As I noted elsewhere, the incredibly courageous Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who saw tribal politics destroy her native country of Somalia, worries that this type of "tribal" thinking, "my clan good/other clan evil" is emerging in the West and will lead to worse things, things she experienced firsthand.
She point outs that: "In tribal communities, neutral institutions of civil society that Westerners take for granted — such as the police, impartial courts, and the rule of law — simply do not, and cannot, exist. In such societies, everything is tribalised, and the task of building civic institutions is laden with difficulties."
And "Because of such protracted tribal tensions, Somalia collapsed into civil war. Every attempt at mediation proved incapable of handling the deep-seated mistrust and hatred that accumulated by each clan over the years; tribal elders, reluctant to compromise, could not de-escalate the situation. With such high levels of distrust, the conflict spiralled into bloodshed."
"While such violence is yet to seize America, all the tribalist ingredients are present.
There is a blind commitment to one party or the other; emotions are running high; there is a lack of trust in civic institutions. If such tribalism isn’t overcome, it’s only a matter of time before the situation escalates."
"Many Republicans continue to dispute the legitimacy of the result of the last presidential election; while on the Left, the woke are eroding the Democratic Party from the inside, as identity politics displace universalist aspirations. Some citizens are viewed as part of oppressive groups, some as part of oppressed groups. A person’s individual actions can generally do little to change the immutable characteristics of the tribe to which they belong."
Full piece here:
https://www.somtribune.com/2021/05/10/tribalism-comes-to-the-west/
