We grew up in a rather fairly
democratic family. Democratic in that I had as much right as my other siblings
to stand on my two feet and own the television set remote control; on a first
come first served basis, for a reasonable time-frame. It wasn’t based on size,
gender or skin colour, for I recall vividly how our youngest sister clutched on
to it watching Powerpuff girls even when us boys all wanted to watch the AFC
Leopards against Gor Mahia FC local derby that was showing concurrently. She
knew very well that by letting it go, democracy will not come. By giving us the
remote democracy will not come today, this year nor ever through compromise and
fear.
Hence I tire so, of hearing
people say let things take their course, tomorrow is another day; I don’t need
my freedom when I’m dead, as I can’t live on tomorrows bread. With democracy
comes freedom- a strong seed planted in a great need, and we learnt that
growing up in our beautiful family of 42.
But what is freedom of expression?
Without the freedom to offend, does it not cease to exist! In our family freedom
is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes. In our
family we always disapprove of what each of us say all the time, but one thing
for sure is that we will and have always defended to death ones right to say it
anyway. We have known very well that, if
freedom of speech was taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like
sheep to the slaughter.
Still, in our family we have
nothing but our freedom. We have nothing to give you but your own freedom. We
have no law but the single principle of mutual aid between individuals. We have
no government but the single principle of free association. We have no states,
no nations, no presidents, no premiers, no chiefs, no generals, no bosses, no
bankers, no landlords, no wages, no charity, no police, no soldiers, and no
wars. Nor do we have much else. We are sharers, not owners. We are not
prosperous. None of us is rich. None of us is powerful. If it is the future you
seek, then I tell you that you must come to it with empty hands. You must come
to it alone, and naked, as the child comes into the world, into his future,
without any past, without any property, wholly dependent on other people for
his life. You cannot take what you have not given, and you must give yourself.
You cannot buy the Revolution. You cannot make the Revolution. You can only be
the Revolution. It is in your spirit, or it is nowhere.
“Can we imagine a togetherness
that isn't founded on gross generalizations, conceptualizing ourselves as
unique individuals who still stand to gain from looking out for one another?
Can we identify with each other rather than with categories or masters?”!
They say Sovereignty is not given, it is
taken. So you can’t tell our solidarity family to shut up and be grateful, for
the “rights” given to us. Nobody “gave” us our sovereignty; it is ours,
inherently! To say that I should be grateful to possess more rights, than my
sisters before me, is like to say I should be grateful to the thief who only
steals 100 Kshs, when he used to steal 500 Kshs! Like I earlier remarked,
democracy will never come through compromise and fear. -The other day our
sister Migingo, was raped by the Ugandans. They claimed that she had caused it
for herself as she appeared too overly enticingly approachable?? Really, as
long as we live in a society that blames a rape victim for being too sexy; as
long as we live in a society that creates an institutional gendered hierarchy;
as long as we live in a society where people feel trapped by their sexual
identity… we, in our family will and shall not shut up and be grateful. We will
be loud and angry.
They also say that Peace is more than the absence of
war. Peace is accord; Harmony. In our family we practice peaceful relations beyond our family
walls. Though we open to all, our doors bear locks and one has to knock to be
let in. Again our family is not for sale, we pride ourselves in our
independence and ability to feed ourselves from our hard toiled sweat. It hurts
me how; the Italians took over our coast and now River-Road becoming East
Africa’s new small China Town. Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the
enemy of growth. We must start protecting our family walls and resources
despite our friendly outlook. I mean
what good is a smooth tongue without sharp teeth?
Finally I can say that though, we
have different ancestral names, we in our family share only one unifying family
name. We swore never to use our names in vain as a dividing object as we knew
this would only generate hate and take away our prosperous family’s fate. I believe that people
who think with their epidermis or their genitalia or their clan are the problem
to begin with. One does not banish this specter by invoking it. If we would not
vote against someone on the grounds of 'race' or 'gender' alone, then by the
exact same token we would not cast a vote in his or her favour for the identical
reason. Yet see how this obvious question makes fairly intelligent people say
the most alarmingly stupid things. It's a common mistake for
vacationing people in our family to assume that everyone around us is Kikuyu or Luo and
therefore speaks no Kiswahili whatsoever. An experienced traveller could have
told by looking at my shoes that I am neither a farmer nor a fisherman. And
even if I were from the Mara, it's not as if Kisawhili is some mysterious
tribal dialect spoken only by anthropologists and a small population of
cannibals.
We as a family, despite of our previous flaws and
mistakes amongst each other, will move on and restore our
inner song. We will i believe rekindle the single sound of music that flames our common
souls with love. Not to forgive is to be imprisoned by the past, by old
grievances that do not permit life to proceed with new business. Not to forgive
is to yield oneself to another's control... to be locked into a sequence of act
and response, of outrage and revenge, tit for tat, escalating always. The
present is endlessly overwhelmed and devoured by the past. Forgiveness frees
the forgiver. It extracts the forgiver from someone else's nightmare. Beneath
the armor of skin/bone/mind most of our colors are amazingly the same. My family I know bears that common colour, that common inner song...
