More than six decades after their accession to national and international sovereignty, African countries continue to sing and dance “Independence Cha Cha”. The propensity to celebrate this event, far from the memorial, comes up against many realities.
Such in a state of habituation, every year it is the same scenario, on the grounds of celebrating the accession to national and international sovereignty. Entire areas of mobility are reduced, investments made for the splendor of one day; men in uniform mobilized and it’s time to celebrate.
With hindsight, one might wonder what African states, formerly subject to colonization, have really done with their independence?
The stories of this era which followed another not at all cheerful 400 years of the slave trade, without forgetting this aspect that history does not often mention, Arab slavery in particular, leave no stone unturned. A people stunned on all sides, in time and space, kept on a leash, even conditioned to geopolitical perfusions, who struggle to wake up from a comatose state between dream and reality.
Testimonies and other stories from anthropology, history and press articles bear witness to this and these are not tales to be told, but rather lived experiences. Existential facts which have marked and will continue to mark more than one person, so much so that their evocations give goosebumps that the storytellers are almost in a trance. Curiously, beyond the pride of self-determination, there is more urgency, since time is passing.
Sixty years in the life of a human is a long time, even if in the life of a Nation it is so insignificant, although very important for charting new horizons.
Hence the need to rethink all of this, starting with this mimicry that these “Independence Day” celebrations leave behind. Far from memory recall, but above all from adjusting the rudders for true self-determination. The picture presented by a number of States is far from that expected, for entities which claim to be sovereign.
Major missed events in history
Classically, a State is a Territory, a Population and a Government. However, several elements allow it to assert its sovereignty, despite international agreements on paper. Faced with reality, in countries where everything is an emergency, as is the case in many countries in Africa, particularly south of the Sahara, we had to avoid falling into mimicry. or indulgence, in a world where the stakes are increasingly greater on a daily basis, and the challenges are daunting.
Apart from the sovereignty granted which should not be a limit to reinventing itself, the celebration of this accession to this status deserves to be rethought in its entirety.
In addition to the cosmetic adjustments of changing the date of celebration for some and the name for other States, reality is chained to the foot like a ball and chain.
Africa is one of the most blessed continents on the planet in terms of both natural and human resources. Whether it is the subsoil of fauna and flora, the continent is well endowed, which it should be able to assert itself to the best of its ability.
The congruent proportions of land made State following colonization, of which sometimes this geographical fragility prevents the full development, will have to find reasons to jump these barriers, at the risk of perishing by simple ego of sovereignty on paper.
All the same, on this same continent, countries with large geographical areas, and/or endowed with natural resources, or even qualified as a "geological scandal", have not revealed themselves otherwise than we are entitled to think that the real problem is elsewhere. In particular, rather the ability to think about the future and be on the right side of historical events.
The raw material increases in value once a finished product, ten times more, or even more. In the age of technology, where are African countries?
Parades as self-determination
Repetition is educational, taught by teachers. But repeating the same mistakes seems like a mistake.
A few moments after the proclamation of independence, already midday followed by evening, a day and a new...
What have the African States done with freedom? This question arises when the armed forces must parade to commemorate the event. If it all comes down to it, they would have been the champions of the planet just by seeing the beauty of the parades.
After more than sixty years of independence, with these beautiful military parades offered by the armed forces, it is clear that the military arsenal is the expression of dependence. Since, although acquired with considerable State resources, it is not always at the forefront of current issues, and technology transfer is not there.
Colossal sums of resources are allocated to it each year, which may well see a suffocation of the resources of States, which must assert their sovereignty, but at what price?
Not manufacturing weapons or ammunition, they will have to ensure the integrity of their territory.
Faced with current challenges including terrorism in West Africa in the Sahel and incursions towards coastal countries, the losses recorded are quite expressive, to the point of leading some citizens to wonder if military parades are necessary.
Challenges which highlight attempts at sovereignty assuming that from one day to the next a military power wishes to take back under its yoke a state that is now sovereign, what would be the capacity for resistance, and the possibility of being able to counter it point of undoing it? The results of the response to terrorism allow us to imagine what it could be.
The gaping gangrenous wound
The ease with which able-bodied workers from West Africa, after the sad episode of the slave trade, will perish at sea, designated as "chosen slavery" to go and work in the West at the risk of their lives by crossing the Atlantic in makeshift boats remains a snub.
The rate at which brains only see the future outside the continent, although it is useful to acquire knowledge elsewhere, is worrying. Ready to take the first flight to other horizons with the hope of returning one day but when, they don't know. Most of the time, they may not come back.
The daily disintegration of patriotism in place of gain, when acts of mismanagement and corruption are legion, even celebrated as models of success, creating a small group of rich people and an impoverishment of the masses, drives home the point.
It is in this environment that plagues develop. As a result, it is the children of the country who are recruited and turned against their brothers in the name of indoctrination and an imaginary well-being that the rulers were unable to offer.
This, while the so-called modern and powerful Nations seek on a daily basis ways to strengthen patriotism by introducing civic and military programs into the training offers of adolescents and young people. While in Africa citizen rearmament programs are exchanged for the financing of suicidal educational programs and other decadent morals.
The cycle of absorption of the intellectual, human and natural resources of Africa if it is not rethought to whip up nationalism, and an identity that can challenge the rest of the world, salute nominal independence, with a few annual ballets as consolation prizes, crowned with endless regrets.
This observation should not leave indifferent a continent or one of its regions where everything has to be redone; at the risk of asking for recolonization after years of independence. If it's not already being done in a gentle form, it's not far away. Unless there is a sudden change to change the situation.
If the flamboyant can adorn himself with beautiful floral dresses to stand out, “The strength of the baobab is in its roots”, illustrates an African proverb.
By Ange Banouwin
*This article has been translated from French into English by Marcus Boni Teiga
Source : https://beninwebtv.com
Bénin Web TV (BENIN)
