On National Names and National Purpose

I saw this tweet a few days ago and it really got me thinking. In a way, I think it came at the right time especially because of the special context of this very day. We are currently celebrating what, given the crisis we are going through, many have called a scam. And not just any type, but a scam soaked in sardine oil of meaningless slogans of unity and indivisibility.

For those of you who do not know Blick Bassy, he is a Cameroonian musician; and a prolific one at that. He is a multi-instrumentalist and is one of the founders of the group Macase. One of his songs was even used by Apple Computers in an advert. He is what one could call “un artiste engagé.” He is an open critic of the regime and his last album, titled 1958, is entirely dedicated to the memory of Reuben Um Nyobe who was killed that year.

Now, to come back to the tweet.

I remember in March 2014, we played a friendly game against Portugal. We took a severe beating (5-1) at the hands of Ronaldo and his mates. But it wasn’t the score that caught my attention most. CRTV took the signal directly from a Portuguese channel, and whenever the scoreboard was shown, Cameroon was spelt as Camarões.

I found it really funny. I imagined a Portuguese that had no idea of the history between his sailor ancestors and this country must have been wondering how a country could be called “Prawns.”

I mean, unlike Blick Bassy, I don’t really have too much of an issue with the origin of the name of my country. I believe that other nations and other people often get named in the most peculiar of ways. As much as I can romanticise the story of the name of my country when explaining it to a Portuguese, I think I might inadvertently perpetuate the age-old deceptive spuriousness of the white man “discovering” places and always being the centrepiece of almost every modern tale on civilisation.

Be that as it may, Blick Bassy’s opinion still stands. Do we have to carry on this name that we got through rather unfortunate circumstances or do we need to change it to something that is more Cameroonian? Sometimes that makes us “us.”

First of all, it begs the question of what makes us. Today we are even more fragmented than we were just three years ago. Political chess pieces have pushed pawns far and wide on the Cameroonian territorial board telling this or that person that this or that person wants to hold the reins of the country and if they do, they are bound to lead the chariot we all are on to a sure and certain abysmal end. Wasn’t it just last year that Douala chiefs came out in their numbers to protest against the statue of Um Nyobe being erected “in their land?”

One could say it was only old people talking but if you looked very well, you would have noticed how much younger people were part of the disagreement. Now extend that to the whole nation. We are a very diverse group of people. We have just over 230 different local languages. How can we ensure that even if we are able to come up with one name from one place, one group will not rise up and say “but why did you choose a name from so-and-so place? Why did the name not come from our place?”

Do we have that unity of mind and spirit enough to be able to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to something of that nature? I’ll be very real here and shake my head furiously from left to right.

Secondly, Blick Bassy may not have expressed it in the tweet, but I understand where and what he is aiming at. I am sure for him, re-baptising this nation with a new name might lead to a re-awakening of a Cameroonian conscience, on that makes us reflect on who we are and where we want to go as a people and to decide on a common goal and a common future.

As someone rightly noted in a comment, the change of names of the D.R.C from Belgian Congo to Zaire to what it is today has really done nothing for the people. No doubt the richest country on Earth, sitting atop a basin where all manner of minerals has been awash for thousands of years, it is still the theatre for some of the longest running-conflicts on Earth. The people are still poor and the politicians are still looting the country’s riches.

How is that going to be any different for Cameroon?

I’m tempted to believe that strong governance, sturdy institutions, a rigid system of checks and balances and a national ideology is what really drives a country forward. Shakespeare wrote in Romeo and Juliet that “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” It is in the smell and in the essence, and not in the name. Take the example of China during the Cultural Revolution. It is perhaps not the best example as the policy eventually led to a collapse of the economy but we all (A’Level History students) remember our teachers telling us about the ‘Little Red Book.’ Though it was really a propaganda tool for Chairman Mao, it was distributed to almost every Chinese person and it spelt the vision and ideology for China for the next decades to come. People had a goal and something to refer to when they thought they were going off track.

Our own Little Red Book today is distributed every now then. It comes in the form of a can full of small fishes and a loaf of something baked from flour and water. We have nothing to aspire to. Even Vision 2035 is nothing but a concept. There is no plan on paper. No roadmap. No tangible benchmarks. Nothing but words.

So is Blick Bassy’s question pertinent? Of course, it is! Although I, personally, do not really care. The only thing I worry about is how we as a people care for our people. We can call this country Sh!thole Nation for all I care. So long as people can eat to their fill, have access to quality education, not be insulted because of their origin, get good medical coverage, and be able to protest without being shot like dogs in the street, I am fine with it.

When we are able to secure those ideals or at the very least TRULY start working towards them, then we can be able to think of a new name. Till then, we might as well be called prawns.

Or I no tok fine? Make wona tell me

- Wandji Wilfred.