CULTURE, RELIGION AND DIPLOMACY

 Religion and political culture intertwine, clash and collide, argues Dayo Sobowale

·         The latest diplomatic conundrum in the unfolding drama of Niger’s military coup was the announcement by French President Emanuel Macron that the French Ambassador in Niger should stay at his post in spite of the expulsion order given to him by the military junta which just celebrated one month in power. This is in spite of ECOWAS expired seven – day ultimatum for it to relinquish power or face the grim prospect of military intervention. In Afghanistan the Taliban just ruled that women should just not go to school and sight -seeing is not for them as their place is in the home. In the US, a professor of law noted that a mug shot of former president Donald Trump as he arrived at jail for his state of Georgia indictment, the fourth of his many indictments, has created a mood and culture of divisive rage in American politics. Top this up with the statement by the leader of the smallest state in the world, the Vatican, Pope Francis that it is an honor to be loathed by American conservatives now led by a Trump. A leader with many legal battles on charges that he was and is still active to subvert democracy against all American laws then,  you will  see  the  rationale for the topic of the day under the theme – Comparative Government .

·         Let me state at the onset that my goal today is to show that religion and political culture intertwine, clash and collide in the many issues on discussion today. Modern politics tends to portray its power play in terms of democracy, respect for human rights and freedom ,  conveniently  forgetting that its past must come to play even as it pretends that it is clear headed and even- handed as it pursues the goal of equity, inclusion and fairness needed for political stability and peace.

·         It is on this note that we start with France whose president has asked its ambassador in Niger to defy international law by ignoring an order by a sovereign state hosting it to leave.  The French embassy in Niamey is a sovereign territory but it is in Niger and with the expulsion order the junta has vacated the embassy’s sovereignty on its soil, as it does not exist in a vacuum . The junta is the de facto power in Niger, while France is claiming that it respects  only the de jure power which is the deposed president in the custody of the junta .  This reminds me of the fate of Togo’s first president Silvanus Olympio who was shot at  the doorstep of a foreign embassy like France when the junta of Eyadema seized power in that nation in one of Africa’s many coups in the sixties .  The dilemma for France is that it is claiming to defend Niger and its many former colonies against the bloody flow of Islamic jihad in the Sahel but it has been rebuffed on this account given its expulsion by the coup juntas in Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea Conakry, three nations that have been expelled from the AU on account of staging coups. French diplomatic and religious dilemma is that France as a nation claims to be secular but has not been able to carry its former colonies along on this as they are mostly Islamic and see the fight against Islamic jihadists as an in- house thing,  between  brethren  that should not involve foreigners especially a former exploitative colonial power and master,  like France .

·         ECOWAS’ leadership under Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu also  faces its own  dilemma on this account in terms of religion. In Nigeria’s case the president was elected on a Muslim Muslim ticket in the last presidential election and that is why it was easy for  Islamic clerics to stay  his hand on the planned military intervention in Niger by ECOWAS after the seven- day  ultimatum . That is democracy at play and the Islamic scholars are asking for the dividends of democracy on  account  of religion .  They are in the process taxing both diplomacy and international law by asking  ECOWAS through its Nigerian president not to oust the military  junta that cheekily  celebrated its one month in office to the helpless   chagrin  of ECOWAS and its Nigerian Chairman .

·         In  Afghanistan where the Taliban runs a fully Islamic society there is no need for  any  pretenses or diplomacy  about  democracy and culture . The government there just banned women from visiting tourist  parks and banned foreign scholarship  for women to study  abroad . The  Taliban returned to power in August 2021 after the US Biden Administration abandoned that nation  unexpectedly  after the US  had spent billions of dollars trying to plant democracy in a political  culture that is unashamedly and  proudly Islamic and is ready  to fight and die for it .

·         In   the US the mug shot of on- trial Donald Trump has delighted Democrats but has enraged Republicans who have made hot selling t –shirts blazoned with the picture and branded  with  the slogan – ‘Never Surrender ‘.  On account of this a professor of constitutional law, Jonathan Turley wrote that the US  is in an ‘ age of rage’  and that rage is addictive . According to Turley ‘Rage is addictive. It  allows people to say  and do things that they would ordinarily avoid in public. It is a license to hate blindly and excuse all means to achieve an end.  Turley raised the alarm that constitutionalism is under the greatest test and threat of the rule of law in the US with the many politicized cases against Donald Trump, just because he is the leading candidate of the Republican party against incumbent President Joe Biden for the 2024 US presidential election.

·         In the midst of the political culture stress in the US it is quite interesting to see the Catholic pontiff taking sides . Pope Francis was reported to have blasted the ‘backwardness ‘ of some conservatives in the US Catholic Church noting that  ‘they  have replaced faith with ideology and that a correct understanding of Catholic doctrine allows  for change over time . It is interesting that two popes before Pope Francis never shared his modern views on a changing Catholic culture or doctrine. Former Pope and now St John Paul and Pope Benedict XVI, my  favourite pope, condemned abortion and same sex  marriage and affirmed that the church should not adapt to changing times as in fashion. Yet, that is what Pope Francis is advocating. Reportedly Francis had acknowledged criticism against him by US conservatives noting that it is an’ honour ‘  to be attacked  by Americans . 

·         Needless to say not many Christians in Africa agree on the new found cultural values of the EU and the present Biden Administration on LGBTQ rights and same sex marriage.  Definitely the Taliban will not be seen dead with it. The  same goes for the terrorist Boko Haram and the Islamic  jihadist  in the Sahel . As well as the many Nigerian Muslims and Christians of many denominations. And,  the simple reason is that African culture cannot accept these  new  foreign views on sex , gender and family. Such values creep into diplomacy and the interpretation of international law and create  global suspicion and distrust on issues and places where under normal circumstances , none should  be . The world should be alert and not allow the hate in the culture war in US politics or the promotion   of fake human rights by foreign powers to create a clash of intrinsic cultural values to divide the world at large. As the true socialists say in those days of yore – Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.

Sobowale is of Arise News