Restoring Moral Values
A MOTHER and her two-year old daughter are sleeping in their house at Khorixas, Namibia.
Two men, Samuel Uiseb (33-years) and Johannes Rico Goseb (22-years)
enter the house.
They are intent on violence or more specifically to come and
invade that very territory of the victims with their penises.
The two apparently non-resistant prospective victims are
sleeping.
They ignored the sleeping mother and abduct the baby, who is
later found raped and murdered about 100 metres away.
Why such brutality? The above event took place in March 2004 in
Namibia.
Immediately two reactions followed this tragic event.
First, the female parliamentarians expressed disgust and dismay
and demanded that the two men accused of raping and killing a
two-year-old girl at Khorixas be sent to jail for life, if found
guilty (The Namibian, March 17, 2004).
On the other hand, the editor of The Namibian, Gwen Lister,
insists that such cases should not be feminised or made a "woman"
thing, instead all parliamentarians, women and men, should go out
into their constituencies and do some educating and mobilising
around violence against women and children, including rape.
According to Lister to try to salve our consciences by putting
away such people for life in jails is to treat the symptoms rather
than the causes of the scourge of rape (The Namibian, March 19,
2004).
Once again, how should the Namibian society act in cases when
individual, family, and communal bodies are violated? At the outset
let me state that the views expressed by the all party
Parliamentary Women Caucus as well as that of the editor of The
Namibian do not contradict each other.
Rather, these views are two sides of the same coin.
Let me explicate.
Once a woman was asked by a journalist to define words such as
violence and rape.
She answered that the term 'definition' contains the Latin term
'finis', i.e. 'borderline', 'demarcation' or 'end'.
The very character of violence or rape lies in ignoring the
borderlines of an individual, a family or a communal body.
Furthermore, she said, when it comes to violence or rape, there
is no borderline, and there is no end; violence or rape by its
nature respects no border.
You may think that your body is the outer borderline of who you
are, but a would-be rapist will come and invade that very territory
of yours with his penis.
And you think that your soul is the sacred space, but then your
husband comes and breaks into that very space, shouting at you and
calling you names.
You may think that your community respects your borders, your
body and soul, but then you find that your own people, especially
men, are invading your home, taking all they want to take,
including your body and soul.
When such things happen in any society, she said, such a society
needs to review their humanity and restoration of their moral
values.
Today, the prevalence of violence, rape and murder means that
such acts negate and refuse to see the Imago Dei (the face of God)
in another person or another community.
Any society that has problems with a vision of a peaceful living
together has lost its conviction that every human being must be
treated humanely.
Therefore, every human being without distinction of age, sex,
race, skin colour, physical or mental ability, language, religion,
political view, or national or social origin possesses an
inalienable and untouchable dignity.
In other words, as most African scholars agree, humanity is to
be conceived as "being in relation".
This being in relation has been expressed as Ubuntu, Khoexasib,
Menschlichkeit, and Humaneness.
The concept of Ubuntu plays a central role in reviewing humanity
and learning to see the other.
We may highlight this centrality of the community in Africa with
reference to Descartes' well-known dictum, Cogito, ergo sum (I
think, therefore I am).
An African, we maintain, will rather say Cognatus, ergo sum (I
belong through blood relations, therefore I am).
Such a communal dimension of all human existence in Africa can
hardly be over-emphasised.
What is needed, however, is not simply a return to some
romanticised concept of an idyllic past, but rather the reclamation
of the dimensions of living in community, which have been forgotten
because of our modern age.
Reclaiming or re-viewing the fullness of such traditions can
contribute to restoration of moral values in the Namibian society
or any other society.
Today, violence, murder and rape deface the humanity of
perpetrators and the lives of its victims and survivors.
Being in encounter means to see the human face of the other.
This happens when one looks another in the eye, for to see the
other thus means directly to let oneself be seen by him/her.
It is only when we move out of ourselves, not refusing to know
others or being afraid to be known by them, that our existence is
human.
In many religions, the divine as well as the human face is of
particular relevance.
The face indicates a relationship as well as a withdrawal from
relationships or violation of such relationships.
Cain in Genesis 4, for example, was no longer able to face the
face of his brother Abel after contemplating violence as a
potential means of securing an influential position.
Therefore, he shouts to Abel, "Get out of my face" and killed
him.
In short, such faces and bodies are great communicators.
For example, faces of elderly people are like an open book in
which the his- or her-stories are inscribed in every wrinkle and in
every scar.
Faces of young people communicate zeal for life, or depression;
and faces of adults communicate joy or sorrow, amazement or
fear.
Faces bring a person's inner being to the outside.
When we fully face each other, we become involved in each
other's lives, encountering each other fully.
Therefore, in the Namibian society we need re-viewing humanity
and learning to see the other.
Re-viewing means taking a new perspective.
Seeing people as a sister or a brother or a friend or a comrade
and stop seeing others as DTAs or CoDs or Swapo's or Christians or
Muslims or believers in African Religion or Jews.
The modern phenomenon of defacing the others in order to rape or
murder or labelled others as unpatriotic citizens should be rooted
out.
This can be done by reclaiming the spirit of Ubuntu, by
re-viewing the humanity and thereby learning to see the other.
Concurrently, we should advocate for the conviction of all
criminals, if found guilty after a fair trial, with long or life
imprisonment.
Paul John Isaak
Windhoek
They are intent on violence or more specifically to come and invade
that very territory of the victims with their penises.The two
apparently non-resistant prospective victims are sleeping.They
ignored the sleeping mother and abduct the baby, who is later found
raped and murdered about 100 metres away.Why such brutality? The
above event took place in March 2004 in Namibia.Immediately two
reactions followed this tragic event.First, the female
parliamentarians expressed disgust and dismay and demanded that the
two men accused of raping and killing a two-year-old girl at
Khorixas be sent to jail for life, if found guilty (The Namibian,
March 17, 2004).On the other hand, the editor of The Namibian, Gwen
Lister, insists that such cases should not be feminised or made a
"woman" thing, instead all parliamentarians, women and men, should
go out into their constituencies and do some educating and
mobilising around violence against women and children, including
rape.According to Lister to try to salve our consciences by putting
away such people for life in jails is to treat the symptoms rather
than the causes of the scourge of rape (The Namibian, March 19,
2004).Once again, how should the Namibian society act in cases when
individual, family, and communal bodies are violated? At the outset
let me state that the views expressed by the all party
Parliamentary Women Caucus as well as that of the editor of The
Namibian do not contradict each other.Rather, these views are two
sides of the same coin.Let me explicate.Once a woman was asked by a
journalist to define words such as violence and rape.She answered
that the term 'definition' contains the Latin term 'finis', i.e.
'borderline', 'demarcation' or 'end'.The very character of violence
or rape lies in ignoring the borderlines of an individual, a family
or a communal body.Furthermore, she said, when it comes to violence
or rape, there is no borderline, and there is no end; violence or
rape by its nature respects no border.You may think that your body
is the outer borderline of who you are, but a would-be rapist will
come and invade that very territory of yours with his penis.And you
think that your soul is the sacred space, but then your husband
comes and breaks into that very space, shouting at you and calling
you names.You may think that your community respects your borders,
your body and soul, but then you find that your own people,
especially men, are invading your home, taking all they want to
take, including your body and soul.When such things happen in any
society, she said, such a society needs to review their humanity
and restoration of their moral values.Today, the prevalence of
violence, rape and murder means that such acts negate and refuse to
see the Imago Dei (the face of God) in another person or another
community.Any society that has problems with a vision of a peaceful
living together has lost its conviction that every human being must
be treated humanely.Therefore, every human being without
distinction of age, sex, race, skin colour, physical or mental
ability, language, religion, political view, or national or social
origin possesses an inalienable and untouchable dignity.In other
words, as most African scholars agree, humanity is to be conceived
as "being in relation".This being in relation has been expressed as
Ubuntu, Khoexasib, Menschlichkeit, and Humaneness.The concept of
Ubuntu plays a central role in reviewing humanity and learning to
see the other.We may highlight this centrality of the community in
Africa with reference to Descartes' well-known dictum, Cogito, ergo
sum (I think, therefore I am).An African, we maintain, will rather
say Cognatus, ergo sum (I belong through blood relations, therefore
I am).Such a communal dimension of all human existence in Africa
can hardly be over-emphasised.What is needed, however, is not
simply a return to some romanticised concept of an idyllic past,
but rather the reclamation of the dimensions of living in
community, which have been forgotten because of our modern
age.Reclaiming or re-viewing the fullness of such traditions can
contribute to restoration of moral values in the Namibian society
or any other society.Today, violence, murder and rape deface the
humanity of perpetrators and the lives of its victims and
survivors.Being in encounter means to see the human face of the
other.This happens when one looks another in the eye, for to see
the other thus means directly to let oneself be seen by him/her.It
is only when we move out of ourselves, not refusing to know others
or being afraid to be known by them, that our existence is human.In
many religions, the divine as well as the human face is of
particular relevance.The face indicates a relationship as well as a
withdrawal from relationships or violation of such
relationships.Cain in Genesis 4, for example, was no longer able to
face the face of his brother Abel after contemplating violence as a
potential means of securing an influential position.Therefore, he
shouts to Abel, "Get out of my face" and killed him.In short, such
faces and bodies are great communicators.For example, faces of
elderly people are like an open book in which the his- or
her-stories are inscribed in every wrinkle and in every scar.Faces
of young people communicate zeal for life, or depression; and faces
of adults communicate joy or sorrow, amazement or fear.Faces bring
a person's inner being to the outside.When we fully face each
other, we become involved in each other's lives, encountering each
other fully.Therefore, in the Namibian society we need re-viewing
humanity and learning to see the other.Re-viewing means taking a
new perspective.Seeing people as a sister or a brother or a friend
or a comrade and stop seeing others as DTAs or CoDs or Swapo's or
Christians or Muslims or believers in African Religion or Jews.The
modern phenomenon of defacing the others in order to rape or murder
or labelled others as unpatriotic citizens should be rooted
out.This can be done by reclaiming the spirit of Ubuntu, by
re-viewing the humanity and thereby learning to see the
other.Concurrently, we should advocate for the conviction of all
criminals, if found guilty after a fair trial, with long or life
imprisonment.Paul John Isaak
Windhoek