Clan Politics and Ukraine

What is going on Ukraine is serious war but I could not help but compare it with the games played by African boys herding cattle in the savannah scrub-lands of Zimbabwe.

Those were the best days of my life.

Life was lackadaisical, with occasional bursts of exciting activity. The years sauntered by, with passing seasons colourfully marked by the foliage of musasa trees exploding into various hues of red and orange.

During that time I, along with other boys, would be found trailing ourselves after our families' cattle, tasked with preventing them from invading the fields full of young succulent maize plants.

Herding cattle is not the most exciting of activities. We invented lots of games and activities to while time. Football was a favourite. Occasionally we set about getting some of the boys among us to fight so that we could enjoy the spectacle.

Our favourite way starting a fight was called kupwanya mazamu amai (breaking your mothers breasts). Nothing riles an African brother like insulting his mother. We would built four mounts of soil, and allocate two to each of guys we wanted to fight saying, 'These are your mother's breasts.'

The logic was that if somebody kickedyour 'mother's breasts' you had to defend your honour through violence. If any of the planned pugilists was reluctant to break the other's mother's breasts, we would egg them on through ridicule and mockery.

It was guaranteed that the moment they kicked each other's "mother's breasts" they would ferociously set upon one another with flailing fists, kicks, scratching nails, head-butts and the occasional sinking of teeth into the rival.

Meanwhile we would be enjoying the spectacle and cheering them on with whistling, shouts of encouragement and the occasional delighted dancing. One could hardly believe that such a fierce fight was over nothing but little mounts of dirt.

A bleeding nose later we would stop the fight, and set about placating the warriors saying things like 'The fight was nice but you guys must remain friends.' Most of the time they did remain friends. No permanent damage would be done to the relationship of even physically to the fighters.

Is what is going on in Ukraine any better than fighting over little mounts of dirt? If I take a government soldier and a rebel and ask them to explain why they are fighting can any of them give me any answer that is better than 'He kicked my mother's breasts!' Never mind that those mother's breasts are little mounts of soil made by others.

There is no way anyone is going to uproot Ukraine and plant it in the Hudson bay, or even the English Channel. Ukraine borders Russia and that is the way it is going to be until donkeys grow horns. Not just that, but Ukraine has got a large population of ethnic Russians.

Consequently, any wise Ukrainian leader, would be better off maintaining relations with Russia than pandering to the whims of hoped for allies thousands of kilometres away. Sometimes we need to accept things the way they are, not the way would like them. It is called accepting reality.

Keeping peace with your neighbour is far much better than making friends with a stranger. Especially if you are married to the neighbour's cousin. It is totally unrealistic to expect peace in your own house when you are insulting your wife's cousin or to expect the cousin to remain quiet while you are beating your wife.

Ukrainians need to do a reality check. There is no way they are going to be virulently anti-Russia and still expect their ethnic Russian population to be happy.

It is also simple logic that if East Ukrainians are ethnically related to Russians then they probably have 'clan members' and sometimes relatives in Russian society including the armed forces. For those of us who belong to clans and know how they work, we know they tend to stick together even across national borders. Take a look at how the Mafia has extended tentacles all over the world from clan roots in Italy.

There is no better time to call upon clan links than in times of need. Clan links are always difficult if not impossible to break. What Ukraine should fear is not what Putin thinks, but what the clan links to Russia might lead to. I personally think that Putin has little choice but to flow with the clan links.

What the Ukraine needs right now, is a reality check from within. There is no way they are going to fight with ethnic Russians in their country and expect the Russians in Russia to stand by. A swear upon the blood of my VaBarwe clan, at some point or another, the Russian clan will respond.