Tribalism!-The Root Of All Hatred?

The writer

Accra, Sept 20, CDA Consult - We are all undoubtedly tribalistic! We identify ourselves with families, clans, religions, language, race, gender, schools, and political parties etc that define our behaviour and influence our thinking and in its right context that is a good thing.

What is Tribalism?
As we grow up, we learn customs and sets of ideas that affiliate us to a particular group, sometimes for a practical reason such as survival and at other times simply because it affords us the comfort of familiarity. Love of and pride in one’s own heritage, culture, traditions and way of life is a great thing that grounds us with a sense of identity.

Tribalism has however, earned itself a derogatory reputation over the years and with very good reason too. Society has somehow indoctrinated us into valuing tribal affinity over rational and even moral thinking, creating an instinctive harbouring of hatred, suspicion and at the very least intense dislike of others who may not share the same values, customs and even language as us.

This negative tribalism is one of the most dangerous threats to humanity; proven to have been at the root of many of society’s ills, from wars, genocide, rape, discrimination and racism. Negative tribalism is not an innate human trait because hatred is learned behaviour based largely on assumptions but also on experience, perceptions and available information.

Recently, I was discussing the possibility of establishing a programme in a certain language on a network based in a particular city in Ghana with a colleague.

My colleague’s reaction was “Ah, but how can you have a programme in….? What my colleague had unwittingly displayed at the time was an instinctive tribal outlook that they themselves perhaps did not realise they harboured.

The idea that because this city is populated mainly by a particular language speaking tribe, another tribe’s language had no place on its TV screens is preposterous, because to my mind, Ghanaians must learn to speak each of the four main languages as a matter of common sense.

Religious Tribalism
And then there’s Religion. We have read countless accounts of how the Catholic Church for instance, has gone to great lengths to cover up allegations of abuse against children by its clergy, preferring to protect the Catholic ‘tribe’ rather than the rights of children.

Another example is the recent report of the ultra-orthodox Hasidic Jewish community in Brooklyn, USA that shunned a man for reporting the sexual abuse of his son to the authorities.

And of course, we are confronted with regular reports of Islamic fundamentalists using religion as a basis for killing, abuse and destruction on a mass scale; all examples of tribal behaviour.

Even within each of these major religions are sub-tribes and growing up, I was fascinated by the fact that as a Catholic, entering a Methodist, Anglican or Presbyterian church felt almost sacrilegious!

The Pentecostals of course consider all other Christian ‘sub-tribes’ inferior and we are all suspicious of the Jehovah’s Witnesses!! That is simply how we were brought up and those of us who grew up to figure out how absurd a situation that is, have long shed the guilt and are happy to communicate with God anywhere.

Political Tribalism
You only have to listen to a political programme on any African media to understand the extent to which the lines are blurred between tribalism and politics. In some cases, it is considered near treason to belong to a particular tribe and vote for a certain political party and people are willing to kill and be killed to defend this position.

I have witnessed and been bemused by the very angry reaction of a group of people to a traditional ruler filmed dancing with a President considered by those people to be an arch-rival due to the political party he leads without stopping to rationally consider the implications of that reaction. Complete irrational madness!

The polarised manner in which we relate our views based on the conviction that we are right and the other is wrong is an example of how pervasive tribalism is and how rather dangerously, it so readily overrides reason.

In short, when tribalism takes root, commonsense and rational thinking flies out of the window and unscrupulous politicians are using this to their advantage by promoting fear, suspicion, discontent and hatred among peoples with their “They’re out to get you” rhetoric.

I would go as far as to say that tribalism is what has made outrageous characters like Donald Trump of the USA and Nigel Farage of UK so popular: incidentally, the very same sentiments that spawned an individual like Adolf Hitler. Just think about it for a minute.

What is my point?
I have always been an optimistic albeit ‘utopiaic’ thinker with the view that the order must always be Human, Continent, Country before Tribe or if pushed, “Country First, Tribe Second” and therefore I struggle to understand the degradation of, discrimination against and disrespect of another human being simply because they are not of the same tribe even though they may be from the same country.

I am convinced that negative tribalism is the root of racism and extremism that breeds the kind of hatred that has pitted humanity against itself, destabilising large groups of people with women and children often the worst affected.

Even within the corridors of Royalty, tribalism exists, often disguised as protocol and perpetrated as a way of demonstrating power and influence over another seen as less powerful or influential.

The dangers of tribalism at its most extreme lies in the layers of cruelty, hatred and lack of rational thinking that has caused untold suffering usually enacted by one set of people with a sense of entitled superiority that they feel must be imposed on another group of people they perceive to be inherently inferior.

Often the sense of superiority is misplaced and based simply on an accident of birth, circumstances or geography, rather than any real evidence that one group is morally, physically, intellectually in character or performance better than another given a level playing field.

I have witnessed how destructive tribalism without tether can be and it is not pretty. Unfortunately, to gain leverage and popularity, our media chooses to set aside its collective integrity in favour of the promotion of biased reportage that often creates hysteria, fear and distrust that ultimately leads to unrest and violence.

As humans, we must be very careful what we ask for, because we just might get it and we will then have only ourselves to blame if our wish comes back to bite us on the proverbial backside. Let him or her who has an ear, hear.

Source: Naa Tsotsoo Soyoo I, founder of the Ten Talents Networks, is an award winning Traditional Ruler, Social Advocate and Leading Personality in Diasporan Affairs. She is well recognised for her outspoken stance against any form of exploitation especially against women and children.