ANTI-BAMILEKE SENTIMENTS AND CAMEROONIAN UNION NATIONLAISM

Hate is a negative and blinding emotion. And there is a name for a disease that affects people who hate or are fearful of those people or things they shouldn't be hateful or afraid of. It is called Persecutionmania.

I indicated  decades ago after a careful observation, that Cameroonians may never be able to muster the full strength to get rid of the French-imposed system unless they come to terms with their Anglophone and Bamileke problems. The majority of Cameroonians (Francophone and Anglophones, with the exception of the minority system in power) came to terms with the Anglophone problem and voted in their majority for Fru Ndi, an Anglophone, just like the majority of Americans overcame centuries-and-decades-old biases over blacks by voting Obama into power.

But it saddens me when individuals who come from the Anglophone group who have been marginalized by the system, blatantly exhibit those same biases and preconceptions against an ethnic group―the Bamilekes. Using fear or hatred of the Bamilekes especially, was one of the major rallying cries that the French, Ahidjo and the system at large used to maintain their stay in power. We thought that preconception of the Bamilekes as a national enemy within had been broken in 1990. It appears that has not been the case.

We can never beat the system unless we overcome the Bami, Anglo  and other group brainwashing that was made the mindset by the system in power. Anybody who keeps rattling about it makes himself or herself an enemy of the people and an obstacle to change. You automatically put yourself as a dividing force in the struggle.

The historical forces are close to the configuration that will sweep the system out of power. We can not afford to have divided ranks at that historic moment. Our future should belong with a democratic, united, economically integrated Africa; our future should be a "New Cameroon" that  guarantees civil rights, liberties  and benefits for its population. Cameroon would be the epitome of that new Africa as an embodiment of the positive results that can come out of a diverse people with a tragic past; who overcame their traumas and differences, harnessed their hopes and dreams and built on their mutual compatibilities to realize a successful nation state.

Our generation has the colossal task of realizing  Cecil Rhode's vision of a railway line from Cape Town to Cairo, and to draw from Africa's contemporary unifying heroes in the unavoidable path that will culminate in  Africa’s economic union and political integration. To achieve those goals, we have to look beyond our noses.


A true Cameroonian nationalist of the union bent (Union nationalist) does not dwell on ethnicity, tribe, linguistic affiliation, or religion etc. The union nationalists with the revolutionary vision won't even subject themselves to the mercy or handout of the system, its backers or those who out of personal interest are dealing or collaborating with the system.

I don’t think I am alone in looking forward to a future where an African would say Ubi bebe, ibi patria vera!  (Where it goes well with me, there is my true fatherland.), or where I would say I am a Bakwerian born Cameroonian or a South West born  Bamileke; without receiving snorting replies to my pronouncements. Or even be called Mola, just  like some of my father’s  friends always called him.

Let a thousand ideas  flourish on how the future, accepting and  enriching New Cameroon  should look like.  Cameroon has a historic role to play in realizing the New Africa. The carelessly drawn triangle many of us fondly refer to as Pays embodies Africa’s spirit.

No people are collectively evil. Only individuals are evil. And the evil system in place has elements from all the religious, ethnic and social groupings in Cameroon. The Germans were never collectively condemned as bloodthirsty despite the atrocities of Nazism. The Hutus  were not  ostracized over the Rwandan genocide. All Rwandans today are viewed as potential builders of the  New Rwanda, a country that stands in Africa as one of the few in the continent that has a sense of direction.

So, advocates of the New Cameroon, Union Nationalists  of all shades of ideas and beliefs; Let’s join hands  in rejecting the system, confronting it and  working for the foundation and development of the NEW CAMEROON that rejects the stereotypes  hatched by Jacques Foccart and the anti-Cameroonian system put in place by France, a system that is stifling our development and dividing our ranks.

Janvier Tchouteu

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The Bamileké Factor in the Cause for the New Cameroon: and Other Articles: The Successful Century-Old Divide-and-Rule Policy in Africa Brought About by the Creation of a Virtual Enemy Within

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Who the Enemies of the People are, and How They are Fighting Against Change: and Others

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