Salone National Anthem is Still Relevant Today
By Victor A. Massaquoi

I read with sharp curiosity as the lines unfolded, and with vibrant consternation, but controlled, the suggestion to rewrite the National Anthem of the Republic of Sierra Leone. In this short rhetorical analysis of the piece “Change the Sierra Leone National Anthem” published in the “Cocorioko” online newspaper, on 5/29/2008, it is evident that even with the clever argumentation of poignant and clear facts (although debatable), I will contend that if countries or nation-states, around the world, constantly change the lyrics and tunes of their treasured national anthems, that call to mind hope, self-importance for a country that was, maybe still is, reprehensibly battered by a rebel war and other vices of society; a country that is struggling (although not insurmountable) to nurture harmony and inculcate justice in a corrupt system that traces its roots of serious corruption to the early 1960s, then the question becomes, do the words ‘patriotism’, ‘honor’ ‘love’ ‘country’ ‘nation’ and ‘loyalty’ mean anything even in the midst of disunity, corruption, acrimony and hatred.

Yes! Those words do mean a lot, irrespective of the contemporary socio-cultural, economic, and political situations in the country. Countries have gone through acidic times in their history, but never (except few) have they changed their national anthems to satisfy a political ideology or personal gripe, because national anthems are loosely sacred texts/tunes that are time honored and meaning and interpretation applied as generations change over time. I sensed some political motives in the writer’s analysis, which is outside the scope of my reaction to this piece—I am not a politician!

Three things that caught my attention were:
1) “But while the music seldom becomes outdated, sometimes the lyrics become obsolete with the passage of time and our anthem is no exception. Of the three stanzas of our national hymn, the first in particular at no time in our history has its first three verses become so out of date, so obsolete and flawed considering the present climate of mistrust, deep-seated malice and hate among competing political parties polarized along provincial and ethnic lines. In fact "HIGH WE EXALT THEE" became outdated … following Sir Milton Margai’s death. It is no surprise that the vast majority of Sierra Leoneans sing our anthem without even meditating on the message the lyrics are meant to convey.”
Here is my reaction: I respectfully disagree! The tune and the lyrics are timeless, in my opinion, and communicate all the things the writer just vilified. Of the over 190 nation-states recognized by the United Nations, not one has a national anthem that is solidly written and solemnly sung like the Sierra Leone National Anthem. It invokes hope, loyalty, unity and pride, albeit, symbolically. But that has been and continues to be the very spirit of national anthems, that despite the divisions and animosity, symbolically, the anthem and pledge will always remind us of our past, present and future.

2) “The third verse of the first stanza” FIRMLY UNITED EVER WE STAND" makes ridicule of ourselves. I throw the challenge to all Sierra Leoneans to show one moment since 1964 when we ever stand united as one people. The North-South polarization and the injection of politics in this divide has made it a Herculean task to ever come together even when it for the good of the country. I cannot recall even one moment in our post colonial history when as a people, we ever stand united on any matter of national concern.”
Here is my reaction: The term unity is relative to context and application. We have been united in many ways since independence. Have we ever had tribal or ethnic fight like Burundi and Rwanda? No! Thanks to God. This suggests unity depending on one’s definition. Do you know the level of inter-tribal marriages (Mende marrying Themneh, Creole marrying Fullah) in the last 20 years? I was in Freetown few months ago, and I was impressed with the level of diversity, at least, at the social level.
3) “Nigeria, our sister West African country had to change her national anthem at independence in 1960 because the lyrics were written by an expatriate and did not reflect the reality about Nigeria. During the Nigeria-Biafra war of 1966 to 1970, there were two anthems…”
Here is my reaction: Is the writer suggesting that just because Nigeria changed in 1960, Sierra Leone should follow same. Nigeria is a country with an envious sense of pride. I was in Surulere, Lagos, in 1995, and almost all the Nigerians I talked with then held opposing view of the existing political and economic climate, but they would tell you, we are Nigerians first. Not once did any intellectual or ordinary Nigeria called for a change in the national anthem to meet changing realities. As a Sierra Leonean, the author has a right to write what he wrote, but as a Sierra Leonean, too, I felt the need to react because of the piece rhetorically failed to offer concrete suggestions that would move the country forward on important issues like: rural development, sound policy design and implementation, street children, political victimization and social anomaly.
To conclude, my central argument (strictly non-political, non-regional and non-tribal) has been that if we start changing traditional, customary and cultural songs, artifacts and other treasured objects that are sacrosanct, in a non-religious sense, to meet changing times, then our very existence as a nation-state would be worthless; should we follow the writer’s suggested path, there is a potential that the country would gradually morph into a soulless entity with virtually nothing prideful to show for its existence in the world and to posterity. Look at how proud it is to be an American, despite the gulf in social class, the economic ocean that divides the rich and the poor, and the acrimonious political partitions that are presenting themselves in this presidential election year. Does every American (given the political ideological divide—libertarian, liberal, conservative etc.) agree with the national anthem? No! But they are still Americans. Policies and programs can be created and implemented, like the “Attitudinal Change” project to address the writer’s concerns rather than changing our national anthem that is so relevant to every Sierra Leonean irrespective of time.

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Developing Viable Social Policy for the Rural Poor: A Communication Approach

By Victor A. Massaquoi, Communication, Media & Social Policy Analyst

Because of globalization and other crucial political, economic and social factors, the effectiveness and richness of policies of nation-states and organizations are now being used as yardsticks to measure development efforts. This piece addresses the perceived roles of the experts living overseas, and religious institutions in Sierra Leone in the construction and execution of sound social policy for rural communities. I’ll begin by connecting elements in a fourth grade (class four) literature, Almond Snow, to social development advances in Sierra Leone. The story entails practical lessons we could learn from, especially those of us who care about social development in Sierra Leone.

Almond Snow is a short, sweet and brutally innocent love story about a Moorish King from Portugal, who went to Sweden on a royal visit, in the late 1800s. On arrival, he fell in love and married the Princess of Sweden. They returned to Portugal, few days later. Unfortunately, as winter came, the Princess (now Queen) was sad because of lack of snow; she was born and bred in a snowy country-Sweden. The part of Portugal where the King lived was warm, hence not ideal for snow. The King called three of his witty council members and asked them to find answers to the problem: How to make his Queen happy again? The wise men suggested several possibilities, including shipping snow from Sweden. Interesting! Fortunately, one of the peasants with no political ambition, just a poor, voiceless and insignificant gardener, was working in the garden, underneath the back elevation of the King’s palace, when he overheard the conversation, and suggested that they planted Almond Trees. They did! They planted hundreds of Almond Trees on the hillside of the town, and sooner, the trees blossomed, and white petals fell on the ground. The ground was covered with white almond petals, which looked like snow, and made the Queen happy again. How lovely!

There are several fitting lessons learned from the above summarized story that could be applied to social development and sound policy design in Sierra Leone: (1) listening to and involving the voiceless in formulating policies and executing decisions is critical in modern governance and non-governmental work because these poor people and rural communities have virtually no individual political agenda, but to fend their daily bread and hope for the basics of life; (2) soliciting advice from Sierra Leoneans, like the King did, with expertise in specific area of policy planning and implementation is essential; (3) utilizing all potential options, if possible, before concluding and implementing policy is a desirable quality in contemporary management; (4) exercising patience instead of peevish irrationality can be a fortunate virtue in the arsenal of the intelligent and politically, economically and socially savvy policy crafters; and lastly, (5) using communication, as the King demonstrably did, thorough talking, consulting, interacting and exchanging of ideas, usually produces fruitful outcome(s).

Communication has always been, and will continue to be, a significant social development device in the armory of approaches available to policy makers. But until those at the nucleus of political and economic power (back then and now) arrest their egoistic tendencies that tend to move stealthily into policy formulation with the propensity to undercut rural and social development programs and strategies because of the unconcealed ideological and social divisions that permeate the socio-cultural, political and economic corridors of Sierra Leone, sound policy for social development and social change will be far-fetched.

As I attempt to engage the social development and policy design issues through critical review of the status quo, it is abundantly clear that communication for social development has the constitutive and instrumental capacity privileged in the multiple approaches communication has to effect social development in rural areas, including producing a reasonably specialized communication plan within the overarching goals of past or current administrations. This is where people with professional backgrounds, coupled with local ties to areas that badly need sound social policy for development can come in and make a difference by working with the people as a facilitating channel to develop and execute social development policies that are germane to their situations. For example, a friend of mine, with two master’s degrees in international development and project management has been in Freetown for several years now, after completing his studies in the United Kingdom, but was never called upon, despite his previous attempts to sell himself to the previous government and the present one to help in the design of social development policy. Recently, he helped two civil organizations in Freetown (a religious group) and Port Loko developed strategic plans for the next five years; one was gratis.

From a religious perspective, communicating social development maybe very useful in Sierra Leone given the level of reverence people have for religion today; but if Max Weber, a former sociologist and political theorist were here today, he would have viewed the relative inaction or under-utilization of religion to facilitate and foster social development in Sierra Leone as tragic. This goes to his work on comparative religion in the sociology of religion, in which Weber believed that even though we can not regulate the social function of religion, however, religion has an elevated function in the development of society. Subscribing to this view, and to do justice to history, religion has been among the most powerful agents for social change dating back to the beginning of Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Judaism, to name a few. Religious leaders have the capacity to use religious texts that are so revered to define humanity, create and nurture human relationships and sustain faith. Religious leaders can do this through education, information, communication and creating hope via counseling and sermons, as primary vehicles.
Using ecumenical relationships among religious faiths, in Sierra Leone, can move mountains. If recent history is anything to go by then the works of the Inter-Religious Council and other faith-based organizations on HIV/AIDS education have been phenomenal.
The rural communities, the less-educated and the poor (women in particular) need to be empowered and encouraged to participate in social policy design processes. Communication can facilitate relationships among communities, the powers in Freetown and at local level, and would encourage bi-directional information flow.

Is Society Influencing Media Conduct? My Brief Perspective

By Victor A. Massaquoi, Communication/Media/Social Policy Analyst

Here is the million dollar question: Is society influencing the activities of the media, if so, how? My take, despite the relative brevity of this piece, is an attempt to help young and upcoming media, communication and social change students to realize how malleable hitherto mutual the relationship is between the Sierra Leone society and the media.

Since the 1960s, communication, media and social policy scholars have employed critical lens to examine and understand society and its multiple components; one of society’s major constituents is (are) the media. The tendency of previous media and society research focus has been to investigate the role of the media in national development (politics, economics, culture, education, health etc.). But in recent years, the pendulum is swinging the other way. Scholars are now seriously looking into the political location of media houses, its effect on national development, how decisions are made to cover a story, and what are the relevant and extraneous factors in gatekeeping--a process a news organization utilizes to decide what story to carry on the air and in the newspaper, and the internet.

A recent review of the media ecology in Sierra Leone, I am inclined to conclude that, just like the United Kingdom, the United States and the Gambia, activities in society, including politics, economics and socio-cultural, coupled with other internal and external (international relations, globalization etc.) factors affect the judgment, coverage, writing, production and publication of news (hard and soft), commentaries, features, entertainment and the like. Remember, the central objective of the media is to entertain, inform, educate and persuade.
What we see today in Sierra Leone is that on the one hand, because of the economic pressures and other activities in the Sierra Leone society, some media houses are flagrantly violating the basic norms of professional and ethical media practices, including the ABC of good journalism—accuracy, balance and clarity. On the other hand, with less regard for professionalism, media organizations, as the forth estate, should be fairly acting as watchdogs on social, economic and political activities and report to society unfiltered, but the reverse is the truth.
While in Freetown, recently, I was bemused and utterly flabbergasted as I analyzed the content of some of the media publications. The framing, language, focus and slant are issues of further exploration by students of media, society and policy design. This brings to mind a commonly used theory in political communication and social policy design—framing—scholars, politicians, journalists, all of whom are part of a society frame political, social, and economic discourses to manipulate the attitudes and behavior of audiences. According to Skinner (1957), people and organizations of influence (the media) use framing all the time to influence human behavior.
But is this good or bad for society? Yes! Media practitioners are human beings; they have innate political instinct; they have freedom to talk and write, hopefully; they have relationships in society; they have a stake in society; they do not live in a vacuum, but the underlying concern is the level and overt participation in political framing that leaves people wondering. Are they seeking the interest of the politician or the masses, the rural poor? Media can play a role in society by not allowing society to dictate what stories to cover, and by not blinded by reality, but by applying the basic tenets that undergird the functions of the media in national development.
To conclude, undoubtedly, the sociology (the social, political and economic activities) of Sierra Leone affects media activities in a cogent way as reflected in the production and distribution of national development policies and activities, and news worthy stories to audiences across Sierra Leone, and by extension, the world. In his book, Tilted Mirror, Professor John Pollock examined political frames and how they repeatedly found their way in newspaper columns and the 6pm news. For example, in Sierra Leone, the buzz word is “Attitudinal Change” depending on how the promoters structure and frame it; people may or may not buy it, but the media has a critical role to in that, too.
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