Africa: Facing Human Security Challenges in the 21st Century

Chapter 11 - Community Security

409 Chapter 11 Community Security Overview One of the social effects of capitalist individualism is the destruction of community security. Colonial capitalism in Africa destroyed almost all non-economic or non-profit-related values and replaced these with a mere “cash nexus”. It made the market and therefore considerations of monetary profit and loss the sole criteria of value, action and exchange. For instance in pre-colonial Africa, whether or not one would work for another or buy or sell something depended on many important moral and religious and traditional rules and values, not on the prospects for personal economic gain. The development of capitalism tore most of these considerations away and made the question of economic advantage the sole criterion. Hence, it became acceptable to buy and sell labor and land. Today the market and the capitalist’s need for mobile workers has broken the strong emotional bonds individuals used to have to places, groups, people and traditions, and have contributed to a decline of community security. The individual now typically exists as an unattached social atom in “mass society”, without strong emotional commitments and social bonds. Hence the incidences of anxiety, loneliness, individual and family breakdown, suicide, crime, alcoholism, etc., are rife. In other words, contemporary capitalism has turned almost all things into commodities for sale, especially labor. Labor, land and money were not commodities for sale in precolonial Africa. One can now talk of personalities, behavior and education as commodities. Salesmen sell their personalities and behaviors to employers who use these to get people to buy their products. The quality of a society depends primarily on its nonmaterial and non-cash relations, so we should be concerned about the increasing commercialization with its attendant insecurity within African communities. This chapter has benefited enormously from 410 prolific authors such as B. Ray, F.A. Arinze, C.I. Ejizu, J.S. Mbiti, E.Ikenga-Metuh, C. Gaba and A. Shorter, among others. In fact, I have virtually regurgitated them. Background to African Community In traditional Africa each community was founded by an ancestor or group of ancestors who also established the basic social institutions in the community. Future development of the society had therefore to be established on the basic charter already mapped out by the ancestors so as not to endanger the linkage between the dead (ancestor) and the living. Furthermore, as a result of the concern for continuity in traditional African society, history (as the past is seen as a very crucial issue that possessed a perpetual significance for the present) performs some functions in the society. History is used to define the origin and corporate existence of groups or communities. It is only through history that some knowledge of the lineage, group or community, or achievements of heroes and villain is preserved. History is further used as a means of keeping the society together and to sustain the inter-group roles. History serves as a guide to knowledge on issues like the structure of political authority, kinship ties, and structure of Chieftaincy title. For example, people resort to history as an arbiter in cases of rival claims of ownership of land, chieftaincy ascendancy, etc. (Elaigwu 2005). History is used to also inculcate sound morals into people. The deed of past heroes is cited as immutable examples while faults of villains are also singled out as pitfalls to be avoided by members of the society. Historical examples are also cited as authority to justify specific stands on moral issues. For example, thou shall not steal, kill nor covert thy neighbor’s wife in the Bible and other similar injunctions in the Holy Quran. History is also used to boost the morale of the society and to safeguard its communal mental security. Important episodes and glorious achievements of the past were related or re-enacted in the form of festivals so as to make the people proud of their heritage. An example of such festivals is the Aliekwu deity among the Otukpos commemorating the deeds of ancestors, while unpleasant episodes of the past like defeat in wars 411 are de-emphasized and most times removed from the people’s oral or written traditions (Odaudu 2006). The sense of secure community and humane living are therefore highly cherished values of traditional African life. This statement remains true in spite of the apparent disarray in the experience of modern politics and brutal internecine wars in many parts of...