8.1. The Negro-African role in the Pan - human -
mobilism
The Negro-African race according to Senghor, acts as the
spearhead of evolution because the black man's contribution to the human
convergence should, on the basis of his traditional values, consist in forging
the unity of man and the world by linking the flesh to the spirit, man to
fellow man, the pebble to God, as he says:
K Le service nègre aura été de
contribuer avec d'autres peuples a refaire l'unité de l'Homme et du
Monde, a lier la chair a l'esprit, l'homme a son semblable, le caillou a Dieu ;
en d'autres termes, le réel au surréel - par l'Homme non pas
centre, mais charnière, mais nombril du monde. »I
The Negro-African's role in the human convergence is to lead
all the other races and cultures towards the Omega Point. This appears clearly
in Senghor's considerations of what is an ideal society, his insistence on the
communal dimension of love in the African setup and in the contrast he makes
between the African and the western world views.
8.1.1. The Ideal African Society
Senghor maintains that European society is primarily
differentiated from the African one in that the former is at best a
collectivist society that is bringing together into a collectivity a number of
individuals who remain individual persons in a society. Western man
distinguishes himself from the others and claims his autonomy to affirm himself
in his basic originality. Senghor contrasts with the African society:
I Leopold Sedar Senghor, Liberté I:
Négritude et Humanisme, Paris, I964, p.38. The ne gro's service has
been to join other peoples in rebuilding the unity of Man and the World, to
link the flesh with the spirit, man to his fellowman, the stone to God; in
other words, the real to the surreal - by Man not centre, but turning point or
navel of the world.
African society on the other hand is a community: the
African stresses more the solidarity of the group and the contributions and
needs of the individual persons. This is not to say that the African neglects
the individual person, but rather that he does not primarily conceive of the
person as a member of a kind of "mystical body" in which alone he can achieve
his full development, his originality and his total potential. Indeed, this
community goes beyond even the human members, since it involves a communion
with all beings in the universe: stones, plants, animals, men, dead (ancestors)
or alive, and God.1
Thus, while Karl MARX and other Marxists concern themselves
with the economic infrastructures, seen as a mechanical and material processes,
Senghor following Teilhard de Chardin, goes further into the roots of man's
development and therefore is capable of looking towards the future. For him,
the roots of man's development lie in the biological and psychological
dimension of man himself, not merely as an individual. This leads to a growth
in socialization for a better life by means of common search for the common
good.
In order to achieve this better life, there is need for the
dynamism of love. In this way, Senghor's ideal society is the African society,
a society not characterised by individualism as is the case in western
societies. The African family puts humanism at the centre of relationships.
Here, relations are on the basis of a natural need to live in a stabilised
family:
K Non seulement la famille est, chez les Negres, comme
ailleurs, la cellule sociale; mais encore la society est formée de
cercles concentriques de plus en plus larges, qui s'étagent les uns sur
les autres, imbriques les uns dans les autres, et formes sur le type même
de la famille. Plusieurs familles qui parlent le même dialecte et qui
sentent une origine commune forment une tribu ; plusieurs tribus qui parlent la
même langue et habitent le même pays peuvent constituer un royaume
: enfin plusieurs royaumes entrent, a leur tour, dans une confederation ou un
empire [...] C'est a l'etage de la tribu, plutot du royaume, que l'on peut
saisir, plus nettement, la
1 Léopold Sédar Senghor, in Ruch, E.,
(ed.), African Philosophy, Rome, 1981, p.233.
solution que le Negre a donnee aux problemes sociaux et
politiques. Solution qui a repondu, par avance, a cette K unite pluraliste
» qui reste l'ideal des humanistes d'aujourd'hui, de ceux du moins pour
qui l'humanisme n'est pas une sorte de vain divertissement ' d'honnete homme'
».I
The better life sought also depends on the way with which the
problem of work and ownership is handled. This is often the source of many
social problems. Every individual person must work in order to produce his own
goods, to find happiness from and through the work of his hands. The error of
capitalism, according to Senghor, does not lie on the existence of ownership or
propriety, necessary condition for man's development; rather, it lies on the
fact that in a capitalist society, ownership does not necessarily derive from
work. Again, the Negro society proves its worth because here, work is
considered as the only source of ownership. In effect, Senghor avers:
K Le vice de la societe capitaliste n'est pas dans
l'existence de la propriete, condition necessaire du developpement de la
personne; il est dans le fait que la propriete ne repose pas essentiellement
sur le travail. Or, dans la societe negre, K le travail, ou, plus exactement
peut-etre, l'action productive, est considere comme la seule source de
propriete que sur l'objet qu'il a produit ». Mais -- les critiques du
capitalisme l'ont souvent souligne -- la propriete ne peut qu'etre theorique si
les richesses naturelles et les moyens de production restent entre les mains de
quelques individus. La encore, le Negre avait resolu le probleme dans un sens
humaniste. Le sol, de meme que tout ce qu'il porte -- fleuves, rivieres,
forets, animaux, poissons -, est un bien commun, reparti entre les familles et
meme parfois entre les membres de la famille, qui en ont une
I Leopold Sedar Senghor, Liberte I : Negritude
et Humanisme, Paris, I954, pp.28-29. Not only is the family for Negroes,
as anywhere, the social cell; but also is the society formed of concentric
circles more and more larger, which intermingle and which are formed on the
very nature of the family. Many families which speak the same dialect and which
have the feeling of a common origin form a tribe; many tribes which speak the
same language and live in the same country can constitute a kingdom: finally,
many kingdoms enter, in their turn, into a confederation or an empire [...] It
is precisely at the stage of the tribe, or better of the kingdom, that we can
perceive more clearly the solution that the Negro brought to social and
political problems. This solution has helped in answering, in advance, to this
"pluralistic unity" which remains the ideal of nowadays humanists, of those who
at least consider that humanism is not a vain luxury of "honest man".
propriete temporaire ou usufruitiere. D'autre part, les
moyens de production en general, les instruments de travail sont la propriete
commune du groupe familial ou de la corporation. »I
We see with Senghor that there is a great sense of community
in the negro-African society, which humanizes the relationships among all the
members of the community. Even the ownership of agricultural products is
collective since work itself is collective; so much that everyone has a vital
minimum for his survival. It is a great advantage for all:
K chaque homme est assure, materiellement, du
K minimum vital » selon ses besoins. K Quand la
recolte est mare, dit le Wolof, elle appartient a tous. » Et cet autre
avantage, non moins important du point de vue de la vie personnelle
l'acquisition du superflu, luxe necessaire, est rendue possible par le travail,
la propriete individuelle etant reglee et restreinte, non eliminee.
»2
It is noticeable here that because of colonialism, this sense
of the community, the common good, tends to disappear. Sen ghor's ideal society
is therefore the precolonial negro-African society; a society full of values
that need to be revalorized today and our dissertation aims, as we have seen,
at calling the attention of Africans on the value of their traditions and at
fighting the bad effects of colonialism which has helped in the loss of most of
these values. Senghor's ideal society is a society having at its foundation,
the dynamism of love.
I Leopold Sedar Senghor, Op. Cit., pp.,
29-30. The vice of the capitalist society is not in the existence of ownership,
necessary condition of the development of the person; but in the fact that
ownership does not essentially reside on labour. But then, in the Negro
society, "labour, or more exactly, the productive action, is considered as the
only source of ownership of the object produced". But -the critiques of
capitalism have often underlined it - ownership can only be theoretical if the
natural riches and the means of production remain in the hands of some
individual persons. There again, the Negro had resolved the problem in a
humanistic manner. The land, and all it contains -rivers, forests, animals,
fishes-, is a common good, shared among families, which enjoy a temporary or
usufructuary ownership of it. Again, the means of production in general, the
instruments of labour belong to the family group or corporation.
2 Id. Each individual person is materially
assured of the "vital minimum" according to his needs. "When the harvest is
ready, says the Wolof, it belongs to all." And this other advantage, not less
important from the point of view of personal life: the acquisition of the
superfluous, the necessary comfort, is made possible by labour because
ownership is controlled and restricted not eliminated.
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