The Yoruba language intuitively captured the purpose of tribalizing Africa. When I say "tribe," I am not referring to genetic or ancestral lineage; I am talking about a political weapon. Tribal identity is intrinsically, structurally divisive when it exists inside a larger group. The Yoruba call it ẹ̀yà — the fraction, the branch, the part. Today in Africa, some of our bloodiest conflicts are fought along these exact fault lines. I'm grateful for Rwanda. After their painful genocide, they learnt, they adjusted, and aggressively de-emphasized the tribe. (Again, tribe is not ancestry). But in my own country, over three million deaths in a bloody civil war later, we have only regressed deeper into barbaric, tribal obsessions. Wọ́n pé wa l’ólè, a n gbé ọmọ ẹran jó. They called us barbarians and uncivilized, and we turn up every single day to prove them right. When was the last time you went abroad and heard people obsessing over their tribe? In fact, as an immigrant overseas, the biggest threat to your safety comes from those harbouring tribal or racial sentiments. But do you think Oyinbo didn't have tribes? Did they fall from heaven, or spring from the earth like grass? No. Europe was once arguably the most violently tribal place on earth. The Anglo-Saxons, Franks, Goths, Celts, and Vandals hacked each other to pieces for centuries. In their Thirty Years' War alone, they slaughtered up to 60% of their people. So, how did they escape it? Through deliberate sociopolitical 'engineering'. To survive, pre-European states systematically crushed local tribal allegiances. The French central state outright banned regional languages like Basque to force a single French identity. The English crown violently dismantled the Scottish clan system — their tribal structure — banning traditional dress and weapons to force a unified British identity. They built schools, wrote national anthems, and designed flags to turn tribesmen into citizens. They engineered nationalism like it was a religion. They understood a fundamental truth: a modern, powerful civilization cannot coexist with powerful internal fractions (ẹ̀yà). However, Europe's methods were born from a history of violent, hyper-destructive warfare. The only way they knew to de-emphasize differences was through violent subjugation. We, as Africans, are not traditionally given to the practice of such widespread internal annihilation. But the goal, however, remains the same: We must unify to advance. But we can achieve this through dialogue and radical redefinition of our goal and purpose, rather than the sword. xitter.cf/CryptoMuse01/status/21…