On midnight, July 9, 2011 South Sudan became the world’s newest independent country, thereby changing its status as a semi-autonomous part of the Republic of Sudan, a status it enjoyed since the 19070s and had to keep fighting to retain. In January 2011, a referendum was held as part of an agreement between the government of Sudan and the insurgent Sudan Peoples Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M), as part of a comprehensive agreement to end the civil war that plagued the region from the 1980s until the present decade. As the votes came in, it was clear that more than 98% of the people favoured secession and independence. After some amount of energy was spent on finding the right moment and opportunity, South Sudan declared itself to be an independent state and applied for membership of the Commonwealth of Nations, East African Community, International Monetary Fund and World Bank.
Africa is a complex patchwork of nations and countries and a place where the idea of a homogenous nation-state is patently absurd. European colonisers had claimed chunks of Africa for their parent countries throughout the middle ages, until the period of decolonisation in the 1960s and 1970s. The worst example of European greed and excess is the case of the current country called the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which was treated as the personal property – in legal and political terms – of King Leopold II of Belgium in 1885. Today, DRC is the largest country in Africa and also the poorest country in the world, still trying to come to terms with the violent colonisation of the land and its peoples. It is home to several armed insurgencies, most of which have been carried over into its territory from people who live in its neighbouring countries where there are civil wars. For instance, political commentators argue that the Rwandan civil war and genocide did not end in the 1990s, but was merely carried across to DRC by different armed groups representing the Tutsis and Hutus.
In a sense, Africa represents the worst experiments of decolonisation and the perfidy of European colonisers. When they left Africa, the French, British, Germans, Portuguese, Belgians and Italians, did so with a surgical cruelty that is evident in the kind of demarcations that one sees on political maps of Africa today. Straight lines form the boundaries of countries and these lines in turn divide huge nations – like the Shona, Matabele, Azande, Luo – to the extend that no nation in Africa can claim to have a country of its own, one that it does not have to share with another. European colonisers extended their racist ideology to categorise African nations by a process of appropriation of their language and history and rendering them incapable of forming their own narratives, in a process that the Palestinian activist scholar Edward Said has called ‘Orientalism’. This has led to untold tragedies and violence, many of which continue to plague the peoples of Africa today.
However, there is wisdom far beyond the orientalist stranglehold, as Africa continues to surprise those who disdainfully condemn it. Despite long wars and seemingly intransigent positions, African nations are beginning to find their voices and they are speaking with a clarity that can only be marvelled at. South Sudan, with all the attendant problems created by contentious referendums, is still a shining example of how comprehensive peace talks and respect for the right to self-determination of peoples, can pave the way for a more sustained and lasting peace. Even in that heartbreaking corner of Africa – DRC – there are important efforts at finding a just, more equitable solution that is created by African peoples tired of war and is for them.
Those of us, especially in our corner of South/Southeast Asia, trying to come to terms with violent pasts inherited from our colonial overlords, can learn from the manner in which African nations are trying to realise Edward Said’s political project: of finding an indigenous narrative of justice that is not coloured by colonial hegemony.
Sanjay (Xonzoi) Barbora
xonzoi.barbora@gmail.com
Africa is a complex patchwork of nations and countries and a place where the idea of a homogenous nation-state is patently absurd. European colonisers had claimed chunks of Africa for their parent countries throughout the middle ages, until the period of decolonisation in the 1960s and 1970s. The worst example of European greed and excess is the case of the current country called the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which was treated as the personal property – in legal and political terms – of King Leopold II of Belgium in 1885. Today, DRC is the largest country in Africa and also the poorest country in the world, still trying to come to terms with the violent colonisation of the land and its peoples. It is home to several armed insurgencies, most of which have been carried over into its territory from people who live in its neighbouring countries where there are civil wars. For instance, political commentators argue that the Rwandan civil war and genocide did not end in the 1990s, but was merely carried across to DRC by different armed groups representing the Tutsis and Hutus.
In a sense, Africa represents the worst experiments of decolonisation and the perfidy of European colonisers. When they left Africa, the French, British, Germans, Portuguese, Belgians and Italians, did so with a surgical cruelty that is evident in the kind of demarcations that one sees on political maps of Africa today. Straight lines form the boundaries of countries and these lines in turn divide huge nations – like the Shona, Matabele, Azande, Luo – to the extend that no nation in Africa can claim to have a country of its own, one that it does not have to share with another. European colonisers extended their racist ideology to categorise African nations by a process of appropriation of their language and history and rendering them incapable of forming their own narratives, in a process that the Palestinian activist scholar Edward Said has called ‘Orientalism’. This has led to untold tragedies and violence, many of which continue to plague the peoples of Africa today.
However, there is wisdom far beyond the orientalist stranglehold, as Africa continues to surprise those who disdainfully condemn it. Despite long wars and seemingly intransigent positions, African nations are beginning to find their voices and they are speaking with a clarity that can only be marvelled at. South Sudan, with all the attendant problems created by contentious referendums, is still a shining example of how comprehensive peace talks and respect for the right to self-determination of peoples, can pave the way for a more sustained and lasting peace. Even in that heartbreaking corner of Africa – DRC – there are important efforts at finding a just, more equitable solution that is created by African peoples tired of war and is for them.
Those of us, especially in our corner of South/Southeast Asia, trying to come to terms with violent pasts inherited from our colonial overlords, can learn from the manner in which African nations are trying to realise Edward Said’s political project: of finding an indigenous narrative of justice that is not coloured by colonial hegemony.
Sanjay (Xonzoi) Barbora
xonzoi.barbora@gmail.com
