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The doctrine of the universality of truth has been taking some hard knocks lately in the Press and in Parliament. A striking example arises in connection with the troubles in Kenya. The Mau Mau killings there would indicate to the unprejudiced observer that the Kikuyu are dissatisfied with British rule: but British politicians, intentionally blind to the obvious, have taken them to show merely that the African is still “a savage,” not ready for the benefits of modern political democracy. Lord Milverton, in the Lords on October 29th, talked of “races who only yesterday emerged.from savagery” and said “you cannot swallow 2,000 years of progress in the course of a generation or so without suffering from severe indigestion.” Five days earlier Mr. Louw, the South African Minister of Economic Affairs, had said that “the overwhelming majority of Africans were as yet hardly civilised, and in any case had the outlook of uncivilised persons.” And on October 24th The Times' Nairobi Correspondent remarked that “ the cruel outrages of Mau Mau are a reminder of how abort a time half a century can be in so old a place as Africa.”
Now let us change the scene to Malaya, where Africans are fighting for. not against, British capitalism. Same Empire, same Africans. But what a transformation has taken place! On the troopship voyage from Africa to South-East Asia, the two thousand years of progress which were worrying Lord Milverton have apparently been swallowed as easily as an afternoon snack. Contrary to all previously known fact, the donning of uniform, the army discipline, the careful lessons in killing, have not brutalised these Africans; the schooling in butchery they have undergone has actually made them more humane. And it has become seditious to suggest that it has not. “At first” said The Times' Singapore Correspondent sadly, “the Africans were plagued by Communist propagandists who said that they were savages with sharpened appetites for Malay and Chinese babies ” (29-10-52). But he goes on to remark on the “magnificent bearing,” the “good behaviour and grinning cheerfulness” of the African, and soon the whole idea of the savagery of Africans becomes so ludicrous to him that he is tempted into harmless witticism—”it was soon discovered that they have only an undeniable desire for posho (an African dish), which is not dangerous to the rising population of Malaya.”
Sweeping allegations about the savagery of the African are also made suspect by statements like this: “The Kenya African is far behind his brother on the West coast, although he is advancing rapidly ” (The Times, 30-10-52). According to this, the West coast African must be far ahead of his East African brother. It seems that half a century in so old a place as the Gold Coast is not so long as half a century in so old a place as Kenya. But the real reason the West African is said to be so far ahead of the Kikuyu is the same reason which makes it necessary to depict the African in Malaya as so curiously un-savage: the needs of British ruling-class propaganda. For in the Gold Coast, where there are no white settlers to be supported against the blacks, the natives have been given virtual dominion status. British capitalism decided that it would be just as profitable, and less expensive, to give the Africans the apparatus of democracy, and allow them to believe (as the British workers believe) that they are governing themselves. Since this was done, British politicians have been able to forget about the alleged "savagery" of the Gold Coast African. But they cannot do the same in Kenya because of the fears of the whites that they would be overwhelmed at the polls.
If we believed the official reason for the contrasting policies in East and West Africa, we should have to reject the traditional stories, which are still being assiduously peddled by British officialdom, about the “white man’s burden.” For if the Kenya African, who has lived for nearly fifty years in the same country as a numerous body of white settlers, is “far behind” the African on the West coast, where there are none, the only burden apparent in Kenya is that on the backs of the Negroes.
Further “evidence" of the savagery of the African comes in the accounts of the Mau Mau oath-taking. We are told that:
"Passing through an arch made of green twigs and leaves the initiates are put in charge of the small group who administer the oath. A circlet made of grass is placed on the victim's (i.e. the new member's) head or round the neck, and other loops on the wrists. A banana flower into which has been poured blood from a sacrificial pit, freshly killed, is passed round the heads of the initiates after some earth has been mixed with the blood. Then a stick which has been dipped with the mixture is held by each person as they take the oath." (The Times, 9-10-52).
It seems that rational understanding is as little required as when a new member joins any of the big British political parties. Of course, all this ritual is just so much symbolic nonsense; but where have we come across the same sort of thing before? The whole account is strongly reminiscent of the secret oath-taking ceremonies of the Freemasons—the dagger at the heart, the rope round the neck, the strange-sounding and mysterious names, concealed from all except initiates, and all under oaths of secrecy. And who belongs to the Freemasons? Allegedly savage Africans? No: leading members of the British bourgeosie, businessmen, bishops, judges, generals—usually with a member of Royalty filling the highest position. Does this prove how short a time half a century is in the West End of London (where the Freemasons have their headquarters)? It would be tempting to prove the savagery of Freemasons on these lines; but all it really shows is that newspaper correspondents like to employ phrases which sound portentous but mean nothing.
The last example of the diversity of truth as shown in Kenya needs no comment. This series of extracts from The Times speaks for itself. The first refers to a letter sent by the Western authorities to the Russians in Berlin:
The letter then passes to the “trials” in the Soviet zone. . . . “These 'courts* seem to have acquired the habit of describing as 'crimes' acts which in democratic countries are considered to be a normal part of daily life. For example, a person has only to express an opinion contrary to the Government in power, or to repeat a piece of news which is already known, but which the regime has an interest in suppressing, for him to be described as a 'spy' or ‘traitor.’ Such a perversion of the accepted meaning of words would be laughable were its consequences not so serious.” (4-11-52.)
“Two Kikuyus charged yesterday at Nyeri with publishing without official consent a story likely to cause alarm were sentenced, one to 12 months' and the other to 9 months' hard labour.” (25-10-52.)
“Police reserves, in another section, on the outskirts of Nairobi, broke up a meeting of 40 Africans and rounded up 22 for questioning. An African addressing the crowd was wounded in the arm by a bullet fired by the police. He disappeared, but was arrested 30 minutes later when he reported to a dispensary for treatment . . . Nine African newspapers, most of them in the Kikuyu language, were proscribed yesterday by the Nairobi district commissioner.” (27-10-52.)
Thus imperialist chickens come home to roost!
Alwyn Edgar
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