Daniel Akech Thiong, The Politics of Fear in South Sudan: Generating Chaos, Creating Conflict, 2021. London, Zed Books, Bloomsbury Publishing, xxii +217 pp. ISBN: 978-1-7869-9678-7 (hbk)
Daniel Akech Thiong's book, The Politics of Fear in South Sudan: Generating Chaos, Creating Conflict (2021), comprises of eight chapters, beginning with a ‘Preface’ (xi–xvii) that foregrounds the intricate web of political dynamics that have plagued South Sudan, one of the world's youngest nation-states. According to the author, the politics of fear ‘refers to the elite politicisation of group identity, the decentralisation of fear and the mobilisation of perceptions of danger, insecurity, resentment and hatred to discredit and dominate rivals and to control populations’ (xv). Admittedly, the politicisation of fear is a well-known primordial tactic that has long been recognised as a potent force in shaping human behaviour and societal dynamics.
Throughout history, political leaders have exploited fear to maintain control over their populations. From ancient tyrants to modern dictators, the tactic of instilling fear has been a recurring theme in oppressive regimes. The use of fear as a tool of governance was perhaps most famously articulated by Machiavelli, in The Prince, where he advocated for rulers to inspire fear rather than love among their subjects. Similarly, totalitarian regimes of the twentieth century, such as Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia, relied on fear to suppress dissent and enforce obedience. In contemporary times, the politics of fear continues to exert a significant influence on political discourse and decision-making. Unscrupulous politicians exploit fears of terrorism, immigration, or economic instability to rally support and justify policies that erode civil liberties. The media also plays a role in the perpetuation of fear. They exaggerate threats and stoke anxieties for ratings and profit. Social media platforms, with their ability to disseminate information rapidly, have further amplified the spread of fear and misinformation, contributing to a climate of anxiety and polarisation.
Thiong's analysis of the politics of fear delves into several key themes, revealing the intricate dynamics of power, ethnicity, violence, and governance in the young nation. The book offers a constructive analysis of fear as a political tool, the role of ethnicity in conflict, the impact of violence on civilian populations, the role of external actors, and pathways to peace. It provides valuable insights for scholars, policymakers, and practitioners working to address the challenges facing the country. In specific terms, Thiong examines how fear is systematically employed by political elites to maintain power and control over the population. He explores the ways in which state repression, propaganda, and the politicisation of ethnic identity are used to instil fear and perpetuate a climate of insecurity. Hence, Thiong's analysis highlights the insidious nature of fear as a tool of manipulation, undermining democratic processes and impeding efforts towards peace and reconciliation.
Another central theme in Thiong's book is the intersection between ethnicity and conflict in South Sudan. Thiong traces the historical roots of ethnic tensions and explores how political leaders exploit ethnic divisions to mobilise support and justify violence. He emphasises the need to address the underlying grievances of marginalised ethnic groups and promote inclusive governance as essential steps towards peace and stability. His analysis also underscores the devastating impact of violence on civilian populations in South Sudan. He examines how fear-driven conflict perpetuates cycles of revenge and impunity, exacerbating human suffering and hindering prospects for reconciliation. Thiong calls attention to the urgent need for accountability mechanisms and justice reforms to break the cycle of violence and build trust among communities.
Despite the pervasive influence of fear and conflict, Thiong also highlights stories of resistance and resilience among ordinary South Sudanese people. He showcases the efforts of civil society organisations, grassroots movements, and individuals to challenge fear-based narratives and advocate for peace and justice. Thiong's analysis offers hope for positive change, emphasising the importance of grassroots activism and community-led initiatives in building a more inclusive and peaceful society. Throughout the book, Thiong explores potential pathways to peace and reconciliation in South Sudan. He emphasises the importance of inclusive political processes, dialogue, and trust-building measures in addressing the root causes of conflict and fostering sustainable peace. Thiong's analysis calls for a holistic approach to peacebuilding that addresses political, economic, and social dimensions of conflict, while also recognising the agency of local actors in shaping their own futures.
The book also highlights the role of external actors as a significant factor contributing to the perpetuation of fear, chaos, and conflict in South Sudan. Thiong's study underscores the complex interplay between domestic actors and external influences, including neighbouring countries, regional powers, and international actors. He examines how external actors have engaged in proxy warfare in South Sudan, providing support to various armed groups and factions in pursuit of their own geopolitical interests. Neighbouring countries such as Sudan, Uganda, and Ethiopia have been accused of arming and backing different rebel groups in South Sudan, exacerbating internal conflicts and undermining efforts towards peace and stability. Similarly, Thiong explores how regional power dynamics shape the political landscape of South Sudan with neighbouring countries vying for influence and control over the country's vast natural resources and strategic location. He highlights how regional rivalries and alliances contribute to instability and conflict, as competing factions seek support from external patrons to advance their interests. The role of international actors, including the United Nations, Western governments, and humanitarian organisations, in addressing the humanitarian crisis and promoting peace in South Sudan were likewise highlighted. While he acknowledges the efforts of the international community to provide humanitarian assistance and facilitate peace negotiations, he also criticises the limited effectiveness of these interventions in addressing the root causes of conflict. Generally, Thiong's analysis underscores the complex and multifaceted role of external actors in shaping the political dynamics of South Sudan. The overall argument suggests that while external actors may offer support for peace and development initiatives, they also contribute to instability and conflict through their geopolitical calculations, economic interests, and interventions.
The merits of the book include its comprehensive, interdisciplinary, empirical and critical analysis of the role of fear in shaping the political landscape of South Sudan. Thiong draws on historical, political, and sociological perspectives to offer a nuanced understanding of the complexities underlying conflict and instability in the country. He employs an interdisciplinary approach that integrates insights from political science, history, international relations, sociology, and conflict studies to shed light on the multifaceted nature of fear and its implications for governance and peacebuilding. Furthermore, Thiong supports his analysis with empirical evidence, drawing on a wide range of sources including interviews, case studies, and historical documents. This empirical grounding enhances the credibility and relevance of his arguments, providing readers with tangible examples to illustrate key concepts. Thiong also adopts a critical perspective towards the political dynamics in South Sudan, challenging conventional narratives and interrogating the underlying power structures that perpetuate fear and conflict. His willingness to question established norms and assumptions enriches the scholarly discourse on the subject.
Like every academic work, the book has some limitations. While Thiong provides a thorough analysis of fear and conflict in South Sudan, the book may be criticised for its somewhat narrow focus on the politics of fear. It may have benefited from a more expansive exploration of other factors contributing to conflict, such as economic inequalities, regional dynamics, and external influences. Another possible criticism against the book is the poor engagement with alternative perspectives. In a sense, the book predominantly presents Thiong's own analysis and viewpoints, with limited engagement with alternative perspectives or dissenting opinions. Thiong's insights on the politics of fear in South Sudan are no doubt valuable. But a more robust consideration of differing viewpoints could have enriched the discussion and provided readers with a more balanced understanding of the issues at hand. In addition to the foregoing, Thiong offers insights into the root causes of conflict in South Sudan, but the book is comparatively light on concrete policy recommendations for addressing these challenges. A more explicit discussion of potential solutions and actionable strategies for peacebuilding and governance reform could have enhanced the book's practical utility for policymakers and practitioners.
Overall, The Politics of Fear in South Sudan: Generating Chaos, Creating Conflict is a significant contribution to the scholarly literature on conflict and governance in South Sudan. Despite some limitations, it provides valuable insights into the complexities of fear-driven politics and offers a compelling analysis of the challenges facing the country. The book is an essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the roots of South Sudan's turmoil and the prospects for a more peaceful future.
Martin F. Asiegbu
Department of Philosophy, University of Nigeria, Nsukka
Norman Ajari, Darkening Blackness: Race, Gender, Class and Pessimism in 21st – Century Black Thought, translated by Matthew B. Smith, 2024. Polity Press, 219pp. ISBN: 978-1509555000 (pbk).
A first glance at Norman Ajari's book smacks of a linguistic-philosophical curiosity that emerges from its title: Darkening Blackness. The title is a curious one because The Oxford Encyclopedic English Dictionary defines black as ‘very dark, having no colour from the absorption of all’ (146), explaining dark as ‘with little or no light, gloomy, depressing’ (366). Anyone could ask then: how can ‘deep darkness be further darkened?’ No doubt the title was intentionally given to provoke readers. After all, the author wrote: ‘this work, whose title should be read with irony, is not meant to be a contribution to Marxism, but to black thought in its specific radical tradition’ (159). The radical black thinking is underlined earlier enough by the author as follows: ‘Darkening Blackness is a documentation of the return of pessimism in contemporary thought’, making reference to Trump's ‘racist harlequinades’, on the one side, and the Black Lives Matter movement, on the other side (16). Ajari explains his work to have a three-fold aim which can be summarised in these words: (a) to expose the contributions of the new fields – Afropessimism and black male studies in favour of the black destiny; (b) to utilise the tools of the new fields in analysing other texts, especially in French speaking environment; and (c) to continue the discourse of his earlier book, Dignity or Death, intended as discussion on ‘Afrodescendants by the afrodescendants themselves’ (16).
Given the foregoing aims of the work, Ajari makes a summary of the four chapters that compose his book. Chapter one gives a historical survey of Afropessimism in its intellectual debates, beginning with the works of black scholars at the end of the twentieth century. Prominent among them are Frank Wilderson and Jared Sexton (17). Chapter two analyses the core texts of Afropessimism based on the conviction that ‘the intensity and persistence of anti-blackness cannot be explained without understanding a deeper anti-black unconscious’ (17). The third chapter which examines a certain dissatisfaction on the treatment of gender by Afropessimism, is a way of checking that there are no internal saboteurs to the collective destiny of the black race through gender disputations. In his final chapter, Ajari disallows the argument that contingency is responsible for anti-blackness. For him, black violence is not a case of occasional phenomenon, but ‘history has shown us that being black alone is sufficient reason for being assaulted, even killed’ (18). He calls this conscious and unconscious hateful mentality to blackness an ‘ontological particularity of the black condition’ whose effects go beyond the political.
After the summary just presented, I review this work thematically. But before exposing the themes distilled from the book, it must be stressed that ‘blackness’ is the key concept that grounds all the essential themes in the work, largely used by Ajari to depict the despicable context of the black people: black critical theory (99), black condition (21), black church (15), black power movement (18, 13), black radical tradition (8), black feminism (13,17), (18, 68), black consciousness (160–161, 170–171), black power movement (8,13), black bodies (10), black lives matter (16, 106), black male studies (14, 16), and so many others. What these nuances amount to is that the notion of blackness is not just a historical accident but a historicising of a people's image across time and space. Let us examine Ajari's core ideas associated with blackness.
Blackness, Black Condition and Black People
My reading of these concepts in the different chapters of Ajari's work, and with his sustained effort to give new impulses to them each time, makes me think that the concepts fit into one stream of thought, namely: ‘the horror of being black’. For Ajari, the fundamental and greatest problem of the black condition is the notion of blackness itself. He assembles the disgusting meanings imposed on blackness in modern history, which go beyond the perceptual, psychological, historical, but extend to the cognitive, the unconscious and, shockingly, to the ecclesiastical realms. Imagine these depictions: ‘the unredeemable mark of abjection’ (48); ‘a synonymous term with abomination, misery, servitude, superfluity’ (49) and so on. Blackness is, therefore, the reason for the black condition of the black people who have virtually no right to anything officially or unofficially anywhere even in their own homeland. On the theoretical level, Ajari presents some scenarios of anti-blackness like these: President Trump's executive order that prohibited ‘all federal contractors from conducting trainings that address race and gender’ (2); banning and tagging of Critical Race Theory (CRT) as radical philosophy that is rooted in Marxism (1–2); Southern Baptist Convention's public condemnation of CRT in 2019 (2); some Republican governors’ ban of CRT (2); thirty Republican Congressmen and women that introduced a bill to stop CRT and poised to ban equality of races (3).
As the verbal attacks and policy decisions against black people rage on the theoretical plane, the existential plane shows varying forms of dehumanisation; first, one recalls the historical slave trade (40) at which black bodies were provisionally accepted only because of usability (42). Another evidence of indignity against blacks on the same existential sphere is the colonisation episode. Ajari cites Du Bois’ statement as a way of justifying the colonisers’ project: ‘If the slave cannot be taken from Africa, slavery can be taken to Africa’ (45). Other dehumanising cases against the blacks as Ajari documents include the occasional attacks on Nigerians by South Africans and the Congolese (46); the incidents of police violence against the graduate electrician and against the music producer, all in 2020 (94). Perhaps, the ugliest description of the anti-black racism I find in this book is the contention that a primary goal of anti-blackness is not simply the infliction of suffering on black people, but ‘a simple and pure desire to annihilate alterity’ (63).
Black Consciousness, Afropessimism and Black Male Studies
Another set of a trio-concept that I find so central in Ajari's work is ‘black consciousness’, ‘Afropessimism’ and ‘Black male studies’. Towards the end of Darkening Blackness, Ajari gives the hint that the politicisation of black consciousness lays a new foundation for black communism (160). It is founded on a kind of consciousness that knows the self in its dehumanising black condition, and at the same time, searches for a liberation that is rooted in the renowned liberating ideologies of the past. The outcome of such consciousness is well explained by Ajari's discourse on Afropessimism whose sources come from black life thinking, black race studies, black condition and even from the limitations of European thinking (18 21). He does speak of theoretical space and debates that should furnish Afropessimism (24). But what is Afropessimism? Ajari gives this clue to the meaning: ‘Afropessimism is not just a theory, but a metatheory – a critical discourse that employs blackness as a lens for interpreting and interrogating the unspoken, but assumed Marx, post-colonialist, feminists, etc.’ (22). Historically, Afropessimism refers to ‘a radical school of thought that emerged from within the Black Studies in North America’ (25); or in another explanation, ‘Afropessimism attempts to explain well the cases of poverty, vulnerability and over exposure to violence that black people suffer throughout the world’ (49). Ajari explains three major currents associated with Afropessimism: (i) the social diagnosis of CRT, (ii) the methodology of the Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben, and (iii) a particular concern within black feminism that considers the question of death and dehumanisation (25).
Like Afropessimism, Black male studies is also a new field of inquiry that addresses the dearth of studies done in this area in general, especially in philosophy (72). The new field emerged from the thinking that both social philosophy and critical theory cannot address the violent predicament that black masculinity suffers (72). Perhaps, to see how urgent Black male studies is, one recalls Sylvia Wynter's public provocative letter to colleagues that was titled, ‘No Humans Involved’. In the letter, young black males are fundamentally defined as being insignificant, and “can be perceived, and therefore behaved towards, only as the Lack of the human, the Conceptual Other to being North American” (72).
Challenges Facing Afropessimism and Black Male Studies
The challenges refer to unfavourable criticisms and propaganda that are made by the state, academics, church bodies, fellow black groups like black feminism, and so on. The criticisms include critical debates on the two sides of the divide. For instance, Ajari's introduction of the book boldly portrayed how CRT has been perceived as a public enemy in the United States and France (1–7), and by some academics and activists who accuse Afropessimism and Black male studies of ‘departing from – or even are a betrayal of – Black political thought’ (8). From another perspective, Ajari acknowledges the works of black writers like Frank Widerson, Jared Sexton, David Marriott and Tommy Curry as falling ‘squarely in line with an essential component of black radical thought’ (8). Ajari's reference to Curry's description of the impression of black folks and Black male studies is pitiable (77). Even the apparently emerging Negritude in mid 1930s, which was re-assuring, had however a challenge. Notwithstanding that Aimé Césaire defended the revolutionary political content of Negritude, he still notes that ‘revolutionary is all good and well, but insufficient for us blacks . . . For the revolution, let us claim ownership of ourselves, towering above official white culture, looking down on the “intellectual ragging” of a conqueror's imperialism’ (11). While this insufficiency is noted, Ajari would add more: the question of black feminism which, appearing as pursuing pure black thinking, ‘had already paved the way for this dismissal of the black radical tradition’ (13). Similar behaviour is noted among some black churches, especially the Baptist convention. Indeed, the challenges are enormous. Yet, towards the end of his work, Ajari proposes a politics of Antagonism that would lead to Black Communism.
From Politics of Antagonism to Black Dignity
Ajari ends his book with a chapter on ‘Politics of Antagonism’. He is of the view that antagonism exists only in the context of mixed multiplicity. Ajari names a tripartite mixed groups in the United States as Indigenous, European and Black populations. He believes in Wilderson's statement that ‘American society is fundamentally structured by ontological antagonisms that put the three racial groups against each other’ (98). In his view, the antagonisms are not contingent but necessary, especially because anti-blackness is continuous, not instantaneous (95). Ajari articulates three beliefs that are the foundations of antagonisms in the world and they include: (a) blackness is no identity but an inescapable ontological position tied to birth that someone cannot exit from; (b) there shall not be an end to anti-blackness; (c) pure negativity is called for in the sense that blackness demands that civil society be abolished, not reformed (101). Making stronger the third belief here, Ajari cites Franz Fanon's conviction that ‘the only thing worth the effort of starting is nothing other than the end of the world’ (101).
The foregoing picture is what Afropessimism and black male studies make so obvious for all to see. It is a picture that only generates despair, thereby making Afropessimism to offer no hope to humankind. Notwithstanding such despair, Ajari insists that ‘the seemingly nihilistic goals of Afropessimism are no less realistic or compelling than the faith placed in the promise of American democracy by left-leaning black thinkers’ (103). The left-leaning black thinkers refer to those who think that proper integration in the status quo can bring about change. However, Ajari is convinced that ‘black people are condemned to revolutionary hate. Black lucidity is measured by its hatred of the world’ (151). In the light of this definitive opinion, he concludes that black communism is the answer. It is communism that arises from the belief that ‘coalition, alliance and solidarity are no longer fashionable tools for mobilising black political power for the sake of human dignity’ (153). It is a communism that does not take ‘blackness ‘to be a case of ethnicity or even phenotype, but blackness ‘created out of valuelessness assigned to lives having African descent’ (155). Even to focus on skin is to be blindfolded to the deeper historicity of blackness, its centuries-long connection with violence and dehumanisation (157). Perhaps, one can ask: in what then does Black Communism really consist? I find Ajari's answer in the concluding paragraph of the entire book, part of which reads: ‘indeed what matters is that black lives, names and interests are staunchly positioned at the center of this thinking and activism. . . . Pessimism awakens at the dawn of Black dignity’ (166).
This review cannot be satisfactorily concluded without some comments that I consider to be worthwhile. In general, Ajari's persuasive argumentation with indisputable historical and theoretical facts makes his work an impressive literature on black studies. The powerful literature he referred to in support of his argumentation are, perhaps, the greatest merit I see in the work – Darkening Blackness: Race, Gender, Class and Pessimism in 21st–Century Black Thought.
However, I have the following concerns in the work. Firstly, Ajari does not seem to have distinguished the two different conditions of black people at home (in the African continent) and those in diaspora. Their different conditions present different pictures of black maltreatment. In other words, blacks in the diaspora and blacks within the continent are not always on the same page in their experiences of injustice against the blacks. The experience of slavery by blacks against which their resentment of whites largely arises is not immediately co-extensive with the distortion of African culture that is the concern of Africans at home. Secondly, Ajari's presentation of ‘Afropessimism’ appears to be unclear in its conceptualisation. Ajari himself is aware of this when he writes: ‘Afropessimism is often criticized for its lack of clarity regarding its political goals’ (101). But a more fundamental question is: can pessimism in any form at all yield something that is positive and admirable? Thirdly, except in some theoretical debates, there is no clear mention of the cases of blacks’ undoing within the Western world that involve blacks themselves. Fourthly and in support of the preceding point, I single out some literature from Nigeria alone that depict blacks’ cruel treatment of fellow blacks. They include (i) The Trouble with Nigeria by Chinua Achebe, published in 1983, which underscores the issue of leadership failure – a failure emerging from tribalism, lack of patriotism, false image of the self and corruption; (ii) Arthur Nwankwo's African Dictators: The Legacy of Tyranny and the Lessons from History published in 1990, which underlines how state-sponsored terrorism in the form of coups during the military era has set Nigeria backwards; (iii) Emeka George Ekwuru's The Pangs of African Culture in Travail: The Igbo world in Disarray, published in 1999, a dual perspective of the African person – the one imposed from outside and the one that he inflicted upon himself; and (iv)Anthony Ajah's article ‘Twenty-first Century Slavery in Libya: A Philosophical Note to Afrocentrists’, published in 2017, which questions how such an evil that happened on Africans many centuries ago is now allowed to happen on her again by fellow Africans.
Conclusively, I feel that the journey to black dignity lies in a sustained critical attitude to all forms of black dehumanisation in any part of the world irrespective of whether the black indignity is perpetrated by whites or fellow blacks. It seems to me that any dignity worthy of the name is akin to what Michael Eze refers to as Cosmopolitanism in terms of ‘global citizenship that recognizes subjective equality and shared humanity’. The way to black dignity is not to exit from continuous engagement with white people who may not consider black people as truly human (165); it is not to declare the abolition of civil society (101), but to engage in enduring dialogue till we get to a point of convergence, mutual respect and recognition.
Chrysanthus Ogbozo
University of Nigeria, Nsukka