« FindMeOn, The HUGE Posting: Intellectual Property, Open Networks & Social Network Portability , Big Tech vs. The Little Guy , When The Little Guy Fights Back | Main | One of my most favorite portraits. Ever. »

January 14, 2008

News reports of the recent violence in Kenya have troubled some friends and myself: ten years ago we spent the semester & then some in East Africa, and know many of the places now in headlines intimately. Aside from time in more serene places like Lamu & Zanzibar, I spent about two months in the 'inner city' areas of Mombasa with local artists - so some of the photos have hit me particularly hard.

Too many people have been quick to judge and dismiss this violence as typical of Africa -- which is unfortunately true. More unfortunately though, this isn't typical of Kenya, which is actually one of the most stable African nations.

In light of this, I feel the need to offer a quick overview...

When Europeans and Americans settled/conquered/enslaved Africa, we started to really screw them up. We strategically killed or exported (enslaved) their strongest and brightest people, drew up imaginary political lines that split some ethnic groups up and forced others to live together, and then used post-colonial rule & policies to exploit their resources as much as possible. The result? People live together who don't want to, in countries that were kept from going through their own industrial revolutions. It's a recipe for disaster.

People often say "Why didn't Africa develop?" The answer is simple: European and American nations did everything possible could to keep Africa from developing - you can't exploit the natural resources of a country if it is stable or self-industrialized.

When countries started to gain independence ( read: they put up enough of a fight that the European nations couldn't motivate forces or afford to occupy any longer ), they were left with arbitrary geographic boundaries that didn't really make sense. This is where 'tribes' come in.

The phrase "Tribes" in Africa doesn't mean the classical western view of little villages or nomadic peoples with a chief ( though they can be ). "Tribe" is more like a cultural group - if you can imagine New York City, think of the Italian population as one Tribe, the Chinese as another, each Latin group as another, etc. At some point there are indeed 'Tribal Leaders' - but for the most part, Tribes describe the ethnic groups. Pre-colonial times, these groups lived independent of one another... colonialism forced them together. This is very similar to the situation in Iraq with Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds.

Kenyan politics is often marred by tribalism, as officials and agencies often create and enforce policies aimed at prioritizing one tribe or penalizing another. Before passing judgement, keep in mind that this is very much like a combination of American "Pork Barrel" politics, with the George Bush (II) style of trying to marry his evangelical beliefs with policy & law.

So why are people rioting? Until recently, Kenya has been one of the safest and most stable African countries. The population has just reached their boiling point with years of corruption and oppression. Despite being relatively safe and in a democracy, Kenyans weren't necessarily free. Among the various illegal activities in the country: taking a photograph of a state employee or property. In 1998 it was ( I'm not sure if the law still stands ) illegal to take a photograph of a Police Department/vehicle/officer, the national army, the ports or city government buildings, etc. While this law was often used for extortion and bribery , it was also often used quite seriously. I was once questioned with machine-guns pointed at me by a state official and 2 elite soldiers; they had seen me from an observation post on the top of a Government building 15 blocks away and noticed the camera on my neck and pointed in that direction.

Posted by Jonathan at January 14, 2008 4:44 PM

Comments

Post a comment