This week’s offering is humbly dedicated to Anthony Bourdain.
Like all who fell in love with your offer of friendship and joy, I
followed you all over this world, Tony. I would gladly do so again one
lakh lifetimes over.
I have only just come to realise how much nation building is done entirely through acts of dialogue.
For
Tanzania 2.0 much of this dialogue has been through media, song and
online. The new regulations governing the majority of Tanzania’s online
activity has just come into effect.
By design, they do not protect the public from predation so much as protect the government from our civil liberties.
The
immediate effect has been a vicious and sudden stripping of our vibrant
and diverse online ecosystem. Most notably Jamii Forums – a veteran
survivor of state discontent – is finally offline if only for now.
I
understand the thinking behind all of this at a visceral level. Very
old-school and African to treat your fellow countrymen like children and
seek to discipline and control them. This is why we must not go around
calling folks Mama or Baba no matter how much we love and respect them;
we thus invite and encourage infantilisation.
Fortunately
we do know that we are not children nor chattels for that matter. We
are citizens of a Republic. It is not entirely possible to wrestle
liberties away from people without their resisting.
Nape
Nnauye, the CCM MP for Mpanda and one time minister for information
rather unadvisedly expressed concern on Twitter about the Jamii Forums
suspension. This made him the lightning rod for a barrage of angry
commentary that has clearly been building up over time.
As
I write this, I believe he is still being beaten online like the stray
dogs we Tanzanians were recently called, in spite of the intercessions
of such youth thought-leaders as Zitto Kabwe.
The
collective never forgets. And there is a lot of anger to work through. I
only raise Mr Nnauye’s plight because he accidentally made himself the
channel through which folks are giving our public servants and elected
officials a piece of their mind. What was intended to stifle dialogue
has only created more of it. Oops.
Truth sets free
We
needed this catharsis. An ominous quiet has reigned for some time now
and I was getting worried. It was, I thought, a sign of social and
political constipation. Now that we are taking an opportunity to clear
the air, so to speak, we will go back to healthier and more indigenous
ways of Utu-ing each other back to the national project.
So
I want to express my gratitude to the architects of this watershed
moment for enabling it. I think we have all told each other some
important truths, and truths do set one free.
I also
want to apologise to those for whom this has been an unsatisfying moment
devoid of camera-friendly drama, especially on the side of the
resistance. I understand, I also watch Christiane Amanpour and Marvel
movies.
However: this is Tanzania. This. Is. Tanzania.
Peace is not a destination – it is a practice. The collective never
forgets. And we are still wonderfully effeminate in the very best sense
of that glorious term. Wakanda forever.
Elsie Eyakuze is a consultant and blogger for The Mikocheni Report. Email: elsieeyakuze@gmail.com
No comments :
Post a Comment