Vision for a continental language policy in Africa

Categorized | Africa, Afro-Insights

Vision for a continental language policy in Africa

Posted on 01 July 2007

Writes: Prof. Ali Mazrui

“The South African population is not as diverse as that of the US. But while South Africa has fewer “tribes” than Nigeria, it has more distinct “races” than any other African country.”

“The US is neither linguistically tolerant nor culturally pluralistic. Historically, the country has been a great asylum for diverse peoples running away from persecution, but it has not been a great refuge of diverse cultures. The US rescues persecuted people, but it does not rescue endangered languages or cultures. Paradoxically, while the US extends a lifeline to refugees, it sentences their imported cultures to death in a generation or two.”

“On religion and language, the South African Constitution includes a mechanism for protecting civil liberties and cultural rights. This institutionalised protection has empowered the government to resist pressure from the US, urging South Africa to detain Muslims without trial or to harass citizens in the name of UN security concerns.”

“South African Islam may sometimes be more radical than average. But its radicalism is sometimes more based on subjective Jihad against local crime and drugs than objective Jihad against external enemies of Islam.”

“While North Africa has Arab jihadists and West and East Africa black jihadists, Southern Africa has had disproportionately South East Asian and South Asian jihadists. But most South African Muslim militants are intellectual radicals rather than security risks. They are jihadists of rhetoric rather than of rockets.”

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