This week was particularly interesting for me as I learnt a lot more than I expected. Conflict was a topic I was very much not fully educated on and this was a great introduction. The reading by Collier (2007), in chapter 2 was particularly interesting as it highlighted the kind of factors that can increase the likelihood of civil war, or more likely are in a cyclical relationship with civil war where they are both constantly influencing each other. The main three factors discussed are low income, slow economic growth and a dependency on primary resources (these finance rebellious groups). It also took an interesting stance as I had always seen rebellious groups and civil wars as the population responding to an issue or “grievance”. Yet, although it is often the case that there is a grievance that unites these groups at first, it is not the sole motivator of a rebellious group forming nor does it play a role in increasing its likelihood. Often the “grievance”, where there is a motivation to rebel, turns into “greed”, where the group is rebelling because they have the resources and opportunity to do so.
Another shocking fact that I found was the way that often the people who take part in rebellious groups have no real choice in doing so, where forced recruitment can occur. There have been cases of people burning down schools and forcing the schoolboys to commit crimes and rape women so that they then will struggle to re-integrate into normal society. This was the case with the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in Uganda, who tormented people for decades. I got some inspiration from this as I am considering writing a small compilation of poems for my SDA and after reading an article (see here) of a lawyer's experience from working in Uganda trying to stop the LRA. I am considering writing a poem based on a young boy's unfortunate struggle of being recruited, but, inspired by the quote below, also perhaps allow for a happy ending where there is still hope in restoration despite all that was done.
"She came to see restoring people’s lives and communities as more important than punishing the mastermind behind their woes."
I am considering writing a poem about personal experience because often, in discussing these from a political and economic standpoint, it can be easy to forget the real trauma and suffering that people have to go through. A book that I absolutely love, called A thousand splendid suns, by Khaled Hosseini, comes to mind. I read this book in the summer of 2020 and it really stuck with me. It centers around the experiences of two girls in Afghanistan, born in different generations but united in their suffering and survival through the many wars and conflicts that take place in Afghanistan between the rule of Daoud Khan in the late 70's and up to the ending of the Taliban rule around the early 2000s.
I really enjoyed this book because of how well it humanises the characters, where they are portrayed as multi-dimensional and having normal interests, as well as the contrast of hurting with being numb and used to all the horrid events. The contrast of joy and desperation are depicted in such a way that it allows you to connect to the characters and make their unfair suffering even more cruel. The two characters' experiences also somewhat complete each other: Mariam witnesses Afghanistan's beauty before all the bombings and Laila, who is born during the turmoil, returns to her dilapidated hometown after fleeing in order to help restore what was broken. Laila's older brothers, who joined and died for the Jihad while she was young, also illustrate the more patriotic reasons one could have for joining a rebel group (in this context fighting against the Soviets) .
The reading for this week also revealed that often the ones most likely to take part in political violence were young, uneducated and did not have dependents. Since many may also be very poor, they would be willing to participate in violence even if the reward isn’t very high since it is a much better option than what the other option is. The opportunity cost is to take part and be involved in a rebellious group. These facts made me recall an episode from a Louis Theroux documentary titled “Law and Disorder in Lagos” (see here), which involved Louis getting to know and interacting with what are known as “Area Boys” in Lagos, Nigeria. These were street gangs that were mainly made up of young men who were poor, drug addicts and did things such as extort money from people in the markets. Economic growth in a country would therefore mean that there would be more opportunities for young men other than get involved in rebellious groups or gangs.
This Netflix documentary then came to mind in the seminar, where the role of social media was discussed in relation to conflict. Although some of it felt dramatized, it did make me realise why there are still many people in this society that can hold very extreme ideologies such as the very far-right and nationalistic ideological trends observed in America and some European countries. Social media, although not an instigator of conflict, is tailored to the individual and what comes up on people’s social media is a product of what their usual searches are as well as their location. The lack of diversification in ideologies presented can mean that, although people are globally connected by social media, there is still room for like-minded individuals to form groups due to its personalized nature.
References
BBC. (2010, October 10) Louis Theroux - Law and Disorder in Lagos. [BBC iPlayer]. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00vcwfw/louis-theroux-law-and-disorder-in-lagos
Collier, P. (2007) The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done about It. Oxford University Press.
Hosseini, K. (2007). A thousand splendid suns. Riverhead Books.
Livni, E. (2019, July 14). What Ugandans can teach each of us about justice. QUARTZAFRICA. https://qz.com/africa/1665671/what-ugandas-response-to-the-lords-resistance-army-can-teach-each-of-us-about-justice/
Netflix (2020, August 17). The Social Dilemma. [Video file]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaaC57tcci0
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