there is a direct correlation between President Trump’s pronouncement and
the ineptitude of African leaders, who shamefully failed to take a handle of
their countries. And even though I take offense with Trump’s reference to our
countries as shitholes, I feel that our leaders have completely abandoned us,
and have given room for any characterization or mischaracterization of us and our
continent. The goal of most writers of Postcolonial African Literature is to explain
to the world the misfortunes of colonization of Africa and how it has decimated
the African continent by the same people who are now shamefully abusing us for putting
us in the condition in which we find ourselves today.
In I Will Marry When I Want
by the prolific Kenyan political scholar, Ngugi Wa Thiong'o, it reveals the
betrayal and aspirations of Kenyans by Postcolonial African leaders. It
portrays the mindset of African leaders who are fascinated with their grip on
power and how they use this stranglehold on power to collude with imperial
forces against their people. Equally, they have allowed religion and Christian
Missionaries---see the letter by King Leopold of Belgium below--- to infiltrate and hijacked the African economies. This has further made
life complicated for most Africans. Thiong’o continues by issuing that we
should not be surprised to see how the wealth of Kioi’s and Nditika have grown because
of their alliances with European leaders, for whom they work for rather than
for their host country, Kenya. Ndugire, who recently acquired wealth through
farming, could be heard confessing how his alliance with the European was
crucial in obtaining his wealth to the detriment of his people. He said, “I used
to kill people/And to do many other terrible deeds/As was the habit among the
home guards of those days.” Listening to a confession such as this one,
it gives President Trump the impetus to rightfully say Africans are coming from
shithole countries that are worth nothing for they themselves care less of their
people. If African leaders could change their mentality and create a wealth-driven
environment in their countries, Trump would have an admiration of our people
and our countries. Can we therefore say that the onus is on us and not Trump?
Ayi Kwei
Armah’s, a Ghanaian novelist, portrays in The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born (1968), a satire of the Ghanaian
society immediately after independence in 1957 when Kwame Nkrumah became the
first president of Ghana. The title of the novel and the misspelling of it
thereof, is a portrayal of a failing Ghanaian society with the trappings of
corruption. The author bemoans the burden to be passed on onto future
generations---a shambolic country---from current leaders. If Armah’s reflection
of his country sixty (60) years ago is still what obtains today, is it
therefore wrong for Trump to give to Africans a difficult homework to solve and
rather than for them to focus their anger towards him, they should instead
endear their African leaders who are yet to understand the best ways to govern
their countries, to do so rather quickly? Nkrumah was one of the pioneers of
the Pan-Africanism movement who informed us of the fight for the complete
liberation and independence of African countries. He was known to have said
that, The independence of Ghana is
meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of Africa. For
Armah to have written the novel during Nkrumah’s time in office as president,
it meant that he had a thorough view of things and he also understood that
colonial forces against him could not compel him to keep the promises he made to
his people. With Ghana’s failing economy, coupled with corruption, Nkrumah
began to suppress all forms of opposition and later declared the country a one-party
state. Thus, while on an official trip to Vietnam, he was unconstitutionally
ousted from office through a military and police coup d'état on the 24th day of
February in1966. Armah’s novel depicts the frustrations many citizens of the State
of Ghana are confronted with immediately after obtaining political independence
from their European contemporary. The unnamed protagonist, who is simply
referred to as “the man”, is considered as an outcast in his family because he
could no longer fathom corruption in his country as he chooses not to be part
of the problem anymore. As a consummate writer, Armah spins around corruption,
military dictatorship and class distinctions which have eaten up the inner core
of the African continent. We can only infer Trump’s shithole pronouncement to the
desperations of most African countries without understanding for sure what he was
referring us to.
Chinua
Achebe,
the Nigerian born and father of African Literature, in his 1987 novel Anthill
of the Savannah, presents a fictitious West African nation of Kangan,
where the hopes and dreams of democracy have been quashed by a fierce military
dictatorship. The officer Sam, known as His Excellency, has taken over power
following a military coup and together with his two other friends, decided to
hold top positions in the government. As tension escalates throughout in the
country, it culminates in the assassination of Ikem, the removal from office
and subsequent death of Sam and the murder of Chris. We noticed how Sam’s
obsession with power made him to disregard his people and consequently the fate
of Kangan was left hanging in acrimony. Could it therefore be said that Kangan
is a microcosm of the situation in most African countries? If Achebe is right
therefore Trump, unfortunately, is correct to refer to Africans and the African
countries as shithole even as we don’t like the stigmatization.
There are many more
Postcolonial African writers’ citations we could compel you to read with emphasis
on Trump’s portrayal; however, we want to limit our essay only to these few
postcolonial works. Even though most of these works are fictions, they are
reflections of most, if not all our African societies. The writers then were
merely depicting their society the way they viewed it using satire. That
notwithstanding, literature is an art that mirrors a society, and it has served
us correctly, in this situation, to lump up the works of the different Postcolonial
African writers which depict the deplorable state of most of the African countries
to Trump’s shithole reference of them. Can it therefore be concluded that
African leaders are the shitholes with imperialist hearts, or is it realistic
to conclude that Africans are the shitholes themselves? We believe that, whichever
angle we tend to analysis Postcolonial African literature it boils down to President
Trump’s pinpoint accuracy to refer to African countries as shitholes. We can
never change the past, but we have the ability to change the present and the
future.
http://www.fafich.ufmg.br/luarnaut/Letter%20Leopold%20II%20to%20Colonial%20Missionaries.pdf
No comments:
Post a Comment