By Abdihafid Mohamed Wadaad
Naturally people are divided. From the bottom, two brothers of the same blood and flesh might sometimes part ways and can set up their families respectively away from each other’s area or knowledge. With that in mind; it generally poses no problem if we acknowledge the division of people into tribes, whether they are close with each other (in terms of blood) or not but also can happen to live in the same territory or not.
It becomes clear, to see the bigger picture of this phenomenon, it is necessary to dig deeper and observe the historical evolution of people in a profound manner to reconstruct this theory.
People are generally similar when it comes to accepting (mostly, without hesitation) and glorifying their origin and roots (as they have expanded in number and their families increased substantially) and despise those of others to some extent. They at present eagerness to look unique form and adapt new values and cultures and norms they hold dear and consider sacred, new languages to separate themselves from others and on their peak create a civilizations that suit their way of life.
All these actions, whether intended or not, trigger those around them who usually follow suit and try and object that way of life of their neighbors and this is the outbreak of the rivalry between the two people(s).
This rivalry becomes a competition which, in some cases more than two groups of people are involved and even reaches the level of confrontation in which one side of the rivaling sides is obliterated or it ends in draw and they reach some kind of understanding in which both cultures coexist and flourish together via means of trade exchange or any other form of interaction.
This is where tribalism comes in, it follows the same pattern in terms of development and appearance after all, it is a form of social organization and literally the oldest in existence. People, often of the same family start to adapt a way of life to survive, to do so they divide roles, and struggle to keep living. In most cases, despite the harshness they live under, their numbers increase and in that stage their life enters a new era in which the conflicts becomes frequent amongst them which results an urgent need for a leader to keep and hold the family together and this is where political life of the tribe starts from. In this primitive way of life, the selection of the leader is based on his physical or mental superiority. He is named chief and later is promoted to an elder.
As the number of population increases, the need for food increases and the tribe is forced to moving from one place to another in search of sufficient food and water. In most cases, they meet other tribes with the same life style as theirs and they tend to disagree and despise the other tribe’s way of life even though their lives are similar in almost every way. This friction is unnoticed in its primal stages but comes to light at some point and when it does the confrontation starts. The confrontation could be either verbal or physical or both, (depending the intensity of the friction) and in rare cases, they tend to coexist and hide their differences due to balance of power or an understanding between their chiefs.
This was the way of life in Africa prior to the colonial invasion in the continent. However, when the Europeans arrived they worked hard to alter the way of life that existed in the continent and impose theirs upon it. The target was to destroy the traditional way of life along with its political system which was predominant in the continent. As a result, the friction between the wary tribes who were already different increased as some tribes sided with the Europeans in their quest against their belligerent neighboring tribes. To realize their objectives, the colonialists favored the tribe(s) that befriended them and formalized their arrangements in a way of treaties in which they promised them all the lands of their rivals after they are either expelled or exterminated, in addition to unlimited support of physical logistics such as weapons and other combat gear which were rare at the time. The aim of the colonizers was to arm some tribes to do the dirty work for them, which was the destruction of a way of life, the colonizers disregarded. This produced a new age in which some tribe(s) became noble, superior and powerful and others were scorned and harassed. The tribe(s) that opposed the colonialists were (sort of ) held hostage, outnumbered and out gunned in a newly formed and demarcated territories, which were later named as country (x) and country (y) and despite being ripped off of all the comfort and honor they managed to stay. Fortunately after the colonials left, the balance of power is restored in a new way of endless and at their highest tier in differences (tradition, number, power, ideology, income ) and rivalry amongst the tribes. This discord turned into civil wars in many countries but the root cause was neither the past history and the traumas inflicted upon some tribes by others nor the difference in ethnicity or even ideology- it was all about the resources and how they’re distributed.
Tribe(s) favored by the colonialists became rich and increased in number and therefore the areas under their control expanded, while others died of hunger and poverty. Looting the livestock and other belongings of the tribes that opposed the colonialists by the forces of the colonialists and their friendly tribes was totally legal. After the independence, the notion of brotherhood and nationhood and equality before the law and so many unfamiliar slogans became common mainly from the side that supported with the colonialists and suddenly, the deprived, oppressed tribes became hopeful and were eager to share their brothers the benefits and richness. This did not sound well for the seemingly rich and powerful tribe(s) favored by the colonialists and when the demands of those they oppressed increased, they started to sabotage the weak system which the colonialists left for them and the others that live under it forcefully, to show other tribes that they are the “masters” and hence sharing is “out of the table” and they must stop asking for the benefits (whether political or wealth). Luckily this time, the support of the colonials is not what it used to be and the sides are equal in terms of man power and logistics though some tribe(s) have now became a state, “since they control the government which has the legal personality and the recognition of the world”, the sides are similar in all other aspects.
This is what makes the confrontation more quick and devastates the communities beyond imagination, causes disasters and tragedies we always wonder why they happened. If the already rich, powerful and colonial enriched tribe(s) accepted their brothers in land to share with them what the country has to offer, there would not have been many civil wars as we see today but their nepotism stands in the way of that.
Abdihafid Wadaad
Email: [email protected]
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