Postcolonial Songs – Neoliberal Overtake
Overtake Don Overtake Overtake
by
Fela Anikulapo-Kuti
Fela na Kpoti. We know the Man well enough.
The songs of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, simply known as Fela now have both international appeal and relevance perhaps hitherto not recognised. The most relevant now is Overtake Don Overtake Overtake (ODOO), which is contemporary to most societies of the world. ODOO now describes the political economy of the United Kingdom and other global economies with prescience.
The song opens with the lyrics,
I get my money
Plan my plan finish
Start to go for market
Start to go for shopping
Before I reach market?
Government show don enter
My plan don spoil oh
Government show don enter
Government show is the economics of the United Nations courtesy World Bank and the International Monetary Fund imposed upon nations like Nigeria. Inflation,currency devaluation, harsh public spending cuts, mass public sector sackings, salary deductions, higher taxes, import duty hikes, removal of subsidies, endless power blackouts, fuel price increases, banning necessary goods. That is government show. Harsher economic conditions as Fela saw them in Nigeria are now global especially in Europe.
The central part of ODOO is as follows.
Government announce second tier
Everything come tear to pieces,
Everything come expensive,
Even water come expensive.
“Second tier” has many synonyms that have global currency and they include austerity measures, structural adjustment, fiscal policy discipline, public sector shrinkage, public spending cuts, deregulation, privatisation, commercialisation and monetisation. All these are buzz words dedicated to neoliberalism. Or government bad, corporations good.
When government announce second tier policies it simply means less money in the pockets of working people and loads more money in the coffers of the high and mighty in the land. Or better, rising cost of living crisis for the masses and the middle classes. ODOO is thus a subversive critique of neoliberalism even if not immediately apparent.
Everything is torn to pieces in an affordable society that becomes too expensive too soon. Careers tear up, relationships tear up, families and marriages tear up. And the laws, norms and stable preferences of the people get torn up. Rule breaking overtakes security. Desperation overtakes aspiration. Necessity overtakes morality. And meanness overtakes goodwill. When hard times undermines the social fabric, it tears at most seams.
The cost-of-living crisis hit Nigeria in 1984 with fiscal policy discipline initiatives of General Muhammadu Buhari at bearable levels. AUSTERITY! Still in 1988 when the General Ibrahim Babangida regime accepted neoliberal policies then sold as Structural Adjustment Programs, the cost-of-living became ridiculous in its price hikes.
Austerity testing first began in developing nations prohibited by the World Bank / IMF from declaring deficits in their economies. Thus, developing nations had no choice but to always declare surpluses under the strict dictates of the United Nations. Or according to Fela “Disunited Nations where East-West Bloc Blocks West-East.” Depositors in distressed banks lost their deposits because the banks collapsed. Government intervention was forbidden under the logic the market will correct itself.
During the economic crisis of 2008 a nation that forbade government intervention market failures overseas felt justified to bail out their own banks. Their banks were Too Big To Fail. Irony of the Millenium! Quantitative easing emerged as a fashionable thing to do. The Invisible Hand proved a false intellectual abstraction. The market had failed to correct itself.
Before we examine the song further, we must clarify the word in the song, Soldier. Who are soldiers? Soldiers are paid members of standing armies and militaries. The military in Africa today is both a colonial and neo-colonial institution.
Who trains the soldiers? Who equips the soldiers? Who advises the soldiers? Who limits powers of the military? Who are soldiers accountable to? Fela wanted us to know it was not Nigerian or African interests. So, who?
Fela will tell you that the same people behind multinational and transnational corporations, the same people behind Westminster, the same people behind the City, the people behind the great political duopolies of the Free World. These are the same people behind the Nigerian soldier. In this sense there is no difference between soldiers and politicians or corporate leaders and senior civil servants if they all have one unilateral master.
“Soldier go, soldier come,” refers to military coups and counter coups. Fela is not too optimistic of the current trend of democracy; they are coups by pretext. When he says “Soldier put soldier go,” he means those who control the military juntas must put in their candidates in office as civilian democrats before men in military uniforms could leave office. Same ol, same ol!
Again, the same unilateral master determines who rules Africa and on what terms. Obedient soldiers or civilians can remain in power for as long as they choose if they are willing to subject themselves to their masters will like gophers. No wonder Fela perennially described them as unintelligent and evil.
Still Fela was a believer in home grown African democracies that would be independent of colonial and neocolonial capture. True self-determination. There are few beliefs an African can hold that are any wiser. Africa for Africa is a core part of Fela’s ideology. Guynes!
Another important part of the song is and repeats,
If them want to knock your head na from back, na from back o…
If anybody wan to try to run forward
Soldier boots go kick am back (na from back)
Eh-eh, na from back o
The Man, Fela, knew civilians did not need military boots to ever kick its people into perpetual backwardness. Civilians use Gucci shoes to do that with more effective but more sneaky mandates.
Soldiers do not govern the United Kingdom. Yet, if British politicians want to put knocks on the heads of their voters, make life hard for them, or impoverish them, they do so from behind, in a way a that prevents you from seeing it coming. .You are supposed to pay your way through life through your income.
No, you do it through borrowing from your overdraft, credit card, or loan sharks. Second tier. Your taxes and national insurance are supposed to pay for your NHS bills. No, second tier. You should not fear penalties for offences not coded into criminal law. No, the proliferation of non-criminal penalties generates millions for local governments and corporations. Second tier.
Former Prime Minister Liz Truss with reckless abandon rushed her mini-budget through that seriously harmed the UK economy. It was from back. The Public Order Bill to suppress protest came into law passed through parliament from back. Laws to further strip labour unions of their ability to strike comes from back. The decision of government to ever cut public spending arrives from back. Thus, the household debt burden of the United Kingdom climbs higher than the Union Jack.
In the song Fela gives a graphic description of personal suffering and frustration under neoliberalism.
My friend wan come buy fan
Him dey sweat for him dey sleep for room
Him dey for level 0 three
The fan na seventy-five naira
My friend him dey follow salary
Him dey try to save and save and save
Every time he nearly buy the fan
Government go add ten naira more
Every time he nearly buy the fan
Government go start one activity
Till the fan reach two hundred naira
My friend nearly die, he never die
My friend he no wan die
Die-die no dey for him dictionary
For where? Huh…
Him dey try to save and save again
Him save for one year and six months
Inside cupboard
Under pillow
Under, under cooking pot
Inside socks
Under carpet
Him dey on his way to buy the fan
When alarm come blow
Alarm is slang for a hopeless personal or family economic situation. Fela does a vocal mimic of a police siren to signify “Alarm.” He introduces this flourish to signify that people here the alarm of economic hardship in the privacy of their minds not outside in public. We must remember Alarm visits people like the Angel of Death, Alarm claims many lives, many sanities, many well-beings, many joys, many shelters, many sources of sustenance.
I wonder how many readers have heard Alarm blowing in their heads.
As a Kpoti concerned, Fela saw it all early. If he were alive today, he would say “I sing am so many decades ago.” Who can disagree with him?
Be Good, not Lucky
Grimot Nane