Once upon a time in Africa, people understood that us
humans are not above all other animals but equal to them. And so the time has
come for us to reflect on the past, present and look deeply to find a solution to the damage we
have caused.
Credo Mutwa is an extraordinary South African character;
he is a traditional healer, psychic and talented storyteller. His knowledge of
old Africa which has been progressively lost throughout past decades remains a
crucial key to understanding our true relationship to nature and other animals.
In his book, Isilwane the Animal, he describes how African people did not see
us humans as separate from nature in the past: we understood that we are not above
animals, trees, fishes and birds but equal to them.
Old Africa understood our
interconnectedness with all living beings. When the white man came to Africa,
the continent was teeming with animals which were then mass slaughtered once
they erected their farms.
Credo
makes the point that many westerners still believe that conservation was imported
by colonial powers into Africa and Ian Player confirms in the foreward to the
book that those who worked in reserves and protected areas in Zululand know
that conservation existed long before the white man arrived. He describes how African tribes respected
nature and our interconnectedness with the Earth by holding wild animals as
their totems – a system which served to preserve the environment and showed a
clear respect for a healthy biodiversity.
Excerpts from ISILWANE THE ANIMAL BY CREDO MUTWA:
“Through Isilwane the Animal, I hope to open
the eyes of the world to traditional African attitudes, folklore and rituals
which have governed the relationships between the people of Africa and the
animal world.
Today we see the human race running around in circles,
like a mad dog chasing its own tail. Today, the same type of confusion prevails
in all fields of human thought. There is confusion in the way we view
ourselves, there is confusion in the way we view the earth, there is even
confusion, believe it or not, at the core of every one of the world’s
religions. I can state this with confidence as I have studied most of these
religions and even joined some of them.
But why the
confusion? It is due to the way we view things: the way we view the atom,
stars, life on Earth, and the way we view the Deity Himself or Herself. But the
most dangerous and destructive view by far – one which has changed human beings
into rampaging, destructive and mindless beasts – is that we compare ourselves
with other living things.
Western Man is taught that he is the master of all living
things. The bible itself enshrines this extreme attitude, as do other great
books. Repeatedly one hears of dangerous phrases such as “untamed nature”, or
“interrogating nature with power”. One hears of the strange belief that man is
superior to all other living things on Earth and that he was especially created
to be overlord and custodian of all things animate and inanimate. Until these
attitudes are combated and erased from the human mind, Westernised humans will
be a danger to all earthly life, including themselves.”
“When white people came to Africa, they had been
conditioned to separate themselves spiritually and physically from wildlife. In
the vast herds of animals, they saw four footed enemies to be crushed and objects
of fun to be destroyed for pleasure. They slaughtered wild animals by the
million. It never occurred to the white pioneers that these animals were
protected by the native tribes through whose land they migrated. It never
occurred to them, with their muskets, rifles and carbines, that black people
worshipped these great herds and regarded them as an integral part of their
existence on Earth.”
CONSERVATION AND THE TOTEM SYSTEM:
“In old Africa, every tribe had an animal that it
regarded as its totem, an animal after which the tribe had been names by its
founders. It was the sacred duty of the tribe to ensure that the animal after
which it was named was never harmed within the confines of its territory. In addition,
Africans knew that certain wild animals co-exist with others, and that in order
to protect the animal after which the tribe was named, it was essential to
protect those animals with which the sacred one co-existed. In KwaZulu- Natal
for example, there is a tribe, the Dube people, for whom the zebra is a totem. These
people not only protect vast herds of zebra in their tribal land, allowing them
to roam where they choose, but they also protect herds of wildebeest because
they realise that zebras co-exist with wildebeest. ...The old Africans knew
that to protect the zebra one had to effectively protect the wildebeest, the
warthog, the bushpig, the eland, the kudu and other animals sometimes found
grazing with zebra in the bush. But the old Africans knew that it was not
enough to simply protect those animals which grazed with their totem animal. It
was essential to protect those animals which preyed upon their sacred animals.
“There were tribes, such as the Batswana Bakaru and the
Bafurutsi, which regarded the Baboon as their totem. They knew that protecting
the baboons alone was not enough. The leopard which preyed on the baboon had to
be protected, along with the plants upon which the baboon fed. The people knew
that if they did not protect the plants, they would starve in the bush and
start feeding on the crops in the people’s corn and maize fields. If this
occurred, baboons would become man’s enemy.
The Batswana Batloung tribe, whose name means “people of
the elephant”, were sworn to protect the elephant. They also protected the rhinoceros
and the hippopotamus, which they regarded as the elephant’s cousins. It was
believed that an elephant would not injure a person who carried the Bafluong
name.”
BIODIVERSITY:
“The African people knew, just as the native American
people knew, that if you destroy the environment, you will ultimately destroy
the human race. ...A remarkable Tswana proverb states that, “He who buries the
tree, will next bury the wild animal, and after that, bury his own ox, and
ultimately bury his own children.” This saying indicates that people were
aware, even in ancient times, of the interdependence on all living creatures
upon this Earth, and that if you harm one, you harm others and, in the end
yourself.”
