For Memorial Day USA, May 30, 2016

Posted on May 30, 2016 by kathiemm

War

Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service

What more can be said of war
That has not already been said,
That has not already been written,
That has not already been sung in song,
Recited in verse, shared in epic tales?

What more can be said of war
That has not already been committed to screen
In iconic movies with legendary actors,
Fighting and dying with glory amidst waving flags,
Or in heralded documentaries carefully
Edited with photos, letters, poignant
Words of lament spoken amid haunting tunes?

What more can be said of war
That has not already been in sculpted in marble,
Painted on canvases,
Photographed in back and white,
And vivid color,
Revealing blood is red, bone is white,
Death is endless.

What more can be said of war
That has not already been inscribed in minds and bodies
Of soldiers who survived,
Civilians who endured,
Prisoners captive to trauma,
Scars visible and invisible?

What more can be said of war
That has not already been carved
On ordered granite gravestones
In national cemeteries, honoring sacrifice,
Their death veiled in shade and sunlight?

What more can be said of war,
That has not already been said about heroes and villains,
Soldiers and generals,
Warriors and misfits,
Freedom fighters and terrorists,
Victims and collateral damage,
Apologies and reparations?

What more can be said of war,
That has not already been said about
Glorious and evil causes,
Lusts for power and control
Access to wealth and resources,
Messianic responsibilities, moral duties,
Domination . . . ascendancy . . . revenge?

What more can be said of war,
That has not already been eulogized
On fields of battle
Where lives were lost, minds seared,
And historians’ crafts polished
With the biased narratives of victors:
Waterloo, Hue, Fallujah?
There is no winner in war!

And why, if so much has been
Spoken, written, and engraved,
Why do the lessons of war,
Continue to be ignored, denied, distorted?
And now . . . Syria.

August 28-29, 2013

___________________________

Comment: I wrote this poem in the course of two days as I witnessed the tragedy of death and suffering in Syria, bewildered again and again, by the endless uses of so many death technologies. I was dismayed that a score of nations appear to be pursuing selfish interests amidst the ethnic and tribal cleansing and genocides occurring. We are living with endless war. Nothing more can be said about war. Violence begets violence, war begets war! No cries of noble responsibilities to protect and defend from either side are sufficient or warranted. They are merely part of the tactics, strategies, and policies that sustain war. Who benefits from war?

Anthony Marsella, Ph.D., a member of the TRANSCEND Network, is a past president of Psychologists for Social Responsibility, emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Hawaii, and past director of the World Health Organization Psychiatric Research Center in Honolulu. He is known nationally and internationally as a pioneer figure in the study of culture and psychopathology who challenged the ethnocentrism and racial biases of many assumptions, theories, and practices in psychology and psychiatry. In more recent years, he has been writing and lecturing on peace and social justice. He has published 15 edited books, and more than 250 articles, chapters, book reviews, and popular pieces. He can be reached at marsella@hawaii.edu.

This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 2 September 2013.

Anticopyright: Editorials and articles originated on TMS may be freely reprinted, disseminated, translated and used as background material, provided an acknowledgement and link to the source, TMS: War, is included. Thank you.

AFRICAN BORDERS AND THE POLITICS OF EXCLUSION: REVISITING THE COLONIAL PAST, Part 2

Posted on May 28, 2016July 7, 2016 by kathiemm

Emmanuel Mbaezue interviewing some immigration security personnel I met at the border between Nigeria and Niger Republic. Posted with permission from Emmanuel Mbaezue.

By Emmanuel Mbaezue

The artificial boundaries and the false foundation laid by Colonialism accounts for the present day features of the African continent. Colonialism was largely a system that not only bred chaos in the internal politics of most African countries, but also continues to threaten the peace of the entire region.

From inter-state border-related conflicts caused by poor and depleting economies, high levels of forced migration and weak/porous borders, to intra-state conflicts fueled by undemocratic and exclusive governments, inept/moribund political institutions and weak nationalistic projects, it is evident that Africa’s mostly political woes are symptomatic of a malignant, external involvement that never prioritized the interests of the continent.

Courtesy of western civilization, the unique African communal ownership of lands that de-emphasized territorialization gave way to private ownership with all its extortionist tendencies. There was basically an anachronism between the continent’s colonial heritage and the dynamics of its societies. The African cultural boundaries experienced difficulty assimilating the new notion of an “independent State.”

As more African States gained their independence, there also came a general awakening to the realities left behind by colonialism. It was a distasteful heritage that could not be erased or made to operate properly. While some African countries called for the maintenance of the incompatible borders that the continent inherited, others agitated for a re-delimitation and re- demarcation of African territories. It was in the midst of this dilemma that the now defunct Organisation for African Unity (OAU) in July 1964, at its first Summit of the African Heads of State, resolved that Nation States on attainment of independence should preserve the existing borders.

The hallmark of the OAU’s effort to resolve the continent’s increasing number of border-related conflicts was attained with the establishment of the African Union Border Programme (AUBP). Nevertheless, problems stemming from colonization continue to plague the continent today and more horrific is the role they have further played in compounding the challenges posed by the spread of present-day religious extremism in the continent.

While we are certainly not calling for a revocation of the resolution of the July 1964 meeting of the African Heads of State on the inherited borders, we however cannot downplay the inefficacy of that resolution. Worse still, there is apparently a clear lack of commitment on the part of the African leadership to proffer workable solutions to this quagmire. To date, some African countries are annexing lands that do not belong to them, and in the process displacing a lot of border communities. The influence of ethnic Diasporas can still be felt aggravating the civil unrest in most countries as in the case of Rwanda, the DRC, and Burundi. Religious extremists still take advantage of the similar socio-cultural backgrounds existing between their countries and those they share borders with to clandestinely spread radical ideologies.

These continental problems that never seem to abate are particularly reflective of a societal gap yearning to be filled. In my view, unless pan-Africanism is given the same place as nationalism, politico-economic trivialities and partisanship will continue to remain the bane of the African society, regardless of any efforts made to remedy the ills of her colonial past.