[allAfrica.com] [US-Africa_Business_Summit_Registration] Tribalism The Post (Lusaka) EDITORIAL May 12, 2003 Posted to the web May 12, 2003 Lusaka THE campaign for national unity being championed by a group calling itself Concerned Citizens led by chieftainess Nkomeshya is highly welcome. We agree with their call that we should not allow our country to slide into internal conflict. It is deceitful to pretend and wish away these undesirable realities in our society. It is useless to pretend there is no tribal hostilities in our midst and that those raising the issue are disgruntled elements bent on whipping up destructive sentiments and confusing people. But the issue of tribalism is a very complex one. In attempting to come to grips with the roots, meanings and implications of tribalism, one is faced with a conundrum. We say conundrum because, in all its manifestations, tribalism cannot be defined as a single thing 'out there' which - anthropologists, political scientists, historians, sociologists and others - can observe, analyse and interpret or explain. Rather, we are faced with the complexity of human existence and behaviour which defies simplistic definitions and explanations. Rather than the utopian ideal of a peaceful 'global village' anticipated with the end of the Cold War, the closing part of the twentieth century is witnessing internal conflict and divisions within nations. The sought-after dream of nation-building may be alive in some parts of the world, but in recent years countries such as the former Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia have been fractured ostensibly on ethnic grounds, and others , too, have fought brutal battles with devastating consequences for many. For example, Hutu and Tutsi genocidal conflicts in Rwanda; challenges for power in Liberia and Sierra Leone; Somali clan rivalry; secessionist Eritrean war; divisions between Northerners and Southerners in Sudan; Northern Ireland Catholics against the British and Northern Irish Protestants; conflicts between Nanumba, Konkomba and Dagomba in Northern Ghana. More peaceful demonstrations and demands for sovereignty have been made by Francophones in Quebec, and for recognition of First Nations people throughout Canada. What must be recognised, however, is that the underlying reasons cited for these problems are as varied as the locations and the people - that is, language, religion, competition for political power, history, culture, access to resources, differences in race, and claims for succession or territory. Some say whilst the one-party system under UNIP gravitated towards unity and integration of all the tribal groups, the multi-party system has tended towards polarisation and disintegration. But we think the political hegemonising project of UNIP is not where the solution to a politics of diversity lies, or not only from where we should await solutions to the problem of national fragmentation. That approach cannot, and has indeed, failed to meet the conflicting demands expressed through 'traditional' authority, extended regionalism, and tribal self-determination and recognition. From our country's experience over the last 38 years, we think the project of nation building, as envisaged in the UNIP government's statements and popular thinking - which have somewhat in a deformed manner been inherited by the MMD government - cannot be achieved. But that does not mean that we discard the notion. Firstly, we think nation-building can be redefined to encompass the broader project of extending the conditions for and the range of citizen participation in democracy in a wider sense than regular elections; secondly, it is necessary to establish belief in the efficacy of the structures and processes of democracy and of the state; thirdly, nation-building can be attached to the organising principle of a politics of diversity that will include the need for re-examining and being open to the possibilities of strong regionalism. For social scientists, too, the notion of nation-building serves to pose questions, about identity, political stability in a much altered international context, and democracy. This function does not end with the rejection of such a notion in any crude form as unachievable. To create trust in social structures and processes, democratic participation must be seen to affect social and material inequalities. A sensitivity to the gender and class stratifications of society are, therefore, essential. Related, the organs instituted through and for democratic participation must have a credibility in themselves, and not be perceived as sectional bodies. A politics of diversity must be actively striven for. And such politics must rest on notions of flexibility, change in, and overlapping of identities. We believe that if the notion of nation-building remains tied to exclusive, dominant or singular visions of national character, both our politicians and social scientists will be disappointed in the failure of such attempts. Therefore, let there indeed be greater expression of cultural particularity in our country, but let it be articulated according to democratic principles and let it therefore also reflect a truly heterogeneous society rather than the unitary image of a privileged national identity which has been raised to the level of exclusive and normative essence. The politics of identity in Zambia are unfortunately, literally in many cases, being fought out with antagonism and much less debate and tolerance. That is the task of necessarily looser notion of nation-building.   =============================================================================   Copyright © 2003 The Post. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). =============================================================================