Is our second name becoming a serious security threat?
What you need to know:
- Violence and death are ugly. There is always immediate rejection and uproar. But fear is subtle, silent and often ignored.
- When emotions are pegged to negative ethnicity, reason is blinded and the line between politics and terrorism becomes blurred.
The climax this week has been marked by bitter arguments trending on social media. Everyone has an opinion on the motive behind the Mpeketoni attacks.
There are two versions, the Terrorist version and the Politician version. ‘Terrorist’ means Al-Shabaab or some other Al-Shabaab-like organisation, and ‘Politician’ means some weird opposition goon.
A terrorist is one who instills terror. Terrorists operate on the maxim “the end justifies the means”, where life, innocent or guilty, is disposable. Sometimes they may seek justice, redemption or chaos; for terrorists it is all the same. The channel they use, that of terror, is also the same. This is the big difference between terrorism and war.
Attacking those who are totally foreign to the terrorists’ plea and conflict, those who are not prepared to defend themselves, those who simply happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, creates terror.
A terrorist may be an activist, a businessman, a teacher, a politician, a man or a woman, who uses terror to the furtherance of his or her goals. This is why whoever is behind the Mpeketoni attacks is really a terrorist. It doesn’t matter if he or she is a politician or landowner.
What was done at Mpeketoni has turned the person behind the plot into a terrorist, ready to send a message through violent means, bringing about the death of innocent people.
We can keep wondering why brutalities such as this should happen. The reasons are many. They may have to do with education, values or conscience, but one thing is clear: every terrorist turns society into an enemy. It is the irrational ‘enemisation’ of society, that everyone is an enemy, my enemy. Their war is against themselves, an irrational thirst for a wrongly conceived justice that is hopefully attained by causing greater injustices, hatred and mismanaged despair.
Terrorists fight the wind and the smoke, the good and the bad, beauty and scorn, greed and simplicity, they are beasts with the wrong cause. They satiate their bloodthirst in the weakness, naïveté or corruption of untested citizens and governments.
Terrorism has dual consequences. On the one hand we have physical violence and death. On the other, there is fear. Violence and death are ugly. There is always immediate rejection and uproar. But fear is subtle, silent and often ignored.
There is a type of fear growing underneath. It is real, it is disliked, and it can’t be ignored. It was dormant for many years. It was unleashed on the land once again in 2008, during the post election violence. The Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission was supposed to heal this wound, but didn’t.
TENSION DISTRIBUTION
Beatrice, a young mother and fantastic professional, said to me yesterday: “I read your article last Friday. I was shocked by some of the comments you got.” So was I, I replied, and then she coined this phrase: “We are being haunted by our greatest enemy: The fear of our second name.”
Beatrice has a point. The fear of our second name is becoming the greatest enemy to reason, to tolerance and truth. For some, everything the government says is evil, for others, it is good. And the reverse is also true: Everything the opposition says is evil, for others, it is good.
This needs to stop. We should be looking at declarations, actions and behaviour from a more objective point of view. This is essential for national unity, understanding and progress. Unity is might; unity is strength.
Both government and opposition need to be open to dialogue. This dialogue is not about conferences or sharing power, which is not an option unless some laws are changed or the government decides to do so, freely, as I explained last week.
This dialogue is about measuring our words, our reactions and helping devolution do its job, empowering the governors. The birth and success of the insurance industry was founded on risk distribution. In like manner, the success of modern politics will be founded on ‘tension’ distribution, and this is what the governors are there for.
Political polarization can easily degenerate in a sort of uncontrollable hatred, physical or moral, that will turn all of us into silent terrorists, where reason is no more and all that will matter is “who said it” or “who wrote it”. We will then stamp it with a "reject" or "approve" sign, because our only measure will be the second name.
When emotions are pegged to negative ethnicity, reason is blinded and the line between politics and terrorism becomes blurred. Seneca said of Alexander the Great:
“He had under his power all things but his passions. This is the mistake of men who want to conquer the whole world but do not conquer themselves. The greatest of empires is the inner self, to subdue our passions.”
Negative ethnicity will not help. Then, our second name could become our greatest enemy, as Beatrice said to me. As you might have guessed, I will not tell you her second name.
Dr Franceschi is the Dean of Strathmore Law School. [email protected] Twitter: @lgfranceschi
