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The
Path to Justice and Peace in Africa
By
Kamran
Mofid, TFF
Associate*
May 21, 2005
From April 21st to 24th Kericho
will host an international conference "Globalisation for
the Common Good and the Quest for Justice and Peace in
Africa", under the Patronage of the Honourable Dr. A. A.
Moody Awori, EBS, MP, The Vice President and Minister for
Home Affairs.
Many speakers representing,
governments, religions, business, academia, civil
society, charity, voluntary sector, media and young
peoplecame together to address, debate and discuss the
issues of globalisation, justice and peace leading to the
creation of a more humane world. We admire and salute
Africa's achievements in ending colonialisation,
dismantling apartheid, and initiating development,
democratisation and social reform. We are also conscious
of the enormous contribution Africa has to make to the
rest of the world, but we are aware that many people live
in poverty and are unable to achieve their full
potential. For this situation to be changed
'Globalisation for the Common Good' is essential.
From poverty to hunger, from
disease to civil strife, Sub-Saharan Africa has a host of
crises. In what has been described as the greatest
tragedy of our time, a scar on the conscience of the
world, Africa is trying to heal its broken self. The
world too, as it seems, is trying to help. However, given
the consequences of our past policies and interventions,
are we going to help or hinder Africa's healing
process?
As it has been noted, in the 1960s
the problem (in Africa) was said to be lack of capital:
provide more investment for infrastructure, and Africa
would grow. In the 1970s it was exports: sell more
products overseas for hard currency, and Africa would
grow. In the 1980s "structural adjustment" was the
prescription: cut taxes, lower barriers, and Africa would
grow. By the 1990s, privatisation and good governance
were the buzzwords. Discredited models of development
litter the landscape of Africa, its governments being
forced to manoeuvre around the shipwrecks of failed
policies. Sub-Saharan Africa is the only big region of
the world where living standards and life expectancy have
deteriorated: by 2000 there were 75 million more Africans
in poverty than a decade before.
It seems that, all manners of
policies and theories have been tested on Africa. All
failing and all bringing Africans a bitter harvest. This
is so, because what has been tried has not been in
harmony with Africa's civilisation, spirituality and
culture. Without a deep understanding of these, we cannot
begin to find development strategies that are going to
work in Africa or any where else in the world. "One size
fits all" economic strategy of development has been
nothing but a global tragedy. It would be an affront to
our humanity and decency to ignore this.
However, sadly, it seems we are
once again repeating the past mistakes in Africa and
elsewhere. Looking at what is being recommended, we can
note that, nearly all of the proposals on the global
economy concern the need to unleash the power of the
market, liberalise trade, deregulate and privatise- which
are all purely economic considerations. It is as though
humanity and the environment are irrelevant except as
servants of the overarching need to expand the global
economy- as if that could satisfy all human needs and
aspirations. Material wellbeing, economic growth and
wealth creation are important. But, to create a world of
true happiness, peace and wellbeing, wealth must be
created for a noble reason. Economics, commerce and
trade, without a true understanding of the aspirations of
the people it is affecting, cannot bring justice to all.
Social transformation can be
achieved only when unselfish love, spirituality and a
rigorous pursuit of justice are embraced. Millennium
Development Goals, Commission for Africa recommendations
and more will only be achieved when unselfish love and
the pursuit of justice guides the motivations; nothing
more, nothing less. As it has been noted observed, "Our
true life is not this external, material life that passes
before our eyes here on earth, but the inner life of our
spirit, for which the visible life serves only as a
scaffolding - a necessary aid to our spiritual growth.
Seeing before him an enormously high and elaborately
constructed scaffolding, while the building itself only
just shows above its foundations, man is apt to make the
mistake of attaching more importance to the scaffolding
than to the building for whose sake the former has been
temporarily put up. We must remind ourselves and one
another that the scaffolding has no meaning and
importance except to render possible the erection of the
building itself".
As for justice, it is my firm
belief that the cultured, honoured people of Africa, the
citizens of the Cradle of Civilisation, need no charity.
What they require is justice. In most cases to give to
charity is to numb our own pain and to give thanks that
we are not like "them". To do justice is to feel the pain
and to become one with the sufferer; is to ask
fundamental questions about the roots of injustice and to
fight for their removals.
To this end, I recommend
Globalisation
for the Common Good for Africa: Rekindling the Human
Spirit and Compassion in
Globalisation.
Globalisation for the Common Good Mission is to promote
ethical, moral and spiritual values into the areas of
economics, commerce, trade and international relations
amongst others, as well as personal virtues, to advance
understanding and action on major global issues by civil
society, the private enterprise, the public sector,
governments, and national and international institutions,
leading to the promotion of collaborative policy
solutions to the challenges posed by
globalisation.
As it has been noted in Catholic
social teaching for example, fostering peace by
overcoming evil with good requires careful reflection on
the common good and on its social and political
implications. When the common good is promoted at every
level, peace is promoted. Can an individual find complete
fulfilment without taking account of his social nature,
that is, his being "with" and "for" others? The common
good closely concerns him. It closely concerns every
expression of his social nature: the family, groups,
associations, cities, regions, states, the community of
peoples and nations. Each person, in some way, is called
to work for the common good, constantly looking out for
the good of others as if it were his own. This
responsibility belongs in a particular way to political
Authorities at every level, since they are called to
create that sum of social conditions which permit and
foster in human beings the integral development of their
person.
The common good therefore demands
respect for and the integral promotion of the person and
his fundamental rights, as well as respect for and the
promotion of the rights of nations on the universal
plane. In this regard, the Second Vatican Council
observed that "the increasingly close interdependence
gradually encompassing the entire world is leading to an
increasingly universal common good... and this involves
rights and duties with respect to the whole human race.
Every social group must take account of the needs and
legitimate aspirations of other groups and the common
good of the entire human family". The good of humanity as
a whole, including future generations, calls for true
international cooperation, to which every nation must
offer its contribution.
Moreover, at Globalisation for the
Common Good, we are committed to the idea that the
marketplace is not just an economic sphere, 'it is a
region of the human spirit'. Whilst considering the many
economic questions and issues we should also reflect on
the Divine dimension of life, and should, in contrast to
what is practised today, be concerned with the world of
heart and spirit. We view the problem and challenge of
globalisation not only from an economic point of view,
but also from ethical, spiritual and theological
perspectives. I affirm that economics is, above all,
concerned with human well-being and happiness in society.
This cannot be separated from moral and spiritual
considerations. The idea of a "value-free" economics is
totally spurious. It demonstrates the complete
misunderstanding of what it means to be a human being.
It is our firm belief that peace
and justice will flourish when Globalisation for the
Common Good is applied. As peace begins in the heart and
embraces all of life. Those practicing Globalisation for
the Common Good reach out to all people caught in fear,
suffering, hate, oppression and violence. This involves
reflection, prayer and an active, non-violent witness to
the structures that cause and perpetuate injustice and
violence. The goal of Globalisation for the Common Good
is the wellbeing of all God's peoples. "Love and
faithfulness will meet; justice and peace will embrace.
Humility's loyalty will reach up from the earth, and
God's justice will look down from heaven" (Psalm
85:11-13).
We affirm our conviction that a
genuine inter-faith dialogue and co-operation is a
significant way of bringing the world together; leading
to the creation of a harmonious environment needed to
build a world of peace, justice and prosperity for all.
The call for Globalisation for the Common Good is an
appeal to our essential humanity to deal with some of the
most pressing concerns of peoples the world over.
Religion has always been a major
factor in the growth of human civilisation. Business and
wealth creation when they are for a noble reason are
blessed and vital for human survival. Bringing religions
and business together for the common good will empower us
with humanity, spirituality and love. It will raise us
above pessimism to an ultimate optimism; turning from
darkness to light; from night to day; from winter to
spring.
Globalisation for the Common Good,
by addressing the crises that face us all, empowers with
humanity, spirituality and love. It engages people of
different races, cultures and languages, from a wide
variety of backgrounds, all of whom are committed to
bringing about a world in which there is more solidarity
and greater harmony. This spiritual ground for hope at
this time of wanton destruction of our world, can help us
to recall the ultimate purpose of life and of our journey
in this world.
*Kamran Mofid, PhD (Econ), Founder,
An Inter-faith Perspective on Globalisation for the
Common Good; Co- Convenor, with Bhai Sahib Mohinder
Singh, Africa and Globalisation for the Common Good: The
Quest for Justice and Peace, An International Conference,
Kericho, Kenya, 21-24 April, 2005. More about
For
The Common Good.
A New Book by Kamran Mofid and Rev.
Marcus Braybrooke, Promoting the Common Good: Bringing
Economics and Theology Together Again, Shepheard-
Walwyn (Publishers), London, June 2005.
Book
details and you can
pre-order
it here.
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TFF & the author 2005
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