MUSING ON INDEPENDENCE

Today is our 43rd Independence Day. I am sitting at home, enjoying a rare day with my family. Just now, the children are playing with their cousins as my little nephew is celebrating his birthday today. As I watch the children play in complete innocence as only children can, I sense a certain melancholy descend on me. I keep asking myself, when will their innocence give way to pragmatics? What is in store for them tomorrow? As they engage in their play, carefree and happy, they are oblivious to events which surround them; events which will determine their future, their lives, their future happiness (or desolation?).

Just this afternoon, my son was watching the address by the President on the occasion of Independence, with me. My son asked me, “Dad, why is the Independence Day so special?” I tried best as I could to explain to him that Independence for a nation was very important because that was the way to ensure our freedom and our security. In my attempt to emphasize the importance of Independence, I exemplified by saying that if another nation was ruling us, they could hurt us if we didn’t obey their every order…and then I realized I had made a mistake. For he then asked me a very innocent question, or was it a statement? He said, “Oh! So Zimbabwe is not independent then? I saw the other night on the news people in uniforms beating up people in Zimbabwe.” I was stumped. I did not have the heart to contradict him. I did not have the words to explain to him that one could be enslaved by one’s own fellow country men, too. Had I started to, his next question could very well have been, “Dad, why is it then that I saw that pregnant lady and many others being beaten by the police, the other day, on our doorstep? (He witnessed the events which took place in front of our house on 13th August 2005). Why is the President saying we are Independent when we really are not?”

Only a child could have the innocence to see things in black or white with no shades of grey in between. I just thought, let him enjoy his innocence at least one more day. Tomorrow someone may come and steal a portion of it from him.

After this exchange with my son, I couldn’t help but muse to myself on the ludicrousness of it all. Here we are, engaged in academic debate on the finer points of independence, freedom and liberty and it took a nine year old just a few seconds to say it all. For, the essence of what my son said is simply this: Does it really matter who rules us if we do not have the freedom to enjoy our liberties? Can we take any special pride in being ruled by people of our nationality when they commit atrocities against us that even imperialists would not commit?

Perhaps Independence is a relative notion. Maybe, it is a notion that is even on the way to becoming obsolete. When is the Independence day of Britain? Or China? Or Germany? Or the Netherlands?

Nations which gained “independence” from colonial rule still celebrate independence to remind themselves of what it was like to be under colonial rule. But as my son pointed out, I wonder whether the average Zimbabwean today would prefer colonial rule under Britain or Independence under Mugabe?

But of course neither of the above is a real choice for Zimbabweans. The real solution would be a Zimbabwe free from British colonial rule and also free from authoritarian Mugabe rule. It is not only Zimbabwe which we see in this situation. I wonder what the average Sudanese thinks about Independence these days?

We seek, and take pride in Independence because it allows us to affirm ourselves as a nation which is free to do what it wants; that we have the opportunity to propagate our culture and values. However, the very essence of this Independence is rendered meaningless if in our Independent nation the citizens are subjugated and deprived of civil liberties. If they are not given the opportunity of being considered equals in responsibility, contribution and benefits of nationhood.

Sometimes Independence has a down side, too. It may not be all rosy to be an independent nation. Along with Independence comes also the concept of sovereignty. Sovereignty can also be used by oppressors within the nation to protect themselves from the criticisms from other nations in situations where rule of law is forgotten and the will of a few people are imposed on the majority.

Common phenomena in these kinds of situations are calls for Nationalism by the oppressors and denouncing foreign intervention in the name of sovereignty. Of course, in this situations, to be nationalistic is to be non critical of the dominant view, sacrificing individual freedoms and liberties in the national interest, to foster “national harmony” at any cost, and in short, to bow to the will of the oppressors.

When one starts hearing repeated calls for nationalistic action by the oppressors, and every other person being labeled as a traitor and charged with treason, then one can take a certain kind of comfort in knowing that the oppressors are now resorting to their last tactic : create mass hysteria in that if change occurs, the colonialists and the imperialists will steal our nation from us. Little do they know, that by that stage the masses are convinced that anything else will be better than what they have.

In a rapidly shrinking globe, where commerce and technology have become the invisible infiltrators across national boundaries, one muses whether the post second world war era notions of nationalism and Independence hold any water now. I am inclined to believe that nationalism and Independence can only be sustained with slightly different interpretations of these terms. The new nationalism and independence must be the empowerment of people to become global citizens and yet have the ability to preserve their culture and values. Every nation is on the way to becoming a multicultural society. The most important definition of Independence in the new world may very well be to do with the independence of men and women, free to aspire to their own ways of defining a “good” life.