An African perspective

Theme presentation 4.   Aaron Tolen

Africa and injustice
Resistance and hope
African analysis
New directions

It is a privilege for me, as well as a great pleasure, to share with you a few thoughts from an African point of view on the theme of our 23rd general council: "Break the Chains of Injustice". If there is a continent that naturally understands what is meant by this prophetic injunction, it is mine, namely Africa. For a long time now, many experts and observers have classified it as a desperate case, to the point that it is excluded from the rest of the world. They have depicted it as a continent without a future, without hope, condemned.

I shall not linger on any theological or biblical exposition of the theme. Other more competent people have done this or will do it. Moreover, the very preparation of the general council has enabled excellent contributions which are at your disposal to assist in a good understanding of our theme. ¹ The Bible studies have been prepared with different contexts, cultures and concrete experiences. ²

Considering the place which certain people have given Africa, but considering especially the desire of Africans to define by and for themselves the place which is to be theirs in the world, may I be permitted to remind you of the following:

1. Africa is a continent that has suffered much injustice,
2. but it is a continent where resistance and hope have been the very foundations of its peoples' survival.
3. Africa needs time and space to examine itself, to recognize its own complicity, and to proclaim every injustice with a loud voice so that it may be exorcised;
4. to engage itself in another direction; and to redefine for itself the place where it belongs.

Africa and injustice

The history of Africa is one of human tragedy, made up of disasters, natural (drought, floods) and artificial (wars, invasions, slavery, colonisation), which have caused famine, the destruction of communities, refugees, and death. South Sudan with its war, the longest one in Africa, the forgotten war, the region of the Great Lakes, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Congo-Brazzaville, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic. The people's misery as a result of poor management and the poor usage of resources which have resulted in an unbearable debt. The sufferings brought about by all these conflicts are devastating whether open or beneath the surface. We have had our holocaust, perhaps the first one, with results that cannot be compared with slavery. Apartheid took place on our continent. We have been the home to many dictatorial and bloody regimes.

For the world, Africa has been and remains a source for raw materials and nothing else. Look at the list of the world's poorest peoples and note which continent the majority of them are in. And yet one is told that Sierra Leone overflows with resources, that the Central African Republic is full of diamonds, that the Democratic Republic of Congo, or Guinea are geological "accidents", so rich are their subsoils with various minerals. Fraud and corruption, which are not unique to Africa, affect us more than elsewhere since our means are more limited and less well-organized. They feed on and aggravate the peoples' poverty which, in turn, is the consequence of the leaders' greed and corruption.

Even salvation, announced in Jesus Christ, has been used to alienate and exclude African men and women. Is it really necessary to alienate oneself into the culture of others in order to be saved in Christ? Must one really abandon a vision of the world, a way of life, a way of being an African person, and replace these with the ways of foreigners, be they Europeans, Americans, or from elsewhere in order to be saved in Christ? Cultural prostitution through religious and ideological invasions make up one of the most harmful injustices ever inflicted upon Africa. Certain polemicists have spoken of missionaries as the "submarines" of foreign domination. Can that be completely avoided? Are our relationship mechanisms in mission fundamentally different from those used elsewhere?

All of this is so well known and has been said so often that it is almost indecent to speak about it for so long. But these things must be mentioned in order not to be forgotten. However, we must move on quickly in order to remember what really counts, namely the history of our resistance in order to survive, and our hope of life abundant.

Resistance and hope

Today, even more so than yesterday, many Africans are concerned with the creation of a different and better future for Africa. They seek inspiration in the histories of resistance and courage of our peoples in the face of slavery, colonial occupation, cultural prostitution, and oppression wherever it may come from. With justified pride, they admire the history of dignity, courage and sacrifice of the founders of Africa's independent states; those architects of panafricanism, those freedom fighters who preferred to lose their lives rather than see Africa and its people die in humiliation. That is Africa. Lives of pain, dignity, and hope.

As Bob Goudzwaard so sadly said in his contribution entitled "Globalization, exclusion, enslavement" ³: "The fight we must fight is, therefore, ultimately a spiritual fight; against the elements of idolatry and narrowness of vision within ourselves and within the hearts and minds of others; others whom we should also view as actors in history."

Whether it be in the holds of ships sailing to America or the Caribbean, whether it be in the cotton fields or under the lash of the whip, in the face of death as well as in deepest need, our help has always been hope manifested in song and dance. We have never allowed others to break our faith in an abundant and better life. We have often broken the pride and arrogance of torturers and warders who have been in charge of convicts. The image of a catastrophe-ridden Africa, consisting of desolations, poverty, and epidemic needs to be destroyed. It must be affirmed that in spite of everything, we Africans are confronting this, just as we have always confronted unfortunate situations with the hope that is within us, and we shall conquer, one day we shall break the chains of injustice, conspiratorial lies and the falsification of facts.

"Africa is not only a continent of civil wars and humanitarian crises such as the media describe it; but a continent on the brink of a new era of democracy and prosperity. Africa is rich with resources and potential; a majority of its 48 countries have, during the past seven years, adopted market-oriented political and economic reforms.

• More than 30 sub-Saharan African nations have registered a positive growth rate in 1996.
• countries in Africa are reaching growth rates that are comparable to those of east Asia: as high as 12% per year.
• African commerce has doubled between 1990 and 1995, and it can be expected to increase by more than 6% per year until 2001.
• Exports from the US to Africa have increased last year by 20% and were more than 25% higher than our exports to the whole of the former Soviet Union.
• Direct foreign investment in sub-Saharan African countries reached $4.5 billion in 1996; that is three times the average level for 1990 to 1993." ⁴

Now, this is not a public relations exercise for Africa, or an attempt to combat the prevailing Afro-pessimism. Neither is it the point of view of an ill-informed person, or of one who is simply an enthusiast. It is the president of the United States speaking on June 17 1997. For a long time now we have been saying that one should speak differently concerning Africa. ⁵This is the very Africa which wants to break the chains of injustice, with God's help.

African analysis

To accomplish this task, Africa needs time and space for self-examination, to acknowledge its complicity and to denounce injustice by name so that it may be exorcised. We spend all our time following other people's instructions, instructions which are issued to further the interests of their own projects. Today it is a question of population, tomorrow it is the environment, the day after that it is women and then children - and so on. The United Nations experts and the Bretton Woods institutions themselves call them "flavours of the month". How can sustainable and self-maintained development be organized under such conditions? We know that most of the chains which tie Africa down and prevent it from blossoming are the same ones which hold other societies in bondage. We no longer wish to do that. Neither do we want to continue explaining away everything that comes our way by pointing our finger at others. We are jointly responsible for the ills that have befallen Africa. It is with the complicity of many among us that the resources of Africa are not being used primarily to solve problems in Africa. It is with their complicity that we are presently being crushed by debt. They seek to maintain dictatorial powers in order to protect their ill-gotten gains. They prefer the illusory security of arms to that given by the trust and support of the popular masses.

Our chains are also those of our traditions and customs. Some are still oppressive and contemptuous towards women. Women are increasingly victimised because of the urban explosion in our societies. Even in their homes women are left in a situation of insecurity because of domestic violence, which is considered normal. Women have the right to have their dignity, their intrinsic values recognised, to have equal employment opportunities, as well as equal opportunities in any other human activity. We must break the silence concerning women's oppression, and conscientize those who often, too often, cooperate with those who oppress them. Women's liberation and affirmation are integral parts of the liberating message of the gospel of Jesus Christ, our liberator. And yet, one has to have the courage to recognise that despite the "Ecumenical decade of the churches in solidarity with women" which ends next year, the churches have taken only very few positive steps in this area

Churches must find ways on the one hand to avoid being coopted by governments, and on the other, to avoid isolating themselves completely from the administration of state affairs. It is an illusion to believe that the churches can keep their hands clean while they live among peoples who are fighting against injustice. Theologians that tend towards leading Christians away from present-day existential struggles in the hope of a better life in the hereafter are an additional chain which needs to be broken. The African churches must examine their role in promoting leadership that provides adequate services to the public, good management, prudent usage of natural and human resources, integrity, compassion and justice. It is by becoming the salt of society, closely linked to it but maintaining its own nature and its own role that the church will contribute to breaking the chains of individual or group self-interests. To break the chains of injustice in Africa, the church must take on the role of a guardian, protecting the interests of the weak, the vulnerable and the poor in society. The church must stand firm and raise its voice against the power of the state and the wealthy who forget that their first duty should be to serve the interests of the people. Our people live with the reality of violence, militarism, impunity, lack of openness and the violation of human rights. In certain cases, when confronted with such a situation, the church has played a prophetic role. In other cases, unfortunately more numerous, it has kept silent, divided or greatly compromised by giving its support to an oppressive regime under the pretext of ethnic, denominational or economic solidarities, as was the case for supporting the apartheid regime. In order to be credible, the church must itself be an example of transparency, responsibility and integrity. How many of our churches can claim to fit this definition.

Rather than maintaining questionable relationships the church, our church, must take the initial step and seek to break the chains keeping it to the state. They must ask for a lay state. Thus the Christian church, as well as all other religious powers, will be able to devote its energy to the building up of civic education and reconciliation without being suspected of having a biased attitude.

The chains of injustice at the economic level are to be found in the contradictions, in the idolatry of economic models, and in corruption. The contradictions: Africa is a wealthy continent and yet its populations are among the poorest in the world. Africa is a wealthy continent and yet is suffocating under the burden of a stifling debt. Africa has the capability of feeding itself as well as many others, but still it suffers from recurrent famines.

To break the chains of injustice, one has to have the courage to ask at the end of this incomplete list: "Why?" Looking for the answers will naturally lead to the reasons. The idolatry of economic models: one would have us believe, especially after the implosion of communism in Europe, that the capitalist model of the market is inevitable and is the only one that can give us wealth. But for whom? In Africa, we have experienced both. In practice, we have discovered that they have the same tendency to first of all serve a minority, unless mechanisms were set up to protect the weak, those who are vulnerable. And yet these are the very mechanisms that today are considered a waste. How can we ensure that more and more of our people will not increasingly be excluded? We in Africa would already be forgotten if our soil did not have the riches which the market still needs. That same market doubtless still needs to maintain the unbearable weight of the debt to continue to enrich others with Africa's natural resources.

In order to move on from Africa's potential, which everyone speaks about, to reality, the question of management and its constraints arises. It is these constraints which many of our citizens wish to avoid through corruption. This is not something that is specifically African. It is to be found everywhere, as is clear from the numerous trials which take place in the industrialized countries. Corruption feeds poverty which is itself often the result of corruption. Are we ready to say, and is it possible to declare, that the corruption found amongst those who hold official positions is a sin, and consequently an immoral act? Is it possible when we know that some of our churches revel in it themselves?

New directions

For us in Africa, this world as it is organized, governed and managed, is not for us. If communism has failed in eastern and central Europe, in Africa it is communism and capitalism that have failed. The Ivory Coast, Senegal, Nigeria, Cameroon, the Gabon, Zaïre [now the Democratic Republic of Congo] and Kenya, presented as "show cases" of the liberal and capitalist success stories, are today on their knees. Algeria, Guinea, the Congo, Ethiopia, Angola and Tanzania which advocated the socialist approach are also on their knees. Africa is the only continent which clearly shows that to solve the problems of the popular masses neither western nor communist ideology are adequate. For us they have yet to prove themselves.

On the whole, Africa has problems and difficulties which have both internal and external causes. These problems can be overcome. No continents or nations are condemned. Africa has overcome the slave trade, many epidemics, colonialism, one-party states, apartheid. It is capable of overcoming, it will overcome the present crisis.

What must be done? Everything possible must be done in order to transform the existing potential into economic reality. In order to be respected, and maybe to become a partner of the "world", we must become aware of our rights and our duties and be ready to defend them when they are attacked internally or externally. We must help our people to organize themselves to have a better form of government, to decide upon policies that should be put into practice, and to control their implementation. We must avoid excluding people from the places where decisions are made. Arising out of the needs of our people, policies must then be defined to try and meet these expectations. Our wealth must be exploited for the benefit of our people and not to satisfy a market economy whose so-called "invisible hand" drains, without fail, all that we have for the wellbeing of others overseas.

Is it naive to believe that the Christian community can, in an alliance grounded in the gospel with the intention of breaking the chains of injustice, commit itself to ensuring that all kinds of inappropriate interventions cannot break this determination to take responsibility for ourselves?

The capitalist world has recognized that certain money can be so dirty that it cannot be allowed to circulate without explanation (drugs, crime, mafia). What about the money taken from poor people and countries which are suffering in misery: why is it always considered proper and respectable? Is it because it benefits the treasuries of the developed countries?

For us in Africa to accept the predominant economic models as the only possible ones, is to accept exclusion from the places in which the future of the world is decided upon. At best it would be equal to committing social suicide. We believe that we have been created to live happily in spite of the difficulties and adversities we have to face. We believe that this is the will of the Creator which goes beyond every logic of systems controlled by "invisible hands". We have some positive indicators confirming us in this conviction. The fall of apartheid, the fall of Mobutu in Zaïre [the Democratic Republic of Congo], the doubts which the people in the north have as to the wisdom of the choices they are making.

What could be the role of the church? Bastiaan Wielenga tries to answer: "What we need is a reorientation of desires and hopes, a new frame of reference for human needs created through an alternative vision of hope and new social practices." ⁶

To devote one's life to breaking the chains of injustice is to give meaning to one's life. This is what upholds thousands of young people in Africa in their search for a full and abundant life. Can we make this the standard with which we measure the validity of what we are doing, of what we ought to be doing?

Notes