In European history there is the War of Jenkin’s Ear, and in current history of Afghanistan, there is the War of Beards. In Nigerian colloquial Lingo, beards can be called bia-bia, and for the Taliban regime of Afghanistan, bia-bia is a symbol of compliance with and acceptance of Shariah law. To drive home the symbolism, the Talibans enacted a law which demands that hair dressers must not shave off any bia-bia from a bearded man. A hair dresser who goes contrary to that law stands the risk of having his arm amputated. Draconic law?
Going by the level of lawlessness and recalcitrance in modern societies, the need for Draconian laws may not be questioned seriously. In ancient Athens when lawlessness became unbearable, a law-giver called Draco, provided very severe penalties for offenders, as a measure to reduce lawlessness. It was another lawmaker, Solon (635-560 B.C.) who repealed all the Draconian laws because of their harshness and the excessively heavy penalties they carried. When a youngman’s reproductive organ was chopped off, for rape, there came the remark that Draco’s code was written in blood, not in ink. Draco was not a Taliban.
Apart from ancient Athens and Draconian laws, various countries and regimes adjusted their laws according to the demands and circumstances of the times. There was a time that debtors could be hanged in their state of insolvence, or their children sold away as slaves. Human consciousness and value orientations are progressive, rather than static; so also is the legal system etc. Change rules human existence.
Penalties such as stoning offenders to death on the spot or amputation of limbs, where crowds were allowed to watch such orgies, were quite common in various societies. Religious organisations and their leaders were in the forefront in the implementation and encouragement of such barbaric penalties. But soon it was discovered that lawmakers and those who implemented the laws were quite hypocritical and had sought to instill fears and docility in the masses. The level of hypocrisy and double standards became so glaring that silent protests arose in every society.
Hypocrisies in the administration of laws and penalties became such that Shakespeare in The Life and Death of King John, said: “When law can do no right, let it be lawful that law bar no wrong”. Similarly, “Thieves for their robbery have authority when judges steal themselves”. The history of law itself provided for such immunity that makes the law an ass, with the old axiom that laws are made by superiors for the inferiors to obey. A situation where there are such immunities, impunities and abuses, obviously hypocrisy advances into dogmatism, for the purpose of using power and fear as instruments to shield hypocritical institutions, or rulers.
All the wars in human history have brought to light the shenanigans of power merchants, whereby what cannot be achieved through “politics” is taken to the battlefield, as another arena of power politics. In this sense, “politics” is the soul of leadership; from monarchy, democracy, ecclesia, to gangsterism, whose sole goal is power. Millions of people can die in the politics of war, that power merchants may inherit power or sell weapons of war for gold. Thus there is a circle of hypocritically-induced conflicts, wars, losses and inheritance of power.
Obsession with power takes various forms, including fanatical adherence to ideologies, creed, belief system and several other propensities or vaulting ambitions. Such obsessive propensities, when coupled with charisma and ego, would know no bounds, neither would any obstruction be spared. It often happens that at the initial stage, followers and supporters or sponsors of such obsessive power monger, would rarely know the driving force behind their hero. But much later signs of mental aberration begin to show, perhaps after much harms had already been done.
Research works into power-obsessed phenomenon, have always shown that victims of such mental aberration rarely function alone as individuals, but serve as outlets for the flow of some radiations. Then a structure or some institutions serve as the arena for the maintenance and management of the influx of power. It happens that operators and loyalists of the structure or institution sponsoring the power enigma, show uncanny zeal, fanaticism and devotion that a cult system grows around the power structure. One power or group leads, with numerous foot soldiers.
In reality the enigma of power obsession is complex but it takes possession of the brain and then infects a wider audience in the form of passion and fanatical commitment or idolisation. There were some Nigerians who swore that they would commit suicide if late General Sani Abacha did not become life President of Nigeria. Thus, mass hysteria gives fuel to power passion, at the end of which a cult or belief system serves as the instrument of the exercise of power, whether or not one individual is the arrow-head of the mission. Once established, a power structure becomes intimidating.
When it comes to a belief system, fanatical or fundamentalist power structure can become monstrous. If religion and politics combine as the structure to express fundamentalism, then those who have different worldviews are heretics. Such opponents or unbelievers would be panel-beaten to an acceptable shape through laws with stiff penalties. An alternative is to accept and embrace the fundamentalists’ version of faith. Like Emperor Nero’s army, foot soldiers, including radical students, are handy for war.
When Reverend Jim Jones degenerated from radical evangelism into a monster in Guyana, many of his followers did not know, until they all perished in a forest swamp. In matters of religion and politics, coercive arms of the establishment are usually handy and ready to do great exploits in the service of power structures. Radical and fundamentalist adherents of faiths and politics soon develop a mindset, obsession and fixation, whereby they assume the posture of soldiers at war with those of different worldview. Symbol of radical fundamentalism is beard, moustache or bia-bia.
In the case of the Talibans of Afghanistan, avid enforcement of the beard culture is a visible evidence of a true and committed devotee. Culture of fundamentalism goes with adoption of the peculiar lifestyle of the founding hero. For example, adherents and admirers of Fidel Castro’s ideology cultivated beards, while fans of Odumegwu Ojukwu would sing songs about “Ojukwu bia-bia”, etc. Even university students copy the lifestyles of their role models.
Dr Amirize is a retired lecturer from the Rivers State University, Port Harcourt.