Forging Africa's Chains; F. E Mahaffy

FORGING AFRICA'S CHAINS AFRICA, the sun-tanned giant is beginning to awake, to stretch herself, and to test her strength. It was not too many years ago that slave-trading vessels plied her wild and forbidding coasts to bind men in chains to be sold on the slave markets of the world. Since that time Africa has made vast steps forward. Her nations are emerging to take their place in the world. Literacy and education are increasing at a rapid pace. Many of her citizens have been trained in the leading universities of the world. Some outstanding leaders of strong character and of real ability have arisen. There is a growing Christian church in Africa and many deeply spiritual men. The land it self in many places is rich in natural resources, plentiful in rainfall, waiting for the hand of man to use it for his progress at an accelerated rate. The road ahead for emerging Africa appeared to be a smooth one. Gradual progress with an ever-increasing standard of living seemed almost certain. But one thing that Africa needed for progress was economic develop ment. She lacked the capital to purchase and utilize the The Reverend Mr. Mahaffy has served since 1945 as a missionary of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Eritrea, East Africa.

189 190 FRANCIS E. MAHAFFY tools with which the progress and prosperity would seem almost inevitable. Africa has slowly been acquiring the technological knowledge and the tools for progress, but the pace has been far too slow to satisfy her restless spirit. If capital is to be obtained in anything like ade quate amounts, there must be a large influx of foreign investments. Before this capital investment can be forthcoming, a more basic need must be met. There must be confidence and the grounds for at least a good prospect on the part of the investors that they would receive an adequate re turn for their investments. In order to supply this a sta ble government is required. Private property must be respected and protected. The basic need is for simple honesty which alone instills faith and confidence for investors and workers. A basically honest government that rules, not by the caprice of men, but according to well-known and established rules that are in accord with the moral code, is essential to the free exchange of com merce and of ideas without which there can be little hope for peace or progress.

However, instead of the progress that was the fond dream and hope of many, the chains of a far deeper and more degrading slavery have been forged and are envel oping the darkening continent of Africa. Several major centers of communist activity have been established in different African states and still others are being estab lished. The Mau Mau are stirring again in Kenya, wait ing for the day of Kenya's independence to strike. Ethi opia has just survived a revolt. Uganda is under strong FORGING AFRICA'S CHAINS 191 pressures by the Chinese communists. Egypt has turned to the communists for aid and is seeking to establish a strong military force for the avowed purpose of aiding countries desirous of throwing off colonialism. The com munists are infiltrating the labor unions of Nigeria and elsewhere. Communist literature from Russia and Red China is flooding the continent. Thousands of students are given ample scholarships to study in the universities of communist countries. The communists stir up one group against another and then at the opportune mo ment aid the victorious side and ride to power with them. The dream of progress and peace .·has vanished as the chains of bondage tighten. In the ensuing con fusion most Africans are unaware of the source of the enveloping chains, but a careful scrutiny will reveal the "MADE IN MOSCOW" or "MADE IN PEKING" label.

Our own country has not been unaware of the devel opments. We have seen the crying need for economic development for the emerging continent. We have turned to the one answer that seemed ready at hand foreign aid. Millions of dollars have been poured into various countries there. We have dug wells, built roads, dams, and many other projects, but the result has proven a bitter disappointment. The aid has not developed the ties of friendship we anticipated nor has it accomplished our further purpose in strengthening the front against communist aggression. In despair the cry has gone up for still more aid as the solution. We are constantly told that if only we would give more, perhaps the tide could be turned. We have given more until our own economy 192 FRANCIS E. MAHAFFY has been badly strained and our gold reserves drained, but still our goal remains beyond our grasp. In our enthusiasm for the often misunderstood con cept of democracy we have undiscerningly supported al most any move toward complete freedom and autonomy for all of Africa. We have failed to realize that democ racy cannot function without some semblance of general agreement at least on guiding principles, and this agree ment has not always been present in all parts of Africa.

We have uncritically opposed "colonialism" in any form, failing to see that even colonialism at its worst (and there have been serious abuses) is far better than the ab ject slavery of the totalitarian, imperialistic colonialism of collectivism of the Soviet or Red China brands. Not all countries have been ready for democracy nor is de mocracy necessarily always the final answer. The communists likewise have not been standing idly by as Africa has been emerging. They have entered the scene with the ruthless but inconspicuous tools of power politics and have made great gains toward their goal. The collectivist ideology has found a ready prepared soil in much of Africa, for it is the ideology of power. The communists have been concerned to indoctrinate in compulsory collectivism only an educated corps of the elite. They have been content to bring the masses under their power. So there have been two conflicting ideologies strug gling for the mind and heart of Africa. The communists have entered the conflict fully aware of their goals and of how to achieve them. Their efforts have had dramatic FORGING AFRICA'S CHAINS 193 success. We have entered the conflict struggling for an ideal that we inadequately understand and only half believe. As a consequence, we are being defeated. The struggle is basically in the field of ideas. It is an ideo logical conflict. Two diametrically opposed ideals, two conflicting views of morals, two diverse philosophies of life are involved. Until we grasp this important truth, we are bound to continue in retreat.

The socialist-communist ideology is in its origin and by its very nature an ideology of p01ver. It seeks the end of "social justice" or greater equality and security by means of the abolition of private property and enter prise, by state ownership in the means of production, and by a planned economy. The state, by making men more equal, must of necessity treat the individuals in society unequally, taking more from some and giving more to others. It must exert politico-economic power over the members of society, which is really a most effective power over the life and minds of men. The individuals are no longer free to choose their ends, since the means to these ends are controlled by the state. The state chooses the scale of values for each individual and, finally, what he is to believe and what he is to do. The individual be comes of necessity the slave of the state, a sacrifice to what is described as "the general welfare" or "the com mon good."

In this socialist 1 ideology the individual exists for the 1 Any socalled difference between socialism and communism is immaterial to this discussion, and the terms are here used inter changea biy.

194 FRANCIS E. MAHAFFY purpose of the whole which is determined and enforced by the power of the state. His importance is gauged by how well he serves the ends of the state. He can readily be sacrificed, as has become evident, for the good of the state. The individual is not free. The· only "freedoms" he has are given to him by the authority of the state, which is the very opposite of true freedom. We see this socialis tic concept of our rights being derived from the state rather than from God illustrated in the very char ter of the United Nations. Essential to the socialist ethic is the idea that the end justifies the means. Hence, means repugnant to our sense of morals fall within the socialist standard of morality. Truth is not absolute, but that which serves the ends of the state at the particular moment. Hence, the impossi bility of dealing with communists in treaties, contracts, or agreements as we would deal with men and nations who hold to absolute norms of conduct. Truth has been destroyed by socialism.

Socialists sometimes attain their ends of redistribution by gradual and legal means, such as increasing the pow er of the state in the economic sphere by welfare state measures. The ends, however, remain the same, and the ethics of the means just as contrary to Christian ethics, although not as patently violent as those of the more doctrinaire socialists. It might be likened to the differ ences between stabbing a man and killing him gradually by small doses of poison. That we have failed adequately to understand the nature of socialism is evidenced by our adopting many FORGING AFRICA'S CHAINS 195 of the principles of socialism as our own. Our foreign aid program has been but one example of this. On the fallacious notion that we can buy friends, or appreciably improve the lot of the masses in Africa by government to-government aid, we pour out our largess. Some of this aid is consumed in graft. Part of it foots the bill for their socialistic welfare experiments. The result is to dis courage capital investment in the tools of production, the only sound method of progress. Tax-collected for eign aid for the purpose of redistributing the wealth more equally throughout the world is a form of socialism.

Perhaps religious leaders and prominent theologians have been especially misled in this regard. Because of their sympathy for the poor and oppressed and their realization that we are not as charitable as we should be, they are more readily inclined to make the illogical jump from personal charity and concern to government coercion to enforce a greater leveling of wealth. There is, of course, a vast difference between charity given freely from the heart of love and concern, and the forceful equalizing of wealth by the police power of the state. Many have failed to see this vital distinction. There is still hope for Africa. Some of us who have spent many years there among her people have come to love this great awakening continent and her people. However, not merely out of sentiment but also from the very vital concern for our own survival, we need to work toward the removal of the chains that are encom passing Africa today. This can never be effected unless 196 FRANCIS E. MAHAFFY we realize that the struggle is basically an ideological one and unless we better understand our own ideology -the ideology that made our own nation great.

Individualist Ethics The conflict in Africa (and in the world) is basically between the ethics of socialism and the individualist ethics of the West. Many of us believe that this individ ualist ethics has been most consistently expressed in the Christian religion finding its roots in the moral law given by Moses to Israel. It is the belief that moral prin ciples are absolutes and that man is responsible to God for his adherence to these principles. Basic integrity is one of the foundation principles of all our conduct. Without integrity, there can be no progress in the intel lectual, moral, or economic spheres. Honesty breeds trust and the free exchange of commerce and of ideas wi th out which there can be no peace or progress. Honesty is the basis of all commerce; the indispensable element of prosperity. Contrary to a popular view, justice relates not to the amount of our possessions in relation to those of others but only to the treatment of man by man. A just state of affairs can only be one in which all are treated equally by the same moral standards and judged alike by the same general laws. Individualist ethics demands restraint from fraud and deceit and all violence in man's deal ings with other men. Violation of these norms of con duct is to be punished by the power of the state. The FORGING AFRICA'S CHAINS 197 state is to govern, not by the whim of men in power, but rather by fixed general laws that apply equally to everyone. This is one of the distinctive marks of an in dividualist society in contradistinction to a collectivist society.

Individualist ethics, since it prohibits theft and fraud, holds inviolable the right to private property. In fact this is the very heart and keystone to the individualist and Christian ethics. This right is a God-given right-a vital and integral aspect of the right to life. Without property rights all other rights are meaningless. If a man has lost the right to his honestly earned possessions, he has lost the fountainhead of all rights and is no longer free, but a slave. The individualist ideology of the West looks upon the individual as a creature of God. He does not exist, as the collectivist claims, to serve the ends of the state but ra ther under God as an end in himself. He is a free soul. He needs free scope to utilize his talents and the re sources available for his own betterment and satisfaction. He needs to be free to make mistakes also and to suffer the consequences. Only thus is the good of the whole best served. His freedom ought to be restrained when he violates the established code of laws embodied in the rule of the land, a code that ought to conform to the moral laws given by God. He needs restraint also when he would interfere with the same freedom of others.

Society can make progress morally, intellectually, and economically only as individuals do so. The idea of re forming the individual through society, which really 198 FRANCIS E. MAHAFFY means by the coercive power of the state, is a fatal error. There can be no morals, no intelligence, no freedom unless it is the freedom, the intelligence, and the morals of individuals within the group. The hope for Africa lies in a deeper understanding of our individualist ideology and in promoting this widely in Africa to counter the collectivist ideology of Russia and Red China. Instead of the vast sums that have been poured out in foreign aid, if only a fraction of that amount had been used to promote individualist ideology and ethics and the free enterprise which can flourish only in such an atmosphere, we might not be witnessing the chains tightening around Africa today. Missionaries and others working in Africa have an important part to play in this struggle. The message of Christianity, if correctly understood, is one that will pro mote commerce, peace, and prosperity because it in volves inculcation of the Christian ethic as the norm of conduct in all our individual, family, church, and other relationships. There may yet be hope for Africa. The hope lies in a course different from the one on which we have embarked.

Shall we of the United States continue to aid the socialis ts in forging the chains for Africa, or shall we in true realism support the only program that can bring deliverance from bondage, peace, and friendship with this great emerging continent? Our own survival may well depend in large measure upon our answer.