The word 'Globalization' is not something new in our ears, it has rather becomes the buzzword of today,cultures and economies of the first, second and the third world countries are being increasingly integrated as new technology and communication has brought people from all walks of life together. We often hear the phrase that the 'world has become a global village which signifies uniformity in cultural, economic and political practices of people all over the world.
The phenomenon called globalization, has brought new dimensions to this world, and people are interacting with each other like never before. The social, economic, and political changes that globalization has brought have been accompanied by some challenges.
In this piece we are going to look at how the challenges that accompanied this has affected the African Spirit Of Ubuntu.
Ubuntu is an ancient African word which means ‘humanity to others’. It also mean ‘I am what I am because of who we all are. It could also mean behaving well towards others or acting in ways that benefit the community. Such acts could be as simple as helping a stranger in need. Ubuntu is a South African word that explains the bonds that holds and strengthen inhabitants of a community together in all over Africa.
The Spirit of Ubuntu says you are who you are because of your interaction with the community around you, if the community thrives then you will thrive.
Stanlake J.W.T Samkange defines the three main maxim’s of Ubuntu as follows:
1. “To be human is to affirm one's humanity by recognizing the humanity of others and, on that basis, establish respectful human relations with them.”
This idea is also supported by a verse from the bible that says 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."
This with no ambiguity means you can’t exist as a human being in isolation. It speaks about our interconnectedness as inhabitants of each and every human society. Since the introduction of democracy into political system of Africans we tend to think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas we are connected with the great spirit of Ubuntu and what an individual do affects the whole society. When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of society.
2. “If and when one is faced with a decisive choice between wealth and the preservation of the life of another human being, then one should opt for the preservation of life.”
The above maxim of Samkange’s explanation of ubuntu means that the love of wealth and luxuries should not be prioritized, on no conditions the love for wealth should supersede the love of human lives, because the love of wealth only gives rooms to greed and self centeredness which is not healthy for the development of any society. Those at the helm of affairs in most African societies who are what they are today because of the selfless leaders we had in the past have chosen the path of wealth above the path of our past heroes whom believed in the preservation of the life of another human being.
3. “The king owes his status, including all the powers associated with it, to the will of the people under him.” This, Samkange said, was a “principle deeply embedded in traditional African political philosophy.”
The above maxim means, in an Ubuntu society the king is a servant leader, he put the interest of his people above his, he is not a self-centered leader, he feels the plight of his subjects as he gives them listening ears and he is a person with good sense of empathy. Kings of all Ubuntu society displays the aforementioned qualities because they know and understand that they are kings because their subjects want them to, not because they are too powerful to be dethroned. All these are seriously phasing out due to the modern political system called democracy which is also part of globalization.
I think most of us can agree with me that there is something wrong with the phenomenon called globalization, because we all have seen a decline in the social fabric that kept communities of Africa together. I remember as a child and staying in one of the villages in Nigeria, members of a family or villages who are in great existential difficulties will not be left alone, somebody will be there to help or to show a way out of the predicament. Among the members of the extended families and villages, mutual help was and is a widespread trait of social life in my village and all over African societies.
In this regard Nyasani quotes from the book of E.A. Ruch from South Africa and K.C Anyanwu from Nigeria on African philosophy (Nyasani 1981: 143):
The whole African society, living and living-dead, is a living network of relations almost like that between the various parts of an organism. When one part of the body is sick the whole body is affected. When one member of a family or clan is honoured or successful, the whole group rejoices and shares in the glory, not only psychologically (as one would rejoice when the local soccer team has won a match), but ontologically: each member of the group is really part of the honour.
Globalization accompanied with a new ways of life had destroyed all the good networks of relationship among Africans.
Another aspect of communal networks that globalization has destroyed is the one that goes with the popular saying that says "It Takes A Village to Raise a Child" which means that a child doesn't belong to his or her parents alone, every member of the society is responsible in bringing up the child morally, socially and otherwise. Every African of my age will agree with me that the good old days have gone, when a child could be disciplined by any members of the society whenever he or she does anything wrong or goes contrary to the norms of the society.
Globalization has made every household changed into a mini island state, hell bend on keeping to itself.
The first and foremost problem when we are talking about the African spirit of Ubuntu is that the supportive community of our grandparents day, the village, the neighborhood, that place where people looked out for each other and supported each other, where they shared joys and sorrows, good times and bad times, in many places is no more. It has gone the way of the gaslight, the horse. And we're paying a really big price for that loss.
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