Article Citation: Osedebamen David Oamen and M. Nwanbuzo (2023). Media and the Culture of Peace in Africa: A Resonance for African Renaissance Cultural Charter Implementation. DEGEL: The Journal of the Faculty of Arts and Islamic Studies, Vol. 20, No. 1 & 2. ISSN 0794-9316
By
Osedebamen David Oamen and M. Nwanbuzo
Abstract
This
paper is aimed at the media and the culture of peace in Africa; either print or
electronic and its impact on the social, economic and political landscape of
Africa. This is because the media is so important that it could be a tool for
mobilization and liberation of a people. It could also be used as a means of
oppression and demobilization when manipulated. Its objective is to argue that
African governments have not been able to resolve problems rooted in crisis
generated by the media in recent time about their activities that are
anti-people. The circumstances that led to government’s inability to peacefully
handle these crises evolved from the media, either on objective or manipulated
reportage. These have culminated into untold consequences for insincere
politicians, their party and the people. These are further deepened by economic
and political situation in Africa which have deteriorated to inexplicable
level, defiling political manipulations by governments which either
metamorphosed from military regime to militarized democracy with monarchical
intent. Therefore asked the following questions; any quest for culture of peace
in African media and of what important at this time that the continent is
democratizing? What informs crisis that have engulfed Africa, most importantly,
corruption, war, political conflict, xenophobia, and lack of freedom of
expression? Is the charter for African cultural renaissance a potential
instrument in ensuring a culture of peace in Africa through cultural policy
adequate implementation? The research methodology adopted is qualitative. It
consulted relevant books, journal, and internet sources. This paper underscored
the relevance of cultural policy implementation and how it can engender the
culture of peace as well as address the hindrances caused by the evolvement of
cultural phenomena, which include the media. The paper advanced the need to
effectively implement charter for African cultural renaissance which streamed
into the cultural policies of all African member nations, which prescribed a
measure of media objectives for the culture of peace in Africa. This paper
resonate the need to effectively implement these objectives in tandem with
creating enabling environment at continental and national levels. Conclusively,
the paper raise the belief that the implementation of cultural policy will
ensure culture of peace that will impact on the media and the society in
Africa.
Introduction
The
media is an arm of culture which is often defined as the way of life of a
people. Irrespective of the genre of media, print or electronic, its existence
is centred on human activities. The media has the power to educate, entertain
and inform larger audiences. The media, by its nature is privy to firsthand and
classified information. The media also has analytical prowess which can turn
guess to reality. The media is bifocal at this juncture, it serves the elite as
friend and the populace as brother because that is where it belongs often
times. The media is in- between the elite and the populace; it takes ones
activities to the other. With these, the media has the power to manipulate or
make one side look stupid to the other through objective reportage or the
opposite.
Considering
this enormous strength of the media, it is clear that the media has the power
to enshrine the culture of peace in a given society including Africa. It is
more important now to discuss the culture of peace and the media to sustain
political, economic, social and scientific advancement that are on-going in
Africa. In as much as the media is a brand of culture, it will play its role
better if the advancement brought about by cultural policy implementation is
robbed on the media. That means; that culture principles as it concerns the
media must be implemented to enable it enshrine peace going by the importance
of cultural policy and its provision for the media.
Man
and the Culture of Peace in Africa
Man
is the source of every media activities within and outside his immediate
environment, which influences peace or crisis. Man’s survival strides evolve
culture which influences his total being including the media which constitutes
an arm of his culture that relays his success and failures as individual or
collective entity. Man constitutes male and female conscious beings, which
exert positive and negative influences in whatever they do as the essence of
every society. Man’s activities include what is acceptable and what is not.
What is acceptable are adopted and guarded by norms and values and those that
are not acceptable are restructured by norms and values. Africa is not an
exception to this cultural phenomenon as it constitutes the axis on which her
cultural practices rotate before colonization.
However,
the dynamics of man may make Africans to respond to challenges differently due
to school, political and economic experiences, in spite of the universality of
man, particularly, an African man’s experience must have been sharpened by what
he suffered in the hands of traditional rulers, slave merchants, colonial
administrations, military rulers and lately democratic despots who were forced
to accept democracy as the newest model of public management by international
advocates of democratic government. These arrays of influences have
re-sharpened the consciousness with which Africans respond to problems overtime
which has resulted to crisis in all parts of the continent. Africans were
involved in the various crises. If they were not directly involved, they were
indirectly involved. Those who are not involved must have read about the
crisis. This same people constitute the man-power of African media. It is
obvious that their experiences will rob on their reportage in attempt to
caution the excesses of traditional rulers, a repeat of modernized slavery,
re-colonization, struggle for demilitarization and democratic deceits. This is
an indication that the media receives its flow of activities from man; these
activities are processed by man and disseminated by man through the media in
Africa. Man is therefore, the sources and consumer of the services of the
media. It becomes important to acknowledge man as source of media operations.
This includes the need to examine man as a source of the media and how he can
be managed to improve on the culture of peace in Africa. That means that if man
can manage his activities which constitute culture that feeds the media, and if
the man who mans the media manages the processing and dissemination, it will
engender a culture of peace in Africa media reportage.
It
has been observed that a just, humane and fair world is possible and Africa can
lead the way… to enhance the common good and ensure peace and harmony (Kukah,
2006:41). This is possible if Africa is able to manage man as the man has to
manage himself considering economic, political social and religions problems
advanced by man’s greed, selfishness, hatred, corruption and other vices which
impoverished Africa as a large percentage of her wealth are spent on war
armament to quell internal unrest that often leads to large loss of human
resources that would have contributed to Africa’s development. It is believed
that if man manages his consciousness and ability which informs his actions and
trigger activities in society, it will enhance and regenerate a culture of
peace. It is on this premise that man evolved norms and values as means of
overcoming his challenges. Overtime, norms and values developed to inform his
culture, which further informed the media. The intent of evolving values and
norms was to achieve endurable peace, which has been a challenge to man. The
struggle to achieve endurable peace has often been hampered by circumstances
and activities of fellow men, other factors or a combination of both.
Whichever, man is central to all the events that generate peace or usurp it in
his environment and beyond.
Man
as the originator and agent of the culture that gave birth to the media has
been in quest of peace consciously and unconsciously. The more man strives to
achieve peace, the more the challenges. Therefore, the man who strives for
peace and the man who pose as a challenge are agent of the forces that
constructs or deconstructs peace or its process. In this regard, man deserves
to be managed as the force which evolved and directs the culture that informed
the media which brings about peace, particularly in Africa which has been
engulfed by crisis of all kinds generated by man against fellow men.
In
recent times, Africa has been assumed to have the largest number of internal
crises which has destroyed millions of lives, displaced millions of people,
wrecked economic havoc and caused political problems. Most of the major causes
of these crises bedevilling Africa are corruption, selfishness, greed and
maladministration. These are elements of man’s negative attitudes which must be
managed – controlled for the realization of a media of culture of peace in
Africa. Managing man to realize this lofty objective is important because man’s
activities inform the media, either in time of crisis or peace. When man’s
activities are peaceful, it in turn informs a culture of peace in the media.
That means, a culture of peace in African media is achievable if man in Africa
is managed to generate peaceful activities that informs the media. Otherwise,
achieving a culture of peace in Africa will be simply difficult, if man is not
managed. This paper therefore, examines the possibility of managing man as a
source of culture in Africa through the management of his culture as a
continental or state instrument of managing man and his activities.
Media
and African Cultural Charter Renaissance Implementation: A Resonance for Peace.
The
media is an important segment of culture. This importance has been acknowledged
by the United Nations, Africa and other member nations of United Nations
Economic Scientific and Cultural Organization. This acknowledgment prompted its
inclusion in continental and state cultural policies in Africa. Cultural policy
is a government intension until it is implemented. Its implementation is also
very important as it is resolution focused. African leaders took advantage of
the importance of the resolution focused nature of cultural policy to manage
the media. It strengthened this advantage in the charter for African cultural
renaissance which affirmed;
that any human community is necessarily governed by
rules and principles based on culture; That all cultures emanate from the
societies, communities, groups and individuals and that any African cultural
policy should of necessity enable people to evolve for increased responsibility
in its development…that any people have the inalienable right to organize their
cultural life in full harmony with their political, economic, social,
philosophical and spiritual ideas… That culture constitutes for our peoples the
surest means to chart Africa’s own course towards technological development,
and the most efficient response to the challenges of globalization (Africa,
2006: 2 – 3).
This
has a full endorsement of the governments in Africa because of the relevance of
culture and its usefulness to the continent and her peoples in every
ramification of life. No doubt, the reflections cited above are geared towards
taking advantage of the potentials of culture and deploying them to the various
components that constitute the central nerve of African development. This
assertion streamed into the objectives and principles of the charter of
cultural renaissance for Africa, which include:
(a) To assert the dignity of African men and women as well
as the popular foundations of their culture;
(b) To promote freedom of expression and cultural
democracy, this is inseparable from social and political democracy.(AU, 4)
The
governments in Africa should do what is right. Without doubt, the charter is
dutifully packaged. In spite of this, the policy has not been implemented. No
matter the content or objective of a policy, once it has not been implemented
it is still intent. It is the implementation that will set the guard for the
governments of Africa who initiated it. More so, it has to be implemented to
the satisfaction of everybody, though this seem impossible, an effort with good
conscience will yield good result.
For
instance, if item (a) to assert the dignity of African men and women is up held
through implementation, it will impart on item (b) promote freedom of
expression and cultural democracy. This will aid item (e) in combating,
eliminating all forms of alienation, exclusion and cultural oppression. It is
only when these objectives have been implemented that it will be integrated
into development strategies; otherwise reactions and counter reactions will be
generated for the media to locate a position, which could be positive
(c) To combat and eliminate all forms of alienation,
exclusion and cultural oppression everywhere in Africa;
(d) To integrate cultural objectives in development
strategies;
(e) To strengthen the role of culture in promoting peace
and good governance;
(f) To develop all the dynamic values of the African
cultural heritage that promotes human rights, social cohesion and human
development;
(g) To provide African peoples with the resources to
enable them to cope with globalization (Africa, 2006: 4 – 5).
After
establishing culture as a necessity, the Charter document raised objectives and
principles in which every African is provided for. Assessing these objectives,
it is a template of common ordinance for Africans and Africa, with the highest
regard for peace if these objectives are implemented. These laudable,
impressive and peace infused objectives and principles will guard the
initiators and check media objectivity or negativity. When it is negative, the
peace for which the charter forms a base will elude the people. That
automatically negates the purpose of item. When it is positive it will
strengthen promotion of peace and governance, promote human rights, social
cohesion and human development, as well as provide African peoples with the
resources to cope with globalization. This will inadvertently give room for
objective reportage that will promote peace, which if manipulated it will cause
doubt in the mind of the masses because they can see, feel and hear.
Therefore,
the discourse on media and the culture of peace in Africa is a resonance for
peace if the charter for African cultural renaissance is implemented. It will
go a long way to curb \the excesses of the media which give room for negative
reportage that evade peace in Africa. This is because the implementation would
positively touch human life to the point of universal acceptability.
Negotiating Culture of Peace: African Charter of
Cultural Renaissance
The
negotiation of culture of peace in African media is reasonably dependent on the
implementation of the Charter for African Cultural Renaissance. This is because
the charter provided for good citizenship and leadership in its objectives,
Article 3 items (a) – (i). The heads of state and government of African states
arrived at these objectives because they know that if they are implemented, it
will bring about peace in Africa. The implementation of the charter, going by
it objectives is a process of negotiating for peace. If these objectives are
implemented it will engender an leadership and the led culture of peace. Once
the leaders and the led enjoys culture of peace, it will immediately reflect a
culture of peace. Although, this is difficult to achieve, it will go a long way
to resolve important cultural issues that often ignite crisis among people
within a state. According to Shittima (2010:105)
From the reciprocal gifts of ancient rulers to
modern-day Expos, culture Has been used as a way for leaders and countries to
show who they are, assert their powers, and build lasting relationships. In the
contemporary age of globalization, cultural diplomacy is perhaps as important
as, if not more important than, the harder stuff of laws and treaties,
bilateral negotiations, multilateral structures and military capability.
The
Cultural Charter for African Renaissance anticipated the content and
implication of the above citation towards an enduring peace. When peace
envelopes a society it becomes a reference point for the media because they
share from it and it is their responsibility to announce it because they are
members of the society.
However,
it is a surprising to know that the Charter has suffered setback in the area of
implementation, judging from the level it has been implemented at our end. The
same thing applies to other member nations of African Union. A careful study of
the lot of African countries who have signed the Charter revealed that only
twenty countries out of fifty three have signed it, and only one has ratified
and deposited it at the African Union Headquarters(African Union, 2010:1-2) as
at 12 February, 2010. This is a clear indication of the handling of so
important a charter with levity by those who conceived it, gave birth to it but
refused to nurture it and has denied it of implementation. A Charter or policy
that is unimplemented is as good as none existent Charter or policy, because
its objective cannot be achieved, and because its objectives cannot be achieved
it becomes of no value to the people whose interest it is expected to serve.
The refusal to sign, ratify and deposit the document by member state signifies negligence
by some countries in Africa towards the implementation of the charter. Without
the implementation of the charter, the objectives set out in it, which are
aimed to address social, economic and political problems as well as inform the
individual to change his or her attitude will not be met and the situation will
not change. The peace inclusiveness wrapped in the objectives of the charter
when implemented will not elude the people. This automatically forms a source
for the media. This paper argued, that to achieve and sustain culture of peace
in Africa media, the charter for African Cultural Renaissance must be fully
implemented. This is a resonating call going by the objectives of the charter
which is directly and indirectly peace oriented.
Cultural Management and Peace in Africa: Repositioning
the Media
The
Charter for African Cultural Renaissance is planned to stream into each member
nation’s cultural policy, with a view to enhance member nation’s cultural
policy, but it is more important if it is implemented to the letter, not just
at the national level but at state and local government levels within the
nation. This would imply effective cultural management which imbibe continental
and national objectives.
Cultural
management is the application of management elements to strengthening all the
forms, content and structure of culture towards realizing its developmental
benefits in a given society. The management of culture is not restricted to
material culture, it include cultural intelligibility, philosophy and
interaction with social, economic, scientific and diplomatic process. The
originators of African Cultural charter understood the implication of these
factors before adopting the charter. The objectives of the Charter have been
weighed in relation to what it will achieve, one of which is peace, and because
cultural charter is a means of constructing a unified source of peace built on
cultural values. It has been argued that:
Cultural
construction by management implication is the construction or building of peace
in society, using culture as a base and its elements as materials, and tying
the people to it with their emotions which have natural respect for their
culture. It is concerned with transmitting knowledge about the stages and
methods about which society develops in peace.(Adedokun and Oamen,2010:7)
Cultural
management became necessary because it is the process through which any
cultural policy or charter can be implemented to bring about peace. Most
especially now that what we have is the end game to a systematic erosion and
near apocalypse of a once thriving cultural repertoire in the hands of
neo-imperialists and pretenders to modern democratic values(Asagba, 2012:3) The
relevance of cultural management should be acknowledged because Asians who
suffered the same fate wit Africans in the hands of Europeans and Africans
Queens and Kings who were terribly corrupt have managed their culture and built
future empires.
More
so, that traditional and modern politics have always been corrupt and much of
our self-pride in Africa lack cultural foundation and the increasing
inferiority complex with respect to our past cultures and traditions(Williams,
2007:11). Again, not minding the fact that West has been cultural aggressor
against other races and civilizations for hundreds of years (Mazrui, 2000:11).
Africans imbibed Western culture which has no respect for theirs. It then
becomes pertinent to ask, how then will the media imbibe culture of peace in
Africa considering these enormous influences? African Cultural Charter
envisaged the enormity of these challenges, hence the urgent need for its
implementations so as to redirect and reposition the media to imbibe a culture
of peace in Africa. Repositioning African media to achieve a culture of peace
is maximally dependent on implementing African Cultural Charter.
The
cultural policy of every African country is expected to synergise with the
African cultural charter with the aim to promote peace in the continent.
However, most cultural policies in Africa have already inculcated peace plan in
the cultural policy of the nation. For instance the Cultural policy of
Nigeria states in paragraph 3.5 “The policy shall establish a code of
behaviour compatible with our tradition of humanism and disciplined moral
society” (Cultural policy of Nigeria’ 1988. 194). This was corroborated
by The Gambia arts and culture policy, which also states that
what the policy aims to achieve is to enhance the use of Gambia Heritage for
piece building, National cohesion and positive changes (The Gambia arts and
culture policy 2018. 5). These are indications that cultural policies in their
nature are designed to ensure peace. The continental charter and national
cultural policies are already working along the same line to ensure peace, this
should be harmonised for effectiveness.
Recommendations
Within
the purview of this discourse, achieving culture of peace in Africa media is
very important because all forms of development thrives only in situations
where peace forms the base. Therefore, it is important to recommend that:
(a) The charter of African Cultural Renaissance should be
implemented fully at the continental level.
(b) It was envisaged that African Cultural Renaissance
Charter will flow into national cultural policies. This must be encouraged and
its implementation must be encouraged and evaluated. This should be with a view
to encouraging states and local governments, even individuals to imbibe the
objective principles of the charter.
(c) Peace is mostly achieved through human efforts.
Achieving a culture of peace in African media will certainly require human
efforts. This calls for caution for man-the people of African in the area of
greed, political manipulations, selfishness and “theftocracy”.
(d) Initiators of the charter must device a means to
encourage nations to fully implement the objectives of the charter.
(e) Defaulter’s should be sanctioned or reprimanded
seriously.
(f) Reward for effective implementation must be visible,
attractive and awarded as at when due.
(g) Sub-regional monitoring committees must be set up to
monitor and advice for redirection.
(h) The implementation of the charter must be human
centred.
Conclusion
The
relationship between man and culture and how it informs the media has been
earlier argued among others. Furthering the argument on media and the culture
of peace in Africa requires cultural tack. This has been acknowledged in
several discourses. It has been revealed that human activities inform culture
which constitutes the media. Negotiating the culture of peace in the media
requires a great deal of cultural perspective, which the chatter for African
cultural Renaissance is constituted to serve in Africa. A critical observation
of the objectives of the charter indicated it peace content, therefore if the
charter is implemented, the peace inherent in the charter will be established,
thereby bringing about peace that will impact on the media in Africa. That
strengthens the urgency to implement the charter in line with the
recommendations of this paper.
References
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African Union.(2006) Charter
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Kukah, H.A. (2006) Religion,
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