ANTI-BAMILEKEISM AS A RETARDING ELEMENT IN THE STRUGGLE FOR A NEW CAMEROON:

I have seen purported exponents of change in Cameroon expressing themselves with blinding emotions against an entire people; without doing themselves the favor of rereading their write-ups---a process that works best if they pretend for a moment that they are not the writer. That is the best way of getting an idea of how others will perceive your write up.

It defies logic when these so-called exponents of change hold strong anti-Bamileke sentiments against an entire people who are in their overwhelming majority in rejecting the evil system in power. Why they reserve the hardest and most discriminatory language for these opponents of the system who have embraced an ideology  based on  Cameroonian union nationalism, you, I and others can figure that out. Their values have been deformed by the system and the legacy of that social engineering is a twisted mindset that embraced the divide-and-rule strategy hatched by Jacques Foccart, a strategy aimed at making the Bamileke ethnic group the national scapegoat, and presenting this ethnicity to the rest of Cameroonians as the national enemy within, all in the bid to maintain and perpetuate French  unfettered control  in Cameroon. Now, to the poisoned minds, it is as if the Bamileke people are more of an enemy than the evil system in power. Unbiased advocates of change can best explain the irrationality of these biased minds or their absorption in blinding or negative emotions by analyzing the motives of the anachronistic French-imposed system managed in Cameron today by the Biya regime for the interest of special groups in France and their Cameroonian collaborators that are to be found in all the ethnic groups and regions of Cameroon.

It is illogical or even criminal to judge a person based on his/her ethnic group, because individuals in all the ethnic groups in Cameroon who think in the light of collectivizing blame and hate would draw from blinding preconceptions about other Cameroonians. There are always people out there who have had bad experiences with  person(s) from the  Fulbe, Bamileke, Duala, Bakwerian, Beti, Makaa, Bayang, Batanga, Bassa, Tikar, Bamoun,Ngambay,  Gbaya, Voko, Gidar, Kotoko, Bakossi, Bali, Ngemba, Massa or Kapsiki ethnic groups, etc; and then used that experience to condemn the entire people of that group or tribe. Xenophobia, ethnocentrism, ethnic cleansing and genocide are usually born from that mindset.

The vast majority of Germans three generations after World War Two are still haunted by that era of  Nazism and the treatment of the Jews,  and regret it deeply; yet we have Cameroonians who purport to be exponents of change and  at the same time, try to apportion some rationale or justification to  the Nazi-inspired  and executed hatred.

I will not dwell lengthily on this distraction of anti-Bamileke sentiments coming from people who are engaged in a cause that challenges the discriminatory French-Imposed system, but can not identify their real enemies.

In the 1995 article "HOW COMMITTED ARE WE IN TH STRUGGLE TO CHANGE THE PRESENT SYSTEM", I stated that exponents of change who think that way belong with the category called the confused and one-sided...

 "The third force are the confused and one-sided who are fervently fighting for causes that do not address the general  Cameroonian plight, but rather address the plight of an ethnic group, religious belief, region or linguistic entity. The fact that they are deeply attached to their belief in the righteousness of their cause, and the fact that they consider all those who are not fully behind them as their enemies; this confused and one-sided force for change (which by their demands call for partiality), not only alienate themselves from potential allies for change, but also alienate themselves from the general objectives of the Cameroonian struggle which encompasses their plight.  And in a curious way without them really knowing it, they stall the wind of change because of their divisive actions and directions.”

Anti-Bamilekeism is something I too experienced first hand as an exponent of change in the SDF ( Social Democratic Front) from 1990-2002, on several occasions actually. It is one of the system's cancers implanted in the minds of many Cameroonians that is haunting this nation today. It played a major role in breaking the carefully-crafted cooperation between the different forces in the SDF and led to the pathetic state of the party today. It also affected the UPC (Union of the Populations of the Cameroons) partisan movement during its last years. Exponents of change will never change the system while anti-Bamilekeism and Anglophobia exist in its leadership. Thank God the vast majority of the Cameroonian people east and west of the River Mungo do not see a problem being an Anglophone, even though the French-imposed system is uncomfortable about it.  But it is disheartening when one is forced to observe the morbid expression of anti-Bamilekeism from people who purport to be against the system and who especially come from ranks that have been discriminated upon by the evil system in power.

Hate groups like Hamas killed more Palestinians fighting Israel than Israelis they purported to be out to eliminate. Taliban killed more Mujahedeens (Islamic fighters) than others. The Nazis killed their Jews, even those who fought in the German army during the First World War. Those advocating blinding emotions of hate end up destroying themselves. That phenomenon abounds in history.

We can not afford to confront the evil system in the next phase of the struggle with divided ranks.

Best regards

Janvier Tchouteu

                                                                                       January 15, 2009

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