SALIENT VIRTUES IN THE LIFE OF TUTU
By Mathieu Ndomba Ngoma
Thomas Aquinas defines virtue as a “habit by which we work well.”[1] It is an operative habit which makes its possessor good; or a “perfect habit by which it never happens that anything but good is done.”[2] The life of Desmond Tutu manifests many operative habits leading not only to the good of the South African society, but the good of the whole humanity. Three of these operative habits can be seen in Tutu’s character as a just man, as a courageous man, and as a peaceful and non-violent man. This section aims at showing how these habits are operative in the life of Tutu.
i. – Tutu’s habit of bringing justice through reconciliation
The issue of human dignity has a tremendous importance in the life of Tutu. His fight against apartheid was motivated by the desire to give back dignity not only to the oppressed but also to the oppressor. In fact, Tutu believed that the act of dehumanization affects the dignity of both the oppressed and the oppressor. For him, “To dehumanize another inexorably means that one is dehumanized as well.”[3] Since the character of Tutu was the one of building bridges between people, he understood such rehabilitation of human dignity through reconciliation and forgiveness. His approach to justice and rehabilitation of human dignity springs from his character as a reconciler. He had “showed himself as a reconciler in every dimension of his life –including humour.”[4] “Tutu is by nature a reconciler; his wish is to build bridges rather than destroy them.”[5]
Building bridges through reconciliation was not only the way he understood justice, but also the way he lived and practiced justice. He lived and practiced justice not exclusively in terms of retribution but also in terms of reconciliation. In this sense, justice implies building bridges between people as a way of rehabilitating the dignity of the unjust and of the victim of injustice. Two facts of the life of Tutu can elucidate this way of understanding justice. First, it is elucidated through his stubborn willingness to negotiate and to dialogue. For instance, in 1980 when the Black resistance was becoming more and more violent, he encouraged the members of South African Council of Churches (SACC) to seek for a meeting with the Prime Minister. The meeting was obtained but it did not advance to anything concrete. People claimed the naïve method of Tutu. Yet Tutu responded by referring to the story of Moses and Pharaoh. Moses had to go many times to negotiate with Pharaoh. He committed himself to go back to the table of negotiation. He preferred “to negotiate rather than to confront, and to reconcile rather than to attack.”[6]
The second and perhaps the most important element showing Tutu’s habit of bringing justice through reconciliation is his work at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission at the beginning of the democratic era. Nelson Mandela, the first Black President elected in 1994, appointed Tutu as the Chairperson of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission addressing human rights violations in South Africa. The idea of this commission did not come from Tutu at first. It was suggested by a member of Nelson Mandela’s party, Kader Asmal, who was a professor of human rights and law. Asmal suggested that instead of Nuremberg trials, South Africa should look at a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Tutu endorsed this idea because this commission viewed justice not in terms of witch hunting enterprise, but in terms of reconciliation.
ii. - Tutu as a courageous man
The apartheid regime was so violent that Church leaders who were against it were too afraid to speak out. The situation required a lot of courage because all those who spoke out against the system were threatened with death. Daring when there is death threat is what Thomas Aquinas calls fortitude or courage. For him, “it belongs to the virtue of fortitude to guard the will against being withdrawn from the good of reason through fear of bodily evil…. And the most fearful of all bodily evils is death, since it does away all bodily goods.”[7] Tutu at many occasions showed that he had the firmness not to withdraw before death threats coming not only from the government, but also from the people who supported the system. Opposing apartheid was a very risky business indeed. It meant to be ready to go to prison or to die. The case of Mandela who spent 27 years in prison explains well the situation. Many were killed including children.
Tutu received a remorseless stream of death threats, obscene telephone calls and bomb scares. Du Boulay reports that, “Tutu has declared that, whatever the cost to him, he will do all in his power to destroy apartheid; Leah, with typical wry humour, is sure that even if his tongue were cut off, he would not be prevented from speaking.”[8] Du Boulay actually compares Tutu to a prophet when he writes that “Tutu’s stand on apartheid is unequivocal and, like the prophets, he speaks out courageously, with insight as much as with foresight.”[9]
The courageous character of Tutu became even more manifest after two events. First, when, on March 1st, 1978, he became the General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches (SACC). Second, Tutu became even more active when all black organizations were banned. After these two events, he became the voice of the oppressed, a vehicle of black aspiration for freedom and liberation. From that time, he engaged the SACC to the process of disobeying unjust laws of apartheid. The SACC accepted the principle of civil disobedience. It therefore gave a “moral justification to any of its members who felt their cause could be furthered by refusing to co-operate with laws they considered unjust.”[10] Only after this that it was, for the first time, officially reported, in the news, that Christianity and apartheid could not co-exist.
The courageous stand of Tutu against apartheid was perceptible through his conferences, meetings, letters, homilies, telegrams, statements… In 1980 he marched with other Church leaders to the police headquarters in Johannesburg. He was arrested and put to jail. He was freed after one day because of worldwide protest against the action. Yet he did not give up till in 1994 when finally the country could hold free and democratic elections.
iii. - Tutu, a peacemaking man through non-violent methods
Peacemaking is a virtue because, to paraphrase Aquinas, it makes a peacemaker a good person. For Aquinas, a peacemaker “is one who makes peace, either in himself, or in others: and in both cases this is the result of setting in due order those things in which peace is established, for "peace is the tranquility of order," according to Augustine.”[11] The life of Tutu fits very well in this definition of a peacemaker. Tranquility and the order maintained by justice and reconciliation were Tutu’s vision for South Africa. He is a man of peace. And the peace he longs for is more than the absence of war. For Professor Villa-Vicencio, one of the Fathers of the African Theology of Reconstruction, the peace Tutu has come to symbolize is “the active, positive exaltation of justice and social harmony.”[12]
Violence never became an option for Tutu during his struggle against apartheid. His Christian and religious experience led him to strongly believe that peace is the fruit of justice and it can only be achieved through non-violent methods. He said once, “There is no peace in South Africa. There can be no real peace and security until there is first justice enjoyed by all inhabitants of that beautiful land.”[13]
Tutu lived on his conviction on the connection between peace and justice. He denounced violence and brutality, whether it came from the government or from Black people. He always asked people to avoid bloodshed. Du Boulay reports one of the many incidents showing Tutu’s struggle for peace and his effort to hold back a tide of violence. During a funeral of four Black young men, when people turned violent, Tutu asked them to abstain from violence and to change apartheid by peaceful means. He then “tried arguing with them. ‘Why don’t we use methods of which we will be proud when our liberation is attained? This undermines the struggle.’”[14] At another funeral in Duduza, when people turned violent, Tutu had this to say out of anger: “If you do that kind of thing again I will find it difficult to speak for the cause of liberation.”[15]
The peacemaking efforts of Tutu were internationally recognized. First, they were recognized by the Nobel Peace Prize committee which awarded him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984. The Nobel Prize Committee considered apartheid as a system which was against peace. Consequently, fighting apartheid was considered as an action for peace. Fighting with peaceful and non-violent means even added to the restoration of peace in South Africa. The second international recognition of Tutu’s peacemaking efforts came in 1986 when he received, in Atlanta, United States, the Martin Luther King Peace Prize.
[1] Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, IIa IIae, Q.56, art.3.
[2] Ibidem, Q.56, art.5.
[3] Desmond Mpilo Tutu, No Future Without Forgiveness (New York: Doubleday, 1999), p. 35.
[4] Du Boulay, Tutu… , p. 100.
[5] Ibidem, p. 166.
[6] Ibidem, p. 168.
[7] Aquinas, IIa IIae, Q. 123, art. 4.
[8] Du Boulay, Tutu…, p. 157.
[9] Ibidem.
[10] Du Boulay, Tutu…, p. 160.
[11] Aquinas, IIa IIae, Q. 45, art. 6.
[12] Villa-Vicencio is cited by Du Boulay, Tutu…, pp. 232-233.
[13] Naomi Tutu, The Words of Desmond Tutu (New York: Newmarket Press, 1989), p. 47.
[14] Du Boulay, Tutu…, p. 222.
[15] Ibidem, p. 223.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
DESMOND TUTU: AN AFRICAN LEADERSHIP ROLE MODEL (Part II)
INFLUENCES WHICH SHAPED TUTU’S LIFE OF VIRTUE
By Mathieu Ndomba Ngoma
At least three elements played a major role in Tutu’s process of acquisition of virtues. The first element was his African culture characterized by the concept of ubuntu which conjugates together individual flourishing with community flourishing. The second element was the social and political context he lived in. This context was dominated by the system of apartheid. And the final element was his religious and Christian experience which led him to become archbishop of the Anglican Church. This section briefly examines these three influential elements at the basis of Tutu’s character formation.
i. - African Ubuntu culture
The most important influence which shaped Tutu’s life is his African Bantu culture. One of the aspects of the African culture which is very influential in the life of Tutu is its anthropology. Bantu anthropology focuses on a communitarian understanding of humanity known as “African communalism.”(1) This anthropology dominates the cultures of Africa in the South of Sahara. In the Bantu culture in which Desmond Tutu grew up, that communalism is known as Ubuntu. The word Ubuntu is from Zulu and Xhosa languages but has equivalent words in most of Bantu languages. In Zulu and Xhosa languages, spoken by Desmond Tutu, ubuntu means humanity understood from a community perspective. It is used in the saying Tutu usually quotes: Umntu ngumntu ngabantu which means a person is a person by means of other persons, that is, “we find our humanity in community.”(2)
The Ubuntu culture shaped the life of Desmond Tutu to the extent that he usually referred to himself as “we.” Tutu “points out that when a Xhosa is asked how he is and says ‘we are well’, he is not using the ‘royal we’, he is reflecting his membership of the family of mankind.”(3) This African communalism in which Tutu grew up made him aware of the need of equality, justice, community, and communal flourishing. It is the basis of the value of social solidarity, justice and peace in the life of Desmond Tutu.
ii. - Experience of an oppressed man and victim of the Apartheid system
The laws of apartheid, defined between 1950 and 1957, classified every South African according to race, prohibited black people from establishing registered labor unions, enforced social and residential separation, and prohibited marriages between Blacks and Whites.(4) They resulted into a total domination, oppression and pauperization of the majority of Blacks (73 %) by the minority of whites. Blacks were put into reserves and treated like animals. This situation of oppression led many Black kids to assimilate their situation to the extent of associating themselves to that fate and believing that that was the way God made things. It led them to self-doubt and self-hatred.
Apartheid, however, did not make Tutu angry; it rather gave him a better understanding of the dynamics of human relations. This positive twist in the formation of Tutu’s character was the result of at least three moments in his life. The first moment was when he read the stories of some successful Blacks such as Jesse Owens (Olympic Champion in 1936 in the Germany of Hitler), Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller, and Marion Anderson. These stories helped the young Tutu not to sink into self-doubt and self-hatred. The second moment was the fact that early in his life, he related with some White people who gave him a different picture of a White man. The most prominent of the White people he related with, starting at age 12, was Bishop Trevor Huddleston who became his lifelong friend. From this relation Tutu discovered that oppression was not tied to the white skin. The third important moment was Tutu’s experience of freedom in London while studying at King’s College. Indeed in London, Tutu and his wife Leah and children had their first experience of a country where people of different races and backgrounds lived in peace and mutual respect of each ones’ dignity. This made Tutu dream of harmony in South Africa.
Consequently, as an oppressed man, Tutu had a mixed experience. On the one hand he felt the hatred and discrimination from White people through the system of apartheid. He realized that there was no community in South Africa or, at least, it was a divided community. And, on the other hand, he realized that life in freedom and respect was possible between Whites and Blacks. He understood that Blacks and Whites can respectfully live together in harmony. This shaped not only his struggle for freedom and justice but also his non-discriminatory and non-violent approach.
iii. - Religious and Christian experience
The religious experience of Tutu had a tremendous impact on his character formation. His first important religious experience took place when Fr Trevor Huddleston often visited him when he was sick in a hospital. There started a friendship which gave depths to his faith. It is after that experience at the hospital that he became a server at his parish church of St Paul’s in Munsieville and started a life of prayer. Along with Fr Huddleston there were Father Sekgaphane and Pastor Makhene who were such an inspiration for him that he considered following their footsteps.
Tutu became so committed to the Church that, in 1955, he became a Sub-Deacon at Krugersdorp. Three years later he joined St Peter’s Theological College in Rosettenville. Here Tutu was fascinated by the Fathers of the Community of the Resurrection running St Peter’s Theological College training Africans into the ordained ministry. They were not only committed to a life of prayer, but also taught by example and identified themselves with the oppressed and the suffering. (5) The Fathers of the resurrection had a tremendous impact on Tutu that when he recalls he says that they “enabled me to see very clearly something that I hope has stayed with me- the centrality of the spiritual.”(6) They shaped the ideal of priesthood in the mind of Tutu: a priest committed not only to prayer but also to justice; a priest identified with the oppressed and the suffering. Such a formation prepared him to endorse, many years later, Black Theology of Liberation. For Tutu, “Liberation theology becomes part of a people’s struggle for liberation: it tries to help victims of oppression to assert their humanity and so look the other chap in the eye and speak face to face without shuffling their feet and apologizing for their black existence.”(7) His ministry was his translation of liberation theology in religious, social and political terms.
All these experiences in the life of Tutu shaped in him the strong virtues South Africa needed to achieve the ideal of the good society.
(1)For a review of arguments and expressions for African communalism, see Joseph Nyasani, The Ontological Significance of "I" and "WE" in African Philosophy, found at http://home.concepts-ict.nl/~kimmerle/frameText8.htm, accessed on May 6, 2005.
(2)J.H. Smit, “Ubuntu for Africa: A Christian Interpretation,” in Ubuntu in a Christian Perspective (Potchefstroom, South Africa: Institute for Reformational Studies, 1999), p. 13.
(3)Shirley du Boulay, Tutu: Voice of the Voiceless (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1988), p. 114.
(4)Hendrik J.C. Pieterse, “The Context of Apartheid,” in Desmond Tutu’s Message: A Qualitative Analysis, edited by Hendrik J.C. Pieterse, Empirical Studies in Theology, Vol. V., Gen. ed. Johannes A. Van Der Ven (Leiden, Boston, Koeln: Bril, 2001), p. 15.
(5)Du Boulay, Tutu…, p. 48.
(6)Ibid.
(7)Ibid., p. 85.
By Mathieu Ndomba Ngoma
At least three elements played a major role in Tutu’s process of acquisition of virtues. The first element was his African culture characterized by the concept of ubuntu which conjugates together individual flourishing with community flourishing. The second element was the social and political context he lived in. This context was dominated by the system of apartheid. And the final element was his religious and Christian experience which led him to become archbishop of the Anglican Church. This section briefly examines these three influential elements at the basis of Tutu’s character formation.
i. - African Ubuntu culture
The most important influence which shaped Tutu’s life is his African Bantu culture. One of the aspects of the African culture which is very influential in the life of Tutu is its anthropology. Bantu anthropology focuses on a communitarian understanding of humanity known as “African communalism.”(1) This anthropology dominates the cultures of Africa in the South of Sahara. In the Bantu culture in which Desmond Tutu grew up, that communalism is known as Ubuntu. The word Ubuntu is from Zulu and Xhosa languages but has equivalent words in most of Bantu languages. In Zulu and Xhosa languages, spoken by Desmond Tutu, ubuntu means humanity understood from a community perspective. It is used in the saying Tutu usually quotes: Umntu ngumntu ngabantu which means a person is a person by means of other persons, that is, “we find our humanity in community.”(2)
The Ubuntu culture shaped the life of Desmond Tutu to the extent that he usually referred to himself as “we.” Tutu “points out that when a Xhosa is asked how he is and says ‘we are well’, he is not using the ‘royal we’, he is reflecting his membership of the family of mankind.”(3) This African communalism in which Tutu grew up made him aware of the need of equality, justice, community, and communal flourishing. It is the basis of the value of social solidarity, justice and peace in the life of Desmond Tutu.
ii. - Experience of an oppressed man and victim of the Apartheid system
The laws of apartheid, defined between 1950 and 1957, classified every South African according to race, prohibited black people from establishing registered labor unions, enforced social and residential separation, and prohibited marriages between Blacks and Whites.(4) They resulted into a total domination, oppression and pauperization of the majority of Blacks (73 %) by the minority of whites. Blacks were put into reserves and treated like animals. This situation of oppression led many Black kids to assimilate their situation to the extent of associating themselves to that fate and believing that that was the way God made things. It led them to self-doubt and self-hatred.
Apartheid, however, did not make Tutu angry; it rather gave him a better understanding of the dynamics of human relations. This positive twist in the formation of Tutu’s character was the result of at least three moments in his life. The first moment was when he read the stories of some successful Blacks such as Jesse Owens (Olympic Champion in 1936 in the Germany of Hitler), Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller, and Marion Anderson. These stories helped the young Tutu not to sink into self-doubt and self-hatred. The second moment was the fact that early in his life, he related with some White people who gave him a different picture of a White man. The most prominent of the White people he related with, starting at age 12, was Bishop Trevor Huddleston who became his lifelong friend. From this relation Tutu discovered that oppression was not tied to the white skin. The third important moment was Tutu’s experience of freedom in London while studying at King’s College. Indeed in London, Tutu and his wife Leah and children had their first experience of a country where people of different races and backgrounds lived in peace and mutual respect of each ones’ dignity. This made Tutu dream of harmony in South Africa.
Consequently, as an oppressed man, Tutu had a mixed experience. On the one hand he felt the hatred and discrimination from White people through the system of apartheid. He realized that there was no community in South Africa or, at least, it was a divided community. And, on the other hand, he realized that life in freedom and respect was possible between Whites and Blacks. He understood that Blacks and Whites can respectfully live together in harmony. This shaped not only his struggle for freedom and justice but also his non-discriminatory and non-violent approach.
iii. - Religious and Christian experience
The religious experience of Tutu had a tremendous impact on his character formation. His first important religious experience took place when Fr Trevor Huddleston often visited him when he was sick in a hospital. There started a friendship which gave depths to his faith. It is after that experience at the hospital that he became a server at his parish church of St Paul’s in Munsieville and started a life of prayer. Along with Fr Huddleston there were Father Sekgaphane and Pastor Makhene who were such an inspiration for him that he considered following their footsteps.
Tutu became so committed to the Church that, in 1955, he became a Sub-Deacon at Krugersdorp. Three years later he joined St Peter’s Theological College in Rosettenville. Here Tutu was fascinated by the Fathers of the Community of the Resurrection running St Peter’s Theological College training Africans into the ordained ministry. They were not only committed to a life of prayer, but also taught by example and identified themselves with the oppressed and the suffering. (5) The Fathers of the resurrection had a tremendous impact on Tutu that when he recalls he says that they “enabled me to see very clearly something that I hope has stayed with me- the centrality of the spiritual.”(6) They shaped the ideal of priesthood in the mind of Tutu: a priest committed not only to prayer but also to justice; a priest identified with the oppressed and the suffering. Such a formation prepared him to endorse, many years later, Black Theology of Liberation. For Tutu, “Liberation theology becomes part of a people’s struggle for liberation: it tries to help victims of oppression to assert their humanity and so look the other chap in the eye and speak face to face without shuffling their feet and apologizing for their black existence.”(7) His ministry was his translation of liberation theology in religious, social and political terms.
All these experiences in the life of Tutu shaped in him the strong virtues South Africa needed to achieve the ideal of the good society.
(1)For a review of arguments and expressions for African communalism, see Joseph Nyasani, The Ontological Significance of "I" and "WE" in African Philosophy, found at http://home.concepts-ict.nl/~kimmerle/frameText8.htm, accessed on May 6, 2005.
(2)J.H. Smit, “Ubuntu for Africa: A Christian Interpretation,” in Ubuntu in a Christian Perspective (Potchefstroom, South Africa: Institute for Reformational Studies, 1999), p. 13.
(3)Shirley du Boulay, Tutu: Voice of the Voiceless (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1988), p. 114.
(4)Hendrik J.C. Pieterse, “The Context of Apartheid,” in Desmond Tutu’s Message: A Qualitative Analysis, edited by Hendrik J.C. Pieterse, Empirical Studies in Theology, Vol. V., Gen. ed. Johannes A. Van Der Ven (Leiden, Boston, Koeln: Bril, 2001), p. 15.
(5)Du Boulay, Tutu…, p. 48.
(6)Ibid.
(7)Ibid., p. 85.
Monday, June 25, 2007
DESMOND TUTU: AN AFRICAN LEADERSHIP ROLE MODEL (Part 1)
Part I: INTRODUCING DESMOND TUTU AS AN AFRICAN LEADERSHIP ROLE MODEL SERIES
By Mathieu Ndomba Ngoma
The South African Desmond Mpilo Tutu (1) was in 1984 the laureate of the Nobel Peace Prize. This is one of the most prestigious prizes in the world. Through this award the world recognized in Desmond Tutu a man of peace. He is most importantly known as one of the key figures in South African struggle against apartheid. On the one hand, he played a major role as a theologian, a preacher, and a church leader in the peaceful change in South Africa from an apartheid system to a non-racial and democratic society of today.(2) On the other hand, his wisdom was crucial in the peaceful transition from the apartheid era to a democratic era through his work at the Truth and Justice Commission whose goal was to heal the wounds of apartheid and build a peaceful and just, multicultural and multiracial South Africa.
The main question all Tutu’s accomplishments raise is how was he able to achieve all these things? The answer to that question requires a closer look at his life. And such look reveals, this is the argument of this series, that these achievements are in fact the result of his character shaped by a set of virtues and his vision of the good life.
This series on Desmond Tutu as an African leadership role model looks at the virtuous life of Tutu in order to discover the most influential aspects in his acquisition of virtues (i), identify his most salient virtues (ii), and define the vision of the good life flowing from his character and virtues (iii).
(1) Desmond Mpilo Tutu was born on October 7, 1931 in Klerksdorp, Transvaal, South Africa. Baby Tutu found a country dominated by a policy of racial segregation, political and economic domination by White South Africans. He attended segregated schools. In 1955 he married Leah Nomalizo Shenxane with whom he had four children: Trevor, Theresa, Naomi, and Mpho.
(2)Hendrik J.C. Pieterse, “Preface,” in Desmond Tutu’s Message: A Qualitative Analysis, edited by Hendrik J.C. Pieterse, Empirical Studies in Theology, Vol. V., Gen. ed. Johannes A. Van Der Ven (Leiden, Boston, Koeln: Bril, 2001).
By Mathieu Ndomba Ngoma
The South African Desmond Mpilo Tutu (1) was in 1984 the laureate of the Nobel Peace Prize. This is one of the most prestigious prizes in the world. Through this award the world recognized in Desmond Tutu a man of peace. He is most importantly known as one of the key figures in South African struggle against apartheid. On the one hand, he played a major role as a theologian, a preacher, and a church leader in the peaceful change in South Africa from an apartheid system to a non-racial and democratic society of today.(2) On the other hand, his wisdom was crucial in the peaceful transition from the apartheid era to a democratic era through his work at the Truth and Justice Commission whose goal was to heal the wounds of apartheid and build a peaceful and just, multicultural and multiracial South Africa.
The main question all Tutu’s accomplishments raise is how was he able to achieve all these things? The answer to that question requires a closer look at his life. And such look reveals, this is the argument of this series, that these achievements are in fact the result of his character shaped by a set of virtues and his vision of the good life.
This series on Desmond Tutu as an African leadership role model looks at the virtuous life of Tutu in order to discover the most influential aspects in his acquisition of virtues (i), identify his most salient virtues (ii), and define the vision of the good life flowing from his character and virtues (iii).
(1) Desmond Mpilo Tutu was born on October 7, 1931 in Klerksdorp, Transvaal, South Africa. Baby Tutu found a country dominated by a policy of racial segregation, political and economic domination by White South Africans. He attended segregated schools. In 1955 he married Leah Nomalizo Shenxane with whom he had four children: Trevor, Theresa, Naomi, and Mpho.
(2)Hendrik J.C. Pieterse, “Preface,” in Desmond Tutu’s Message: A Qualitative Analysis, edited by Hendrik J.C. Pieterse, Empirical Studies in Theology, Vol. V., Gen. ed. Johannes A. Van Der Ven (Leiden, Boston, Koeln: Bril, 2001).
Friday, June 15, 2007
DUMBO: UN PIONNIER MAGNA CUM LAUDE
OGOBARA DUMBO: UN PIONNIER MAGNA CUM LAUDE
Le Professeur Malien Ogobara Dumbo est lauréat du prix Christophe Mérieux pour ses travaux et ses recherches sur le paludisme au Mali. Il travaille actuellement sur un vaccin antipaludéen qui est déjà à l’étape des essais cliniques.
Il y a bien évidemment plusieurs centres de recherches en Afrique sur le paludisme et le Sida. C’est le cas de l’Institut de Recherches Médicales de Nairobi qui s’est illustré en Novembre 2006 à travers le prestigieux prix Pfizer reçu par le Docteur et chercheur Congolais Alexis Nzila. Ce dernier a réussi à démontrer que les médicaments antifolates utilisés contre le cancer peuvent aussi traiter le paludisme quand ils sont utilisés à faible dose et en combinaison avec certaines molécules folates.
Le Professeur Dumbo n’est donc pas le seul Africain à travailler sur le paludisme ni à recevoir un prix prestigieux. Cependant, je le considère comme un pionnier pour sa méthode et son style de travail. Trois éléments sont à souligner dans ce style. D’abord il décide de s’installer en Afrique, dans son pays le Mali au lieu des grands centres de recherches aux Etats-Unis et en Europe. Ensuite, il recrute ses étudiants sur place, les forme et les envoie en Europe et aux Etats-Unis poursuivre les études avec la ferme décision de repartir travailler au Mali. Enfin, il équipe son centre avec le matériel le plus performant qui soit et dont il a besoin pour sa recherche.
Le Professeur Dumbo, qui aurait plus de 73 publications, ne transmet pas seulement les connaissances médicales aux jeunes scientifiques Maliens. Il démontre que la recherche de haut niveau est possible par les Africains et en Afrique. Il transmet la passion de la recherche en Afrique. Il reçoit donc sur ce blog la grande distinction (Magna Cum Laude).
Le Professeur Malien Ogobara Dumbo est lauréat du prix Christophe Mérieux pour ses travaux et ses recherches sur le paludisme au Mali. Il travaille actuellement sur un vaccin antipaludéen qui est déjà à l’étape des essais cliniques.
Il y a bien évidemment plusieurs centres de recherches en Afrique sur le paludisme et le Sida. C’est le cas de l’Institut de Recherches Médicales de Nairobi qui s’est illustré en Novembre 2006 à travers le prestigieux prix Pfizer reçu par le Docteur et chercheur Congolais Alexis Nzila. Ce dernier a réussi à démontrer que les médicaments antifolates utilisés contre le cancer peuvent aussi traiter le paludisme quand ils sont utilisés à faible dose et en combinaison avec certaines molécules folates.
Le Professeur Dumbo n’est donc pas le seul Africain à travailler sur le paludisme ni à recevoir un prix prestigieux. Cependant, je le considère comme un pionnier pour sa méthode et son style de travail. Trois éléments sont à souligner dans ce style. D’abord il décide de s’installer en Afrique, dans son pays le Mali au lieu des grands centres de recherches aux Etats-Unis et en Europe. Ensuite, il recrute ses étudiants sur place, les forme et les envoie en Europe et aux Etats-Unis poursuivre les études avec la ferme décision de repartir travailler au Mali. Enfin, il équipe son centre avec le matériel le plus performant qui soit et dont il a besoin pour sa recherche.
Le Professeur Dumbo, qui aurait plus de 73 publications, ne transmet pas seulement les connaissances médicales aux jeunes scientifiques Maliens. Il démontre que la recherche de haut niveau est possible par les Africains et en Afrique. Il transmet la passion de la recherche en Afrique. Il reçoit donc sur ce blog la grande distinction (Magna Cum Laude).
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
UNE GRANDE BIBLIOTHEQUE A BRULE EN AFRIQUE
UNE GRANDE BIBLIOTHEQUE A BRULE EN AFRIQUE: LA MORT DE SEMBENE OUSMANE
Par M. Ndomba Ngoma
Par M. Ndomba Ngoma
Sembene Ousmane (Photo: AFP/Getty Images)
Sembene Ousmane meurt à 84 ans. Selon un proverbe ivoirien, quand une vielle personne meurt c’est comme une bibliothèque qui brûle. La bibliothèque Sembene Ousmane est bien particulière. Il n’est pas seulement pionnier du cinéma africain, mais il a aussi défini une perspective authentiquement africaine dans le cinéma. Avec lui il y a eu irruption de la culture africaine sur le grand écran. C’était un grand défi quand on sait que dans les années 1960, quand il a commencé le cinema, certains pensaient que l’Afrique n’aurait ni culture, ni civilisation ou histoire.
J’admire le courage de cet homme qui, malgré son expérience de tirailleur Senegalais et le nom qu’il s’est fait dans la littérature et le cinéma, est resté authentiquement africain. Je me rappelle encore mon professeur de Français m’expliquer avec une grande émotion la signification du titre du roman « Les Bouts de Bois de Dieu » de Sembene Ousmane. Selon lui on ne pointe pas du doigt les humains quand on veut en connaître le nombre. On utilise plutôt des bouts de bois. Chaque bout de bois représente une personne. Une personne humaine en Afrique est si sacrée qu’on ne compte pas les hommes comme on compterait des animaux. C’était une occasion pour lui de nous faire aimer et célébrer la culture et la littérature africaines. Ce roman a servi de cadre pour cela.
Sembene Ousmane restera une icône dans la littérature et le cinéma africains.
Sembene Ousmane meurt à 84 ans. Selon un proverbe ivoirien, quand une vielle personne meurt c’est comme une bibliothèque qui brûle. La bibliothèque Sembene Ousmane est bien particulière. Il n’est pas seulement pionnier du cinéma africain, mais il a aussi défini une perspective authentiquement africaine dans le cinéma. Avec lui il y a eu irruption de la culture africaine sur le grand écran. C’était un grand défi quand on sait que dans les années 1960, quand il a commencé le cinema, certains pensaient que l’Afrique n’aurait ni culture, ni civilisation ou histoire.
J’admire le courage de cet homme qui, malgré son expérience de tirailleur Senegalais et le nom qu’il s’est fait dans la littérature et le cinéma, est resté authentiquement africain. Je me rappelle encore mon professeur de Français m’expliquer avec une grande émotion la signification du titre du roman « Les Bouts de Bois de Dieu » de Sembene Ousmane. Selon lui on ne pointe pas du doigt les humains quand on veut en connaître le nombre. On utilise plutôt des bouts de bois. Chaque bout de bois représente une personne. Une personne humaine en Afrique est si sacrée qu’on ne compte pas les hommes comme on compterait des animaux. C’était une occasion pour lui de nous faire aimer et célébrer la culture et la littérature africaines. Ce roman a servi de cadre pour cela.
Sembene Ousmane restera une icône dans la littérature et le cinéma africains.
Friday, June 8, 2007
HUMANIZING GLOBALIZATION
HUMANIZING GLOBALIZATION: AFRICAN DEBT CRISIS AS A STUDY CASE
By Mathieu Ndomba Ngoma
While globalization carries the promises of the market economy (growth, jobs, opportunities for the poor, and the good life for all), it also has a wide range of discontents. Roughly speaking it carries promises for the Center (Developed countries) and discontents for the Periphery (developing countries). African debt crisis, for instance, represents one of the bi-products of globalization in peripheral countries. In fact, the debt crisis started with the expansion and the intensification of global financial flows which are part of financial and economic globalization.
Yet it is my belief that globalization can be given a human face. A certain approach of African debt crisis, for example, shows how the humanization of globalization can be achieved.
The debt crisis is one of the worst discontents of globalization in Africa. Because of its colossal debt the whole African continent, especially Sub-Saharan Africa, is experiencing a new form of slavery whereby people are compelled to work even harder in order to service the debt from the masters of the financial world. That debt servicing forces governments to cut off budgets for health care, education, infrastructures and others. It is understandable that people I meet here in California in the United States of America have a totally different understanding of globalization from those in Africa. Indeed, a person living in an African village where the hospitals and schools have been closed because of debt servicing would not have the same definition of globalization with a person living in New York, Paris, and London. If global interconnectedness (globalization) cannot be avoided, at least, people from Africa would want a kind of globalization with a human face. Globalization takes a human face when it fosters global interconnectedness leading to global well-being, global common good, and global human flourishing. This kind of globalization can be achieved.
If the debt crisis were to be used as a study case in a way of achieving a humanized globalization, three aspects would emerge. First, such a globalization with a human face would require a vision of the world where people consider one another as fellow human beings and where people associate their own well-being with the well-being of other people around the world. Second, it would call for a new vision of justice as virtue and as principle combined in the same movement. Justice as virtue would help to value solidarity and common well-being around the world. And justice as principle would remind Adam Smith’s concept of Impartial Spectator which can be embodied in institutions witnessing and monitoring fairness in international trade and global well-being. Third, after achieving the first two aspects, the cancellation of the debt would become a moral imperative. However the resources from the debt cancellation would be managed not only by governments, but also by Non-governmental organizations, civil society organizations, and Churches so that they (resources) benefit to the poor directly in line of what these groups are already doing in relation to income generating projects in so many developing countries.
Civil society organizations, Non-governmental Organizations, and Churches have a tremendous responsibility in the process of humanizing globalization. They can help to achieve a new worldview that includes global justice and global common good.
By Mathieu Ndomba Ngoma
While globalization carries the promises of the market economy (growth, jobs, opportunities for the poor, and the good life for all), it also has a wide range of discontents. Roughly speaking it carries promises for the Center (Developed countries) and discontents for the Periphery (developing countries). African debt crisis, for instance, represents one of the bi-products of globalization in peripheral countries. In fact, the debt crisis started with the expansion and the intensification of global financial flows which are part of financial and economic globalization.
Yet it is my belief that globalization can be given a human face. A certain approach of African debt crisis, for example, shows how the humanization of globalization can be achieved.
The debt crisis is one of the worst discontents of globalization in Africa. Because of its colossal debt the whole African continent, especially Sub-Saharan Africa, is experiencing a new form of slavery whereby people are compelled to work even harder in order to service the debt from the masters of the financial world. That debt servicing forces governments to cut off budgets for health care, education, infrastructures and others. It is understandable that people I meet here in California in the United States of America have a totally different understanding of globalization from those in Africa. Indeed, a person living in an African village where the hospitals and schools have been closed because of debt servicing would not have the same definition of globalization with a person living in New York, Paris, and London. If global interconnectedness (globalization) cannot be avoided, at least, people from Africa would want a kind of globalization with a human face. Globalization takes a human face when it fosters global interconnectedness leading to global well-being, global common good, and global human flourishing. This kind of globalization can be achieved.
If the debt crisis were to be used as a study case in a way of achieving a humanized globalization, three aspects would emerge. First, such a globalization with a human face would require a vision of the world where people consider one another as fellow human beings and where people associate their own well-being with the well-being of other people around the world. Second, it would call for a new vision of justice as virtue and as principle combined in the same movement. Justice as virtue would help to value solidarity and common well-being around the world. And justice as principle would remind Adam Smith’s concept of Impartial Spectator which can be embodied in institutions witnessing and monitoring fairness in international trade and global well-being. Third, after achieving the first two aspects, the cancellation of the debt would become a moral imperative. However the resources from the debt cancellation would be managed not only by governments, but also by Non-governmental organizations, civil society organizations, and Churches so that they (resources) benefit to the poor directly in line of what these groups are already doing in relation to income generating projects in so many developing countries.
Civil society organizations, Non-governmental Organizations, and Churches have a tremendous responsibility in the process of humanizing globalization. They can help to achieve a new worldview that includes global justice and global common good.
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