Nigerian Born Wole Soyinka - Nobel Prize Recipient

 

Climate of Fear: The Quest for Dignity in a Dehumanized World by Wole Soyinka | Goodreads

Some words are enough to create the climate of fear by themselves and in his genius work Soyinka underlined many of them. I strongly recommend this book for those who would like to see the world in detail.

A powerful collection of lectures by Wole Soyinka. He talks about fanaticism, intolerance and the need for dignity in this very troubled world. It should be required reading for everyone, especially those in power.

One of the best things I've read on the state of our anxiety in the world today and the manipulation and use of power to dominate and control the lives of others.

As the title suggests, the five essays focus on the climate of fear developing in the world. The first essay is about the biggest landmark event in this regard, the attack on WTC, (which made USA realize that terrorism it had been encouraging in Asia and Africa is a bad thing). Soyinka points out that people of East were used to that kind of thing. (Kind of talks to my own experience. The amount of terror people feel is in direct relation to wealth and nationality of people who are attacked - if white people are terrorized the whole world is scared. In India, you must attack a luxurious Taj hotel, something only rich to get media attention. Attacks on poorer, third world country people is not something media would pay attention to. Even natural calamities follow this rule - the thousands dying in famines in Africa is an everyday occurrence.)

The second essay focuses on the inverse relationship between power and freedom. In society, one's power is always at expense of other's freedom. The examples he gives are from Africa. Of a country where a government was elected after it promised to overthrow democracy.

"We shall ascend to power on the democratic ladder—declared the evidently popular Islamist party—after which we shall pull up the ladder, and there shall be no more democracy."

"if you believe in democracy, are you not thereby obliged to accept, without discrimination, the fallout that comes with a democratic choice, even if this means the termination of the democratic process itself?"

The thing about democracy is not so much about elected governments but about balances and checks which keeps anyone from gaining too much power in government and thus costing people their freedoms. (That is what you tell someone who says that a country needs a strong leader who doesn't have to fear anyone.)

The third essay talks about hysteria which is one of consequences of this fear. The US response to WTC attacks is again an example. Politics is one way in which the hysteria is created. The other thing is religion. Politics will have you believe that you are better because you belong to particular nation. Religious fanaticism will have you believe that you are better than people of other religion.

The fourth essay is probably the best one. It is about concept of 'dignity'. When you have to live in climate of fear enveloping world which makes vulnerable souls lose your dignity. There is of course fear from natural calamities, but that fear doesn't cost you your dignity. It is only when you are afraid for your life of other people - from religious fanatics, politicians or terrorists, that you lose dignity. It is like Job's tragedy - if he didn't believe in God, he might have suffered in silence, but Job's tragedy caused by a God, a being of intelligence, which meant that it was combined with loss of dignity for him.

The last of five essays is about the freedom of speech and how it is hampered by the religion and politics. I don't agree with Soyinka's support for ban of all religious symbols in schools and you probably already know about threats faced by writers and artists. The only bit that can be interesting in the essay is culture of tolerance in Africa and her religions, but that is something discussed in better detail in Soyinka's other essay collection 'Of Africa'.

 

Raiderlegend 

I came across an interesting article about Nobel Prize winning author Wole Soyinka. He authored the 2005 book "Climate of Fear," which looks at the effects of fear on individuals and how it is used to control people. 

I look forward to having this book on my bookshelf but choose to wait until after the 2024 Presidential Election. The climate of fear described in some of Soyinka's writings foretold practices and methods now adopted by Republican Politics in America today. When adult men and women go against working established norms and become complicit in tearing down a people, government, or society, the door is open for evil and terror to ensue. Look no further than Nazi Germany for historical proof of homegrown terrorism.

We as citizens of a democratic society should know that what we have seen from our Republican Party, even prior to the Trumpism of it, is an old form of politics where a leader(s) will lie and mislead their followers with untruths in order to seize power through fear and distrust. Anyone not onboard with their lies and untruths (propaganda) is labeled disloyal and therefore targeted as a traitorous enemy of the state deserving of harsh treatment (verbal and physical). The less historically informed youth of a society are easily indoctrinated to carry out aggressive attacks.

This is a tried-and-true method Fascist Dictators have used to gain and/or maintain power throughout history. The 20th century saw Italy's Benito Mussolini's "March on Rome," an organized mass demonstration which eventually led to his taking over government. Political and military leaders in other countries would follow his example before, during, and after World War II. 

Benito would end up being caught by Italian partisans while attempting to flee Italy during the Allied Advance. He, his mistress, and others traveling with him were shot, corpses dragged and mutilated in a small-town square. Their lifeless bodies were then strung upside down from a makeshift gas station scaffold to be mocked, ridiculed, stoned, kicked, spit on, and completely abused by citizens as an act of revenge and to discourage fascists from continuing the fight.

Wole Soyinka in Conversation with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (youtube.com)

Faces of Africa 01/31/2016 Wole Soyinka, glutton of tranquility (youtube.com)