Kenya, once a bastion of stability in a neighborhood of otherwise failed states, seems to have come undone in a fashion that lends one to imagine both Robert Kaplan's "The Coming Anarchy" and John Robbs "A Brave New War." In a space of scant weeks Kenya went from stable nation state to nation state shattered by what is essentially politically driven civil war. Now we see loyalties further condensed in the form of primitive tribal warfare. Replete with bows and arrows.
Making bows and arrows has become a communal task. Although women and girls do not fight, they assist in collecting materials for the weapons. Five bow-and-arrow construction groups of 10 members each are scattered around the town. Weapon-makers first cut the head off a 4-inch nail, which is then chiseled with a heavy hammer into a sharp edge. The nail is then coiled to fit onto a bamboo stick. A groove is cut into the bottom of the stick in order to add paraffin paper wings for the arrow to have better flight. Sometimes, the arrow is dipped into frog or snake poison before being released.
Amazing and sad how far and how fast a nation can collapse.
Very descriptive photo-journal from Time on the tribal warfare in Kenya.
11 years ago
2 comments:
I guess that is what happens when there is no elder civilization to help out the younger ones.
Indeed, Kenya was the elder (or stable) civ. Which reminds me;
I've been tossing around the whole "Was Imperialism so bad?" idea for a while now Not so much with Kenya in mind but other former European colonies that are in states of failure. I haven't really looked at it beyond the initial question. Later, perhaps.
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