Our Generation: The Lost Generation
7 min readBy Kur Wel Kur
Missing link in a culture, the history or learning, causes a terrible dissatisfaction; a search for the connecting pieces of the past and the future becomes primary”.
Back in 1980s, we admired and aspired in the Dinka’s wrestling, Dinka’s styles of composing folk songs, storytelling and in growing as Dinka’s men. We were small boys! Dreaming and contemplating those good things, passing in rites of passage, especially initiation and becoming men, men of our forefathers’ tradition, jetted us to do things as elders told us.
However, little did we know, we would end up living for years, thousand miles away from our birthplaces. In eastern Equatoria, lies Palotaka, where 2,500 boys lived, and other 30,000 boys struggled across the border, at Pinyudu in Ethiopia. We spent times learning the art of living or surviving in different ways from the ways we started mastering as Jieng’s boys.
This, where our brains starved to death in respect to our traditions. Seeing and doing things we shouldn’t see or do, erased the traces of our tradition! Those life coachers pushed us into maturity in days contrary to our traditions, where elders encourage the systematic and accumulative growth; we became men, brutal machines overnight. Brutal in what we say or write, has transported us to a frontline, another battle we must win! Unhealthy debate of issues close to our hearts is a war we must fight in a brave and an intelligent way.
This, the issue I usher you in, my dear brothers and sisters. So let’s dissect this issue (unhealthy debate) in the following sequence: causes of hatred (identity issue, name), losing or gaining ministerial seats in the national government, Dr. Riek Machar’s fake democracy campaign (active and passive supporters who bought Riek’s fake democracy), debating and defending sides with politicians of both side, and women versus men (misandry versus misogyny).
Causes of hatred: Name identity (to be or not be Bor)
During liberation struggle, we picked up some hatred among communities, in this regard, Bor, Duk and Twi East community. However, the hatred lingered in the low boiling point in the course of struggle; it increased post-independence as people crawled for cheap politics.
Name identity, ‘to be or not be Bor?’ became a primary and urgent question to answer. Members of all sides struggled in either accepting or rejecting the issue. They scribbled articles and posted opinions on social sites, where children born into internally displaced and refugees’ camps, and who know nothing about the history, hurdled into debating this critical issue.
Who in their right minds would blame these children? I blame those irresponsible writers who think they mastered it all; I point a finger towards the war because the flashbacks, nightmares and traumas of surviving and growing in the war dented our learning and thinking. Too many spongy holes in our brains for missing our traditional teachings.
I gave the liberation and those who led it a full responsibility for smearing campaigns in every issue we try to tackle. However, we must rise above all these mediocre debates and heal our souls by debating or writing in positive moods. We can solve our problems because no problem too great and far more dangerous than to fight for a country of our own!
Remember, we have a country so think like free persons and live it (freedom) because when pressures and frustrations blur visions, we act like we have nothing to lose but our country and thousands of generations to come, need our contributions. We can’t contribute a thing if we can’t coexist!
In the height of name identity hatred, the president of South Sudan, Salva Kiir (Mayaardit) Kuethpiny dissolved his cabinet; he reappointed some old ministers and appointed new ministers. The former vice president Dr. Riek Machar missed to secure an appointment and the president appointed none from two communities (Duk and Twi East) members. He rekindled a burning coal.
Some of Bor’s members praised and sided with the government for ‘gaining three ministerial seats’ and some of both Duk and Twi East communities’ members criticised the government and withdrew their support for ‘losing ministerial seats’ in the national government.
So all the demonic writings came from the above realities; some writers took this issue into their own hands so they wrote articles as if they own a patent (intellectual property) on communities (Bor, Duk and Twi East. They wrote on behalf of the communities as if commissioned with absolute right but no one must takes a communal blame or credit. It belongs to all of us.
Riek’s rebellion
With our relationship shredded and many members edged away from Kiir’s administration, Dr. Riek Machar launched a campaign of fake democracy, which started with the holding of press conference. He convinced some high profile figures including the wife of late Dr. John Garang in SPLM Party; all those founding members of SPLM made redundant by Kiir, automatically bought Riek’s argument of demanding a reform, democracy in the party. Whether the goodwill fuelled the conference or their redundancy geared it, remains unknown.
The president, on 13th of December, 2013, pushed buttons of war and backstabbing during the liberation as a retaliation of the press conference held on the 6th of December, 2014. The war came. Riek raced into the bush with the 85% of his tribesmen and a chunk of other communities just support him politically and morally. His supporters fall into two groups: active and passive supporters.
Active supporters who say openly that they support Dr. Riek; passive supporters who relinquish in the fear of judgement (in western countries) or death (in South Sudan) so they imply their support of the rebellion with their dictions. This, where the debate went sour because some members in Bor community generalised and labelled all Duk and Twi East members as rebels’ sympathisers!
And some Duk and Twi East labelled all Bor’s members as government supporters. I believe we got it wrong because no one community, which can support one thing, even in western countries, you find some people supporting Liberals, Greens or Labor, in regards to Australians’ politics or voters who hold Democrats’ or Republicans’ policies close to their chests if I rocketed you to the States(US).
My cousins support Riek and we debate the disabilities and abilities of both Salva and Riek always but we relax every time this debate sneaks in. However, when we go astray, I blame it wholly on the war, trauma eats us blindfolded.
Misogyny versus misandry
In the course of debating and defending sides and politicians, the debate took a wrong (unintended) turn: women versus men____feminism or now call it, misogyny versus misandry_____ this, when I want to invoke our long gone forefathers to move their ground bones in their graves because our tradition forbids the airing of humiliating insults against women.
Some persons can’t understand that you can’t win a debate from a woman; no insult that sits permanently on her, without her turning it around. It all comes back to you! You howl this abuse; and she points to your mother. You say this… or that, and your mum? She retorts. We must debate public issues without dragging in, our personal issues.
In conclusion, no one can force us to accept name that has nothing to do with us and no one can erase the name that has done so much under it; we can partition and separate in peace without scratching old scars. The president directs his thoughts so he chose to dissolve his cabinet and appointed ministers in his liking; nobody forced him or collaborated to appoint or not to appoint some as ministers.
This must not block the need for coexistence and intermarriages, we practiced for 100 of years. Supporting a course, Party or a politician reflects a choice or responsibility you take as a person so we must not intimidate others for their choices.
The nightmares, flashbacks and traumas of war, come to light whenever something of our current conflict emerges. We must respect one another especially women; you never know your one wrong word might close someone’s life chapter.
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