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GPD Stacks(LC) GPD DT 3042 .K386 1971 GOVT PUZLS DEPT A GPD 6.2 0 G - 1 UDVOLT HUMANISM IN ZAMBIA AND A GUIDE TO ITS IMPLEMENTATION by His Excellency Dr. K. D. Kaunda President of the Republic of Zambia PUBLISHED BY ZAMBIA INFORMATION SERVICES AND PRINTED BY THE GOVERNMENT PRINTER, LUSAKA 100m - Y514 4-68 HUMANISM IN ZAMBIA GPD DT 3042 K386 1971 PREAMBLE The art ofcolonisation, ifitistosucceed, meansa colonisersees toit that the victim is not only colonised politically, but also economically and culturally. This being the case, the act of political independence forms but the first part of the process ofdecolonisation. This process is a very long one. Perhaps itisnot possible to complete it inone generation, for it does notonly require careful thought and planning, butalsoa lotofmaterial, humanandother. wise,tobringitabout. In many ways it is even more difficult than the attainment of political in. dependence. All the same, time does come for leaders ofany given revolution, if they know what theyare doing, to think ofstarting to remould their society. For only by so doing would they profit from the wisdom and values of their forefathers. Ofcourse, it would be wrong to do this with closed minds, for while there is plentyofgood that Africa is justly proud ofin itsset-upofa mutual aid society a society in which people worked co-operatively and collectively without losing the identityofthe individual for whose benefit and in whose nameall was done one has got to understand and appreciate that the powerful forces from the West which have been aggressively shattering in their individualistic, competitive and possessive approach, have had serious and grave consequences on the African society. Indeed, even thegood sideoflifefrom the West has had itsown effectson the African society which we can only ignoreatourown peril. Onecan think ofscience and technology and health facilities which are fast increasing Africa's population, after the devastating slave trade. One can think, too, of the industrialisation process, modern agricultural techniques as well as all other complexities brought about in the wake ofthese contacts with the West. Now during the hazardous road to political independence, we recognised the fact that Africa was going to be one ofthe biggest, ifnot the biggest battleground for this century's ideological battles. As is well known, the present-day ideological differences are based on certain economic and political theories and practices. Putting it verysimply, one would say it wasa question ofwhoowned or controlled the means ofcreating and distributing wealth in any given nation. In other words, is it the State or individuals who are to own the means of creating wealth, or is it both, and if it is both, in what proportions? After this how fair is the distribution ofthis wealth and, indeed, what methods are used to distribute it in any given nation? This is a key point, for if the distribution of wealth is not done properly, it might lead to the creation of classes in society and the much-valued humanist approach that is traditional and inherent in our African society would have suffered a final blow. Ifthis happened the world as a whole, and Africa in particu. a lar, would be all the poorer by it. For you would then have the ‘haves' and the 'have-nots'. Politically you would be creating room for opposing parties based on ‘theoppressed'and 'theoppressor'conceptwhich again would notbein keeping with the society described above; a society in which the Chief as an elected or appointed leader of the people held national property like land in trust for the people, and he was fullyawarethat hewasresponsibletothem. Heknew, too, that his continuing to be their head depended on his people's will. 3 ! 1 ! 1 The African societywasprogressiveandhuman. Thepresent generation with its responsibilities of taking care of the past traditions, remoulding the present to prepare for the future generations, would do well to bear thisin mindin all its political,economic,socialandculturalactivities. The question we must now address ourselves to is, in what respect and how much willit benecessarytochangeourtraditional Africansocietyandreconstruct it as it emerges from a non-money to a money status. We will have to take into consideration the impact the use ofmoney has made on our society. Economists will tell us that the use of money pre-supposes exchange and exchange pre supposes specialisation and these three are inseparably linked in a self-generating process. It is a well-known fact that as the money economy expands, such as it isfastdoinginZambia, Governmentisbeingforcedtopushpeopletobcecomemore and more specialised in various fields; and as the people beome more and more specialised they are becoming more andmoreeffectiveintheirfields and,allother factors beingequal,themoneyeconomywillexpand. Now we must ask again what effects will persistently increasing levels of specialisation have on our much valued traditional society in our country. This field of specialisation drives people to resort to new groups in society. In other words, people with common interests group together, partly because of the communityoftheirinterestsandpartly asthe meansofpromotingandprotecting the welfare of their group. For example, a carpenter will find his own interests are not the same as those of the plasterer. The factory worker finds that his interests differ from those of the commercial farmer. The teacher finds that his interests differ from those of the mineworker. And so the whole list of different interests can be outlined. The point is, all this gives birth to a new disintegrative tendency. This, as can be seen, cuts right across the traditional society which has been described above as a mutual aid society which was an accepting and in clusivecommunity. What has been outlinedin ourimmediateprecedingparagraphsshowsclearly thatwewillhavetofindanswersastimegoesontothefollowingpoints: (1) in what respect the advent ofa money economy will result in changes inthetraditionalsocietyandsocialstructure; (2) whether it is desirable that these structural changes be checked either inpartor in fulland ifso ; (3) whether it is possible through policies implemented by Government to imposethedesired checkswithoutalsocheckingthegrowthofspecialisa tionandofmaterialwealthforourpeople. Finally, the introductory part must end with a warning. Whatever changes take place in our society, whateversacrifices are made or are urged on individuals to make, by the Party and Government, in our task of fighting to preserve the Man-centred society, we must remember that it is people above ideology; Man above institutions. We must continuously refuse to slavishly tie men toanything. Society isthere becauseofMan.Wechoosethehardwayofcontinuallyexperiment ing on ourgenerally agreed path, ready to learn from anyone from any part ofthe world according toour agreed principles. In other words, whatever weundertake 1 to do we have got to remember that it is Man that is the centre of all human i activity. al ba 4 Chapter I ZAMBIAN IDEOLOGY IS HUMANISM PART ONE In its task ofdefining Humanism the Party will obviously have to be guided first by what it has declared it believes in, and secondly. by what it has core in the last three years of independence -action and not just fine words. Thurdly, our Humanism must be understood against the background of what we know to have been the way of life enjoyed by our forefathers. We must begin now with ananalysis ofthe type ofsociety enjoyed by them . PART TWO Let us deal with the third point in Part One first. There is no doubt at all thatthegreatest blessing bestowed on Africa, ifone can generalise, is that we have always had a gift forManenjoyingthe fellowship ofMan simply because heisMan. This is at the heart of our traditional culture. With the advent of independence the possibilityexists ofextendingthescaleofourdiscovery by example to the rest ofthe world. We have held, and we still hold, that Africa's gift to world culture must be in the field of Human Relations. It might be mentioned in passing,therefore, that tothisextentwe havetalkedofestablishingachairin Human Relationsas against a just race relations, at the University of Zambia. Human Relations is a subject muchwiderinitscoveragethan thelatter. The traditional community was a mutual aid society. It was organised to satisfy the basic human needs ofall its members and, therefore, individualism was discouraged. Most resources, such as land, might be communally owned and administered by chiefs and village headmen for the benefit of everyone. If, for example, a villager requireda new hut, all the men would turn to forests and fetch poles to erect the frame and bring grass for thatching. The women might be responsibleformakingthemud-plasterforthe walls and two orthreeof them would undoubtedly brew some beer so that all the workers would be refreshed after a hot but satisfying day's work. In the same spirit, the able-bodied would accept responsibility fortendingand harvesting thegardensofthesick and infirm . Human need was the supreme criterion of behaviour. The hungry stranger could, without penalty, enter the garden ofa village and take,say, some peanuts, abunch ofbananas, a mealie cob ora cassavaplant root to satisfy his hunger. His action only became theft ifhe took more than was necessary to satisfy his needs. Forthenhewasdeprivingothers. Obviously, social harmony was a vital necessity in such a community where almost every activity was a matter of team work. Hence, chiefs and traditional elders had an important judicial and reconciliatory function. They adjudicated between conflicting parties, admonished the quarrelsome and anti-social and took whatever action was necessary to strengthen the fabric of social life. Mention must be made here of the fact that when any of these anti-social activities were punished, very often the punishment was heavy. It should be emphasised that thiswayoflife was nota kind ofidealisedsocial experimentsuch as may be found in Europe where groups ofpeople takethemselvesoffintopleasantrural surround ings in order to avoid the tensions of industrial society. Life in the bush is hard and dangerous and a high degree ofsocial cohesion is necessary for survival. The basicunitoflifeisnottheindividualorimmediatefamily(as in industrialsocieties), 5 but the community. This means that there must be fundamental agreement upon goalsandallmustacttogether. Forexample, when amarauding lion attacked, the menfolk went out to hunt the dangerous killer. Now the spirit of social cohesion was so much developed thatthose whowentouthadonlytheircommunity atheartandnottheirindividual lives. Theresultswerespectacular. In thesecond place, thetraditional community was an acceptingcommunity. It did not take account of failure in an absolute sense. The slow, the inept and 7 incapable were accepted as any other member in community life provided they weresociallyamenable. Social qualities weighed much heavier in the balance than individual achievement. The success-failure complex seems to be a disease of the age of individualism — the result of a society conditioned by the diploma, the examination and the selection procedure. In the best tribal society people were valued not for what they could achieve but because they were there. Their con tribution, however limited, to the material welfare of the village was acceptable, but it was their presence not theirachievement which wasappreciated. Take, for instance, the traditional African attitude to old people. Here it should be pointed out how horrified an African is, in most cases, on the first occasion ofhis acquaintance with the Western phenomenon ofold people's homes. The idea that the State or some voluntary agency should care for the aged was anathema to Africa, for it almost seems to imply that old people are a nuisance who must be kept out ofthe way so that children can live their lives unhampered by their presence. In traditional societies, old people are venerated and it is regarded as a privilege to look after them . Their counsel is sought on many matters and, however infirm they might be, they have a valued and constructive role to play in teaching and instructing their grandchildren. Indeed, to deny a grandparent the joy of the company of his grandchildren is a heinous sin. The fact that old people can no longer work, or are not as alert as they used to be, or even have developed the handicaps of senility in no way affects our regard for them. We cannot do enough to repay them for all they have done for us. They are the embodiment ofwisdom ; living symbols ofourcontinuity with the past.. No doubtadefenderofthe Westernand Eastern waysoflifemight retort that institutions for thecareofold peopleare inevitable in large-scale societiesand that but for the efforts of the State and voluntary agencies many old people would starve. This isundoubtedly true, but it merely serves to underline the point that in a society which regards person-to-person relationships as supremely important no one can be so isolated that responsibility for his welfare cannot be determined and assigned. The experts have all kinds of standards by which they judge the degree of civilisation of a people. In the African traditional society the test is this. How does that society treat its old people and, indeed, all its members who are not useful and productive in the narrowest sense? Judged by this standard, the so-called advanced societies have a lot to learn which the so-called backward societiescould teachthem. In the third place, the traditional community was an inclusive society. In other words, the web of relationships which involved some degree of mutual responsibility was widely spread. One could describe industrial society as an exclusive society because its members' responsibilities are often confined to the immediate family, and it may be noted that the family circle may be aself-entire a littleuniverse,preventingtheacceptanceofwidercommitments. 6