Post by politicalmaniac on May 10, 2007 7:25:44 GMT 3
That has been the mantra of many Kenyans that R will "finish" the Kikiyus.
I was reading an article on the NYT behind the firewall (BTW if you need Free access to the articles behind the firewall have a dot edu (.edu) email adress its free). Here is part of the article.
May 9, 2007, 6:54 pm
The Roots of Ethnic Violence
By Mark Buchanan
"Ten years ago, a group of noted experts in sociology and psychology met in Northern Ireland to discuss the roots of genocide, and they concluded that most of the ethnopolitically motivated killings in the 20th century could be traced not to “spontaneous popular actions,” but to “dominant state elites trying to maintain their nations’ unity and their own monopoly on power.”
That reminds me a lot of Moi.
"More surprising yet, a readiness for group-level prejudice may also be linked to the collective mechanisms that support human cooperation. On the basis of computer simulations in recent years, political scientists Ross Hammond of the Brookings Institute and Robert Axelrod of the University of Michigan suggest that in especially primitive social conditions – when people have limited opportunities to use reputation or character as a guide to someone’s trustworthiness – raw prejudice, based on crude ethnic markers, can actually be beneficial."
"Roughly speaking, Hammond and Axelrod found that ethnic prejudice – again, only in these primitive conditions – helps to organize people into homogeneous ethnic groups within which interaction is easy and mostly cooperative, while minimizing the more difficult and often costly interactions between groups. Without prejudiced behavior, you would not get as much cooperation.
R always talks about positive Ethnicity and its accruing benefits. His speech in London realy handled this well. Lately R has been out there openly debunking these myths by illustrating his Luyha heritage (makes me smile, eh its postive ethinicity remember!) and the fact that his kids have married non Luos (including Kikiyus!!!!) This will and should innoculate him against the intense dislike and distrust of him by Kikiyus and Kambas. Perhaps I am a jaded optimist who knows?.
The conclusion is that ethnocentrism, while it may be ugly, also may be effective. The researchers suggest that it may be no coincidence that ethnic divisions and tensions tend to become enhanced and more influential in conditions of economic collapse or when war tears apart the social fabric.
Right now there is a lot of competion for land, sparking tensions and war between tribes.
Lastly,
But it should alert us that genocide is not the direct consequence of unstoppable age-old hatreds, but that of people in power who use their influence to stoke hatred for strategic purposes.
This statement is very telling.
Despite the Luo -Kikiyu divide there is at the wenye nchi level some camaraderie including intermarriage (well more Jango men than kuik men marrying the women from the opposite tribe).
But the Gemans in power are a big hurdle. They are backstabbing greedy bastards. I will never forget the murungis and Dr CMs of these world with their arrogant pronouncements of this GOVT/Presidency is ours.
It is only these people who need to be stopped.
I will never forget.
I hope the country has an elephantine memory so that they can kick out these bastards.
I was reading an article on the NYT behind the firewall (BTW if you need Free access to the articles behind the firewall have a dot edu (.edu) email adress its free). Here is part of the article.
May 9, 2007, 6:54 pm
The Roots of Ethnic Violence
By Mark Buchanan
"Ten years ago, a group of noted experts in sociology and psychology met in Northern Ireland to discuss the roots of genocide, and they concluded that most of the ethnopolitically motivated killings in the 20th century could be traced not to “spontaneous popular actions,” but to “dominant state elites trying to maintain their nations’ unity and their own monopoly on power.”
That reminds me a lot of Moi.
"More surprising yet, a readiness for group-level prejudice may also be linked to the collective mechanisms that support human cooperation. On the basis of computer simulations in recent years, political scientists Ross Hammond of the Brookings Institute and Robert Axelrod of the University of Michigan suggest that in especially primitive social conditions – when people have limited opportunities to use reputation or character as a guide to someone’s trustworthiness – raw prejudice, based on crude ethnic markers, can actually be beneficial."
"Roughly speaking, Hammond and Axelrod found that ethnic prejudice – again, only in these primitive conditions – helps to organize people into homogeneous ethnic groups within which interaction is easy and mostly cooperative, while minimizing the more difficult and often costly interactions between groups. Without prejudiced behavior, you would not get as much cooperation.
R always talks about positive Ethnicity and its accruing benefits. His speech in London realy handled this well. Lately R has been out there openly debunking these myths by illustrating his Luyha heritage (makes me smile, eh its postive ethinicity remember!) and the fact that his kids have married non Luos (including Kikiyus!!!!) This will and should innoculate him against the intense dislike and distrust of him by Kikiyus and Kambas. Perhaps I am a jaded optimist who knows?.
The conclusion is that ethnocentrism, while it may be ugly, also may be effective. The researchers suggest that it may be no coincidence that ethnic divisions and tensions tend to become enhanced and more influential in conditions of economic collapse or when war tears apart the social fabric.
Right now there is a lot of competion for land, sparking tensions and war between tribes.
Lastly,
But it should alert us that genocide is not the direct consequence of unstoppable age-old hatreds, but that of people in power who use their influence to stoke hatred for strategic purposes.
This statement is very telling.
Despite the Luo -Kikiyu divide there is at the wenye nchi level some camaraderie including intermarriage (well more Jango men than kuik men marrying the women from the opposite tribe).
But the Gemans in power are a big hurdle. They are backstabbing greedy bastards. I will never forget the murungis and Dr CMs of these world with their arrogant pronouncements of this GOVT/Presidency is ours.
It is only these people who need to be stopped.
I will never forget.
I hope the country has an elephantine memory so that they can kick out these bastards.