Swazi Observer

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NATURAL RIGHTS IN THE21ST CENTURY

By Joy Ndwandwe | 2018-12-16

When everyone commemorates Human Rights Day, as a rebel with a cause, am thinking we should be talking about natural rights in the 21st century.

These thoughts we liberated in 2010, after meeting a profound rebel with a cause, Professor Howard Richards who states thus, ‘we need to talk about natural rights because today our human rights especial social rights cannot become realities in the third world, or defended by the first world, precisely because we live in the 21st century.

Under the rule of law constructed by and for the 18th century. The triumphant revolutionaries of the 18th century lived and breathe natural rights.’ These profound words of wisdom resonate with my old soul, which lived and breathe natural rights in the 19th century.

My old soul experienced the period leading to collapse in natural rights, at the advent of trading partners along the coast, becoming intruders, then settlers and eventually colonialist.

Evidently, meeting and following the literary works of Professor Richards was an important path of my soulful journey, as I sometimes choke on human rights issues. Considering the slave trade, humiliation of indigenous knowledge, forced labour, Christianity the colonialism and capitalism tool, and present day captivity by modernity. Then human rights whose proponents argue their universality after all the humiliation and dehumanization, in essence, natural rights heal my old soul, they are as ancient as earth, were violated and humiliated.

Ethical, Social and Spiritual Collapse

Professor Richards, co-author of Rethinking Thinking, probes my thoughts when suggesting ethical, social and spiritual collapse. These rebellious thoughts on why we commemorate human rights in the mist of these collapses, evidently how can human rights prevail when humanity has no natural rights. Embedded within indigenous knowledges that embody the culture of humane freedom proscribed by colonialism, civilisation and now modernity. The ethical collapse emerged at the advent of colonialism utilising education and religion, particularly Christianity as tools.

The colonial tools that humiliated indigenous knowledge systems such that today we are living with greed, materialism and corruption without the natural right, mutual respect.

The social collapse that has fragmented families, communities and society as the natural rights that protected the indigenous dignity remains violated.

When the homestead with all its ethical and moral spaces of information and knowledge humiliated, the religious homes have created dehumanised human beings. Now lost in the maze of immorality, living and breathing crime and ruthlessness as the source of their sustenance, without moral and ethical guidance from eSangweni and eDladlani.

The spaces where natural rights, inculcated from core sources, as educators within indigenous spaces walked the talk of ethics and morality. Yet we commemorate human right, as human rights culture is trending, having joined the bandwagon.

At all costs, even if this means we become the violators of natural rights. As we, are modern Christians and most significantly wearing the emperor’s clothes, speaking and thinking like his proper stooges?

Spiritual collapse embedded within the culture of inhumane freedom, hence, I wonder if religious rights mean lack of spirituality.

As religious rights are suppressing others spirituality, whether they connects with ancestors, Islam or any other, this is their natural right. As natural rights enabled humanity to connect with God, the Supreme Being, as spirituality teaches there is only one God, Creator of Universe. The spiritual collapse evident in how there is only a Christian God, emanating from men of God professing to communicating with this God of Jesus, who is unapologetically intolerant of other spiritual paths. This level of religious supremacy is occurring within the human rights era, some its proponent are so called champions of human rights. Hence, my rebellion begs me to wish God would recall us now so we witness how many will enter the Kingdom of God, the Supreme Being.

Ecological Collapse

Colonialism through capitalism created development paradigms that now manifest in modernity, the main sources of ecological collapses. Unfortunately, this is irreversible, as capitalism in pursuit of maximising profits violated natural rights embedded within indigenous knowledges.

Thus subjugating sacredness of forests, spaces and natural forces due to capitalistic approaches towards development and modernity. Suppressing the indigenous knowledge holders’ voices that were preserving these natural rights within the ecology. Rights that have been in existence for generations, however, due their preservation forms such as storytelling and mythologies.

Colonialist violated and subjugated these voices and mythicised these narrators, as uneducated, unscientific and barbaric.

Today the human rights communities and activists are active participants in global climate change, which is a consequence of violating and subjugating natural rights. Climate change is the consequence of subjugating indigenous knowledge holders’ and their storytelling, manifesting in unethical and social disorder within humanity. Thus human rights commemorated by those who humiliated natural rights that understood the unique symbiosis between humanity and mother earth.

Indigenous knowledge holders’ tried to educate colonialists on the consequences of their greed, materialism and corruption. However, these indigenous knowledge holders’ were not from the ivory tower academy, were subjugated and humiliated. As colonialism, capitalism, civilization and modernity believe indigenous knowledge is outdate ways of living and thinking.

The moral of storytelling is a natural right of indigenous communities, which were colonized, civilised and modernised. Without the integration of indigenous knowledge considered uneducated, unscientific and barbaric by the champions of human rights.

As patriarchal systems humiliate and dehumanize thoughts, knowledge and wisdom that were not originating from their schools of thought. Yet, indigenous communities did not need laboratories and technology to access the level of insights, knowledge and wisdom when communing with Mother Nature. This was their natural right, to have a spiritual and intimate bond Mother Earth, as these natural rights emanated from the earth, and not from technology and laboratories.

Therefore, the violators of these natural rights continue to believe that human rights will heal the earth, instead to humbly integrating indigenous knowledge with modernity to evoke natural rights.

Conclusion

In conclusion, last year during the Swaziland (ESwatini) Economic Conference, I was truly humbled to meet a St John Bosco High School learner who wishes to study natural rights.

The youth must take the lead on natural rights, as we are conflicted, by colonialism, capitalism, civilization and modernity.

Therefore, we have become human rights activists as this is trending, and yet we are impoverished at the natural rights level.

We negate and subjugate our natural rights, and call them bogus rights, like the English Philosopher Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832): ‘natural rights is simply nonsense, natural and imprescriptible rights, rhetorical nonsense, nonsense upon stilts.’

These words have dominated our lives, as they were the root cause of how colonialism, capitalism, civilisation and modernity has violated and subjugated natural rights.

Any yet, these same words are the part of the reason why today we have the ethical, social, spiritual and ecological collapse that are a global phenomenon.

These words led to the collapse in the culture of humane freedom; hence, we are captives of coloniality, capitalism and modernity. I, therefore, find myself lost in the maze of what human rights are we commemorating as humanity without natural rights remains inhumane.

An inhumane humanity manifest the greed, materialism, corruption, crime and ruthlessness’ towards each other and the ecology, which were the drivers of colonialism, capitalism, civilisation and modernity. Thus, I yearn for the uneducated, unscientific and barbaric natural rights for they embodied the vision embedded in culture of humane freedoms.

Towards future generations, we are captives in a jungle with human rights.

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