Home » Media Centre » Blogs » Notes from a Launch: On Polarizing Ethnic Language
A topic less tweeted about but candidly spoken on at the launch of Mzalendo 3.0 is the rise in the use of polarizing ethnic language by politicians in their electioneering, and by citizens in their day-to-day conversations. The use polarising language has so escalated in the period following the International Criminal Court indictments that this month’s Nairobi Law Monthly posits that, “tribal talk is back and hate speech is becoming the political lingua franca again.” A statement in which there is a lot of truth if remarks made by Mutito MP, Kiema Kilonzo, on the ownership of Kenya are anything to go by.
Lately, or maybe it has always been the case and has just become more obvious, there seems to be a flagrant disregard for the provisions of the National Cohesion and Integration Act, and an abuse of the limitations to freedom of expression set out in the constitution. Freedom of expression does not extend to “hate speech; advocacy of hatred that constitutes ethnic incitement, vilification of others or incitement to cause harm; or that is based on any ground of discrimination.”
Equally worrying is that the lack of political will to tackle the increasing use of ethnically charged language is rendering laws and organs that are supposed to deal with the use of incendiary ethnic rhetoric completely ineffective. So far, no politician has come out and directly condemned polarizing utterances made by their peers. And though National Cohesion and Integration Commission recently recognised the increase in incidences of hate speech and affirmed its commitment to fighting it, the Commission also added the caveat/disclaimer that proving hate speech is becoming increasingly difficult. Making one wonder whether the Commission has the ability to effectively deal with the issue.
Considering we are headed into what could be an election year the increasing use of the incendiary language by both politicians and the public makes me wonder if we as a nation learned anything from 2007 election and the ensuing violence the fallout of which many still experience today.
Polarizing language alone did not cause the 2007/2008 post election violence but the continual stoking of ethnic tensions, and the use of incendiary ethnic rhetoric definitely played a role. So why are we allowing it to happen again?
Polarising ethnic language reduces us to a singular overarching identity, tribe. Polarising ethnic language undermines national unity; it can very rapidly turn into a vicious cycle of discrimination and violence. As Kenyans we have a collective interest in ensuring the country is united we must send a clear STOP message to politicians encouraging ethnic polarization through the use of the incendiary rhetoric: it’s wrong, it’s illegal.
Categories: No tags
You must login to comment
There are no comments.