THE MISTAKES TO BE AVOIDED IN BUILDING THE NEW CAMEROON
Culled from the blog "New Cameroon Views", published there on Friday, December 31, 2010---Written in 1995
The demanding task confronting
union-nationalists today is the realization of the New Cameroon, which
entails the effective utilization of new, modern and progressive ideas
and technology to build a modern economic, political and social system.
The initial stage of realizing the New Cameroon involves the
all-colossal task of overcoming the conservative, reactionary, corrupt,
discriminatory, repressive and oppressive forces that constitute the
system that has the lever of power. This anachronistic alien system is
determined not to allow the change that the majority of Cameroonians are
craving for. The system I am talking about is made up of the
imperialistic lords in the French powerhouse and their puppets and
collaborators in Cameroon. The image of that anachronistic system today
is the Biya regime.
Most, if not all union-nationalists have a
clear notion of what to expect out of a New Cameroon that would have to
emerge from the current system. But many Cameroonians are incoherent
when it comes to:
· The path to take to overcome the initial obstacles of the system and the Biya regime.
· And the extent to go to build the New Cameroon of our dreams.
In building the New Cameroon after
getting rid of the legacy of the forces of oppression and suppression
against the people, Cameroonian union-nationalists would be confronted
by the all colossal task of molding a New Cameroonian mentality devoid
of docility, corruption, discrimination and pessimism. That new
mentality, which is an indispensable component of Cameroonian
union-nationalism, would then resurface the best of our creative,
dynamic and progressive potentials; and then harness and drive our
strengths for an effective utilization of our resources and the great opportunities that abound in building the New Cameroon.
In the initial stage of ridding ourselves of the
obstacles of the anachronistic French-imposed system under the Biya
regime today, union-nationalists risk finding themselves derailed from
their original ideals and dreams from divisions that might arise from
their ranks and differences in the degree of commitment to the cause.
The fact that the obstacles
union-nationalists would encounter in the various stages of the cause
are so colossal, some union-nationalists may be tempted to react in two
negative ways:
· Carry out makeshift changes and console themselves that they have done the job.
· Or exert
too great a force in their over zealousness, which even though would
destroy the obstacles to the New Cameroon, may also leave us on our
knees, and perhaps render us incapable of building the New Cameroon of
our dreams.
We should avoid these partial and blind
commitments in our union-nationalism. Instead, rationalism should
prevail in any action that we are taking or are about to take for the
interest of Cameroon. That way, mistakes would be avoided.
Basically, the Cameroonian dream embodied
in the ideals of its Union-Nationalism is the best rallying force for
all Cameroonians. However, despite the genuine intentions and goodness
of this ideal, its possible pervasion by mistakes or errors in the
course of its application risks distorting the essence of the struggle,
derailing the cause and discrediting the noble intentions of the century
old Cameroonian dream by taking out the humanity from its fabrics and
leaving it as any other dry-as-dust political ideology that humanity has
rejected. The thought of the possible rejection of our
Union-Nationalism because it has lost its humaneness is something we
cannot afford, since that would mean the rejection of the Cameroonian
dream and our collective hopes that have sustained us for close to a
century. In order to avoid such a rejection, Cameroonian
union-nationalists should avoid mistakes in the determining domains of
the lives of the people.
1)
Firstly, the fact that we are in a pathetic level of economic
underdevelopment despite our enormous material and human resources may
have created a complex based on despondence, something that many
Cameroonians would have to overcome at the early stage of the task of
building the New Cameroon by union-nationalists. The new
union-nationalist government would have to come up with an immediate
solution to erase that complex of despondence, an immediate solution
that would require using our material and human resources that despite
being in abundance are so disorganized, inefficient and disillusioned.
Only through the path of a rapid improvisation and effective utilization
of this underperforming human force for the optimal use of our material
resources, shall we obtain an initial boost and solution that would do
much to overcome the difficult initial period of fear and uncertainty.
In its first step to overcome the initial obstacle caused by fear
and uncertainty emanating from decades of division, corruption,
repression, inefficiency and incompetence, the new union-nationalists
government would have to instill administrative efficiency into the transforming system and provide competent and sufficient managers at all or most of the strategic and
potentially cumulative sectors of the economy. This would ensure a
quick initial boost to the economy and restore confidence in its
management and direction. Such a positive step would direct the
Cameroonian economy forward towards efficiency in the management and
utilization of our human and material resources, drawing strength from
the spread effects of the initial actions and direction.
2)
This economic readjustment must be immediately and closely followed by
political liberalization through the establishment of a truly
progressive democratic tradition. The progressive democratic tradition
should be one that would ensure the total, complete and universal human
rights of its citizens and accept their rational freedom, liberty and
equality. It should be compatible with the complex Cameroonian reality
and should be capable of ensuring the harmonious cooperation of all the
Cameroonian forces and entities in the development of the land. Then,
through the natural checks and balances of nature, the new and rational
democratic tradition shall ensure the complete and irreversible burial
of the dictatorship that
resulted to bureaucracy and incompetence, the bureaucracy and
incompetence that nurtured a culture of corruption and discrimination
which we know are the vices that eroded morality, trust and cooperation
between the different forces in Cameroon. The positive outcome of this
democratic tradition would be our break with underdevelopment. Simply,
it is only after the realization of this clean democratic atmosphere to
buttress the new economic drive shall there be a clear prospect of sustainable prosperity looming ahead.
3)
The New Cameroon would also need a new culture in order to advance into
the modern age through a new economic policy and a new democratic
tradition. This new culture does not presuppose the destruction of the
old ones or the implementation of uniformity, but rather advocates a
metamorphosis based on the lessons of the past and today, to a new
freedom and creativity that is compatible with modern civilization. The
new culture would set the pace for progress by making the best out of
our recent and distant pasts. It would not imitate the past with all its
constraints and irreconcilable diversity. The new culture would create
uniformity out of diversity rather than propagate diversity to maintain
differences. The propagation of differences that does not enhance the
wellbeing of the nation is static diversity or conservatism in its worst
forms. It stands as an obstacle to progress and a death-embrace with
the past. This avoidable static diversity rejects technological
civilization, something that the New Cameroon cannot afford to do
without. The result of accepting static diversity would be that the
traditional concepts of a family, a tribe, an ethnic group, a social
organization, social norms, religious views, economic life, a linguistic
entity and even a race, would prevent us from moving along with the
changing times. Some of the consequences of accepting static diversity
would be:
· We would not manage birth rates to match our potentials.
· We
would not soberly review or revise our anachronistic traditional and
religious beliefs to accommodate the demands of our times and the
challenges of the future.
· And
finally, we would not be able to accept the advantages of technological
progress that are indispensable in our drive to attain great economic
heights, which is a major prerequisite in the realization of the
Cameroonian dream.
Abraham Lincoln railed against conservatism or static diversity when he said that:
“What is conservatism? Is it not adherence to the old and tried, against the new and untried”
The quest for the New Cameroon is a
rejection of our horrible past and an embrace of a future that would
guarantee progress, freedom, liberty, development, harmony, peace,
unity, integrity and democracy for all Cameroonians. It is our bargain
to become a cherished part of the future economically united and
politically integrated Africa. And above all, it is our manifestation to
have a place among the community of civilized nations.
Even Karl Marx rejected the dead weight of the past in his writings when he pointed out that:
Men
make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do
not make it under circumstances chosen by themselves, but under
circumstances directly given
and transmitted from the past. The traditions of all the dead
generations weigh like a nightmare on the living. And just when they
seemed engaged in revolutionizing themselves and things, in creating
something entirely new, precisely in such epochs of revolutionary
crisis, they conjure up the spirits of the past to their services and
borrow from them names, battle slogans and costumes in order to present
the new scene of world history in time honored disguise and this
borrowed language.
Yes, Cameroonian Union-Nationalism was
born from the shortcomings of the past nine decades of our past. It has
been tragic. Nevertheless, great lights were revealed, enlightening
figures that as leaders of our civic-nationalism sustained the spirit of
the Cameroonian dream. However, despite their tremendous role,
Cameroonian union-nationalists should be sober enough and avoid living
and thinking behind the times, as if they are still haunted by the
defeats suffered over the century. We should not conjure or imitate the
past in our efforts to reorganize our lives and build the New Cameroon. Our
cultures and traditions should be invoked only to help in providing
guidelines in bringing progress and in bringing forth to life
individuals who through modern technological uniformity would contribute
to new cultures that would accommodate modern demands and reality.
These new cultures should be capable of burying the inherent traits of
despotism in our pasts while promoting freedom of choice, openness and
creativity.
4)
Another mistake to be avoided by the New Cameroon would be blind
nationalism. This may sound intriguing since the force to lead the
realization of the New Cameroon would be led by union-nationalists. Yes,
Cameroon’s union-nationalists are modernists and unifiers in their
civic-nationalism, based on an ideal to bring diverse people together by
harnessing their compatibilities. Cameroon's union-nationalists are
opposed to fundamental nationalists, ethnic nationalists, assimilative
nationalists and ultra-nationalists with ideologies that exclude and
stress on differences. The prefix “Union” attached to our nationalism
indicates that we are out to include in the furthest extent of the word,
rather than exclude, but in a manner that recognizes the legitimate
interests of the constituent peoples that make the Cameroonian state and
their rights to their freedom, prosperity and destiny in cooperation
with other forces of the world, but not in subjugation to any.
Nevertheless, this spirit of our Union-Nationalism should not be
overstretched to exceed rational bounds through exaltation because the
regressive outcome of such blinding emotions would be xenophobia and
internal discrimination. The repercussions from such an overstretched
nationalism would be the loss of its union character. Such a distortion
of our Union-Nationalism would impede our development and would give
rise to a new political tradition that is not democratic and
representative. Furthermore, any retrogression into blind nationalism
from that shortfall would breed a new culture that would be out of touch
with global civilization and technological uniformity. The mistake of
transcending our Union-Nationalism is that we would be taking the
humanity out of its fabrics, thereby leaving it as barren as a desert.
The outcome of such a mistake would be the rejection of our advanced
form of civic-nationalism and an eternal doubt in the noble intentions
of the ideals of Cameroonian Union-nationalism. Such a rejection is
something the forward-looking Cameroon cannot afford because it would
mean the rejection of the idea that has guided and guarded Cameroonians
in their century-old dream, a dream that sustained their hopes through
tragic and turbulent times. In a nutshell, no blind form of nationalism
should be allowed to distort the genuine and progressive purpose of
Cameroonian Union-nationalism, the only advanced ideal that can realize
our collective dreams. Union-nationalists should accept criticism and self-criticism as measures to prevent the derailment of the century-old ideal.
5) Should the forward-looking Cameroon look back at all? Yes it should.
· However,
the forward-looking Cameroon should not look back to the past to make
it an integral part of the future; but rather it should regard the past
as a guide, a lesson to learn from, but not a lesson to copy. The only
aspect the forward-looking Cameroon must always look back at is the
progress of the people. The forward moving Cameroon should always give a
helping hand to those who fall or are being left behind in the forward
drive of prosperity. The leadership of the New Cameroonian ideal would
have to bear in mind all the time that the land they are leading has
been borrowed from the younger generation(s) after them. With such a
responsible mindset, the leadership would always jealously protect the
land and ensure that our children are adequately educated, prepared, and
are competitive and protected enough to take over and carry on with the
virtues of the New Cameroon in order to secure a better future for
their own children. That way, union-nationalists would be playing the
roles of guarantors of continuity.
· Socially,
the New Cameroon would have to equate the drive of prosperity with a
rise in the standards of living of the struggling masses. Housing,
schools, hospitals, electricity, water, roads, and other social and
public infrastructures should never be allowed to lag behind our true
progress and the changing times. Rational provisions should be put in
place to take care of the handicapped, the old, the unfortunate and the
underprivileged.
Colossal as the task may seem, it is
realizable and it is our only bargain with our future. The New Cameroon
would easily be realized after Cameroonians develop the sense of
commitment and start feeling or considering themselves a part of the
process of nation-building, development and prosperity. That would be at
a time that our collective mentality and psychology would be capable
of accommodating the new demands of the New Cameroon; that would be when
union-nationalists and their advanced representatives would
have become humanized enough to put the general purpose of our land
above personal considerations. By so doing, we shall then consider the
plight of our land and the Cameroonian people as issues that also
concern us fundamentally. Then that way, Cameroonians shall have that
sense of purpose, convinced that they have an appreciable role to play
in building, protecting and sustaining the New Cameroon. With the
realization of that collective progress, we shall be able to boast with
certainty that we have built a new mentality that is collective, and
that would greatly reduce or
even eliminate corruption, racism, favoritism, tribalism, ethnocentrism,
absolutism, inefficiency and bureaucracy. A sense of belonging and
commitment is something union-nationalists must build in order to
sustain the New Cameroon and its advanced ideals.
It may seem difficult if not impossible
to realize a New Cameroon without going through all or some of the
possible mistakes that might be committed as a result of inherent human
weaknesses and a possible over-commitment or over-zealousness from
union-nationalists. Nevertheless, if mistakes are likely to be made, we
are expected to allow criticism as a norm in society and be
self-critical ourselves. That entails being modest enough to ask
ourselves whether we are wrong in each action we take, and if so, to
admit the error(s) in our action(s) for correction. And after correcting
the error(s), we should make the maximum effort to ensure that no more
errors or mistakes are made.
Janvier Tchouteu May 1995
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