Fr Bwalya deserves the respect, support of all

Fr Bwalya deserves the respect, support of all
By The Post
Tue 16 Mar. 2010, 04:30 CAT

THE intolerance of Rupiah Banda’s regime will soon prove very costly to himself and to the nation. Rupiah is promoting and tolerating intolerance and violence. Those who are intolerant or violent in the process of aiding Rupiah’s political agenda are tolerated and go scot-free.

Police officers and other judicial officers who perpetrate injustices, who harass and persecute innocent citizens whose only crime is to stand up and challenge the crimes of his league are rewarded in all sorts of ways. They behave like brutes because they are rewarded for brutish behaviour.

It’s not possible to be neutral over the harassment and persecution of Fr Bwalya. We can easily be enticed to read peace and fairness as meaning parity between justice and injustice. While justice must be promoted, injustice must be fought.

As we have warned before, the intolerance of Rupiah’s regime can only do one thing, and that is to breed counter-intolerance, contempt for itself.

We salute Fr Bwalya and all others who, amid lack of understanding and in the blessedness of the thirst for justice, are prepared, in the manner of John the Baptist, for the coming of the Lord in the establishment of a more just, fair and humane society.

We want to make it very clear that we are not neutral over these injustices against Fr Bwalya; we are with Fr Bwalya and we will do everything possible to support him and his work.

We have always thought that if a man cannot sacrifice himself for others, he is incapable of sacrificing himself for anything; a person who cannot sacrifice himself for others is incapable of sacrificing himself for his own sake; a person that is not willing to fight for the rights and dignity of others will never be ready to fight for his own rights and dignity.

Whoever is incapable of fighting for others will never be capable of fighting for himself. And the courage shown by Fr Bwalya and the people of Kitwe must also serve to let Rupiah and his friends know what awaits them.

There are moments when difficult and bitter decisions have to be taken. Intelligence demands the return of violence with violence. Every time you let someone stand on your head and you don’t do anything about it, you are not acting with intelligence and should not be on this earth – you won’t be on this earth very long either.

There’s too much intolerance and violence against those who do not support, those who oppose Rupiah and his regime as if they are criminals when, in fact, the laws of this country, the Constitution of this country allow them to do what they are doing.

This government does not protect the rights of citizens who don’t support it. Those who oppose Rupiah and his government have no rights in this country to be protected by law enforcement agencies. They are beaten by ruling party cadres and harassed by policemen without any meaningful protection from any quarter.

We have never said that those who don’t like Rupiah and his government should initiate acts of violence or intolerance against his cadres and supporters, but where the government fails to protect Rupiah’s opponents, his critics, they are entitled to do it themselves. They are within their rights.

There are elements in the ruling MMD and in Rupiah’s government who are nothing but cold, animalistic tyrants. They are trying to make those who oppose, those who don’t support Rupiah and his league the victims of every kind of unjust conditions imaginable.

Then when they explode, they want them to explode politely! Why, they are dealing with the wrong people at the wrong time in the wrong way.

We are living at a time when there has got to be a change. People in power have misused it, and now there has to be a change and a better nation has to be built, and the only way it’s going to be built is by not accepting and tolerating injustice, by fighting intolerance and tyranny.

And all men and women of goodwill should join in with anyone who makes effort to change these miserable conditions that exist in our country today.

Every human being of goodwill is committed to changing the social order that is cruelly unjust. They cannot evade their commitment to social change. They must involve themselves in this effort whatever the consequences.

To refuse such a commitment would be to make oneself an accomplice of injustice. If Christians like Fr Bwalya do not commit themselves to changing a system that prevents most persons from achieving personal fulfilment, then they are not helping their people, their fellow citizens to live out their vocation and attain union with God. In short, uncommitted Christians are betraying their mission to serve the progress of human history.

Thus the outlook of Christians cannot be restricted to personal religious practices or to an individualistic morality; they cannot fail to re-examine their conduct within the framework of the structures prevailing in this country and in this world. If they fail to do this, they would be bearing witness against the Gospel. They must confront the reality of today with the reality of the Gospel, living always as wayfarers open to change and ever on the move.

So the questions: how many authentic Christians do we find today in this country? Well, people fail to fulfil their Christian duty out of ignorance or lack of awareness. Some adopt a negative attitude toward change, but they do so from a narrow outlook.

Commitment to change often confronts Christians with the whole problem of violence. It is our opinion that the real violence of the present day is the intolerable and perduring violence of an institutionalised nature. This seems clear from the facts before us: the high levels of poverty, the lack of daily sustenance, the wage level, the inadequate health and educational facilities.

Intolerance constitutes one of the gravest problems in our country today. A decision on which the future of our country and our people will depend should not be left to the impulses of emotion and passion. We would be failing in our duty if we were not to remind the conscience, caught in this dramatic dilemma, of the criteria derived from the Christian doctrine of evangelical love.

No one should be surprised if we forcefully reaffirm our faith in the productiveness of peace and justice, fairness and humaneness. This is our Christian ideal. Intolerance, violence and tyranny are neither Christian nor evangelical. Christians are tolerant and peaceful and are not ashamed of it. They are not simply pacifists, they can fight, but they prefer peace to violence.

They know that violent changes in structures would be fallacious, ineffectual in themselves, and not conforming to human dignity, which demands that the necessary changes take place from within – that is to say, through a fitting awakening of conscience, adequate preparation and effective participation of all, which the ignorance and often inhuman conditions of life make it impossible to assure at this time. As Christians believe in the productiveness of peace to achieve justice, they also believe that justice is a prerequisite for peace.

This demands all-embracing, courageous, urgent and profoundly renovating transformations. One should not abuse the patience of a people that for years has borne a situation that would not be acceptable to anyone with any degree of awareness of human rights, justice and dignity.

Facing a situation which works so seriously against human dignity and against peace and justice, we address ourselves to all Christians in our country, asking them to assume, in the spirit of John the Baptist, their responsibility in the promotion of justice, fairness, humaneness and peace in our country.

We shouldn’t forget that the future peace of our country depends to a large extent on your attitude. Also responsible for injustice are those who remain passive for fear of the sacrifice and personal risk implied by any courageous and effective action.

Justice, and therefore peace, conquer by means of a dynamic action of awakening and organisation of the popular sectors, which are capable of pressing public officials who are often impotent in their social projects without popular support.

It is up to us to denounce everything which, opposing justice, destroys peace.
It must be clear why Fr Bwalya deserves the support of all in his selfless efforts and sacrifices in the true spirit of John the Baptist.