There’s need to break chains binding Africa’s mental slaves

By Ally Jamah

When celebrated Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiong’o visited the country recently to launch his new book, Re-membering Africa, he refocused attention on the warped relations between Africa and the Western world is negatively affecting the continent.

His core message was Kenyans and Africans in general continue to suffer mental slavery to the West, a scenario he said is blocking the continent from exploring and realising its true power and legitimate place in the world.

Enslavement of the African mind by the West is an old subject but it is increasingly picking new relevance as the march of globalisation is swallowing up the continent under one "global culture" defined by the West.

It is necessary to counter this mental enslavement by Western media, because the economic, political and social health of the continent depends on it.

Otherwise we will continue to be a divided, backward continent that contributes little to humanity except natural resources and cheap labour.

The political independence from the colonialists in the 1950s and ’60s is largely hollow now, as economies and politics of African countries come under the sway of the giant Western juggernaut.

But this neo-colonialism is most serious when we realise even our hearts and minds are being enslaved to the Western ‘master’ under the endless stream of media messages.

Defining image

The West is using its billion-dollar media industry to make our values and mental outlook serve their not-so-selfless economic and political agenda, which mostly runs counter to the real interests of Africans.

Media is used to create an environment where Western corporations can exploit the huge natural resources of the continent, without hindrance.

Firstly, Western media continues to portray a false stereotypic image of the African as a backward, starving, sick person that always needs their help and guidance.

This is the defining image of the continent has been pumped into the African mind for years, until we view ourselves through the same lens.

Events that are happening in Africa are interpreted in Western capitals and fed back to us, complete with salt and spicing.

It is amazing that most of what we know about other African countries come from Western news sources, meaning the African story is being told by another person, who may not necessarily have our interests at heart.

In addition, Western media is weakening African societies as it actively champions values that Africans instinctively oppose.

These include homosexuality, sexual liberation in all its forms — same sex munions, ‘looseness’ and feminism — hostility to any authority and individuality.

The media is also taking advantage of ethnic and class divisions within nations to further their agenda of conquest.

In Congo, for example, ethnic rivalries are being heightened, as Western corporations continue to ferry away minerals by the cartload. In Darfur, they have incited "Africans" to rise up against "the Arabs" to weaken the Sudanese state, instead of responsibly urging greater national equity.

It is necessary, to begin the process of freeing the African mind as a critical first step to realising the huge economic and cultural potential of the continent.

Break the monopoly

It is like cleaning up the "inner software" to enable the enormous energies of the people to be directed towards worthy goals and not serve Western interests.

Africans need to create their own versions of international media to break the monopoly of western media on the African continent. The Government could also move this agenda forward by granting frequencies to locals that want to broadcast local content.

The struggle to free minds from western domination is one this generation of Africans must deal with if the much touted "African rebirth" is to take place.

The writer is a news reporter with The Standard.

[email protected]