By A. F. Sesay
As young Africans, we grew up thinking if you are violent then you are evil. Yet, we have been victims of violence, right from the time of our forefathers. In fact, the majority of the global armed conflicts in the latter part of the last century and the early 21st century took place in the sub-Saharan Africa.
Now, note that I used “third world” and I also used “sub-Saharan!” You already know that those words by their very nature are creative acts of violence meant to contain a people or even a race.
But the trillion dollar question is why are the most violent also the loudest about the evils if violence. And very quick to identify violence in others.
There comes the place of Philosophy! The people who move and shake civilizations know that such force and power rise and fall on violence. But then, if this knowledge is accessible to all, life becomes brutish (not British), nasty and short. So, in order to win, conquer and dominate with violence you have got to refine it, and make it sophisticated. It has to be loaded with focus, force and formula. It has to be short lived(if possible) yet ruthless. And it must leave a bitter taste for centuries for maximum impact. Think Hiroshima and Nagasaki!
So, for the historically violated and oppressed to break free from the fetters of poverty and disease, they must teach their children how to eschew emotion-driven violence for strategic and creative violence in words and deeds.
This will require revisiting the curriculum and approaching such topics as Survival of the Fittest and the life of Carnivorous animals from a new lense.
Caveat: I am not violent, but you can’t help but admire the impact of strategic violence on the world as we know it today.