World Social Justice Day - celebrated annually on February 20 - recognises the need to tackle issues such as poverty, exclusion, unemployment, gender equity and access to social well- being and justice in order to achieve “a society for all”.
The aim of this particular day reminds me of a recent conversation during which someone remarked that in our country we actually find only two types of people: those who are willing to appear on the radar (television and radio) and those who don’t. The first category are usually those who believe that “any publicity is good publicity”. The second category are often the people who more quietly help shape the social fibre and well-being of our society.
He then continued by saying (political) leaders often state that they want people to adhere to a sound value system and would appreciate the inputs of knowledgeable people, but in fact they don’t really listen to them. They just carry on with their lives often without real solidarity, harmony, equality and equity that constitute the fundamental values of all societies.
Whether one agrees with this binary categorisation of our society or not, this made me think.
I specifically thought of the second category of people referred to. There are so many South Africans at grassroots level who are committed to promote social justice. I recall the survey that is referred to on the website of SA Good News. This survey found that nine in 10 South Africans did something charitable last year. Eighty percent of those surveyed have given money in the previous 12 months, either to a non-profit or charity organisation, a church or by sponsoring someone. Given the macro-level problems of poverty and unemployment, this might seem small, but it is, however, laudable.
According to this survey, the most popular cause to give money to is helping the poor (55% of donors). This report further shines a light on the youngest generation of South Africans and how they interact with civil society. Sixty-four percent of 18-24 year olds indicated that they donated to make a difference. A lot of depressing statistics can be provided, although we can all testify about the progress we’ve made over the last 25 years.
However, I asked myself: what kind of ethical framework can we provide to promote and enhance social justice and take our country forward, involving both categories of people referred to above.
I think it has become clear that we are moving away from blind loyalty to political leaders and a political party, to an ethic of creative, responsible freedom. This however, sometimes goes hand in hand with tension and violence.
If one reflects deeply on this, we are actually not governed by power-hungry political leaders and those in control of wealth, but rather by the power of creative and critical thinking. Real democracy should promote this.
We are by nature creative to a greater or lesser extent, equipped with the ability to think and develop strong values for ourselves and fellow human beings on an equal basis. People are more and more experiencing a “top-down” form of leadership as captivity. This leadership mode of the past, which is still with us, won’t meet the new challenges of today and tomorrow’s complex world. We’ll have to shift from an ethic of obedience to an ethic of creative commitment, according to theologian Martin Prozesky.
A second thing is that we’ll have to shift from what is right on a micro-level to an equal and even greater concern of what must be done on a macro-level where pressing issues like poverty, unemployment and inequality must be tackled.
* Dr Chris Jones heads the Unit for Moral Leadership in the Faculty of Theology at Stellenbosch University.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.