Big Men Little People: The Leaders Who Defined Africa

Big man (political science) - Wikipedia

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Before you knife me, just hear me out. First in primitive societies, the instinct to survive makes is very foremost.

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Like in the Darwinian example, it is survival for the fittest. So our fellow travellers are fodder, you cannibalize them, abuse them, and take an unequal share of the national resources —just to prove that you are a better species of homosapiens. Primitive societies are also inclined to be feudal, so in keeping with that view of things, everybody and everything has their place and they have to stay in it.

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Woe betide you if you step out of your place. But a better understanding of the problem has been brought to my attention in realizing that in African read Bantu societies, there is a word of leadership. The leader is omniscient, omnipotent and the giver of all things good.

Now he who gives can take, even that which he did not give, including your life.

Big man (political science)

Managers plan, organize, lead and control by example. But they are rewarded for improving the lot of their company or country.

As part of my erudition, albeit a bit to late, I have found that there is no such word for manager. Either you get a cruel or benevolent leader. There is nothing in between. In our context, human relationships defined are defined on the basis of have and have not, on the basis of power versus meekness. In keeping with this analogy, it is in all probability most likely that a leader of the opposition would do to the leader of the state exactly what the latter is capable of doing unto him.

The Leaders Who Defined Africa

And do not exclude you or me. Our relations are defined on the basis of brute force, on the basis of our upbringing and conditioning.

In this witty and informative book, Alec Russell answers these questions by telling the stories of his encounters with Africa's Big Men. Each one represents a theme which has shaped the continent: Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, the "King of Kleptocracy" whose staggering corruption crippled Zaire; Jonas Savimbi, the life-long guerrilla and symbol of the Cold War's destructive legacy on the continent; the quixotic Hastings Banda, the ultimate product of colonialism; and, of course, Nelson Mandela, symbol of reconciliation and hope for an entire continent.

By any measure, this has been a terrible century for Africa.

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However Russell detects signs of hope in the fledgling human rights troupe he encounters deep in the steamy heart of the Congolese jungle and in the group of journalists keeping Moi's tottering regime in Kenya on its toes. Big Men, Little People is a vividly written portrait of a continent, which avoids the usual stereotypes and dire prophecies and entertains from start to finish. New York University Press is proud to make many of our titles available in eBook editions.