Cultural policy in the Republic - UNESCOunesdoc.unesco.org/images/0001/000190/019083eo.pdf ·...

Cultural policy in the

Republic I

of Zaire

A study prepared under the direction of D r Bokonga Ekanga Botombele

The Unesco Press Paris 1976

Studies and documents on cultural policies

In thia series: Cultural policy: a preliminary study Cultural policy in Ihs United States, by Charles C. Mark Cultural rights ad humun rights Cultural policy in Japan, by Nobuya Shikaumi Some aspects of French cultural policy, by the Studies and Research Department of the

Cultural policy in Tunisia, by R a a Said Cultural policy in Great Britain, by Michael Green and Michael Wildmg, in consultation

Cultural policy in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, by A. A. Zvorykin with the

Cultural policy in Czechoslovakia, by Miroslav Marek with the assistance of Milan Hromadka

Cultural policy in Italy, a burvey prepared under the auspices of the Italian National

Cultural policy in Yugoslavia, by Stevan Majstorovic Cultural policy in Bulgaria, by Kostadine Popov Some aspects of cultural policies in India, by Kapila Malik Vatayayan Cult~ral policy in Cuba, by Lisandro Otero with the assistance of Franciaco Martínez

CuZtural policy in Egypt, by Magdi Wahba Cultural policy in Finkand, a study prepared under the auspices of the Finniah National

Culturd policy in Sri Lanka, by H. H. Bandara Cultural policy in Nigeria. by T. A. Fasuyi Cultural policy in Iran, by Djamchid Bebam Cultural policy in Poland, by Stanislaw Witold Balicki, Jerzy Kossak and

The rola of culture in leisure time in New Zealand, by Bernard W. Smyth Cultural policy in Israel, by Jozeph Michman Cultural policy in Senegal, by Mamadou Seyni M’Bengue Cultural policy in the Federal Republic of Germany, a study prepared under the auspices

Cultural policy in Indonesia, a study prepared by the staff of the Directorate-General

Cultural policy in the Philippines, a study prepared under the auspices of the Unesco

Cultural policy in Liberia, by Kenneth Y. Best Cultural policy in Hungary, a survey prepared under the auspices of the Hungarian National Commission for Unesco

The cultural policy of the United Republic of Tanzania, by L. A. Mbughuni Cultural policy in Kenya, by Kivuto Ndeti Cultural policy in Romania, by Ion Dodu Balan with the co-operation of the Directorates

Cultural policy in the German Democratic Republic, by Hans Koch Cultural policy in Afghanistan, by Shafie Rahe1 Cultural policy in the United Republic of Cameroun, by J. C. Bahoken

S o m aspects of cultural policy in Togo, by K. M. Aithnard Cultural policy in the Republic of Zaire, a study prepared under the direction of

Cultural policy in Ghana, a study prepared by the Cultural Division of the

The serial numbering of titles in this series, the presentation of which has been modified,

French Ministry of Culture

with Richard Hoggart

assistance of N. I. Golubtsova and E. I. Rabinovitch

and Josef Chroust

Commission for Unesco

Hinojoea

Commission for Unesco

Miroalaw Zulawaki

of the German Commission for Unesco

of Culture, Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia

National Commission of the Philippines

of the Council of Socialist Culture and Education

and Englebert Atangana

DI Bokonga Ekanga Botombele

Ministry of Education and Culture, Accra

was discontinued with the volume Cultural policy in Italy

Published by The Unesco Press, 7 Place de Fontenoy, 75700 Paris Printed by Imprimerie Oberthur, Rennes

ISBN 92-3-101317-3 La politique culturelle en République du ZaRe : 92-3-201317-7

(Q Unesco 1976 Printed in France

Preface

The purpose of this series is to show h o w cultural policies are planned and implemented in various Member States.

As cultures differ, so does the approach to them; it is for each Member State to determine its cultural policy and methods according to its o w n conception of culture, its socio-economic system, political ideology and technical development. However, the methods of cultural policy (like those of general development policy) raise certain c o m m o n problems ; these are largely institutional, administrative and financial in nature, and the need has increasingly been stressed for exchanging experiences and information about them. This series, each issue of which follows aa far as possible a similar pattern so as to make comparison easier, is mainly concerned with these technical aspects of cultural

In general, the studies deal with the principles and methods of cultural policy, the evaluation of cultural needs, administrative structures and management, planning and financing, the organization of resources, legislation, budgeting, public and private institutions, cultural content in education, cultural autonomy and decentralization, the training of personnel, institutional infrastructures for meeting specific cultural needs, the safeguarding of the cultural heritage, institutions for the dissemination of the arts, international cultural co-operation and other related subjects.

The studies, which cover countries belonging to differing social and economic systems, geographical areas and levels of development, present therefore a wide variety of approaches and methods in cultural policy. Taken as a whole, they can provide guidelines for countries which have yet to establish cultural policies, while all countries, especially those seeking n e w formulations of such policies, can profit by the experience already gained.

This study was prepared for Unesco by a team working under the

policy.

Preface

direction of D r Bokonga Ekanga Botombele, Professor at the National University of Zaire (UNAZA), formerly State Commissioner for Culture and the Arts and at present State Commissioner for National Guidance. H e himself was responsible, more particularly, for the chapter entitled ‘The Cultural Revolution under the Impetus of Mobutism’. The study was co-ordinated by citizen Vianda-Kioto Luzolo, formerly Counsellor to the State Commissioner for Culture and the Arts, w h o also wrote the chapters on ‘The Major Trends of Cultural Policy’, ‘The Infra- structure of Cultural Action’, and ‘Conclusions and Prospects for the Future’. The remaining sections are by Professor Mutuza of UNAZA (‘Culture and Authenticity’), Professor Mbulamoko, Director of Studies, O 5 c e of the Vice-Chancellor of UNAZA (‘Introduction: Some Preli- minary Considerations on the Problems involved in Culture in Zaire’), citizen Bedibanga N e Mwuine, President of the International Association of Art Critics, Zaire (‘The Promotion of htistic Creation’), Musangi Ntemo, poet and journalist (‘Development of Literature’) and Luntadila Luzolo, Vice-president of the Zairian Cinema Organization (‘Develop- ment of the Cinema’).

The opinions expressed are the authors’ and do not necessarily reflect the views of Unesco.

The designations employed and the presentation adopted should not be interpreted as expressing the position of the Unesco Secretariat on the legal status or the régime of any country or territory whatever, nor on the drawing of its frontiers.

Contents

9 15

47

55

73

95

115

121

Introduction

Historical background

The major trends of cultural policy

The cultural revolution under the impetus of Mobutism

The infrastructure of cultural action

Assistance to cultural creation and dissemination

Conclusions and prospects for the future

Statistical tables

Introduction

While the object of this study is to present as complete a picture as possible of the cultural situation in Zaire, it naturally makes no claim to be exhaustive; Zairian culture is too complex to allow of such treatment.

Some preliminary considerations on the problems involved in culture in Zaire

SCIENTIFIC S T U D Y OF AFRICAN CULTURES IN GENERAL A N D OF ZAIRIAN CULTURES IN PARTICULAR

African culture in general and that of Zaire in particular have already been the subject of a large number of studies, differing greatly in approach. It m a y be useful, as a start, to draw attention to these differences in order to arrive at a clearer idea of the problems arising.

S o m e of the works in which these problems have been extensively discussed merit attention. The origins and development of the problems can be traced by reference to Crine-Mavar’s L’Avant-tradition Zaïroise (Early Tradition in Zaire) (National Research and Development Office- ONRD), Special Number 3,1974. Particular mention m a y be m a d e of the following: L’Origine des Cultures Africaines (The Origin of African Cultures), 1898,

by L. Frobenius, which for the first time put forward the idea of a cultural cycle based on a number of c o m m o n cultural characteristics.

Les Peuples et les Civilisations de l’Afrique (The Peoples and Civilizations of Africa) (original text in German, 1940) by H. Ba u m a n n and D. Westermann. By establishing a stratification of facts representing organizational models of social life, the authors distinguish cycles of civilization in African history and twenty-six cultural clubs or Kul- turkreise.

9

Introduction

At about the same time, Herskovits (1945) referred to culture areas and distinguished nine in Africa. According to his scheme of things, Zaire was part of culture area No. 4. Herskovits again dealt with his division into culture areas in Les Bases de l’Anthropologie Culturelle (Foundations of Cultural Anthropology), 1967.

Afrique, les Civilisations Noires (Black Civilizations of Africa), 1962, by J. Maquet, in whose opinion two major civilizations exist in Zaire, that of the northern clearings and that of the southern granaries.

Introduction à l’Ethnographie du Congo (Introduction to Congolese Ethnography), 1966, by Jan Vansina, who, starting from the concept of the biotope, divided Zaire into four main cultural groups-those of the northern savannah, the Equatorial forest, the southern savannah and the great lakes or the African graben-within which altoge- ther fifteen cultural regions are to be found.

Various cultural monographs published under the auspices of Unesco. Even in this brief survey, the complexity of the phenomenon considered is emphasized by the very diversity of the terms used-cultural cycle, Kulturkreis, cycle of civilization, culture area, cultural group, cultural region, etc.-each of which highlights a particular aspect of culture. In what sense, therefore, more particularly for the purposes of this study, are w e to take the terms culture and civilization in theory and in practice?

PRINCIPAL CONCEPTIONS OF CULTURE AS A P H E N O M E N O N

There are several definitions of the extremely complex phenomenon represented by culturel, chief among which are the philosophical, historical, psychological, educational and socio-anthropological conceptions, which w e m a y now briefly consider.

The philosophical conception

In this, the concept of culture is considered as forming part of the philosophy of history and of social philosophy, and a distinction is drawn between culture and civilization, the latter being regarded as external and material, the former as internal and as involving two levels, the social and

1. An excellent reference work (in German) is Kultur, published in 1963 by C. A. Schmitz of Frankfurt, which contains a number of detailed studies on the various definitions of culture. Mention may be made, inter dia, of: Hans Dietschy, ‘Von zwei Aspekten der Kultur’ [Two Aspects of Culture], p. 77-94, inspired by the article by Eugène Pittard, ‘De deux Aspects de la Civilisation’, Swiss General Anthropology Archives, 1946; L. A. White, ‘Der Begriff Kultur’ [The Concept of Culture], which appeared for the first time in English in American Anthropologist, Vol. 61, 1959, p. 227-51. Also of interest is the article entitled ‘Kulturanthropologie’ [Cultural Anthropology], in Anthropologie, Fischer Lexikon, Frankfurt-am-Main, 1970, p. 107-27.

10

Introduction

the individual. Hence, in c o m m o n parlance, people are described as ‘cultivated’ not as ‘civilized’.

The monumental work by the British historian Arnold Toynbee, w h o distinguishes twenty-six civilizations in the history of man, only ten of which are still extant, is philosophical in approach, with particular reference to the philosophy of history.

From the point of view of social philosophy, represented today by M a x Horkheimer among others, philosophy is regarded as a critique of culture. Any culture that is not illumined or enriched by critical reflection either withers away or leads simply to a w a y of life based on pragmatic needs alone; all the great humanisms, all the great civilizations have resulted from such a sustained current of reflective thought.

Philosophy, in the sense of the questioning of all accepted values and of all the works of man, saves a culture from the torpor that threatens it and opens the w a y to n e w creations and n e w conquests (cf. Alfred Waber, Oswald Spengler, Arnold Toynbee, M a x Horkheimer).

The historical conception

Linked to the conception of the philosophy of history, the strictly historical conception of culture or civilization considers the phenomenon essentially in the dual space-time dimension, corresponding to one of the definitions of civilization given in Le Petit Larousse Illustre’: ‘The whole group of characteristics distinguishing the intellectual, artistic, moral and material life of a country or a society’ at a given moment of its history. In this sense, w e speak of the civilization of Greece or of the Middle Ages, of the Inca culture or again, as in Zaire, of ‘the culture of our ancestors’.

The psychological and educational conception

This defines culture as a pattern of behaviour peculiar to mankind, acquired by learning and transmitted from one individual, one group, or one generation, to another. This equating of culture with behaviour has been criticized and certain writers like Murdock, Beals and Hoyr have come to the conclusion that culture is not so m u c h behaviour as an abstraction of behaviour. Murdak in 1937 and Kroeber and Kluckhohn in 1952 took the view that while culture is an abstraction of concrete h u m a n behaviour, it is not itself a pattern of behaviour, in other words, that culture has no ontological reality. In point of fact, a great m a n y anthropologists of the psychological or psychologising school have sought to distinguish between psychological and culturological problems, that is to say, to interpret h u m a n behaviour either psychologically or culturo- logically. The psychological, or rather the psychological-educational conception of culture has been developed in the ‘culture and personality’ school flourishing chiefly in the United States of America. This school

11

Introduction

concentrates particularly on the study of the influence of culture on the formation of the personality and the action of individuals on culture. It is marked by an absolutist, subjective approach which has given use to the current of thought which affirms that a ‘modal personality’ is formed under the influence of culture (Kardiner) or that culture confers on the nascent personality a typical structure described as the ‘basic personality’ (Linton).

The complex nature of the hypotheses advanced by this American culturalist school-hypotheses, moreover, which it is incapable of sub- jecting to verification-and its over simplified views on personality development have been criticized, leading to the emergence of the cogni- tively oriented intercultural psychology movement, the two principal centres of which are the Geneva school, with Piaget, and the Harvard school, with Bruner.

The major changes n o w taking place in life environments make it more than ever unrealistic to speak of closed cultural environments or of homogeneous modes of education which produce homogeneous personality types. In the age in which w e live, exchanges between cultures are constantly in progress.

Lastly, it must be pointed out that such expressions as ‘literary culture’, ‘man of culture’, ‘cultivated person’ relate to the educational conception of culture as acquired by knowledge, ‘but knowledge’, as P. Foulquier says, ‘constitutes a means to culture rather than culture itself and to attribute a literary culture to anyone is tantamount to refusing to accept him as truly cultivated’.l Here, culture goes along with education and sometimes merges with it.

The anthropological and sociological conception

The anthropological or sociological or ethno-sociological or even socio- anthropological conception has evolved considerably since the word ‘culture’ was first used as a technical term by E. B. Tylor in 1871 in his work, Primitive Culture, in the sense of ‘that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by m a n as a member of society...’.2

This definition was for a long time considered to be practically the only valid one in anthropology, but in recent years several n e w socio- anthropological definitions have been put forward, at the same time becoming increasingly sophisticated: one of the most operationally useful is that upheld by Kroeber and Kluckhohn in the United States (see

1. Paul FOULQUIÉ, Nouveau Précis de Philosophie. Logique et Morale, Volume II, 3rd edi- tion, 1959, especially p. 430-4: ‘Civilisation and Culture’.

2. Quoted by Guy ROCHER in L’Action Sociale and by Claude LÉvI-STRAUSS in Anthro- pologie Structurelle, Plon, 1958, p. 78.

12

Introduction

above) and by Miihlmann in the Federal Republic of Germany. These writers distinguish several aspects of the ethno-sociological conception of culture. Culture comprises two major spheres, the material and the non-material. Material culture, which m a y also be called civilization, comprises all the products of technology and science, sometimes termed ‘artefacts’. Non-material culture comprises the value-system, religious beliefs, morals, linguistic activity, literary and artistic production, etc., which m a y sometimes be referred to as ‘mentefacts’. Culture is thus constituted by artefacts and mentefacts and forms part of the trinity ‘man-society-culture’. Culture is acquired through learning, which is itself a cumulative social process, known as ‘enculturation’, that is to say, ‘the integration and development of the individual within the culture of his community’. Enculturation is contrasted with ‘acculturation’, which is ‘a process of more or less enforced adaptation to a foreign culture, with a more or less serious loss of the constituents of the basic culture’.l

It m a y be noted that this socio-anthropological conception of culture encompasses both the philosophic and historical aspects and the psycho- educational and strictly sociological or anthropological aspects, and thus appears to be more comprehensive than the others (cf. also the definition of culture given by Margaret Mead in most of her works).

Lastly, it m a y be mentioned that one of the most recent lines of development in anthropology is that of the so-called cognitive school (Kluckhohn, Conklin, Frake), which studies the characteristic value- systems of a community from the point of view of the community’s own conception and experience of those systems. This cognitive orientation in anthropology as in psychology (see above) corresponds to the present trend in the social sciences, which are no longer satisfied with understanding m a n from the outside but are endeavouring to understand him as he does himself.

1. Nzenge Movoambe MOULAMOHO, ‘Langues et Littératures Zaïroises: la Problématique de l’Authenticité’ in Jiwe (cultural and scientific organ of the Sectional Committee of MPRPNAZA, Lubumbashi), No. 3, June 1974, p. 5-6, which refers to the article ‘Kulturanthropologie’ cited above and to the article ‘Kultur, Person, Sozialer Wandel’ (Culture, Personality and Social Change] in René KONIG’S Soziologie, Fischer Lexikon, 1967.

13


Although nothing that could be described as a standard study of Zairian culture has yet been produced, the majority of specialists divide the country’s cultural evolution into phases corresponding to the major episodes and developments that have taken place in its political history, including the pre-colonial and colonial periods, the attainment of independence (30 June 1960), the five years of disorder from 1960 to 1965 and the establishment of the Second Republic in 1965.

W e propose to adopt this classification which appears to us suf- ciently clear, even though it will be necessary to distinguish a certain number of specific stages within the periods mentioned above.

It m a y also be observed that our survey will be of a general nature with, in the main, a documentary purpose.

The pre-colonial period

It is difficult when referring to pre-colonial times in Zaire to speak of any systematic organization of culture at a national level. If any organization existed, it was rather within the framework of customs which had been institutionalized over the centuries at the level of communities, tribes and clans. In a context as restricted as this, the question of creating an organization for the promotion of handicrafts or of music, for instance, did not arise ... what w e do know is that when a great chief died, custom required that marvellously decorated plates and goblets should be placed on his tomb and that at the end of the period of mourning a feast should be held in honour of the departed to which dancers from neighbouring villages were invited. The detailed organization of the feast would be entrusted to a small, dynamic group drawn from the family of the orga- nizers. The young girl whose mother made pottery vessels would be ever by her side ax she moulded the earthenware pots and then baked


and decorated them, and would thus herself learn the art of pottery- making. It was all this that constituted culture.

There was, therefore, no such thing as a systematic organization of culture in the modern sense. Culture formed an integral part of the daily life of the individual. There were no principles by reference to which cultural life was regulated, no art schools in the present-day sense of the term. Consequently, to appreciate the conteat of pre-colonial cultural life, w e have to follow the course of the traditional festivals like weddings, the end of mourning, the coming out of twins, to observe the potter and the wood-carver in their workshops, to listen to the story-teller as the children gather round him in the moonlight, to examine the marvellously decorated pottery that adorns the huts of the people or the richly carved tom-toms or mandolines that accompany the dance.

T o grasp the richness of this culture w e must accompany the black m a n in his daily activities, in his contacts-or rather his permanent dialogue-with the visible and invisible universe, as he pursues his chosen destiny of ‘dying in the Self so as to be reborn in the Other’.

THE O R A L TRADITION

In the wisdom of Africa, the oral tradition is considered as one of the principal foundations of society. It is also an important historical source- although, judging from the works so far published, its scope and variety admit of m a n y different treatments.

But, w e m a y ask, what exactly is this oral tradition? W h o are its repositories, where are they to be found, h o w are they to be met with? W e m a y count among them the griots, the bards, the story-tellers, the priests, the master-artisans, the patriarchs, the heads of families, etc. Nor should w e omit the w o m e n of Africa, w h o play an important part in conserving and transmitting oral traditions, or the school-teachers and tutors w h o by their very functions have the opportunity of acquiring a knowledge of m a n y interesting aspects of the tradition.

While reference is often made to the oral tradition, few bear in mind its secret character, which m a y be thought to cast some doubt on the credibility of the information supplied by its guardians in response to questions. B e that as it may, what is certain is that oral traditions form an essential part of the cultural patrimony of Africa. Their great variety and their richness necessitate a classification in terms of the aspects that are being considered.

Oral traditions are encountered in three essential forms: prose, rhyth- mic prose and sung or spoken poetry. The genre can be free (folk-tale, epic) or fixed and stereotyped (ritual chants, esoteric codes or secret societies). So far as their substance is concerned, oral traditions can be divided into historical texts (genealogies, chronicles, historical accounts),

15


epic, lyrical or pastoral poems, folktales, fables, mottoes, riddles, plays and religious or initiatory texts.

Traditions can relate to the distant past or to recent times and m a y concern events in other lands (for example, the Yoruba myths).

According to their degree of accessibility, w e m a y distinguish: Public traditions, accessible to all and constituting a fundamental

element of the traditional system of education; for example, the palaver, which will be dealt with later.

Private traditions, relating to smaller groups like the great families or clans; and to these must be added the so often neglected feminine traditions.

Esoteric traditions, relating to still smaller groups or to interest groups: families, secret societies (for example, the mukanda or the circum- cision).

Music, w e m a y also point out, constitues an essential element of the oral tradition.

Tradition as a historical source

Contrary to what a hasty generalization would have us believe, Black Africa is not a region without the written word. In any case, has it not indeed been pointed out that up to at least the middle of the 18th century, the vast majority of Europeans, including the nobility, were illiterate? In the Middle Ages, it was only the monks w h o could hand on the torch of knowledge and of history. Even Italy, for all her splendour and refine- ment, remained largely illiterate up to the twentieth century.

As a historical source, the oral tradition remains alive and represents the collective memory of the African peoples. No one is better fitted than the Black African to understand the declaration of Holy Writ: ‘In the beginning was the Word.’ In actual fact, the spoken word possesses both a chronological and a logical priority over the written word. It is speech and not writing that distinguishes m a n from the animals and it would be a gross error to place the two on a footing of equality, for the former alone is essential to our status as h u m a n beings.

The first manifestations of writing were the drawings of birds and animals found in caves; m a n was here ‘writing’ the word ‘bird‘ plastically before writing it graphically.

The oral tradition ultimately appears, in the words of Ki-Zerbo, as ‘the sum of all the various sorts of evidence, transmitted verbally, by which a people bears witness to its o w n past’. In this definition, the key words are ‘evidence’ and ‘transmitted’. W h e n speaking of the latter, w e have in mind those ‘walking archives’ w h o existed in the ancient kingdom of Kongo and other bygone African empires and w h o were able to n a m e all the members of a particular Lineage. Evaluate them as w e will, these are our historians. Their ofice was often hereditary

16


and whenever the memory of the senior member of the line entrusted with the preservation of a clan’s archives began to fail, he would be automatically replaced by a younger member of the clan. The ofice entailed a whole process of initiation and, in our view, it was the transfer of the spoken message in a temporal sequence that constituted the tradition.

Thus understood, the historical word, as Ki-Zerbo points out, was prior to the written document; almost all the history of the world was spoken before it was written down. Even books of the highest importance, starting with the Bible and the Koran, existed in the form of oral traditions before being consigned to writing. The words of President Mobutu Sese Seko were oral before they became the cement of the Zairean Revolution. The written word, once again in the terms of Ki-Zerbo, is often, indeed, no more than the petrification of the spoken word.

Unfortunately, not all ‘specialists’ in the oral tradition see the matter in the same light. For example, in his Oral Tradition and History, the American Robert Lowie declares: ‘Whatever the circumstances, I do not attach the slighest importance to the oral tradition.’ To say this is to condemn to extinction the civilization-and therefore the history-of ancient Greece as well as of traditional Africa.

In one view, the oral tradition is valid only if integrated into the study of a particular group and it belongs at the very most to the domain of cultural anthropology or of the anthropology of law (we have in mind the palaver), to the history of ideas, but not to the history of real events, for it is no more than a well-meaning collection of social myths. However, not all historical documents fulfd a social or political function. The Pyramids, for example: ‘these Houses of Eternity’ says Ki-Zerbo ‘so objective in their almost timeless impassivity, are a sort of publicity exercise directed at posterity’. In our o w n case, in Zaire, such achievements of the Second Republic as the ground station of Nsele, the Inga Barrage or the Stadium of 20 M a y will provide future generations with living testimony of a particular period in the history of the

Nothing that the mind of m a n has produced is foreign to his aspirations and interests as a social being. If the African oral tradition is criticized for only telling us about princes and their deeds, w e could well answer that the seventeenth-century French peasant is known only because he stands in the shadow of the Sun-King.

Further, while it is true that the fragility of the oral tradition makes for imperfect transmission, does not this apply to any message conveyed by word of mouth? Every sign;is ambiguous, with one value for its utterer and another for its recipient; where there is testimony, there is automatically interpretation. If this were not the case, what need would there be for such a discipline as historical criticism? W h a t matters

Republic of Zaire. @

17


is our handling of the chronological aspect, which remains one of the thorniest problems of the oral tradition.

In contrast to the written document which is a record by the individual, the oral tradition is a collective record, for in a society based on community, no deed can escape the appraisal of the community from which it emerges. W e must bear in mind that the oral tradition descends through m a n y , lines, and investigators have therefore to be familiar with the type of testimony expressed: dynastic poem, religious poetry, panegyric, recital of family history, art-tale, myth. In this kind of document, the hidden intention has to be divined, all the more so as African societies express themselves in metaphors and more or less obscure formulae, as in the palaver. In general, the oral tradition cannot be exploited independently of the other available sources, such as archaeology, written documents, cultural data of all kinds, ethnography, anthropology.

W e should not forget that, utilized by itself, oral tradition is incom- plete and unreliable as a historical source. But all the same, what is authenticity but the desire of each people to return ‘to its o w n sources’ in order to discover the true story of its o w n past? N o w for us, the past is made up of this traditional oral testimony, through which w e learn of the minor day-to-day misfortunes of the people, of their struggles against the invader, of their days of p o m p and glory.

W e would emphasize that for Africans in general and Zairians in particular, the palaver is the phenomenon by means of which ancestral traditions are expressed. This source of oral tradition is of such importance that to push it into the background is to condemn oneself to social suicide. With Pierre Kanoute, w e are convinced that only the palaver can save Africa.

MUSIC A N D T H E D A N C E

The life of the black m a n is one long rhythm, the rhythm that L. S. Senghor described as ‘the architecture of the h u m a n being, the inner dynamism that gives him form, the system of orders that he issues to others, the pure expression of the life force’.l This rhythm is expressed particularly in music and the dance, and these have characteristic forms for each tribe. W h a t is called tribal music is ‘an instrumentation, an inspiration, a rhythm, an assemblage of words and an art belonging to a social group’.2

1.

2.

L. S. SENGHOR, Premiers Jalons pour une Politique de la Culture, p. 20, Pans, Présence Africaine. Michel Lonoh WNGI, Essai de Commentaire de la Musique Zaïroise Moderne, p. 23, Paria, Debroise Publishers. It is from this work that w e have taken the synthesis on m o d e m Zairian music.

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W e can distinguish the music of pure entertainment, played for example around a calabash of palm wine, and ceremonial music intended for certain special occasions, for instance initiation.

The black m a n sings and dances as m u c h when overwhelmed by grief at the death of a near one as when his whole being surges with joy at the birth of a child, as well as at the Coming-out ceremony of twins or the enthronement of a chief. And he is initiated into this w a y of life from his tenderest years, when his grandmother makes him dance around the family hearth or his grandfather calls on him to join in intoning a war chant. In the fields, it is to the rhythm of songs that the w o m e n till the soil and sow their ground-nuts. And it is to the sound of a musical instrument and to the rhythm of a song that the medicine- m a n mobilizes cosmic forces on behalf of his patient.

A variety of musical instruments is used, of which the commonest is undoubtedly the tom-tom, played on numerous occasions in the life of the community, especially births, marriages, deaths, initiation and war. In traditional Africa, music and the dance are not merely diver- sions, but constitute the best method of exteriorizing emotions and individual, and often collective, feelings in the context of religious, social or economic life. Yet this music, as can be seen, has an important educational function. Generally, each village has its o w n tom-tom specialists and, in traditional societies, the instrument serves as a means of long-distance transmission of messages. This ‘tom-tom telephone’ is the veritable precursor, in principle, of the spoken news programme. The tom-tom beater of one vdlage communicates the message to his opposite number in the next village and so on from village to village till the message arrives at its destination.

W e m a y also mention among the instruments used the sanzi, also called essanzo or elonza, the marimba or xylophone and the mpungì, which is an animal’s horn or the tusk of a young elephant perforated at the tip.

As stated above, the life of the black m a n is one long rhythm, which not only manifests itself in music and the dance but is also a form of artistic expression. Did not Gobineau describe the Negro as ‘of all creatures, the most powerfully gripped by artistic emotion?l

TEE ARTS

W e shall not attempt here to discuss the difference between art and handicrafts in any detail but would merely observe that art calls to mind the notion of that which is beautiful, in the aesthetic sense. As far as traditional Africa is concerned, are w e to speak of art or of handicrafts ?

1. GOBINEAU, quoted by Senghor, op. cit., p. 12.

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In pre-colonial Africa, art possessed a purely utilitarian character; an object that was made had to serve some need of daily life.

This leads to another fundamental aspect of traditional African art-the influence of the spiritual. As has been said: %arver or dancer, painter or singer, the African artist works for a primarily ritual purpose. His art is bound to his beliefs, to his religion, and from there he draws all his strength’.

After fashioning an ancestor-image, a chief’s staff, a drum or some other object of use in practical life, the artisan seeks to decorate it in order to beautify it and make it attractive to the eye, to the heart, and thus artist and artisan become one and the same.

Handicrafts play a considerable role in traditional Africa. A t a stage when m a n was on harmonious terms with nature and with time itself, there still existed a close bond between him and the object of his labour. W h e n the housewife added her decorative designs to pottery or the weaver reproduced some figure of myth on a loin-cloth, it was the whole being that was expressed through the medium of the object worked on. Unlike the Westerner w h o seeks to reproduce a real image of the object as he sees it, the black m a n practises a rather more imagi- native and symbolic art, seeking to1

schematize the aspect and discover the essential of beings and of things through that which is immutable in them. It is not the square, the circle or the triangle that strikes the African artist, but the mystical, symbolic, eternal signification contained, for him, in these shapes.

As L.S. Senghor has explained it, art in Africa is a sensitive participation in the reality underlying the universe, in its surreality, in, more precisely, the vital forces that infuse the universe. The European prefers to recognize the world from a reproduction of the object, while the African negro seeks to know it by image and rhythm. For a European, the senses are linked to the heart and the head, whereas for the black African they lead to heart and belly, to the very root of life2.

Wicker-work

Wicker-work is probably the most ancient of the crafts in Black Africa. The environment supplies the wicker-worker with raw materials in the form of raffia, rushes, reeds and various other fibres and from these he makes a great variety of objects, ranging from matting, hampers, fishing-nets and various types of basket to fibre bracelets which are often

1. G. D. PÉRIER, Les Arts Populaires ¿u Congo Belge, p. 20, Brussels, Office de Publicité, 1948.

2. L. S. SENGHOR, op. cit., p. 17.

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decorated. In pre-colonial Africa as in other continents, the first loin- cloth was made out of the bark of a tree, but almost at the same time the skins of animals began to be used for clothing. It was not till long after that the loom came into existence. In Zaire, it is undoubtedly the weavers of Bakuba w h o are foremost in this field because of the quality of their products.

Weaving

This is a masculine craft, just as the embroidery which completes it is a feminine one. This combination produces notably the musese, the famous ‘Kasai Velvets’, which are of such beauty that the eminent French curator Henri Clouzot has written of them :l ‘At the very first sight, the amazing originality and incredible variety of these indigenous embroideries gave m e what old curio-hunters call the ‘shock’.’

Pottery

The hst thing to be said about pottery-making is that it is above all a woman’s craft; young girls acquire its techniques by making their o w n miniature utensils to use when they play at ‘being mother’.

Clay is chiefly used to m a k e earthenware household utensils, especially pitchers, amphoras, ewers and water-coolers and the basic method of decoration is by incision and coloration. Incised ornamentation is the most in vogue, the curves inspired especially by the movement of the snake, the intertwining of fibres, etc. Plants are rarely seen in this decorative style.

As for the calabash itself, the decorating is done by means of a cutting instrument. In the Kasai region, ‘after the design is carved, the gourd is plunged into a bath of burnt earthnut oil which has the result of black- ening the incised design on the dried skin of the fr~it’.~

Earthenware pipes are among the products of the traditional pottery, the bowls being given a variety of forms, such as the figures of men, birds, crocodiles or legendary creatures.

Clay, the raw material used for pottery, is used also for sculpture. In this branch of the plastic arts, w e observe that Zaire possesses an abundant production with a number of styles. In an elaborate study on ‘The Art of Black Africa in the Land of the River Zaire’, a Brother Joseph Cornet distinguishes four major groups of styles, classified to some extent

1. 2.

3.

Henri CLOUZOT, quoted by Périer, op. cit., p. 28. Kabengele MUNANGA, ‘A Propos de l’Art Plastique en Afrique Noire’, Zaire-Afrique (Kinshasa), No. 85, p. 233. Brother Joseph CORNET, L’Art d’Afrique Noire au Pays du Fleuve Zaïre, Brussels, Arcade Publishing House, 1972.

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with an eye to clarity of exposition, but mainly the basis of ‘the reality of stylistic interactions’.

T h e south-western group includes the Kongo, Teke, Yaka, Nkanu, Mbala, Pende, Suku, Holo and Hungana styles. J. Cornet for instance writes: ‘Kongo art is to be reckoned among the major arts practised anywhere in Africa. Both abundant and varied, the works in this style make an immediate impression by the richness of their form and the power of their realism.’ The Kongo also knew the art of metal-working, in which the Solongo excelled. Yaka art has become famous chiefly because of its extravagant masks with excessively snub noses. A m o n g the Pende, w e note that the sculptor is often at the same time a blacksmith; their speciality is wooden masks, with fibres and strings.

In the south-central region are found the Kuba, Lulawa, Ndengese, Kete, Mbangani, Lwalwa and Salampasu styles, among which the K u b a occupies a leading position. Marked by a spiritual element and centred on man, it constitutes one of the richest arts of the African continent, so m u c h so that it is compared to the Benin style of Nigeria and Baoulé art of the Ivory Coast. S o m e years ago, G. D. Périer declared in connexion with the K u b a that the Entre-Sankuru-Kasai region possessed

definitely the best artists and artisans of the Black Continent. In the art of working iron, they are the equals of the ironworkers of Benin in aesthetic intelligence; and as weavers, wood carvers and embroiderers, no other people surpasses them.

In the south-eastern group, there are the Luba, Bembe, Bayo, Kanyoka, Songye and Lega styles. Luba art is distinguished by ‘a certain plenitude and roundness in the forms. It is an art of full curves and voluptuous flesh-tints’. The subjects of its works are often women. Its ancestor-images express a profound inner peace.

Finally, there is the northern group comprising the Mangbgetu, Zonde, Boa and Nbgandi styles. Mangbgetu art possesses a refined decorative sense.

Sculpture

The sculpture of pre-colonial black Africa, whether in clay, wood or ivory, exhibits, as has been stated earlier, a predominance of the spiritual over the material. Thus m a n y statuettes serve as adjuncts to fetishes or evoke ancestors. In carving the image of an ancestor, for example, the aim of the artist is to m a k e the presence of the departed manifest and permanent in the visible world of the community whose happiness

1. PÉRIER, op. cit., p. 26.

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and prosperity he continues to assure. T h e ancestor-image must therefore induce a certain feeling of peace and calm since through it the dead m a n is supposed to be reinstalled among the living in their day-to-day existence.

The mask differs from the statuette in possessing

a more dynamic feeling which acts as a stimulus, prompting thoughts of escape. It is inspired by a profound yearning to break out from the narrowness of life and from daily habit and to bear him w h o m it conceals away beyond reality into the realm of the extraordinary.

Used especially during ritual dances, the mask enables its wearer to detach himself from the world of m e n and elevate himself to the level of the ancestors and, in a sense, to take on the entire identity of the spiritual entity represented. In short, the dead ancestor is re-materialized among the living.

Thus Kabengele Munanga, who has studied the function of the plastic arts among the Baluba, writes that 2

masks representing the souls of the dead and of the ancestors still figure in puberty ceremoniee, in the funeral ceremonies of secret societies, in the ceremonies of initiation and in the rituals of the medical fraternities.

Throughout traditional Africa the mask is recognized as having an essential role to play in social life, which is of a profoundly religious character. For example, in a study on Bambara initiation societies, Dominique Zahan writes that ‘the mask is the central feature of the fraternity (n’domo) and round it revolve the doctrine and teaching of the ‘n’domo’ s. According to the material of which it is made, it symbolizes either the diversity of h u m a n beings and the harmony of m a n in the equilibrium of the various component elements of his being or the longevity of humanity and its beginning and its end in God.

The fetishes to which the statuettes serve as adjuncts constitute receptacles for cosmic forces. The fetish is the important thing, for the figurine and everything attached to it is nothing without the forces imprisoned within the fetish. It is to be noted that these statuettes often become useless after the death of their possessor.

Sculpture is practised not only for magico-religious purposes but also to decorate objects of daily use. For example, instruments of traditional music tomtoms, drums, xylophones, whistles and also the staffs or sceptres of chiefs, tobacco mortars, ceremonial axes, etc.

1. 2. 3.

PÉRIER, op. cit., p. 49. MUNANGA, op. cit., p. 230. Dominique ZAFLAN, Soci6té d’Initiation Bambara. Le Ndòme. Le Koré, p. 78-9, Paris, Mouton & Co.

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W e cannot end this brief summary of African sculpture without mentioning that special form of it which consists of tattooing on the h u m a n body, often on the face and sometimes on the chest. Tattooing has two basic functions: first of all an aesthetic function and secondly that of providing different tribes with distinctive marks of identi- fication.

Painting

Unlike pottery and sculpture, painting hardly developed in traditional pre-colonial Africa. If practically nothing has come down to us from that period, one reason m a y be that the materials utilized have not stood up to the wear and tear of time. But here also the functional aspect of art holds the field, because painting served to decorate the objects of daily life, the motifs being inspired mostly by animal and plant life and by geometrical forms.

Architecture

Practically every black m a n could of courae build his o w n hut, even though he sometimes enlisted the help of a professional or a specialist in the matter. A strong sense of team spirit prevailed in this branch of construction, with people helping one another and a division of labour in operation everywhere. Construction materials were readily available at all times of the year; all that was needed was sufficient physical strength to obtain stakes, straw and lianas from the forest.

The earliest h u m a n dwelling in Zaire was no doubt m a d e from branches and leaves, this being replaced later on by the hut made from puddled clay, with walls of a straw and earth mixture, reminding us of the reinforced concrete of today. In this connexion G. D. Périer observes that ‘the British freely admit that our modern architecture shows African influence’.I

So far as forms of constructions are concerned, regional differences can be observed. Thus the round hut is found among the Pygmies whenever they settle in one place and also among the Bangbetu and along the banks of the Uele, a tributary of the Zaire River in the north of the country. The most c o m m o n form is the rectangular, found especially in the west and north-west, from the M a y u m b a to the Bangala. Once built, the hut is made to look more attractive by decoration.

Briefly sketched, such is the picture of cultural life as it existed in pre-colonial Africa and more especially in Zaire, a life that was in constant harmony with nature and the universe. The plastic arts in particular exhibit an extremely rich output in m a n y styles, among which can be

1. PÉRIER, op. cit.

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distinguished the Kuba, Kongo, Luba, Lega and Mangbetu as well as the Yaka, Tshokwe and Songye.

Unfortunately, the evolution of this culture was disturbed by a historical development-European colonization.

From the colonial period to the present day

Zairian culture of the colonial period is marked by two important features, the first being the use of a n e w medium of cultural expression, namely, the French language. Further, the colonial rulers did all they could to asphyxiate the indigenous culture and to impose their o w n on the people they had colonized. The African thus became completely de-personalized.

F r o m the 1960 's onwards, that is to say, after independence, the countries of Africa began to make an immense effort to recover their o w n identities. Gradually, the culture of Black Africa began to liberate itself and to make its contribution to world civilization.

LITERATURE

Zairian literature in French

The very fact of embarking on any sort of scientific study of such a subject as French-language Zairian literature implies a prior assumption equivalent to a profession of faith-that Zairian literature in French is neither a myth nor an aspiration but a living reality. This conviction, which is justified by the facts themselves, is further strengthened by the remarkable dynamism shown in the last few years by this sector of the national culture.

W e propose to examine here a number of questions relating to the position of this literature. It is indeed incontestable that it has played a leading role in the development of society and that it constitutes a major factor in the history of the emancipation of our people.

Our approach will be essentially historical, in the sense that w e propose to examine the facts, the realities and the personalities that have contributed to creating the situation in which w e n o w find ourselves. W e will accordingly begin by tracing the general development of literature from the colonial epoch to our o w n day. This first part will be proportionately longer than the second because it will deal with the historical roots of the major problems w e shall be takmg up. In the second part, dealing mainly with the present state of Zairian literature, w e shall offer some reflections in the form of questions.

W e are indebted for this chapter to the studies contributed by citizen Ngandu Nkashama published in various issues of the Kinshasa magazine

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Zaire-Afrique. 1 First and foremost, Professor Ngandu has supplied us with a list of the writers regarded as pioneers. His studies also contain most interesting information-much of which will be reproduced here-regarding the early period of the revolution.

Also of very great use to us were the researches of Kadima Nzuji Mukala, some results of which have already been published, the lectures of citizen Bokeme Sha N e Molobay, and the reflections of Jules Dubois. W e also glanced rather more briefly at the notes of Jacques Nantet and of Robert Cornevin in order to make some comparisons and obtain certain valuable confirmations. Nor, finally did w e overlook Kabongo Bujitu’s paper or M w e p u Mubanga’s articles in the Kinshasa news- paper Salongo.

Though indeed very limited, this documentation is revealing, for the information available from it confirms not only that Zairian literature in the French language is a living reality but that it already possesses a past, a history. W e realize also that the problems facing contemporary m e n of letters, writers and critics are neither n e w nor original.

Literature in the colonial period

The beginnings of European colonization in the Congo go back to 1885. The country became a Belgian colony in 1908. For a long time, the local population played no part whatever in the n e w organization of their country, but were simply pawns in a vast programme for the extraction and processing of the fabulous riches contained in the colony’s soil and subsoil.

For the colonialists of that time, this programme was all that mattered and the indigenous population had to be trained, directed and conditioned to meet its needs. Missionaries, officials, soldiers and traders were expected to back up the programme in their respective fields. It was a long time before the Congolese could read and write. Professor Ngandu writes:

1. NGANDU NIUSEAMA, ‘La Littérature au Zaïre avant 1960’, Zaire-Afrique (Kinshasa), No. 68, October 1972, p. 477-97; ‘La Littérature au Zaïre depuis l’Indépendance’, Zaire-Afrique (Kinshasa), No. 69, November 1972, p. 545-64; ‘Conte, Roman, Théâtre Zaïrois’, Zaire-Afrique (Kinshasa), No. 70, December 1972, p. 621-32. Kadima Neuji MUKALA, ‘&volution Littéraire en République du Zaïre depuis 1’Indé- pendance’, Zaire-Afrique (Kinshasa), No. 77, p. 369-86, ‘La Littérature Zaïroise en Langue Française en 1973 : gléments Bibliographiques’, Zaire- Afrique (Kinshasa), No. 87, August-September 1974, p. 431-40. Bokeme Sha Ne MOLOBAY, ‘La Littérature Zaïroise : Mythe ou Réalité’, paper read to the Ngongi, Kake and Ndoto Literary circles at Kinshasa, 1973. Unpublished. Jules DUBOIS, ‘Le Grand Prix Littéraire Joseph Désiré Mobutu’, Zaire- Afrique (Kinshasa), No. 60, December 1971, p. 589-99. Jacques NANTET, Panorama de la Littérature Noire d’Expression Française, p. 287, Paris, Fayard, 1972. NKASHAMA, ‘La Littérature au Zaïre avant 1960’, op. cit., p. 478.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

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From 1885 to 1929 the Congolese (Zairians) were subject to the whim of their colonial rulers, who (having their moments of benevolence) provided them with a rudimentary missionary education (in the vernacular, as was proper) suitable for an agricultural and professional colony. Although the number of seminaries, both small and large, increased rapidly, later on secondary and vocational schools would be required before a first generation of Zairian intellectuals could appear. In actual fact, the first Zairian to have a work written in the French language published in Belgium was Stefano Kaoze, the first priest to be ordained in 1917.

For a long time literature remained restricted to its oral form, which was highly developed in our traditional societies. It was not until 1932 that a work by a Zairian first appeared (and even here there is a problem of authenticity). This was a collection by Badibanga of Luba fables translated into French with the title L'&léphant qui Marche SUT les Qhfs (The Elephant that Walked on Eggs).

It was not, however, until ten years later that a writer appeared w h o gave a new impetus to Zairian literature in French. This was A. R. Bolamba, w h o from about the 1940's onwards published a number of works, the most outstanding of which appeared in 1955 under the title Esanzo (Songs of m y Country) with a preface by Léopold Sédar Senghor.

Gradually the young, middle-rank inteIlectuaIs began to m a k e their w a y and the launching of cultural journals, such as Ngonga at Elisabeth- ville in 1934 and Aequatoria in 1938 at Coquillathville, encouraged a n e w literary flowering which was reinforced in 1943 by the birth of the celebrated series Bibliothèque de I'EtoiZe (The Star Library) at Leverville.

A historic event-the competition organized in 1948 by M. G. Deny at the Belgian Colonial Fair-brought to notice the names and the works of Lomani-Tshibamba (Ngando), M. Kasongo (Kongono or the Slave of the Forest Demons), C. Samudju (The Three-headed Dragon) and D. Mutombo (Our Great-grandparents). Others w h o should be mentioned include the 1949 prize-winners J. Bolikango and P. Kabasubabo.

As w e can see, the colonial period was by no means fertile in Literary production, particularly when Zaire is compared with other countries colonized by the French and the British in which a combative literature was already flourishing. This particular colony, Zaire, was too exclusively geared to economic production and lacked an adequate educational system. Its first University came into existence only in 1954.

In addition, a strict surveillance, combined with a draconian censorship, was maintained over the activities of intellectuals, resulting in a total absence of freedom of expression-and hence of any chance of self-development-for anyone w h o wanted to write. Those works which were nevertheless published suffered from yet another handicap-lack of a national unity and national consciousness capable of giving rise

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to a literature of commitment and of militancy. The multiplicity of dialects and the limited number of literates also adversely affected the development of literature.

In spite of this, when the colonial period came to an end, there did exist a number of writers-such as M. Colin, P. Lu m u m b a , A. Munongo, A. Mongita, T. Kanza, A. Kasongo, J. F. Iyeki, J. Kasavubu, Mushiete, etc.-who could be reckoned as writers of nationalism and struggle.

Zairian literature in French possessed, it is true, a certain originality, but w e cannot deny that it was a literature in its birthpangs, with all the naivety that such a state implies. Its authors and their works were generally timid and unadventurous, with little strength or elegance of style. But for all that, it was already a literature and cannot be ignored.

The literature of transition (1960-65) The period w e n o w enter was in all its aspects-political, economic, social, cultural-a dark and sombre one. Having barely emerged from the colonial night, our country plunged into another darkness of violence, disorder and anarchy.

Zaire’s youthful literature, barely on the verge of development, also underwent neglect and stagnation. The few works produced during these five chaotic years are of so little importance that they do not merit any mention here.

But what w e can point to is the fact that the grave events marking the first independent steps of our country contributed to a remarkable growth of literature when peace returned, from 1965 onwards. W e shall therefore go straight on to discuss this important epoch which begins with the coming to power of General Mobutu Sese Seko on 24 November 1965. Literature from 1965 to the present day If w e consider the colonial period as the childhood, so to speak, of Zairian literature, w e can suitably regard 1965 as the beginning of its youth, a youth characterized by a relative profusion of names and of literary creations, a certain development in style and by the themes and the strength of the literary currents of the day.

This expansion (which was, however, far from uniform) was encouraged by three main factors. The first of these factors was the political situation created in the country by citizen Mobutu, Founder-President of the People’s Revolutionary Movement and President of the Republic. His work of rescuing, pacifying and organizing the country enabled the Zairian people to be mobilized around an ideal and within a Party of the masses, thereby creating a feeling of nationhood and arousing the patriotic ardour of the writers and their public.

The second factor was indisputably the expansion of education. The educated middle class increased and it was in this class that a public more and more interested in literature came into being.

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Lastly, development of the mass media and other means of communication gave a powerful impetus to literature by enabling manuscripts which had been put away in drawers to be published or brought to the attention of the public through radio, television or the press.

This n e w climate encouraged various major initiatives which undoubtedly launched a number of writers on their careers. W e refer particularly to the various literary competitions, circles and series. These initiatives constitute certain landmarks for the m e n of letters of the n e w generation and it is with reference to them that w e shall analyse the lists of prize- winning writers.

1. The Belles-Lettres series (1966). ‘The youthful Zairian literature’ said one writer ‘had just discovered with amazement, and sixty years late, the great figures of black American literature. A marriage of love resulted and this period is often considered as that of the flowering of our national literature. In 1966, Witahnkenge was in charge of Belles- Lettres in the Ministry of Culture of the time and it was he w h o organized a conference at the Cultural Centre of L e m b a and at the same time announced the survey of Zairian authors which the Ministry of Education was undertaking in order to make the authors and their works better known.’ 1

This task was successfully accomplished by citizen Witahnkenge and his series brought to notice several budding talents whose subsequent contribution to the development of Zairian literature was substantial. Reference m a y be made particularly to citizen Ayimpan Mwana-a-Ngo, author of Les Complaintes du Zaire (The Laments of Zaire), to Bokeme Sha N e Molobay, author of Douces Rosées (The Gentle Dew), to Intiomale, author of Les Chants Patriotiques (Patriotic Songs), to Kishwe Maya, author of Le Paradis Congolais (Congolese Paradise), to Musangi Ntemo, author of M a Terre Perdue (My Lost Country), and Les Réminiscences du Soir (Evening Memories) and lastly to Sumaili N’Gaye Lussa, author of Aux Flancs de I’Equateur (Astride the Equator).

2. L a Pléiade du Congo (The Pleiad of the Congo) and Faik Nzuji Madiya. Towards the end of 1965, the poet and critic citizeness Faik Nzuji Madiya conceived the idea of bringing together several young writers in a group that she named L a Pléiade du Congo. This extremely dynamic literary circle helped to publicize a number of writers, including Nzuji Madiya herself, Ndaywelle, O. Chirhalwira, Kabwasa, Kadima Nzuji Mukala, etc.

3. The S. Ngonso Poetry Prize (1967). In 1967, the Centre de Diffusion of Lovanium University created a literary prize in memory of S. Ngonso,

1. M w e p u MUBANGA, ‘Propos sur les Lettres Zaïroises. apoque des Indépendances’, Salongo, 2 December 1974, p. 8.

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a young student in the Faculty of Letters who had been killed in an accident. This prize brought to attention the poets Buluku Bulup'ey, Ofrande de Z'Année Nouvelle (New Year Offering) ; Chirhalwira Hassoudy, Chant d'Angoisse (Song of Anguish); Masegabio Nzanzu Mabele m a Diko, Somme Première (The First Sum) ; Mweya Tol'ande, Remous des Feuilles (A swirl of leaves); and Sikitele, Les Souvenirs (Memories).

4. L. S. Senghor Literary Contest (1969). W e m a y mention Mpongo Ndaywel and Nzuji Baleka Bamba among the prize-winners of this contest organized at Kinshasa on the occasion of the official visit of President Senghor.

5. The Mobutu Literary Contest (1970). Several new writers appeared on the scene after this nation-wide contest organized in 1970. For example, in poetry Kabongo and Elobe Lisembe, authors of Mélodies Africaines (African Melodies) and of Uhuru, and Osesa Akotshi and Kalombo, authors of Tshiondo; in the sphere of the novel the great discovery was Ngombo Mbala's Deux W e s , un Temps Nouveau (Two Lives and a N e w Time). Then came Zola, L'Expérience Fatale (The Fatal Experiment), followed by Osesa Akotshi, M. Antoine Ouragan ou la Polygamie et I'$mancipation de la Femme (M. Antoine Ouragan or Polygamy and Female Emancipation), and by Balufu, L'Amulette Anganko (The Anganko Amulet).

6. Publishing houses and literary series. The new literary series that came into being at this time as a result of private enterprise gave a fresh impetus to literary activity. In their Objectif 80 series, the publishers Les gditions du Mont Noir, brought out a large number of short books and other works by young writers, for example, Testament by Sumaili, Prélude à la Terre (Prelude to the Land) by Kadima Nzujo, Déchirure (The Wound) of Mudimbe, Lianes (Lianas) of Faik Nzuji Madiya, Rythmes of Elebe Lisembe, Chants Intérieurs (The Songs Within) by Nguwo, and Mon Cœur de Saison (A Heart for the Season) by Mayengo.

This dynamic series, under the editorship of university professors also published a number of essays such as Réflexions SUT la Vie Quoti- dienne (Reflections on Everyday Life) by Mudimbe, Tendances Actuelles de la Littérature Africaine d'Expression Française (Present Trends in African Literature in French) by Ngal, Introduction à la Science Politique (Introduction to Political Science) by Nzongola and Contes Populaires du Kasai (Folk Tales of the Kasai) by Maalu-Eungi.

Another series, which brought out Brouillard (The Mist), a poetical work by Tshiyombo, was started by the Zairian Writers' Union.

Various literary circles within this Union also established their own series and published a number of works. The publishers Ngongi brought

30


out Le Chant du Soir (Song of the Evening) by Yamaina Mandala, Prémisses (Premisses) by Bokema Sha N e Molobay, J'Entends Pleurer sous les Roseaux (The Weeping Amid the Rushes) by Musango Ntemo and Civilisation ù la Barre (Civilization at the Helm), a collective work. T h e Ndoto Circle published Trace de Feu (Trace of Fire) under the direction of Kalingo, while Lonho Malangi brought out Les Ondes Paisibles (The Peaceful Waves) an anthology of the poetry of six young soldiers. W e m a y note also the poetic work of M w a m b a Musas, Ignames et Piments (Yams and Pimentoes).

The African Literary Centre, a publishing firm set up by Olivier Dubius, gave a quite extraordinary impetus to literature produced by younger writers. It was this centre which m a d e known the poets Tito Yisuku Gafudji, with Tam-Tam Crépitant (The Beat of the Tom-tom) and Cœur Enflammé (The Heart Aflame), Nzita Mabiala with Nkanka, Tshimanga M e m b u Dikenia with Fleurs de Cuivre (Flowers of Copper), and M w e p u Muamba-di-Mbuyi Kalala with Ventres Creux (Empty Bellies).

T w o politico-philosophic essays were published by Les Éditions du 4 Janvier and by Les Presses Africaines, namely, Discours sur Z'duthen- ticité (Essay on Authenticity) by Kangafu-Kutumbangana and Révolution et Humanisme (Revolution and Humanism) by Mbuze-Nsomi. Okapi Publishers brought out a separate reprint of Botolo Magoza's essay entitled L a Philosophie en Afkique-pour un Renouvellement de la Question (Philosophy in Africa-the Question Renewed).

Other isolated works, which do not find a place in the categories mentioned above, deserve mention. The political essay of Mabika- Kalanda, L a Remise en Question, Base de la Décolonisation Mentale (Questioning: the Basis of Mental Decolonisation), which appeared in 1967, must be regarded as a central work of Zairian literature.

An extremely prolific writer, and one w h o seeks to conserve the traditional patrimony, is Zamenga Batukezanga, author of Les Hauts et les Bas (The High and the Low), Carte Postale (The Postcard), Bandoki, L a Terre des Ancêtres (Land of our Ancestors), etc.

W e must not neglect to mention the works of Professor Mudimbe Yoka Vumbi, which have made such an impression in intellectual circles, both Zairian and foreign, and particularly his novel Entre les Eaux, Dieu, un Prêtre, la Révélation (Between the Waters, God, a Priest, the Revelation) published by Les aditions Présence Africaine.

S o m e playwrights have also emerged, including Mushiete and Mikanza with their play Pas de Feu pour les Antilopes (No Fire for the Antelopes) 1969, Elebe Lisembo with Kimbangu ou le Messie Noir (Kimbangu or the Black Messiah) and Sangu Sonsa with L a Dérive ou la Chute des Points Cardinaux (The Drift or the End of the Cardinal Points) which w o n the prize in the French ORTF's theatrical contest in 1972.

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In presenting these plays, a number of theatrical companies distinguished themselves, for example the African Theatre Union (UTHAF) which presented Mort de C h a h (Death of Chaka) at the First World Festival of Black African Arts at Dakar in 1966; the Zaire National Theatre established in 1969 by the Department of Culture and the Arts; the Kinshasa Campus Hill Theatre of the Zaire National Uni- versity; and the M w o n d o Theatre.

In coming to the end of this historical survey, w e m a y say that it was not our intention to draw up an exhaustive list of all w h o could be considered authentic writers, but to draw attention to the existence and, so far as w e could, to the striking dynamism of a young and growing literature.

MUSIC

Music in the colonial period

Modern Zairian music as it exists today emerged in the 1950’s, during the colonial era. While it still shows the influence of that other music which engendered it, namely, traditional music, in reality it was the result of a hesitant marriage between the latter and the instrumental base of European music, the guitar particularly. In its first, hesitant stages, the n e w musical art was practised by single musicians accompa- nying themselves on the guitar or the accordeon and singing for the masses w h o had come to live in the big urban centres. This was the period of the immortal Wendo, of Camille Ferudji, Baudouin Mavula, Avambole, Mukoko, Monkonkoli, Bowane, Paul Mwanga, Paul K a m b a and Tete called the Nightingale. But even in these towns, modern music had not completely obtained the ear of the public, which gave the impression of being less attracted by the rhythm of rumbas played on guitars in the bars than by the more hypnotic beat of the tom-toms to which people still danced at the crossroads.

Several factors favoured a rapid development of modern Zairian music: the growth of large cities, the influence of Europe, the influence of black American music and the activities of the record publishing companies.

The exodus from the villages caused by the creation of industrial centres increased the population of these centres and after long hours in factories and construction sites, these masses of people needed entertainment. For an African, there is no greater diversion than music and the dance.

The European influence made itself felt principally through musical instruments, some of them electronic, the most popular being the guitar, the saxophone and the piano. In addition, contacts came to be m a d e between Zairian artists and the music of Europe; this was h o w Joseph

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Kabasele came to sing a song of Dalida’s Garde-moi la Dernière Danse (Keep the Last Dance for Me). Latin-American influence made itself felt mainly in rhythm ; the Rock-à-Mambo orchestra was particularly affected by this influence and created a number of songs to pachanga or m a m b o rhythm.

The record-publishing houses made an important contribution to this emergence of a modern music in the cultural life of the country, in three fields: the dissemination of music, the preservation of the cultural heritage, and, indirectly, the creation of music by providing artists with the financial support they needed in order to carry out their mission in society. A m o n g these publishing houses w e m a y mention Loningisa, Opika, Epanza Makita, Esengo, Papadimitriu, etc.

Gradually, musical groups-still, however, limited to three or four players-came into existence, and began to use other instruments like the maracas, the bottle struck in regular rhythm and the trumpet. W e m a y make mention here of Jean Lopongo, Antoine Kasongo, Jakano Mambeka and the singers Tekele Mokango, Lucie Eyenga and Pauline Lisanga.

These embryonic orchestras played in the bars ; for example, the Kin-Jazz in the Congo-Bar and the Quist Group in the Quest-Bar. Boosted by record publishing houses such as N g o m a (a Kikongo word meaning tom-tom) and Olympia, modern Zairian music steadily developed.

The years 1950 to 1957 were decisive. T o the influence of European instruments was added that of Latin American rhythms. The volume of production was large, even though experience was still lacking and the works produced were not yet entirely satisfactory from an artistic point of view. W e should note here that most of the artists had not studied music at school before playing in orchestras, and at best were able to pick-up the rudiments of technique from a practising musician. Thus, for example, Luambo Makiadi, the soloist and composer, at present conductor of the O. K.- Jazz Orchestra, had his first lessons from the maes- tro Albert Luambasi. While he was with the N g o m a record-publishing house, Jean Lapongo was helped by Leon Bukasa (tenor saxhorn), Dominique Willy Kutima (trumpet), Joachim Manoka de Saio (baritone saxophone), Laurent Batubenga (tuba) and François Bosele (soprano saxhorn). 1

For Zaire, as for all of Africa, the 1960s were decisive years. This was the period of the struggles for independence and everywhere politics took first place in national life; the m a n of culture in Zaire participated in the general awakening of the conscience of the masses with a view to liberation from the colonial yoke. In this movement the musicians

1. MALANGI, op. cit., p. 48.

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played an active part. O. K.-Jazz played Kodi yaya and African-Jazz Independence Cha-cha, etc.

Music from 1960 to 1965

Several music-performing groups came into being in the decade following independence.

This increase in the number of orchestras was encouraged by Zairian businessmen who, observing their profitability, bought musical instruments for the groups to use. Instrumentation in this period became increasingly complex and w e see also that the educational aspect of music gave place more and more to other aspects, such as polemics or love.

In content, the music of entertainment-an expression mainly of joy-is still distinct from the music of ceremony, which enables the heart and soul to give outward expression to certain feelings and emotions felt on different occasions in the life of the individual or the community. The rhythm that goes with the dance differs according to circumstances. A monotonous, often slow rhythm inviting participation in the misfortune of a family that has lost one of its members obviously differs from the light-hearted beat marking a wedding; one is the rhythm of communion in joy, gaiety, laughter, and the other an expression of grief. The collective emotion of a family prostrated by the death of one of its members, or rather by his passing from the visible to the invisible world, throbs, in a manner of speaking, on the same frequency as the tom-tom, which transmits the message of grief to the villages or to neighbouring districts. The song Liwa lya Wetsi (The Death of Wetsi) by L w a m b a and O. K.- Jazz conveys a haunting sadness to every h u m a n heart, thus differing from Kabasele’s Independence Cha-cha which obviously expresses the joy of a nation at the attainment of freedom.

In terms of its function, this modern Zairian music differs somewhat from its traditional predecessor. The latter was essentially educative in character; it almost always possessed a moral basis, guiding the young person towards a harmonious integration into society and showing the adult that he had every interest in protecting the socio-cultural values accepted by the community. Even when a song expressed criticism, it was with a constructive aim.

It is true that the educative aspect still claims the attention of musicians, w h o continue to express the African view of life in their art. W e can cite as examples records such as Liwa lya Paul Kamba (The death of Paul Kamba) by Wendo, Mos010 (Money, a Good Servant but a B a d Master) by Tabu Ley, and Mabele (The Earth, Man’s Last Dwelling Whatever his Degree) by Lutumba. But the noble spirit that characterized the music of our ancestors is increasingly seldom to be found among our present-day musicians, and this for several reasons.

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The social factors which preserved cultural values and ensured socio- cultural harmony in our traditional societies have been weakened, if not destroyed, by historical developments such as colonialism. Further, the musician cannot avoid observing that songs with an educative or moral content do not achieve any great success and sell less well, for the reason that money has become more important than positive social values, whereas in the tradition of Zaire and of Black Africa he w h o holds the strings of the purse does not necessarily also possess the keys to the heart.. This point has not escaped the observation of Lonoh Malangi. ‘Modern Congolese (Zairian) music as conceived by our present-day song-writers’ he writes ‘is often divorced from its authentic basis’. Lacking all educative and civic content, it tends to concentrate on love, publicity, destructive criticism and threats. Are we, then, witnessing a ‘devaluation’ of the social function of the musician? This would perhaps be too radical an assertion, as w e shall now see.

The in$uence of Mobutism

There can be no doubt that as a result of the influence of Mobutism, and especially of the return to authenticity, our musicians are increasingly aware of their role as spokesmen of the people and as educators. They n o w play an active part. in the cultural revolution, helping to make the people more receptive to revolutionary ideas. In our cultural revival, the musician is the most effective agent for the glorification of our ancestral cultural values, such as respect for authority, solidarity of the people with their leader and respect for women.

Even in matters of rhythm, the latest works of Tabu Ley-to mention only one example-reveal a deeper and more probing acquaintance with our traditional music.

Modern Zairian music has thus undergone a remarkable development which places it today in a leading position in the musical Life of the African continent. In this field our country, which can perhaps be compared in this respect to the Congo, is incontestably a centre of influence. Numerous tours by our musical ensembles have enabled distant countries like Senegal, Ghana, Mali and Kenya to appreciate our music. In the United States according to A. Seck:

Congolese [Zairian] music, and particularly the traditional variety, finds an enthusiastic public in several parts of the country. Among black Americans, especially the younger ones, there is a strong impulse to get to know their African heritage and the result is a considerable interest in Congolese [Zairian] music, as weU as in the music o$ East Africa. Zairian records of all kinds are to be found in the United States.

1. Assane SE=, ‘Négritude et fiducation’, Soleil (Dakar), No. 305, 8 M a y 1971, p. 32. Special number on the seminar on ‘Negritude.’

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THE ARTS

Viewed diachronically, Zairian art can be said to owe the appearance of its various forms to the opening up of Zaire to foreign civilizations. Three of these are particularly important-the Portuguese, the Asian and the Colonial-and it is to the dynamic reaction of the indigenous creative genius to these contributions that modern Zairian art owes its development. The history of non-traditional Zairian art can be viewed synoptically in four panels or %olets’, three of which correspond to the influences just mentioned, while the fourth is that of Mobutism.

Portuguese injuence

At the end of the fifteenth century, Diego Cao’s exploration of the mouth of the River Zaire was followed by the establishment of commercial, political, religious, military and legal relations between Portugal and the Kingdom of Kongo. As in the other African kingdoms, talented artists in Kongo often attained the rank of royal counsellors, for to the king, works of art represented strength and power. Convinced by the superiority of Portuguese power, the Kongo monarchs were converted to catholicism. They sanctioned the burning of “fetish’ statues disappro- ved of by proselytizing missionaries and adopted the Christian iconography. Artists in this period took to producing cros8es, medals and sacred statues copied from European models.

Because w e k n o w so little about the art which they found when they arrived in Zaire, historians and archaelogists are uncertain whether there was a complete break with the existing indigenous art forms or whether the relation between these and the Graeco-Roman forms of biblical imagery was one of adaptation. Even though the historical evidence seems to indicate a complete break, it would appear useful to go into the matter systematically with a view to determining the beginnings and the evolution of art among the black peoples.

The Kongo sculpture inspired by Christianity exhibits formal changes tending to reconcile Graeco-Roman with indigenous canons. W e cannot for the present either confirm or deny whether the resultant m o d e of expression owed something to earlier plastic traditions or was an entirely n e w departure. It can, however, be said that the new works of art of Christian inspiration became progressively integrated into everyday life. In the course of time, the crosses, medals and statues of saints found a place among the ornamental objects of kings and dignitaries along with their other ritual accessories. Portuguese influence eventually declined for various reasons and a revival of Kongo religious practices took place, bringing with it the appearance (or re-appearance) of an art whose canons corresponded more closely to the spirit of African art as w e know it today.

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Asian inpuence

Certain Kongo statues, especially the ntadi, recall in their attitudes the seated position found among Orientals. The carrier of Asian influence was presumably Portuguese trade with Asia. Art objects from India would seem to have beenbrought to Kongo in the first place by Europeans w h o had visited that country and later by the Indians w h o came to Lower Zaire from the sixteenth century onwards.

Colonial inpuence

While the m a n y factors responsible for the emergence of modern Zairian art during the colonial period are still imperfectly known, their combined effect is clear: namely, a break with the formulas of African art in favour of those of Graeco-Roman inspiration. F r o m the po&t of view of themes, whereas the Portuguese period brought about the dominance of the catholic religion in Zairian art, the colonial epoch encouraged the development of an art interpreting the realities of African life. Religious inspiration, though abundantly in evidence, does not constitute the essential characteristic of the n e w art. On the technical plane, the colonial influence can be distinguished from that of both the Portuguese and the Asians.

Perusal of existing works on the subject reveals the urgent necessity for research in depth in order to establish an authoritative chronology of Zairian art.

The artists of Zaire

The title of father of modern Zairian painting goes to Lubaki but w e still do not k n o w to w h o m he owed his beginnings. His water-colours conquered the European public in 1929 and it remains an open question whether his first works date from this period.

In 1939, Mme Maquet-Tombu wrote an article about the gourd- carver Madya. The carving of gourds is a traditional artistic technique, which gradually evolved from the use of geometric motifs towards figurative decoration. W e have three sources of evidence on Madya’s initiation into modern forms. According to the first, he was self-taught; according to the second, he was taughrt by a Belgian priest, Father Nicolas, w h o arrived in Lower Zaire before Brother Marc Wallenda; while according to the third, he profited during the 1950s from his relations with certain artists of the École Saint-Luc at Kinshasa.

Decoration in Zairian wicker-work is similar to that on gourds and calabashes; future studies will no doubt bring to light the names of artists w h o have distinguished themselves in this branch.

Apart from Lubaki and Madya, mentioned in the documents avail-

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able to us, other pioneer artists can justifiably be connected with the centres of instruction-workshops and schools-established by foreigners throughout the country, and varying in character according to the aesthetic preoccupations of their respective founders. S o m e of these founders advocated an art of synthesis between the canons of African art and the formulas of the occident, others opted for classical realism, while still others encouraged the imitation of modern European masters.

Kinshasa and Lubumbashi are the two principal poles of modern Zairian art ; the centres at Mushenge, Gandajika, Mikope, Kakemba, Buta, Rungu, Kizu, Kangu, Kataka-kombe, Tshikapa, Kananga, Basonge, are less well known. Except for the school of Kanaga (later converted into a centre of art instruction), these centres have mainly contributed to the emergence of a flourishing school of artistic craftsmanship.

The names of Marc Wallenda, Pierre Romain-Desfosses, Laurent Moonens and Maurice Alhadeff are bound to come to mind in any consideration of the history of our modern art prior to the epoch of presidential patronage.

T h e Kinshasa school. In 1943, Brother Marc Wallenda founded a sculpture class, known as the École Saint-Luc, at Gombe-Matadi, in Lower Zaire. Transferred to Kinshasa in 1949, it became the Academy of Fine Art in 1957 and then a part of the Institut des Bâtiments et Travaux Publics (IBTP) (Institute of Public Works and Buildings) set up in 1971 at the National University of Zaire (UNAZA).

The works produced by Marc Wallenda’s early pupils reflect his aim of developing traditional craftsmanship without however blindly copying old forms. This phase was later abandoned in favour of an idealized realism that taught observation and spontaneous interpretation of nature. T o safeguard the African quality of his pupils’ vision, Marc Wallenda avoided teaching them European art. Lufwa Mawidi was the hst sculptor to be awarded the diploma of this school, and he was followed by Baana, Mankana, Penenge Mboyo and Mukeba.

With the expansion of the curriculum and the arrival of n e w teachers from abroad, it became difficult to carry out the aims of the founder. The succeeding generations of pupils were affected by the influences emanating from n e w initiators and teachers of modern Occidental art. However, once launched into professional practice and coming into contact with the dominant ideas of national life, some of them later felt the need to break with the academic traditions characteristic of what was known as the Kinshasa school.

T h e Lubumbashi school. The founder of this school was Pierre Romain- Desfosses, who, after visiting several African countries, finally settled down in the Shaba capital in 1944. Inspired by a deep interest in African art, in 1945 he set u p the African Union of Art and Letters for the purpose

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of disseminating African aesthetic ideas and planned the creation of a ‘National Park of African Art’. With the aim of creating an original indigenous art, in 1947 he brought together a number of budding talents in an Academy of Popular Congolese Art. Although they drew their inspiration from nature, his disciples-most of them painters-did not tie themselves to the object but followed the bent of their memories, while their teacher kept them away from the well-made drawing and the classical techniques of painting. Their work is characterised by spontaneity, poetical feeling, candour, decorative sense, absence of perspective and of proportion. The important Zairian representatives of this school are Pili-Pili and Mwenze Kibwanga and a Chadian, Bela. O n the death of Desfosses in 1954, Bela stopped painting, but Pili-Pili continued, as did Mwenze,’ though his later works were not of the same quality.

After the death of Desfosses, the school was merged with the Academy of Arts and Crafts founded at Lubumbashi in 1951 by Laurent Moonens. Pili-Pili and Mwenze conducted courses here in the tradition of their initiator; their most noteworthy followers are Ngoye, Mode and Mwenze Mungolo.

The Stanley-Pool school. Moonens began his work at Kinshasa in 1948 where his attention was attracted by a number of talented Zairian painters, especially Mongita, Kiabelua, Koyongonda and Lukumbe, known mainly for their landscapes, market and festive crowd scenes and their portraits. These painters form the Stanley-Pool school.

The school of Moonens. From its foundation, the Academy of Arts and Crafts possessed a multiracial character, and its programme included the teaching of architecture and of both pure and commercial art. Laurent Moonens’ idea was to train students, both white and black, w h o would be able to embark on a profession after completing their studies.

T h e indigenous art produced by the Moonens’ school shows spontaneous construction and a lively expressionism, with natural colours. Its best representatives are Tsiolo, Mwenvia, Kazadi, Kasongo. Later, a n e w dimension was added by the use of beaten copper, and under the direction of Professor Claude Charlier, students of this technique produced experimental work inspired by traditional art forms.

The Maurice Alhadeff workshop. Several of the Kinshasa artists, whether self-taught or pupils of the Academy, worked in the workshops of Maurice Alhadeff. This American patron did not attempt to establish a school, but provided creative artists with working materials such as brushes, pigments, canvas, documentation on modern art, etc. F r o m Alhadeff’s workshop came works of different tendencies, like the land-

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scapes and portraits of Masamba, Nzita, Samba, Mfuta and Koyongonda, and the mythological and allegorical scenes of the painter Tango. Each artist was expected to produce a fixed number of works per week and received a fixed monthly salary.

Nkusu. Among the pioneers of our modern art, Nkusu constitutes a special case. Self-taught, he started painting in 1943 and began to achieve a certain success in 1944. Originally a landscape painter and portraitist, Nkusu developed towards expressionism after going through a phase of stylized realism. Several painters, for example Nzita, Mavinga and Ngombo, were influenced by him during their early period.

From the 1950s onwards, enthusiasm for pictorial art gave rise to a new tendency: the uninhibited expression of popular feeling, often without much regard for the elementary rules of classical painting. The works produced had the spontaneity of which only poetic and innocent natures are capable-fishing villages, figures from the Bible or from popular mythology, the animal world, national and international events; such were the favourite themes painted on canvas, gourds, etc. The painters belonging to this movement started off in a variety of ways: self-instruction, uncompleted studies in art school or contacts with other artists.

The inJluence of Mobutism

In order to encourage Zairian art, Citizen Mobutu Sese Seko, Founder- President of the People’s Revolutionary Movement and President of the Republic, invited the International Association of Art Critics (AICA) to set up a branch in Zaire and this was done in 1972. Under the distinguished patronage of the Father of the Nation and with the assistance of the Department of Culture and the Arts, AICA-Zaire organized the Third Extraordinary Congress of the Association at Kinshasa in 1973.

The result of all this was a movement for the creation of a de-Western- ized Zairian art-a change of thinking fostered by artists and critics concerned with the problem of authenticity in modern African art.

The basic contribution of Mobutism to the working out of a new aesthetic vision for Zaire lies in this philosophy of authenticity and its application. In 1974, under the inspiration of AICA-Zaire, a group of artists styling themselves avant-gardists came into existence. Their work expresses a genuine will to reconcile African aesthetic traditions with the contributions of other artistic experiences. Bamba, Mavinga, Liyolo, Mayemba, Tamba, Zowa, and K a m b a belong to this movement, while Nkusu, without actually being a member of the group, is shown by the spirit of his recent studies to have much in common with it.

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Wooden statue, Pende art, in the National Museums Institute, Zaire,

The promotion of culture in the service of the revolution.

The Zaire National Theatre Company in Ambeya on the occasion of the third Extraord- inary Congress of the International Association of Art Critics.

Lik .embe and harps.

Mishi pan-pipes, Tschibungu commune.


Through their contacts, both academic and cultural, with the Kinshasa Academy of Arts, these pioneers of the latest Zairian art movement have intluenced the work of the academy’s students. T h e result has been a genuinely fresh start-as could be seen from the 1973-74 end-of-year exhibition, which was honoured by a visit from the First Lady of the Republic, Citizeness M a m a Mobutu Sese Seko.

THE CINEMA

The colonial era in Central Africa began just as the cinema was reaching our continent. Leopoldville (Kinshasa) was founded by Stanley in 1881 and in 1885 the Berlin Conference led to the foundation of the Congo Free State, under the sovereignty of Leopold II, King of the Belgians. M a n y Belgians were already in Zaire as soldiers, officials, colonists and missionaries. The first cinematic mission to Zaire took place in 1897 and several films about Zaire were produced, for the most part naïve efforts of the exotic travelogue type, depicting Africans as primitive savages. Zaire itself discovered the cinema in 1910, when a film of Méliès was shown ia Lubumbashi. In 1916, Henri Legaert, arriving from London, opened a cinema hall called ‘Bijou’ in which he showed films on Belgium at war.

The missionary cinema

In the 19409, some of the important missions, seeing the success of such film shows, began to make occasional use of the cinema themselves. The Scheut Fathers at Kinshasa and the Benedictines at Lubumbashi put on fairly regular showings of 3 5 - m m films for Zairian audiences. The missions exchanged among themselves the few reels in their possession likely to appeal to Zairian audiences at that period, while Kinshasa and Lubumbashi would make a selection from among the films put on for Europeans by the only chain then in existence, which was controlled by the firm of V a Effen.

Film shows for Zairians were mainly intended for schoolchildren. M a n y missionaries in the interior brought back projectors from Europe and were thus able to organize rough-and-ready showings during their tours in the bush.

In 1937, Father Albert van Haelst of Kananga decided to offer his colleagues a wider selection of films. H e started a film library and was able to hire out complete programmes on extremely favourable terms. His venture was an immediate success. Thanks to the experience thus gained, after the end of the Second World W a r the Vicars-Apostolic of Zaire, R w a n d a and Burundi recognized the importance of the role of the cinema in the education of the people. On the occasion of their

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Third Plenary Conference in July 1945, they decided to set up a central receiving and distributing service, to be placed in the charge of a competent missionary, and this service was officially inaugurated on 21 Sep- tember 1946 under the n a m e of the Congolese Cinema Centre for Catholic Action (CCACC).

After the Second World War, the cinema in Zaire underwent further development. The missionaries realized what an important part it could play in the social, religious and cultural life of Zaire. The success of the film shows they had been organizing in population centres and in the bush indicated the extent to which the people were captivated by the cinema, which was a source of entertainment after their daily work. But the public soon tired of films which bore no relation to their everyday lives. The missionarie8 therefore decided to produce films inspired by local life. These were an immediate success and thereafter the CCACC continued to produce films: specifically aimed at Zairian audiences.

The main missionary producers were Africafilms at Bukavu and Luluafilm at Luluabourg. Apart from a series of films intended for missionary propaganda in Europe, the White Fathers, Roger D e Vloo and Verstegen of Africa-films produced several films for the Zairian public, such as The Broken Bottle, Return to Earth, The Lost Briefcase, The Unsuccessful Fishing Trip, Bizimana, Katutu, etc. At Luluabourg, Father V a n Haelst of the Scheut Fathers produced either educational films exclusively for Zairians (The Astonishing Coiner, The Card Player), or feature fdms (Death Before Dishonour, The Two Orphans, etc.) or comic films, particularly the Matamata and Pilipili series which enjoyed a huge success with the public.

At Kinshasa, EDISCO 1 Films and Father V a n D e n Heuvel produced Congo, Land of Beauty, The Living Corpse, etc., and the series ‘Palavers of Mboloko’, colour cartoons accompanied by traditional African music.

In bringing to the screen a part of the great animal epic of Africa -better adapted to the African mentality than the best cartoons of Europe-Father V a n D e n Heuvel took an initiative which should be carried further. The success of his ‘Palavers of Mboloko’ was extraordinary, an example to our young African fdm-makers. The idea of making films inspired by African stories is a means of bringing Africans to drink once again at the very springs of their culture.

Ten years after ‘Palavers of Mboloko’, some young film-makers tried the same experiment of adapting an African tale to the screen in The Cabin in the Smoke (Ndako eziki).

Thus w e see that the missionaries genuinely attempted to create a cinema corresponding to the aspirations of the Zairian people.

1. EDISCO (Eduquer et distraire les Congolais).

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Educational jîlms for Zairians

The government information service. It was realized early that it would be useless to hope for educational results from films made in a strange environment, in which the viewers felt lost and were therefore not receptive to what they were watching. This led the information service to produce recreational and educational films for Zairians, among which w e m a y mention especially Personal Cleanliness, A Visit to Brussels, Avoidence of Accidents, Keep the Wells Clean, The Bed and the Mosquito-net, Pierre Works for a Farmer, etc. A group of members of the service made a film on the adventures of Mbulumbulu in four episodes.

The work of the Abbé Cornil, In 1950, the Government asked the Abbé Cornil to come to Zaire and make educational films for Zairians on behalf of the government information service. After a period of training with Kodachrome in the United States, he came to Africa, where his work was divided between production, organization of showings and distribution.

T h e Abbé Cornil is one of the film-makers w h o have played leading roles in the history of the Zairian cinema. H e made several documentary or educational films and also feature films for the Zairian public, such as, Sikitu or Pay Day, Arthur and Felix, Happiness in the Home. His best films were O n the Edge of the Abyss (1954), Fisher ofthe Sea (1955) and Land of Hope (1955). In these works there is the same constant quest for a veritable Zairian cinema that is found among the missionary film-makers.

The private (independent) cinema

In 1952, the Ekebo Film Company (Ekebofilms) established itself at Kinshasa. In collaboration with a French firm, Jacques Surbeck, Director of Ekebofilms, made The Wagenia Fishermen, which w o n a prize at the Berlin International Festival in 1956.

Although this company had modern technical equipment at its disposal, it produced only publicity films. However, in 1960-62, in collaboration with Yves Allégret, Jacques Surbeck made Kongo Yo. This film, in which the Zairian actors Mbali, Dokolo and K a t a m w e appeared, described the socio-political problems of Zaire immediately after its attainment of independence.

In the period 1956-66, Ekebofilms brought out three short ams: Madjombo, Evolution of Forms and Mwasi ya sika. Mwasi ya sika is about the adaptation to city life of a Zairian w o m a n and her daughter w h o have lived all their life in the mountain region of Matadi, where they were born. Madjombo is a documentary about Kivu and the National Park. Evolution of Forms is a remarkable account of the development of Zairian art from its earliest origins.

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Thus over a period of m a n y years, foreign, and especially Belgian, am-makers produced a large number of films in Zaire, but with the best will in the world they were unable to express the Bantu soul in their works. Accordingly, a number of Zairians felt the need to take over from them and to express themselves through the cinema. Zairian efforts in this field will be dealt with in the chapter on cultural creation and dissemination (page 104).

This rapid survey of Zairian culture from the pre-colonial epoch to our own day, in which w e have sought to indicate the problems posed by the systematic destruction of that cdture and to stress our deter- mination to rehabilitate it, will ma k e it easier to understand the present objectives of our cultural policy.

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In our time, it is increasingly realized that a country’s culture includes in its scope the totality of the national life. A few decades ago it was hardly admitted that culture could have any influence in the economic field, but today we know that cultural development must necessarily be so oriented as to make a positive impact on national development as a whole, whether in the political, social or economic domain.

The strategy adopted in Zaire to attain certain objectives-with due regard to national priorities and to existing constraints-has therefore to be appraised in this context.

The basis of Zairian cultural policy is Mobutism, the doctrine of the People’s Revolutionary Movement, that vast family which brings all the citizens of Zaire together under its roof. Mobutism was born out of a common reflection on the painful experiences of the country in the first five years of independence and on those undergone by Africans in general during the colonial age. Subjected for several centuries to colonial humiliation, the African was hardly recognized as possessing the status of a human being and consequently had no right to liberty or personal dignity. Zaire, in addition, went through a time of political, social and economic disorder in the early years of its independence because of unthinking importation of foreign ideologies.

In the thinking of President Mobutu, the essential result of this reflection was the redization that the solution to every problem of man lies primarily within man himself. Given this basic truth, for Zaire to be able to solve its social, political, economic and cultural problems, it must revert to its ancestral values, and draw from them the vitality needed for a genuine, harmonious development; it must build on the basis of its own authenticity. This, briefly, is Mobutism, which provides the framework for the general tendencies of Zairian cultural policy. The importance of the part which culture has to play in our national development will therefore be readily apparent.

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Against this background, the major principles guiding our cultural policy are: the primordial role of the State in the creation, preservation and encouragement of culture ; the preservation of the cultural heritage ; the decentralization of cultural action; and the idea of cultural development as an integral part of total national development.

The role of the State

The entry of the State into the cultural field is justified for a number of reasons. W h e n Zaire achieved political independence, it was far from being a stable State either politically, socially or culturally, torn as it was by rivalries of all kinds. It was therefore essential to create in people’s minds that spirit of co-operation so necessary for national existence and to create a force capable of forging the national cultural consciousness which the multiplicity of tribes making up the population of Zaire so manifestly lacked.

F r o m this point of view, it was for the State in particular to promote the sentiment of cultural unity. The particular cultures of the different tribes, in which the collective aspects of tribal consciousness were expressed, had to be brought closer together by providing every possible occasion for a feeling of cultural nationhood to assert itself; this was done by organizing cultural weeks and fortnights. It was the same consideration that prompted President Mobutu Sese Seko to launch the National Festival of Culture and Animation, inaugurated on 24 November 1974. In his speech on this occasion, citizen Bokonga Ekanga Botombele, State Commissioner for Culture and the Arts, declared:

The first great National Festival of Culture and Animation is composed of representatives of all classes of the population coming from all the regions and all the tribes of the country, including the city of Kinshasa and the Zairian Armed Forces. Among the dancers and singers of the Festival you will find young people of both sexes from kindergarten to university age, parents of families, peasants, high officials, professors, leading singers, priests and nuns, officers of the Zairian Armed Forces. . . . The Festival symbolizes a Zairian reality in which all Zairian citizens, notwithstanding the diversity of their tribes, languages and customs, consider themselves members of a united family within the People’s Revolutionary Movement (MPR). . . . It makes possible a genuine fusion of the 250 Zairian tribes. . . . Everyone becomes the image of everyone else, and that is the image of this Festival as a symbol of national unity and concord.

Only the State can lead to fruition the Zairian cultural revolution set in motion by President Mobutu Sese Seko, a revolution that aims at a profound qualitative transformation of Zairian mental structures: in other words, at a re-discovery of that deepest self de-personalized during the long years of colonialism.

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T h e State has also undertaken the task of encouraging scientific research and cultural creativity. In this connexion, the N’Sele manifesto declares:

The MPR will support the country’s intellectual elite, which must grow steadily in numbers and diversity, and WU give all possible recognition and encouragement to Zairian scientific and cultural achievements. The MPR urges the creation of a national organization for scientific research

which will enable the most modern means to be employed in the service of intellectual values without material constraints of any kind, with the aim of laying the foundation for the scientific activities of the State. The MPR demands that the State should effectively encourage all the

arts-painting, sculpture, music, the dance, theatre, literature. Artists, writers and philosophers should receive encouragement from the State, which should be responsible for making the most notable works and artistic personalities internationauy known. Art schools and artistic organizations should be suitably subsidised.

T h e same N’Sele Manifesto goes on to assert:

The MPR’s :aim is that the Revolution should express itself in an exaltation of the country’s intellectual and cultural values.

This aim, in the course of the revolutionary process in Zaire, was to lead to what is k n o w n as ‘the return to authenticity’.

In view of the preponderant role envisaged for the State in the field of culture, the question m a y be asked whether the creative spirit will enjoy the liberty that all mental activities require for full self-expression. As far a8 Zaire is concerned, there is no doubt whatever that musicians, artists, dancers, writers and poets possess freedom of thought and creation, of which, moreover, the State itself is the guarantor. Zairian authenticity is merely the frame of reference for cultural development and the suggested source of inspiration, the creative artist remaining free in the conception of his work. Even when it engages in a dialogue with the genius of East or West, the creative spirit still finds its inspiration in the ancestral cultural heritage.

Safeguarding the cultural heritage

O n e aspect of the State’s activity in the field of culture is the preservation of the cultural heritage.

It was in the realm of culture that colonialism committed the gravest crimes, for it was evident to the colonial rulers that they could

1. The State should encourage specialists and research workers and promote the development of science and of scientific research in all fields.

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best secure their o w n position by undermining the culture of their colonized subjects. They therefore set about the systematic destruction of indigenous cultural values and the establishment of their own, since becoming ‘civilised’ in their view necessarily meant accepting their culture. Depersonalized in this manner, the African, even after attaining independence, found it difficult to recover an awareness of his o w n cultural values, of belonging to a culture that was as valid and as rich as any other and that could provide him with the basis for an authentic, harmonious development.

It was therefore necessary to take steps to counteract the deper- sonalizing effects of cultures imposed from the outside and to stop the pillage of our cultural heritage, the protection of which only efficacious legislation could ensure.

With this in view, the ”Sele manifesto of 20 M a y 1968 laid down that: ‘The monuments of the past in Zaire and the national folklore shall be protected or restored’.

To give concrete form to this provision, a National Museums Institute was established and by Ordinance No. 70-089 of 11 March 1970 it was assigned various tasks including those of

ensuring the safeguard of the works of art, monuments and objects, the preservation of which is in the public interest from the point of view of history, science or the arts, as well as the protection of archaeological sites; of administering the State museums and in addition of inspecting those private collections which are permanent and open to the public and which contain works of art presenting an artistic, historical or archaeological interest, with a view to establishing an inventory and ensuring the physical conservation of the objects found therein.

The law further prohibits the export of cultural assets. Ordinance No. 71-016 of 15 March 1971 relating to the protection of cultural assets lays d o w n

The export from Zaire of a classified object is prohibited. The temporary export of a classified object may, however, be authorized by the State Commissioner for Culture and the Arts after consultation with the Director-General of the National Museums Institute [Article 291.

No classified object may be destroyed, mutilated or allowed to deteriorate nor shall it be modified, repaired or restored without the authorization of the State Commissioner for Culture and the Arts given after consultation with the Director- General of the National Museums Institute [Article 301.

N o antique object even if not classified as of Zairian origin m a y be exported without the authorization of the State Commissioner for Culture and the Arts given after consultation with the Director-General of the National Museums Institute [Article 351.

Zaire has also taken a step beyond the simple protection of its cultural heritage; on 4 October 1973, Citizen Mobutu Sese Seko, Founder-

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President of the MPR, speaking at the United Nations, demanded that

the rich countries which have in their possession works of art of the poor countries should restore a part of them, so that we can teach our children and grand- children the history of their respective countries.

It was with the aim of ensuring the protection of its intrinsic values and enabling the spirit of Zaire to remain forever itself that President Mobutu Sese Seko conceived the philosophy of authenticity and it is this, the synonym of Mobutism, that forms the basis of all our political, social, economic and cultural activity. Mobutism is a permanent invitation to Zairians to refer to their own value-system in all their actions so as to obviate any new danger of alienation.

In accordance with the spirit of Mobutism, the public authorities attach great importance to the protection and development of the national languages, since it is through these that the Zairian really manifests his authenticity. The Department of Culture and the Arts has rightly included teaching of the most important national languages, namely Kikongo, Lingala, Swahili and Tshiluba, in its programme, with the dual cultural and political aim not only of safeguarding these languages but of strengthening national feeling by ensuring to the individual the means of communicating with his compatriots speaking other languages.

Decentralization of cultural action

In their awareness of the complex difficulties involved in implementing a cultural policy for a country as large as Zaire, with nearly 250 tribes, the authorities have decentralized cultural administrative structures in order to meet the needs of local communities more effectively. In each region, including the city of Kinshasa, there exists a Cultural Division of the Department of Culture and the Arts, which administers the regional archives and public libraries and gives encouragement to artistic cultural associations and folk dancing groups. In certain places, regional museums have already been set up. In order to ensure the effectiveness of the regional divisions, the authorities are engaged in providing them with adequate infra-structures and equipment and also giving attention to the question of training suitable personnel, without w h o m no material, however modern, will give the results expected of it. Every effort is therefore made to appoint as many promising young trainees as possible to posts in these divisions. W e would also mention the 1973 Kinshasa seminar, which brought together cultural officials from all over the country for talks and discussions on the latest techniques of administration and management.

The cultural activities programme of the regional divisions runs

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parallel to that of the regional branches of the People’s Revolutionary Movement and these two programmes are moving towards full integration with each other. Important contributions to Zaire’s cultural activities are also made by the Department of National Education, through school libraries; the Department of Social Affairs, through adult education; and the Department of National Guidance, through cultural dissemination and other activities.

Integration of cultural development in national development

In this second half of the twentieth century, development is no longer considered in the narrow context of policies aiming at objectives of a merely quantitative order limited to growth and increase in national income. This simplistic and somewhat dated view has been largely super- seded by a broader, more realistic concept in which development problems are envisaged in a total rather than a sectorial manner which takes into account the interdependence of the different sectors-political, social, economic, cultural, etc.-of national life. In point of fact, the cultural sphere frequently exerts a profounder influence on the economic sphere than is imagined. For example, clan solidarity-which is one of the fundamental values of African culture-has an effect on the savings capacity of the salaried employee.

The importance of the institutional, financial or purely administrative aspects of cultural development has been recognized for some time.

Further, in an age in which science and technology have attained such an advanced degree of development and influence all sectors of man’s life, culture has to use what they can contribute if it is not to lose its capacity for development and growth.

Mobutism, being a humanism seeking the fullest expression of the total Zairian personality, accords the highest importance to culture and it is, in fact, through cultural action that such expression is to be achieved. In his preface to Brother Cornet’s important book The Art of Black Africa in the Land of the River Zaire, published in 1971, President Mobutu Sese Seko writes:

What is a country, a nation, that has lost the memory of its cultural heritage? In this technocratic and often misguided twentieth century world, one of our prime concerns must be thé restoration of our glorious past with its balance, harmony and cultivation.

A year later, he declared to a congress of the People’s Revolutionary Movement:

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we advocate the return to authenticity in order to make it clear that we should interpret the concept of development in the light of our own system of thought and our own scale of values.

It is thus clear that the solution of our problems must be found in and through our o w n cultural values and that it is in cultivating this spirit that Zairians will develop their creativity, whether in the political, social, economic, scientific or technical fields or in the domain of culture proper. This spirit must of course enrich itself with all the contributions that an ever-developing science and technology can bring to it.

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The cultural revolution under the ímpetus of Mobutism

Before examining the nature of the dtural revolution in Zaire and its results not only in the political, social and economic fields but also in the domain of culture, it will be of advantage to clarify the Zairian concept of revolution.

In the words of General Mobutu Sese Seko, the revolution signifies ‘a positive, considered action involving a radical change of approach and a complete break with the bankrupt methods and ideas that prevailed before w e became Head of State’.

What the revolution means, therefore, is a break with the past and its disasters, a radical change of attitudes, a through-going reappraisal and a search for new methods of government inspired by our national reality and corresponding to the specific psychology of the Zairian people.

The Zairian revolution is above all a revolution of peace, drawing its dynamism from ancestral cultural factors.

Nature and scope of the Zairian cultural revolution

In order to understand the cultural revolution in Zaire, it is necessary to recall the incalculable consequences of colonialism, particularly in connexion with the disintegration of African societies.

The better to subjugate Africa, the colonial rulers extended their activities beyond the purely economic field. Economic exploitation of colonized territories was accompanied by cultural alienation of the Afri- cans. The colonized subject was mentally and psychologically conditioned by the colonial master for the purpose of serving him better. H e was considered a being without a past, without culture, without civilization, and to the theorists of colonial policy progress as far as he was concerned consisted in passing from his condition of primitive barbarism to that of

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The revolution under the impetus of Mobutism

civilization. All the African’s ancestral practices, including those with a solid humanistic basis, were condemned as barbarous or pagan. In short, he lost even his own soul.

For African countries, political independence was an essential preliminary stage on the journey towards real-that is, cultural-independence.

The political and cultural liberator of Zaire on 24 November 1965 was profoundly aware that political liberation had to be accompanied by economic liberation and, above all, by a liberation of the mind, involving a new awareness by m a n of himself, and a turning of his tegard inwards towards his inner being, the source of inspiration for his acts and for his relations with others and with the physical world. At the national level, this implied that Zaire should seek the dynamism of its full development in its ancestral cultural values. This, then, is the foundation of the Zairian cultural revolution inspired by President Mobutu Sese Seko.

The political method employed to enabled each citizen to recover his true Zairian soul is the return to authenticity. The Zairian revolution calls on every Zairian to become a convert to this authenticity-a conver- sion that can be summed up as the possession of a Zairian soul and a Zairian awareness and expressed in an authentically Zairian language.

In a speech made in Ethiopia on 7 October 1972 in the presence of the Emperor Haile Selassie, General Mobutu explained what was meant by a ‘return to authenticity’:

The revolution in progress in our country, based on what we call the return to authenticity, has often been misinterpreted or deliberately distorted in other countries. W e are, however, convinced that Your Majesty and the Ethiopian people

understand our policy. As we have explained on numerous occasions, for us Zairians the return to authenticity means that w e become aware of our own personality, of our own values, and base our action on premises flowing from national realities so that action becomes really our own and therefore efficacious. This is not a backward-looking notion that would have the effect of imprison- ing us in our shells and preventing us from enjoying the benefits of science and technology. It is not chauvinism but a principle, a method, for our authenticity is to be achieved within the dynamics of development. In the name of authenticity, w e in Zaire are in the process of carrying out a profound change in our mental structure, a term which may be understood as covering all those value- judgements, concepts and beliefs which the members of a society possess, at times without a fd awareness of the fact. These constitute a system of values accepted by society and permeating the behaviour of the individual to such an extent that it can even lead him to opt for something contrary to his own real interest. For example, throughout our colonial epoch, by dint of hearing about the

superiority of the cultural values of the colonial ruler, the people ended up by despising their own culture and letting themselves be convinced that the colonists were superior to them in everything, although nothing could have been further

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from the truth. Sometimes, too, in their frustration at this state of affairs, they would go to the opposite extreme and reject everything that the outside world had to offer, and this, too, was a grievous error. That is why we speak of the return to authenticity, and why we insist on our young people being educated in such a way that they are capable of assimilating their own culture in the 6rst instance and ultimately that of others too. W e have decided to bury once and for all the vestiges of our colonial past by renaming those of our towns, villages, regions and zones which bore foreign-sounding names. In the name of our return to ancestral sources, we have rejected borrowed names. In the economic sphere, we condemn the false approach adopted by certain western technocrats in their appraisal of the economic problems with which we have to grapple in our efforte to emerge from under-development, an approach based on preconceived ideas and theories deriving from the Western tradition and involving them in erroneous value judgements. These writers often do not realise that studies of under-developed countries must be based on the actual realities existing in those countries. Thus, where Zaire is concerned, we are convinced that Zairian problems can best be understood by Zairians themselves. W e can apply this principle, mutatis mutandis, to every country and say that Ethiopian problems can best be understood by the Ethiopians themselves, while on the continental scale African problems can best be understood by the Africans themselves.

In asking ourselves what the scope of the cultural revolution is in the political, economic and social spheres, w e observe the following characteristics of this profound and permanent change, First, ‘it has a mass character, that is to say, it mobilizes and permeates the totality of the nation’. Secondly, ‘it is all-embracing and no branch of knowledge lies beyond its scope ’. Thirdly, ‘it is radical, that is to say, it goes to the very roots of society, of man and of nature’. Fourthly and lastly, ‘it possesses a pre-eminently liberating and transforming character, for its creates a n e w nature of things, a n e w ethic and a new type of man’-one called upon to build up a strong and prosperous nation, rooted in its own ancestral spiritual heritage but open to the fertilizing contributions of foreign scientific and technological civilizations.

This definition of the cultural revolution given by the President of the Republic of Guinea corresponds exactly to the thinking of General Mobutu.

Since 1967, our national radio has been broadcasting 24 hours out of 24 and its programmes are authentically Zairian. A powerful 600 k W transmitter has just been added to those already in service. In television, two telecasting centres have been in existence since 1966.

Created by presidential decree in 1970, the National Museums Insti- tute held its first exhibition in Kinshasa on the occasion of the Third Extraordinary Congress of the International Association of Art Critics.

In 1969, the President of the Republic set up the National Society of Publishers, Composers and Authors in order to provide better protection

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for the rights of our artists. The society is affiliated to the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers.

In the field of science and technology, Kinshasa is the scene of m a n y scientific conferences, such as that of the Rectors of African universities. The nuclear reactor of Kinshasa National University is open to all young African scientists. Lubumbashi, capital of the Zairian copper industry, recently welcomed a conference of young African historians w h o were seeking to establish a scientific basis for certain historical hypotheses regarding the development of the African continent.

Culture and authenticity in Zaire

Cultural alienation is the worst of all alienations, for it deprives m a n of his identity and renders him incapable of striving for power and responsibility.

In this context, the problem of culture is seen to arise from the desire of every m a n to k n o w himself, to be known by others, to locate himself in time and space. If alienation is the condition of the m a n w h o belongs to someone else, knowledge of himself and his past is the distinctive mark of the m a n w h o wishes to belong to himself. M a n in fact does not represent an absolute beginning, he does not come into the world as an unequipped traveller, without baggage, without a system of thought, without relations, without a family.

‘ K n o w thyself’: these were the solemn words addressed to the ancient Greeks at the entrance to the shrine of the Pythian Apollo. Montaigne rightly thought that it was more useful to k n o w oneself than to k n o w the whole of Cicero. Zaire’s political philosophy of return to authenticity invites all Zairians to know and identify themselves by taking stock of their past.

Authenticity is the Zairian people’s awareness of return to its own eourcee, of the need to seek out ancestral values in order to select those which can contribute to its own natural and harmonious development. It is its rejection of the blind adoption of imported ideologies. It is the self-affirmation of Zairian man, or rather of man pure and simple, with his specific location, character and mental and social structures.

But in Zaire w e also realize that no m a n can truly know and understand himself without an awareness of others. Our specific characteristics can best be viewed against the background of those of others. If for Sartre Hell is the Other, for us the Other is above all a source of awareness and enrichment of our o w n selves. N o one, in fact, whose aim is to understand both himself and the life and inmost nature of his people can dispense with an awareness of those others to w h o m he is bound by invisible ties.

To know oneself, to know others, to be known by others: this, then,

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is the fundamental duty not only of the individual but of all humanity. It follows that w e cannot consider our own particular form of civilization and culture as the only valid one but only as one among others. The President of the Republic has declared:

The return to authenticity is not a spirit of narrow nationalism, a blind return to the past but, on the contrary, an instrument of peace among nations, a condition of existence between the peoples and a platform for the co-operation of States. For authenticity is not only a deepened awareness of one’s own culture but also a respect for the cultural heritage of others.

In our opinion, the reason why the Zairian Head of State’s speech to the United Nations created such a stir in the world was that it formulated the question of the links between culture and politics in international relations at the right time, in the right manner, in the right terms and in front of the right audience.

At a time when the word ‘co-operation’ had become a rallying point for peoples and States, when the maintenance of peace was the main objective of international relations and, above all, when the majority of the oppressed and exploited peoples had attained national sovereignty, it was necessary to consider what new relations ought to be established between the poor countries of yesterday and the rich countries of today.

President Mobutu put the question clearly, avoiding official cir- cumlocutions and speaking with the conviction of a person thoroughly familiar with his subject.

So far as Black Africa in particular is concerned, it is true that international problems can hardly be raised without reference to the unfortunate, but all too decisive events that marked the encounter of the white m a n and black man.

‘Africa’ President Mobutu has gone on to say :

is today the only continent in which colonialism, racial segregation, apartheid and contempt for a man because of the colour of his skin are still practised. It is the continent that has undergone the deepest humiliations of history.

It is consequently difficult, if not impossible, to understand the black m a n without recalling those accidents of history which have so marked his personality and which to this day continue to exert an influence on him.

This was recognized by the First International Congress of Black Writers and Artists when, in his inaugural address, its organizer Alioune Diop declared:

The fact is that our sufferings owe nothing to our imaginations. For centuries, the dominant event in our history was the slave trade. This is the very first tie among us here present at this Congress justifying our meeting. What- ever the distances at times between our spiritual world, we black men of the

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United States, of the West Indies, of the African continent, have this much indisputably in common: we descend from the same ancestors. The colour of a skin is a mere accident, yet this accident has been the origin of events, of works, of institutions, of laws of conduct which have left an indelible mark on the history of our relations with the white man.

Going on to specify the part played by culture in colonialism, A. Diop concluded thus:

From this long page of history inscribed with the story of colonialism there flowed momentous consequences, for the life of the black man, for the quality of Western culture itself and, ultimately, for the peace of the world. Colonialism would not have amounted to more than a series of short-lived episodes had not culture appeared on the scene to lend its lasting support to the work and the plans of the soldiers, colonists and statesmen. It was, in truth, responsible for what is called the ‘colonial situation’.

For eighty years, Zaire lay under a military, political, economic and cultural domination, brutal because racialist in character. The black m a n was quite simply denied the status of a human being, unless he was the holder of a &civic merit and registration card’, and to obtain this certification of humanity he had, as the President has put it, to speak, think, eat, dress, laugh and breathe in the manner of his colonial superior.

The Zairian born into this colonial situation finds himself torn between fidelity to the past and the pull of eagerness for the future, between the notion of happiness and the means required to attain it under present conditions.

On the one hand, he discovers his cultural past and, jealous of this still imperfectly known heritage anathematized by the colonial ruler, he seeks to inventory and investigate it in order to identify and develop its good and noble elements. H e demands that henceforth his art, his traditions, his customs and his rites be respected, restored to their proper value and adopted, for he does not wish to come empty-handed to the weighing in the balance of what he gave and what he received.

But on the other hand he is realist enough to know that if he is not the master in his o w n house and if his country is not technically moder- nized, he will raise his voice in vain in a world in which peace is maintained because of fear, for there will be none to listen to him.

W e have thus both to exert and to defend ourselves, and in this struggle a grave danger to our authenticity arises from the fact that in order to improve our chances w e are obliged to borrow the adversary’s own weapons. The problem of our cultural authenticity lies in this very ambiguity in which our cultures find themselves, for, in order to survive, they must assimilate the main elements of European culture and in so doing, they cannot transform themselves. The question is whether what w e gain in the transformation is worth what w e lose.

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This problem has been posed by Sheikh Hamidou Kane in his Aventure Ambiguë (Equivocal Adventure) in the following words:

If I tell them to go to the new school, they will go en musse and will learn new ways of doing things. But while they learn, they will also forget other things, and will what they learn be worth what they forget? And if I do not tell them to go to the new school, they will not go, and their houses will become ruins, their children will die or will be reduced to slavery. Misery will rule over them and resentment will iill their hearts, for misery is the enemy of God.

This same contradiction has drawn from Lalau this heart-rending verse:l

Haunting heart, answering neither To m y customs nor the tongue I speak, Clamped between the feelings and Habits borrowed from Europe, have you felt The bottomless anguish and despair Of taming with words of France This heart of Senegal alone?

A people cannot advance otherwise than by mobilizing its strength to attain the ideal that it has itself chosen and this, if it is not to be a Utopia, must be the fruit of its history, of the aspirations reflected in its customs, in short, it must be the fruit of its historico-cultural being.

And yet w e see that today, after having dehumanized and depersonalized Africa, Europe offers its o w n concept of the world and of m a n as the sine qua non of progress and happiness for Africa.

But can Africa really advance along a path indicated to it by someone w h o has not undergone the historico-cultural condition of slavery and colonialism? Should w e not rather agree with that African wisdom which says that ‘the cutting brought from elsewhere to be grafted in our soil never gives the shade of the tree that has grown on the spot’?

The question is not an academic but a practical one, for Europe places Africa in a dilemma: to choose the European concept of the world or perish.

Yet the choice is perhaps not so simple. The European vision of the world is no longer unitary but dual, for since the autumn of 1917 the old continent has come to be divided between two types of society and two concepts of life, both of which claim to possess the magic remedy for African underdevelopment.

The first offers us a metaphysical vision of a world like the beam of a lighthouse illuminating the w a y of progress, with capitalism as the means of achieving it. The second tells us that the motive force of pro-

l. Free rendering by translator.

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gress is to be found in establishing the appropriate material conditions and in the class war, with communism as the only w a y of attaining it.

Are w e to opt for capitalism and against communism? T h e President and the Party have given the answer ‘Neither the Left nor the Right’. And perhaps, after all, no such strict choice is necessary. W e can perhaps agree with Toynbee that ‘while civilizations rise and fall and in falling give rise to others, it m a y well be that the knowledge acquired through the suffering caused by the failure of civilizations is the sovereign means of progress’.

Our aim here is not to define a universally valid cultural policy but to show h o w the cultural problem presents itself in Zaire and to put forward the reasons justifying the policy of return to authenticity. W e have explained that this policy is inspired by the desire to know ourselves and to rediscover our identity, once condemned to extinction by the colonial ruler. W e have seen that while wishing to remain ourselves w e have become, like the hero of Aventure Ambiguë ‘someone else’. It is of the ambiguity in our situation-the situation of the enslaved colonial w h o does not belong to himself-that Zaire’s policy of return to authenticity reminds us. Elunga says:

The return to authenticity means constant and immediate reference to our present situation of oppressed beings seeking to convert the weapons of their oppressors into an instrument of the struggle for liberation and development. It is to his moral and political awareness that we have recourse when authenticity is involved.

An authenticity open to ideas from every quarter

This political philosophy of ours, authenticity, is synonymous with Mobutism, the prime force of which is national independence in all its forms-political, economic, cultural, ideological, religious-a real independence in the service of the Zairian people w h o are the Alpha and O m e g a of development. All Zaire’s problems require Zairian solutions, but w e are nevertheless receptive to the experience of others from which w e seek to retain the best. This is particularly so in the domain of science and technology, Mobutism involves an absolute respect for the national sovereignty and authenticity of every country and in international relations the principle of considering all States as equal partners, both in rights and in duties. In our view, authenticity is of universal application, for it is open to ideas from every quarter, both n o w and in the future.

W e recall with pride that the inner dynamism of African cultures and civilizations has fertilized European culture in the fields of the plastic arts, philosophy, science and literature. T h e works of Picasso

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and Braque reveal the influence of African art forms. The great philo- sopher Bergson recognized that ‘intuition’ is superior to ‘discursive reasoning’ and that it is the source not only of art but also of science, at any rate of scientific discovery. The art museums of Europe and America have opened their portals to African art, which great art critics like André Malraux have classified among the major, if not the classical arts. Between the two world wars, departments of African anthropology were set up in the most famous American and European universities.

There is no doubt that these various currents in the world of science and of the arts have contributed to the emergence and establishment of the African personality. Zaire, for its part, aims at giving to the world its message of authenticity in the context of the development of the African community and the world community as a whole.

In his famous work on ‘the hidden dimension’, the American socio- logist Edward Hall stresses that the principal source of racial, urban and educational crises is Western man’s ignorance of the cultural dimension which forms the very basis of his own personality. In Zaire, this hidden dimension is precisely what w e call authenticity.

In the field of education, too, it was above all with authenticity that the Father of the Nation was concerned when instituting the reform of higher education that led to the creation of a national university. An expert in educational questions has pointed out that the individual consciousness must be able to exert its force through the medium of the historical and group consciousness, the pursuit of authenticity and, ultimately, the individual’s sense of belonging in the fullest sense to the human species in its totality. In this way both the individual-the irreducible particular-and the group-the universal with its diversity-in-unity-will obtain their full identity.

It is in this spirit that Zaire proposes to participate in the efforts being made to establish a United Nations University.

W e are fully aware of our era’s imperative demand for change, which is one of the characteristics of post-industrial society.

Wherein lies salvation for modern man, facing a world in which all is ephemeral, where every new thing is supreme, where life-styles are becoming infinitely divergent? And how do w e absorb the shock of the future while in the very act of advancing into that future?

Alongside our traditional cultures, a techno-culture whose influence m a n himself m a y be unable to control is coming into being under the in0uence of the mass media.

There are also signs of crisis in the plastic arts. At the thirty-sixth Venice Biennale, the artists who generally express the joys and sorrows of society found themselves in a sort of impasse, a confrontation between those artists who still believe in the work of art as a means of communicating a lasting ‘message’ and as an expression of a permanent value

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in contemporary civilization, and those w h o no longer believe in the work of art but wish to bring art into relationship with life.

W e may recall the passionate appeal m a d e by the President of the Republic of Zaire at the Congress of the International Association of Art Critics held in Kinshasa from 10 to 23 September 1973 and on 4 October 1973 before the United Nations General Assembly:

As you know, our cultural heritage has been subjected to systematic pillage and those of us who speak of this and seek to reconstitute that heritage are often powerless, for the works of art, often unique, have been taken out of Africa. . . . W e consider that the International Association of Art Critics would perform a historic service if in one of its resolutions it drew the attention of the world to the proposal that the rich countries which have in their possession works of art from the poor countries should restore a part of them, particularly as the poor countries lack the means of recovering such works themselves.

African authenticity as an anthropological model differs from the European model, raising the question of h o w to reconcile an African authenticity with its emphasis on communion in h u m a n relations, and European authenticity with its emphasis on efficiency, sometimes at the risk of reducing m a n to the instrument of a system. In other words, h o w are w e to combine an efficiency that is not synonymous with loss of humanity with a communion that, for its part, is not synonymous with lack of efficient organization? It is possible that some of the answers to these questions will be found in a culture inseparable from nature, and it is in this direction that General Mobutu Sese Seko is guiding the naLion.

Authenticity is the w a y of the future: of this, Africa, and indeed all the non-aligned countries, are profoundly convinced.

In his famous book that came out not long ago, Alain Peyrefitte, referring to the People’s Republic of China, says: ‘To recognize one’s individuality, to accept differences, not to impose one’s w a y of life nor to copy that of others-this is wisdom to which it has become hardihood to aspire.’

Louis Leprince-Ringuet, member of the Academy of Sciences and of the French Academy, sums up the conclusions of a long life devoted to scientific research in these wise and hopeful words at the end of his recent book Science et B o n h e u r des Hommes (Science and H u m a n Happiness):

More than in any other age, in its monstrous complexity, in its cold aggressive- ness, our disquieting and fascinating civilization needs the scent of flowers, the song of birds, music, the gaze of children, human tenderness, the smile of a loved one, but even more, the participation of m a n in a continuous act of creation which necessarily involves taking possession of the world. For this, m a n requires the courage and intelligence to break out of his shell, but above

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all he needs a special way of looking at things and at his fellow human beings. It must be a look that eases contacts and raises the barriers that would otherwise make our world a hell. It must be a look of warm sympathy which overcomes reserve and resistance, which gives m a n that admirable ability to communicate with and understand others, which transcends differences and enables the emotions to flower, a look of love. It is with such a look of love that w e can peer into the depths of our fellow beings.

Yes indeed, ‘it is with a look of love that we can peer into the depths of our fellow beings’. A similar truth underlies the need for co-operation between different cultures and civilizations. For General Mobutu Sese Seko,

authenticity, as w e envisage it, lies in a strengthening of the culture of each people for the purpose primarily of reconciling it with itself and enabling it thereby to appreciate the culture of others. In other words, as far as w e are concerned, a nation which despises the culture of another demonstrates its ignorance of its own culture.

The impact of the cultural revolution on national development

The impact of the cultural revolution extends to all the vital sectors of national life-political, economic, social and cultural.

IMPACT OF T H E CULTURAL REVOLUTION IN T H E POLITICAL SPHERE

To understand the significance of the cultural revolution at the level of political institutions, it is necessary to bear in mind General Mobutu’s unceasing concern for the achievement of national authenticity. The solutions to Zaire’s problems must be inspired by Zairian cultural traditions. In this connexion, reference must be m a d e to the concept of the Chief in traditional societies in Africa. Each African village has one chief and only one, whose authority is never contested, with the result that the concept of a multi-party State is contrary to our ancestral customs.

The chief, however, consults the elders. Yet, after obtaining all the information and all the advice he seeks, it is for him and him alone to decide in the light of all the relevant considerations. In this connexion, General Mobutu has m a d e it clear that

it is for the Chief to cope with the effects of his own decision, to evaluate it, to take the consequences and this he can do only because it was he himself who brought the problem to the maturity of decision. It is on this

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condition only-because he has in advance weighed all the consequences and agreed to bear alone all the risks of his decision-that his decision becomes a valid one, and therefore one that is good for his people and, in the last analysis, genuinely democratic.

T h e primacy of the Chief, of a single Chie€, a sole guide for a people one and unified: there we have the keystone of the Zairian political structure. Before the advent of General Mobutu, our peace maker, our country experienced the equivalent of ‘Balkanization’. National unity is therefore an essential condition for our political independence. To strengthen this national unity w e have to bring into operation all the factors that go to consolidate the Zairian national identity, the will to a collective life, through a total integration of Zairian society. The efficacious instrument of national integration is the People’s Revolutionary Movement, which has already become an established institution. Faithful as ever to the policy of a return to authenticity, General Mobutu, Founder-President of the MPR has laid d o w n the line of the movement as follows:

When we came to choosing an internal policy adapted to the needs of our own people, we took into account the fact that the masses needed meaningful education and a sound social structure and that it was impossible to run a state without a party. We therefore established a national party and we called it not a party but a Movement, because it was intended to be the vehicle of the dominant ideas governing the permanent action we had in view. We also called this movement Popular because we wanted it to concern itself with the whole of our people. And, finally, we wanted this popular movement to be Revolu- tionary, so that the new direction that we wished to give our policy should be immediately recognized as implying a radical change and a complete break with the bankrupt ideas and methods that prevailed before we became Head of State. It is noteworthy that even the methods by which this movement was created are revolutionary in nature. In fact, the MPR is not a fusion of two or more political parties, but a truly new movement based on Zairian experience of the anarchy engendered by a plurality of political parties and by the spread of foreign ideologies with their hollow slogans.

The MPR is the torch-bearer of Mobutism and is to be identified with the entire nation: hence its supremacy as symbolized by a single leader, General Mobutu Sese Seko. The doctrine of the movement is set out in the ”Sele Manifesto.

Thus, profiting from the unfortunate experiences of its early years of independence and referring constantly to its ancestral cultural values, Zaire has, through its leader, acquired an authentic doctrine, namely Mobutism.

The culmination of the cultural revolution, Mobutism is, in brief, the thinking of General Mobutu, his method of visualizing the solutions to the political, economical, social and cultural problems of the day.

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Its central point is m a n himself, the fullest development of whose personality it ensures. It is a ‘humanism of struggle’, a humanism of c o m m u - nity, an act of self-transcendence, even sacrifice, for the sake of the nation’. As a result of the cultural revolution, the people of Zaire have become aware of their o w n cultural values, put their faith in their o w n traditional wisdom and set about building a modern State in accordance with their o w n vision of the world.

The cultural revolution draws its sustenance from the inexhaustible well of immemorial wisdom. Life in our traditional villages is governed by a humanism of the community, everything being conceived and organized for the survival of the community. Faithful to all that this solid wisdom teaches, General Mobutu has swept away all institutions recalling the colonial past. Until recently, w e had administrators of territories and mayors who, in the n e w nomenclature, have become Zone Commissioners ; District Commissioners are called now Sub-regional Commissioners ; Provincial Governors have become Regional Commis- sioners; Ministers are called State Commissioners; members of the Political Bureau are Political Commissioners ; the National Assembly is the Legislative Council; and its members are Commissioners of the People.

In the national hierarchy, the first place is occupied by the Founder- President of the MPR, Hea d of State and President of the Executive Council; immediately below him are the Congress of the MPR and then the Political Bureau. T h e Legislative Council comes fourth, the Executive Council fifth and the Judicial Council sixth. All these political institutions are integrated into the People’s Revolutionary Movement.

In internal policy too, it is our authenticity which guides the Head of State in dealing with the major problems of our time, whether they relate to such themes as anti-colonialism, the ‘Middle East’ ‘Viet-Nam’, ,Laos’, ‘Cambodia’, ‘Korea’, ‘Germany’, ‘Europe’; to international economic relations especially technical assistance and the worsening of the terms of trade; or to the preservation of the cultural heritage and of the environment and the sharing of responsibilities in the international sphere.

In his masterly address to the United Nations General Assembly in N e w York on 4 October 1973, General Mobutu explained our position on all these questions at length. W e m a y briefly recall that our whole foreign policy rests on the three pillars of authenticity, African unity, and the opening up of Zaire to the world. F r o m now on the keynote of our commitment to the African cause is the complete liberation of our continent. In this connexion, our H e a d of State declared in N e w York:

N o w that w e ourselves enjoy political, economic and social stability, we cannot rest easy as long as our brothers in Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, South

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Africa and Namibia are still bowed under the yoke of the Portuguese colonialists, the British settlers in Rhodesia and the South African racists. Furthermore, Zaire is the connecting link between several countries of Central Africa, sur- rounded as it is by French-speaking, English-speaking, Portuguese-speaking and Arabic-speaking countries.

I M P A C T OF T H E C U L T U R A L R E V O L U T I O N O N T H E E C O N O M I C S P H E R E

In the economic field, the cultural revolution is the starting-point for a number of important reforms enabling the Zairian people to assert its sovereignty by a more effective control of the economic machine left behind by the former colonial power. The cultural revolution is also the culmination of economic independence, for it places the Zai- rian people in the best possible position to affirm its authentic personality.

A m o n g the salient facts in the economic field m a y be mentioned the creation in 1967 of a national currency, the Zaire, which is one of the principal symbols of our national and international sovereignty and has made a powerful contribution to the recovery of national self-confidence. Zaire’s economic capacity and potential are recognized by the great powers and it is n o w a major force in international mone- tary affairs.

Another achievement of the Second Republic is the Inga Barrage, the first phase of which was completed in 1972. Inga lies on the Zaire River not far upstream from its estuary and about 40 kilometres as the crow &es from the great port of Matadi. A drainage area of 3.69 million square kilometres serves the barrage, with, over a distance of about 15 kilometres in a straight line, a natural drop of 102 metres created by a series of rapids. W h e n completed, the Inga site alone will be able to produce 30 million kW.

A decisive step in the conquest of economic independence was taken on 30 November 1973. In fact, the President of the Republic had for some years been telling the people the hard truth. ‘Politically w e are a free people’ he said ‘and culturally w e are becoming one. But economically w e are not yet entirely masters in our o w n house’. On 30 November 1973, General Mobutu Sese Seko gave the Zairian people the right to be their own masters once again in the economic field. H e declared:

It is scandalous and not to be tolerated that Zaire, having been sacrified on the altar of Belgian interests right up to 1960, should continue to be exploited by the former colonial power even now that it is independent. It is time to put an end to this state of affairs once and for all and therefore, bearing in mind the consti- tutional oath I took before you in this very hall, I propose to announce the major decisions that I have made in order to put an end to our exploitation.

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In Article 14A, the Constitution of Zaire expressly lays down that the soil and the sub-soil of the country, together with the natural products pertaining to them, belong to the State. The law relating to immovable property promulgated by m e on 20 July 1973

stipulates that the soil is the exclusive inalienable and imprescriptible property of the State. This property of the State is none other than the land of our ancestors, which belongs to Zairians and to them alone. AU over the world, agriculture is the concern of the nationals of each country.

For this reason, as from today, the plantations, stock-farms, farms and quarries of Zaire revert to the Zairian people. AU concessions developed with Colonial Credit Office finance are to be considered as automatically belonging to the people. For all other concessions developed by foreigners or by foreign bodies corporate, equitable compensation will be paid to the former owners over a period of ten years. Abandoned plantations and buildings become State property from today.

This means that the tea, coffee, tobacco, sisal, cocoa, rubber, coconut, cinchona, pyrethrum and cashew plantations ; the cattle, pig, sheep, poultry, pigeon, duck and rabbit farms and the fish-ponds; the stone and marble quarries and the brick-kilns will be exclusively in the hands of Zairians. In the mining sector, every concession given to any investor will require

50 % State participation. In order to strengthen our economic independence, I have decided that by 1980 all our copper will be refined in Zaire itself.

The essential concern of General Mobutu is thus to m a k e the whole Zairian people participate in the enjoyment of the country’s total wealth. T h e economy is controlled, but not necessarily run, by the State. This refers mainly to the large production units, since small trading and non-industrial agriculture are left to the individual. And even though our economy is State controlled, this does not rule out foreign investement.

T H E IMPACT OF T H E CULTURAL REVOLUTION O N CHANGES IN MENTALITY, O N EDUCATION, SCIENCE, RESEARCH, CULTURE A N D T H E ARTS

In describing the effects of the cultural revolution in the political sphere, w e have laid emphasis on those mechanisms of mental alienation which the colonial rulers had imposed in their own interests. This alienation of the subject people was the logical result of colonial policy in all fields and particularly in education. W e were taught that the Gauls were our ancestors, w e knew the principal tourist attractions of Belgium and France, but remained ignorant of the length of our own majestic river, the Zaire.

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T o end this state of affairs, in 1971 General Mobutu undertook a thorough reform of education. The education of a Zairian, while all the time taking into full account the actual environment of the present day, was in future to be inspired by the spiritual heritage of our ancestors, so as to better correspond more closely to the moral, intellectual and material aspirations of the nation.

W e m a y pause for a moment to consider the ideas underlying the reform of secondary and university education within the framework of General Mobutu Sese Seko’s policy of return to authenticity.

It is obvious, particularly in an underdeveloped country like ours, that a logical connexion ought to be established between university education and the contribution of the academic world to development. This postulate enables the different types of instruction necessary for development to be more easily defined. Put in another way, the problem is that of determining the best practical w a y of bridging the gap between the product of education on the one hand and the real needs of Zairian society on the other. To remove the sense of frustration among students resulting from the near-total discontinuity between the university world and the national community, w e have to bring about a better integration of the university in the community.

For this reason, the reform of university instruction has been particularly directed at its content. In a country such as ours, the university’s fundamental vocation must be to further development, especially through the conclusions of research based on national realities.

T h e experts are unanimous in agreeing that if the university is to become an instrument of national development, the scientific teaching that it dispenses must be based on a scientific knowledge of the h u m a n environment in which it exists. That is to say, such knowledge is the basis of a development-oriented university education.

Such an education should embrace the study of society, constructive scientific social criticism, and the various projects affecting society or priority development sectors as defined by the competent national activities. Secondary and university education must also be strengthened by ‘in-service’ instruction, by which is meant the systematic acquisition of practical experience in industry, commerce and administration. Close relations with all the vital national sectors, such as industry, the administration and socio-economic institutions, will constitute a reservoir of dynamic action for the university.

Lastly, the university should be the ideal place for the cultivation of patriotic feeling among students and teachers. The People’s Revolu- tionary Movement undertakes the task of taking charge of students on the university campus.

The cultural revolution has left its imprint not only on education but also on the whole of our cultural and artistic policy, as laid d o w n by General Mobutu. The Father of the Nation has infused a n e w vigour,


in harmony with the policy of authenticity, into the artistic and cultural life of the country.

The Mobutu Sese Seko Fund established by our great helmsman is intented to provide all artists and writers with social security against sickness and old age.

The renaming of the country was the symbolic crowning of the policy of return to authenticity. O n 27 October 1971, the Democratic Republic of the Congo ceased to exist and was replaced by the Republic of Zaire. This n a m e goes back to the immemorial past, and the first maps made by European explorers gave the n a m e Zaire to our great river.

Mention must be made of a political event of the highest significance in the history of the cultural revolution: the first Cultural Festival of the People’s Revolutionary Movement that took place on 24 No- vember 1973, the eighth anniversary of the inauguration of the second republic. This festival was the whole people’s solemn homage to the peacemaker, saviour and unifier of the Zairian nation, General Mobutu Sese Seko. With its collective singing and dancing, the Festival illustrated the concrete, living reality of a Zairian nation of at least 250 tribes. Its image was one of national unity and concord. It was also a call to the entire people to rally around its leader, the Founder President of the People’s Revolutionary Movement, General Mobutu. As a striking demonstration of Zairian authenticity, the festival provided a confir- mation of Mobutism, the incarnation of the popular will to achieve a total independence founded on that authenticity. The gains of the Zairian revolution, a revolution that must remain forever in being, are protected by the unfailing vigilance of the Mobutu Youth, whose m e m - bers are aged from 5 to 15.

The cultural revolution is a revolution of the masses and total in the sense of encompassing all sectors of the national life for the purpose of completely liberating the Zairian entity. T o ensure its permanence, the authorities are engaged in strengthening the infrastructure of cultural action and, parallel to this, our young intellectuals are devoting their efforts to the same end.

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The various organizations responsible for cultural development are not combined in a single administrative unit, those under the Department of Culture and the Arts being distinct from those under other departments, particularly the Department of National Guidance and the Department of Education. The organizations concerned constitute the administrative infrastructure, as distinct from the scientific infrastructure.

The administrative infrastructure

The Department of Culture and the Arts

The preservation, promotion and dissemination of culture is the responsibility of the Department of Culture and the Arts. In addition to the Office of the State Commissioner for Culture and the Arts, the organizational chart of the department includes a Directorate-General and two Directorates. The State Commission is a political organ whose task it is both to formulate general cultural policy and to implement the cultural measures decided on by the superior institutions of the MPR. The implementation of these measures is co-ordinated at administrative level by a Director-General, w h o is the link between the administrative bodies and the State Commission which he assists in its function of policy formula- tion.

The Directorate of General Services and Research

This consists of two divisions. First, the General Services Division is responsible for supplying the Department of Culture and the Arts with the equipment required for cultural activities to be undertaken in the country as a whole. The division is therefore in permanent contact with the regional cultural divisions for the purpose of ascertaining their require-

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ments in the matter of cultural equipment. T h e division is also responsible for both financial and personnel administration, including the training of qualified cultural cadres. The training of personnel is one of the major responsibilities of the department, since it is the essential condition for the efficiency and the cost-effectiveness of the department’s activities.

Second, the Research and Intellectual Rights Division is the department’s intellectual power-house, carrying out the studies that are a necessary prelude to dynamic action, for in this century of science and technology, it is impossible to plan or programme cultural activities without a thorough knowledge of the problems to be solved. The Intellec- tual Rights Office of the Division deals with the protection of copyright in theliterary and musical fields. Protection of rights relating to inventions and industrial design comes under the Economic Department.

The Directorate of Culture and the Arts

This directorate, backbone of the department’s cultural activity, fulfils the classical functions of a department of culture, namely promotion, dissemination and preservation of culture. It consists of the Libraries and National Archives Division, the Arts Division and the Cultural Dissemi- nation and Entertainments Division.

The Libraries and National Archives Division T h e National Library is a centre for the deposit and conservation of all written material relating to Zaire published by nationals or by foreigners, both in Zaire and abroad. Authors and publishers are required by law to send copies of all publications to the National Library and this constitutes the library’s principal source of supply; it is supplemented by exchanges with other national libraries as well as by market purchases undertaken by a Purchasing Commission.

In addition to this custodial task, the National Library also plays a role in the dissemination of books by Zairians. In collaboration with organizations like the Zairian Writers’ Union and the publishing houses, it organizes book exhibitions such as the Zairian Book Festival held at Kinshasa in September 1974. To the same end and to facilitate the task of research workers, the National Library has just started a National Biblio- graphical Service which is in permanent contact with the publishing houses.

The National Archives Office also has the custody of certain written materials. Documents more than thirty years old preserved by government departments must be deposited in the National hchives, while those less than thirty years old m a y be deposited at the request of the department concerned or of the National Archives. Documents belonging to private individuals and bodies can also be deposited on request.

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Our country still suffers from a serious shortage of qualified documentalists, librarians and archivists, while on the other hand the number of specialists required by the public services and by private companies is constantly increasing. T h e authorities have taken note of this problem and propose to establish in the near future, a training school which will issue diplomas to librarians, archivists and documentalists.

The Arts Division. This division plays an important role in artistic dissemination and promotion. F r o m time to time, it organizes exhibitions that help artists to become better known both in Zaire and abroad. In collaboration with the department’s regional services it also compiles lists of artists. By June 1974 it had registered 406 sculptors, 171 painters, 46 ceramic artists and 38 copper beaters from all over the country. In the Shaba region alone, 43 wood carvers, and 39 ivory carvers, 27 painters, 16 ceramic workers, 32 copper beaters and 101 workers in malachite applied for registration in 1974.

A sales office will shortly be set up in the division to market works of art, advise artists and craftsmen on h o w best to manage their affairs, and help them to improve their standard of living by finding n e w outlets for their works both in Zaire and abroad.

The Cultural Dissemination and Entertainments Division. Responsible for ensuring the wide dissemination of our culture, this division is in close contact with cultural organizations in the fields of music and of letters, including the modern Zairian music groups and folk-dancing groups within the Zairian Musicians’ Union (UMUZA), the theatrical groups and the Zairian Writers’ Union (UEZA), and the various record and book publishing houses. The division also deals with the registration of cultural associations and with the census of musicians and writers, and implements the laws and statutory rules governing their activities.

The division includes a Bureau of Vernacular Languages not yet fully operational, responsible for the teaching of the four national languages (Kikongo, Lingala, Swahili and Tshiluba) which have imposed themselves on the country’s 250 dialects since the time of colonization. The object of this important task is to strengthen national consciousness by giving the individual a means of communicating with his compatriots otherwise than through his o w n mother tongue. Another task of the bureau is to study, transform and enrich our national languages so as to m ake them practical vehicles of modern culture. This is by no means an unrealizable objective, for w e see for example that the Soviet Union has succeeded in making its language an efficient tool for scientific work, and that, not so long ago. The same is true of China, which has recently joined the ranks of the nuclear powers. The leaders of Africa should devote more attention to this important factor in our civilization.

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Regional divisions of culture and the arts

Cultural activity has been decentralized from the administrative point of view in order to make better provision for the cultural needs of the popu- lations inhabiting the interior of the country. In each region there is, under the Directorate-General, a division of culture and the arts with responsibility for the implementation at subregional and local level of the laws and regulations relating to the preservation, promotion and dissemination of culture.

The regional divisions have a particularly important part to play in the preservation and safeguarding of the cultural heritage, for the rural communities and the villages were less affected than the large urban centres by the civilization of the colonial power and are thus the true guardians of our authentic African culture. The old people living there are the repositories of cultural values which must be protected from the rising tide of modernity. The regional divisions are responsible for collecting the oral traditions, ensuring the survival of the folk-dancing groups and protecting the numerous ancient art objects in conformity with L a w No. 71-016 of 15 March 1971 relating to the protection of cultural property. The divisions also administer the regional libraries and archives.

The regional divisions are also required to promote and disseminate culture. The organization of cultural activities receives special emphasis in the interior of the country, being linked up with the programmes of the People’s Revolutionary Movement. The artistic and literary life of the regions is nevertheless not 60 intense as that of the great cultural centres of Kinshasa and Lubumbashi. The cultural authorities have turned their attention to this problem and in 1973 organized a conference at Kinshasa which was attended by all those responsible for cultural affairs in the regions. The regional divisions are to be equipped with the resources they need to enable them to do their job properly. They also need extra staff and young appointees will be selected for this purpose.

The Department of Culture and the Arts also includes certain organizations which, because of their technical character, are not found in the organizational chart although they continue to be under the administrative control of the department. These are the Zaire National Theatre, the Lokole Publishing House and the National Ballet.

The Zaire National Theatre The creation of the Zaire National Theatre was intended by the authorities to serve a double purpose: to provide our culture with a more vital means of expression and to strengthening the existing structure of our civic education. The theatre’s company, composed mostly of actors from the old National Conservatory of Music and Dramatic Art, which is today the National Institute of the Arts, shows promise of a brilliant future in spite of its shortcomings, as was evident from its presentation of

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Ambeya at the Third Extraordinary Congress of the International Asso- ciation of Art Critics held at Kinshasa in September 1973.

Its task as a national theatre company is to instruct, educate and entertain audiences and to lead them to reflect on political, economic and socio-cultural problems. It has also to try and give a lead to other companies, among other things by encouraging them to select themes inspired by authentically Zairian cultural values and by the legends, tales and history of our country and to contribute to the development and spread of ideas which in Zairian eyes can usefully aid the country’s harmonious development. T h e theatre must create original works, written and played in our languages, springing from the people, the creators of culture, and intended for them.

The National Ballet

W e attach great importance to ancestral cultural values, that rich and varied heritage the survival of which w e want to ensure. It is this desire which led the Father of the Nation to conceive the idea of the National Ballet. Established quite recently, it is facing a number of difficulties, among them that of finding talented artists. T h e company is currently composed of actors and dancers recruited from amateur theatrical and folk-dancing groups. Recognizing these difficulties, the authorities, and more especially the President of the Republic, w h o has the interests of the National Ballet very m u c h at heart, are giving it all the material and financial support possible in order to get off to a good start.

Lokole Publishing House

This is an important instrument of the department’s cultural dissemination policy. It has three sections: a Directorate-General, a Financial Section and a Technical Section. A bookshop attached to the Financial Section deals with the sale and distribution of books, photographs, records, etc. The Technical Section is responsible for all the technical work involved in the printing of books. It also undertakes photographic coverage of official or private cultural events such as soirées or exhibition previews. The department’s cultural news bulletin is published by Lokole. O n e of its recent productions is the work entitled L’Animation Culturelle dans la Révolution-Recueil de Chants Patriotiques du MPR (Cultural Animation in the Revolution-Collection of Patriotic Songs of the MPR) published by the department in 1974.

T H E NATIONAL SOCIETY OF PUBLISHERS, COMPOSERS A N D AUTHORS (SONECA)

It is obvious that the development of a nation, like the progress of a society, depends on the creative and inventive capacity of its members.

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Whatever their field, those w h o create should be able to benefit from their creations and it is in order to ensure that they are not deprived of this right, especially by persons in a better position to exploit their creations and inventions, that in Zaire a sort of co-operative (SONECA) has been formed to defend, with the aid of the State, the interests of creators and inventors and protect their intellectual property.

A law of copyright was promulgated during the colonial period by the Royal Decree of 21 June 1948, which codified the rights attaching to intellectual property. Since 17 June 1930, Zaire has been a member of the Berne Union for the protection of the rights of authors and creators of literary and artistic work (The Berne Convention of 9 September 1886).

SONECA was established under L a w No. 69-064 of 4 December 1969 as a co-operative society of authors, composers and publishers, under the administrative control of the Department of Culture and the Arts. As of 7 October 1974 it had 1,308 members-musicians, painters, writers, sculptors, publishers, etc.

By its articles of association, SONECA undertakes the protection of literary, scientific and artistic works, whatever their value, intended function, mode or form of expression, and recognizes the right of their authors to dispose of, utilize and enjoy them and to authorize the utilization or enjoyment of them in whole or in part. SONECA also has the sole right to exploit and administer all authors’ and creators’ rights and connected rights, in Zaire and abroad, for itself, its members, its authorized agents and its corresponding societies.

Inter-departmental Decree No. CAB /CECA /O20 /72 of 14 NO- vember 1972 sets out the works protected by the law relating to authors’ and creators’s rights. SONECA also collects royalties from the consumers and divides such sums among the persons concerned.

SONECA consists of a General Assembly which is composed of all its members and whose decisions are therefore binding on all; a Board of Directors of eight members; an Executive Committee composed of the President and Vice-president of the Board of Directors which settles disputes between co-operators, members, or co-operators and members; a Directorate-General under the authority of the Board of Directors, from which it receives its instructions ; and various administrative services (collection and distribution offices, accounts department, secretariat and general services, regional offices).

T H E D E P A R TMENT OF NATIONAL GUIDANCE

This department administers the means of mass communication, which in Zaire play a role of the first importance in cultural dissemination-a role whose importance for the cultural revolution under the Second Republic has been stressed by the President of the Republic, Citizen

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Mobutu Sese Seko, himself a former journalist. The task is to educate and inform the masses and to create a culture of the masses as a conti- nuation of school education.

Zairian society, as it developed in the colonial epoch, was characterized by alienation and the Zairian, especially in the big towns, became to some extent a stranger to the values of his o w n culture. The political and economic disorders following independence prevented a process of counter-alienation being set in train. The need was therefore to create a new, viable society and this task was undertaken by Mobutism, with the aim of restoring to Zairians confidence in the positive cultural values of their ancestors, but in the context of modern scientific and technological civilization.

To put this vast programme of cultural promotion into operation, no better means exist than the mass media. Use of them has enabled the cultural revolution to be consolidated and the aim is to inculcate in Zairians the ideals of the M P R , particularly the superiority of the collective interest over that of the individual, solidarity and the will to work or salongo.

By disseminating these values throughout the country and among all ranks of the population, w e have been able to achieve a certain degree of integration of the various tribal cultures, a strengthening of the national consciousness and a community of thought indispensable to national development. As has been pointed out by Citizen Sakombi Inongo, Political Commissioner and State Commissioner for National Guidance in a speech to the Institute of Information Science and Tech- nology (ISTI) on the subject ‘Information and Authenticity’, information in our country is concerned with the return to authenticity: its task is to publicize it, disseminate its principles and urge the people to put them into practice.

The authorities are engaged in creating a modern infrastructure for radio and television. A big 600kW broadcasting station has been functioning at Kinshasa since 24 November 1970, serving a large part of Zaire and a number of neighbouring countries. Three other broadcasting stations of 100 k W each are due to be set up at Kinshasa, Kisangani and Lubumbashi and these will enable the regional population to follow programmes relayed from Kinshasa. Other towns will also be provided with 50 or 10 k W stations. Because of its situation in a mountainous region, the town of Bukavu will have a 300-kW station. W h e n all these projects are complete, Zaire will possess stations with a total capacity of 1,346 k W , serving the entire country.

As regards television, Zaire possesses the two stations at Kinshasa and Lubumbashi. On 20 M a y 1974 they began colour telecasting in the SECAM system.

A project for setting up ground stations is under w a y (one, at Nsele, about 70 km from Kinshasa, is already in operation). These

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stations will play an important role in educating the people and mobilizing them for national reconstruction. As President Mobutu declared in his speech of 30 November 1973, they will ‘enable the greater part of the population to be in immediate touch with the pace of the country’s development’.

The forthcoming construction of ‘Voice of Zaire’ City, the foundation stone of which has already been laid, will further strengthen the technical infrastructure of our mass communication media.

A number of specialized services also exist under the Department of National Guidance, namely: the National Office of Cinema and Television News, which produces news reels; the Film Library, which preserves films and distributes them, especially to schools and cinema halls and the Photo Library, which produces and distributes photographs. Between 300 and 1,000 photographs a month are distributed.

The educational infrastructure

Like all the other colonized countries of Africa, Zaire inherited an educational system imported from the West which bore no relation to our needs, as its particular purpose was to inculcate the cultural values of the colonial ruler. The subject people were considered merely as consumers of foreign cultures, with nothing of their o w n to offer.

It can be observed, further, that education and instruction seem to be dissociated in our present society, which has difficulty in integrating its young people, whereas in traditional African society, education was regarded as a total activity aiming, in the interest of m a n and of the society encompassing him, at a m a x i m u m development of his faculties. Before Islam and Christianity, our ancestors hardly distinguished between instruction and education, for body, mind, feelings, civic sense, etc., were all equally developed. In this way, the world of Africa ensured its continuity and its remarkable equilibrium, without the clash and con0ict of generati0ns.l

Such considerations led to meetings between the educational authorities of developing countries at Addis Ababa in 1961 for Africa and at Santiago in 1962 for Latin America. At this time of acute awareness of the need to discover our o w n personality, there was a need for profound reflection. Mobutism involved first a systematic calling in question of the entire colonial cultural heritage and then a rejection of its negative values. Our whole teaching system was re-examined with the aim of integrating into it civilizing African values centred essentially on man, the Alpha and O m e g a of development.

1. Martin EKWA, Pour une Société Nouvelle l’Enseignement Nation4 p. 133, Kinshasa, BEC Publishing House, 1971.

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O n e of the principal endeavours of the educational authorities since the 1960s has been to reform our education in such a w a y that it corresponds to national realities. For example, referring to the reform of 1961, Father (Martin) E k w a says9

Science, history and geography syllabuses have been completely restructured so as to give them a specifically African character. N e w disciplines integrating culture features of the black world have been introduced into the curriculum, for example, basic courses in African sociology, economics, aesthetics, philosophy.

T h e distinguishing mark of our educational system is not only the return to authenticity but also democratization and renovation. This is not to say that all the problems have been completely solved, particularly that of school drop-outs which came up at the conference on prospects in education held in M a y 1966 on the Kinshasa campus of Zaire National University (UNAZA). It was then observed that: ‘out of 100 children starting in the first year, only 17 are found in the sixth year: in other words, 83 per cent abandon school, mostly during their third or fourth year.’

The situation is better today, especially in primary education, as a result of the combined efforts of the public authorities, parents’ associations and private institutions. In the big towns, there has been a remarkable development of kindergartens. A strengthening of the infrastructure has been achieved in primary education but the effort has to be maintained because of the increase in the number of school- age children.

A s regards secondary education, the authorities realize the difficulty faced by this sector, namely, its inability to absorb the entire output of the primary schools, which results in frustration, idleness and delin- quency among the young. In 1966, the estimate was that t w o thirds of the children completing the sixth year of primary schooling cannot find places in secondary schools.

These difficulties in secondary education are found in all African countries, as has been pointed out by a number of authorities including the late René Maheu, former Director-General of Unesco. H e writes?

It is perfectly true that considerable progress has been achieved in school attendance and it can even be said that, on the whole, that is to say taking all countries of the world together, the rate of growth in school attendance has for the first time out-distanced the rate of increase of the world population. This is no mean achievement, yet behind this general result there are less satisfactory realities, some of which present formidable problems. First, it is to be noted

1. 2.

M. EKWA, op. cit., p. 127. René MAHEU, La Civilisation de l’Universel, Inventaire de l’Avenir, p. 81-2. Pais, Lafont, 1966.

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that the increase in school attendance ia taking place mostly at primary level. Thus, if we take Africa, the expansion targets set by the Addis Ababa Conference of 1961 can be considered as attained for primary education but are very far from being achieved in secondary education.

Higher education has not remained unaffected by the changes taking place in the country. The 1973 reform was justified for various reasons including the steady increase in the number of enrolments, the diversifi- cation of structures and student unrest. These problems led to the convening of the first national congress of higher education teachers and university professors, which came to the conclusion ‘that an administrative and academic overhaul of the whole educational system was required.

The result was the creation of the Zaire National University (UNAZA), amalgamation of the former Lovanium University at Kinshasa (Catho- lic), Kisangani University (Protestant) and Lubumbashi University (State), each of which is n o w a campus of UNAZA under a pro-Vice- Chancellor. Also integrated into UNAZA are all the institutes of higher education, such as the National Institute of Building and Public Works, the National Institute of Education, etc.

With respect to academic reform, it was decided that higher education must develop along the lines of an authentic Zairian nationalism, and this raises two problems: the integration of the students in an appropriate over-all structure and the remodelling of the content of higher education in the light of the n e w policy.

Thus, Zaire’s educational effort aims at two fundamental objectives, namely, the integration of both our o w n cultural values and those of modern science and technology in a system of continuous education, and the integration of that education in the processes of balanced national development as a whole.

LIFE-LONG EDUCATION

In our age, conditions of life change fast, as each day see8 new scientific discoveries and technical progress brings about continual transfor- mations in the environment and in work, where the machine competes with the worker, with the result that both manual and intellectual workers have to adapt themselves to these changes in order to keep their position in the employment market.

Such considerations have led to revision of the very notion of education through the concept of lifelong education which is defined as comprising ‘all educational programmes organized for persons not included in the ordinary school and university system and usually 15 or more years of age’. Education must go beyond the rudimentary aim of providing the individual with a given quantity of knowledge,

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and must rather seek to inculcate ‘the art of learning continually’. T h e trend nowadays tends towards ‘a total education . . . in which school and daily life are one’.l

W e have thus come round to the traditional African educational system in which ‘school was everywhere’, an all-embracing activity aiming at the full inner and outer development of the individual within a balanced evolution of the society in which and by which he lived. In this connexion, Daniel Maximin declared at the pre-conference on ‘Black Civilization and Education’ held in Paris in 1973?

The education that we are discussing today is not in itself a solution and cannot by itself bring about the changes desired for Africa, for the simple reason that what takes place in school and in the home depends in fact on society.

It is considerations such as these that underlie the efforts of the Zairian authorities in the field of permanent education, which has such an important part to play in our national development.

The infrastructure of permanent education consists of a number of institutions.

The Adult Literacy Section

Its creation in 1966 under the Department of Social Affairs was prompted by the consideration that

the adult education measures undertaken so far by the various institutions concerned were in force only at middle and higher levels, the base remaining untouched. Enquiry also showed that there was a certain lack of co-operation and co-ordination between the institutions concerned with adult education ...

T h e Adult Literacy Section was therefore entrusted with the tasks of: (a) launching measures for a basic education by means of functional literacy and also by permanent education; and (b) assisting the institutions dealing with adult education to co-ordinate their activities on a national scale.

The section consists of two divisions, the first dealing with the education, further training and retraining of junior and middle level personnel, and the second with the study, preparation and evaluation of curricula. The section is currently concerned with the professional

1.

2.

3.

UNESCO, Proposals for Collection of Statistics relating to Adult Education, p. 27, Paria, 1974. Daniel MAXIMIN, Précolloqoe sur la Civilisation Noire et l’Education, Présence Afri- caine (Paria), No. 87, 1973, p. 29. MALAYI, Exposé sur le Service National d’Alphabétisation et de 1’Education des Adultes, p. 88, paper read at the conference organized by the Centre Interdisciplinaire pour le Développement de l’]Education Permanente (CIDEP), UNAZA.

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training of job-seekers and with meeting their economic and socio- cultural needs, for which purpose further training and retraining courses are organized.

The Interdisciplinary Centre for Permanent Education (CIDEP)

This centre, established at UNAZA under the direction of the Vice- Chancellor, is intended to meet the need for a link between the university and the community and its principal functions are therefore: to make students aware of development problems by means of civics and development courses, socio-economic surveys, training courses, practical work and debates; to organize evening classes on radio and television and correspondence courses for individuals cut off from direct contact with the university for geographical, psychological or sociological reasons ; to collaborate with government and managements in providing retraining opportunities for white-collar workers and other intellectuals ; to promote research in the field of self-development and permanent education; and to undertake research and contribute to adult education.

CIDEP has four departments. The Department of Assistance to Former Pupils and Graduates keeps in touch with these young people after they have finished their studies and taken jobs, helping them (for example) to complete their education or to undertake development projects such as those carried out at Manono and Kiondo Kiambidi.

The Department of Developmental Education for Students organizes civics and development courses in certain faculties, holiday training courses and debates on development themes. It has an extremely interesting project in view, probably for the Kwango subregion, consisting of a Pioneer Campus where professors and students will join with the inhabitants of a particular zone in studying local problems on the spot with a view to solving them and improving living conditions in the area.

The School and Development Department deals with the problem -found in so m a n y developing countries-of the inadequacy of primary and secondary level teaching in relation to the real needs of the country. It is concerned, among other things, with the use of national languages in teaching and with the development of curricula tailored to the needs of rural areas. It is with this in view that the curriculum used in the advanced training of primary-school teachers at Manono has been planned on the basis of a training programme with a somewhat rural start.

Finally, the Extra-Mural Department deals with adult education, the promotion of co-operatives and community development.

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The Administrative Training Centre (CPA)

This centre, which is integrated with the Interdisciplinary Centre for Permanent Education (CIDEP) seeks to raise administrative standards: (a) by providing in-service training schemes for government employees (field courses, residential seminars, training programmes) ; (b) by advising government departments on h o w to organize their work more efficiently.

T h e CPA provides initial training, retraining or refresher courses, and supplementary instruction for employees w h o have joined a department before completing their training. The centre has so far organized a training programme for eighty government draftsmen; three seminars for twenty heads of department ; two training sessions for territorial and local staff in the Ituri and North Kivu subregions; and three seminars on administrative aspects of development for students of the École Supérieure de Développement.

The National Institute of Professional Training (INPP)

T h e institute was established to cope with the shortage of personnel caused by the wholesale exodus of Europeans (who accounted for some 78 per cent of all qualified personnel) at the time of independence and to give on-the-spot training to nationals w h o had come to occupy responsible posts in the public and private sectors.

Originally designed simply to solve a specific short-term problem, INPP has today become an important instrument of economic development and social progress. Its activities extend to all branches of our national life-economic, industrial, commercial and administrative and in each case what it attempts to do is to provide adults w h o have not had m u c h schooling with an opportunity to fill in the gaps in their education and thereby improve their social condition. Training is available in a great variety of fields: general, automobile and agricultural engineering, welding and metalworking, electronics, construction, administration, commerce, etc.

Today, thanks to its well-developed infrastructure, INPP can take in nearly 2,000 trainees. In Kinshasa alone, its selection and careers guidance service handled 33,000 applicants in 1973. The trainees come from different backgrounds: small- and medium-sized undertakings, vocational and technical schools, the vocational teaching body.

Both INPP and the national authorities face a psychological problem when dealing with the young, namely, the need to motivate them in the direction of certain occupations, especially technical ones. A disin- clination for manual work is particularly noticeable in rural areas. ‘The disdain for manual and agricultural work inspired in the élite by the former colonial ruler has spread to the younger generation and is one

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of the factors accelerating the drift to the towns1.’ However, the country badly needs qualified workers and w e feel that there is a need for psychological action to induce a change in attitudes. This could be backed up by such measures as the introduction of a wages policy designed to attract young people to the sectors in which they are needed.

The National Institute of Political Studies (INEP)

INEP was established in 1960, and began by giving evening classes. Its prime concern is not with materially profitable activities of any sort but with general education and information in the fields of political science, economics and social science. In the field of permanent education it has three main objectives, as its Director-General, Citizen Mandala, explained at a seminar organized by CIDEP in November 1973: to provide people w h o are no longer receiving a formal education with the detailed and up-to-date information they need if they are to understand the mechanism of a modern State; to give them professional protection and equip them to play a fuller part in the implementation of the national effort; and to satisfy the need of everyone in a position of responsibility to take stock of his activities, to widen his horizons and to pool their experience with that of others similarly placed.

INEP’s activities involve three sectors: instruction ; publications ; and documentation and research.

Instruction is given by the École Supérieure du Développement (ESDE). Seminars have been held on a number of subjects including: the importance of history for development ; economic mechanisms ; the role, condition and tasks of youth in Zaire; the participation of w o m e n in the political, social and economic development of the country. In 1973, five seminars were held on topics including: the development of the agricultural sector alongside the mining sector; the journalist in relation to the political, economic and social life of the nation; means of communication as favourable factors in the development of an agricultural region; the role of small- and medium-sized enterprises in Zairian development.

Teaching by correspondence, which was tried in 1963, had to be abandoned because of the difficulties encountered, but in view of the increased demand for it, the question of trying the experiment again is being considered.

In the publications field, mention m a y be made of the interesting magazine Etudes Zaïroises (Zairian Studies) which, despite financial difficulties, continues its work on the political, economic and social problems of Zaire, of Africa and of the developing countries. Attached

1. Vianda-Kioto LUZOLO, Tradition et Développement en Milieu Rural au Bas-Zaïre, p. 94, University of Ottawa, 1973.

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to the Publications Section of the institute is a library established in 1961, which has the sole distributing rights in Zaire for Unesco publications.

The Makanda Kabobi Institute or MPR school

The important position which this institute (or party school) occupies in the structure of permanent education is justified by its role in our revolution. Under the permanent inspiration of Mobutism, the Zairian revolution which began on 24 November 1965 is resolved to continue on its course, growing steadily more effective and constantly adapting itself to the realities of the hour, both national and international. It remains a revolution of the masses, who must be permanently mobilized to attain the objectives w e have set ourselves. They must be as fully informed as possible of all decisions affecting the political, economic, social and cultural life of the country so that any event occurring in any corner of the country is grasped by the whole population. This need for effective popular mobilization and for a rational information system led to the establishment of the Makanda Kabobi Institute at Kinshasa.

Explaining the purpose of the institute, its founder, General Mobutu Sese Seko, declared on 15 August 1974 that it was

urgently necessary to consider the training of the cadres whose task it is to spread the teachings of the Founder-President. These teachings must be transmitted and interpreted in the same way throughout the country. Thus, the "Sele Manifesto, authenticity and now Mobutism ought not to be interpreted in different, still less in divergent, senses. The school is therefore required to train the leaders and responsible authorities of the People's Revolutionary Movement at all levels so that they all speak the same language and seek constantly to perfect it.

The school is not intended only for Party cadres in the strict sense. A s the MPR encompasses all Zairians, the word <cadre' used by the President in fact means every citizen w h o bears responsibility in any sector of the national life, whatever it be. The idea is that all citizens should interest themselves in the national problems arising out of their professional activities in such a manner as to enable all to join in finding the solutions to them.

Thanks to this school, the deans of faculties will take an interest in the problems of the army; generals and colonels will have a better understanding of the problems of students; ambassadors will rub shoulders with bishops; company chair- men will learn how the State budget is prepared; regional commissioners will find it easier to understand the claims of the trade unions; judges will preside over popular assemblies in prisons. Thus, everyone will take an interest in the work of everyone else.

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In this way, the community of thought essential for any revolutionary enterprise of national reconstruction will be realized.

The Party School is not merely an ideological school, for it also teaches us how to solve the country’s day-to-day problems. ‘It is a school of life, of life as it is lived in Zaire.’

The first session of the Party School was held from 15 August to 6 October 1974, with the participation of MPR cadres, including some of Zaire’s ambassadors to foreign countries, heads of government departments, etc. Eventually, all young Zairian graduates-economists, sociologists, political scientists, doctors, agronomists whether they have studied in Zaire or abroad-will be required to spend two months at the School, which will enable them ‘to de-alienate themselves and immerse themselves once more in national realities’.

By providing our cadres with periodical refresher courses, the MPR school will ensure adherence to the policies of the movement and facilitate the process of constant adaptation needed in order to cope with the new problems that arise almost every day. They will thus be able to maintain the masses in a state of constant revolutionary awareness and this is most important for historical experience shows that ideological backwardness among the masses often leads to discord and misunder- standings between them and their leaders and hence to a slackening of revolutionary action.

TEACHING OF THE A R T S

This now exists in Zaire from secondary to university level. There are three schools of the ‘arts and humanities’ type at Lubumbashi, Kananga and Kinshasa. The first two date from the colonial period (see chapter entitled ‘History’) while the third owes its existence to the desire of the authorities of the Academy of Fine Arts to enable promising pupils who had already acquired some general education to be trained in Kinshasa.

On the arts side, the curriculum of these establishments is extremely diversified, embracing not only pure art but many of its allied disciplines-painting, wood and metal sculpture, ceramics, brasswork, copper enamelling, commercial art, decoration, drawing, art history, Black African art, African traditions and human anatomy. These courses are attended not only be Zairians but by young people from the West and from other African countries.

In addition to the three schools mentioned, several other institutions and technical instruction centres are engaged in the training of young people, particularly the Institute of Arts and Crafts at Kinshasa and the Training Centre for the Handicapped.

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The National Institute of the Arts (INA)

This institute teaches music and dramatic art and has an important part to play in promoting Zairian music and theatre, in view of the fact that the majority of the existing theatrical and musical groups consists of amateurs. Another of the institute’s tasks-which should perhaps claim more of its attention-is that of preserving our musical and choreographic heritage.

The scientific infrastructure

As explained in the previous chapter, the policy of return to authenticity makes our o w n cultural values the basis of our development, but without a rejection en bloc of the values of the outside world. But to make the return to authenticity both rational and effective, thorough research into our culture is required, to enable us first to select the cultural values w e wish to develop and then to m a k e them a living reality, to enrich them with contributions from other cultures and to adapt them to the real needs of the modern Zairian nation.

The need to undertake thorough research into our culture justifies the scientific infrastructure, consisting of institutions with the task of training either creative talents in the cultural sphere, so as to m a k e cultural action both permanent and dynamic, or research workers in the various cultural fields. Private organizations undertaking research in given fields also form part of the scientific infrastructure.

The main public institutions functioning in the scientific field are UNAZA and the National Research and Development Office. Zaire National University (UNAZA) includes the campuses at Kinshasa, Lubumbashi and Kisangani, and its faculties produce m e n of letters, sociologists, historians, linguists, anthropologists, etc. A number of specialized higher institutes also come under UNAZA.

The National Research and Development Office (ONRD), set up in August 1967, is an official body with the task of developing, guiding and supervising scientific research and analysing the current situation in the scientific field for the Executive Council. It gives our young university graduates an opportunity for serious research, and generally plays a major role in national development. Through the important studies it carries out in the various sectors of national life, it helps the authorities to reach sound decisions at the political level. Its role in the scientific context could be described as one of ‘forward reconnaissance’.

Where culture is concerned, O N R D ’ s interdisciplinary researches have highlighted the importance of culture in development, especially since the Founder-President of the MPR decided to launch Zaire on

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the path of an authentic development inspired by genuinely Zairian socio-cultural values. ONRD makes an important contribution to the assistance given to cultural creation and dissemination. Its journal Cultures au Zaïre et en Afrique (Zairian and African Cultures), formerly called Dombi, has m a n y distinguished contributors and a wide circle of cultivated readers.

The National Museums Institute (IMN)

This institute is located in Kinshasa, and attached to the Office of the President. Established by Decree No. 70-089 of 11 March 1970, it is responsible for preserving all the evidence of our cultural heritage by ensuring the protection of works of art, monuments and objects whose preservation is in the public interest from the point of view of history, art or science and by protecting archaeological sites and administering the State museums. It has also to inspect permanent private collections which are open to the public and which contain works of artistic, historic or archaeological interest for the purpose of making inventories of the objects they contain and ensuring their material conservation.

Under Decree-Law No. 71-016 of 15 March 1971, another of IMN’s duties is to protect movable and immovable cultural property.

According to this law:

immovable property, the preservation of which is in the public interest from a historical, artistic or archaeological point of view, may be classified, wholly or in part and subject to any conditions and distinctions that may be laid down, . . . as immovable cultural property. The same shall apply to any immovable property the classification of which is necessary for the purpose of isolating, opening up, cleansing or restoration of an immovable property either classified or proposed for classification [Article 11.

The alienation, destruction, removal, restoration or modification of a classified property can take place only in conformity with conditions previously laid down. As for movable property:

movable property, whether properly movable or immovable according to intended use, the preservation of which is in the public interest from a historical, artistic or archaeological point of view, may be classified, subject to any conditions and distinctions that may be laid down, . . . as movable cultural property [Article 181.

A classified object belonging to the State m a y not be alienated, while a similar object belonging to a public body other than the State m a y only be alienated subject to precise conditions. The export from Zaire of a classified object is forbidden, except under express authority given by the State Commissioner of Culture (Article 29).

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Regulations exist regarding the destruction, mutilation, deterio- ration, modification, repair or restoration of classified property. Further,

it is forbidden for any person residing abroad who habitually or occasionally purchases ancient objects for the purpose of reselling them to collect such objects of Zairian origin, whether classified or not, within the territory of Zaire. A like prohibition applies to any person resident in Zaire and acting on behalf of a person aforesaid [Article 341.

Export of a non-classified antique of Zairian origin is also prohibited, except under authority from the State Commissioner of Culture (Article 35).

In like manner, no archaeological excavation m a y be undertaken in any area whatsoever without authority from the commissioner.

IMN's organization chart sets comprises categories of national museum. A museum of the first category is situated in Kinshasa, at "Sele. This is the Kinshasa National Museum, with sections devoted to the social sciences and to the natural sciences. In the first will be found collections representing national history and cultures, the art of the principal African regions outside Zaire and selections of contemporary Zairian works of art and of non-African art. In the second, there will be dioramas of the ecological groups that are not to be found in the "Sele Presidential Park, as well as a collection and a representative series of skeletons. A section devoted to the geology of the Zaire will also be established.

In the second category are the existing Lubumbashi museum and the future Kananga museum. The former possesses a representative collection of all the cultures of the country and some items illustrating African cultures outside Zaire. The latter will be devoted mainly to the natural sciences, in view of the specialization of the UNAZA campus in Kananga.

In the third category are the existing museums at Kananga and Mbandaka and those to be set up at Bukavu and Goma.

The National Museums at Kananga and Mbandaka will remain in principle limited to a particular region of Zaire and will concentrate on educational or tourist-geared exhibitions. Their creation in major centres is deFigned to facilitate control and supervision.

Since its establishment, the National Museums Institute has been engaged in an all-out effort to save our ancestral cultural heritage (particularly antique art objects which escaped the systematic pillage of the colonial period) and our oral tradition.

At the present moment, its most urgent task is to establish the stratigraphical and chronological framework of the archaeology of Zaire. A number of excavations and surveys have already been undertaken-for example, two sites in the Sanga cemetery near Lake Kisale have supplied important information on life in the Iron Age in this

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region. Also still in the Shaba region, the K a m a o excavations have yielded a complete stratigraphic picture from the Stone Age to the Iron Age, and the Pupa (Biano plateau) site has also been excavated.

In the musical field, the institute undertakes four main tasks, namely tape-recording of traditional music, thorough study of this music, establishing a collection of recordings of modern Zairian music on tapes and discs and study of this music.

The institute also undertakes to train personnel to assist it in implementing its collecting and research programmes. This training is of importance because it has recently been realized that African archaeology should not be interpreted exclusively in the light of European knowledge. It is therefore necessary that research should as far as possible be carried out by nationals. It is further noticeable that the instruction given by the University remains basically theoretical and based on generalities. The institute therefore organizes training courses for young research workers so that they m a y acquire practical knowledge.

The same thing applies in the field of music, where the training of Zairian technicians and musicologists has already commenced.

In concrete terms, it is through missions into the interior of the country that the institute seeks to carry out its programmes by collecting hundreds of art objects and making recordings.

For example, in 1970-71, such missions travelled through Lower Zaire, Kasai, the Equatorial region and Shaba. The Kasai mission travelled 6,000 kilometres and brought back 1,200 items in one month. The Equatorial mission, undertaken on behalf of the ORTF in 1970, brought out the extraordinary interest of Ekonda music, not only from the thematic and polyphonic but also from the sociological point of view.

A 6lm was made and there was also a rich harvest of recordings. The documents collected were of extremely high quality, both technically and aesthetically. The mission also brought back a large number of colour and black-and-white photographs which constitute a complete documentation on Ekonda music and dance. It m a y be noted that in general the peoples of the Basin are less interested in the plastic arts than in music, which is for them artistic expression par excellence, linked to the dance and to oral literature.

In 1972, missions were sent to the Equator, to northern Shaba, eastern Kasai, the north-western region of Bandundu, northern and north-western Zaire, and in the east of the Kinshasa region.

The results were very encouraging: 170 recordings were made in 39 villages belonging to 12 communities, representing about 50 hours of music of an astonishing diversity, even though belonging to the same cultural group, the Mongo (except for the Ngombe). The recordings made at Isaka, especially among the Pygmies, count among the most successful of the 1972 mission.

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Sculpture in plaster by the artist Lufua.

Bronze sculpture by the artist Liyolo.

Xylophone, Luba art.

The founder-president of the MPR inaugurating, on 23 April 1975, the regional. building of the Voice of Zaire in Matadi, Lower Zaire.

Telecommunications earth station.

Photos: Zairian National Commission for Unesco.


F r o m northern Shaba (Luba), about 750 objects and several recordings were brought back. The musicological mission to Shaba made a complete inventory of the musical genres of the Luba of Kasongo-Nembo, Kabongo, Kinkondja and Kinda. Twenty-five hours of music were record- ed among the Lunda. The mission enabled the institute to complete its collection of musical instruments used by the Luba-Shaba, except for two types of xylophone. About fifty ethnographic items were also collected.

AU these items are being thoroughly studied at the institute. Thus, from 6 September to 1 October 1974, 8,000 items were studied: statuettes, seats, carved posts, back and head rests, door panels and lintels, masks, amulets, sceptres, ceremonial axes, fly-whisks, goblets, drinking horns, bongotols, pipes, tobacco mortars, combs, embroidered fabrics, drums, cordophones, sanei, horns, bells, etc.

At the moment, certain ethnic groups are very well represented in the collection of the National Museums Institute, such as the K u b a and the Lele (who are in fact related), the Yaka, the Pende of Kwilu and, of Kasai, the Kongo, the Mongo and the Ngombe.

A programme of activities in relation to other regions is in the process of being implemented and in a few years’ time the institute’s collections will be able to present a complete panorama of all the principal traditional cultures.

Other supporting structures

In addition to the institutions that have been briefly described, there are a number of others which carry out research in their respective special fields and assist the authorities in their task of promoting Zairian culture, namely: The International Association of Art Critics-Zaire Branch (AICA-

Zaire). Zaire was admitted to AICA at the 24th General Assembly meeting held in Paris in September 1972, and forms the 45th Branch. AICA-Zaire is the first African Branch of AICA, whose Third Extra- ordinary Congress was, incidentally, held at Kinshasa from 10 to 23 September 1973.

The Zairian Association for the Plastic Arts (ANAZAP), in existence since 1974.

The Zairian Writers Union (UEZA) set up in 1972, whose members are also organized in literary circles, including those of Ngongi, Kake, Nza Yetu, Ndoto.

The International Association of Literary Critics-Zairian Branch, established in 1974.

The National Society of Zairian Linguists, set u p as a result of the first National Linguistic Seminar held at Lubumbashi from 22 to 26 M a y 1974, with the aim mainly of promoting the study, teaching and

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standardization of Zairian languages, encouraging the dissemination of studies in or concerning national languages and promoting the collection, production and publication of literary works, both oral and written.

The Zairian Film- Makers’ Organization, set up in September 1912. The Zairian Association of Archivists, Librarians and Documentalists. The Society of Zairian Historians, the main tasks of which are to co-ordi-

nate the activities of its members, with a view to promoting a better knowledge of the nation’s past, to organize meetings of Zairian historians, to ensure the publication and dissemination of sources and works relevant to the country’s history and, in co-operation with the authorities, to be responsible for the conservation and preservation of the national archives, of art works and of archaeological remains.

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Legislation

No sector of h u m a n activity can m a k e rapid progress in the world of today without innovation, yet the spread of the innovation, of the invention, of the thing created can itself harm the innovative process if it falls into the hands of those who possess the means to exploit it at the expense of the person who created it. By thus discouraging the creator, an unfavourable effect can be produced on the pace of innovation within a country.

It ia therefore necessary to set up a system that serves the interests of both the innovator (protection of his creation) and the community (dissemination of knowledge), and this is the basis of any scheme to protect intellectual and industrial property.

Legislation constitutes the most effective method of achieving this and by protecting the created work against possible plagiarism the legislator indirectly encourages creativity. Such is the role of author’s rights, which are &the exclusive right of utilization given by the State for a limited time to the author of a literary, dramatic, musical or art work or to his legatees’.l

Decree No. 69-064 of 6 December 1969 authorized the setting up in Zaire of the Society of Publishers, Composers and Authors (SONECA) and in Article 6, requires it to assume

the exploitation and administration of all author’s rights and connected rights, whether in Zaire or abroad, for itself, its members, its authorized agents and its corresponding societies, and to undertake the receipt and appropriation of the yield of the aforesaid rights.

1. L. M. GOVIN, Le Droit d’Auteur, p. 12, Montreal, FIDES, 1950.

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The State also interests itself in the welfare of artists w h o for one reason or another find themselves in difficulties and for this purpose, and on the personal initiative of General Mobutu Sese Seko, has established the Mobutu Sese Seko Fund for Artists and Writers, under Decree No. 72-022 of 28 March 1972. Artists and writers domiciled in Zaire and registered in the fund’s list of Zairian artists and writers can receive material assistance from the fund (article 3), as follows: A grant-in-aid, in the event of illness, injury or infirmity rendering

them incapable of exercising their profession, subject to the condition that they have been exercising such profession as their main occupation and that they are in actual need.

An old-age annuity on attaining the age of 55 years, subject to the condition that they have exercised the profession of artist or writer as a main occupation for a total period of at least fifteen years after attaining the age of 30 years and that they are in actual need.

The defrayment of funeral expenses, subject to the condition that the deceased exercised the profession of artist or writer as a main occupation in the year preceding decease.

Assistance to the dissemination of musical works

Music enjoys a privileged position in Zaire. Our musicians possess a prodigious creative spirit and a highly developed sense of organization in their affairs, so m u c h so that the aid of the State is in the nature of things limited to moral support, deployed mainly in the field of dissemination. The number of musical groups is increasing day by day and the Zairian record market is near saturation. It is observed that ‘the two record-manufacturing companies w e have at the moment (Manzadis and Sophinza) are no longer sufficient for the ever-increasing demand for recordings of Zairian musid.1

Our orchestras participate in the ‘cultural fortnights’ and other events organized by the MPR and w e m a y also note that on the occasion of the George Foreman-Mohammed Ali fight, a Black Music Festival took place at Kinshasa in which, in addition to our o w n musicians, international stars like James Brown and Pacheco partipated.

As part of its programme for safeguarding and disseminating our musical heritage, the Department of Culture and the Arts is producing a series of anthologies of modern Zairian music, especially that produced in the early days when it was nearest to traditional sources.

1. BIABUNGANA-NUNGA, Lo Soneca, p. 50, Kinshasa, Lokole Publishing House. (Depart- ment of Culture and the Arts.)

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SONECA has provided the following figures for the production of records: 1970, 1,168,907; 1971, 1,520,754; 1972, 1,630,844; 1973, 1,793,708.

There are sixty-four orchestras in Kinshasa and twelve in Lower Zaire. Outside the country and especially in Black Africa, modern Zairian music is greatly appreciated. Thanks to the O.K. Jazz Orchestra of L u a m b o Makiadi, it was represented at the first World Festival of Black African Arts at Dakar in 1966. At the first Pan-African Youth Festival in Tunis in 1973, our music was represented by Tabu Ley and his Africa Orchestra. In that year, the Zairian singer Abati appeared at the Olympia in Paris, where Tabu Ley had preceded her in 1970, and she went on to appear at Carnegie Hall in N e w York. In 1974, on the occasion of the participation of our national team, ‘The Leopards’, in the World Football Championship, the Etisomba Ensemble carried the message of our musical authenticity to the Federal Republic of Germany and a few months later played at the Lausanne Fair in Switzerland.

Promotion of artistic creation

ARTISTIC PROMOTION POLICY

In the realm of the plastic and scenic arts, the State subsidizes such institutions as the National Institute of the Arts and the Academy of Fine Arts which train future painters, sculptors, ceramicists, musicians and theatrical artists.

With the dual purpose of helping artists and encouraging research, the authorities allocate a certain percentage of the construction budgets of public buildings to artistic embellishment. Examples are the sculptor T a m b a Ndembe’s Evils of War, executed in platinized lead for the Conference R o o m of the Department of Foreign Affairs, and the monument by the same artist in the Place du Zaire at Kinkole, the fishing village in which the People’s Revolutionary Movement was born on 20 M a y 1967. W e m a y also mention the ceramic tableau the Food of Zaire from the workshop of Manteto Baku, which adorns one of the walls of the Société Générale d’Alimentation (SGA) G o m b e building in Kinshasa.

The Presidential Gardens of Mount Ngaliema constitute a veritable permanent exhibition, where the visitor can see before his eyes all the rich creativity of our artists, for example, Zairian Beauty, in imitation stone, the work of W u n a Mbambila Ndombasi, Toad by Tezo Lubadika, The Three Graces by B a m b a Ndombasi Fufima and The Likembe Player by Nginamau Lukiesa Mo, w h o was also responsible for the Alma Muter statue in the centre of Kinshasa University campus.

Other public places also bear witness to this artistic abundance. There is, for instance, Liyolo Limbe Mpwanga’s Militant, holding aloft

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the torch of the Party, in the Party City at "Sele, which ranks as a permanent exhibition in itself on account of the number of works of art to be found there, including paintings by Konde Bila, Nkusu Felelo, N d a m v u Tsiku Pezo, Mwenze Kibwanga, Pilipili, etc. Mention m a y also be made of the powerful Tom-tom Beater in imitation stone at the entrance of the Kinshasa International Fair, a work by Lufwa, currently President of the National Association of the Plastic Arts (ANAZAP) and also responsible for The Traveller, the striking monument at the entrance to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In connexion with its programme for the establishment of museums at Kinshasa and in the regions, the Executive Council regularly organizes competitions at the Academy of Fine Arts for the purpose of selecting works of art, the best of which it then acquires.

Competitions are also held to prepare for exhibitions within the country or abroad. W h e n works are exhibited at the instance of the State, it pays for the artists' travel and subsistence, the insurance of the exhibits and the hiring of stands. Zairian exhibits found an admiring public at the first World Festival of Black African Arts at Dakar in 1966, at the Montreal World Fair in 1967 and in Brussels in 1970. The Brussels exhibition was such a success that it was subsequently taken to the Federal Republic of Germany, United Kingdon, France and Romania. In 1973, our artists participated in the National Festival of Culture in Guinea and the first Pan-African Youth Festival at Tunis; and in October 1974, Zairian art was brilliantly represented at the fifty-fifth Swiss Trade Fair in Lausanne. According to the Arts Section of the Department of Culture and the Arts, between 1960 and 1974, Zairian artists took part in twenty-five art exhibitions abroad.

Within the country, the State Commission for Culture and the Arts periodically organizes art exhibitions, especially at Kinshasa and Lubum- bashi, in order to make the work of our artists known to the public. At Kinshasa, there is an exhibition every month.

The importance of exhibitions for the qualitative improvement of the arts is well known. In presenting themselves before a variety of publics, both in Zaire and abroad, our artists become aware of the place their creations occupy in the art world of today, and the reception given them by laymen and specialists helps them to make the best possible use of the resources at their disposal.

This dynamic policy of artistic creation and dissemination applies also to the crafts, the richness of which can be vouched for by visitors to Zaire. At Kinshasa, the square behind the Hotel Regina is practically a handicrafts market, such is the wealth of masks and wood, ivory and raffia figurines on sale there.

T o assist our artists and artisans to rationalize the marketing of their works, the Department of Culture and the Arts intends to establish a sales office with branches in the principal urban centres.

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In addition, the authorities attach great importance to cultural and artistic programmes on radio and television, as evidenced by their number and the amount of broadcasting time allotted to them. T w o specialized half-hour programmes on problems of modern art deserve a mention here: Culture and the Arts (formely Artists’ Corner) on television and Echoes of Culture (formerly The World of Art and Literature) on the radio. These two programmes have been broadcast since 1967 and 1969 respectively.

The authorities are thus doing all they can to help artists create and sell their works, with the result that their social condition has vastly improved, especially by comparison with the colonial period.

T H E STATUS OF T H E ARTIST

In our ancestral society, the artist had a privileged position. T h e work of art was the incarnation of strength and power. Hence that is why the Zairian kings, anxious to equal the Portuguese in power, promptly became Christians, adopted the Christian iconography and sanctioned the destruction of our traditional statuary. N o w that Portuguese and Christian inhence have disappeared, indigenous beliefs and indigenous art have been rehabilitated.

In former times, traditional artists were closely linked to social and religious life. All were respected and feared by the community and their leading members were counted among the royal counsellors. Because they fulfilled one of the necessary functions in social integration, the material problems of their existence were looked after by the traditional economic organization.

In the colonial period, the initiation of Zairian artists to non- traditional plastic forms led them to produce works that were without any profound spiritual significance to their ‘artistically uninitiated’ compatriots, w h o in fact regarded artista as persons spending their time in making things without use. T h e colonial rulers themselves described their work as ‘native art for Europeans’. In effect, separated from their traditional environment, Zairian arts lost the privileged position they had formerly occupied among their o w n people and acquired another among the Westerners by producing works to please the latter.

It was then that our artists began to face the problem of marketing their works. Some worked for an employer in exchange for remune- ration, which could take various forms. An employer might buy works from artists and sell them at a profit; or he could pay his artists a fixed salary, in which case their work was automatically his property. Artists outside the monopoly system sold their work to white customers in their workshops or on the square formerly known as the Place Braconnier and n o w called the Place du 27 Octobre; or they became intinerant street- vendors. Occasional exhibitions also gave them a chance to sell their works.

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F

After independence, Presidential patronage set itself the objective of restoring our artists to their proper place in the social life of the country and in the world, in conformity with the requirements of modernity.

The modern Zairian artist is associated in the political life of the nation, while at the same time preserving his creative liberty-one has only to think of the numerous officially sponsored art events at both national and international level, or of the creation of a special award for artists and m e n of letters, the Médaille du Mérite des Arts et des Lettres. F r o m the material point of view, the artist is no longer on his o w n and, apart from the market which he enters in his o w n way, finds the most generous of customers in the Presidency of the Republic, which regularly buys works at studio exhibitions in Kinshasa and the interior of the country for the private collection of the Founder-President of the M P R , for the official reserves of the Presidency and for the Depart- ment of Modern Art of the National Museums Institute. The example of the Presidency is followed by Zairian businessmen and other well- to-do citizens, more and more of w h o m are buying works of art.

The conditions established by the n e w régime have made the artist an object of envy and this has led to a blossoming and a revelation of m a n y talents. Our art schools are bursting with pupils and students, and our artists, proud of their profession and conscious of their mission, have responded to the State’s invitation to them to form themselves into a National Association of the Plastic Arts (ANAZAP), an organization which since the beginning of 1974 has been watching over their interests and representing them in what are proving to be fruitful contacts with the authorities.

At the same time, access to works of art has become a matter of importance to our people and by setting up AICA-Zaire, the Founder- President of the MPR has sought to comply with this spiritual need. For art and the artist, this is a time of integration into Zairian society.

Promotion of literature

Literature has been developing for a number of years. It is written in French but is authentically Zairian in intention. In a society in the process of a profound transformation, this literature has its o w n contribution to make to the great movement of liberation, independence and national affirmation which has enabled our people to recover its name and dignity after the long night of colonization and a period of disorder and anarchy.

This literature, which is today an integral part of the national culture and which would not fail, for anything in the world, to respond to the call of authenticity, nevertheless presents certain problems both

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for those w h o produce it and those for w h o m it is produced-problems (for example) of theme, literary genre, publication and dissemination, language, education and public. But first w e m a y briefly note the factors encouraging the emergence of n e w literary talent.

FACTORS ENCOURAGING T H E E M E R G E N C E OF TALENT

Ever since the transformation in 1966 of the old Cultural Affairs Section of the Department of Education into a High Commission for Culture and Tourism, the authorities have sought to encourage literature. The Directorate for Literature has been allotted the task of making Zairian writers and their works better known and this is the aim also of the Revue Culturelle du Congo (Zaire) and of the Belles-Lettres Publishing House, w h o have concentrated on poetry and published a good m a n y collections, including Zairian Ancestors by E d m o n d Witahnkenge, Bantu Lament by Oscar Moningi, The Lament of Zaire by Ayimpan Mwana-Ngo, Reminiscences of Evening by Olivier Musangi, Gentle Dews by Bokeme Sha N e Molobay, etc.

Zairian literature was represented at the first World Festival of Black African Arts at Dakar in 1966 by Nzuzi Faik. In 1970, the Mobutu Sese Seko Literature Competition enabled a variety of talents to express themselves in different genres-poetry, drama, novels and short stories, proverbs, essays. Twenty-four of the competitors were awarded prizes and, as Jules Dubois has remarked, the competition had the great merit of bringing about the birth of the Zairian novel. The first prize was awarded to Emile N g o m b o for his novel Engo and Miesse (or D a w n of Renewal).

The theme of the essay was ‘The Congolese Revolution in the Service of the People’, and here the first prize went to Philippe Mutanda. Other prize-winners were: for the short story, Clementine Nzuzi-Faik and Marie-Eugénie Mpongo (joint winners); for drama, Noël Nlandu for his play The Stranger (first prize) and for proverbs, Alex Thamba- Khonde (first prize).

A m o n g the results of their surge of literary activity was the publication by the Ministry of Culture and the Arts of an Anthology of Zairian writers. The National Research and Development Office (ONRD) han also published a number of poetry collections, including First S u m by Masegabio Nzanzu Mabele M a Diko and Murmurs by Nzuji Madiya.

The desire of General Mobutu to strengthen the cultural revolution led in 1971 to a combined artistic and literary competition for a n e w national anthem. The joint work of Boka and Lutumba wae selected and the day on which this hymn was heard for the first time, 27 Oc- tober 1971, coincided with the birth of the Republic of Zaire, previously the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

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Under the patronage of the Department of Culture and the Arts, exhibitions are held to m a k e Zairian books known to the public, for example, that organized at the Academy of Arts in Kinshasa in 1973 by the Zairian Writers Union to celebrate its first anniversary. A year before, the Goethe Institute had held the first exhibition of Zairian books and in 1974 the Zairian Writers’ Union, in co-operation with the African Cultural Centre in Brussels, organized a second at Bonsomi College in Kivu, which was extremely successful because of the quality and originality of the works presented. Finally, in September 1974, on the occasion of the Foreman-Ali world title fight at Kinshasa, a National Festival of Zairian Books was organized at the Hotel Inter- continental and at N’djili International Airport, which enabled our guests-especially black Americans w h o had come to Africa for the fight-to renew contact with the culture of their ancestors.

At the first Pan-African Youth Festival, held at Tunis in July 1973, our literature was represented by Masegabio and Kabongo and our drama by the Zaire National Theatre. Zairian books were also on display at the Frankfurt exhibition in October 1974.

THE LITERARY GENRES

The panoramic survey of Zairian literature given in a preceding chapter described the development of the different genres. These have developed in different ways over the years, some receiving more attention than others.

Poetry remains the genre most widely practised. T h e theatre does not seem to have shown the vigour expected of it, in spite of its roots in a quite distant past. In prose fiction, the short story, the essay, etc., only modest beginnings have been made, yet it is in these fields that the future of our literature is to be found.

But at the very outset a crucial problem faces Zairian writers: should they continue to accept the current system of literary genres as absolutely valid? A s w e know, in the traditional Zairian view of literature there were no watertight compartments, artistic expression being so unified that the distinctions obtaining in Western literature were practically meaning- less. Thus the drama might include poetry, tales and proverbs, narrations, etc., while in a poem there could be singing and dancing, proverbs, dramatic dialogue, philosophical maxims, etc. The question therefore is whether division into genres does not constitute something of a handicap for the development of our literature, for it would be absurd to regard proverbs as belonging to a separate genre or to classify, or refuse to classify, a narrative as a novel on the basis of Western criteria. T h e problem is there and our researchers have the delicate task of solving it in order to eliminate unnecessary obstacles to the development of our writers.

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Poetry

This genre has been practised for some time, although the birth of written Zairian poetry had to await the advent of Bolamba, his two precursors, the Abbé Kaozi (1917) and Badibanga (1932) not having actually committed any of their poems to writing.

Our earliest poets were bound to be affected by the general literary climate of the 1920s, the climate of ‘negritude’, and it was therefore not surprising that Bolamba’s best-known work had a preface by Leopold Sedar Senghor, one of the fathers of ‘negritude’. However, the political and social conditions which enabled the poets of ‘negritude’ to express themselves in Paris or elsewhere did not exist in the Belgian colony, where the poets of protest were consequently few and feeble and the handful of intellectuals who made any sort of name for themselves very soon relap- sed into silence.

The growth of poetry during the colonial period was therefore very slow. The other genres were in a somewhat better position but, taken as a whole, literary production in the Belgian colony was minimal by comparison with that of other colonies-though not for want of subject-matter. Modern Zairian poetry blossomed forth four or five years after independence, for a number of reasons.

The socio-political climate was much more favourable to free poetic expression, especially after 1965. Because of the very fact that the alienation caused by colonialism was still strong and that the sacred mission of the intellectual élite was to eliminate it, the poets had a particularly rich vein to exploit and they flung themselves into the mainstream of the black protest movement. ‘Negritude’, which the young at that period had hardly heard of and which came as a revelation to many of them, was the Zairian poet’s source of inspiration. This can be explained partly by the advent of freedom of expression after many years of colonial censorship, and partly by a desire to be ‘in the swim’-although the new fashion had in fact already developed elsewhere.

Youth being an age of idealism, sensibility and revolutionary ardour, poetry became almost automatically the commonest genre for enthusiastic pens. Improved education and foreign contacts led many young people to try their hand at literature and this not unnatural predisposi- tion was reinforced from 1966 onwards by a series of measures including the literary competitions, series and circles previously mentioned.

As already mentioned, the Ngonso literary contest brought to light young poets of the new generation. Within the ‘Pleiad of the Congo’ Circle of Nzuji Faik (1965) there were a number of poets, the majority of them university students. In 1966-67, the many works submitted to the Belles Lettres series included a high proportion of poetry. The Senghor Prize in 1969 and the Mobutu Competition in 1970 brought to light poets as well as other writers. The publishing houses, the most prominent of which are

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currently Les Editions du Mont Noir and the Centre Africain de Littéra- ture, regularly bring out small volumes of poems.

It is already possible to form a tentative estimate as to the value and main characteristics of this new-generation poetry.

First, writings published before 1972 reveal a particularly strong tendency towards ‘negritude’, but it is a ‘negritude’ that lacks originality and therefore lapses into mediocrity. M a n y of these young writers express stereotyped sentiments with no basis in reality, and although their themes were often taken from the history of the country, especially the rebellion, the political and social difficulties of Zaire before liberation, etc., they treated almost everything in terms of ‘negritude’. The result was poetry too lacking in originality and intellectual seriousness to be other than puerile. There were of course exceptions, which remain valid and represent good poetry because the poets sought to go beyond ‘negritude’ in their quest of originality.

A word must be said about the poetic language itself. Generally speaking, the best poetry does not suffer from any handicap in this respect and the true poets were able to express their message in excellent French. But once again their number was small. On the basis of style, a distinction can even be made between those like Mudimbe, Masegabio, Kadima- Nzuji, Kabatanshi, Ndaywell and Sikitele, whose language is correct but whose thought is nebulous and others like Elebe, Yisuku, Mandala, Lonoh, etc., w h o aim at simplicity, clarity and, as it were, ‘the c o m m o n touch‘. Each category also includes a number of poets such as Kolamba, Ipoto, Musangi, Bokeme, Buluku, Sumaili, Mpongo, Kishwe and others, whose language is unremarkable but whose thought is original and profound and w h o bring the two trends together.

For some time now, and especially since 1971-72, a poetry which can be regarded as being on the w a y to maturity has been developing. To an increasing extent, our poets are freeing themselves from academic influences and adopting a more detached attitude to ‘negritude’ and other foreign tendencies. Instead, they are trying, within the framework of authenticity, to create a dynamic poetry speaking the language of its time to the people of its time. This is the poetry that Mont Noir, the Centre Africain de Littérature and other publishing houses are bringing out with considerable success. Its future can be considered encouraging provided all concerned continue to aim at the very highest standards. The originality of Zairian poetry can only be sought for in the originality of its inspiration; the Zairian poet expresses his o w n personality through his experience in his o w n society.

The novel

Some twenty Zairian novels have been published to date, including such remarkable works as: Two Lives and a New Time by N g o m b o Mbala,

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Postcard, Bandoki and Land of our Ancestors by Zamenga Batukezanga, Between the Waters by Mudimbe, Ngando by Lomani-Tshibamba, Without Rancour by Kanza, etc. Lomani-Tshibamba’s Ngando, written in 1948, is the earliest of these works.

The development of the Zairian novel has on the whole been slow. Only one of the twenty referred to dates from before 1950, five or six date from 1970, while in the twenty years from 1950 to 1970 only four novels known to us were published. Since 1970, however, there have been about a dozen. Most of these novels are about the problems caused by the brutal encounter of two civilizations, one of which claimed to be superior to the other. The novelists’ reaction is a powerful denunciation of this historical injustice which caused our authentic culture and civilization to be tram- pled underfoot and replaced by a totally foreign civilization and culture.

Citizen Zamenga Batukezanga, at present, with five novels in four years, the most prolific Zairian novelist, deals in his works with the need for a swift and comprehensive restoration of our vanishing traditional heritage. Taking the realities of daily life and the difficult situations in which his characters find themselves, he describes his idea of ‘cultural symbiosis’, i.e. an encounter in which authenticity prevails but the adoption of certain foreign values is not ruled out. His language is simple and rich in homespun images.

Professor Mudimbe, w h o represents one current trend in the Zairian novel, raises, especially in Between the Waters, the crucial problem of revolution, particularly in n e w States passing through a crisis of growth and of faith. Kanza’s Without Rancour has the same theme, while novels like Deception by Masamba, Journal of a Ghost by Hunga, The Confes- sion of Sergeant Wanga by Mbiango, The Broken-Hearted Orphan by Ndomikolay, Memoirs of the Soldier Lokose by Lokose, Love’s Victory by Mutombo, Childhood by Mopila, etc., are more in the nature of narrations, reminiscences or memoirs than actual noveIs. Their main interest lies in the picture they give us of a particular socio-political situation.

Prospects for the Zairian novel are very promising, for young intellectuals are increasingly choosing this form for communicating their ideas on the major problems faced by n e w nations. Its principal handicap so far has been shortage of publishing facilities but this difficulty is diminishing as time goes by.

The tale, the essay and the short story

The tale is a very ancient form in Zairian literature, arising directly out of our traditions. The earliest tales written by Zairians in French were generally translations of ancient works. The oldest writer in this form is Badibanga, w h o in 1932 published a collection of Luba fables translated into French under the title The Elephant that Walked on Eggs.

The Europeans, and especially the missionaries, m a d e translations,

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mainly for schoolchildren, of a number of traditional tales and fables. In the whole colonial period there was not a single collection written by a Zairian and it was not until the time of the Second Republic and the cultural revolution that indigenous writers appeared in this genre. Among the best known around 1969 were Nzuji Balemba, Malengi, M w a m b a , Tshonga; a year previously, Mushiete, then Minister of Culture, had published The Thirsty Clouds. A ne w impetus was given in 1973 and 1974 with the appearance of The Burnt Marsh by Bosek’ilolo and Hollow Belly by Mwepu. It is strange that a form so near to the authentic oral tradition should not attract more interest. However, it must be admitted that it is a difficult form which demands a particularly sustained effort of inspiration.

The field of the essay and the short story is still practically virgin soil. However, during the colonial period and especially towards its end, Zairian intellectuals did write essays of a political character, veiling nationalist demands. Cultural magazines like Aequatoria and Ngonga and certain book series like the Bibliothèque de l’Étoile provided political and cultural forums for an awakening intelligentsia, among w h o m w e find names like Lomani, Bolamba, Mutombo, Kabasubabo, L u m u m b a , Colin, Iyeki, Kasavubu, Malula, Kanza, Mushiete, etc.

These essays were usually political tracts with definite objectives: the end of colonialism, the achievement of independence, the victory of this or that point of view.

In 1966, a stirring essay appeared that gave a n e w impulse to Zairian literature. This was Mabika-Kalanda’s revolutionary Questioning : the Basis of Mental Decolonisation. T h e reflections of Zairian intellectuals are mainly embodied in articles, conferences and academic papers (dissertations for degrees, theses, etc.).

The philosophy of return to authenticity provides abundant and varied material to writers. A m o n g the most popular works are the essays of Kangafu Kutumbangana (Discourse on Authenticity) ; the reflections of Mbuze Nsoni (Revolution and Humanism); of Mudimbe (Around the Nation) ; of Botolo Magoza (Philosophy in Africa : for a Renewal of the Question) ; and of Kinyongo (Manifest Being).

In music, there is the series Essays on Modern Zairian Music by Lonoh Malangi. Nor can w e fail to mention the work of Mwilambwe Kahoto W a Kumwimba: Muntu, Animism and Possession.

Literary criticism

In Zaire, this genre is still in its infancy, without as yet any firm tradition or leading figures. In his study of Zairian literature, Citizen Bokembe Sha N e Molobay has expressed himself strongly on the subject of Literary criticism in our country. H e writes:

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Most of those who pass themselves off as critics are in reality mere chroniclers, usually lacking not only in basic literary and artistic knowledge but also in all critical judgement. Their remarks are often in the end nothing more than descrip- tive and laudatory presentation of the works placed on the market, of manuscripts, of projects . . . and even of individuals. And their judgement, if that is what it can be called, hardly varies, whatever the intrinsic worth of the work or project.

This frank assessment of Zairian literary criticism states the position only too clearly. In the past, serious critical studies of an author or a work were simply not to be found. The only useful works that exist at present are a small number of student dissertations, but these are not published. And yet criticism is vital to literary development and, as Citizen Bokeme has said: ‘In the last resort the critic renders the artist a great service by placing his work in its true context. For this he needs a combination of skill, honesty and intelligence.’

By presenting literary works to the public, the literary critic parti- cipates in the practical encouragement of letters. Bokeme adds:

The critic is thus not an enemy; on the contrary, he should become a friend. For listeners, readers and viewers, he is an indispensable go-between. As a commentator, the critic makes it possible for the artist to penetrate deeper into his own work and to grasp its profoundity, its greatness and even its shortcomings. In the light of his remarks, the artist can reconsider his work and perhaps make useful corrections to it. The critic helps the public to understand an artist better, to communicate with him and to grasp the message of his work. As the invaluable and indispensable intermediary between the creative artist and the public, the critic cannot permit himself the luxury of mediocrity, for it is on him that the further development of literature and art in our country must ultimately depend.

In spite of the still unsatisfactory position of criticism, the outlook for it is good, thanks especially to the creation of the first Zairian branch of the International Association of Literary Critics, consisting of Citizens Bolamba, Lonoh, Bokeme, Y o k a Liye, Kanika, Elebe Lisembe and Musangi, all of them writers and members of the Zairian Writers’ Union. This team, w e m a y well believe, will establish n e w standards of literary criticism and thereby give a fresh impulse to Zairian literature.

The theatre

The theatre satisfies the need w e all experience for a dialogue with our inner selves. Moreover, if the black m a n is a born musician, he is also generally agreed to possess a special aptitude for dramatic art, by which w e m e a n an artistic expression of h u m a n action in which all the resources of a man’s mind, heart and will are deployed in an endeavour to over- come his internal and external difficulties.

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In traditional society, the theatre was the province of the griot w h o wandered from court to court singing the praises of kings and tribal chiefs, and w h o also functioned at ritual ceremonies of initiation etc., and in palavers and recreational contests with masks, lances, bells, etc.

Modern theatre appeared in Zaire around 1945 but still with certain traditional features. Plays were still performed in national languages like Kikongo, Lingala, Swahili, and Tshiluba, and their themes were inspired by daily events, legends, tales and sagas. Mention m a y be made of Kashinguka by Zebedee Kongolo, in Tshiluba, and Zuhula by Domi- nique Membunzhout, in Swahili. About 1957, four playwrights-Citizens Mongita, Disasi, Bondeke and Ngongo-came to the fore.

Mongita had become especially famous through his acting of sketches in Lingala on Radio-Congo Belge. H e belonged to the Congolese Folklore League (Lifoko) where he was actor, director and manager. H e is the author of Mangengenge, which won the prize of the African Union of Arts and Letters, Ngombe, The Fortnight, and The Cabaret of ya Botembe.

T o Justin Disasi w e owe the Lingala plays: Se Motema, Tala se na Miso, Bolingo mpe Mokuya, and he also directed the Lifoko Troupe and the People’s Theatre Group.

In the Assenaf (Association of Former Mission School Pupils) group, Bondeke presented Anthanase and the Enlightened Ones, a caricature of two half-baked intellectuals.

In The Town-Dweller, The Two Physicians, Mbutamuntu and Fric- tions, Augustin Ngongo criticized the manners of contemporary society.

Promotion of cinema

The Zairian cinema had its beginnings in the 19509, with producers like Mongita, Dokolo, Kalonji, Montigia, Katambwe and several others. After some theoretical courses, these film-makers made their first film, A Cinema Lesson, in April 1951. Unfortunately, taken up by other urgent problems, they either abandoned film-making or launched out separately.

T w o other young Zairians, B a m b a and Lubalu, collaborated from 1952 onwards with the Abbé Cornil, playing the leading roles in (respectively) The Sergeant-Major’s Daughter and On the Brink of the Abyss.

In 1963, Mongita wrote the scenario of the film Congo Tom-Toms which he produced in collaboration with the French actor Charles Vanel. This film is n o w called The Tom-Toms of the Republic; it is a film with a traditional theme, describing the problems of the various Zairian tribes. Mongita also produced other films like The Tom-Toms of the Mayombe and The Receiver of the T.C.C. which were great successes.

Another young film-maker, Lukunku-Sampu, deserves to rank among the pioneers of the Zairian film; in 1963, he made I Shall Make Journalists out of You.

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It is not until 1966 that w e can speak of a n e w cinema in Zaire. In fact, 23 November 1966 is a key date in the history of the authentic Zairian Cinema. Cinema and television being intimately linked, the establishment of television coincided with the beginning of film production. Films were needed for television programmes and for use in education. Although foreign film-makers had been making films in Zaire ever since 1897, they had never trained any Zairians. W h e n television arrived, the authorities had to provide for the training of film and television technicians either in Zaire or abroad.

In 1966, the Department of National Guidance began to produce newsreels, educational films and documentaries with the help of the Congovox Company, n o w the National Newsreel Corporation. In 1971, a section called Cine-Production was created in the Department with the principal task of making educational films, documentaries and fiction shorts. Since 1972, Zaire has possessed the necessary infrastructure for producing íilms.

T o go back a little-16 years after the Mongita Group’s first attempt to create a Zairian cinema-a fresh effort was made and in 1967, a number of young enthusiasts made a film called The W o m a n of Kinshasa which represented a n e w step forward. This short film can be called truly Zairian, in its conception as well as in its production. The filming team consisted solely of cinema and television students, supervised by their instructor, the main roles were interpreted by Bagalama Kayange and Miliamu and the principal producers of this first venture were Mulongoy, Luboya, Esele and Luntadila. In spite of the hesitations and weaknesses inevitable in a first attempt, this film showed undeniable promise and was awarded a Bronze Medal at the Kelibia Festival.

T o develop the cinema, these young film-makers formed an association called the Congolese Film-makers’ Association (OCICO), later the Zairian Film-makers Organization (OZAC). Their aim was to create a Zairian cinema correctly reflecting Zairian problems and finding typically Zairian solutions for them. However, the economic situation of the country did not yet make it possible for a cinema industry to be established. But the W o m a n of Kinshasa had a good effect, for it encouraged other young people to seek self-expression in the cinema. Six months after it came out, a n e w association called the Congolese Film Actors’ Group (GAFC) appeared in Kinshasa. Under its director, the young Ali Kanyonga, the intention was to create a typically Bantu national cinema, with a programme designed to contribute to the moral, social and cultural education of the masses. However, for want of financial backing and other resources (those of the television service were earmarked for the production of television programmes and scarcely ever available for film production) GAFC’s existence was brief.

In 1968, in order to help young Zairians to get their cinema going, Congovox made The Captive Niece, adapted from a play by Fumwatu,

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a student of Kinshasa Campus. The actors in this film, which was produced by Luc Michez, were from ‘The Four Actors’ troupe; it represents the first attempt to film a play or rather to adapt theatre to the cinema.

In the same year, two Congovox directors, F. Natton and Finda, made a colour documentary called The Secrets of Nyamulagira. In August 1968, a n e w event occurred in the history of the Zairian cinema: the birth of RENAPEC (National Corporation for the Production of Educational and Cultural Programmes), which was designed to produce educational, cultural, technical and instructional films for Zairian television. RENAPEC productions include a documentary, Telestar 69 and The Lost Child and Landu W a Fukiau’s Black Woman, Music for Youth, etc. In due course RENAPEC was to develop into the equivalent of a major studio, fully equipped to assist in the production of films in Zaire.

On the occasion of the Kinshasa International Fair in 1969, Francis Natton of Congovox made a colour documentary called The Tom-Toms of Kin-Malebo.

To arouse public interest, the Department of Culture organized the first Zairian Film Festival from 13 to 19 September 1970 at the Open-Air Theatre. In the same year, various young television producers made the following documentaries: Unknown Congo, The City of Oua, Shaba yetu, Mount A m b a or Lovanium, Inga, Bukavu, and an abstract film called Hand in the Fire.

In 1972, new personnel trained by a Unesco technician, Mr Becchoff, became available and at the end of their training period made a joint film directed by Mulamba: Ndako eziki (The Cabin in the Smoke). This film was a great success because it was based on an African tale and was well adapted to the African mentality. The idea of making films inspired by African tales is in fact an effective w a y of taking the people back to the very sources of Bantu culture. In the same year, Mulongoy Kalafulu made a number of documentaries: The Museum of My Life, ”Sele, City of the Party and The National Co$ee Board. Other films to be m a d e included K o d a ’ s The Atom in Man’s Service, Objective 80, and Ntumba’s Journey. Also in the same year, SODIPROFIZ (Zairian Film Production and Distribution Company) was established to market and distribute films and to revolutionize the Zairian cinema by producing educational works; it has made a feature íilm entitled For an InJidelity.

Moseka, a film also made in 1972 by the young Director, Kwani Mambu-Zinga, deals with the problem of the ‘acculturation’ and deper- sonalization of young Africans when they come into contact with European civilization. This íilm w o n the first prize in the Mobutu Competition and the OCAM 72 prize at the Pan-African Festival at Ouagadougou in 1972.

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Cultural animation

For some time now, policy-makers have been of the opinion that all strata of the population should be associated with cultural activity and their interest in cultural events aroused so that they are not cut off from cultural life, which should not be the preserve of a privileged class. Stress is laid on the need to democratize culture, i.e. to find ways of bringing it to the masses in their day-to-day environment and ensuring that everyone has the same opportunities of access to cultural life, theatres, cinemas, dance-halls, concerts, etc.

In Africa, and especially in Zaire, the problem of cultural democratization does not arise, or at least not in this way. First, it is only a minority living in the towns that has been affected by European culture, and even the traditional culture has not been entirely extinguished. Now for the black man, culture is something lived and constantly lived, his whole life is dance and music and so far as art is concerned, Gobineau, as w e have mentioned, has defined the black m a n as %he creature most powerfully gripped by artistic feeling’. Literature and art, writes Senghor, are not separate from the generic activities of m a n and particularly from his craft techniques, but are their most effective expression. O n e has only to think of Laye’s father fashioning a gold ornament in The Black Child. His prayer, or rather the poem he recites and the griot’s song of praise while he is making the ornament, and his dance of triumph when it is completed-all these things, the poem, the song, the dance no less than the craftsman’s movements, contribute to the work and help to m a k e it an accomplished masterpiece.1 T h e same is true for the sculptor, the tiller of the soil, the healer, etc., and culture is thus the affair of all the members of the community.

Of course, it has to be admitted that in African countries at the moment, the term ‘sub-culture’ is more applicable than ‘culture’. For example, it is a fact that in Zaire, the Ekonda and the Intore have different ways of dancing. But it is exactly here that banimation’ acquires its importance, for it assists in forging a national culture, ‘animation’ in the sense given to it by Henri Thery and Madeleine Garrigou- Lagrange,2 that is to say:

the sum total of activities designed to facilitate the access of individuals and groups to a more active and creative life by enabling them to acquire a greater mastery over developments, to communicate better with others, and to participate more fully in the life of the groups to which they belong, while at the same time developing their own personality and achieving greater autonomy.

1. L.S. SENGHOR, ‘L’Esprit de la Civilisation ou les Lois de la Culture Negro-Africaine’, Preliminary Survey for a Cultural Policy, p. 15-16, Paris, Présence Africaine, 1968.

2. Henri THERY and Madeleine GARRIGOWLAGRANGE, quoted by Augustin Girard in Rheil Culturel: Expériences et Politiques, p. 59, Paris, Unesco, 1972.

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In this definition there is the idea of ‘participation’ which leads to that of communication or rather of communion, which is always present in all the cultural activities of the black man, w h o likes to live with others.

Cultural animation plays an important part in the Mobutist revolution, being integrated in all the activities of the MPR at all levels: regions, sub-regions, zones, and local communities. In 1973, it was decided that a national cultural festival should be held each year on 24 November, the anniversary of the advent of the Mobutist régime, the idea being that of the Founder-President of the party himself w h o wished to make this festival a school of civic education for the MPR. The Zairian people is thus mobilized around its guide by song and dance in order to cultivate civic virtues such as salongo (work), patriotism, vigilance, African brotherhood and international co-operation.1

The first great National Cultural Festival had a twofold political and cultural significance, for it provided an occasion for all strata of the population to come together from all the regions and thus achieve a real fusion of the 250 tribes of Zaire. It gave evidence of a strengthening of national awareness and of the c o m m o n will to work for a single ideal: that of national reconstruction in rediscovered dignity. On this occasion, the people showed their indestructible loyalty to their chief.

The theme of a permanent dialogue of the people with the chief, or rather, according to the words of President Mobutu Sese Seko, ‘of the marriage, of the partnership of the people with their Chief in revolutionary action’ is one that is greatly utilized, as shown by the words of the song by M a m b e Imolinga (from the Equatorial region), Ibala (Marriage).z

Mobutu na bana ba Zaire ibala oh

EIima bom’onka nsongo 00 ibala oh

Mobutu ngana onka m a m a Y e m o

Afrique euma iboke ibala oh

Kuku Ngbendu nd’ilombe ou ibala

Equateur, Kivu, Bas-Zaire ibala

Biomba is’oya papa ibala oh

M b d a nkama ya bokonzi ibala

bayeyeleke

bayeyeleke

ibala oh bayeyeleke

bayeyeleke

oh bayeyeleke

oh bayeyeleke

bayeyeleke

oh bayeyeleke

Marriage between the Zairians and

Presiding spirit, spouse of Nsongo

Mobutu, son of M a m a Yemo

Mobutu

(goddess)

All of Africa united

Marriage of Kuku Ngbendu the

With the Equator, with Kivu, with

The economy in Zairian hands

Mobutu a hundred years in power.

Powerful

Lower Zaire

1.

2.

Speech by Citizen Bokonga Ekanga Botombele, State Commissioner for Culture and the Arta, on 23 November 1974, introducing the second Cultural Festival of the MPR. See L’Animation Culturelle dans la Révolution. Recueil de Chants Patriotiques du MPR, p. 59, Kinshasa, Lokole Publishing House.

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The song Sese Seko Bukatele (The Instructions of Sese Seko) by Makonka (from Lower Zaire) exalts the same feeling of the people’s communion with its Guide.1

T a Mobutu bukatele! Tuenda sadi salongo Sese Seko bukatele! Tuenda sadi salongo Kuku Ngsendu bukatele Tuenda sadi salongo W a Za Banga bukatele Tuenda sadi salongo

People of Zaire, not one of you Is ignorant of the key word Of Guide Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu W a Za Banga who Asks us to apply the Spirit of salongo so that W e can eat our fill.

Yaye yaye betompe tutambudi And w e the Zairian people Nguba zeto na masangu beto Have answered his call mosi tuakuna zo And have taken up our Beto pe bana samu watutambudi Implements to cultivate the Beto pe bana ngolo zatusongele Earth, which will yield

In abundance earthnuts, maize and other crops.

Bapangi dimba (bis) ! Yalutela Brothers and sisters, let us Buna tuayaula nsatu a mayska AU respond to that call! m a kuaku H e who does not shall die Tanda m u m u a mpidi e eh Of hunger by his own fault,

For m a n to eat must work.

In the purely cultural field, the cultural festival represents an implementation of the policy of return to authenticity-the central element of Mobutism-in as much as it enables the people to become aware of the richness and vitality of its own culture and gives it confidence in its ancestral cultural values.

The song below, Tuvua tutendela Nzambi, by Ludala Mundoloshi (from the Western Kasai region) refers to the cultural aspect of ‘animation’ and, more exactly, to the idea of cultural de-denization.

Bangabanga ne batoks tuvua tutendelela Nzambi Our ancestors knew God, Mu miakulu yetu Nzambi utuitaba Kadi pakalua Belge e kulua kutu- kandika ditendelela As pagan belief; Nzambi m u dina dia bankambua betu Belge et kutuinika mena a famille yabo

Before the Whites came,

And adored Him in their fashion. This those Whites condemned

They imposed on us their Foreign names

1. L’Animation Culturelle dans la Rholution, op. cit., p. 33.

109


Désiré- Joseph ne Marie-Antoinette

Kadi pakalua Mobutu, wakalua kutuk andika Mena a bena Yuda a bilongo ne mitshi Kadi tuitabayi mena a bankambua betu B u mudi Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu W a Za Banga ...

Like Désiré-Joseph and Marie-Antoinette. Since his advent, Mobutu Has rescued us from this Mental alienation, Prohibiting these Jewish names Intended for the trees of Europe. Let us take again the names Of our ancestors Like Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu W a Za Banga.

In addition, the national cultural festival encourages the mingling of the country’s different sub-cultures. Thus, on 24 November 1973, the Ekonda sang and danced like the Ngwandi and the Basakata like the Bayanzi. So much so that, finally, in spite of the existence of many dialects, all Zairians speak the same language, that of Mobutism.

The second national cultural festival held on 24 November 1974 was dedicated to economic independence.

110


In an evaluation, there are at least two essential stages, namely, appraisal of the results obtained and description of the residual problems, with a view to achieving, at the least possible cost, the objectives fixed.

It is only then that the future prospects for the action undertaken can be evaluated, after taking into account the difficulties that can be expected to arise.

What has been accomplished so far

As is clear from the preceding chapters, the Zairian authorities are doing their utmost to give concrete expression in the cultural field to the political philosophy of authenticity conceived by the Founder- President of the MPR, Citizen Mobutu Sese Seko.

The desire to see culture developing to the full animates all those responsible-indeed, culture has been made the very basis of national development. The return to authenticity requires us to seek inspiration from our o w n cultural values in all our political, social, economic and cultural activities, both national and international, in order that w e m a y remain forever true to ourselves.

In a previous chapter, the enormous impact of the cultural revolution on these sectors of the national life, and particularly on culture, has been described. M e n of culture are among the ‘instruments’ employed by the Father of the Nation in Zaire’s recovery of its dignity. This country, which in the first five years of independence was a disgrace to Africa, is today an example in m a n y fields.

The work of our musicians has played an important part in arousing popular awareness, and revolutionary commitment. Thanks to the effective encouragement given to artistic creativity and dissemination, the various modern arts are undergoing vigorous development, and as

111


for the traditional axts, the authorities, and particularly President Mobutu himself, are firmly resolved to save them from destrucion and pillage. W e are also determined to preserve the oral tradition, and this is the task of the National Museums Institute. As for our artists, they are organized in the National Association of the Plastic Arts (ANAZAP). In the realm of art criticism, it has been pointed out that Zaire was the first African country to join the International Association of Art Critics (AICA), which, moreover, held its third Extraordinary Congress at Kinshasa in 1973. The Zairian Writers’ Union, which brings together m e n of letters, is in the process of reorganizing its structure and method of operation with a view to acquiring greater vitality.

Our young research workers organized themselves in groups for the purpose of strengthening our culture: examples are the Zairian Linguistic Society, the National Sociological and Anthropological Association (ANSAZ), and the Zairian Archivists, Librarians and Documentalists Association (AZABDO). All these specialists co-operate with the authorities in promoting the comprehensive development of an authentically Zairian culture.

However, despite all the efforts that have been made, even a cursory survey of the cultural situation shows that a number of problems require special attention.

Some remaining problems

Regarding, first, the infrastructure of cultural action, w e m a y note a certain dispersal of developmental effort in the various cultural sectors, an absence of concerted action, a lack of co-ordination in the activities undertaken by public and private institutions.

The reasons for this state of affairs seem intimately connected with the history of the Department of Culture and the Arts. This is a recent creation, as is the case with equivalent organs in m a n y countries, even the industrialized ones. Previously, culture was the responsibility of a directorate of the former Ministry of Information, which later became the sixth directorate of the former Ministry of Education.

When, by Decree-Law No. 69-71 of 5 March 1969 as modified by Decree-Law No. 69-148 of 1 August 1969, a High Commission for Culture and Tourism was set up, certain cultural sectors were not included in the responsibilities allotted to the Department of Culture and the Arts. The cinema, in particular, remained under the Department of National Guidance (formerly the Ministry of Information) more by habit than for technical reasons. As for museums, in view of the Founder-President’s decision that urgent action was needed to save our ancestral cultural heritage-ancient works of art and the oral tradition-from extinction, the National Museums Institute was set up directly under the presidency

112


of the republic. The work of this institute has been described in an earlier chapter. Machinery has been established to ensure co-ordination and co-operation between the institute and the Department of Culture and the Arts.

The responsibilities of the Education Department include school libraries and the teaching of music, arts and the humanities. Here again, there is a need for collaboration between the two departments, and it could also be desirable for the Department of Culture and the Arts to collaborate more closely with the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, especially in the field of cultural agreements with foreign countries and in that of cultural dissemination abroad.

Another matter calling for attention is the imbalance between cultural action in the towns and in the countryside. The regional cultural services lack the funds, the equipment and even the personnel required for effective activity. The towns, however, generally possess an adequate infrastructure. But here another cultural problem has appeared, namely the emergence of an élitist culture, especially in the theatre and in literature, which tends to be inaccessible to the masses. This could lead to the emergence of a counter-culture among those strata of the POPU- lation denied access to the culture of ‘the others’-a phenomenon that has also been observed in industrially advanced countries with a high degree of urbanization.

Finally, there is the question of cultural personnel. Thanks to the efforts of the authorities, Zaire has to some extent been able to remedy the situation that existed on the eve of independence. The present aim is to rationalize the utilization of the young cadres w h o m w e would like to see developing in Zaire in conformity with the policy of return to authenticity. It is, however, in the sphere of cultural development that cadres are seriously lacking. This can perhaps be explained by the fact that this sector, as a field of research, is comparatively n e w by comparison with economics, political science and the other social sciences, as well as with natural sciences. These sciences have one by one branched off from the c o m m o n stem of knowledge and have elaborated their o w n methods and instruments of work. In culture, on the other hand, it is only recently that a research field has developed, especially so far as the development expert is concerned. But it is n o w the subject of increasing interest, for two reasons: first, because w e see that science, having dissociated itself from culture, is n o w presenting m a n with a distorted image of himself, so m u c h so that a profound anxiety has taken possession of the twentieth-century consciousness-a salutary anxiety, perhaps, for it indicates the resistance of the whole m a n to being reduced to a single aspect of himself. Secondly, because what are called the n e w nations fear the increasing threat of science and technology to their cultures.

113


There is m u c h talk nowadays of the cultural ‘recuperation’ of science and technology. People also see that the material improvements brought about by science and technology do not suffice to bring happiness. They seek quality in their lives, and in their quest for qualitative values they find that they must turn to the social sciences and to culture. Hence the increased importance attached to culture, which is n o w recognized as inspiring development, and to the training of cultural development specialists.

W e have not of course exhausted the list of all the cultural problems of Zaire, but have merely sketched a few of the important ones that still await solution nowithstanding the enormous efforts of the authorities, especially since the advent of the regime of General Mobutu Sese Seko on 25 November 1965.

Preliminaries to effective cultural action

Fortunately, steps have already been taken to improve the training of cultural development personnel. Thus, our education of the young people is increasingly rooted in our o w n cultural values, for it is considered that schoolchildren at all levels should be steeped in Zairian cultural realities before going on to the cultures of others. This effort has, however, to be carried further to embrace the training of personnel for effective cultural action and, in the first instance, of administrators. It is essential to provide these administrators-especially those in controlling posi- tions-with periodical retraining to enable them to keep abreast of n e w administrative techniques. Simultaneously, attention has to be given to the training of curators of museums, archivists, librarians and documentalists, demand for w h o m is increasing in both the public and the private sector; nor must the MPRs demand for competent young people to organize and lead its cultural activities among the masses be overlooked.

But a permanent cultural campaign in depth also requires planners, statisticians, etc., and in this respect it would be of very great advantage to introduce material relating to cultural development into secondary school and university curricula. In this connexion, w e agree with the opinion expressed by several delegates at the eighteenth General Con- ference of Unesco regarding the importance of cultural training for sociologists, economists and engineers in order to encourage contacts between science and culture. The opinion is growing that development must be thought of in total terms and implemented by interdisciplinary action. In this connexion, w e m a y note with satisfaction that in certain research circles reference is already being made to Lculturology’, that is, the science of culture.

T o be really effective, a cultural policy must be coherent and lead

114


to concerted action on the part of the different organizations and institutions, public or private, concerned with culture. This means improving the machinery of co-ordination. Our cultural policy must aim at the simultaneous development of all the cultural sectors and must operate upwards from the base of the social pyramid.

Prospects for the future

The authorities in Zaire are fully aware of the problems mentioned above and of the shortcomings from which cultural action still suffers, and they are giving sustained attention to the progressive solution of such problems. In actual fact, a particularly striking feature of Zairian cultural life is the increasing realization on the part of all citizens of the importance of ancestral cultural values, to which each individual seeks constantly to refer in his daily life. The word ‘authenticity’ is on the lips of even the oldest among the people-the result of the great awakening of conscience achieved by the cultural revolution which initiated a profound change in mental structures, the crowning summit of which is Mobutism, the doctrine of the MPR.

Mobutism, as w e have shown, has breathed an unprecedented dynamism into Zairian culture and has laid the foundations for continuous cultural action. In the first instance, by its philosophy of return to authenticity, Mobutism has found in cultural values all the elements needed to inspire the harmonious development of the country. The ”Sele Manifesto, which is the political charter of the MPR, guarantees the promotion of culture and the safeguarding of the cultural heritage. A number of statutes and of statutory regulations are applied in order to impIement the principles of the manifesto, particularly Decree-Law No. 71-016 of 15 March 1971 relating to protection of cultural property and Inter-Departmental Decree No. CAB/CECA/020/72 of 14 November 1972 establishing the nomenclature of creative works protected by the law of copyright. T o promote cultural action effectively, the authorities have established a number of supporting structures, among which w e m a y mention the mass media, the drama, the Academies of Art and the National Museums Institute and such public and private research bodies as the National Research and Development Office, the Zairian Linguistic Society and the Zairian branch of the International Association of Art Critics.

W e are entitled to think that Zairian culture will have a bright future and that Zaire will continue to m a k e the contribution of its cultural authenticity to universal civilization.

115

Statistical tables

Statistical tables

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118

Statistical tables

TABLE 2 Cultural creation and dissemination: plastic arts, 1974

Regions Sculptors Painters Ceramists Repoussé Malachite copper cutters workers

Kinshasa Lower Zaire Bandundu Equator Upper Zaire Western Kasai Eastern Kasai Kivu Shaba

TOTAL

196 45 13 30

111 12 8 5

20 5 5

6 -

.. .. .. .. .. .. ..

- 15 46 82

- 5 6 27

- 18

- 32

38 - _ _ _

... 101

174 48 427 101' 1. Total of figures available.

The number of exhibitions of Zairian works of art abroad from 1960 to 1974 wee twenty-five.

TABLE 3 Cultural creation and dissemination: M o d e m Music, 1974

Regions ~~~~ ~

Theatrical Orchestras Musicians Folk Choirs companies Groups

Kinshasa Lower Zaire Bandundu

37 5

1 ...

64 12 4 - - 8 10

441 78

202 34 8 - - 19 57

12 2

-2 ... Equator - Upper Zaire - Western Kasai 5 Eastern Kasai 8 Kivu - Shaba - TOTAL 55'

1. . . . Data not available. 2. - Nil or negligible.

- - 90 15

~- 98 - 624l 320 14

119

[B.14] SHC.75/XIX-36/A

Cultural policy in the Republic - UNESCOunesdoc.unesco.org/images/0001/000190/019083eo.pdf ·...

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Transcript of Cultural policy in the Republic - UNESCOunesdoc.unesco.org/images/0001/000190/019083eo.pdf ·...