Cameron Duodu
One of the numerous verbal games we used to play in my village as young children went like this: after one had finished eating a nice ear of freshly harvested corn – be it soft-boiled or baked in the fire – one would hold up the emptied husk of corn in one's hand and chant:
“Maburoo a meweeɛ yi,
Mene wo n'ewee a,
Atamfoɔ (?) ntwa wo ti
Nkɔto ntwene sei aaa
PO-O-O-HM!”
(TRANSLATION:)
“This corn that I've eaten,
If you joined me in eating it,
May our enemies (specify name!)
Cut off your head
And hurl it far away like this:
P-O-O-O-HM!”)
Now, I don't, of course, know who composed this ditty, nor how it came about that all of us children knew how to use it to tease our siblings and friends. But one thing is clear: we used it to frighten one another, at a time when we would be most susceptible to psychological instruction; that is when we had indulged in one of the most pleasurable acts of childhood in the deep forest areas of Ghana i.e. eating “young” corn that has been freshly harvested from our own family farm, and using the best method to cook it to its most delicious state.
Why was eating nice corn associated with a gory act like the decapitation of one's head?
Was it a subtle way of teaching us, without appearing to do so, that life was not all about eating nice corn or plantains or cocoyam or yam, but also about some very unpleasant things, such as war that can bring about the “decapitation” of our heads by our “enemy”?
That I still recite the ditty (which I learned when I was at most five years old!) shows that our ancestors had a very effective way of teaching children, at an early age, about the real world; teaching us, not at the “conscious level”, but to implant in us, subconsciously, certain truths relating to traumatic events and practices that we might encounter, both as children and as adults
The marvelous thing about the songs and ditties they crafted was that they were so easy to remember. I mean, how subtle can you get, using such methods of indirect instruction to induce a knowledge of life that implanted into children's heads, the idea that war was a very bad occurrence indeed, bad because it not only interfered with pleasures like enjoying delectable, fresh corn? And, also, that it was linked to the decapitation of heads like our very own?!
Which brings me to a question I can ask because I have visited both Russia and Ukraine: has the Russian President, Mr. Vladimir Putin, ever enjoyed a dish that is popular in both Russia and Ukraine; a dish called borsch?
This is “a soup” cooked with beef shank, cabbage, tomato sauce, gold potatoes, and pieces of chicken, which, eaten with nice, grainy bread, is one of the fastest “kill-hunger” meals you can order in a Russian/Ukrainian restaurant.
I implore Mr. Putin to consider how hard it would have been, for both Russians and Ukrainians together, to be deprived of their borsch and other favorite meals, for so many days on end! (Since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022, to be exact.)
Really, as he surveys (if he does) the destruction that has been wrought upon Ukraine since the invasion, is President Putin satisfied that he's done right by either the Russians or the Ukrainian people?
Is the flattening of buildings by bombs and shells; is the uprooting of millions of families from their cities, home-towns, and villages, deprived of the folksy food to which they are accustomed; is the closure of hospitals, schools, and playgrounds for fear that they would be bombed by jets and shelled by tanks; has all that been really necessary, Mr. Putin? Is that the best way to ensure the survival of “Greater Russian culture” in Russian-speaking Ukraine?
The world had hoped that after The Second World War and the horrors it had unleashed on Germany, Russia, France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Holland, and other European countries, as well as Asia, and touching even those of us in “remote” African villages, that man's inhumanity to man would never be unchained again. But alas – not even the specter of triggering another Hiroshima or Nagasaki massacre has seemed to be frightening enough to you and your generals, Mr. Putin.
Yes, yes, yes: you will argue that your war [you call it “special operation”] against Ukraine was undertaken to prevent Ukraine from bringing the war to your doorsteps. But hasn't “war-to-prevent-war” been consigned to the dustbin of history, Mr. Putin? Who has ever been able to justify hostilities carried out in fulfillment of such a primitive urge?
Did the outbreak of “world war” in Europe. Following upon the assassination of an Archduke in 1914 “prevent” the horrors of the “First World War”? Did Hitler's acts, based on what Great Britain and its allies might be up to, succeed in preventing the Second World War? Ukraine can bring NATO to conquer Russia, so Ukraine must be flattened! Mr. Putin, is it logical to create so much misery merely on the basis of suspicion, no matter how well-founded that suspicion might be? Suspicion is suspicion, is it not? As a trained intelligence officer, would it not be more professional if you always want to verify acts of war before you unleash counter-hostilities yourself?
Since the end of the Second World War, there have been wars in Asia; the Middle East; Africa; Latin America, and almost every region on Planet Earth you can bring up. But in none of those campaigns was it ever proved that the launching of one war truly prevented the outbreak of another.
So, Mr. Putin, you are killing Russians and Ukrainians in pursuit of a mere illusion. And you should stop it.
Yes, a great deal of damage has already been done. And it will inevitably lead to a “peace conference”, at which an “armistice” or “ceasefire” or whatever it's called, will be called.
And pledges will be signed about future “peaceful relations” between “the warring parties”. As usual,
As happened during the hostilities in Palestine; Vietnam; Afghanistan; Iraq; Iran. Etcetera etcetera.
WE ARE TIRED OF IT ALL!
Isn't it a shame that the world is being made to witness again, a horror film that seems to be in a permanent loop ending with a conference at which well-dressed diplomats shake hands warmly; only to utter unmeant assurances; with the result that the horror film re-spools to the beginning again, awaiting a re-convocation of conferences by new, well-costumed diplomats with warm hand-shakes....!
My God! Is humankind equipped with brains or are our heads filled with pebbles?
The world must end the war. Period!
We in Africa, demand that the United Nations act to abolish war! We are tired of war! Wars make our imports expensive or unavailable. Right now, wheat produced in Ukraine and Russia is becoming more scarce as each day passes. This means that the flour we need to bake bread is becoming impossibly expensive.
We are already cheated by the industrialized countries because their monopoly over international markets has deprived us of control over the prices we get for our exports. And at the same time, we have no control over our expenditure on imports. We are called “PRICE TAKERS!” And as of now, any disturbance in the transportation of either our exports or our imports, just makes us poorer!
No, the UN must act now to at least recognize, by resolution, that the world cannot go on like this. War, in particular, is insane. It must be abolished-abolished-abolished.
Period!