This article is a collection of thoughts and reflections on the problems my country, Guinea, is confronted with. It raises the question of intellectual freedom and responsibility to society. It is neither a public assessment nor propaganda against any regime or political power, but rather an invitation to an exercise of a joint exploration on general issues that concerns the Guinean society. It is also not a scientific treaty even though the views and the analytical approach therein are naturally based on definite values and theoretical premises. The discussion is organised into three parts which will be posted consecutively.
Guinea ranks amongst the richest in natural wealth in Africa, and has been a sovereign state for nearly 52 years, yet it ranks one of the poorest of the poor in the developing world. A lot of Guineans, like me, are worried about the future of our nation. And we are facing a future of continuous challenges and rapid changes. The country has suffered enormous stagnation and backwardness under despotic regimes and military dictatorship. As a result, many questions are in order for the conscious-minded Guinean – currently eager to democratically elect a new leadership to steer the country forward. How do we organize our society to face the challenges that lies ahead of our newly elected government? How do we achieve progress through our people? This is not just what we may regard as communication exercise; it does really need a short of different mindset. Like Noah’s Arch, our country is sinking and there will be no survivor if the so-called intellectuals of this nation do not come to its rescue. But how would they if they are not free to express themselves. It’s really a delicate issue that need some shrewd thought in dept. Certainly, not everyone will agree with my point of view, and neither will I agree with everything other say on various issues. This is why I believe dialogues and genuine debates among intellectuals are most apt and proper. Guinean intellectuals need to have an open forum to discourse common problems and matters plaguing the country – such as ethnocentrism, educational crisis, health matters and issues on corruption, insecurity, civil-military relations, freedom, human rights abuses and injustice etc. We must take our problems in a spirit of cooperation and unity rather than the callous individualistic attitude that prevails. In the eve of the new and democratically elected government, I deliberately sought for the encouragement of all intellectuals to come forth with their opinions, views, and ideals of good governance, security and justice – ideals that will promote unity, peace, and progress amongst Guineans. We must instill the notion of striving together into the minds of our compatriots to build a just (fair) and more harmonious society by doing everything in our capacity, as intellectuals or policy makers, to ensure that our people live a happy life with more dignity and respect for one another. This discussion will also stress the path which we ought to take in the common struggle to move Guinea forward; and for intellectual to assume their full responsibility to society they must be free from oppressions and despotism.
By freedom, I mean the right to do what you want without being controlled or restricted. In other words, freedom is defined as “the independence of an arbitrary will of another.” According to the Austrian-born, Noble Laureate, Professor Hayek, “this is the classical conception of freedom under the law” – a state of affairs in which a person could be forced or impelled only where restriction is required by the general rule of law. Such a freedom must be equally applicable to all without any discretionary decision of the authority. Thus, intellectual freedom could be defined as the right of the intellectual to freely express his views, ideals and opinions creatively without censorship, and fear for persecution or alienation.
Like all individuals, to enable the intellectual to fully fulfil his potentials and responsibility to society, he should be given or allowed the complete freedom of expression and to act on his own initiatives (without any fear) to express his opinions in what so-ever interest him in society or in life. I believe that people must be encouraged to come forward with their opinions, views and ideals of good governance, development, security and justice – ideals that will promote unity and peace, and most important of all progress. The simple fact is that, we seek individual liberty because only when the individual can decide what to do, can he be able to exploit his unique combination of knowledge, skills, and capacity which no one else could fully duplicate.
When the freedom of an intellectual is restricted or curtailed he feel an X stamped on his moral values to society and as a result he becomes a real prisoner of conscience, confining him into a prison like that of the “chicken wondering freely about within the limits of the poultry yard whose freedom could not change any thing in its fate. Or he is like that of the condemned prisoner whose movement is confined in the prison camp within the walls of the jail” (President Sékou Touré). Thus, analogically, intellectual freedom in this country is confined only within the Ivory Towers (or the walls of university campuses). In fact, to put it bluntly, our intellectual freedom as teachers, for instance, is not beyond the classroom in front our students. For doctors, theirs are confined within the surroundings of their HOSPITAL wards and so are the other intellectuals imprisoned in their own various fields of professional activities.
Is this not the type of freedom that the late President Ahmed Sékou Touré detested or abhorred during his vehement campaign to free this nation form the French colonial powers? Although he failed to deliver the freedom he sought for his people, there is no dispute about his ideological intention. His ideal symbol of freedom was shared unanimously by the masses and that was as he stated:“the freedom of the sparrow-hawk, master of its flight in the sky.” How could we let ourselves to be confined into such an infinite psychological imprisonment? Don’t we really have a choice? I know everyone complain about the moral of the present system, and as an intellectual, I truly believe we do have a choice. But, some of the questions are whether we are in reality ready to build and support viable institutions that will explore the laws enshrine in our constitution. Can we open up our minds as patriotic Guineans, (not as Peul, Malinké or Soussou etc.) to debate common issues affecting the progress of our society?
Judging from people’s pessimistic views about our future (or where we are really heading), I wonder whether this nation would be ready for a genuine dialogue to map out our challenges and get ride of our malice and alienation. In fact, I have heard some provocative sentiments from colleagues that, “people cannot to be freed until they are fit to use their freedom.” Isn’t that a clumsy provocation to the sound and conscious mind? Just like the fool in the old fairy tail who resolved not to go into the water until he had learned to swim. If people are to wait for their freedom till they become wise and good enough, then they may wait for ever. We cannot just sit and wait for things to happen any longer, we must make them happen. Politically, we have flunked with socialism, killed liberalism, misused dogmatism, so our only ism left to be conquered is patriotism. We will continue to make our point more clearly by viewing the contrast in part two in the next posting. God bless la Guinée!
As you rightly put it CMJ it’s high time we start thinking as guineans not as peuls, madingos, sussous etc. then and only then we will overcome the stagnation that have plagued Africa in general and Guinea in particular.