Date: 24/05/2003
Source: The Presidency
Title: Mbeki: Africa Day banquet
REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT OF SOUTH AFRICA AND CURRENT CHAIR OF THE AU, THABO MBEKI, AT THE BANQUET IN HONOUR OF THE 40th ANNIVERSARY OF THE OAU, Sandton, 24 May 2003
(Extracts from a Letter from an Afrikaner woman.)
"In spite of the seeming psychological sophistication of early 21st century life, modern human beings share with their remotest ancestors very primitive or primal (used here in its literal meaning of "close to one's roots") strategies for dealing with conflict. Successful resolution of conflict is a very late and advanced stage of psychological growth, and immature solutions to conflict always involve the splitting-off and externalisation of the perceived conflict. Throughout history we have heaped the blame for all our ills on the pagans, the Christians, the witches, the Jews, the Arabs, the Afrikaners, the communists, the drug lords, the government, the World Bank, the virus. The finding of a "good enough enemy" strengthens the tribe and holds together the fragile strands of group survival.
"The disappearance of the "good enough enemy" causes severe psychic discomfort, as it forces the group to face its own demons. Apartheid represented an extended ritual of shaming a whole nation, of drawing borders around people and separating and isolating them, making them feel like "poison containers". Apartheid South Africa was at the same time a perfect scapegoat to embody the racist sentiments of the rest of the world, as it provided an outlet for indignant outrage and veiled the much more complex truth of human interaction on earth: That we are all less than generous, drawn to our own kind, suspicious of difference, riddled with petty biases and emotional prejudices.
"(With regard to the) repeated use in the global media of the term, "War against Poverty" (read "War against the Poor"). Africa, the "hopeless continent" is the good enough enemy that makes the rest of the world "feel" and "look" better.
"Africa is the most split-off part of the global human psyche, the darkest shadow, the most untapped source. In a protracted global initiation process, Africa is constantly reminded of her unworthiness, her neediness, her dependence, and her indebtedness. This "War Against Poverty" is waged daily in the global media, with devastating results.
"For many people, the vision of an African Renaissance seems so remote as to be almost unreachable. Africa is a continent ravaged by disease, crippled by poverty and racked by the same wars, human cruelties and social injustices that characterize much of present-day human habitation of this planet. It is, however, exactly because Africa is the darkest outpost, the ultimate scapegoat, the blackest and most foreign of the global "amakwerekwere" that Africa is uniquely qualified to lead the way towards a profoundly new appreciation of life on earth: A gentler one, a more compassionate one, one that rests on a recognition of the values of cooperation, service and human dignity. Africa remembers the injustices heaped upon her in the past, but people of the stature of Nelson Mandela have shown her that character can be forged from hardship. Africa knows there is no one of lesser status to blame for her current ills. Nothing will change unless Africa changes, and by changing, Africa will change the rest of humanity.
"Africa has been favoured by history, by geography and by Universal Spirit to become the pupil of the eye of humanity. Africa, the darkest continent, is also symbolically the darkest part of the human body: the pupil of the eye through which spiritual maturity will reach the human race. I believe that the African Renaissance is a necessary step in the continuing spiritual evolution of the human race. Africa as envisaged by the believers in the African Renaissance is not a place; it is a state of the human soul. It is the end of one cycle and the beginning of a new one. Yellow race, Red Race, White Race, Black Race, Human Race. Africa and humanity's time has come.
"The world is steadily moving towards a new age, an age characterised by the feminine principle, by intuitive knowledge and by a deepening of spirituality. Africa is not experiencing a rebirth because a few Africans or Africanists desire it. Africa is preparing to take her rightful place at the head of a new cycle in the history of humanity because it is a necessary stage in the unfolding of Universal Spirit.
"Africa the "hopeless continent" is destined to become the hope of humanity exactly because "darkest Africa" most perfectly embodies all the values that characterize this new spiritual age.
"All the qualities that kept Africa "dark" in a world where overvalued rationalism and materialism reigned now favour her as she slowly prepares to move into the limelight of a changed spiritual stage, balancing on her head the earth-wisdom of all she has gathered over millennia: an awareness of the feminine, an appreciation of the intuitive, and a deep conviction of the profoundly spiritual nature of life on earth and beyond.
"The darkest continent is destined to become the most enlightened. The last will be the first. Little orphan Africa is destined to become the mother of a more compassionate human era."
Ends
(The Afrikaner woman is Gerda Muller)
Issued by The Presidency
24 May 20003
Source: The Presidency
Title: Mbeki: Africa Day banquet
REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT OF SOUTH AFRICA AND CURRENT CHAIR OF THE AU, THABO MBEKI, AT THE BANQUET IN HONOUR OF THE 40th ANNIVERSARY OF THE OAU, Sandton, 24 May 2003
(Extracts from a Letter from an Afrikaner woman.)
"In spite of the seeming psychological sophistication of early 21st century life, modern human beings share with their remotest ancestors very primitive or primal (used here in its literal meaning of "close to one's roots") strategies for dealing with conflict. Successful resolution of conflict is a very late and advanced stage of psychological growth, and immature solutions to conflict always involve the splitting-off and externalisation of the perceived conflict. Throughout history we have heaped the blame for all our ills on the pagans, the Christians, the witches, the Jews, the Arabs, the Afrikaners, the communists, the drug lords, the government, the World Bank, the virus. The finding of a "good enough enemy" strengthens the tribe and holds together the fragile strands of group survival.
"The disappearance of the "good enough enemy" causes severe psychic discomfort, as it forces the group to face its own demons. Apartheid represented an extended ritual of shaming a whole nation, of drawing borders around people and separating and isolating them, making them feel like "poison containers". Apartheid South Africa was at the same time a perfect scapegoat to embody the racist sentiments of the rest of the world, as it provided an outlet for indignant outrage and veiled the much more complex truth of human interaction on earth: That we are all less than generous, drawn to our own kind, suspicious of difference, riddled with petty biases and emotional prejudices.
"(With regard to the) repeated use in the global media of the term, "War against Poverty" (read "War against the Poor"). Africa, the "hopeless continent" is the good enough enemy that makes the rest of the world "feel" and "look" better.
"Africa is the most split-off part of the global human psyche, the darkest shadow, the most untapped source. In a protracted global initiation process, Africa is constantly reminded of her unworthiness, her neediness, her dependence, and her indebtedness. This "War Against Poverty" is waged daily in the global media, with devastating results.
"For many people, the vision of an African Renaissance seems so remote as to be almost unreachable. Africa is a continent ravaged by disease, crippled by poverty and racked by the same wars, human cruelties and social injustices that characterize much of present-day human habitation of this planet. It is, however, exactly because Africa is the darkest outpost, the ultimate scapegoat, the blackest and most foreign of the global "amakwerekwere" that Africa is uniquely qualified to lead the way towards a profoundly new appreciation of life on earth: A gentler one, a more compassionate one, one that rests on a recognition of the values of cooperation, service and human dignity. Africa remembers the injustices heaped upon her in the past, but people of the stature of Nelson Mandela have shown her that character can be forged from hardship. Africa knows there is no one of lesser status to blame for her current ills. Nothing will change unless Africa changes, and by changing, Africa will change the rest of humanity.
"Africa has been favoured by history, by geography and by Universal Spirit to become the pupil of the eye of humanity. Africa, the darkest continent, is also symbolically the darkest part of the human body: the pupil of the eye through which spiritual maturity will reach the human race. I believe that the African Renaissance is a necessary step in the continuing spiritual evolution of the human race. Africa as envisaged by the believers in the African Renaissance is not a place; it is a state of the human soul. It is the end of one cycle and the beginning of a new one. Yellow race, Red Race, White Race, Black Race, Human Race. Africa and humanity's time has come.
"The world is steadily moving towards a new age, an age characterised by the feminine principle, by intuitive knowledge and by a deepening of spirituality. Africa is not experiencing a rebirth because a few Africans or Africanists desire it. Africa is preparing to take her rightful place at the head of a new cycle in the history of humanity because it is a necessary stage in the unfolding of Universal Spirit.
"Africa the "hopeless continent" is destined to become the hope of humanity exactly because "darkest Africa" most perfectly embodies all the values that characterize this new spiritual age.
"All the qualities that kept Africa "dark" in a world where overvalued rationalism and materialism reigned now favour her as she slowly prepares to move into the limelight of a changed spiritual stage, balancing on her head the earth-wisdom of all she has gathered over millennia: an awareness of the feminine, an appreciation of the intuitive, and a deep conviction of the profoundly spiritual nature of life on earth and beyond.
"The darkest continent is destined to become the most enlightened. The last will be the first. Little orphan Africa is destined to become the mother of a more compassionate human era."
Ends
(The Afrikaner woman is Gerda Muller)
Issued by The Presidency
24 May 20003
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