"Fratelli Tutti" and a Better Kind of Politics: A Southern African Perspective
Abstract
Using the metaphors of “new bottles for new wine” or “new wine into fresh wineskins,” this article argues that it is time for a new kind of politics in Southern Africa, “at the service of the common good” but alas, we are still pouring new wine into old wineskins or sewing pieces of unshrunk cloth on old cloaks and we are surprised it’s not working. It must sound like a good definition of political insanity. This is particularly the case in the craft of party and tribal politics in which unelected cadres are left to rule the roost. A better kind of politics in Southern Africa will need to disavow ochlocracy or mob rule, the rule of government by a mass of unruly, uncouth and unelected imps who intimidate the citizenry. These largely illiterate party cadres do it at the behest of the head of state who is effectively the Cadre-in-Chief. His minions are left to break the law with impunity and as a reward are promoted to another office in a banana republic’s version of musical chairs. This article applies the wisdom of FT to Southern African state craft and concludes that much work needs to be done in making politics work for the common good.
Key Words
Fratelli Tutti; solidarity; social friendship; art of encounter; Covid-19; brave new world; Utopia
Inhalt
Introduction
Fratelli Tutti and a Better Kind of Politics in Southern Africa
Global Reception of Fratelli Tutti
Fratelli Tutti and Southern Africa’s Most Urgent Task
Not Surprisingly Fratelli Tutti is not Everyone’s Cup of Tea
By Way of a Conclusion
Introduction
The Italian phrase “Fratelli tutti” [Brothers all] is destined to be the most famous Italian phrase of 2020. At first it was even accused of gender insensitivity by the Catholic Women’s Council [CWC], representing thirty women’s organisations. “Sadly, the fact remains that it is already being translated into English by many as ‘Brothers All.’ Women do not identify themselves as ‘brothers’ making it difficult to hear themselves addressed by these words,”i argued Annemarie Paulin-Campbell. “Fratelli tutti” is the title of Pope Francis’ global letter over which much ink has been spilt. Like a cow that keeps on giving, much still remains to be milked from the Fratelli Tutti [ FT ] cow, to vary the metaphor. I read this behemoth of an encyclical the day it was officially released on 4 October 2020 but each time I have re-read it, one chapter stands out for me, chapter five, “A better kind of politics.” I have chosen to use this chapter as my jumping off point for my appreciation of FT, especially the paragraph, “The development of a global community of fraternity based on the practice of social friendship on the part of peoples and nations calls for a better kind of politics, one truly at the service of the common good. Sadly, politics today often takes forms that hinder progress towards a different world” (FT 2020: par 154).
Using the metaphors of “new bottles for new wine” (Huxley 1950) or “new wine into fresh wineskins” (Mark 2.21‒22), I argue that it is time for a new kind of politics in Southern Africa, politics “at the service of the common good” but alas, we are still pouring new wine into old wineskins or sewing pieces of unshrunk cloth on old cloaks and we are surprised it’s not working. It sounds to me like a useful definition of political insanity. This is particularly the case — of political insanity — in the craft of party politics in which unelected cadres are left to rule the roost. A better kind of politics in Southern Africa will need to disavow ochlocracy or mob rule, the rule of government by a mass of unruly, uncouth and unelected imps who intimidate the citizenry. These largely illiterate party cadres do it at the behest of the head of state who is effectively the Cadre-in-Chief. His minions are left to break the law with impunity (Habasonda 2018) and as a reward are promoted to another office in a banana republic’s version of musical chairs. This article applies the wisdom of FT to Southern African state craft and concludes that much work needs to be done in making politics work for the common good.
Fratelli Tutti and a Better Kind of Politics in Southern Africa
It seems obvious to me how FT and its “better kind of politics” spelt out in its fifth chapter is relevant for Southern Africa. The recent election of Lazarus Chakwera in Malawi promises to bring back economic prosperity and political sanity to a country marked by the despoliation of the previous regime. The same may be said of the Cyril Ramaphosa’s regime in South Africa but unfortunately the Covid-19 pandemic, like elsewhere, has not helped his cause. But his handling of the migrant crisis leaves much to be desired.
In Zambia, the situation seems to be close to political anarchy or insanity. After the promising presidency of the first Catholic president of Zambia, Michael Chilufya Sata, the Edgar Chagwa Lungu presidency is struggling to convince the Zambian populace about enabling its population’s capacity to develop their full potential. What seems to be clear, except to President Edgar Chagwa Lungu and his minions, is that he is not eligible for a “third term.” But this elephant in the room is likely to be dragged into the ante-chamber of the 2021 General Elections, by which time it won’t be possible to do anything about it. The country is all but a dictatorship in name as the outspoken emeritus Archbishop of Lusaka, Telesphore George Mpundu keeps reminding the nation. Speaking when he appeared on MUVI TV’s “The Assignment Programme” on 2 August 2020, he said, “When it comes to freedom of expression, freedom of speech, and other elements of democracy, Zambia is a dictatorship regime.”ii
Zimbabwe’s Emmerson Mnangagwa has facilitated his country’s transition to Africa’s basket case from being arguably its bread basket and the regime does not seem to be convincing its critics that Emmerson Mnangagwa as Robert Mugabe redivivus has jettisoned his old pal’s bad habits which include cronyism and lining one’s pockets.
Botswana seems to be head and shoulders above its neighbours in managing a prosperous economy. The only question seems to be how the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) has ruled Botswana continuously for 54 years and counting, since independence from the United Kingdom in 1966, making Botswana a one-party dominant state if not in practice a one-party state. Opposition parties, such as the Botswana National Front (BNF) are allowed, but they are widely considered to have no real chance of a crack at the whip of political power. I have no reason to conclude, though, that Botswana elections are not free and fair.
Global Reception of Fratelli Tutti
I will begin my whistle-stop tour of the reception of FT with Anna Rowlands’ appreciation of the encyclical. She is a British theologian and a St Hilda Associate Professor of Catholic Social Thought and Practice in the Department of Theology and Religion at Durham University. Invited to help present FT to the world at the Vatican, she told Vatican News that FT ’s “naming of God as our kin, and ourselves as kin and kith in his image, is love-language. There are other ways of naming God. But the message Pope Francis wishes us to hear for this moment is that we are made fully human by what draws us beyond ourselves. What makes this possible is a divine love, open to all, that births, bonds, bridges are endlessly renewed. This love cannot be erased or disposed of, and it is the basis of Pope Francis’ call to us with St Francis’ words of loving attention: ‘ Fratelli tutti.’”iii This bar is so high it is hard to imagine how state craft in Southern Africa can put this into practice. I think disavowing and criminalising tribalism, racism, homophobia etc., may be a start. The only challenge is when the state is the sponsor of corruption, ethnocentric violence, as Lee Habasonda has pointed out in the case of Zambia where this has been used as a political strategy (Habasonda 2018).
My next port of call is chez Cardinal John Dew, Vice-president of New Zealand’s Catholic Bishops’ Conference. Vatican News reported him as opining that the Pope’s message “is an invitation for everyone to broaden our perspective to view a world without borders and to view every single person on the planet, and the planet itself, as brother and sister”iv as St Francis reminded us in the Canticle of the Sun. If this sounds Utopian, it is because we are not there yet. FT, as one roadmap to Utopia, is one way to phrase its challenge. South Africa would be a leading beneficiary of this wisdom in the light of its migrant crisis of the last few years. Botswana is not too far back although its xenophobia has not reached the heights of South Africa. To be fair to Zambia, the country’s record of having open borders has been exemplary since post-1964. No doubt, more can be done. I am just surprised, given the proximity to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia has not encouraged either Swahili or French as one of our main languages.
From New Zealand, I come to Africa. On 6 October 2020, two days after the release of FT, Cardinal Philippe Ouédraogo of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, President of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), thanked Pope Francis for this encyclical, saying it urges people everywhere toward a “renewed commitment to universal brotherhood, friendship, solidarity and peaceful co-existence.”v “In view of the current coronavirus pandemic, which has established that no one can face life in isolation; that we are a single human family and true brothers and sisters of the one Father, God, the call invites for swift response.”vi In his recent statement, the Cardinal reiterated Pope Francis’s call in FT to intensify efforts aimed at fostering “true brotherhood, solidarity, dialogue, mutual acceptance, trust and support,” which he said are “crucial values for our current world visibly divided along cultural, religious, social, political and ideological lines or principles.”vii
Staying in Africa, my next stop is Nigeria where we meet the Jesuit priest Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator. Writing for the National Catholic Reporter, he reminds us that “‘ Fratelli Tutti ’ is Ubuntu by any other name.” He goes on to say that “Strikingly, Pope Francis’ encyclical Fratelli Tutti contains an equivalent [of the Ubuntu phrase, ‘ Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu ’ in which ‘Each of us is fully a person when we are part of a people’” [ FT 2020 par 182]. In other words, we are “brothers and sisters all”viii [ FT 2020: par 8]. This is music to the ears of those of us who live in Southern Africa who can associate the message of Ubuntu with the philosophical legacy of the wisdom of Ubuntu with Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. While in Zambia our main constitutional worry is to increase the powers of the republican president, we can pluck a leaf from the interim South African Constitution which included an historic post-amble entitled “National Unity and Reconciliation,” which declared that “The adoption of this Constitution lays the secure foundation for the people of South Africa to transcend the divisions and strife of the past, which generated gross violations of human rights, the transgression of humanitarian principles in violent conflicts and a legacy of hatred, fear, guilt and revenge. These can now be addressed on the basis that there is a need for understanding but not for vengeance, a need for reparation but not for retaliation, a need for ubuntu but not for victimisation” (Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act 200 of 1993). This provision was historic. Partly because, for the first time in South Africa’s history, a traditional African concept, “Ubuntu,” was incorporated in the state’s official law. But alas, South Africa’s 1996 Constitution made no mention of Ubuntu, although it recognised customary law “subject to the Constitution,” requiring courts to apply customary law “when that law is applicable, subject to the Constitution and any legislation that specifically deals with customary law.”ix
Crossing the Atlantic to the other side, we come across the following reaction from the Czechoslovakian-born Canadian Cardinal, Jesuit Michael Czerny, who put it this way, “You could take a distance from the encyclical and say, ‘The Pope is trying to get us to recognise that all these people are our brothers and sisters.’ But it’s more than that. What he’s saying is, ‘You’ve got to be a brother and sister to everyone who needs us.’ The category isn’t out there; the category is here. Our human family and our common home needs me to be brother to the people who need me and needs you to be sister to these people.”x For Southern Africa, as Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator, cited above, says “‘ Fratelli Tutti ’ is Ubuntu by any other name.” The litmus test is how to translate that into a constitutional value.
Fratelli Tutti and Southern Africa’s Most Urgent Task
In the light of the global reception of Fratelli Tutti, I wonder what the overriding lesson is for the Southern African. I suggest that the reception of Fratelli Tutti given by Cardinal Philippe Ouédraogo of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, President of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) must surely strike a chord. The encyclical speaks especially to a Southern Africa where “renewed commitment to universal brotherhood, friendship, solidarity and peaceful co-existence”xi are in short supply. A message of “true brotherhood, solidarity, dialogue, mutual acceptance, trust and support” is particularly pertinent for Zambia which is teetering on the precipice of political anarchy and insanity. Zambia is a very divided country. It is as if some jobs require a Patriotic Front party membership card. In the light of the 2021 General Elections, Zambia is in dire need of “a better kind of politics” encouraged by FT in chapter five. The Church in Zambia can help the nation to spell out what “a better kind of politics” might look like by election time in 2021 — a better kind of politics that disavows ochlocracy or mob rule, the rule of government by a mass of unruly, uncouth and unelected imps and the intimidation of the citizenry by largely illiterate party cadres at the behest of the head of state who is effectively the Cadre-in-Chief.
In the case of Zambia, Lee Habasonda explains, “Upon assumption of power on the 23rd of September 2011, the PF [Patriotic Front] supporters that had helped mobilise votes became an unruly gang, which begun to terrorise and beat anybody with dissenting views. These supporters or cadres are mainly composed of unemployed youths who are usually paid or given alcohol to harass and intimidate all those considered to be non-PF supporters. The cadres are largely restricted to urban areas of the country particularly in the strongholds of the governing party, but from time to time they are also sponsored to travel to rural areas during elections. They have become so powerful that the police authorities seem to be afraid of them because of the backing they receive from those in high political offices” (Habasonda 2018: 6).
The above picture led outspoken then Catholic Archbishop of Lusaka to call the ruling government a dictatorship. But for the first time in living memory, in June 2017 all was not well on the “renewed commitment to universal brotherhood, friendship, solidarity and peaceful co-existence” fronts among the Catholic shepherds of the Church. For the first time the Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops publicly disagreed. This must have been music to the ears of the ruling government whose default position is disunity. Priscilla Chipulu, writing for the Zambia Daily Mail reported that “Auxiliary Bishop for Chipata Catholic Diocese, Benjamin Phiri has distanced himself from the statement issued by Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB) President Telesphore Mpundu in which he said Zambia has become a dictatorship.”xii I remember asking a former Secretary-General of the Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops, then known as the Zambia Episcopal Conference whether there was a precedent for such a public episcopal difference of opinion. His answer was unequivocal, never. Bishop Benjamin Phiri’s colleague, the now Archbishop of Lusaka, went one step further and was quoted as saying, “As a conference, we have not sat and discussed those issues. As you are aware, we meet periodically. Therefore, the statement cannot be said to represent the views of all the bishops countrywide.” Social media was for a while alive with divided Catholic opinion, including Catholic priests coming out of the woodwork. As Zambia approaches the 2021 elections, it is imperative for the princes of the Catholic Church to sing on the same hymn sheet of “renewed commitment to universal brotherhood, friendship, solidarity and peaceful co-existence” in the spirit of Fratelli Tutti. A good starting point is a statement from the Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Evangelical Council of Zambia and the Christian Council of Zambia, whether they consider President Edgar Chagwa Lungu to be eligible for a “third term.”
Not Surprisingly Fratelli Tutti is not Everyone’s Cup of Tea
Not surprisingly, not everyone is on board with FT. Samuel Gregg is less enthusiastic, calling FT, a “familiar mixture of dubious claims, strawmen, and genuine insights.”xiii Samuel Gregg’s critique of the Pope’s economic message is blinkered and misses the point of an encyclical. “Also, insufficient — and, alas, this has characterised Francis’ pontificate from its very beginning — is Fratelli Tutti ’s treatment of economic questions,” he argues, “It seems that, no matter how many people (not all of whom can be characterised as fiscal conservatives) highlight the economic caricatures that roam throughout Francis’ documents, a pontificate which prides itself on its commitment to dialogue just isn’t interested in a serious conversation about economic issues outside a very limited circle.”xiv This article begs to differ because it understands an encyclical’s purpose as exhortative. The Pope is not writing as an economist — he is no Amartya Sen — but a theologian and a pastor.
Larry Chapp, formerly of DeSales University in Pennsylvania, is more guarded but as he confesses, “Those who know me well understand that I am not generally a fan of Pope Francis, who was elected to reform the Curia (so we are told) but has failed miserably so far in that regard. He has also appointed to high office individuals who seem like old guard, unreconstructed, post Vatican II liberals — which is a bad thing in my view.”xv Having read the encyclical several times, I see no evidence of “Pope Francis’ encyclical” suffering “in places with the kind of ambiguities this papacy has all too often engaged in. But it is not, despite what some critics claim, in any way ‘heretical’ or even ‘dangerous.’”xvi I am not sure what’s so wrong with the Pope’s “post Vatican II liberals.” And if you are Donald Trump, an encyclical that smells of socialism may well be “heretical” or even “dangerous.” It is the equivalent of what our ultra-right National Front friends used to fear of the ANC in South Africa. It was communism by the front door.
By far the most vitriolic reaction comes surprisingly from within the Catholic Church. As is to be expected, Carlo Maria Viganò’s reaction comes out trumps. Here is part of his reaction, first in Italian, followed by my translation in square brackets. “Ad una lettura cursoria del testo dell’enciclica Fratelli tutti si sarebbe indotti a credere che essa sia stata scritta da un massone, non dal Vicario di Cristo. Tutto quanto vi è contenuto è ispirato ad un vago deismo e ad un filantropismo che non ha nulla di cattolico: Nonne et ethnici hoc faciunt ? Non fanno così anche i pagani ? (Mt 5.47)”xvii [At a cursory reading of the text of the encyclical Fratelli Tutti, one would be led to believe that it was written by a Mason, not by the Vicar of Christ. Everything in it is inspired by a vague deism and a philanthropism that has nothing Catholic in it: Nonne et ethnici hoc faciunt ? Do not even the pagans do the same? (Mt 5.47)].
[...]
i Annemarie Paulin-Campbell, 4 October 2020, “‘Fratelli Tutti’ — Encyclical of love that misses the boat on women,” Spotlight Africa, https://spotlight.africa/2020/10/04/fratelli-tutti-encyclical-of-love-that-misses-the-boat-on-women/, accessed on 28.10.2020
ii Zambian Streets, 6 August 2020, “Zambia a dictatorial regime, says Archbishop Mpundu,” http://zambianstreets.com/zambiaadictatorialregimesaysarchbishopmpundu/?fbclid=IwAR3huRYl4gNYIkzD5XqpUwZ4YUlQuXfWtM1ArMt6Mcsrz9YkO2446pJD7p0, accessed on 21.10.2020
iii Anna Rowlands, 6 October 2020, “‘ Fratelli tutti:’ Prof Rowlands presents the encyclical,” Vatican News, https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-10/pope-francis-encyclical-fratelli-tutti-professor-rowlands.html, accessed on 21.10.2020
iv Devin Watkins, 6 October 2020, “‘ Fratelli tutti ’: A radical blueprint for post-Covid world,” Vatican News, https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2020-10/reactions-fratelli-tutti-cafod-irish-new-zealand-bishops.html, accessed on 09.10.2020
v Elise Ann Allen, 9 October 2020, “African bishops call for ‘swift response’ to new encyclical,” Crux, https://cruxnow.com/church-in-africa/2020/10/african-bishops-call-for-swift-response-to-new-encyclical/, accessed on 10.10.2020
vi Ibid
vii Ibid
viii Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator, 6 October 2020, “‘ Fratelli Tutti ’ is Ubuntu by any other name,” National Catholic Reporter, https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/fratelli-tutti-ubuntu-any-other-name, accessed on 17.10.2020
ix Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 especially, Section 211(3)
x Gerard O’Connell, 13 October 2020, “Cardinal Czerny on ‘Fratelli Tutti:’ Pope Francis addresses a world ‘on the brink,’” America Magazine, https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2020/10/13/cardinal-czerny-interview-fratelli-tutti-pope-francis-encyclical, accessed on 14.10.2020
xi Elise Ann Allen, 9 October 2020, “African bishops call for ‘swift response’ to new encyclical,” Crux, https://cruxnow.com/church-in-africa/2020/10/african-bishops-call-for-swift-response-to-new-encyclical/, accessed on 10.10.2020
xii Priscilla Chipulu, 20 June 2017, “Dictatorship claim not Catholics position — Chipata bishop,” Zambia Daily Mail, http://www.daily-mail.co.zm/dictatorship-claim-not-catholics-position-chipata-bishop/, accessed on 27.10.2020
xiii Samuel Gregg, 10 October 2020, “Fratelli Tutti is a familiar mixture of dubious claims, strawmen, genuine insights,” The Catholic World Report, https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2020/10/05/fratelli-tutti-is-a-mixture-of-dubious-claims-strawmen-genuine-insights/, accessed on 11.10.2020
xiv Ibid
xv Larry Chapp, 9 October 2020, “Fratelli Tutti and its critics,” The Catholic World Report, https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2020/10/09/fratelli-tutti-and-its-critics/, accessed on 14.10.2020
xvi Ibid
xvii Carlo Maria Viganò, 5 October 2020, “Perché critico l’enciclica Fratelli Tutti,” Smart Magazine, https://www.startmag.it/mondo/perche-critico-enciclica-fratelli-tutti/, accessed on 14.10.2020
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