Tiiga Waana
Elder Lister
If there are images that are hunted for with so much vigour and energy and deeply treasured by the British Press, it is the pictures and clips of Africans and Asians fighting in the streets for food, fuel and other commodities in times of scarcity and political turmoil.
I think in the psyche and imagination of most British people, avarice, ravenousness and, to use a uniquely Kenyan term, grabiosis, is a preserve and a malady of the Coloured People. Indeed, it is this primitive behaviour that distinctly separate them from the others.
I remember watching a BBC piece on Venezuela where a Commentator was loudly wondering why those people couldn’t be orderly in the supermarkets but unruly and violent.
Fast forward to March 2020 when the UK government gave citizens a two days notice of an impending lockdown due to Covid. All hell broke loose. Hobbes’ state of nature became a reality and people turned savages.
People blindly descended and flocked into the Supermarkets like swarms of locusts and stripped bare the shelves off everything. Folks greedily bought all foodstuffs, tissues, detergents and anything they could lay their hands on.
This same scenario has been playing out in petrol stations up and down the country the last two weeks due to fuel shortage. Folks you would consider civilised and all have been behaving crazy in petrol forecourts. You would think the world is coming to an imminent end as Folks jam entrances to stations and even trade punches and engage in street battles.
The moral of the story? The British will act civilised and considerate in times of abundance and plenty. They act like every other human being at the slightest sign of lack.
I think in the psyche and imagination of most British people, avarice, ravenousness and, to use a uniquely Kenyan term, grabiosis, is a preserve and a malady of the Coloured People. Indeed, it is this primitive behaviour that distinctly separate them from the others.
I remember watching a BBC piece on Venezuela where a Commentator was loudly wondering why those people couldn’t be orderly in the supermarkets but unruly and violent.
Fast forward to March 2020 when the UK government gave citizens a two days notice of an impending lockdown due to Covid. All hell broke loose. Hobbes’ state of nature became a reality and people turned savages.
People blindly descended and flocked into the Supermarkets like swarms of locusts and stripped bare the shelves off everything. Folks greedily bought all foodstuffs, tissues, detergents and anything they could lay their hands on.
This same scenario has been playing out in petrol stations up and down the country the last two weeks due to fuel shortage. Folks you would consider civilised and all have been behaving crazy in petrol forecourts. You would think the world is coming to an imminent end as Folks jam entrances to stations and even trade punches and engage in street battles.
The moral of the story? The British will act civilised and considerate in times of abundance and plenty. They act like every other human being at the slightest sign of lack.
