Solidarity is ‘Western’ for Ubuntu/Unhu
Filed under: How Zimbabwe can be better, Spirituality for such a time, Zimbabwean diaries
In my culture, when someone asks ‘how you slept and woke up’ in the morning, you respond ‘ndamuka kana mamukawo’ meaning ‘I woke up well if you did too’. This is an acknowledgement of the existence of other beings around you.
You acknowledge other people because they are part of you and you are part of them. It is an acknowledgement of the importance of life apart from one’s own and it is a profession of love and respect for what surrounds you. In other words you stand in solidarity with others by the way you respond to those around you. I believe I do not have a choice for who is around me and who to respect and this makes everyone and their existence important. This is not something I strive to be, it is what makes me proud to be Zimbabwean and African and it is what I am. That we grow up living in solidarity, believing in solidarity and paying solidarity to each other without thinking about it. ‘I am, because you are, because we are!’ We are one whole and one body
Archbishop Desmond Tutu (1999) aptly explains ubuntu as follows:
‘A person with Ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed’
There was nothing ubuntu about the Zimbabwean government letting people’s homes get burnt, blocking food aid to the people and burning their meager stocks of food in the name of an undeclared war against its own people. To then send the army after the fact to rebuilt homes is adding salt to the wound on a body that’s already ‘one big wound’.
There was nothing ubuntu about a government that let thugs, thieves, murderers and all manner of evil take over Zimbabwe for almost three months while they pretended not to know who was doing it. The UN, diplomats, NGOs and the victims all pointed the finger at the same culprit but still there was ‘no crisis!’
There was nothing ubuntu about letting thugs rape women young and old, cut off limbs and veins to ‘reeducate’ voters, drop burning plastics on bodies while Mugabe pretended not to know. Whatever war was being fought was definitely of no benefit to ubuntu because it was killing it.
There was nothing ubuntu about neighbouring leaders who knew of this happening to their Zimbabwean neighbours but still turned a blind eye.
There was and is nothing ubuntu about Africans and ‘academics’ supporting Mugabe when they know the same wound will fester and become a contagious disease that they will catch. It is actually irresponsible and dangerous. It is tantamount to forgetting who you are!
The body that we are as a whole remains and what Mugabe and his people did to us has affected him and has affected Mbeki. No matter how far you separate yourself from the whole as a president, army general, minister or political party you will never be immune to the troubles of the whole. It is African that we stand together and if we do not we will be affected by different sides of the same troubles. You burn my house, burn my food and your lifeline shall be cut off by the same sword. I read today that ZANU PF is broke and surviving on credit lines. Two weeks ago, traditional chiefs distanced themselves from rosy reports about food distribution in Zimbabwe and called the government’s bluff. Now there is a chance that ZANU PF may not have access to state funds through the Ministry of Finance.
It is African to respect to be respected, to support to be supported. The line was crossed and there is no turning back. We can only continue by standing solidly together and knowing that our actions affect all around us. The world is a great resource for the power of solidarity/ubuntu. From Hitler, to global warming, to terrorism. You may not experience the bomb blast in Pakistan but when you hear of it, it will affect your world and it changes as a result. As they say about solidarity, its about taking sides with the oppressed, humiliated and tortured. It’s about standing for what’s right because it is important for the global body that this balance is maintained. I believe Solidarity is Western for Ubuntu and Ubuntu is Southern African for Solidarity.
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The concept of ubuntu is interesting but I’m not sure I quite get it. I fell there is a bit of a disconnect between what the scholars tell us about it and what we (I) experience. I also ‘belong’ to that culture were people use that greeting in the morning but I get the feeling that we are just as driven by self preservation & interest pretty much like any other human being I know, which might explain why there are so many ‘it’s not ubuntu’ moments out here. Desmond Tutu says ubuntu is our gift to the world. I suppose it’s a gift we also need to give to ourselves
*feel
Yes, there is a lot of ‘its not ubuntu’ moments but there is a spiritual level at which ubuntu cannot be something we give ourselves. I am saying there are strong elements of natural justice beyond our reach in ubuntu that no ’self preservation and interest’ can escape.
I am equally learning about who I am and what it all means, as you are but I have seen too much of ‘what goes around comes around’ happening not to pay attention.