The Quiet American is a film based on the 1955 novel by Graham Greene. It chronicles the love triangle of a Vietnamese dancer in French Indochina an American doctor and an aging British reporter. As the story develops, the young lady has little to say in comparison to the two westerners who are vying for her affections. This story mirrors the paternalistic manner in which Western powers viewed small countries such as Vietnam. The young American doctor considers himself superior to the Vietnamese, categorizing them as “childlike” and in need of direction. Similarly, the colonialism of the United States and Western European powers gravely affected the smaller countries of Indo-China and across the globe, due to the belief that their form of government and culture were superior to those of these other lands.
This form of colonialism is, of course, not reserved for the history books. It is present, although in a more subtle manner, whenever a more powerful group seeks to introduce its beliefs and way of life into less developed one, with little to no regard for the values and culture of the indigenous people. This “ideological colonization”, as Pope Francis indicated during his January 2015 visit to the Philippines, is even more pervasive when the wealthy utilize their material resources to bribe the poor, who desperately need the aid, into adopting their doctrines.
While human rights violations are always tragic, and world powers should certainly intervene in order to prevent them, refusing aid to poorer nations because they are unwilling to part with their values and culture are at the very least counter productive, and amoral. The punishment of death for homossexuals in parts of Africa and the denying of an education for girls in many parts of the world are immoral. Examples of this are the gender-theory curriculums that are introduced into South American communities in exchange for terribly needed monetary aid as well as mass sterilizations conducted under the disguise of vaccinations in Africa. There seems to be very little concern over the inconsistency of these practices with traditional African values.
In a recent scholarly article titled “Colonizing African Values: How the U.S. Christian Right is Transforming Sexual Politics in Africa” for Political Research Associates, a progressive think tank devoted to “producing research and analysis on the U.S. Right” claims that in Africa “abortion is widely accepted as a personal matter, even when viewed as morally wrong.” The fallacies in this statement are clear in light of the fact that the privacy of an action does not define its morality. Human rights violations such as genital mutilation, which is practiced in many countries in Africa, are done in private and can be considered a personal matter, but are nonetheless a disgrace and show utter disrespect for the dignity of the human person.
Also, it is clear that even in pre-Christian African religious beliefs, topics such as abortion were viewed as morally wrong. This is evidenced by the special treatment given to pregnant women, the practice of rituals to preserve the life of children, the favorable view of fertility and the communal nature of child-rearing ( John S. Mbiti, “African Religions and Philosophy”).
Any efforts made by wealthy nations to aid poorer ones must promote sufficiency, sovereignty and must make use of the nation’s strengths. These efforts must also honor and respect local values to the extent that it is possible, as long as human rights are not in jeopardy.The concept of subsidiarity in Catholic social doctrine, which holds that human affairs are best handled at the lowest possible level, closest to the affected persons, seems to be the most efficient way to achieve this.
Finally, as stated by Pope Francis, globalization must be “multifaceted, so that every people, every part, conserves its own identity without being ideologically colonized.”
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