Abstract
The revolutionary events sweeping North Africa and the Middle East, called the ‘Arab Spring’, are of great historic significance. They challenge not only political and social realities in those countries; they confront us, the spectators to these momentous events with serious questions about our own political, cultural and theological perceptions, concepts and prejudices. This article probes, from a Black Liberation theology point of view, these events at several levels: (1) what are the connections between the ‘Arab Spring’ and the two other historic movements for social change, the Civil Rights struggle in the United States of America, and the antiapartheid struggle in South Africa; (2) what lessons are to be learnt from these events?; (3) the article revisits the question of M.M. Thomas, in terms of whether God is at work in events of social upheaval and revolutionary change, and if so, ‘how?’; and (4) what is the meaning and consequences of international, and more importantly, inter-religious solidarity with the people of those regions? The article discusses the meaning, complexity and efficacy of nonviolence and choices for violence or nonviolence in such situations of conflict and the questions these raise for theological reflection, prophetic action and Christian integrity.
Highlights
Singing songs of freedomAs I, like millions others I suppose, sat glued to the television over the past months watching events unfold in North Africa and the Middle East, my thoughts constantly returned to two biblical texts, one from the prophet Isaiah and the other from the Gospel of Luke
The revolutionary events sweeping North Africa and the Middle East, called the ‘Arab Spring’, are of great historic significance
This article probes, from a Black Liberation theology point of view, these events at several levels: (1) what are the connections between the ‘Arab Spring’ and the two other historic movements for social change, the Civil Rights struggle in the United States of America, and the antiapartheid struggle in South Africa; (2) what lessons are to be learnt from these events?; (3) the article revisits the question of M.M
Summary
As I, like millions others I suppose, sat glued to the television over the past months watching events unfold in North Africa and the Middle East, my thoughts constantly returned to two biblical texts, one from the prophet Isaiah and the other from the Gospel of Luke. We sang, ’Ukanamandla, uSatani!’: ’It is broken, it is broken, the power of Satan is broken, hallelujah!’ The students sang it as they faced police and dogs and tear gas and guns; as they were detained, taken to prisons to stay for God knows how long, not knowing whether they will ever come out alive. The America we in the developing world have come to know is the America of the dreaded empire, the America that made all the wrong choices the consequences of which we had to bear in order to realise the dream of American imperialism (cf Griffin, Cobb, Falk & Keller 2006) This America had taken sides with the worst dictators from South and Central America to Asia and Africa and the Middle East. This is the America that needs to find itself again
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