| |
Culture is Redemptive
|
|
| |
Return to Home Page |
|
| |
Amilcar Cabral saw the problem clearly .He wrote: When
Goebbels, the brain behind Nazi propaganda, heard culture being discussed,
he brought out his revolver. That shows that the Nazis...even if they were
degenerates like Hitler, had a clear idea of the value of culture as a factor
of resistance to foreign domination. |
|
| |
History teaches us that, in certain circumstances, it is
very easy for the foreigner to impose his domination on a people. But it
also teaches us that, whatever may be the material aspects of this domination,
it can be maintained only by the permanent, organized repression of the
cultural life of the people concerned. Implantation of foreign domination
can be assured definitely only by physical liquidation of a significant
part of the dominated population. |
|
| |
In fact, to take up arms to dominate a people is, above
all, to take up arms to destroy, or at least to neutralize, to paralyze,
its cultural life. For, with a strong indigenous cultural life, foreign
domination cannot be sure of its perpetuation. At any moment, depending
on internal and external factors determining the evolution of the society
in question, cultural resistance (indestructible) may take on new forms
(political, economic, armed) in order fully to contest foreign domination.
(taken from National Liberation and Culture) |
|
| |
Pan-Africanists
understand that the seizure of the land and the destruction of the culture
are two sides of the same coin. |
|
| |
Pan-Africanism
recognizes that the acculturation processes imposed on Africans is the direct
result of a systemic policy of racist diffusion. A diffusion initially facilitated
by outright military conquest. Conquest aimed at the seizure and control
of Africa's land and the destruction of the indigenous cultures, state structures
and general social institutions. |
|
| |
The
military conquest was in turn buttressed by the activity of alien carriers
from the various predator systems. Carriers such as missionaries, government
officials and the like. Today these historical carriers have been largely
supplanted by aid workers, students, diplomats, journalists, and increasingly,
tourists. |
|
| |
These
carriers bring and reinforce the values, beliefs, customs, traditions, languages,
behaviors and other aspects of the conqueror system, thus infecting members
of the targeted African cultures. In this way racist diffusion leads to
acculturation. This acculturation process is strengthen by the social-psychological
impact of the perceived power and success of the invading systems, what
is called the demonstration effect. For example, the assassination of Lumumba
and the overthrow of the CPP government were intended to not only destroy
the liberation process in the specific areas, but also to weaken Pan-Africanism
generally, and to violently dissuade other peoples from adopting or embarking
upon similar patterns of state organization. |
|
| |
In
many instances certain elements of the targeted culture are selected for
assimilation. For example, those Ghanaian military elites who identify with
the United Kingdom because they had the "privilege" of attending Sandhurst;
or the assimilé in French colonial Africa. Nkrumah writes of the February
25 Traitors, The fact that Harley and others found it fairly easy to
get support in the army may also be explained by what has been called "the
Sandhurst mentality of certain officers. These men trained in various English
military establishments prided themselves on being more "English"
than Ghanian, and tended to frown on everything in our Ghanaian way of life
which did not conform with English customs and traditions. They gradually
became more British than the British as they slavishly tried to imitate
the traditional British army officer. Ankrah is a typical example with his
enthusiasm for the Turf Club, his love of ceremonial, and his sense of caste. |
|
| |
Afrifa
has called Sandhurst "one of the greatest institutions in the world".
He looks with nostalgia on the days he spent there: "through its doors
have passed famous generals, kings and rulers...It is an institution that
teaches that all men are equal, that the profession of men-at-arms is essential
and a peaceful one." The confusion in his mind is obvious. |
|
| |
Like
many other army officers in the developing countries who have received part
of their training in imperialist establishments, he had been brainwashed
into showing more devotion to his counterparts in imperialist countries
than to his own countrymen. He considered himself a "gentleman",
far superior to the peasants and workers of his own country, He admits that
while he was in Britain that he first heard criticism of the Ghanaian government.
He listened to people running down our efforts to achieve economic independence.
He read in the British press that I was a "dictator", and that
Ghana had stepped out of line in establishing a one-party state and in pursuing
such revolutionary aims as the complete liberation and unification of the
African continent. Instead of being proud to be Ghanaian and in the vanguard
of the African revolutionary struggle, he identified himself with the critics
of his own government and people. |
|
| |
Afrifa's
case history is similar to that of many more of our army officers in the
independent states of Africa. While training in in imperialist countries
they become imbued with ideas and traditions which made them easy game for
those plotting the overthrow of progressive governments. (Taken
from Dark Days in Ghana) |
|
| |
Cabral
too understood the racist process of assimilation --- which he referred
to as one of the array of related theories that were nothing more than gross
formulations of racism, and which, in practice, are translated into a permanent
state of siege of the indigenous populations on the basis of racist dictatorship
(or democracy.) He went on to observe, ...the so-called theory of
progressive assimilation of native populations, which turns out to
be only a more or less violent attempt to deny the culture of the people
in question. The utter failure of this "theory," implemented in
practice by several colonial powers, including Portugal, is the most obvious
proof of its lack of viability, if not of its inhuman character. It attains
the highest degree of absurdity in the Portuguese case, where Salazar affirmed
that Africa does not exist. (Taken from National Liberation
and Culture)
|
|
| |
This
can also be seen in the French concept of African states as Departments
of France. This same perverse logic is pointed out by Nkrumah's in his comment,
found in the book Africa Must Unite: It is significant that the
word Eurafrica has come into use in connection with the European
Common Market negotiations. In essence as far as the oppressors are
concerned, we don't exist, except as a part of Europe. |
|
| |
This
cumulative process creates and/or exacerbates many social and psychological
dysfunctions and problems. Namely, the destruction of traditional culture
and institutions, leading to the increase in criminal behavior, juvenile
delinquency and mental health conditions. Mental health problems that go
by names such as anomie, angst, general depression, schizophrenia, trauma
and dysphoria -- many of these maladies are identical, related, similar
and/or share symptoms, are a particularly troublesome consequence of these
general processes. Such disorders further weaken the African culture and
deepen the peoples' subjugation. Add the other disastrous side effects such
as food insecurity, destruction of the family and the overall general deterioration
and decline in society; in short one concludes that racist diffusion, the
acculturation to and assimilation of alien cultural values, is in fact an
act of conquest, an act of total war. |
|
| |
The
antidote to all this is the development of counter-measures that will facilitate
the organization of the threatened or conquered cultures in a manner that
will preserve or re-establish their independence from the encroaching systems.
For Africans at home and abroad the route to salvation is the knowledge
of true African culture and the embrace of same. What Cabral called return
to the source. African cultural syncretism and survivals are vital aspects
of this process. Examples are found in religions such as Santeria, Voodoo/Voudon,
Candomblé; in linguistic traits, such as the Gullah language; the Africanization
of the Roman Catholic Carnival system; the survival of the libation ritual;
as well as African cultural influences in global cuisine such as gumbo;
and in music, art, dance, such as the Samba and Mumbo, the proliferation
of African dance troupes and the use of Africa's drums as universal African
cultural symbols. All of these and more are valuable assets in the African
counter-attack. They are key elements of the concept of Pan-African culture
and play a positive role in the evolution of Pan-African culture. |
|
| |
These
phenomena would be of even greater utility if properly strengthened. That
is, if organized in a manner that enhanced the many positives of Africa's
cultures and discards the negative elements, such as feudal remnants and
related backward practices -- and specifically, the destructive influences
of the assorted external hostile elements and their internal operatives.
This demands a process that also properly assimilates aspects of universal
and non-African national cultures that are beneficial to Africa's growth
and development. This is the sure, and only route, to the redemption of
the global African population and construction of the Pan-African nation |
|
| |
The
best possible solution is the projection of positive role models that can
provide an affirmative demonstration effect for Africans, such as we had
in the role of Nkrumah's Ghana as the fount of Pan-Africanism (Omowale
Malcolm X (Shabazz), 1964). We need to develop and diffuse these kinds of
cultural model throughout the whole infected/affected area of Africa and
among African people globally. Such a cultural epidemic would engender the
general philosophical and agency systems needed to launch a powerful positive
enculturation and socialization process. This would favorably alter the
power equation between the oppressive systems and Africa. It will usher
in the era of the reign of Pan-African culture and create an irresistible
aggregated force for good in the world. As such, it is the most precise
instrumentality and modality for the liberation of the African personality
and global population.
|
|
