Tá Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o imithe romhainn ar aistear na síoraíochta, ach tá oidhreacht shaibhir streachailte fágtha le huacht aige ag ‘Damnaithe an Domhain’

Fealsúnaí frithchoilíneach, fathach díchoilínithe agus réabhlóidí sóisialach; mar sin a chuimhneofar ar Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o ar fud an domhain ar fhógairt a bháis. Agus comharthaí lofa an nualiobrálachais chaipitlíoch, an nuachoilíneachas agus an chinedhíothú féin á nochtadh féin go foréigneach fíochmhar, is deacair gan géilleadh don duairceas is don díomá agus fear dá mhianach caillte againn.

D’fhág wa Thiong’o armlann intleachtúil agus ábhar spreagúil radacach le huacht againn, áfach, nár mhór a tharraingt chugainn féin agus sinn sa tóir ar dhomhan daonlathach cóir atá saor ó laincisí an impiriúlachais agus na héagóra.

Ceisteanna teanga agus cultúrtha sa chomhthéacs coilíneach ba mhó a bhíodh á gcíoradh ag wa Thiong’o, agus bhain a shaothar cumhachtach ‘Decolonising the Mind: the Politics of Language in African Literature’ agus ‘Moving the Centre: The Struggle for Cultural Freedoms’ go háirithe cáil idirnáisiúnta amach i measc lucht na dteangacha mionlaithe.

D’fhan a fhriotail ar chumhacht chaithréimeach theanga na himpireachta mar a bheadh macalla i m’aigne ó chéad léigheas iad thiar in 2020: “The bullet was the means of the physical subjugation, language was the means of the spiritual subjugation”, agus spreag a thuiscint ar na “buamaí cultúrtha” mé m’ainm a athGhaelú is mo shaol a chaitheamh i mbun chath claochlaitheach an díchoilínithe ó shin:

“But the biggest weapon wielded and actually daily unleashed by imperialism against that collective defiance is the cultural bomb. The effect of a cultural bomb is to annihilate a people’s belief in their names, in their languages, in their environment, in their heritage of struggle, in their unity, in their capacities and ultimately in themselves. It makes them see their past as one wasteland of non-achievement and it makes them want to distance themselves from that wasteland. It makes them want to identify with that which is furthest removed from themselves; for instance, with other peoples’ languages rather than their own. It makes them identify with that which is decadent and reactionary, all those forces which would stop their own springs of life. It even plants serious doubts about the moral rightness of struggle. Possibilities of triumph or victory or seen as remote, ridiculous dreams.”

Ní dall ar thaithí na nGael a bhí wa Thiong’o ach oiread. Go deimhin, ba mhinic a d’úsáid sé cás na hÉireann mar shampla agus uafás an choilíneachais á chur trí chéile aige:

“It was astonishing to discover […] the centrality of the Irish experience to the colonial question, especially as it relates to language, culture and social memory. Ireland was England’s first colony, and it became a prototype for all other English colonies in Asia, Africa and America.”

Mo léan ach gur tráthúil freisin a chaint ar olc-úsáid an ocrais mar uirlis chogaidh is chinedhíothaithe agus saothar Edmund Spenser – lonnaitheoir Briotanach in Éirinn sa séú haois déag – á scrúdú aige:

“Spenser, in his manual for colonizing the Irish, also recommends a scorched earth policy to induce famine. He had seen such a policy break resistance in Munster […] where […] ‘out of the very corner of the woods and glens they [the Irish] came creeping forth upon their hands, for their legs could not bear them. They looked anatomies of death, they spake like ghosts crying out of their graves.’ (Spenser 1586). Two and a half centuries later, following the English-induced potato famine of 1846-1860, during which Irish people died in large numbers and many survivors were forced to emigrate to America, the weakened community that remained was unable to resist linguistic Anglicisation through new education policies that imposed English on the Irish.”

Cuireann an ceangal seo idir an drochshaol agus ár gcine féin i gcuimhne dúinn – má bhí meabhrú de dhíth orainn in aon chor – nach mór do ghluaiseacht na Gaeilge éirí agus an fód a sheasamh ar son mhuintir Gaza agus na Palaistíne agus iad fé ollsmacht is bagairt bháis impireacht bhréan na Stát Aontaithe, an Iarthair agus an chórais Shíónaigh. Go deimhin mhol Frantz Fanon féin, mórfhealsúnaí frithchoilíneach eile: ‘[that] If you really wish your county to avoid regression, […] a rapid step must be taken from national consciousness to political and social conciousness”, gairm a fhreagraíonn an Dream Dearg ina ghníomhaíochas laethúil.

Is de dhlúth agus d’inneach an díchoilíneachais fhorásaigh an dlúthpháirtíocht idirnáisiúnta úd, agus thaobhaigh wa Thiong’o féin leis an scoil smaointeoireachta chéanna. D’áitigh seisean i gcónaí freisin ar son anailís chuimsitheach socheacnamaíoch agus ár máthairtheangacha á n-athghabháil againn. Dar leis, ní leor an smaointeoireacht neamhchomhtháite teanga agus cultúrtha - is gá mórcheisteanna cumhachta eile a chur san áireamh freisin:

“Imperialism is total: it has economic, political, military and psychological consequences for the people of the world today.”

Ní nach ionadh mar sin go raibh an pholaitíocht agus an fheasacht aicmeach chun tosaigh ar fad ina shaothar ar an díchoilíniú. Chuir sé i gcuimhne dúinn gur as móraidhm an chórais chaipitlíoch a d’eascair agus a eascraíonn an t-impiriúlachas:

“The real aim of colonialism was to control the people’s wealth: what they produced, how they produced it, and how it was distributed […] Colonialism imposed its control of the social production of wealth through military conquest and subsequent political dictatorship.”

Agus mar a luadh cheana, is trí dhíláithriú na teanga dúchais ar son theanga an choilínitheora a cuireadh agus a chuirtear an smacht úd i bhfeidhm dar le wa Thiong’o:

“Language carries culture, and culture carries, particularly through orature and literature, the entire body of values by which we come to perceive ourselves and our place in the world. How people perceive themselves affects how they look at their culture, at their politics and at the social production of wealth, at their entire relationship to nature and other beings. Language is thus inseparable from ourselves as a community of human beings with a specific form and character, a specific history, a specific relationship to the world.”

Fágann seo ar fad, mar sin, gur gá dúinne sa Dream Dearg an pholaitíocht aicmeach a chur san áireamh agus an Ghaeilge á hathghabháil againn.

Ní wa Thiong’o agus Fanon amháin a chuir na ceisteanna úd trí chéile, áfach. Dhein glúnta éagsúla de ghluaiseacht na Poblachta amhlaidh freisin ón gConghaileach go dtí an Cadhnach féin. Cuireann oidhreacht shaibhir dhíchoilíneach ár dtíre tábhacht na feasachta aicmí i gcuimhne dúinn más ea, go háirithe sa sliocht seo le Séamus Ó Conghaile:

“The chief enemy of a Celtic revival today is the crushing force of capitalism which irresistibly destroys all national or racial characteristics, and by sheer stress of its economic preponderance reduces a Galway or a Dublin, a Lithuania or a Warsaw to the level of a mere second-hand imitation of Manchester or Glasgow […] You cannot teach starving men Gaelic; and the treasury of our national literature will and must remain lost forever to the poor wage-slaves who are contended by our system of society to toil from early morning to late at night for a mere starvation wage.”

Cuimhnímis freisin ar Liam Ó Maoilíosa a d’áitigh;

“[that] the Irish Republic represents Independence and the struggle has a threefold significance. It is political, it is intellectual, it is economic. It is political in the sense that it means complete separation from England and the British Empire. It is intellectual in as much as it represents the cultural expression of the Gaelic mind and Gaelic civilisation and the removal of the impress of English speech and English thought upon the Irish character. It is economic because the wrestling of Ireland from the grip of English capitalism can leave no thinking Irishman with the desire to build up and perpetuate in this country an economic system that has its roots in foreign domination”.

I mBealtaine 2025, lá i ndiaidh a bháis, tá saothar díchoilíneach Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o níos tábhachtaí ná riamh. Tá práinn bhreise ag baint lena theachtaireacht agus cinedhíothú ar bun sa Phalaistín, agus easnaimh “dhaonlathas” an Iarthair á nochtadh ag rialtais trína neamhghníomh, d’ainneoin mianta dlúthpháirtíochta na ndaoine féin. Tá an chosmhuintir á tachtadh ag géarchéim an nualiobrálachais, tá Éire fós stróicthe ina dhá stát críochdheighilte, agus tá an chruinne féin i mbaol a báis ag lucht na cumhachta is iad de shíor sa tóir ar fhás eacnamaíoch an eastóscachais.

Ach mar a léirigh wa Thiong’o, tá rogha eile ann. Tá bealach eile ann agus tá ábhar dóchais ann, ach ár máthairtheangacha a athghabháil mar chéad chéim in aistear an díchoilínithe:

“The classes fighting against imperialism even in its neo-colonial stage and form, have to confront this threat with the higher and more creative culture of resolute struggle. These classes have to wield even more firmly the weapons of the struggle contained in the cultures. They have to speak the united language of struggle contained in their cultures. They have to speak the united language of struggle contained in each of their languages. They must discover their various tongues to sing the song: ‘A people united can never be defeated’.”

Thug wa Thiong’o a shaol i mbun streachailte agus é sa tóir ar shaoirse chomhchoiteann na ndaoine. Déanaimisne sa Dream Dearg amhlaidh.