Fixing

broken windows

Marvin Sissey

Marvin Sissey
Fixing Broken Windows ..
Restoring order to ensure harmony in the Kenyan society Copyright 2013 Originally published as an article in the Business Daily Newspaper on Friday 22nd March 2013.

www.marvinsissey.com Twitter : @marvinsissey Email : feedback@marvinsissey.com

The experiment
In 1969, Philip Zimbardo, a Stanford psychologist conducted an experiment. He had two similar cars branded X and Y . They were both in a relatively good condition. He went ahead to cause some defects on car X. He removed one of the headlights, interfered with two of the wheel caps, cracked the windscreen as well as smashed one of the back windows. Inside, he tampered with the car stereo as if he was trying to remove it but left it hanging. He however did not interfere with car Y. He then parked the two cars slightly far apart on a not so busy street. He placed hidden cameras to monitor the cars. Car X, with slightly shattered windows was attacked by "vandals" within minutes of its "abandonment". Zimbardo noted that the first "vandals" to arrive was a family a father, mother and a young son who removed the radiator and battery. Within twenty four hours of its abandonment, everything of value had been stripped from the vehicle. After that, the car's windows were smashed in, parts torn, upholstery ripped, and children were using the car as a playground. At the same time, vehicle Y sitting idle on the other side of the street sat untouched for more than a week. Then Zimbardo himself went up to the vehicle Y and deliberately smashed the windows with a sledgehammer. Soon after, people joined in for the destruction. Zimbardo observed that majority of the adult "vandals" in both cases were primarily well dressed, clean-cut and respectable adults.

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It was this experiment that 13 years later , guided two criminologists James Q. Wilson and George Kelling to write an article named Broken Windows which appeared in the March 1982 edition of The Atlantic Monthly. In it they argued that considering a house with broken windows that went unrepaired for some time, the tendency would be for vandals to break a few more windows. Eventually, they could even break into the building, and if it's unoccupied, perhaps become squatters or light fires inside. Or consider a sidewalk. Some litter accumulates. Soon, more litter accumulates. Eventually, people even start leaving bags of trash from take-out restaurants there.

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Tipping Point The argument, likewise aptly captured by Malcolm Gladwel in his bestseller Tipping Point, points out to the fact that crime is the inevitable result of disorder. If a window is broken and left unrepaired, people walking by conclude that no one cares and no one is in charge. Soon, more windows will be broken, and a sence of anarchy will spread from the buildings to the street on which it faces, sending a signal that anything goes. In a later book, George Kelling makes the argument that a successful strategy for preventing vandalism, is to fix the problems when they are small. Repair the broken windows within a short time, say, a day or a week, and the tendency is that vandals are much less likely to break more windows or do further damage. Clean up the sidewalk every day, and the tendency is for litter not to accumulate (or for the rate of littering to be much less). Problems do not escalate and thus respectable residents do not flee the neighbourhood

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In the Kenyan context, the memories of the 2008 post-election violence are still fresh. Inasmuch as history repeats itself, we should be happy that this time round, that piece of history dint dare repeat itself , yet. In 2008 ,for a moment of madness, the nation lost itself into a spate of violence that left thousands either dead or displaced. For a country that had seen relative space of peace for more than four decades, the descent to chaos was in many quarters a bit of a surprise. But it shouldnt have been. The writing has probably been on the wall all along.
As established from Judge Johan Krieglers report on the Kenyas post-election violence, although the Electoral Commission of Kenya was primarily responsible for the flaws of the 2007 general elections; Kenyan society had for long condoned and actively connived at perversion of the electoral process. The culture of electoral lawlessness had developed over many years and could not be easily reversed without a determined, non-partisan commitment on the part of the political leaders.

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Shedding a tear for a broken society In short, what we can infer from the Kriegler report is that Kenyan society had for long suffered its fair share of broken windows. And broken windows abound. When we instil a culture of parents obeying their children instead of the vice versa happening ; when we are quick to take credit of the victories but are slow to take responsibility of our failures ; when we fear doing our time and prefer seeking shortcuts to success ; when we board overloaded vehicles in brazen disregard of traffic regulations ; when we run to accident scenes to siphon oil from the overturn tankers instead of assisting the victims ; when we cut queues in banking halls because we think we are more important than those who are waiting patiently in line; when we insist on speaking our mother-tongue in a government office even when there are those who do not understand our native lingo within our midst ; when we do not know the name of our neighbour living next door in our gated estate but we have a Facebook friend a continent away with whom we chat daily ; when even within our family we favour our children who have our blood at the expense of our step children ; when we look at everything as we versus them ; those my friends are the broken windows that sink a society.
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We may be quick to blame our politicians for not delivering and inciting us to violence but lets not forget to look into the mirror and see the real culprit. We are busy becoming a society of broken windows. We celebrate disorder and are quick to rush to the streets and demonstrate in a show of utility of our civic freedoms. In fact, we have those who have made activism not a calling but a commercial activity; a career. Such miscreants; for that is how I will refer to them us ; blossom much when there is disorder and anarchy so that they can be hero worshiped as having shaped humanity while misappropriating donor funding. Of course this is not a blanket condemnation and there are those who are genuinely seeking order. Such are heroes and should be celebrated. But they are few and far in between. This is but a direct attack to those who promote disorder in the name of seeking order. These are those who throw stones at our societys glass windows and are surprised when we end up with chaos and destruction. In short, even with the general elections behind us; gather and reflect upon yourself just how much you are contributing to the peace of the nation. It starts with that broken window which we do not repair. That sweet wrapper you throw out of your car window. That disparaging remark or heckle we use to describe another Kenyan who is not from our tribe. Once we get down that slippery road; we never know where to stop. 2008 left us with enough broken windows. We were lucky to escape them this time round . But broken windows abound. Unless we repair them, perhaps none of shall survive to see the debris of full destruction . Kenya is you and me . Lets together join hands and work to make this countrys unity a reality . THE END

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