In the late 1970s after successive Soviet leaders died and Mikhail Gorbachev was ready to do a deal with the West, a writer and a thinker was very bullish in his thought that the need of the Soviet Union was going to be the end of the world as no further squabbling will emerge. Francis Fukuyama’s book in 1992 was very premature as a new wave of identity will herald the social disposition of the world. Recently Fukuyama, understanding the flaws, wrote a book, Identity. Identity has always been the reason. Actions fight each other.
Adolf Hitler enunciated the identity milieu when he postulated the Ayran race in his book Mien Kampf, meaning my struggle. Donald Trump won an election because a lot of conservative Americans felt challenged by the emergence of Barack Obama. Let’s not forget we have the Reagan Democrats which was an historical identity collage. The rise of nationalism and the quest about who is really French has polarized most European nations especially France. The rise of front national and the successive inroads made by Jean-Marie Le Pen. Le Pen and the new emergence of a polemicist and nationalist Eric Zemmour has put the debate again on the front burner.
For me it is not only about Zemmour, it is about billionaires like Vincent Bollore that set up CNnews where Zemmour became a star with his anti-immigrant views. He has become so compelling in his argument against Muslim immigration despite being of Algerian parentage. His acerbic rhetoric has caused a lot of divisions in France and this has increased support for him. Zemmour just constantly asks the questions of identity albeit in a divisive way but his support base shows that people have taken on his message; this is an indication of the polarization of the society in France and other parts of the world. It is sad that if Zemmour gets on the ballot he would pass the first round in the 2022 elections. As we take lessons from France, we must also look inward in Nigeria and work on our unity.
The recent agitations for division has gathered steam and a lot of people are buying the rhetoric. We should ask ourselves why has the polarization in Nigeria become so palpable, why has the drumbeats of war become so louder albeit when the drummers are fueled by the political class? Ralph Waldo Emerson says what lies ahead and behind are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. This is the time for everyone to reach out to one another and build unity. The identity battle is existential in nature and France will be fighting theirs with Zemmour. Are we thinking in Nigeria? In Nigeria today there are many Eric Zemmours justifying evil under the identity card and we must be careful of this divisive rhetoric so we don’t destroy our country.
Rufai Oseni, rufaioseni@gmail.com
