By TEE NGUGI

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At a recent campaign rally in Kenya, an MP who had once theorised that cognition is connected to the foreskin was back at it. He was now suggesting that communities that do not traditionally practise male circumcision should not be eligible for leadership. The problem with ethnic fascism, just like any other fascism, is that it is based on falsehoods, myths and illogical assumptions.

Let’s look at a few facts about male circumcision. Only about 40 percent of the world’s males are circumcised. In Europe, only a small percentage of males go through the procedure. In Japan, Russia, China and Latin America, only a small percentage of males get circumcised. Even in Africa itself, there are many population groups that do not practise male circumcision. Therefore, male circumcision, rather than being the norm, is only practised by a minority of the world’s population.

There is a persistent myth that communities that practise male circumcision began to do so at the beginning of time. This is an historical assumption. When vagaries of history bring social or other change, societies adopt a new worldview in order to cope with the new reality. Some societies abandon certain practices, others invent new customs while others borrow practices from communities they have come into contact with.

For example, some communities that practise male circumcision today in Kenya borrowed the custom from the Maasai. There is no society in this world that has never had to adapt or reinvent itself in the face of new realities. Even language, which we think of as a key identity marker, has been evolving from century to century. It might surprise many people that were they to travel back in time and meet their ancestors from three centuries ago, they would not be able to communicate with each other.

The removal of the foreskin among some African communities is a rite of passage signifying a new stage in life. Almost all communities have their own rites that signify movement from one stage of life to another. The rites can be physical — like circumcision — or performative, or both. All these rites — apart from those that are harmful or demeaning — are equal. What is important is whether those who go through these rites and rituals emerge as selfless, courageous men and women of integrity. Therefore, a murderer, a rapist, thief or liar does not become less of a criminal because he was circumcised.

These rites of passage are cultural and symbolic, and have absolutely nothing to do with someone’s moral or intellectual worth. That is why we can — without any qualms — beg the uncircumcised Chinese and Japanese for aid. Similarly, that is why we drown in the Mediterranean Sea trying to escape the dictatorship of circumcised men.

Lastly, it is fascist nonsense that, in a nation of 45 communities with different customs, we can prescribe one custom for everyone, and deny rights of citizenship to communities that do not comply.

Tee Ngugi is a Nairobi-based political commentator