Emerging from Aborted Liberations for a Free and United Africa: [None]

By Joseph Habamahirwe

The book "Emerging from Aborted Liberations for a Free and United Africa" is a translation of the French work "Sortir des libérations avortées pour une Afrique libre et unie" by Joseph Habamahirwe. 

It is a careful and thoughtful analysis of the many problems that the African continent and its peoples are still facing after more than 50 years of independence from direct colonial rule. 

It is a work of liberation theology and the author has been particularly influenced by the late African Sociologist and theologian Jean-Marc Ela. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: BadPress
• Release date: Jun 2, 2020
• ISBN: 9781071545003

Book preview

Emerging from Aborted Liberations for a Free and United Africa

Joseph Habamahirwe

––––––––

Translated by Robert E Anderson 

Emerging from Aborted Liberations for a Free and United Africa

Written By Joseph Habamahirwe

Copyright © 2020 Joseph Habamahirwe

All rights reserved

Distributed by Babelcube, Inc.

www.babelcube.com

Translated by Robert E Anderson

Cover Design © 2020 www.ingimage.com

Babelcube Books and Babelcube are trademarks of Babelcube Inc.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

DEDICATION

EXPRESSION OF THANKS

ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS

FOREWORD

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1

HIGHLIGHTS OF JEAN-MARC ELA'S THOUGHT

Partial introduction

The social significance of the Gospel

The Church confronting the relationship between the West and Africa

Theology and ecological questions

Rationality at the service of liberation

Faith and reality

Social implications of the Eucharist

The spirituality of liberation

Relations between Rome and the local Churches

Partial conclusion

Chapter 2

SOME CONCRETE IMPLICATIONS

Partial introduction

Failures of liberation and independence in Africa

The Church confronting dictatorship in Africa

The Church in the face of material poverty

The liberation of local Churches

Ecological misery

Education in environmental protection

Local and national initiatives

Promotion of peace

Waste management

Reduction of poverty

Partial conclusion

GENERAL CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

DEDICATION

I dedicate this work to all those who fight for the dignity and the rights of the human being.

EXPRESSION OF THANKS

Fraternal thanks to:

● Mr. Emmy Arsonval MANIRIHO

● Mr. MASENGO Edouard

● Fr. Gustave NSENGIYUMVA, O.P.

● Prof. Éloi Messi-Metogo, O.P. (of honored memory).

ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS

Chap. Chapter

DC Documentation Catholique

ETSC Saint-Cyprien Theological School

IMF International Monetary Fund

ISU UNESCO Institute for Statistics

DRC Democratic Republic of Congo

SCEAM Symposium of the Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar

UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

FOREWORD

The book you are reading presents problems that have absorbed me since 2012. It all started when I asked Father Éloi Messi-Metogo (of honored memory), a Dominican priest and at that time a professor at the Catholic University of Central Africa in Cameroon to lend me the book he had in his hands. This book was none other than Repenser la théologie africaine, le Dieu qui libère [Rethinking African Theology – The God Who Liberates] by Jean-Marc Ela.

Father Eloi lent me the book without hesitating. I read it carefully. After reading it, I decided to challenge received ideas and to think differently. Since then, I have been more attentive to the most serious questions that African reality poses for the Church.

These questions of an economic, political, cultural and religious nature do not date from today. You cannot write theology in Africa and for Africa by evading its questions. Thus, in order to speak to the African today, you must take into account what he experiences on a daily basis. Otherwise we are merely addressing the dead, those who are not yet born, or else strangers.

I am afraid of a church that is content to distribute the sacraments in a context in which the most basic human rights are trampled down and at a time when official speeches claim that Africa is moving in the right direction. This is a church that completely ignores its mission.

If the red martyrdom is not very common today, it is not because the world has become nicer than it was yesterday. Perhaps the Church is more careful today. Especially in Africa. It is not easy to distinguish between prudence, timidity, and fear in the African context.

Nor should we be content with merely denouncing injustice, exploitation, and oppression. This work seeks to draw the attention of the Church and of Christians to their contribution to the construction of a truly free and united Africa. It is also intended for decision-makers. I make no claim to providing ready-made and definitive answers.

I agree with the theology of liberation, knowing that no theology alone can provide answers to the problems that arise in the Black Continent. It is thus necessary to go beyond the useless quarrels between theologians, which consist of creating conflicts between various theological currents, as if these currents were political parties. It seems to me that what is most important is the Glory of God and the salvation of the world. A theology that does not take human beings and their concrete everyday problems as its priority is not a theology at all.

In this book, I choose to reflect on the period starting from independence, especially in the second part. Independence had raised great hopes for the political, economic, social and cultural development of the African people([1]). What has happened to Africa after more than 50 years? This question will be the subject of my reflections, too. I am aware that we must be careful not to make hasty generalizations, especially since Africa is a large continent, with more than 50 countries.

Unfortunately, what the African bishops said more than 20 years ago is still valid. They said:

The common situation is, without a doubt, the fact that Africa is saturated with problems: in almost all of our nations, there is appalling misery, mismanagement of the scarce resources available, political instability, and social disorientation"([2]).

These realities continue to make our continent an unimportant appendage([3]). For the Synod Fathers, present-day Africa can be compared to the man who came down from Jerusalem to Jericho; he fell into the hands of robbers who stripped him, robbed him of his goods and left, leaving him half dead (See Luke 10:30-37)([4]). To do this, the Good Samaritan is any man and any woman capable of making his or her contribution to raise up this continent.

I refuse to force a naive optimism that consists in believing that Africa is doing well in a context in which castles nevertheless still rise, and oppression, poverty and corruption also rise, in certain cities. However, it is important to not be discouraged. The determination and courage of the sons and daughters of this continent, inspired and driven by the force of the Gospel, can contribute to the construction of a free and united Africa.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

This work seeks to reflect on some of the realities that prevent Africa from rising, while proposing possible solutions in order to build a truly free and united Africa. It is a contribution to the liberation of the African continent. I chose to reflect in the light of the theologian and sociologist Jean-Marc Ela. I will be focusing on his main work, "Repenser la théologie africaine, le Dieu qui libère" [Rethinking African Theology – The God