In search of citizens in Lamka
By N.Neihsial*
On the other day, I happened to encounter on the internet, the speech of a famous professor: PLO Lumumba from Africa. He was talking about the lack of sense of responsibility and accountability among the African leaders. Therein he cited the categorization of people by the ancient Greeks into three: Idiots, Tribalists and Citizens. This reminded me of my college days when I used to read the Ancient Political Thought in Political Science subject. I was quite familiar with this idea of the Greeks, who, of course, were the founder of modern day democracy.
One of the ways of classifying the people by the ancient Greek political thinkers was to divide people into three categories as above. The lowest rung in the classification was ‘idiots’. In fact the English word ‘idiot’ comes from the Greek word. Their definition of idiot was someone, who is under illusion of being separate from the whole, from universe’. In other words, an idiot is the one who is foolish, stupid and ignorant. I believe this definition or explanation of the word is largely valid even today.
The next higher category is the Tribalist. As the name suggests, this term refers to those persons who are of petty and narrow minded, persons who cannot seem to see and understand beyond his perceived interest of his own tribe or community. He feels ever insecure and apprehensive of anybody or anything outside his own tribe. He is useful only for creating dissension within the larger community or society. He is unable to contribute anything positive to the society because his mindset is not fit for the larger, more important issues of the society. Perhaps, we do not need to interpret the definition of this group. We all know the way we organize our churches, the Students and philanthropic organizations and the nature of politics as we practice.
The third and the highest category, of course are the Citizens. This group is educated, knowledgeable and well informed. They are broad minded and have a progressive outlook. They actively participate in the social and political discourses affecting the society and contribute unselfishly for the larger good of the people. They really bring about the spirit of true democracy for the welfare state. Yes, it should be the aspiration of a very person that he/she should grow and attain the status of being a citizen.
The first question is: who could be rightly termed as an idiot in the modern day context. Professor Lumumba amplifies that modern day idiots are not far to seek. There are many idiots in the society and the number is increasing every year. These idiots are those individuals who become illegally and immorally super rich, build massive residential houses protected by concrete fencing walls, have strong steel gates guarded by fierce dogs all day long. They don’t care about what happens to others and, care least about the general welfare of the public. They live in isolated comfort within their own selfish interests. They won’t care about the suffering and troubles of the land and the people.
Whenever I visit my home town Lamka, I take morning walks as a daily habit. I do not walk in the same locality or area every morning. I would go through different localities to have a feel of the places. Recently, I could see many massive and beautiful residential buildings coming up everywhere. They are mostly fenced by concrete walls of seven feet plus heights. The entrance gates are made of steel frame with beautiful designs. The overall designs of the buildings are comparable to those residential buildings in the metropolitan cities in other parts of the country. If you stand in front of the gate, you are filled with awe and admiration. One would feel nervous if asked to press their door bell. The people who live inside seem to be well contended, powerful, and care least about what is happening in their area, land and the country. This impression is essentially due to the fact that though the residential buildings are massive and beautiful, the connecting road and streets are narrow, unlevelled and unkempt.
After encountering the above lecture of that professor, a thought came to me. Oh! It’s an accepted fact that the people of Lamka are undeniably Tribalist in their attitude and outlook. People are, however expected to go up to the higher stage of being Citizens. But are we really going up or going down? Considering the conceptual definition of Idiot by the Greeks, are we going down from the state of being Tribalist to the state of being an Idiot? Let’s introspect and consider ourselves. Lamka needs true Citizens who are committed to the future development of the town and the welfare and wellbeing of the people. Let’s not allow ourselves to be idiots.The present state of being Tribalist itself is holding us back from developing the place and the people.
May God bless Lamka and the people to produce more and truer Citizens!
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*Chairman, Vision Lamka.