02-05-2007

RELIGION IS DEFINING ISSUE OF 21ST CENTURY

Wole Soyinka was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986. The Nigerian writer's most recent book is "You Must Set Forth at Dawn: A Memoir." Following are extracts of remarks Soyinka made in response to audience questions during recent talks in California at Claremont Graduate and Loyola Marymount universities.

By Wole Soyinka

Q: As a global public intellectual, what is the key issue you see in the world today?

Wole Soyinka: Religion, and rising intolerance associated with it, will be the defining issue of the 21st century.

With the death of ideology in general, and the death of communist ideology in particular -- which virtually amounted to religion -- religion has stepped in to fill the vacuum. Just look at what's happening in Darfur, Chechnya and Indonesia. And religion, including the major religions, are at the root of intolerance. Judaism, Christianity and Islam are completely soaked in intolerance.

Yet, there is no reason at all why a religion cannot just expose and disseminate its own believed virtues and not at the expense of denigrating the belief systems of others. Conversion is absolutely legitimate; it’s a mark of culture and civilization. But there isn't much of that.

Yoruba, a religion of Nigeria, is one potential model for the spiritual cravings of seekers. It has much to teach people about tolerance because its deities are among the most humane anywhere. As a result, the Yoruba people have no hostility to the piety of others. They have been willing to look at another tradition and find equivalents in their own. But Yoruba has become an “invisible religion” because it has been overshadowed by other elaborate and territorially rapacious world religions.

Q: East Asia has moved from poverty to prosperity over the past few decades while Africa has remained behind. What is the most important approach for Africa for the future?

Wole Soyinka: What Africa needs, and what I'd like to see, is a general, internal interdependence. Instead of each African state having to negotiate trade with the outside world, it would improve our leverage to have a strong, self-sufficient internal market for the whole continent -- in effect, an economic union not unlike that in Europe or even the single market of the United States.

We have this in a nascent way in the central African region, in west Africa and in the south African cone. But they are not strong enough. I'm convinced that only this level of integration will give Africa a chance to move toward prosperity from poverty the way East Asia has. As it is now, we are constantly entering “dependency pacts” with others.

(c) 2007 Nobel Laureates Plus
Distributed by Tribune Media Services, INC. (2/05/07)