South Sudan and the need for Regressive Hypnosis (Analysis)!

South Sudan and the need for Regressive Hypnosis (Analysis)!
David Majok November 14, 2011
In psychology, therapy has been established as an important tool to free oneself from the compounding effects of life’s pressure, whether caused by cumulative psychosis or genetic underpinning of one’s lot in life. This has been established in order to secure healing and future prosperity for the self and the community. In the context of this piece, the opinion expressed here is much related to the same genesis, but the term is used to denote a psycho-political hypnotic regression.
Over the last twenty-seven years, South Sudan has gone through traumatic transformative events, some of which were brutal, and some are promising to the future of the nation. The struggle for liberation caused many to perish and many to suffer trauma, either through direct involvement or through the side effects of the conflict itself. Many of those who are affected, have selflessly given their youth, future, family and dreams to the cause of liberating the people of South Sudan, for what seems to be, a cause much bigger than them: freedom of the people of South Sudan people. Some may have not envisioned the type of future that the ending may bring, but with hope and faith, have charged along, at times, not knowing if the future is achievable, given the dark days of the 1990s. But with every struggle, there are surges and corrections in the direction of the intended goal. This is just a natural phenomenon associated with any ideals: taking stock of what happened, learning from it, and move-on along the road to victory.
As the brave surgeon on, experiences of the war added to their languages and the unintended consequences of that journey, affected, adversely by the struggle to be free and acquire attribute that cements the true belief in the reason for justice, which encompasses, freedom, liberty, democracy and equity: the banners of the struggle. Though these were true to the essence of liberation, the meanings associated with these iconic words seem to have engendered stronger apathy in actualizing its impact. The nuances of the call to arms are becoming too difficult for interlocutors in the corridors of power imprint in themselves and the nation.
The way forward in this struggle to identify with the past is best exemplified in the regression hypnosis, to revisit the past so as to live the future, designed in the ideals echoed twenty seven years ago. That those who are in the corridors of power owe it to themselves to reflect on their struggle to bring freedom; first, to extricate themselves from the winner eats first assertion, to a much more reflective leadership that is built on the notion of equally free society, borne out of the need for justice and all its other siblings. Second, recognize that creating a new normal is not a selective domain of one political entity over the other, but a quest that those who are capable must share in realizing it. Third, in order to cement the legacy of the heroic past, heroes and heroines never boast about their impact on the battle fields, but by their humbleness in the face of the future. For the future is our collective enemy. It may not need the same tools that the heroes and heroines have fought the battle, but a new kind of tool. One that they can be instrumental in affecting, in the lives of people for whom they have so dearly sacrificed; this, by shear influence of their histories and commitment to stay focused to achieve a free and willing society that seeks better its entire population.
For freedom can never be dissuaded by fear of arms, psychological intimidation or a force of elimination; for, if such was the case, ours would have been futile effort in search of freedom, justice and equality; hence a homeland. It is this same antidote that will surely allow us to prosper and make the nation that many have sacrificed for but have never called her home. As such, the attributes associated with a free society may not be an easy endeavor to implement, but working towards achieving the ideals set forth by those who have put in motion the wheels of our New Republic, cannot be rendered motionless because of the inconveniences of its laboring parts. The test for those who are in power is to reproduce enabling parts that functions and deliver the same result in law, culture and conviction, no matter how painful the exercise may be, to continue to create the necessary condition for its success.
In conclusion, in this endeavor, there should be no shortcuts to achieving the collective will of the people. Rule of law, equality, freedom, access to services, and democratically principled governance should be the face that our new nation must exhibit at home and to the world. As well, the exercise of revisiting the past will act as a testament to the resilience of the current political entity in addressing its deficit and learning from it, whether small or big, in order to resurrect its image, for now and the future.