by Ngozi Razak-Soyebi

G21 AFRICA Contributing Writer

To read this article in Deutsch, Francaise, Italiano, Portuguese, Espanol, Korean, Japanese, Dutch, Greek, Chinese and Russian, copy and paste the complete URL ("http://www.g21.net/africa75.html") and enter it in the box after you click through.

Ngozi
Razak-Soyebi

LAGOS, NIGERIA - Most newborns suffer from a condition known as colic. Colic is believed to be caused by muscle spasm in a baby's intestines. This is often as a result of too much gas or as a reaction to the formula or breast milk fed to them. Colic usually occurs within the first few months of a baby's life and is marked by bouts of prolonged crying, abdominal pain and considerable irritability. For the unsuspecting mother, the experience can best be described as unnerving, frustrating, harrowing and irritating.

I was extremely lucky. My little girl didn't suffer from this condition because I was knowledgeable about it and avoided, for the first few months of her life, spicy meals and foods that promote gas such as beans, onions and green peppers that can be passed on to her through the breast milk. Now, though, at ten months, my little girl is at an age where she has recognized the effective use of tears as a weapon against me.

She doesn't want to sit in her walker ... boohoo!

I won't let her use my cell phone or TV remote as a toy ... boohoo!

It's bath time and she would rather carry on sleeping or playing ... .boohoo!

You take her out for an evening stroll around the neighborhood and she doesn't want to come indoors just yet ... boohoo!

It's quite amazing how easily she turns on the tap. Faster than I ever thought it possible for any living creature with tear glands. In the beginning, I would not only give in to her but also apologize for upsetting her. It seemed so much easier to adopt this attitude than endure the often ear-splitting cries. Gradually, though, I have learned to distinguish between what I call the genuine tears and the crocodile tears, and, as long as she's in no danger of bursting a chord, would often sit out the latter. Soon, my sweet little girl learned, too, to recognize that Mommy would not budge so easily and, amazingly, the tears would dry up pretty fast. Then, she would sit back in her walker and give me that you-should-be-ashamed-of-yourself look guaranteed to make me feel guilty. Sometimes, I look at her and think she is a reincarnation.

I recognize that my little girl is only acting her age and will gradually become less noisy in her demands as she grows older and acquires other communication skills. Still, it made me begin to wonder what our world would be like if we all still acted like babies. Imagine these scenarios:

• You get a parking ticket ... boohoo! in the officers' face.
• Your partner is too exhausted to make love ... boohoo!
• The Embassy turns down your Visa application and ... boohoo! in the issuing officers' face.
• An editor sends you a rejection letter and you call him up and ... boohoo!
• You ask a co-worker out on a date and she declines ... boohoo!
• Your neighbor's son messes up your flowerbeds ... boohoo!
• Your loans officer turns down your loan application and you sit right there in front of him and ... boohoo!
• Your employer won't give you a raise ... boohoo!
• Your supermarket won't honor your check and you stand in the checkout line and ... boohoo!
• George Bush loses the presidential election ... boohoo! on national TV.

What a noisy place the world would be! Mercifully, a lot of us have learned to deal with our anger and frustrations or at best manage them. Of course there are moments and situations when we cannot avoid crying in public, such as over a national disaster or on the loss of a loved one or on Oprah, but on the whole we do not cry over every misfortune God chooses to throw our way.

Not too long ago, I watched the movie "Changing Lanes" (released 2002), starring amazingly great actors, Ben Affleck and Samuel L. Jackson. There was this scene in which Mr. Jackson's character, Doyle, is told by his banker he does not have money to draw on his account. I found it highly comedic when Mr. Jackson lifts up the damn computer and hurls it against a window. Of course I'm sure I wouldn't be so quick to laugh if it happened in real-life and I was on the receiving end of such mismanaged anger. Dealing with my baby's tears would probably be child's play compared to that. And, hell, think of the cost of replacing that computer!

A lot of people find it extremely difficult to manager their anger, and when backed by power, gives rise to bullies, spousal abusers, child abusers, insufferable employers, unreasonable landlords, sexist judges et cetera. When backed by power in a nation's number one job, mismanaged anger gives rise to dictators and tyrants.

When the seed for this article was sown, as a contributing writer from Africa for G21, my intention was to focus on tyrannical and dictatorial leaders in Africa. However, I recognized quickly that this piece would be incomplete without mention of two of the world's most brutal tyrants -- Stalin and Hitler.

Stalin (Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili) of the former USSR was responsible for the death of 28,000,000 people between the time he received absolute power in 1928 and his death in 1953.

Hitler (Adolf Hitler) of Nazi Germany was responsible for the death of 10,000,000 people between 1933 and 1945.

Now, just how colicky were these two individuals as babies?

Africa can "boast" of several tyrannical leaders -- dead, alive and ousted or alive and still in power. Indeed, while doing research for this article, I realized quickly that almost every African country appears to have had the misfortune of a tyrannical leader. The list is endless:

• Sekou Toure of Guinea.
• Joseph Nyerere of Tanzania.
• Omar Al Bashir of Sudan.
• Teodoro Ngueme of Equatorial Guinea.
• Daniel Arap Moi of Kenya.
• Joseph Mobutu of Zaire.
• Paul Biya of Cameroun.

The list would be incomplete without mention of

• Idi Amin of Uganda,
• Jean-Bedel Bokassa of the Central African Republic,
• Haile Mariam Mengistu of Ethiopia,
• Charles Taylor of Liberia and
• Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.

Idi Amin Dada Oumee of Uganda (AKA "Butcher Of Africa" and "Lord Of All The Beasts Of The Earth And Fishes Of The Sea") is believed to have been responsible for the death of between 100,000 to 500,000 people by the time he was ousted in 1979.

"Cannibal" Emperor Jean-Bedel Bokassa of the Central African Republic will forever be remembered for the bloody massacre and cannibalism in May 1979 of 100 school children who protested against the cost of school uniforms. (How colicky can one get?)

Haile Mariam Mengistu was not preoccupied enough with dealing with the famine in Ethiopia and had time to kill 1,500,000 people between 1975 and 1979.

Charles Taylor of Liberia, apart from helping to finance the war in Sierra-Leone, will be remembered for introducing a new twist to the word tyranny by using rape as a weapon of terrorism.

Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, who was initially hailed as a hero by his people in the struggle for majority rule in the former British colony of Rhodesia, has lost popularity as his regime becomes more repressive. His controversial land redistribution program and target on homosexuals is still sending shock waves at home and in the international community.

Motherland Nigeria has not escaped the dictator's noose. Indeed, we have been "blessed" with a string of military dictators over the years. The seventh and last, I hope, was General Sani Abacha. Until the time of his death, he, like most dictators, controlled the legislative, executive and judicial arms of state. He will best be remembered for the hanging of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni activists as well as Nigeria's suspension from the Commonwealth of Nations.

General Sani Abacha's regime was resistant to both internal and international insistence on human rights reforms. He appeared seemingly unaffected by the impact of international sanctions on the country. He cherished diplomatic isolation and scorned the United Nations condemnation. His allies and friends were other dictatorial and tyrannical African leaders. Like all dictators, he was excessively afraid of his shadow and always traveled with a throng of soldiers from his 3000 special bodyguard unit. Again, like all African dictators and tyrants, he looted the nation's treasury, carting away three billion dollars of public funds into overseas accounts. His death on June 8, 1998 was received with widespread public jubilation.

Our present ruler, President Olusegun Obasanjo (a one-time military ruler from 1976 to 1979) might have been "democratically" elected, but he wields extraordinary, often non-constitutional powers. His administration has repeatedly shown that it is opposed to dialogue with labor leaders. Recently, The Trade Union Act Amendment bill 2004 forwarded to the National assembly by President Olusegun Obasanjo was passed into law. The bill seeks to decentralize the Nigeria Labor Congress (NLC), effectively taking away the voice of the Nigerian people, the rights of the Nigerian worker and the machinery to fight against unjust government policies. Modus operandi of a dictator?

As a nation, we might have been freed from the stranglehold of military dictators, but we are yet to escape the dictator's noose. Even President Olusegun Obasanjo's fight against corruption has been anything but open. The biggest hold-outs of dictatorship and tyranny in the world today are in Africa. It does not matter how big the size of the spasm in the guts of these tyrannical individuals, we must kick against these regimes. It is the only way forward for Africa and the time is now!