It is time for the courageous to speak truth to power

Probably you may not have noticed the new mast on the front page of this newspaper.

If you have missed it, it says, “The Truth Will Find You.” In other words, in these times when truth is in short supply, or when we can’t trust much of what we see, hear, read or watch, this newspaper, like many other institutions and individuals, thinks that truth is important.

Everyone wants some truth about this new disease — where did it come from; how does it affect my health; what will happen to my job; when will the children go back to school; will life ever go back to normal; when will this Covid-19 go away or be tamed, et cetera.

Truth is seriously in short supply precisely because it was never been abundant even before Covid-19.

But why should we seek truth more seriously now? Will knowing the truth fundamentally change the way we behave towards others or the course of humanity? Probably yes; probably no.

Many commentators are already predicting that ‘things will never be the same again’. That humanity will never go on being the super-consumer, selfish, exploitative, violent and environmentally destructive being that he had become in the past two centuries.

Probably this prophecy will come to pass. But can one trust that the old behaviour will just disappear because Covid-19 scared us out of our wits? History doesn’t seem to suggest so.

FORMS OF TRUTH

Nevertheless, we don’t need to wait for truth to find us, as suggested by the Nation newspaper mast.

We need to create, share and retell truthful stories about our condition today and what it means for posterity. We need to practice what the ancient Greeks called parrhesia.

In the collection of essays published from the lectures of the French scholar, Michel Foucault, The Courage of Truth, he establishes four forms of truth and truth-telling: prophecy, wisdom, teaching and parrhesia.

Foucault argues that these forms of truth relate to different modes of speech as well as domains: fate, being, tekhne and ethos.

We can simplify these and say that we know who the prophets are (and their form of truth has been in short supply lately, for many reasons); we are aware of our philosophers (that is if we still have them in this country); we know who the teachers are (with so many of them unable to tell the ‘technical’ truth beyond what Google offers them), but there is a problem with the parrhesiast — do we really have them around?

Foucault notes that the four categories of speakers all tell the truth, in some form or another. What is important is to understand how in any society the prophet, the sage, the technician and the parrhesiast relate to each other.

IGNORED GROUP

Remember that the prophets of the old days and today have always told stories, real or imagined, to illustrate their messages.

The philosopher may tell long-winded and seemingly incoherent tales about our being, but that is his or her truth.

Teachers claim to speak of researched and observed truth, but often those truths are contested or new truths come into being.

Generally, these three forms of truth tend not to disturb the status quo. They tend to be acceptable — the preacher, the thought leader and the teacher may not wish to unsettle the received wisdom in the society.

It is the parrhesiast who probably has the most difficult task. She or he has to speak truth to power and to the rest of the society.

The parrhesiast, according to Foucault, is in problems simply because even though democracy would claim to allow truth-telling, it really doesn’t.

Even in a democracy, it is the flatterer, the praise singer and the uncritical follower of the leadership who will be listened to, Foucault says, following the thinking of Plato.

Plato had noted in the Republic that “ … those who say or try to say what is true and good, and not what pleases the people, will not be listened to. Worse, they will provoke negative reactions, irritation and anger. And their true discourse will expose them to vengeance or punishment.”

International media is reporting about government officials, in other parts of the world denying the dangers of Covid-19. Some of our politicians have been reported saying that Covid-19 is nothing more than common cold!

GROWTH MYTHS

So we need parrhesiasts urgently. We need truth tellers to speak stories of truth to our leaders. Covid-19 (or the fear that it has carried with it) seems to be progressively destroying our quicksand castles of economic progress.

The myths of development in this country are coming undone. We now know that there are millions of Kenyans who cannot feed themselves should there be no casual work for even just a week. Haven’t we actually known this truth but ignored it all along?

How many Kenyans have read Going Down River Road or Kill Me Quick by Meja Mwangi? The street people who live by their street wits are found in plenty in Street Life by Marjorie Oludhe MacGoye.

The women, men and children in these stories are the hand-to-mouth survivors, hustlers or poor that opinion leaders and NGOists are shouting about.

The parrhesiasts of the past had spoken about them decades ago. So where are the parrhesiasts of today who will tell the politicians and the bureaucrats, and maybe the NGOists, that an absolute majority of Kenyans can’t afford to breakfast, lunch and supper; that in many of our homes, sickness is managed with over-the-counter medicine and prayers; that death and dying may invite tears but it is an everyday experience; that even with free schooling, tens of thousands of young Kenyans still can’t afford to go to school; that millions of Kenyans can’t save because they have nothing to save at the end of the week or month; that landlessness isn’t a ticking time bomb, as the civil society tends to exaggerate, but a sealed fate that hounds millions of Kenyans; that most Kenyans can’t access the tree with matunda ya uhuru because it has always been guarded by mbwa kali; that Kenyans have mostly resigned themselves to fate (na liwalo liwe), that is why some of them are completely unbothered about the dangers of Covid-19.

UPLIFTING STORIES

The parrhesiasts domain is that of ethos. But to speak of ethics exposes the individual to danger — exclusion from the society, violence and even death.

Yet times such as these demand that some truth-telling. But who can speak to power? Whose ‘truth’ is in the saying ‘Truth Will Find You’?

Is it a shared truth or some predetermined truth? Can it be said to be a collective truth? Is it truth that will lead to justice, progress and satisfaction of the many?

Would such truth survive accusations of being political or partisan? Speaking about the tragedy of Covid-19 in France, President Macron said: “What worries me is the illness of everyone for himself.”

Is it possible today to create stories to be told in the post-Covid-19 society, which speak the truth about how damaging the ‘illness of everyone for himself’ has been to humanity in the recent past?

Who will craft these stories — will it be the media, creative writers, historians or the daring individual, willing to sacrifice their name, family and life for the good of the majority?

The writer teaches literature at the University of Nairobi. [email protected]