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Just the mention of human sacrifice makes me shudder. I wonder how one can reconcile oneself with butchering a fellow human person for sacrifice. It’s just hard to believe how such inhumanity has penetrated and maintained its place even in offices of the modern world. That challenges our illusion about human sacrifice.

Human sacrifice, oh savages are still there!

Illusion about human sacrifice

Convinced that human sacrifice was a problem of virgin tribes untouched by civilisation or the Gospel, the conclusion was that let’s civilise the brutes and such human folly will be history. And what followed was canonised.

The civilising mission, fuelled by superiority complex, fed on deficiency of self-introspection, colonialism was girded in noble cloak that not only hid its low birth but also masked its stench of capitalism and imperialism. What was highlighted was the gracious mission of saving primitive tribes before they exterminated themselves by their silly superstitions. In that sense, colonial masters became pals of ministers of the gospel in shared mission of combatting the abominable practices.

After years of colonialism, and many years of missionary activities, green forests have been transformed into stretch of concrete pavements; initiation ceremonies are transformed into classes where young people study the minutiae of the Arctic pole and its natives, the Eskimos or the routes that Christopher Columbus travelled. In place of sacrifices offered to ancestral spirits at the source of a stream or under a big tree, accompanied by incomprehensible incantations; now you have solemn liturgies with exotic symbols burrowed from Mars, performed in a gigantesque building standing lonely among village huts. Doesn’t that sound to be perfect civilisation?

To civilise, really?

The question doesn’t interest me in this article, nevertheless, it suffices to acknowledge that the debate exists. Moreover, no matter the side you take history obliges you to concede to certain facts. The mission to enlighten the natives of the Dark Continent has indeed a good share of reproach, yet, its credit is indisputable.

Can you imagine how many babies were dumped and left to die in the forest just because they were born twins or they cut their teeth on upper jaws? I’m not a twin, that’s clear, but concerning on which jaw I cut my teeth remains open ended. That renders me a possible beneficiary of the contested civilisation.

However, even after more than a century of such civilisation, and with all its achievements, we are still far away from blowing final whistle. Human sacrifice continues. Why?

Enduring belief in human sacrifice

Tribal people believed that in certain cases of provocation their gluttonous gods couldn’t be appeased with nothing less than human sacrifice. And the failure to do that, they feared, the entire land ran the risk of being plunged into fatal epidemics or droughts. In that way, human sacrifice became necessary to ensure prosperity and well-being of society. Believe me, that’s an affair not only for forest brutes.

Our minds have been formatted somewhat ideologically that’s why we persist to associate human sacrifice with distant tribes. Consequently, we cannot recognise the same evil taking place just in front of our nose. Well-dressed people, in their well-furnished offices, continue to offer human sacrifice to Plutus, a god just as avaricious as his tribal counterparts.

Don’t look to the forest

Think of the big profits of multinational companies? You think it’s only about hard working? They also strongly believe they can’t make profit without human blood. Instead of paying the full price of what doing business requires they resort to human sacrifice.

When they realise exacting laws in a country that block their folly, they are ready to transfer their business, even thousands of miles across the seas, till they find human heads available for sacrifice. Examples are abundant.

If their dirty products will make them answerable and spend a lot of money, they choose to offload it into a country where they will get away with it. It’s the case of fuel with high content of sulphur inacceptable in Europe. They dump it in Ghana, Videos: Stop dumping death in Africa! Stop your toxic trade!

Similarly, after massive productions for big profits companies remain with huge amount of wastes in their yards. In some countries that will cost them dearly to hand those wastes responsibly. Why not dump it in some poor country like Ivory Coast where a cent will suffice?

In both cases, Ghana and Ivory Coast, which are only examples of the many cases, you should see the consequences on the health of the people. But who cares? They do that to avoid losing money. For Multinationals it’s bearable to risk the life of a human person than reduce the amount of profit to gain.

That’s why workers, for meagre salaries, are subjected to harsh working conditions where they work like automated machines. At the end of their working career they don’t speak of an experience that enriched their humanity, instead, not only are they left handicapped for the rest of their lives but also too poor to have decent medical care. They are just abandoned like dirty rags.

Oh, savages are still there!

You only understand why, in the face of economic crisis that hit Portugal, the late father of Portuguese democracy, Mario Soares, criticised the European countries for having drifted from the principles solidarity of the founding fathers of the union only to abandon themselves to what he described as savage capitalism.

Indeed, when I look at the misery that a human person is subjected to in the name of economy and profit, I realise that the mission of civilisation is far from being over. Human sacrifices have continued not necessarily among primitive people in virginal forests but also among the so called civilised executives in digitalised offices.

Evidently, human sacrifice is a folly not only of uncivilised tribal brutes but a fruit of an avaricious human heart that values more money than a human person. No heart sanitation more tragedies. Therefore, as long as unrestrained capitalism continues to reign it’s an illusion to hope for an end of this folly of human sacrifice simply because savages are still there.

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There’s still illusion about investors in developing countries. The mention of an investor sends some people jumping with joy. They dream of some messiah coming to redeem them. What an error! But when such exploiters fail to prove themselves capable of fulfilling even the minimum, it becomes evident that most of the so called investors are but just looters. Their tax evasion as shown in the video below is simply disgraceful to say the least.

See for yourselves the fruits of savage capitalism

There’s still illusion about investors in developing countries. The mention of an investor sends some people jumping with joy. They dream of some messiah coming to redeem them. What an error! But when such exploiters fail to prove themselves capable of fulfilling even the minimum, it becomes evident that most of the so called investors are but just looters. Their tax evasion as shown in the video below is simply disgraceful to say the least.

Investors of sabotage

Few years ago I was back in my country, Zambia, on holidays. Driving with a friend through the copperbelt city of Kitwe I just couldn’t understand how some roads had turned into ridges. I had never seen that before, not even in Mali where the temperature in certain parts can reach as high as 50 °C.

It’s the result of tracks with heavy cargo driving through roads that are not meant for them. Deformed roads are the investors’ mark of presence in the country. What a shame! As if that’s not enough they will go further to insult the country by tax evasion.

Developing countries, when are you going to hatch out from naivety? When those who come in the name of developing your country all that they do is just to sabotage even the little infrastructure you have built with sweat; why do you cling on to calling them investors?

Tax is powerful.

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Disgraceful tax evasion

To repair those roads the government needs money; it’s the tax payer’s money that’s used. But our investors will not plough back into the country even a little of what they plundered. Instead, they are ready to mobilise whatever ill-conceived skills they can find, and pay millions of dollars, just to cover up their incivility of tax evasion. And when roads are repaired using poor people’s money the same investors will be the first to drive through in their posh cars. I’m only left wondering.

It takes the decency of the heart

Is it impossible to do business with humanity? Of course it is! But it demands lot of decency –the decency that’s far away beyond wearing a designer suit. To do business decently you need a decent heart. You need humanity. Without it, millions of people will continue to wallow in poverty while a small percentage of the population hoards the riches of the entire world. Madness, isn’t it?

But we don’t give victory to such mean way of acting

There’s hope. You and I can resolve to act differently in the little way we can with people around us.

Lay your brick for a better world that’s more human by sharing the link.

See also

Videos: Stop dumping death in Africa! Stop your toxic trade!
Please, read this and Act for Congo!
A savage way of gaining money
No heart sanitation more tragedies