ujima

Today is the Third day of Kwanzaa and today's principle is Ujima or Collective Work and Responsibility; to build and maintain our community together and make our brother's and sister's problems our problems and to solve them together.

From the film Bulworth, starring Warren Beatty in the title role of a temporarily suicidal liberal politician. And Halle Berry as Nina, the sexy B-Girl raised by a Black Panther mother (but Bulworth doesn't know that yet):

Bulworth: (looking at NINA) You know who Huey Newton was?

Nina: (slowly she nods her head) yes.

Bulworth:
You know a lotta people I talk to, the blacks your age, they have no idea who he was.
(long pause)
Huey.
(long pause)
Why do you think there are no more black leaders?

Nina: (after a pause)
Some people think it's because they all got killed. But I think it's got more to do with the decimation of the manufacturing base in the urban centers. Senator, an optimistic population throws up optimistic, energized leaders. And when you shift manufacturing to the Sun Belt in the Third World, you destroy the blue-collar core of the black activist population.

Some people would say that problem is purely cultural. The power of the media that is continually controlled by fewer and fewer people, add to that the monopoly of the media, a consumer culture based on self-gratification, and you're not likely to have a population that want's leadership that calls for self-sacrifice.

But the fact is, I'm just a materialist at heart. But if I look at the economic base, higher domestic employment means jobs for African Americans. World War II meant lots of jobs for black folks. That is what energized the community for the civil rights movement of the 50's and the 60's. An energized, hopeful community will not only produce leaders but more importantly it'll produce leaders they'll respond to.
Now what do you think, Senator?

(Bulworth is speechless)

So what do YOU think? Does Nina have a point? The part which is grabbing my attention right now (especially in terms of connecting it with collective work and responsibility) is the idea that consumer culture itself is discouraging the growth of progressive leadership; and so instead of getting leaders who believe in "Give me liberty or give me death" we end up with "Get rich or die tryin'".

And what I find really interesting about this train of thought is that ujima seems to provide an alternative on which to base (or reinforce) at least a large portion of traditional morality. In other words, living out the principle of ujima requires a willingness towards self-sacrifice and a rejection of hedonism.

And so in addition to doing the right thing on religious grounds, or because of what would happen if the neighbors found it, ujima suggests that certain kinds of vices and indulgences are bad because they are anti-progressive and bad for the community.

Further reading:
Bulworth: The Hip-Hop Nation Confronts Corporate Capitalism


Tomorrow's principle: Ujamaa or Cooperative Economics