For almost a century, Cameroonians have dreamt. Their dreams have not been the types of the fantasy world, but rather they have been dreams that give a dynamic people hope, inspiration, aspiration and purpose in life. Cameroonians have dreamed those dreams with their eyes open, being always aware of the visible link between dreams and reality. Those dreams are embodied in our union nationalism in its whole or partial form.
The basic tenet of Cameroonian
union nationalism which is to have our destiny in our own hands did not start
today. Our struggle against colonialism and imperialism is not even a
post-World War One struggle. While jealously guarding our unity, while
advocating for a Cameroon permeated by progressive Cameroonian concepts, our
traditional rulers and nationalists have confronted the colonial masters to put
their interests above those of the colonialists in the land. Martin Paul Samba
(Mebenga Mebongo), Rudolf Duala Manga Bell and our other early nationalists
were executed in 1914, not just because they opposed German colonial rule, but
more because they had brought into existence Cameroon’s nationalism and had
unleashed the nationalist forces which were going to ignite others that were to
rock the African continent. Our early nationalists had discovered the key to
the box that contained the ideas that were to liberate and guide the oppressed
in Cameroon and Africa. Those ideas embody the framework of the Cameroonian
dream being upheld for an eventual realization by our union nationalists.
Had Cameroonian nationalists
not been temporarily defeated in 1914 with the execution of Martin Paul Samba
and Rudolf Manga Bell by the Germans, our prospectively great land would not
have suffered partition by France and Britain. Nevertheless, Cameroonian
nationalist did not relent in their dream despite the pacifying actions of the
two colonial powers. That dream of Cameroonian nationalism assumed a union
form, which besides its original ideas of a Cameroon permeated by Cameroonian
concepts with a highly developed pattern and a champion of African unity; it
also advocated for a genuinely bilingual ethos of a reunited Cameroon, the
bridging of the gap in the differential economic developments that had arisen
after partition, and the harmonization of the styles of thought formulations
and actions of its Anglophone and francophone children.
By an indiscernible work of
destiny, the resurgence of Cameroon’s union nationalism realized reunification
and independence hardly a decade and a half later, without the union
nationalists in power to implement the original Cameroonian dream. They had
been massacred, exiled, cowed and side-lined by the anti-nationalist French
forces and the puppet regimes they put in place under Ahidjo Ahmadou and Biya
Paul. Yes, thirty-seven years of Ahidjo-Biya rule whose idea to lead Cameroon
was an unrealistic program by France has failed. It has failed because it was
devoid of the advanced and all-embracing Cameroonian dream and was out of touch
with the Cameroonian reality. Now, it is clear that our salvation and future rest
only in a total return and commitment to our original dream of union
nationalism. This time around, we should not allow detractors to lure or force
us away from the only path that can save Cameroon and lead the country to the
future. The advanced ideas of Cameroonian union nationalism are what we must
realize in the struggle we are engaged in.
Some people claim that it is a
shortcoming to dream. I hold strongly that there is nothing wrong with having a
dream for a nation and people. There is a disadvantage only when you dream with
your eyes closed and you fail to discern the chain connecting the dream and
reality. The Union nationalists dead and alive did not fail to discern that
chain.
Others hold that you should
not work for the realization of a dream that you may not realize in your lifetime.
That too is ridiculous. Not all realistic dreams are meant to be
self-realizing. So, it is not pathetic for a man who engaged in a cause to
realize a progressive dream and ends along the way, because posterity would
always regard him as an impetus to the historical evolution that involved his
dream.
Today, the forces fighting for
authentic change and the realization of the original Cameroonian dream are
poorly organized. That our dream can be realized now may look like stretching
credulity to the utmost. However, despite the credulous nature of the look of
things, that fervent hope that the Cameroonian dream will be realized
eventually is what we must cling to. Perhaps the advantages of never relenting
in the pursuit of a dream were observed best by Dmitry Ivanovich Pisarev who
wrote:
· My dream may run ahead of the
natural march of events or may fly off at a tangent in a direction no natural
march of events will ever follow it. In the first case, my dream will not have
done any harm; it may even help and add fuel to the energy of the working
classes...If a man were completely deprived of the ability to dream in this
way, if he could never run ahead and mentally conceive in an entire and
complete picture the results of the work which his hands are only just
beginning to shape, then I cannot imagine what stimulus there would be to
induce men to undertake extensive and exhausting work in the sphere of art,
science and practical endeavor...The rift between dream and reality causes no
harm if the dreamer believes seriously in his dream, if he attentively observes
life, compares his observation with the castles in the air, and if in general,
he works conscientiously towards achieving his fantasies. If there is some
connection between dreams and life, then all is well.
Yes, the Cameroonian dream
expounded by the forces of its union nationalism had been ahead of the natural
match of events because of its advanced nature. For more than eight decades it
has been the fuel to the energy of the struggling masses. The path to realize
this dream has seen the Union-nationalists being continuously inspired by the
heroes of our nationalism of the pre-World War One days, the post-World War Two
days and those of contemporary times. Only, honestly, we are inadequately
committed and shamefully divided. That makes the realization of our dream all
the more difficult.
As the people the most
responsible for our future, all real and potential union nationalists
especially those of the post-independence generations, should join hands to
strengthen that connection between the Cameroonian dream and reality. And with
the fundamental change of the system and the implementation of the noble ideas
of our union nationalism, Cameroon shall start on the long-delayed path to the
future whose advanced dream would place us at the forefront of African and
world progress.
JANVIER TCHOUTEU DECEMBER 15,
1994
