By Franck Essi

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How can we break the sterile cycle of ideas without impact and actions without vision? In Cameroon, genuine social transformation requires our opinion leaders, political cadres, and civil society actors to reconcile strategic thinking with effective action. This reflection calls for a renewed ethic of lucid engagement, anchored in intellectual rigor and the power to act.

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Henri Bergson: A call to reconcile action and reflection

« Think like a man of action and act like a man of thought. » This quote from French philosopher Henri Bergson, taken from his message to the Descartes Congress (9th International Congress of Philosophy, 1937), resonates with particular relevance in our context. Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1927, Bergson profoundly shaped modern thought through his work on time, freedom, morality, and the vital impulse.

His maxim — which we can now reformulate as think like women and men of action, and act like women and men of thought — captures a fundamental requirement for anyone who aspires to change Cameroon: linking intellectual rigor with strategic effectiveness. Here, too many sound ideas die from lack of strategy, and too many courageous actions collapse for lack of vision.

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Thinking as actors of action: putting intelligence at the service of reality

Strategic thinking is not about producing ideas to shine. It is about thinking to equip, empower, and transform. It means designing strategies that account for power dynamics, political timelines, available resources, obstacles, and concrete opportunities.

Cameroonian activism abounds with sharp analyses of the system, yet they are rarely transformed into roadmaps, lasting alliances, or operational plans. This sterile thinking ultimately discourages even the most committed minds.

To break this cycle, we must:

• Prioritize objectives to channel collective energy.
• Translate concepts into concrete tactics to avoid stagnation.
• Root thinking in real conditions, to escape abstraction.

True strategic thinking is only valuable through what it makes possible tomorrow.

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Acting as actors of thought: giving meaning to every gesture

Conversely, acting without thinking is running without a compass. Too many civic or political initiatives unfold in urgency, seeking visibility more than transformation. This frenzy produces waves but no depth; emotions but little durable structure.

Acting as an actor of thought means:

• Linking every action to an overall vision, to avoid scattering.
• Measuring real effects rather than media noise, to avoid illusion.
• Cultivating continuous learning to capitalize on each step and avoid repeating the same mistakes.

It means rejecting spectacle activism to build lasting, structured, and credible political action.

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When thought and action drift apart, people stagnate.

When thought is orphaned from action, it becomes vanity. When action is cut off from thought, it becomes agitation. And when the two are separated for too long, people stagnate.

Recent Cameroonian history is filled with brilliant intellectuals neutralized for lack of strategy, heroic activists disoriented for lack of vision, aborted political alternatives, and exhausted citizen movements. The result: public demobilization, blocked reforms, and creeping resignation.

We can no longer afford this waste. Because while we hesitate, others — often hostile to justice and democracy — advance methodically.

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For a new generation of lucid builders

Changing Cameroon requires forging a new generation of lucid builders:

• Strategic minds are able to link analysis to the field.
• Demanding activists who invest as much in training as in exposure.
• Courageous organizations that invest as much in collective intelligence as in immediate action.

Reconciling thought and action is not a luxury: it is a political and civic urgency.
It is not enough to be right — you must be structured.
It is not enough to be sincere — you must be strategic.
It is not enough to be numerous — you must be organized.

Our society no longer needs intellectual chatter or activism without a compass.
It needs clear vision, rigorous strategy, and organized courage.

Think to act better. Act to think better.
This is the ethic of future builders.
This is the imperative of a real political transition that can lead to a genuine refoundation of the Cameroonian state.

— Franck Essi

#WhatIBelieve
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In the same perspective: In praise of nuance, lucidity and rigourhttps://franckessi.com/2025/05/26/the-quest-for-emancipation-and-transformation-in-africa-in-praise-of-nuance-lucidity-and-rigour/