Martin Luther King Jr MLKJ once said freedom is never given it is demanded from the oppressor. An adulterated rendering says “Freedom is never given it is earned”, a wicked adulteration spelling warfare, counting benefits on the loss of human lives, utterly disregarding the snail pace of international players the oppressed pray for their freedoms to. The education MLKJ got didn’t let him advocate for the use of firearms to fight the oppressor, the very inventors and makers of firearms. A lesson Ambazonian leaders shrugged! Shrugging in leadership is costly.
The international machine, they say, grinds slowly but surely. A hilarious bamboozling nuance blindfolding the oppressor from the sight of the pretty ugly sight of these international players. True, American intervention was indeed instrumental in the negotiations which led to the independence of South Sudan in 2011 though events which led to this are quite unparalleled to ours. Bill Clinton and George W. Bush administrations supported South Sudan against Khartoum because the war was stereotyped in Washington as it was in other parts of the West, as a religious war pitting the Muslim North and the predominantly Christian South.
The Regime in Khartoum at some point became communist and this made Sudan a playground for the Cold War. All of these are largely absent in our geopolitics largely seen in D. C as a civil war between two people, the other fighting for reforms and a federal form of Governance.
US Assistant Secretary of state for Africa, Tibor Nagy appeared in congress last year, a congressman asked him if he believes Ambazonia was a feasible idea, his disapproval sounded loud across the globe. He didn’t believe it is a practical idea. US foreign policy, the diplomat stated, recognised the territorial integrity of Cameroon. Credence? Politics is shrewd, international politics is wicked. America and the West are not coming!
Peace, they say, is priceless. The ordinary man on the streets cares not about politics in Yaounde, Paris, or Washington! The sacrosanctity of breath and food brings a basket full of hope. In the course of his life, Mahadma Ghandi at some point advocated for violence and even admired ‘the courageous’. Howbeit, in the latter stages of his advocacy he frowned at and vocally disavowed warfare.
Do we need to grow grey hair before we understand Wilfred Owen’s Dolce et Decorum est (it is heroic to die for your country) is prio patria Mori, (the old lie?) sold to us anew?!
Yes, Africa is bad, the politico-economic situation in Cameroon is near worse. There are no parameters to measure our pain and frustration. We won’t however retake our fortunes by warfare like Americans did because in their time there was no world order as powerful as there is today. No atomic energy, no United Nations where China and Russia face the West on the same table in the same capacity.
Our power to fight shouldn’t be in guns and bumps. The power of academic scholarships which took China to where it is today. The power Chinese kids acquired after studies in the US! They didn’t think of too much money. They returned home and started an economy and step by step the Communists made THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA. The same knowledge ours abroad use to teach us about guns and bumps which isn’t just not feasible but self-inflicting.
If they worked, Ambazonian won’t have lost counts of exactly how many Riek Marchars and Salvar Kiirs they already have.
Evil can’t comprehend light. Gaining victory by guns is crass. Martin Luther King Jr used the microphone and his pen and yes he won.
Cameroon and Africa will soon open up like China. After the age of misfortunes and cruel leadership will be born those of good will and heart. Until then we must give Every child the chance to crawl, walk, jump, and fly!