A Clash of Identities: Modernity and Traditional Moral Economy Among the Acholi of Uganda
Acholi Unity as a goal is a mirage. Whether unity of action or shared values or common aspirations that rely on our alleged common culture or ethnicity, or common external threats, is a goal that does not exist and therefore cannot be achieved. Not that we do not want or wish we could, or that it would not be a good thing, but it is just that, it is the stage of social and economic development that history, the world and human nature have imposed on us. In my view therefore, setting achievement of Acholi unity as a goal, urging Acholi unity rather than harmony, collaboration and coordination of individual and group interests in order to achieve certain shared but limited objectives that may benefit the majority or everyone equally, is an illusion.
It is unbelievable to some that I would even say a thing like this. But I think we need to realise that the world keeps changing and Acholi society is part of the world and it has undergone comparable changes herself. Unless we can accept such realities, we will be bogged down frittering our energies away chasing what does not exist and cannot be achieved. Why do I say so?
We must accept the changes that colonization or the forcible imposition of white rule or imperialism over us and the rest of the world brought. White rule brought with it christian religion and their respective sects; education and career based on educational merits; cash economy and producing for the market or capitalism, and over emphasis on the individual and decision based on the best interest and rational choice of the individual. Most of our people are Christians and christianity characteristically implored us to abandon all that was associated with our traditional beliefs and cutural practices. To be civilised meant to believe in the Judeo-Christian god; to marry in the church, and one man one wife. Social advancement meant formal education and career detached from the land. Any involvement with the land for the emerging modernised Acholi meant large commercial farms that produced for the market, and perhaps even a market outside Acholi or for needs outside Acholi. Thus they partialled off large tracks of customary land among or outside thier own communities and became to Acholi what the lords of the manor were in 16th centrury English and European enclosure movements. This was a process known as the enclosure of the commons, where those with the means acquired and fenced off whatever was available and could make money for themselves (re; globalisation or internationalisation of capitalism works in the same way).
Although we did not completely embrace these and did not become complete Europeans in black skins, the changes were significant. At least, a majority of Acholi elite, those with formal education and career and lifestyle that is not depended on rainfed peasant cultivation, but the national economy and the workings of the international economy, have more in common with their counterparts in other areas of the country and internationally than with the majority of the Acholi peasants and those in the concentration camps. In this respect, any concerns for the fate of the ordinary Acholi peasants, or any concerns for justice and equity must not be a matter of policy to take from John to give to Paul, but rather a matter of charity based on individual morality to help the less fortunate. Governments and policies must be limited to providing equal opportunities for all, regardless of pre-existing inequalities eg accidents of birth, geography, nature and nurture. As a person, my views are to the contrary.
The point is that collective responsibility or community living as we knew it pre-white rule, are no longer a way of life of the Acholi people. This process was under way long before 1971 and 1986. Post 1986 events simply accelerated the social fragmentations and further individualisation of Acholi society. Emigration out of Acholi and into the Diaspora has added another diamension to the process of social differentiation, making the gaps between social groups even more acute and further imposing another social group with individual and group interests that compete with those of similar social group in-country in Acholiland or Uganda. This means that disadvantaged families and communities that were either marginalised by history, geography, accidents of birth or the coming of white religion, white rule, white education and colonial or district commissioner patronage and missed out on the new opportunities, have been doubly further disadvantaged. For now, we succeed or fail as individuals, not clans or villages; although sometimes when it suits our purposes, we still invoke extended families, clans or villages to further our individual goals or class interests. But largely, we have become more capitalist and individualitic than White Americans or British. I hope, and may be Acholi salvation may lie with my compatirots in Scandinavia, where governments and society care for social justice and equity to some extent. This is to say, our British and North American borthers and sisters are largely hopeless in this matter.
As individuals therefore, we are reluctant to do something that does not further our own individual interests (that is to say we are rational beings that will not knowingly hurt ourselves unless there is a benefit to it). But we will band together with people of similar interests, to achieve goals that advance individual interests perceived in common or collective terms. That is why, I would like to to say that the division of Acholi into Kitgum, Gulu, Pader and now Amuru, were not based on the interests of the majority of the common people of these areas, but the elite from these areas who felt crowded out by elites from Gulu or Kitgum, who had a headstart whether in colonialism or post independence elite competitions. Forget the deception about taking services closer to the people. Look at Pader, the ordinary people still have to travel to Kitgum for most services except the dictatorship of the RDC and other administrative arms of the state which have been brought closer to them. Next stop, keep your ears to the ground to hear the self interests of Lamwo elites clamouring for a district of their own against Chua elites. This is class interests my people, not the interest and for the good of the people in the concentration camps. And you will see NRM, DP, UPC and FDC elite unite for a common class interests.
How will Gulu, Kitgum, Pader and Amuru work toghether, or unite outside the localised social, economic and political interests of the dominant elite groups that forced the separation of Acholi district in the first place?
The answer is that uniting Acholi as Acholi is impossible but it is possible for a group of likeminded people with ideas and vision that can bring the greatest good or benefit for the greatest number of people in Acholi to work together and force througth social, political and economic reforms in Acholi. This group need not be a majority but they need be fanatical in their beliefs and genuine in their concerns for the people, justice, equality and equity for Acholi society. Leadership is top down but not bottom up; but authority and legitimacy however must have the consent of the bottom majority. And this can be achieved through the goodness and vision of leadership and its concern for justice and social equity. A group of elite had better start thinking, envisioning and leading the people rather than burying our heads in populist and nonsensical sands of defering to the peasants, who ironically look to the elite to lead and guide them. But this must be based on a keen understanding of the needs and interest of the people, analysed and interpreted in the context of a globalised world and international politics, that recognise subversive economic and political interests of the dominant international imperialist power.
Four things I set out convey to us here and help us engage in meaningful debate and envisioning of Acholi :
(1) Uniting as Acholi, without recognising competing individual and group interests is impossible;
(2) Our society has changed and individualism and living in a world transformed and ruled by cash ecnomy, markets and the domination of society by capitalism and the importance of the individual and class interests in it, is a reality we have to accept and respect;
(3) There is need for a small group of likeminded Acholi elite from home and diaspora, who genuinely believe in social justice and equality, and who are committed to such a cause to provide leadership and champion the cause of the majority of Acholi peasants, not as a matter of individual charity and morality but as a necessary policy and primary concern. This is not going to be easy, for the Acholi lords of the manors are going to fight tooth and nails to maintain and further their privileges for themselves and their heirs and successors;
(4) Individualism, capitalism, cash and market economy aka globalisation is upon us (unless another Karl Marx or Lenin emerges-Hugo Chavez? -to reverse the trend and offer alternative), we need to prepare Acholi society by making sure we lessen social inequalities and the disparities in wealth and living conditions of the majority of our people and the richest and most privileged among them.
If we understand the forces of globalisation, we should be afraid for our people if we do not return them home within the next five years. The continuation of this analysis will next tackle the social conflicts and problems of leadership that is devouring Acholi. It is part of the same process I have sketched here.
It is unbelievable to some that I would even say a thing like this. But I think we need to realise that the world keeps changing and Acholi society is part of the world and it has undergone comparable changes herself. Unless we can accept such realities, we will be bogged down frittering our energies away chasing what does not exist and cannot be achieved. Why do I say so?
We must accept the changes that colonization or the forcible imposition of white rule or imperialism over us and the rest of the world brought. White rule brought with it christian religion and their respective sects; education and career based on educational merits; cash economy and producing for the market or capitalism, and over emphasis on the individual and decision based on the best interest and rational choice of the individual. Most of our people are Christians and christianity characteristically implored us to abandon all that was associated with our traditional beliefs and cutural practices. To be civilised meant to believe in the Judeo-Christian god; to marry in the church, and one man one wife. Social advancement meant formal education and career detached from the land. Any involvement with the land for the emerging modernised Acholi meant large commercial farms that produced for the market, and perhaps even a market outside Acholi or for needs outside Acholi. Thus they partialled off large tracks of customary land among or outside thier own communities and became to Acholi what the lords of the manor were in 16th centrury English and European enclosure movements. This was a process known as the enclosure of the commons, where those with the means acquired and fenced off whatever was available and could make money for themselves (re; globalisation or internationalisation of capitalism works in the same way).
Although we did not completely embrace these and did not become complete Europeans in black skins, the changes were significant. At least, a majority of Acholi elite, those with formal education and career and lifestyle that is not depended on rainfed peasant cultivation, but the national economy and the workings of the international economy, have more in common with their counterparts in other areas of the country and internationally than with the majority of the Acholi peasants and those in the concentration camps. In this respect, any concerns for the fate of the ordinary Acholi peasants, or any concerns for justice and equity must not be a matter of policy to take from John to give to Paul, but rather a matter of charity based on individual morality to help the less fortunate. Governments and policies must be limited to providing equal opportunities for all, regardless of pre-existing inequalities eg accidents of birth, geography, nature and nurture. As a person, my views are to the contrary.
The point is that collective responsibility or community living as we knew it pre-white rule, are no longer a way of life of the Acholi people. This process was under way long before 1971 and 1986. Post 1986 events simply accelerated the social fragmentations and further individualisation of Acholi society. Emigration out of Acholi and into the Diaspora has added another diamension to the process of social differentiation, making the gaps between social groups even more acute and further imposing another social group with individual and group interests that compete with those of similar social group in-country in Acholiland or Uganda. This means that disadvantaged families and communities that were either marginalised by history, geography, accidents of birth or the coming of white religion, white rule, white education and colonial or district commissioner patronage and missed out on the new opportunities, have been doubly further disadvantaged. For now, we succeed or fail as individuals, not clans or villages; although sometimes when it suits our purposes, we still invoke extended families, clans or villages to further our individual goals or class interests. But largely, we have become more capitalist and individualitic than White Americans or British. I hope, and may be Acholi salvation may lie with my compatirots in Scandinavia, where governments and society care for social justice and equity to some extent. This is to say, our British and North American borthers and sisters are largely hopeless in this matter.
As individuals therefore, we are reluctant to do something that does not further our own individual interests (that is to say we are rational beings that will not knowingly hurt ourselves unless there is a benefit to it). But we will band together with people of similar interests, to achieve goals that advance individual interests perceived in common or collective terms. That is why, I would like to to say that the division of Acholi into Kitgum, Gulu, Pader and now Amuru, were not based on the interests of the majority of the common people of these areas, but the elite from these areas who felt crowded out by elites from Gulu or Kitgum, who had a headstart whether in colonialism or post independence elite competitions. Forget the deception about taking services closer to the people. Look at Pader, the ordinary people still have to travel to Kitgum for most services except the dictatorship of the RDC and other administrative arms of the state which have been brought closer to them. Next stop, keep your ears to the ground to hear the self interests of Lamwo elites clamouring for a district of their own against Chua elites. This is class interests my people, not the interest and for the good of the people in the concentration camps. And you will see NRM, DP, UPC and FDC elite unite for a common class interests.
How will Gulu, Kitgum, Pader and Amuru work toghether, or unite outside the localised social, economic and political interests of the dominant elite groups that forced the separation of Acholi district in the first place?
The answer is that uniting Acholi as Acholi is impossible but it is possible for a group of likeminded people with ideas and vision that can bring the greatest good or benefit for the greatest number of people in Acholi to work together and force througth social, political and economic reforms in Acholi. This group need not be a majority but they need be fanatical in their beliefs and genuine in their concerns for the people, justice, equality and equity for Acholi society. Leadership is top down but not bottom up; but authority and legitimacy however must have the consent of the bottom majority. And this can be achieved through the goodness and vision of leadership and its concern for justice and social equity. A group of elite had better start thinking, envisioning and leading the people rather than burying our heads in populist and nonsensical sands of defering to the peasants, who ironically look to the elite to lead and guide them. But this must be based on a keen understanding of the needs and interest of the people, analysed and interpreted in the context of a globalised world and international politics, that recognise subversive economic and political interests of the dominant international imperialist power.
Four things I set out convey to us here and help us engage in meaningful debate and envisioning of Acholi :
(1) Uniting as Acholi, without recognising competing individual and group interests is impossible;
(2) Our society has changed and individualism and living in a world transformed and ruled by cash ecnomy, markets and the domination of society by capitalism and the importance of the individual and class interests in it, is a reality we have to accept and respect;
(3) There is need for a small group of likeminded Acholi elite from home and diaspora, who genuinely believe in social justice and equality, and who are committed to such a cause to provide leadership and champion the cause of the majority of Acholi peasants, not as a matter of individual charity and morality but as a necessary policy and primary concern. This is not going to be easy, for the Acholi lords of the manors are going to fight tooth and nails to maintain and further their privileges for themselves and their heirs and successors;
(4) Individualism, capitalism, cash and market economy aka globalisation is upon us (unless another Karl Marx or Lenin emerges-Hugo Chavez? -to reverse the trend and offer alternative), we need to prepare Acholi society by making sure we lessen social inequalities and the disparities in wealth and living conditions of the majority of our people and the richest and most privileged among them.
If we understand the forces of globalisation, we should be afraid for our people if we do not return them home within the next five years. The continuation of this analysis will next tackle the social conflicts and problems of leadership that is devouring Acholi. It is part of the same process I have sketched here.
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