"When the first reports of something called "Mau Mau" reached the Provincial Administration and the Kenya Police in 1948-49, it was immediately identified as a "dini" or religious cult...The government also claimed that Mau Mau had emered among a particularly unstable people who had difficulty adjusting to the strains of rapid social change and modernization. Playing upon their morbid fear and superstitions, Mau Mau turned the Kikuyu into savage and maniacal killers. Government intelligence reports dwelt on the "insane frenzy" and "fanatical discipline" of Mau Mau adherents. It had been deliberately organized, according to the government, by cynical and unprincipled leaders, seeking only to satisfy their own lust for power. Furthermore, officials repeatedly insisted that Mau Mau was not a response to economic deprivation and material grievances arising out of colonialism, but rather was an irrational rejection of the benefits of development." - Bruce Berman Funny how some things never change. Just switch around a few names and the discourse that Colonial Britain applied to the Mau Mau in Kenya is almost identical to the way in which the US talks about its official enemies today.
Posted on: Mon, 24 Jun 2013 22:33:28 +0000
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