Monkey Leadership

·       I read in chapters of a book by the famous writer "Anis Mansour" titled ..."Bread and Kisses". The topics almost assert that human beings, in the rules of their political rule...are almost like monkeys in the way their public is governed by them..! And I noticed from the substance of his chapters...the first...and quoting scientists’ studies and observations as well, that there is a correspondence in cunning...and in the art of controlling each one's public. So inside the "monkey enclosure" as the author called the monkey cages in the zoo... where there are hundreds of monkeys..."a great crush around the tribe’s leadership"....where there is pushing with hands and tails...over who will be the leader....and who will be in the retinue...and in the fighting on the stairs, and for the summit, the small ones get lost...and you find that males who have ambition...step on their hearts and their young....for the sake of one rank on the rising ladder..or for a better position...or one step closer to the leader..! ..The writer explained that there are golden rules for forming leadership among the monkeys..they follow them without knowing it..and he added saying.. "that the selection of monkeys...does not mean that man’s origin is a monkey.".....but it means that the ancestors of our ancestors used to live in the vast forests, and that civilization moved them to "cities that are elegant cages"..and everything that happened and is happening to them resembles what happens to the monkeys in their cages..and the monkeys’ behavior must be clearer if we want to understand man as well...! He showed that some scientists see that there is no need to search for the origin of man....but rather to resort to other animals to understand him...for inside man...everything around him from other animals...he is a fox when necessary!..he is a wolf..he is a snake..he is a dove of peace..etc...but the monkey in particular remains the closest of animals to us, and to understand man..we must turn to the monkey..it is "our teacher." ....and what the monkey does....and without reason..is what we hide with utmost reason..! Therefore, if we want to see our hidden images, we must go to the zoo..and watch ourselves..in the zoo..where the monkeys are in their gatherings and their cages...!

·       And the writer says in one of the chapters...that the leader, the "monkey leader," must threaten his aides from time to time, so that they remain cautious, or in a state of fear..for one glance is enough..like raising the hand....or moving the tail!..Thus the retinue feels that it is his retinue..and that it is not the leadership itself, for the monkey leader does that frequently...and by instinct and it is a wise stance..for monkeys like people do not fear except by the eye..provided that the leader is able to intimidate..without showing any affectation..!.Instinct is what taught the "monkey leader" to begin eliminating differences among his aides, and strangely the "monkey leader" contrives a trivial battle...between his aides and here only, the members of the retinue enter into subsidiary fights..and one of them may kill another, and the leader continues to watch.....If the fight drags on, he resolves it immediately by eliminating the strongest males in his retinue, especially if he is young....for the monkey leader is keen to affirm to the youth that he is the strong one, and he is keen to instill fear in them at an early age..and at the same time keen on the tribe’s survival..for it has no survival without young monkeys. Most importantly, the leader wants to define their activity, and to strip them of any desire to wage battles far from him...or close to him...or against him..!

·       As the writer showed, and according to scientists’ studies and observations.....the "monkey leader" rewards his aides and retinue from time to time....that is, he affirms to them that being near him is beneficial..!..and that they deserve the privilege over other monkeys, and the stance requires skill and vigilance, for if he gives them too much, they grow used to it..and feel that they take what they deserve, and that he is not favoring them with it....and if he withholds, they feel bitterness..and distress..Therefore the stance requires skill from the monkey leader..."He must give by calculation and withhold by calculation"..and there must be a distance between him and the nearest males to him..and therefore the leader is usually friendless....and he prefers to have no friends rather than have friends who lie in wait for him..!..The tribe’s leader is the one who decides what he sees appropriate for his tribe members...if he stands they stand...and if he eats they eat...and if he sleeps they sleep...! ...Just as people bow to rulers..this bowing means....that people are keen to appear shorter..and for him to remain taller...!

·       Often the "monkey leader"...befriends one of the males from his aides for some time, then leaves him and turns to another male..This move is politically and diplomatically skillful..it arouses jealousy among the males and brings them closer to him and distances them from him and makes the desire to please him...their dearest aspiration.

·      It is the management of the ruler’s inner circles among monkeys...and among humans..we see it and read and hear its stories.....for the monkey leader....as we have seen, resembles in his concepts and methods...some of the concepts and rules of a human ruler and his relationship with his retinue...for he gives by calculation....and withholds by calculation …. so that he remains leader forever...!