#EndSars Protest and the Psychology Behind State Violence -By Aina Ademola

Before we set in to explain the psychology behind the application of violence by the state during the End Sars struggle, there are some basic things that we need to know and understand explicitly. The Nigerian masses (urban proletarians & Peasantry) have been sleeping for a very long time, the most revolutionary elements in every political setting have just started attaining political consciousness and this is something commendable because these are the necessary ingredients for a radical political explosion leading to sustainable growth and development; in fact, leading to a complete, radical constructive change. We need to, first of all, understand that we can say that Nigerian operates a one-party system, this is because the two ruling parties do not represent the interest of the masses, they just represent the interest of their class. In every nonsocialist society, there are two main categories, the ruling class or classes, and the subject class or classes. The ruling class possesses the major instruments of economic production and distribution and the means of establishing political dominance, while the subject class serves the interest of the ruling class, and is politically, economically, and socially dominated by it.

Political ideology is a representation of class and class consciousness. for example, we can say capitalism is a representation of the elites and socialism and Marxism is a representation of the oppressed and exploited class. There is a clash between these two classes and that’s what is called class antagonism Evidently, we can see that the #EndSars protest is not a tribal clash, not an ethnic or religious clash it’s in fact a class clash between the political elites who have been doing the oppressing and the oppressed or exploited class. We need to understand that logically when capital continues to dominate labor for a long time, labor will organize and rise until it crushes capital. This is what is happening in Nigerian society today, the masses of the people have been pushed to the wall, they have been dissatisfied, they have been disillusioned and they are ready to bring their rights, Liberty, and freedom into existence by any means necessary, a 5 percent of the entire populace shall not continue to dominate the 95 percent; the moment organization of the masses of the people sets in, there shall be a revolutionary storm that’ll wipe out the oppressive ruling class. “The accumulation of wealth at one pole is at the same time accumulation of misery, the agony of toil, slavery, ignorance, brutality, mental degradation at the opposite pole” Karl Marx.

We must understand that police brutality can not be expelled without the pulverization of capitalism, the police are peasants and working-class in uniforms who have been used by the oppressing class against the actual class they belong to. They have been alienated from their class and they have become watchdogs of the capitalists who use them to suppress the perturbation of the masses of the people for a better country that’s actually going to benefit the police themselves. Imagine fighting someone’s who’s fighting for you. This to show the extent of the indoctrination and class manipulation by the malevolent ruling class. The only language the oppressor understands is the violence they keep being at the top of the social ladder because of the application of violence against the masses of the people. The most paranoid and circumspect class in every nonsocialist state is the ruling class, as Dr Kwame Nkrumah told us in his book Class Struggle In Africa “The ruling class are cohesive, they are conscious of themselves as a class, they have an objective interest and they are aware of their position and the threat posed to their continued dominance by a rising class of peasants and working-class revolt” these people understand the vicious cycle, they are fully aware that they are surviving because of the sweat and labor of the peasants and working class, so, whenever they see a unity between the working class (urban proletarians) and the peasantry, they become unprecedentedly paranoid and they apply violence to gag and keep the oppressed in check. This is a psychology that’s inherent in every capitalist, very violent, cohesive, and illogical. That’s why the Nigerian government was quick to apply violence against innocent and peaceful protesters who were marching unarmed with placards and the national flag. The question is, why should you be paranoid if you’re doing well? The Nigerian government has to do a lot of self-assessment.

As Frederick Engels told us ‘Wherever there’s a revolutionary convulsion, there must be some social wants in the background’ the Nigerian government has failed its people, the Nigerian government has dissatisfied its people. The current Nigerian rebellion emanated from the ineptitude of the Nigerian government. For the struggle to be successful, The youths who are in the vanguard of this resistance must make sure that they inject the peasants into the struggle, because the unity of the peasants and working class is the only way that an end can be put to oppression. From what I could see, most of the people who partook in the protest were majorly working class, the peasants who are still un-organized and un-revolutionary must be made to wake up and be organized and be ultimately directed towards the cause of the liberation struggle and ultimately the women must be infused in the struggle as well. The degree of a country’s revolutionary awareness may be measured by the political maturity of the women. Independence must not be considered as an end but the very first stage of the people’s revolutionary struggle. The machinations of the oppressor will continually fail if we maintain a clear spirit of vigilance and a continuous spirit of resistance. This is a good and historically vindicated fight. As Malcolm X said “power in defense of freedom is greater than power on behalf of tyranny because power, the real power comes from conviction, that produces action; an uncompromising action, it also produces insurrection against oppression”

This article is dedicated to the African working class and peasants all over the world.

Aina Ademola

Twitter : OgbeniDemola

Email: nirandemola@gmail.com