Letter of the week
EDITOR – NO doubt Christmas is a great time for us and is the most beautiful time for family.
In any case, it’s now a broadly accepted way of celebrating the birth of Jesus.
Watching TV, social and print media, conversations and habits, we realise how tough it is for our colonised minds.
The West own Christmas and commerce that come with it.
The images are of snow during our summer, the deco trees are foreign, the animals on most images are not found anywhere in our jungles, the food and drink nothing we Africans eat at Christmas, the snow games impossible and the Santa comes from the North Pole riding on a cart we don’t have here.
The music/carols not something we believe in, the gifting culture alien, buildings and architecture in images non-existent here, fire places during our summer, furniture and fittings Western and clothing in movies Western brands.
Where exactly is African in this whole scheme of things besides colonising our minds?
The only idea that has remained African is the August holiday; a time we do traditional ceremonies.
It is so because there is nothing Western to compete with it.
It, of late now, even face disdain as backward to remember our departed ancestors the way we do.
By and large Western-inspired holidays have more traction.
The media we consume is killing the little African left in us.
The level of colonisation is astounding and require new minds to develop a unique concept of Christmas relevant to us since Jesus is now a universal figure.
We, though, are lazy to intellectually develop, germinate and propagate unique experiences, images, concepts and ideas of something relevant to us as a people.
We must not underestimate the impact of these foreign-fed irrelevant concepts on outflow of money and support it provides to Western economies.
This continual feeding of these Christmas concepts feed into commerce in fashion, fabric, design, food, drink and ideas.
We import more than is necessary and, while at it, export nothing during this period.
It will take Africans decades to decolonise the mind using lots of intellectual engagement, energy and re-education.
Here, the standard of fashion, fabric, deco, food, furniture, etiquette, language, habits, drinks, music, technology, design, art and even accent is mostly American and West in brands.
Anything else is deemed inferior.
The amount of transfer of wealth from Africa to the West to consume these brands is huge and likely a perpetual source of enslavement.
When they say you are not enlightened, it simply means you aren’t living according to American standards.
As long we, as Africans, cannot free ourselves from Western ways, its media, lapdogs and so forth, we are still colonial States of Europeans and Americans.
This is the impact of media and our education to think anything African, Chinese and Russian is inferior.
We have to hold our ‘Afrcanicity’ instead of adopting every foreign concept.
It’s a tough call that requires our collective effort.
Brian Sedze
(Strategy, Innovation and Tax Consultant).
For comments,
email: Brian.sedze@gmail.com