Ethnicity Is the Enemy of Democracy

             When Americans think of democracy, we see it as a means to unite people across regions and supposedly across ethnic lines to govern our country, although the latter is less true than it should be.  Black and white people as a whole think very differently in America, as do Hispanics, Asians and Native Americans.  We share some commonalities, especially within regions, but there remain significant differences on the whole.  Still, when someone from Harlem, New York, moves to Raleigh, North Carolina, he or she likely would be met with curiosity and some amusement, but not likely outright hatred because of where you’re from.  In Africa, ethnic regionality is much more likely, and it makes constructing a workable democracy very difficult.

            I have lived in Washington, D.C.; Chicago, Illinois, and a couple of places in the state of Maryland.  People will ask where I’m from.  They may not accept that I’m a southerner if they’re from what we call the Deep South, even though I am from the most northern part of what is considered the South.  However, I’ve never had anyone tell me I don’t belong and to go back to where I came from.  I have seen that happen in Africa.

            In Nigeria, for example, Hausas were vehement not that long ago that Ibos needed to leave northern Nigeria.  In the past, Luos and other ethnic groups wanted Kikuyus out of part of western Kenya.  We’re probably all familiar with the Hutu-Tutsi conflicts in Rwanda and Burundi.  When ethnic groups feel others have invaded their territory and are concerned about losing political, economic and social control, that’s when ethnicity becomes venomous and when violence is used to “cleanse” the invaders.  There are numerous examples of such feelings and the resulting actions across Africa.

            Unfortunately, too many of us in the developed world ignore the very ethnic schisms that may have begun before colonialism, but were made worse by colonial powers using those divides to win and maintain control over their African colonies.  After the English, Portuguese, French, Dutch, Germans and Spanish left, the divisions they fostered not only continued, but became worse in some cases as the release of colonial control allowed for vigorous competition for political power.

            Efforts to encourage and create sustainable modern democracies in Africa were made more difficult by divisions the colonial powers created and should have acknowledged.  Some ethnic groups still chafe at the favoritism one group benefited from at their expense.  Elections became a game of spoils, as one group felt it was their turn at the wheel of state after being dominated by another group.  Those of us who worked on democratization in Africa wanted to believe that the younger generation that rose up after the wave of democracy in the 1990s would change things greatly during that decade, but we underestimated the pull of ethnicity that prevented such change from taking place as rapidly as we had hoped.

            First of all, the old guard has yet to leave the scene.  In Kenya, many were surprised that such a largely peaceful nation experienced such a poisonous election in 2007.  The defeat of Luo Raila Odinga by Kikuyu Mwai Kibaki resulted in a wave of violence against Kikuyus, mostly in the Rift Valley area, and police ended up shooting hundreds of violent protesters, which only made matters worse.  When Uhuru Kenyatta, son of Kenya’s first President Jomo Kenyatta, and Raila Odinga, son of the first Vice President Oginga Odinga, took the political stage in the next election, some of us hoped that those elections could overcome the ethnic conflicts that ravaged the government of their fathers.  Turns out they were still part of the old guard, having experienced the political battles of the past. They seem to have mended fences at this point, but not before further conflict plagued the country.

            Secondly, because of the ethnic spoils system, whichever group has wielded power has been reluctant to grant too much patronage to other ethnic groups.  That’s a major reason why governments of national unity have failed.  One’s own people would object to their leader giving away advantages they feel their group should keep in their control.  Besides, in the United States, it does happen that Republican Presidents usually appoint Democrats to the Cabinet and Democrat Presidents appoint Republicans to the Cabinet, but those people from other parties are not considered particularly partisan and certainly weren’t political rivals in the most recent elections.  We in the developed world often insist that political rivals in Africa join together in government of national unity when it is in neither’s interest to make the other side successful because of a likely electoral rematch.  It isn’t merely a personal issue; it’s an issue of protecting the rights and advantages of one’s own people who constantly push for their ethnic rights.

            Thirdly, we are not especially tribal within ethnic groups in the United States, and black and white people within regions have been more similar than one might assume. For example, a white American born in Georgia would have more in common in terms of social mores with a black American born in Georgia than either would with a black or white American born in New York.  That doesn’t mean they couldn’t understand one another or that they would automatically reject one another.  It would take some getting used to living together, but it has happened. 

Waves of black people left the South from the 1920s on.  In fact, my father left South Carolina during what we call the Great Migration, along with many others from North Carolina and Virginia, to the extent that my hometown of Washington, D.C. took on more of a southern nature.  The ways of indigenous black people in Washington became in sharp contrast to people from say New York or Philadelphia.  Still, we have little real problems getting along and understanding and accepting one another as people from various ethnic groups in Africa too often have experienced.  Oh we sometimes complain about how people from different areas behave, but this is more in amusement or frustration than genuine resentment.  Philadelphia blacks don’t really perceive themselves as being from a different “tribe” than Atlanta blacks, and therefore don’t feel threatened when either side immigrates to their area.

            I have trained political parties in Africa and have seen how things break down on an ethnic regional basis.  In American cities such as Boston, New York and Chicago, various ethnic coalition plans have been created and implemented to divide power.  At times, minority groups in each city have been frustrated by the length of time it has taken to achieve top positions, but it hasn’t gotten out of hand to the extent that it has in many African countries.  For example, despite several plans to share power by region and ethnic groups in Nigeria, it seems to break down with the death of one elderly northern leader or another and prevents other regions and ethnic groups from having their turn in power.

            We in the developed world need to better understand the impact of ethnicity in Africa before we make political pronouncements about how democracy can and should develop on the continent.  It isn’t that ethnic groups in Africa can’t coexist and cooperate, but that collaboration shouldn’t be taken for granted.  We should hold out hope that the multi-ethnic youth in Africa will lessen the ethnic animosities moving forward and make modern democracy work in Africa.

            As the world’s youngest continent, with a majority of the population under 30 years old, Africa can experience a significant shift in its social and political situation in a short amount of time.  The growing occurrences of intermarriage and exposure to other societies through the internet and satellite television means that social mores that have held within ethnic groups for centuries are changing.  That can mean a loss of valuable, positive traditions, but it also can mean that young voters, presumably more educated and worldly, can begin to consider voting for leaders and joining political parties based on what’s best for the nation as a whole rather than what’s best just for their ethnic group.

            Too bad Americans seem to be going in the other direction.  If this trend continues, will African voters one day be less ethnically motivated than American voters?