Segun Akanni, Toronto, Canada 
By Meduoye Adeyinka
Like the blood-sucking army of the dead hidden far behind the northern wall – they assembled, motioned in droves, ransacking and pillaging every corner of the street. They burgled into kiosks and business palaces; irrupts onto shop verandas – forcefully phishing out their African fellows to the open like a thief caught in the day. They burned down properties and shacks in an unfettered manner, giving the shop owners a lion-chase-man swag, while the security blokes gaze sideway.
Without feigning ignorance of strong territorial controls, they beat their chests unrepentantly – chanting their cognomen – singing vociferously in collective accord in adulation to the cloud hovering above saying “foreigners must go back to their countries, migrants must leave, we are South Africans”. They couldn’t hide their grievances and unwarranted demands under the heavens, as fluids of sweat strolled down their dark delicate skin. “They are taking away our jobs and businesses – above all, they are taking our women” – one uttered in the most baritone of voice. “These migrants are responsible for the flurries of crimes and criminalities in our land, they must go or we kill them” – another muttered in the Afrikan parlance.
It is worrisome, it is heart-piercing – the infamous degree of barbarism, despotism, and irrationalities is no more a regional threat and the world are no longer waiting patiently with bated breath for the situation to snowball or calm itself, as it has gone beyond human comprehension. My head ached, my eyeballs nearly gushed out, as I watched with discretion – one of the xenophobic video clips that had twerked on cyberspace. The said video depicts the human conscience nauseating to a degree of near zero existence. The sound of sharp metal blades deposited on the beauty of the famous dark skin, is a gory experience to behold. They have no empathy under heavens.
Yes!!! The primary responsibility of every sane government is to see to the protection of her citizens but those that had failed in seeing to the security of life and properties of her citizens within the corridors of her porous borders aren’t expected to secure those outside it. It is not magical but norlmacy. From the privy of the upper-room, they have lost contact with reality – they see nothing, hear nothing, feel nothing but good in picking their teeth after gulping a sumptuous meal.
There are strong indications that those jobbers and marauders fanning the ember of discord among the populace treat peace as a relative term. In their devilish thoughts, that without fulfillment of their agitations, they will not allow peace to reign. They act like banelings leaving underworld, with no recognition for the principle of the equal rights among the populace. Who are they and their cohorts? What are they really agitating for or/and against? They cause mishap in broad daylight without feeling remorseful. Their acts are barbaric and callous. They mishap on the streets; mishap at home; mishap in shops, kiosks, and trains without drawing recourse on their conscience.
They smiled sheepishly. To them, it isn’t imperative to place pressing and dire issues into proper perspectives to guide the unsuspecting members of the public against irrational thoughts and actions. The deliberate purpose of not projecting and promoting the spirit of nationalism is their appellation, while they fail to guide the young and juvenile minds to align with the vision of creating a brighter rewarding future in consonance with the ideals of a strong and virile economy as seen during the struggle of post-apartheid.
Sufficient knowledge on contemporary issues within the hemisphere of our societies and beyond is very essential towards the understanding of the limitations of our rights and privileges as a good measure of the rights and privileges of others. Is peace the prevalence of truth over falsehood, or the victory of honesty over deceit? That is mind-boggling. In a clime of ours, peace should be considered as sustenance of decorum among the people especially for the purpose of creating positive direction to its supposed challenges.
Truth be told – the daily struggles of humans to accomplish needs for survival even in the face of daunting challenges, attune to our inclinations for peace, but most of us are not mindful of this worrying assertion in the real sense of evaluation. To a great extent – poverty troubles the mind, epidemic of crime leads to fear, and insecurity leads to despair. The actions and reactions are tractable to human fallibility, which could be chiefly ascribed to the myriads of abnormalities and negativities in governmental policies, therein inducing both intra-regional and inter-regional disorderliness and uproar among the populace, as we have seen twerking on international screen with its origin in South Africa.
Even in the realm of fallibility and imperfections, the sense of property and shack is to be embrace, as it will allow deep thoughts and positive thinking towards contentment as a means of peace of mind. Whether one is Nigerian, Zimbabwean, Somailian, Zambian or South Africa, human feelings should be cuddle as a page-one factor, in pricking the conscience in sound reasoning and guide sane minds towards the safeguarding and policing of property.
An ideal home should serve as a model to others in a society. The government of South Africa had failed woefully in this regard. The less concern in securing life and property of foreigners better termed migrants is condemnable, hence regarded as a monumental failure in her face. The ideal of laying good example where tranquility and harmony reign shall be our utmost priority is being washed and rinsed with filthy waters. Even in the advent of civilization, the cliff of the famous African colonialism is still tagged “backward”.
There is something not right with the black race. Our challenges keep roaming the street nakedly while our leaders looked sideway, chasing it in the dark since we are being hypnotized into the dummy State. What have we done wrong? Have we offered the wrong sacrifice? Have we done the wrong thing in the right time? Or the right thing in the wrong time? Which way Africans? Since we failed to engage in societal togetherness with our fellows. Shall we continue to adorn ourselves with the attire of hatred? When shall we chase out the phantom of division and embrace the spirit of oneness and unison into our society? Shall we continue to be a laughing stock in the very face of the while fowl?
The siege mentality that cut across our national identity as black race must be properly addressed through re-orientation exercise and review notions that pitched us against others. The preponderance of immoralities within the hemisphere of our porous societies must be challenge with a target to promote and project peace in order to curb and abate the scourge of violence among the people. It is indeed very sad situation when Africans rise up against fellow Africans, with target to maim under dubious guise, and claim sincerity for their heinous and profane actions.
The effects of the psychology of dialogue are much needed as a verifiable tool in crisis management and dispute resolution to persuade the populace against any violence. The exigent intervention of both the UN and the AU is germane in seeing to the negativities strolling from point to point within the African wall. It is time for realities to be considered above fallacies.
Adeyinka writes from Lagos.
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