This May 2015 marks 70 years since the end of the Second World War in Europe. It lasted a bit longer in the Asia-Pacific region ending in August 1945. But all the same this year marks 70 years since the end of the Second World War.
In human life, 70 years marks a big milestone and is a time for reflection about the past and about the preservation of historical memory as a gift to the future generations. We will therefore reflect on this historical memory of the war and discuss the complexity of historical memory and its impact on the contradictions in the African psyche.
Yesterday’s May 9 victory day celebration in Moscow of the Soviet victory in the Second World War got me thinking about the role of historical memory in the construction of national identity. Almost 30 world leaders attended the May 9 celebrations in Moscow with the chief guest of honor Xi Jinping the leader of China.
It is significant to note that Chinese troops also marched along Russian troops in Red Square on May 9. This is a powerful symbolic gesture signifying the emerging Russo-China alliance in the fast changing geopolitical balance of power in the world shifting toward Asia.
No western leader was there. The Russians gathered to celebrate the achievements of their fathers and mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers who fought and died in the Second World War which in Russia is known as the Great Patriotic War. About 27 million citizens of the Soviet Union died crushing the German war machine which ended with the Soviet flag flying over the Reichstag Hitler’s office in the shattered remnants of Berlin in 1945.
The immense suffering of the Russian people and their victory over Nazi Germany has defined the essence of the modern Russian identity. It was fascinating to watch after the official marches and speeches millions of Russians across the Russian Federation carry the pictures of their parents and grandparents who fought in the war in marches across the country.
They call this event the Immortal Regiment. Immortal because the descendants of those people live and honor their memory in these marches. In Moscow alone more than half a million people came out on to the streets with these pictures and marched along the streets to remember their ancestors and their immense sacrifice.
Putin was in the front lines carrying the picture of his father who fought in the war. The massive war dead of more than 27 million Russian speaking peoples has defined to a large extent the modern Russian identity and as a structure of historical memory guides their plans and construction of their future. They sacredly preserve historical memory because they understand it is the bedrock of any national identity.
My thoughts then moved to the Holocaust where over 6 million Jews perished in the concentration camps of Nazi Germany and how it has come to define the modern identity of the Jewish people. If anyone doubts that, pay attention to Yad Vashem in Israel and its memorial and significance to the Jewish people who perished in the camps. This singular event has also defined the historical memory of the Jewish people and has shaped their modern identity.
Likewise the historical memory of the over 13 million Chinese who lost their lives in World War 2 because of the Japanese occupation and brutalization of China has also defined the modern Chinese identity. It is at the core of Chinese self-reflection about who they are as a people and where they hope to go picking up lessons from their national tragedy.
This brings me to the fundamental question in Africa. What is the role of historical memory in the construction of a modern African Identity?
I struggle to answer this question.
Africa for more than 400 years was subjected by the “civilized” West to the most rapacious and most brutal exploitation known to man with more than 50 million Africans captured, enslaved and killed or shipped to the so called new world in the Americas.
This number probably represented about a quarter of the African population of the time. Such immense suffering unleashed on the African peoples is even bigger in scale than the Russian losses during World War 2 or the Jewish losses in the Holocaust or the Chinese losses in World War 2.
This singular event in the trajectory of African history should serve as a cardinal historical memory to Africans and should play the main part in the construction of a modern African identity where out of the crucible of that immense suffering we can construct the present and power on to the future with confidence like the Russians, Jews and Chinese are doing.
But what do we see?
Very few Africans have little or even any concept of the African Catastrophe known as the Slave Trade and even less understand its role and need in the construction of a modern African identity. Most Africans today can tell you about the history of the West that unleashed this catastrophe on African peoples but know very little of this singular event in the stream of African historical consciousness. We see the results of that lack of knowledge in the crass stupidity it causes in the following examples.
The first example we look at is the recent xenophobic violence unleashed in South Africa by some Black South Africans against many African immigrants who they accuse of stealing their jobs. It has been observed that many black South Africans do not consider themselves Africans and refer to going to Africa when they visit another African country.
Therefore in their minds, South Africa is a piece of Europe attached fortuitously to the southern tip of the African continent. The interesting thing about the xenophobic violence is that it was directed against other Blacks from African countries and not against the European settlers who committed a wide spectrum of atrocities and an industrial scale oppression of the local South African Blacks for centuries.
But the xenophobic violence was directed against other Africans whose countries during Apartheid supported the Black freedom fighters of South Africa to overthrow the racist system of white power. Why this? The answer lies in a lack of historical memory which has bred ignorance riding on the wings of horrifying xenophobic violence.
This is definitely a case of severe contradictions in the African psyche where Africans due to a lack of historical memory and the collectiveness it should create, rather identify with their oppressors in a cesspool of self-hate and self-contempt.
Another example we will pick is the case of the country of Senegal. Senegal’s ruling elite like little baboons rushed to send troops to support the Wahhabi dominated Saudi Arabian state that has launched an unjustified war against Houthi rebels in war torn Yemen who overthrew the American stooge masquerading as a president.
One wonders what business Senegal has in Yemen fighting under the Wahhabi banner of Saudi Arabia to serve narrow American geopolitical interests? When the recent massacre of university students occurred in Kenya, Senegal did not offer troops or assistance to fellow Africans in Kenyan to deal with the Al Shabbab threat, but her ruling elite run like little baboons to offer African lives on the altar of Saudi Arabian Wahhabism and American geopolitics.
Why these neurotic behaviors?
Again the answer lies in a lack of historic memory especially of the immense and singular event of the African Catastrophe which should logically create a collective consciousness of who Africans are as a people and where, we bonded by that historical memory hope to go in constructing a confident future for ourselves and future generations.
The day when we will see millions of Africans pouring onto the streets carrying images as symbols of the African Catastrophe on a day dedicated continent-wise to mark the immense suffering of that historical stream of events will signify the beginning of the immortalization of our historical memory and will serve as the starting ramping platform to construct a modern African identity that will define us as a people self-confidently charting a prosperous path for the future.
The Russians, the Jews and the Chinese do that and understand the significance of that process. Are Africans ready to begin to do the same?
I would think Africans understand this. But it would take brave leaders, who are not afraid of what the west can do to them to undertake such a massive educational effort. It got to be done and someone must do it. Jehuti, will it be you?