Oops, hope the formatting comes out better this time...

Regards,

Kabir.


Pan-African Postcard

Woza Africa!

Tajudeen Abdul Raheem (2007-08-30)

Tajudeen Abdul Raheem exposes the humour and absurdity in cultural and
racial prejudices, and situations where Africans have absorbed ridiculous
and pernicious colonial rules and persist in inflicting them on their fellow
citizens. 'The main reason why many of the anti-African biases and petty
apartheids persist is because too many of us put up with them. We really
need to wake up', he writes.


There are so many prejudices, insults and stereotypes between different
peoples, races, religions, nationalities and other social groups in the
world. Many of the violent conflicts unnecessarily claiming so many lives
use such prejudices to justify themselves. But prejudice need not to be
openly violent in order for it to be injurious to human beings. There are
many such irrational attitudes commonly displayed in action, speech and
conduct whose cumulative effect is to rob other human beings of their
dignity, self esteem and right to equality with other human beings.

While prejudices are generally expressed by 'others' towards 'others' over
time, some of the victims of such prejudices may actually internalise them
and use them against themselves or believe them to be true. An obvious
example is the widely used notion of 'African time'. If a European, American
or Chinese person is late, nobody blames it on Britain or Sweden, America or
China. But if Tajudeen is late the whole of Africa takes the blame. Even
Africans use it to justify their lateness.

There are many other examples. But the one that triggered this week's column
was a recent experience I had in Lusaka, capital city of Zambia. We had gone
to one of the many South African-owned or designed shopping malls that are
springing up in capital cities across Africa, paying homage to Africa's
growing middle-class consumerism. We had scheduled to meet up with my good
friend, veteran agitator, Sarah Longwe and her equally cantankerous partner,
Roy Clarke of the famous Kalaki Corner, a satiric column in The Post
Newspaper that irks Zambia's establishment so much that, but for the courts,
they would have deported him back to the England he left decades ago, and in
spite of being married to a Zambian woman.

Our rendez-vous was a popular restaurant and bar called Rhapsodies. I had
gone with another friend and colleague in the UN Millennium Campaign, Salil
Shetty. I was in my 'native' Nigerian up-and-down Kaftan and trouser with a
traditional hat to match. As we made to enter, a burly security man in an
ill-suited tight uniform beckoned me to stop. I asked why and he said I had
to take off my hat because men are not allowed to wear hats in the bar. Roy
and Sarah, who could see us from the open air verandah, were already
agitated and leapt to their feet screaming at the security man.

They needed not have bothered because I was very prepared to deal with the
situation. It has happen to me a few times in southern Africa before. The
last time it was in Zimbabwe. I was staying at the Great Zimbabwe hotel by
the Zimbabwe ruins. I had gone for supper, when this huge bouncer by the
gate in ridiculous multi-coloured English costumes with bowler hat and long
tail suit tried to deny me entrance because 'gentlemen are required to take
off their hats for supper'. I told him that part of his statement was
correct: I am a man, but as for being gentle, that may not fit, as he was to
discover soon after. I asked him why I needed to take off my hat, and he
said it was the rule. Set by whom? And how many years after liberation from
the Rhodesians?

I asked him if I had been wearing a Jewish skull cap and looked Jewish if
would he have stopped me. His answer was that the Jewish skull cap was a
religious symbol. How did he know that my hat was not a religious one? He
drew blank because these rules and conventions were imposed to keep Africans
away. Or model Africans in a particular way in order for them to belong!
Needless to say I did not take my hat off. The good sense of the manager
prevailed after I threatened to leave without paying for the accommodation
since I was not welcomed.

So my Lusaka expwerience was just an echo of that experience. When I pointed
out to my Zambian bouncer that he was also wearing a hat his only response
was that 'it is part of the uniform'. So I humored him that my hat could
also be part of my cultural uniform but it was above his programmed mind to
see the joke. By this time Sara was at the entrance and Roy was ready for a
fight. Just imagine the scene: an Englishman defending the right of an
African to wear African dress including his hat to another African in an
African country! How insane can our world get?

I was not budging and Salil, an Indian, was just enjoying the spectacle. The
opposition was unyielding and nobody came to his rescue so he stepped aside
and I entered.

It is true that we live with ridiculous rules but there is nothing that says
we have to implement them, especially when they offend our good taste and
sense of being. In many of the cultures of west Africa the wearing of a hat
is considered part of a normal or formal dress code. I know that in eastern
and southern Africa the wearing of a hat has acquired religious connotation.

When I was living in Uganda when I wore a hat people generally greeted me
with ' salaam alaykum', whereas when I was not wearing one, even if I was
wearing west African tie-and-die clothe, they would not assume I was a
Muslim. Christian missionaries and later colonialists attacked many aspects
of our culture in their 'civilizing mission' but continuing with some of
these petty rules so many years after the formal end of colonialism is a
sign of the enduring legacy of the colonial mindset. Most of them are like a
petty-apartheid, which we can do away with. For instance have you ever
wondered our five star hotels and no-star ones offer 'continental breakfast'
on their menu which does not mean the African continent? Can you imagine
being in a hotel in Europe and asking for a continental breakfast that does
not mean the European continent?

The late martyr of the anti-apartheid struggle, and Black Consciousness of
Azania leader, Steve Biko, once observed that one of the best weapons in the
hands of the oppressor is to set up his General Headquarters in the head of
the oppressed. How true, sadly so, this is, in all manners and in every day
things of our lives. In some countries it is still being debated whether
African dresses could be accepted as 'proper dress' for formal occassions.
The main reason why many of the anti-African biases and petty apartheids
persist is because too many of us put up with them. We really need to wake
up.

Woza AFRIKA!

* Tajudeen Abdul Raheem is the Deputy Director for the UN Millennium
Campaign in Africa, based in Nairobi, Kenya. He writes this article in a
personal capacity as a concerned pan-Africanist.

* Please send comments to [log in to unmask] or comment online at
http://www.pambazuka.org/

ISSN 1753-6839   (c) 2007 Fahamu <http://www.fahamu.org/>

¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html

To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤