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Paulinus
Ikechukwu Odozor, Cssp With Nigeria having recently recovered its democratic tradition we are happy to publish this article by a professor of the Spiritian International School of Theology, Enugu, Nigeria, on the factors of globalization in Africa, including Islam and Christianity, a globalization which has so far worked in favour of the Arabs and Europeans. But there are examples as in Nnewi where people have tried home-grown alternatives to this type of globalization, through economic and industrial revival, a linguistic and cultural renaissance and expressions of religious autonomy. Regional cooperation and organised protests against the recklessness of multinationals have also helped fight the negative aspects of globalization. The term globalization is today used in fields as diverse as economics, religion, sociology, geography and marketing. Anthony Giddens defines it as "the intensification of worldwide relations which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice-versa" (Giddens, 1990, p. 640). Roland Robertson speaks of globalization as a process by which the world is becoming more and more "a single place" (Robertson, 1991, p. 283). Although globalization is by no means new, certain events since the 1970s have accelerated its growth as a current phenomenon. In economics, the recent benchmarks of globalization include the combination of the end of the monetary system which had been in place since the Bretton Woods arrangement after the Second World War and the Middle East oil crises between 1971 and 1973, the election of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Regan in 1979 and 1980 respectively, and the liberalization and deregulation of the money markets in the 1980s and 1990s. These factors plus other homegrown ones such as corruption and mismanagement created severe economic crises in Africa. African governments and peoples were cash-strapped and could not raise sufficient funds in the world’s money markets to finance their development projects. Regan’s massive arms build-up had made the USA such a massive borrower on the market that there was not enough cash to go round. In this situation, the African countries were the weakest. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank then stepped in to prescribe Structural Adjustment Programmes which showed little understanding of the African reality. The result was an appreciable decline in foreign investment in Africa which itself resulted in a further dearth of cash for investment and for development. Other important benchmarks for globalization in several aspects of its contemporary manifestation are Ted Turner’s founding in the 1980s of CNN International and the general burgeoning of Communication and Information Technologies (CITs), the Fall of the Berlin Wall, the Gulf War of 1991 with the attendant new world order (a.k.a. American hegemony) which George Bush proclaimed at the end of the war, and the rise in the profile of the UN as peacekeeper. Africa and Globaliztion From the African point of view, this process by which the world is turning more and more into "a single place" dates back to pre-colonial times when groups began to interact with each other either to trade or to engage in battle with each other in search of slaves. Two well-known historical processes — the missionary movements of the various religions and colonization — have until recently contributed, more than any other phenomenon, to draw Africa into the global single place. The founding of Islam in the seventh century and the global unfolding of an Islamic civilization attendant on that event had far-reaching effects on Africa. The founding of Islam quickly drew North and West Africa into the New World which was being established by the new faith. As Peter Clarke notes, not long after the Arabs had overrun North Africa in the first half of the eighth century, "the Ummayad rulers began organizing military expeditions and slave raids into the Southern regions of Morocco and as far south as the boundaries of ancient Ghana" (Clarke, 1982, p. 8). Apart from the faith itself, this contact brought the Arabic way of life to Africa. This Arab colonialism is very evident, especially in those parts of Africa with substantial Muslim populations, in the modes of dressing, art and the influence of Arabic on local languages. In much of these places, even today, to speak Arabic is to belong to the civilized élite. This is understandable considering that Arabic is believed by Muslims to be God’s own language since "the very sounds of the language are believed to originate in heaven" (Sanneh, 1989, p. 212). Like its Islamic counterpart, the Christian missionary movement which started soon after the death of Christ has been a major force for globalization. Africa, as is well known, received the faith early and became a major arena in which the new faith developed strong theological and other characteristics. The various waves of colonial incursions into Africa both from across the North of the continent and from the sea have been decisive in making Africa part of a single world — a single world built up by Europeans and Arabs for their own interests. European colonization began at different times on the continent and followed the earlier Arab one which happened in the guise of religious proselytization. In all, these colonial incursions spread disasters on Africa: social dislocation, depopulation, uprooting of peoples and the enslavement of Africans. The incorporation (absorption) of Africa into the so-called global system has hardly ever been to the benefit of the continent or even with her active participation. And, contrary to the positions of some African Muslim writers, the Arab world has been as much a part of Africa’s colonial masters as have Europeans. Ali Mazrui in his book, The Africans: A Triple Heritage, seems to imply that Islam and its attendant Pan-Arabist outlook are actually African. In this way he tries to show that the imposition of Arab culture on various indigenous people in many parts of Africa is in fact no imposition at all. It was only the expansion of an African heritage and outlook to other parts of Africa. Finally, what was true of Africa then is even more true today. In the words of the Bishops’ Synod on Africa, "In a world controlled by rich and powerful nations, Africa has practically become an irrelevant appendix, often forgotten and neglected" (John Paul II, Ecclesia in Africa, 1995, n. 40). I have been asked to speak for 10 minutes on "African aspects of emerging alternatives to globalization". I have chosen five examples, one each from the areas of economics, culture, regional initiatives, religion and local identities/ecology to show some ways African people are reacting to the various global forces which influence their lives today. Africa is a very vast place. I do not pretend to know what is happening in all of the continent. My examples therefore come from Nigeria and West Africa. 1. The Example of Nnewi Nnewi (population 130,000) which is located about 22 km. South East of Onitsha in Anambra State, Nigeria, is a good example of an emerging alternative to the economic situation in which Nigeria like many other developing nations, finds itself as a result of global forces. As in most African countries south of the Sahara desert, this situation is characterized by the intervention of the IMF with its Structural Adjustment Programmes, the absence of foreign capital and the reluctance to invest in the Nigerian market for various reasons. The effect of these and other factors has been a drawn-out economic depression. Nnewi is one of the examples where people have striven to find homegrown alternatives to the prevailing economic situation. A report of a workshop on "Alternative Development Strategies in Africa" organized by the Queen Elizabeth House in Oxford in 1989 and published in 1990 as part of Development Studies Working Papers makes a point of showing how Nigerian business people are striving to pull their country out of very difficult odds in the face of the global market-place. This report singles out Nnewi for particular mention: Over the last decade the town of Nnewi has experienced relatively rapid industrialization. About 20 medium to large scale industries have been established across a variety of sectors. Since the end of the civil war in 1970, Nnewi locals have controlled some 80-90 per cent of the motor-parts trade in Nigeria. Nnewi’s Nkwo market is the major import and wholesale point for motor spare parts in Nigeria.... The trade has proved a formidable generator of wealth and a major spur to industrialization (DSWP, 1990, p. 28). This industrialization of Nnewi is interesting because it is "entirely the product of private initiative and does not involve foreign investment" (DSWP, p. 29). Without the constraints which go with foreign capital and the selfishness and the short-sightedness of multinational corporations there is an attempt at Nnewi and other such centres around Nigeria to weather the negative effects of being pulled into a global market-place entirely on the conditions of other people. The industrialists of Nnewi are adapting foreign technology to local needs, providing employment to thousands and goods and services which are relevant to the people’s actual needs. 2. Language and cultural Renaissance Language is one of the most effective tools of globalization. The so-called languages of modernity (mostly European languages) have helped carry ideas beyond national borders. English has become the preferred language of communication among various people of the world. It is playing the role which Latin once played for the world of Mediaeval Europe. Language is also as insidious a tool of globalization as of colonization. I am Igbo whose ancestors were colonized by the British. One of the tragic situations people like myself — colonized persons — find ourselves in is that we run the risk of being bastard Igbos and not Englishmen at all. I sometimes think in a very confused manner as I struggle to give each of the languages I inherited the chance to conceptualize reality for me. Language is a carrier of the world, as Gadamer stated along ago. It is bound up inextricably with traditions and cultures, the very bases on which people make sense of all reality. Interfere with a people’s language and you create confusion in their world, in their very self-understanding. There are currently among the Igbo of Nigeria, some interesting moves towards re-appropriation of the Igbo language, culture and religious values. In 1979, the Government of Imo State instituted the Ahiajoku Lectures aimed, among other things, "at defining aspects of Igbo culture and relating them to the corpus of Nigerian cultures as well as to the African and world civilization". Interestingly, the first of these annual lectures given by Prof. M.J.C. Echeruo was titled: A Matter of Identity. From a general stress on culture there is now a particular emphasis on the language with a view to freeing the people from some of the effects of the premier language of globalization — English. One such effort is the Odenigbo Lectures instituted by the Catholic Archbishop of Owerri, Archbishop Anthony Obinna. This annual event brings Igbo speaking Christians together. The lectures are delivered in Igbo on an aspect of the Christian faith that is pertinent to the lives of the people. This year, organizers got some radio stations to broadcast what turned out to be a four-hour marathon lecture. From all over Igbo land, in markets, at home and from car radios people tuned into and listened to theological material which would otherwise have been inaccessible to them. There is a certain feeling in the air that the faith can indeed speak to people in their own idioms. There is no indication yet that the audiences of either Ahiajoku or Odenigbo are about to abandon the English language soon. To survive in a global culture the way it is now, they need to be able to interact with others in English as well. However, they want to do so not as pseudo English persons but as Africans who know their roots, who can speak their language and who are aware of what contributions they have made and can still make to general human flourishing. 3. African Revolts from Globalizing Religions Organized religions like Christianity and Islam are extraordinary potent forces of globalization. The proliferation in Africa of various types of Christianity other than the ones which the European missionaries brought with them very early before Pentecostalism caught on world-wide, was clearly a revolt from the overpowering globalizing effects of the mainline Christian churches. As R. Ikenga Ozigbo notes concerning the first splinter groups now known as African Independent churches, these first churches were styled "African" to emphasize that Africans were in total administrative control of them. The name "symbolized the effective African revolt against European guidance; against European religious domination; against European funds and paternalism" (Ozigbo, 1997, p. 2). The main-line Christian Churches have in some ways become unwieldy transnational giants. Their global interest sometimes so overruns their particular mission that people are forced to search for alternative structures which can answer their particular and local needs. As Chris Ukachukwu Manus points out, one major challenge of the New Religious Movements to the older churches is to find time to address particular issues: The major challenge of [the New Religious Movements] is that the mainline churches, especially the Catholic Church, are much more engrossed in the universal and the international involvements (sic) of their churches than in the local realities which unsettle churchgoers in Nigeria. It is the political, economic and other social problems Nigerians encounter in their daily lives which have allured and endeared many Nigerians to the alternative world-view of the New Religious Movements (Manus, 1997, p.11). The alterations which appeal to these persons include, for example, a more flexible type of church order and administration than obtains in the mainline churches, more flexible modes of worship, greater liberty in theological exploration and expression and less centralized bureaucracy. Apropos of the question of the exercise of authority and power, the African Independent Churches have tended from their very beginning to be more inclusive. As Ozigbo notes of the Aladura Movement: the Alandua ministry does not discriminate on the basis of sex and gender. Male or female prophet and visionary may found a church or hold any office. Anyone can preach or be ordained to any ministry — bishop, priest, deacon or deaconess, apostle, evangelist, etc. (Ozigbo, 1997, p. 9). 4. Regional Cooperation Another example of an emerging alterative to globalization can be found in the area of regional cooperation. Africa’s dependence on global institutions for solving its problems is now legendary. We need the UN perhaps more than any other continent to keep peace, provide relief assistance to starving populations, settle regional conflicts, resettle our refugees and displaced persons, etc. In recent times within West Africa the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and its military command structure (ECOMOG) have stepped up efforts to find alternatives to Africa’s dependence on the global community for solutions to regional conflicts. ECOMOG has been able to get the various factions in the Liberian civil war to accept a negotiated settlement to their crisis. At a recent meeting in Togo, the leaders of ECOWAS resolved to set up a permanent military structure which would serve as a rapid deployment force for peace-keeping in the region. The organization has also managed to convince the military junta in Sierra Leone to hand power back to the duly elected Government of that country which was overthrown earlier in 1997. The achievement of ECOWAS in other areas is also noteworthy. The relatively easy movement of peoples and goods within the sub-region, the relative peace which this region enjoys due to the quick and rather successful mediating role of the organization in disputes between member nations of ECOWAS is partly to be credited to it. ECOWAS is not yet the success story it could be. However it holds a lot of promise as an alternative to too much outside involvement in the West African Sub-region. 5. Ogoni People vs Shell The
killing of novelist/playwright, Ken Saro-Wiwa by the Nigerian government
in 1995 is still fresh in our memories. Although the government has
tried to pass it off as a judicial execution of a convicted murderer,
the real story behind that event is mostly ecological and economic.
Much before ecology became an issue, the Ogoni community in the Delta
area had been trying to draw attention to the destruction of the land
and water around that part of Nigeria by the big oil companies, notably
Shell Oil. Shell had a record of reckless behaviour in the area. It
polluted the waters with oil and left hundreds of abandoned wells scattered
all over in the people’s backyards and farmlands. Shell and other
oil companies gave little back to the communities from where they were
making all the money. A visitor to any of the big oil towns in the Delta
region can still see all around what are misleadingly known as Shell
camps. In some locations there are massive expanses of unimaginably
poor habitations. The Shell camps are the embodiments of opulence as
can only be found in very rich neighbourhoods in Europe and North America.
It beats the imagination how these people can be neighbours to the worst
slums in Warri, for example, and sleep in peace within their high walls
and maximum security. Conclusion Globalization is an indubitable fact. The world is certainly more a single place than it was 50 years ago. This raises a number of questions. One is the issue of how this oneness is being achieved, that is, the question of the form and structure of the emerging global society. This question is not yet being adequately addressed perhaps because no one knows the answer or perhaps because the structure has already been determined by agreement among the same groups whose historical actions — colonization and slavery — have been responsible for keeping Africa away from serious participation in the process of determining the shape of the global future. Africa’s reaction to globalization is ambiguous. Africans embrace the change that is forcing itself on them sometimes with open arms and sometimes with deep suspicion. This ambiguity stems from a perception that there are questionable gains from inclusion in a global area (not unlike the trinkets the slave masters gave some of our African ancestors in exchange for some of our best manhood and womenfolk as slaves) as well as the feeling that the carpet is being pulled from under their African feet. Many Africans harbour a deep distrust of the outside world, especially the West. Their feeling was captured by Jomo Kenyetta in his famous assertion that when the Whiteman came to Africa he asked us to close our eyes and pray. Before we could open our eyes he had made away with our land. The five examples I have mentioned as alternatives are some examples of the way some educated Africans are leading the search for homegrown answers to Africa’s problems. The picture is far from comprehensive. I did not mention, for example, the efforts the academic and the ecclesial communities are making to create alternatives to unfavourable global pulls. There is a considerable attempt to do theology not from a so-called universal point but from a context that is specifically African. Each year, the Spiritan International School of Theology, Enugu, organizes a symposium with the specific aim of addressing local issues. We had sessions on Healing and Exorcism, Human Rights, Church Structure and Organization in Africa, etc. The highlight was the 1996 International Congress on mission which grew out of the concern for the question people had about the future of the mission in Africa after the Rwandan débâcle in 1994. SIST is not alone in this search. Many centres and theologians, social scientists and philosophers are also engaged in these searches for alternatives to foreign solutions to Africa’s problems. Africa is certainly too weak and too fragmented to rise up in massive revolt against the present global arrangement. However, there are pockets of intelligent reaction to a global arrangement which ignores Africa totally or considers it only a problem for humankind rather than an asset and a blessing. It has been said that the coming century belongs to Asia. Something tells me this is not the whole truth. The future belongs to Africa as well, in spite of the continent’s present difficulties. References CLARKE, Peter (1982). West Africa and Islam: A Study of Religious Development from the Eighth to the 20th Century. London: Edward Arnold Publishers. GIDDENS, Anthony (1990), The Consequences of Modernity, Standford, California: University Press. MANUS, Chris Uckachukwu (1997). "The Theological Presuppositions of The New Religious Movement in Nigeria (Unpublished paper presented at The Catholic Theological Association of Nigeria Convention, Enugu, Nigeria). MAZRUI, Ali A. (1986) The Africans: A Triple Heritage. London: BBC Publications. OZIGBO, Ikenga R.A. (1997). "A Century of New Religious Movements In Nigeria, 1888-1990 (Unpublished paper Presented at the Catholic Association of Nigeria Convention, Enugu, Nigeria). JOHN PAUL II (1995). Ecclesia in Africa. Vatican City: Vatican Polyglot Press. ROBERTSON, Roland and William R. GARRETT, eds. (1991). "Globalization, Modernization and Postmodernization: The Ambiguous Position of Religion", in Religious and Global Order: Religion and the Political Order, vol. iv. New York: Paragaon House Publishers. SANNEH, Lamin (1989). Translating the Message: The Missionary Impact on Culture, Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books. Anonymous (1989). Development Studies Working Papers (DSWP), Oxford: Queen Elizabeth House. Ref.: Vidyajyoti, Vol. 63, n. 7, July 1999.
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