Martyrdoom: Time and The Tyranny of Victimhood
To be a victim, all you have to do is exist in the right place at the wrong time.
Time is the unit of our existence and timing is what transforms a random act to a historic moment.
Perhaps, due to the reality of actual martyrdom, a murderous assumption has developed: all victims are blameless saintly beings who deserve reparation and complete absolution. This assumption has birthed what I am now calling the tyranny of victimhood, in Nigeria and in Isreal. A weaponisation of victimhood to ignore, excuse, or justify violence. A martyrdoom, if you will.
Allow me to explain.
Humans w̶i̶l̶l̶ Can Weaponise Anything: A Brief History
It can be assumed that there was world peace before humans, whether it will come to pass during ‘humanity’ remains to be seen; if not for any other reason than our ability to weaponise ideas.
Isreal is an idea that became embodied in a geographical place, not simply because of the God of Abraham but also because (thanks a lot Nazis) the ideology of Zionism rode the waves of tragedy into becoming a formidable historical force.
Zionism has weaponised the idea of Isreal to sponsor the current genocide (it is not a war if only one side is being blatantly murdered) in Palestine. Israeli media and their allies keep using the “self-defence of a historically persecuted nation” frame as a weapon to justify what is happening, and referring to voices against this massacre as anti-semitic.
Here’s a sorta-short-this-is-the-best-I-could-do timeline that will help you understand why I think what Isreal is doing and has been doing is guano:
Bear in mind that had the international community led by Britain not done what they had done in the 20th century, Isreal wouldn’t exist enough to have the political liver to do what they are doing to Palestine. I know politics doesn’t care about humanity, but give me a break with the self-righteous self-protection media frames. Isreal, as a political entity, is not the victim.
“But our God gave Isreal this land!” Congratulations.
Now explain to the class where and when your God gave you the right to displace and murder people who also live in this land because he allowed your ancestors to settle there in diebus illis?
Also using your religious beliefs as a premise to support violence makes an intrinsically invalid argument because not everyone shares your beliefs.
Okay so Nigeria, why are we in it?
I could begin answering this question by calling a prominent Nigerian pastor, who produced an entire video in support of Isreal, an insensitive simpleton in the matter or a conceited provocateur, but then you may not understand why.
So let me begin like this: Nigeria has never truly known peace (special thanks to the British).
Nigeria is an idea forced into embodiment by the misfortune of colonialism. For the prize of who gets to be the head of this idea, Nigeria has always known violent tension never peace; because peace will never exist in the absence of justice.
From the ethnic tensions erupting into war and genocide only to be ended with an unjust declaration and attitude that there were really “no victors, no vanquished”, to the expansion of those tensions to include the dominant religions of both sides.
Therefore at any given time in this country, it’s usually:
The rest of Nigeria vs The Igbos or/and Muslims vs Christians.
The ‘versus’ above is only a matter of grammar, since in reality it’s more a beat down than a fight.
So to answer the question: why are we (Nigeria) in it?
Understandably, given that Palestine is a Muslim country, Muslims all over the world have additional cause to condemn the genocide. Many Nigerian Muslims, rightly, label the killings as grossly unjust. On the other hand, some mentally misled Christians and conspiracist Igbos (who claim to be descendants of a migrant community from Isreal), support the ‘war’ as theirs in ‘lawful vengeance’.
Now, what is ridiculous is positioning the Palestinian genocide as one premise, in addition to various examples of the above and more, to arrive at the conclusion that Nigerians are (or are becoming) Islamophobic just like ‘the rest of the world’ (Euro-America).
I can not speak for America or Europe but the singular fact that Nigeria along with several other African countries have been continuously terrorised by different extremist Islamic groups is enough to classify this conclusion as blind nonsense.
A phobia is an uncontrollable and irrational fear.
Have Muslims been victims of violence? Yup. Is Islam meant to be a religion of peace? I can take your word for it. But being victims in one place doesn’t translate to being victims everywhere.
The fact that most of Nigeria (and Africa) is home to lots of moderate muslims who claim the peace of Islam, yet there seems to be little or no wide scale Islamic-based effort toward the eradication of violent Islamic extremism is something to wonder at.
To wonder, not in the sense of blame but to truly wonder why a country and continent of mostly moderate muslims is near-irredeemably plagued by violence from extremist groups.
Maybe it has nothing to do with them, in the sense that extremist sects might be as estranged from them as they are from the rest of the non-muslim world. But I think there is something to be said for Nigerian Muslims, in justifiable anger, helping push campaigns and agendas to end Palestinian genocide while having few shakings of head for sustained violence against Christians in Northern Nigeria.
While accusations of islamophobia maybe coming from extremist-leaning Nigerian Muslims, it’s also a wonder if moderate muslims have come to think that it DOES exist in Nigeria; and if they don’t think so, ever really speak out against this potentially harmful conclusion. Or do they pray? To Allah, together, for Christians to be safe too.
Zionism & Islamic Violence: But…But…There are still…I mean not all…
If you ever feel obliged to add “Not all <<insert category of people>>” to conversations relating to consistent acts of physical violence, then I need you to realise three things:
- In that moment, the only person this statement consoles is you.
- The fact that you have to add a ‘violence disclaimer’ for an entire human group means other people have a justifiable right to be scared shitless. No, it is not a phobia and neither is it an irrational hatred.
- If you’re going to keep dishing disclaimers, it is in your best interest to also engage in more proactive activities that address the issues at the heart of your disclaimer. If not, then for the sake of the common good, do shut up. There’s enough noise in the world as is. And let’s be clear, non-participation in said violence does not score you any brownie points. Want a gold star? Be part of a solution and we’ll ship them to you.
W̶h̶e̶n̶ If all these end, the players involved will have an Everest of reparation to climb. Although, I wonder what can ever repair or fill the chasms of grief forced upon innocent people.
Did you see the video of the Palestinian doctor who performed an amputation, sans anaesthesia, on his own son in a desperate attempt to save him? The boy died in his arms.
Hospitals targeted and bombed.
Did you see the video of the young man in Sokoto rejoicing that he lit Deborah Yakubu’s corpse on fire? As if being clubbed and stoned to death simply wasn’t enough. How do the people who really knew her move on? Knowing it could be them. Knowing that up until recently, Rhoda Jatsu was jailed for 18 months because she forwarded a video condemning Deborah’s murder.
Christians slaughtered in their safe spaces.
What could be reparation enough? I can’t imagine.
But I do know from memoirs, like The Diary of Anne Frank, and anecdotes that even in the midst of a hurricane of pain and grief, holding on to what beauty there is to be found in the world can anchor the mind to the waters in the eye of a storm.
But then again, I may be wrong about somethings or all of this. Correct me and say what you think of these events. I’m listening. Really.
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