Community of Scared People: Geopolitical Gerrymandering for the (Un)Derserving

By Compassion Chidozie

Where did we ever get the strange idea that nature—as opposed to culture—is ahistorical and timeless? We are far too impressed by our own cleverness and self-consciousness. We need to stop telling ourselves the same old anthropocentric bedtime stories. —Steve Shaviro (1997)

The above quote from Shaviro was lit because it covers ninety-nine percent of the weight of this essay. The question of the human community has lived within me for a long time. Still, as custom demands, I lacked the nerve to share the idea with colleagues or discuss it with those who believe the exploration of the concept is a worthy adventure. I am concerned that it would trigger animosity. Semiotically, exaggerated opinions are important for enlarging the framework of ideas. They create a bridge, identify the gap, and connect the dots. I have known it and envisioned the aftermath if I let the cat loose.

The image of the “Community of Scared People” was initiated while reflecting on emerging human relations that have shaped interactions, relationships, politics, science, and opinions along ‘village’ lines. It means that the brewing political phenomenon across the globe, the masculinity of pioneered legitimacy (through the ballot) to advance social populism, has furthered a “rigid smile of bewilderment.” Europe and Africa are witnessing the rise of human communities that have emerged from the canon of inexpressible suffering. This bewilderment has, among its un-supporters, deepened poverty and escalated bankruptcy – unprecedented denouement. Everything else ceased to exist for many, while platonic protest powerfully erupted from the (un)supporter’s playground, churlishly.

“If you can’t stand the heat, don’t be near the kitchen,” an African proverb recounts. “If you’re frightened of wolves, don’t go into the forest,” European proverbs acknowledge. Fear and scariness have a thin line. Fear undermines the chance of the community of people to clutch against the intrusion of the powerful anarchy, thereby slaving to their prejudices but lacking the potency for a willy-nilly.

Wrenn V. M (2014), in one of her works titled The Social Ontology of Fear and Neoliberalism, wrote that “Fear is a primal instinct; it is a survival mechanism the evolution of which allowed the early humans, indeed all species to adapt, evolve, and survive. When humans moved into settled communities with more advanced means of production. Once the means of social reproduction were secured, fear became less necessary as a survival instinct and useful as a heuristic device. Fear evolved. Fear cannot be characterized solely as a socially constructed phenomenon nor as the instinctual response to personally felt traumas.”[1] To abridge language convenience, fear is synonymous with scare. Wrenn, in her narrative, narrowly escaped being hooked by the structural determinism and social transformation of scares, which was further explained in her book. To synchronize her opinion with the essay, her prerogative countenance would be stupefied to make space for anthropogenic gestures on the altar of “Othering and Belonging.”

To jetlag this essay, a general maxim in Igbo cosmology says, “Igbo ethnic society does not bow to a supreme ruler.” This implies that the Igbo society operates without a supreme leader, and the commonality of the collective being cannot be controlled by an individual. Historically, Igbo society was organized into smaller autonomous communities or villages, each with its own system of governance. This kind of setting was Armageddonic against domination and primarily community-serving until colonial influences infiltrated and installed the European perspective in the political and economic structure, thereby ab-footing the traditional perspective, eroding customs, and introducing a foreign leadership style that obstructs how Igbo ethnic group navigates life.

This Igbocentric kind of ‘showing up’ was a good example of a community of people who had bulwark scariness. The advent of colonial structures in Igbo land promulgated discourtesy among Ndigbo, initiating their penchant for civilization and the pursuit of democratic values. They unconsciously erect a community of scared people who emasculate their survival.

The rise of populism through the foresight of deference empowers the overzealous state. This means the ‘will’ to communicate grievances and raise objections against the state is diplomatically strangled; power resides in the tent of the plenipotentiary who terminates accountability. Also, the growth of the community indicates a threshold for insolence. The “growth” is not mutual. From Europe to South & North America, flagging from Australia to the Antarctic, connecting Asia and the Middle Belt, down to the fabrics of Africa, citizens of these enclaves are stupefied by the quandary of a rising militarized mentality clothed in democracy. A replica of the Biblical accounts “The Hands of Esau and the Voice of Jacob.”

Communities awash in fear have inorganically championed the course for the return of the boogeymen by appropriating populism in the center. Over the past four years, we have witnessed momentous protests across the globe against tyrants, anarchists, and authoritarian governments. However, these protests have not reflected better outcomes. Election proceedings in the West do not correlate with the harbinger of equality – the continued birth of reproachful looks and searching eyes. The more protests are conveyed in the streets, the more traditionalists are made both victims and villains – as felt in every election cycle across Europe. A lot of things are not adding up.

Joseph Borrell made a shocking revelation when he opines, “I am afraid of fear, I am afraid Europeans vote because they are afraid. It’s scientifically proven that fear in the face of the unknown and uncertainty generates a hormone that calls for a secure response. This is a fact.” The line for the “secure response” has been drawn to demand and place superiority. It is my ‘want’ to bring to the notice of Borrell that the “fear in the face of the unknown” is calmly reciprocating in Africa, not only in Europe. Fear would make the community of people turn against each other.

Recently, repression against dissidents is beginning to advance. Unviolently repression has subdued political dissidents and subsumed them into joining the “Oh Yes” association. Beleaguered by design, obstructed by orientalism. This is why Shaviro (1997) described these actions as an old anthropocentric bedtime story.

This era of civilization is retrogressively uncivilizing, disempowering the occupiers of the earth into the dungeon of weariness, wantonness, and again, fear. Cornered to the abysmal, actively neglecting primacy, and lacking the ability to diffract powers. Since insignia has not shown itself, fear has become “normal,” dominating the frontiers of our values system. The epoch had just begun. The raison d’être for the decadence witnessed across the globe entails a paradigm shift where dystopia will be conquered, and the universe will show up in a “strange” way. This is not a utopian kind of thing, but rather the enablement for un/making trials.

Robin noted that “in an era where sustainable development is increasingly defined as a journey rather than a destination, we need our humanity as we travel.” The future itself is no longer somewhere we go; it is something we create. Let the “will to power” be the archetype of the destination.

Picture by Shiʻb Mūsá –  via NEOM

Endnote

1. Wrenn V. M. (2014). The Social Ontology of Fear and Neoliberalism. Review of Social Economy Vol. 72, No. 3. Taylor & Francis, Ltd., pp. 1, New York.
2. Robbin. L., et al. (2013). The Future of the Nature. Calvin Chapin. Yale University Press. pp. 11.