Observations on the cultural influences on the use of weapons

In 1965 the Cubans sent a small contingent of advisors into the Congo led by Che Guevara This initial foray in support of African liberation movements was not successful. An interesting aside worthy of another journal entry was the fact that Cuba had its own agenda separate from Moscow and was not the Soviet puppet as so many thought. The African expeditions by the Cubans were undertaken without Soviet Union foreknowledge or approval. In fact, many times over the thirty year period Cuba was involved in Africa, they and the Soviets often disagreed on both policy and actions.

Hopefully, it goes without saying, but I am not one of those in the bourgeois class that idealize Che Guevara. I have long concluded that even though I believe social justice is a paramount ideal and a very necessary practicality, implementing oppressive tyrannical states in the name of the people is not the way to achieve it.

The group of thirty Cubans sent to train the rebels in the Congo was dismayed at the hurdles encountered in teaching the rebels to fight. It was not an issue of bravery, but one in terms of motor skills and coordination. This was attributed to cultural differences in a documentary, Cuba: An African Odyssey on Cuban activism on the African continent. Identifying this phenomenon as a cultural issue really caught my attention and necessitated at least a little further thought.

The most interesting account from one of the Cuban trainers had to do with the use of the rifle. The Congolese rebels could not aim the gun, they couldn't not close one eye. It was a very difficult task for them to perform. Instead, they would hold the gun up and shoot it without aiming. Often rebels were more at risk from being shot by one of their comrades instead of the opposing forces. Many had to actually cover one eye when aiming because they could not close it on their own - having never perfected the motor skills to do so.

I had never before thought about the cultural aspect and its impact on motor skills. Clearly something obvious, but a shallow mind leads to shallow thoughts. Alas, my own curiosity seems to stop at knowing things and some basic assumed causality instead of plunging one or two layers of the onion deeper to look at a more significant level.

We grow up in much of the western world from a very early age exposed to the use of our weapons of choice, guns. We are given cowboy outfits and toy guns from an early age. We idealize military and the wild west. We learn to aim our toy guns, which become B-B guns, then .22 caliber rifles and .410 or .20 gauge shotguns.

At that time in Africa, I imagine culturally throwing spears and possibly shooting a bow were indoctrinated in the same implicit, yet pervasive approach as we have done in the west. By now, nearly 50 years after Cuba's failed attempts in the Congo, the use of a gun is probably now second nature throughout the African continent.

I wonder if this indoctrination possibly plays a larger role in an evolutionary sense where the society indoctrinates its members into mechanisms for group survival. The practice of war is much more of a norm than an exception.