Tolerance & Inclusion

Kuir ë Garang.
Photo courtesy of South Sudanese
Youth of Canada 

I will be presenting in June on tolerance and inclusion based on my novel, Angelina & Adut. Being from South Sudan, a country where tribe transcends identity and political realities, and now living in a multicultural Canada, I find that lack of understanding of one another by diverse communities that make up South Sudan and Canada is a social problem. Indeed, it is not only an obstacle to the inclusion of minority communities; it is also an obstacle to the dominant majority group's understanding of themselves. There are many cases of racists attacks and verbal insults that result from perpetrators assuming that what they know about their targets is true.

While it is possible for us to racially discriminate or judge people we know, the chances of judging people we know diminish significantly the more we know them. An easy example of the importance of understanding others is the attitude people develop when they want to harm others or when they want to deny them something valuable. Essentially, before you fight someone, you insult them. Insults are attempts at diminishing the value of people, an attempt at estranging them, as Toni Morrison argued in The Origin of Others. It is easy to discriminate against strangers or make others strangers or dehumanized in order to discriminate against them.

We don't usually praise people we want to harm. No one praises someone and then slaps them. Just imagine praising someone you are made at. Or better, just think, NOW, of someone you consider your "enemy" and think someone positive, something really good, about them. You'll find yourself confused.

Denigration of people is part of "estranging" them, of dehumanizing them, to justify our treatment of them. The Nazis called Jews "parasites" to create a consciousness among the Germans that Jews are unwanted people. In Rwanda, Hutu's used "cockroaches" to estrange Tutsis and moderate Hutus in order to create a consciousness among Hutus that their targets had to die.

In Angelina & Adut, I used the story of two ten-year-olds, Adut (a South Sudan) and Angelina ( a European Canadian), to illustrate the problems, hopes, and the importance of "knowing others." We hardly discriminate against our friends or colleagues from other "races." So the story of Angelina, Adut, their families and friends, is how tolerance works in the family and society and the challenges faced by people who want to be inclusive.

As long as communities in Canada remain ignorant of each other's actual sociocultural realities, they risk getting seduced by superficial stories in the media and prejudiced, ideological scholarly writings. While it is easy to publicly proclaim that one is inclusive, it is another thing actually to live an inclusive life. Angelina and Adut presents a nuanced case that changes us.

“Mm. If the world was like you, we’d see it as a solid indivisible mass of smiley love; but does what you say reflect the man you are? It’s not about having a Chinese accountant, a black secretary, a Japanese employment consultant and a Mexican chauffeur, that I’m talking about. And it’s not certainly any man I’m talking about. It’s my husband. A divided self is a deceptive self, at times, a deceived self. I wouldn’t say a deceived self with emphasis. If you believe all the things you said project the way you live then how do they apply to me, a person who’s not you, but has to be treated not otherwise, but just a human?”

Jacqueline to Oliver (Angelina's parents) in Angelina and Adut, p.257

“You can apply this thought experiment in any way you like, but this is my humble part. Society knows what it wants from you anytime it does something. It suspects you of something and then tries to do something so that it goes away sure that you either have it or you don’t. If someone thinks you’re short-tempered and then annoys you, and you act in the manner that was in his head, whether he’s wrong or not, you remain short-tempered. Look at an African like me, who says he’s proud of his skin pigmentation. When you Savior, with lighter skin color than me, told me that I’m too black – too dark so to speak – and I slapped you, what would you think of me? Why’d I fight you if I know my skin is that beautiful?”

Chol to Savior in  Angelina & Adut, p.132

Join me on June 24, 2019, at York Woods Library to discuss these issues.

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Kuir ë Garang is the editor of THE PHILOSOPHICAL REFUGEE

It is preposterous to cow the minister, Dr. Nadia Arop Dudi, to reverse her decision

 By Pal Chol*

"Why is the issue of the NYU taken to become a one tribe affair knowing well that the country is inhabited by 64 tribes? Are these youths wanting to insinuate that it is their birthrights to hold that position? Do they want to confirm that it is their tribe that controls the economy and politics and to prove what is being fallaciously said of one tribe hegemony?" 

Hot on the heels of the dissolution of the National Youth Union (NYU)  whose term has elapsed and the subsequent appointment of the steering committee led by Mr. Bak Salva to prepare for the election of the new body (vide Ministerial Order), there have been some disgruntled and bigoted social media users who have been ranting to have their voices or grievances heard without any semblance of shame.

They consist of two groups, mainly our cousins from Greater Bahr el Ghazal states; those in favor and against the former president of the NYU. These Youth are sharply divided as can be seen from the venom they have been spitting in the media against one another. They have taken it upon themselves to settle their scores using the position of the NYU as a Trojan horse by stirring up the situation and calling themselves names with some even questioning the legality of the Ministerial Order. The other ethnic groups are quite and have become only spectators.

With all that borne in mind, there are pertinent questions that need to be posed and would beg answers to the satisfaction of all.

Why is the issue of the NYU taken to become a one tribe affair knowing well that the country is inhabited by 64 tribes? Are these youths wanting to insinuate that it is their birthrights to hold that position? Do they want to confirm that it is their tribe that controls the economy and politics and to prove what is being fallaciously said of one tribe hegemony? Is it only in that part of the country that there are qualified youths and eligible candidates to fill that position?

I can read between the lines that these youths who support somebody already fired are in fact against the state and they toil round the clock for its eventual downfall. They are 'decampaigning' the Head of State, something we shall not allow to happen under our watch. This has got to be very clear and must be resisted head-on should anybody or a group move towards that.

Those who call for the former leader to be reinstated are showing contempt and disrespect to the Honourable Minister of Youth, Culture and Sport, Dr. Nadia Arop; something which has never been heard of. I am being tempted to believe that there is nothing that makes courageous those who challenged the decision of the minister apart from the fact that she is seen in the way I and they know. She doesn't come from home and considered as somebody just favored and doesn't have civic rights.

Can these youths attempt with any other minister, a tribesman or a woman, and expect to get away with it without consequences in any form? This country is bigger than all of us. The youth forms the nucleus of any society. They need not be divided, used for cheaper selfish political gains and encouraged to lock horns over trivial matters among themselves. It is time for us to unite as our unity is our strength.

I am happy with some of my trusted friends, who see the truth and support the ministerial decision.

They are patriots and nationalists. I vow to stand with them through thick and thin to defend and support the minister and by extension the president. 

I call on my fellow youths all over South Sudan to let go of the past, prepare a conducive environment and ground for the election to be held and if it is won by Bak or whoever, there will be no qualms.

What is it that the former president of the NYU has forgotten to do during his tenure for him to claim that he is still the rightful leader of the NYU?

Having read the Ministerial Order and other voices, his failures surpassed his achievements. Does that need to be disputed given the legion of reasons we all saw with our naked eyes?

In brief, I just want to categorically tell my brother, whose term has expired, to accept the decision of the Minister, congratulate her for the time they spent working together, the trust vested in him and wish the new committee well in their future endeavors. 

I would also encourage him to try his luck by lobbying for any other job in the next government. He has all it takes to occupy any position.

The decision of the Hon. Minister is a fait accompli although we are hearing on the grapevine that there are big fishes leaning on the power center, who want to cow the minister into reversing her decision and reinstate the former leader. If true, it would be setting a bad precedent and it would only be a back-door politicking that must stop!

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*The author is an independent opinion writer. He is also a medical practitioner in South Sudan.   To contact the author, use this email: palcholnyan2016 @gmail.com.

Editor's Note: The views expressed in the article don't reflect the views of The Philosophical Refugee Site but the author.