Page 25 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 29
P. 25
Community
because you fear the danger confronting your based on irrational fears. The threats are
family and your property. prescribed to us by those who claim to be
We share reactive violence with animals our leaders. It is found in the propaganda our
when our reaction is based on reality. politicians and our revered spiritual leaders.
Nevertheless, it becomes uniquely human
when it emanates from perceived reality Let us take the situation in Ethiopia and the
created by propaganda. As Fromm clearly US attack on Iraq and other sovereign nations
state, such violence finds its inception in “the to solidify the meaning of reactive violence
manipulation of man’s mind; political and based on false assumptions. When we look
closer into the
ethical conflicts
in Ethiopia,
we often find
reactive violence
originating from
a perceived or
alleged threat.
To begin with,
it has become a
political plague
affecting almost
every ethnic
group. We
often hear the
‘self-acclaimed
religious leaders persuade their adherents that leaders’ of each ethnic group speaking of the
they are threatened by an enemy, and thus threat they are facing from ‘all other groups’.
arouse the subjective response of reactive Using such propaganda, they indoctrinate
hostility. … The psychological results of the their followers into believing that there is
acceptance of a belief in an alleged threat are, an ‘actual’ threat. For the people who hear
of course, the same as those of a real threat.” this claims, the psychological effect makes it
This is a pressing issue of the 21st century real. And so they attack and justify it as self-
as it continues to terrorize and disrupt world defense.
peace. Let us now see the argument of the US
Reactive violence from an alleged threat as government for invading Iraq, Afghanistan,
opposed to a real threat has been the cause Libya, etcetera. The US narrative began
of human misery throughout history. In our with false intel about ‘weapons of mass
ignorance, we have not learned from history destruction.’ owned by this nations, which
as we still sacrifice ourselves and others required ‘preemptive’ strike. For those
ISSUE 29 | JULY 2024 25
