Mental formating: the psychological damage caused to populations by dictatorships is dangerous for the future of humanity.
The thought of facts by Hubert Marlin Elingui Jr.
16
Editorial
Mental formating: the psychological damage caused to populations by dictatorships is dangerous for the future of humanity.
The thought of facts by Hubert Marlin Elingui Jr.
Flashmag! Issue 163 August 2025
As Hannah Arendt said:“ The essence of mass manipulation is not to convince, but to neutralize the critical mind.” African dictatorships are often analyzed by focusing on the longevity of their leaders and their hold on institutions. African dictatorships are not simply systems of repression. They are also- and perhaps above all- machines of mental transformation, regimes that work over the long term to reshape the perception of reality within the peoples they govern.
What’ s at stake is no longer simply the seizure of power, but the capture of collective imaginations.
The greatest success of colonization has been the colonized colonizer, who has taken over the work of destruction of the African masses, who, without realizing it, are subjected to an ideal that is beyond their comprehension. Behind the bulimia of the black bourgeoisie in the tropics lies a system of international predation that degrades Africa and Africans- in short, the Third World, since many parts of Latin America and the Orient are not exempt from this system.
16