Democracy is a moment in history for human dignity to be expressed and encouraged as a...
Wole Soyinka, author and Nobel Prize winner. His writing teaches that democracy is neither a thing nor an abstraction. Rather, it is an occasion, an event, a moment in history for human dignity to be expressed and encouraged as a fundamental universal quality of being human.A single word can spawn a host of thoughts, images and associations. As 2023 moves forward, the word dignity demands our attention.
Recently I read a chapter from a series of lectures given by Wole Soyinka, the 1986 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature. Soyinka, born in Abeokuta, Nigeria in 1934, has been an activist for social justice his entire life. In 2004, he delivered five lectures to the Royal institution in London. That year, they were published in a book, “Climate of Fear: The Quest for Dignity in a Dehumanized World.”
Such an idea is buttressed by the encouragement and maturation of what Soyinka calls “self-consciousness,” which is inspired by allowing each member to become part of “interacting rings of community or association.” Its most crucial foundation is imparting to each member a sense of belonging, of being part of a magnificent whole to which each contributes a part.
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