| Offbeat |
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| Written by Pierre Maré | |
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For my part, I am glad I am an African. We may have our Mugabes but at least they are brazen, which is a form of truth unlike the US debate around the ethics of torture as an interrogation technique in the national interest.
I had wanted to write something about John McCain as the ethical candidate in the coming US election, but he seems to have backed down on interrogation methods. It doesn’t sit well with the idea of America finding its ethics again, a rather admirable riff that he gave a few months ago.
All the Canadians out there sporting ‘I support Obama’ bumper stickers can breathe that much easier. Watch for the term ‘flip flop’ though. It’s going to be a major feature of the press coverage. Other than that, it will be a bunch of fiery rhetoric, followed by more business as usual. When I was a kid, I wanted to go to America. So did everyone else I knew. They had cool toys on the back of comics. They had Saturday morning TV that consisted of more cartoons in one three-hour stretch than we would see in a year. They also had pizza, which was unknown in Namibia. Today, they still have cartoons, but these involve smart bombs and laser-guided weaponry on CNN, as well as Roadrunner stunts in small less developed nations. They still have cool toys but, to paraphrase the Bill Hicks, the funniest American comedian of all time, these come in military weapons catalogues. Here in Namibia, we now have so much pizza that even a fricassee of winged insects would make a change, albeit not a particularly welcome change. Given the situation with the oil, and pressure from the Audubon and other environmental groupings not to drill in American natural reserves, it seems fairly safe to say that ‘business as usual’ entails sourcing of cheap oil at any cost, anywhere but in the USA. Scratch the surface of the American Dream and a nightmare begins to become apparent. For my part, I am glad I am an African. We may have our Mugabes but at least they are brazen, which is a form of truth unlike the US debate around the ethics of torture as an interrogation technique in the national interest. And people who are brazen tend to show up in sharp relief when exposed to the cold, hard light of the truth. On the other side of the coin, we certainly have Mandela, who seems to have been appropriated by the continent as an example of all that can be good. And we have the more interesting example of Julius Nyerere who had the moral fortitude and depth that it took to apologise for the failure of ‘Ujamaa’. If you don’t know what that is look him up on Wikipedia. But all this is idealistic. The fact is that in a world of sharp contrasts, there is little room for nuances such as the US debate around ‘waterboarding for the greater good’. There is only room for improvement, and the awareness that wind and solar power, even bicycles, might be smarter than relying too much on oil. Right now, Africa is confronted with difficult choices that ask the continent to redefine ‘good’ and ‘bad’. The older generation of African leaders accept loyalty and community as ‘good’. This translates into gentlemanly chivvying of someone like Mugabe, a culturally justifiable position. The newer generation seeks change, economic impact and civil rights. This translates into the justifiable protests that are emerging from the continent. I’m adding my own voice: nobody deserves what Zimbabweans are going through. Both sides have something valid, but sadly although things must and will change, Zimbabweans are stuck in the middle of change that is not happening fast enough. Perhaps the solution lies not in the enfranchisement of position, but the enfranchisement of respect. People who achieve greater good, who are able to change in the face of change and adjust themselves to the requirements of the day, deserve respect. Therein lies the respect that Julius Nyerere’s admission so richly deserves. The basis for a brighter African future does not lie in the nuanced morals of a group of foreign power brokers, or even a US electoral candidate. And it doesn’t lie in imposing the intractable past on the future. The future lies in the future and all it takes to get there, including the changes. Africa needs to get there. |
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