When deputy PM William Hague on May 6th announced a payout of 14.5 mn GBP ,or 2500 GBP compensation for every 5200 ex Mau Mau fighters for torture by HMG agents many Britons were outraged. Their comments reveal that sadly many are still stuck in the matrix of false hilariously self serving historical narratives:
-colonialism was about ending the slave trade
-Britain simply wanted to bring about Christianity
-the West led by Britain wanted to bring a Protestant work ethic and end the brutishness of the typical native lifestyle of indolence and debauchery
Despite the fact that HMG didn't dispute one of the 5 plaintiffs had been castrated and the lone woman among them sexually assaulted with a bottle these sentiments are typical of the British mindframe:
Showing posts with label mau mau. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mau mau. Show all posts
Friday, 7 June 2013
Tuesday, 28 August 2012
INSIDE THE KIKUYU COMPLEX
Ever since the country now known as Kenya was first brutally ushered into Anglosaxon modernity at the end of the 19th century,the Kikuyu,whose homeland encompasses Mt.Kenya and the outlying highlands have been at the forefront of national sociopolitical developments;a fact many have commented upon.
Its therefore no surprise,this same highly experienced colonial officer,the archtype of the brutally efficient loyal servant of the Queen,(who would definitely have faced ICC charges if it existed then,by his own self confessed actions) spoke of a secret Kikuyu army called "Maw Maw," in 1950, 2 years before the outbreak of hostilities.
During the PEV,there was an obvious schadenfreude from unaffected parties as they watched TV footage of suddenly impoverished Kikuyus shepherded to safety by army units in the Rift Valley. Very quickly,too quickly,these envious people parroted the line of the attackers repeating cant about "historic land injustices/dispossession of land and blatant electoral disenfranchisement."
Like all mantras,this is emotionally appealing and serves no purpose in meeting reality. In the considered opinion of many,Kikuyus have simply been way ahead of the curve from the beginning. Here is something I recently stumbled across that supports that contention and also invalidates the standard mainstream canard that Africa had no script. This is gicandi-indigenous Kikuyu writing.
They are from Scoresby Routledge, 'With a prehistoric people.' IDK if they're classified as ideogram or pictographs but the translation of the script reveals normal day to day activities which makes clear it was common enough for daily usage and also suggests it was widely understood. However even by then 1910 ,it was dying out and few could decipher the signs.
Other writers have remarked on this writing but these are the only images I could find. Apparently it may have been a degeneration of a true phonetic script-a story for another day but exemplifies how these people have always been in the forefront of everything.
Those investigating this national Kikuyu preeminence would,in my view do well to thoroughly research the origins of gicandi,no easy task,since even the old have forgotten it,but it would perhaps reveal the mental software processes that led to this situation.
One of the most brutal colonisers Captain Richard Henry Meinertzhagen (1878-1967) of the Kings African Rifle mentioned this Kikuyu rebellious spirit when he said during his departure from Kenya: "I am sorry to leave the Kikuyu. They are the most intelligent of the African tribes I have met; therefore, they will be the most progressive under European guidance and will be more susceptible to subversion activities. They will be one of the first tribes to demand freedom from European influence and in the end cause a lot of trouble."http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000056264&pageNo=1
Its therefore no surprise,this same highly experienced colonial officer,the archtype of the brutally efficient loyal servant of the Queen,(who would definitely have faced ICC charges if it existed then,by his own self confessed actions) spoke of a secret Kikuyu army called "Maw Maw," in 1950, 2 years before the outbreak of hostilities.
Other Kenyans,envy and hate Kikuyus,and freely admit to it. When pushed for explanations,theories of political advantage,exclusionism and a latent superiority complex are often heard-but one wonders really? Here is a neutral non Kenyan observer:They have a desire for knowledge and it is believed that all children should receive a full education. They have a terrific reputation for money management and it is common for them to have many enterprises at one time. The Kikuyu have also been active politically.http://www.africaguide.com/culture/tribes/kikuyu.htm
During the PEV,there was an obvious schadenfreude from unaffected parties as they watched TV footage of suddenly impoverished Kikuyus shepherded to safety by army units in the Rift Valley. Very quickly,too quickly,these envious people parroted the line of the attackers repeating cant about "historic land injustices/dispossession of land and blatant electoral disenfranchisement."
Like all mantras,this is emotionally appealing and serves no purpose in meeting reality. In the considered opinion of many,Kikuyus have simply been way ahead of the curve from the beginning. Here is something I recently stumbled across that supports that contention and also invalidates the standard mainstream canard that Africa had no script. This is gicandi-indigenous Kikuyu writing.
They are from Scoresby Routledge, 'With a prehistoric people.' IDK if they're classified as ideogram or pictographs but the translation of the script reveals normal day to day activities which makes clear it was common enough for daily usage and also suggests it was widely understood. However even by then 1910 ,it was dying out and few could decipher the signs.
Those investigating this national Kikuyu preeminence would,in my view do well to thoroughly research the origins of gicandi,no easy task,since even the old have forgotten it,but it would perhaps reveal the mental software processes that led to this situation.
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Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2320132/Mau-Mau-British-Government-begins-landmark-talks-compensate-elderly-Kenyans-tortured-uprising.html#ixzz2VX3pe4mc
In truth,Johnny Brit was a benign coloniser compared to the Belgians who killed millions in the Congo;or the Italians who used poison gas against the Ethiopians when they invaded in 1935 or the Portuguese who used whipping as late as the seventies when they finally lost their last African holdings in Angola and Mozambique.
Despite this fact Kenya was a colony,a settler colony which meant that unlike Nigeria,Ghana or even Uganda the colonialism was of necessity a much harder variety to ensure the rights and privileges of the invader over the natives. The latter was a labourer for the former-nothing more nothing less who wasn't allowed to grow cash crops until the very eve of independence. More often than not he was landless or pushed onto tiny family plots on overcrowded native reserves,which is where excess labour was domiciled.
Contrary to prevailing Mainstream Media mythology there were immediate post independence gains in all social indicators. Child mortality fell, longevity and school & hospital building programs increased dramatically giving the lie to claims about 'altruism and the essential nobility of colonialism'. Until today national development is only along a 200 km corridor either side of the Kisumu/Mombasa railway-to export (loot) the colony's goods and services. Only now has serious effort been made to correct this iniquitous situation with a major development of N.Kenya with a road and pipeline.
One hopes this episode will force a reexamination of the histories in other ex colonies. Malaysia lost 10,000 dead in their own sanguinary decolonisation of the fifties. The Indians lost 5 mn Bengalis when the genocidal Churchill confiscated their food and let them starve during WW2 to quell their famously troublesome political spirit. The Nigerians still insist the Brits sabotaged their early nationhood by rigging the vote to fix heir favourite Hausa/Fulani clique in power as proxies........the list is long.
One can't be too hard on the morally schizophrenic Brit commenters above;they're simply victims of decades of indoctrination by 'court poetry' and 'official history.' Anyone wanting well researched unvarnished accounts of the Mau Mau insurgency should read 'Histories of the Hanged' and/or 'Britain's Gulag:The brutal end of Empire in Kenya.'