On April 17th 2008, Mary C. Joyce wrote the following on the Harvard Law blog:
"The Kenyan blogosphere has been active since 2003, one of the most active in Sub-Saharan Africa. There are over 400 blogs in the country although the national Internet penetration is less than 10%. From approximately December 25th to January 1st there was a media black-out in Kenya, making the role of blogs all the more critical to the collection and dissemination of information"
She also noted that "technology was also used to encourage hate...A chat room called Mashada was shut down due to pervasive hate speech between Lou and Kikuyu." http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/idblog/2008/04/
For that reason, one of the things that I am going to commit myself to doing is to kind of monitor, feel the pulse of what is going on in the cyber space and then report back here for our analysis. To be forewarned is to forearmed.
10 comments:
Whis, this is genius! I have, up to this point, been trying to grapple with what went down. I am currently writing a paper about that webhate and the cyberwars, and i am trying to understand the amount of hate that went down. If indeed it is reflective of what we are how we think, and even if people continue to hide behind their handles and false identities, the one thing that is apparent is that we are not a solid country. we are defined by hatred, we are absorbed by our own senses of entitlement, and we want anyone else who does not fit in with what we are to go and burn in hell.
How can that be a country? I have followed with disgust and ire, the way in which each catastrophe that hits the country is tribalized, ethnicized and made to belong to an ethnic group that 'deserved' bad treatment. I have read people saying Kenyans had to die because they were A, B or C. I have prayed that what I have been reading is nothing but hot air, but unfortunately, the net has also provided us with a smokescreen, to be abusive and hateful.
I cringe inside everytime I see these things. I am yet to get the language to speak and respnd to such hatred, to understand why as a country, no, as a nation, we have refused to embrace our nationhood and its beauties. Why do we hate one another so? what is it in the 'other' that disgusts us so much we want to spew hatred all over the globe (for the internet is the globe, embracing everything.
Thanks for this, and I am definitely going to actively follow this blog. I am going to link you to my blog and make you a follower. Let's keep this project running
Dina
Daktari,
How nice of you to have stopped by in such a short notice! Let me know if you are interested in being a guest poster so that my readers can benefit from your eloquent expositions even when the idea is as misty and formless as the ghost of Banquo.
The silver lining in all this charade of tribalism is that there exists a silent, rational, (majority I hope).
You are going to get a few people here who are automatically going to think that you belong to a certain tribe for express disgust at the wantonness of destruction that was visited upon us; yet you and I know that according to their template, we are supposed to be sworn enemies, aren't we? Yet here we are having a conversation centered around OUR COUNTRY as opposed to our tribes.
Just when I am on the verge of giving up on Kenya, a hear a voice of reason somewhere.
Nice to have you here, Dina. Kenya has hope if only we speak out.
Let us speak with one voice about what we want for Kenya. What I think is that we should be thinking of ways to unite those bloggers rather than judge them as if to show that we are better or faultless.
Each and every Kenyan, and I repeat every Kenyan is guilty of thinking ill of another tribe. That is a fact although it cannot be proven it can be argued to be true.
We are all myopic in our thinking and we need to change by expanding our view of ourselves as a people and then as a nation.
It is useless to think of building a nation when we are talking about Luo's and Kikuyu's. Infact, the only mention of these tribes should be when we are discussing our unique clutures as part of a tourism campaign or wthin the confines of our educational facilities. Nothing else. Period!
I never think of myself as a member of a tribe although I am conciously made aware by visiting blogs like these. I seek a place where I can be a Kenyan.
A platform where we can discuss why majimbo would or would not serve the people of the provinces better than the current system of government; A platform where we can understand why kenya is busy allowing itself to be flooded with foreign goods when factories have died and millions become unemployed; A platform where we can understand why cabinet ministers cannot be elected from outside parliament and so forth and so on.
This discussion my friends is what will help identify the leader amongst us not trivial and petty discussions about who did what when and where!
I am flabugu
You raise very important concrete issues which I would like to see discussed here:majimbo, cheap, sub-standard imports, non-parliamentary cabinet membersI do however disagree with you on the need for Kenyans to sort of deny their tribe as though it were a brand of a leper. Tribe and ethnicity are not wrong and we should not, as you suggested, only acknowledge them when we have to do a jig in front of tourists. Your tribe is an identity that is divinely ordained, an identity that connects you to thousands of years of history. BE PROUD OF YOUR TRIBE.My problem is with the use of tribe to drive a wedge amongst neighbors when tribe becomes a political tool. When it now becomes okay to kill members of certain tribes owing to the transgresions of certain leaders who happen to belong to those tribes. That's a problem.
I do not also think that we necessarily need to speak with one voice...disagreements are a hallmark for a strong democracy. Discussions, debates presuppose there being a difference in opinions. I can disagree with you on majimbo or the need to import cheap cars and that should be fine. The problem is with you killing me or destroying my property because I dared disagree with you.
Thanks for stopping by and feel free to disagree.
I do understand that your tribe is part of who you are. Much like Obama's deep desire to find himself by visiting his ancestral lands. However, my point is that tribe should be just that; a part of who you are.
Now, it is not permissible for me or you to blame our individual failures or success to the 'tribe'.
For instance it is foolhardy to accuse Kikuyu's of being thieves while if you got to our jails and prisons you shall find a well represented cross section of kenyan communities. Furthermore, people will stereotpe Luo's to be show offs while we have people like 'prezzo' who are not luos but claim to be 'the king of bling'.
Therefore my point is that tribe is just that; tribe. It does not in itself represent a development agenda nor does it present a cause for disagreement.
I personally feel that it is an issue only as large as the leader in charge. American's have the same race issues, but they are American's first, then black, white or latino second.
All am saying is that post election violence was not because of your tribe or my tribe; it simply was because of poor leadership objectives, coupled by a broken system that does not allow accountability nor does it check itself against abuse.
As one man once said... "It's the system,stupid!"
Anon 4:33 said "All am saying is that post election violence was not because of your tribe or my tribe; it simply was because of poor leadership objectives, coupled by a broken system that does not allow accountability nor does it check itself against abuse.
As one man once said... "It's the system,stupid!""
I hope you are not under the impression that I disagree with you on the substance of your argument. My last video titled "Tribalism is not the problem" expresses your exact same sentiments. Take a moment to view it.
Good idea to keep an eye on the landscape where the good, the bad and the ugly exist in equal measure. And if something can be done to flag and/or thwart the horrors that were visited on some, the better for us all.
"I have learned silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet, strange, I am ungrateful to those teachers."
Khalil Gibran
Hi W! Of course its nice to have a space to reflect on what is going on. For without reflection, how can we ever learn? To name things and say things is better than to avoid them. If Kenya is in trouble, let us spot the trouble, and deal with it. for is that not the foundation of a strong society? I just read an extremely interesting piece by Wangari Maathai, which I would have loved if we could put up on your blog. Its basically about profiling, and how the law is broken in the name of tribal profiling. she uses specific examples, but what strikes me is the way she argues that there is a gap in the system that allows for the law makers to be the law breakers. it is this same gap that created such anger and violence. perhaps it is this gap in the law (as you say in your brilliant piece) that we should target. As Anon mentions, no Kenyan can throw a stone, and stand aside and say they did not at one point feel in a certain way about another tribe. True, perhaps. But maybe we should move beyond that, and think of ways in which the consequences of our thoughts destroyed who we were, are, and how we can learn from our mistakes. To skirt the issue though, is not a solution. We need to. But the solution will come from our leaders. Right now, people are waiting for leadership, because ll of us are tired. we just want it to be okay, stronger perhaps. we want to all just get along. Question is, where do we start? I think your blog is an excellent starting space. It is one of the first spaces to engage at this level. while I want to say, I have no tribe, it would be a lie, because I do. But this not need be a bad thing. We ought to know how to engage with each other as a cohesive nation, embrace our differences without bringing hatred into the picture. and for this, Kenya needs leadership, and healing.
I agree with Dino about embracing our tribes and findong an identity. As we engage in this process of discussion and dialogue, I still wonder why us Kenyans dwell so much on tribe.
Granted, we had tribal warfare in the old society and in modern times we have had people turn and kill each other. What I would like to point out is that back in the day, from my primary school GHC, there were warrior tribes such as the masai which were basically doing what they did because the were nomads and needed to fend for themselves.
The kikuyu became fighters during the mau mau rebellion but my history may not be accurate but i do not recall hearing of fights between the kikuyu and luos or even kalenjins.
As we have seen from European societies all the way to the mayan societies fighting then was a way of territorial protection and preservtion. Modern socities have since moved on and nullified the issue of ethinicty by understanding that we are all human beings who can succeed by sharing ideas and building systems.
In kenya, I hate what I hear all the time, now and again. I stand to be accused of being naive or sort of 'a holocaust denier' because I truly believe that tribe is not an issue that merits the attention that it gets.
Kenyatta was the first politician to rule Kenya and by then was really of the tribal mould. This is not to blame him but it is to say that he was born and bred in old Kenya and most of his friends were naturally members of his age group and age set.
When he became president, he simply coalesced around these same individuals as if he was the chief of Githunguri. Moi was a high school teacher. Not very learned as per todays standards and at the same time had numerous enemies from Kenyatta's circle.
But as a student of Kenyatta, he applied the same phillosophy and led us down the same path. He united the Kalenjin and enriched them enought so as to have the muscle to hold onto power.
The rest we all know, with Kibaki and excetera. Herein my friends lies the problem. You and I have no issues. If we meet on the streets of Hong Kong as Kenyans we will be glad and pompous. It's these politicians cut from the old cloth who are simply turning the simple kenyan into a confused being.
Tribe will forever be there; hate it or love it. It is not a bad thing nor does it need to be addressed as if it is a bad thing. All we need to do is adress the system and ensure that there is parity by Law in areas of government. As long as we can come up with a Law that deifnes cabinet, the number of slots and the required minimum slots per region we could be headed in a positive direction.
This template should not only stop at the cabinet level but in all areas of government with a special emphasis on educated persons from improvished areas such as North Eastern, Eastern and the Coast.
We should be pragmatic about it and adress the system. addressing Raila and the Luo's or Kibaki and the Kikuyu's or Kalonzo and the Kambas is fool hardy. Let us address the system my friends...the system!
Post a Comment