WE generally live in a world that follows certain scripts. These determine our conduct, behaviour, courses of action and how we view the world. The way we start and spend the day follows certain patterns which are part of the scripts not necessarily written on pieces of paper but ingrained in our cultural stocks.
The same scripts determine how we make choices and decisions and prescribe what needs to be done to succeed as well as what is acceptable or not. They determine how we become members of the society in whatever form, shape or status. We live within the confines of these scripted parameters whether we like it or not. The question is do these scripts advance our interests?
They determine our social, political and economic status quo as well as how far we can progress in terms of realising our potential within prescribed terms and conditions. We learn and assimilate these scripts from an early age into the twilight of our old age. And these have nothing to do with religion but how we act and perform in this world.
At a global level, there is great assumption that the way the world is run is scripted as well. Some argue that there are some countries or institutions that invest their time and energy in developing long-term plans on how the world must be run. As the adage goes, he who writes the script, controls the play or the act.
Some have mentioned how the three waves of European colonialism were premeditated and how they eventually shaped the world. The third wave (new imperialism) consisted of the Scramble for Africa regulated by the terms of the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885.
That era shaped or rather scripted the African continent’s position on global affairs. It gave African countries the shapes they carry and pride in today by scripting borders. The borders had nothing to do with the interests of local people but those of the colonisers. That is why the borders divided people of the same ethnic groups while locking up groups who had long-standing feuds in one country.
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They prescribed the role of the continent in economic and political affairs which has determined the status of black people on the global platform. African poverty has nothing to do with the colour of skin of the Africans, but it is how their role is scripted in the global story.
What we see unfolding in Africa today is just how the script is being played out by different actors. They say we are all actors in the global scheme of things, if not villains who play victim.
The more we follow the script and remain within its parameters, the more we remain the same and the more we are easily controlled by those who run the script. For example, the political system the world has adopted over decade is a prescribed concept of governance. Adhering to it is a sign of how loyal we are to the global system and how much we subscribe to its tenets. It is loyalty to the system that counts, not our interests.
Whenever there is a problem in complying with the global system, there is always external intervention to either bring the political actors back to the script or to sponsor a process to replace the political actors through an auditioning process called protests or elections.
The new actors must pledge their allegiance and compliance to the system. The story repeats itself over and over again, while the script writers tinker with economies, emotions and social aspects of our lives.
The central question about how or why the world is scripted should never be about how to escape the global script but how to develop our own script within the broader scheme of things. Doing so means that we can now act in our own language and in relation to our own culture and needs.
It also means that we can escape the global narrative controls and we can tell or carve out our own political, economic and social tales from our script and for our gratification. We can also use locally available resources to craft our own art without seeking external manuals for everything we do.
It renders external intervention irrelevant for it lacks the knowledge and justification to do so. This is not about seeking liberation from the global script but rather to act from a liberated script — one that is not attached to the global script. That script must come from us because it should be ours.
Most great and success stories tend to be unique and do not conform to the standard templates of global storytelling. While conformity is often seen as a great sign of compliance, it does not always mean or lead to success. It simply means one is a subscribed part of the whole and not necessarily a successful one. To succeed is to be unique. Most of those who became successful did so because of their unique ideas and ways of life.