Beyond the Borders of Fancy
by Sybille Ngo Nyeck

The Word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: Go to the great city of Niniveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me. But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord. Then the Lord sent a great wind to the sea, ad such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But, Jonah had gone below deck where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. The Captain went to him and said, "How can you sleep? Get up and call on your God! Maybe, he will take notice of us and we will not perish." Then the sailors said to each other, "Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity." They cast lots and the lot felt on Jonah. So they asked him, "Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?" He answered, "I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven who made the sea and the land." (Jonah 1:1-9)

Among the figures that haunt the apocalyptic revelation of John, there is the Beast which comes from the Sea (Revelation 13:1-10) and from the Earth’s womb (Revelation 13:11-18). The study of the Johannic writings reveals how concerned he is about human history/herstory movements and monsters that usually are disguised as angels.

The Beast that comes out of the sea’s womb is full of power and authority. He is arrogant, blasphemous and he has power over nations. The most surprising thing concerning this Beast is that he is insensitive to everything, even to his own wounds. He is just full of "I-don’t-care-ism."

"The planetary village that people talk about is only real for finances. Millions of dollars, marks and yens cross the oceans at light-speed, go and come, invest and alienate, indifferent to the swirls they generate. They no more correspond to the payment of goods than they do to real investments, but rather to pure speculation in search of better financial opportunities."

Under this bestial reign, even though the economic mass continues to grow, a system of silliness is erected, winning the favor of the social family in days of old. The scandal in the "kingdom of silliness" is that its system gives primacy to money, the color of the skin, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, age, the matrimonial statute …etc. over the human person. "The planetary village that people talk about is only real for finances. Millions of dollars, marks and yens cross the oceans at light-speed, go and come, invest and alienate, indifferent to the swirls they generate. They no more correspond to the payment of goods than they do to real investments, but rather to pure speculation in search of better financial opportunities. It’s a casino-economy that withdraws itself from the productive economy and makes a profit by playing with symbols and making bets" (François de Closets, Le compte à rebours, Fayard, 1998, p187).

The situation of our world today is not too different from Niniveh. The misery and the frustration of the eighth world is disconcerting. The vassal states crumbling under the dictate of the institutions of Bretton Woods finally have submitted themselves. The ship of the merchant economy is now quietly sailing in the swelling waters of human despair. Globalization comforts herself in technological progress. Silliness continues to poison and to plunder oceans. At the same time, we witness the emergence of a politico-intellectual class of "good-thinkers" and captains, unilateral civilizers who define "axes" and fix the headlines. What makes the bestial economical/political reign blasphemous is its attempt to use a theologo-theophanic language to legalize/divinize his works — the main goal always being to run as far as possible from the shore of reality/truth.

Contrary winds are blowing from around the world to protest against the direction of this "strategic preventive war" because it pretends to solve problems by dealing with the consequences rather than causes.

On the roads of trade and the computerization of life, of the arrogance of politics and technocrats, of profit by all means, the captains proceed by anticipation; they select their enemies and problems. The "Axis of Good" recommends that captains should separate themselves from anyone who could brake or divert their voyage towards totalitarian paradises. The lighter the ship is, the easier the sailing will be.

The United Nations, the WTO, the IMF, and the World Bank, are they not — as far as the right of veto is concerned — organizations of the "United Superpowers," while other nations play second fiddle? "As far as their interests are concerned, the superpowers of this world erect the causes of our problems in solutions, grab hold of financial resources, and even trick by fixing among them the rules of the game. Starvation — which threatens 800 million of people in the world, therefore the majority of Africans — challenges the holders of sustainable development. The HIV/AIDS pandemic continues killing populations of the continent while it can be stopped up raise another call for Africans elites that continue to confound the type of partnership." Aminata D. Traoré, Le Monde Diplomatique, sept. 2002).

Jonah also confused the type of partnership he was in, just as we do today when we think of gold as the enemy of the goldsmith, the copper as the enemy of the underground worker. The present system has succeeded in turning agriculture against the farmers.

Before the invention of the steam-engine and the compass, women and men sailed by the sun, the moon and the stars, as the waves observed. Sustainable development in olden times meant respect for the Creation/environment in an original harmony of its balanced forces. In our modern times, merciless capitalism only cares about profit, and marks the poor and the underprivileged with contempt; they‘re purely and simply thrown over the side of the merchant ship without much ado. "The poor and sick are doomed to death. The survival goes through wrangling, children working, the additional work of women, prostitution (despite HIV/AIDS), stealing, blood crimes…" Aminata D. Traoré, Le Monde Diplomatique, Sept. 2002, p 28).

Finally, Jonah has to renounce his project to go into exile. He was on that boat, the clandestine immigrant, the scapegoat of bad luck. The pilot of the xenophobic ship didn’t waste time in finding him below the deck in his underground realm. The clandestine was harassed/challenged even in his sleep, as his ghost inspired panic. When they’re not prostitutes, the "clandestine" are decried as a threat to peace and work, as witches and terrorists, and are challenged with xenophobic and racist policies. The message is therefore more than explicit to Jonah: the universal Human Rights and especially Women Rights are now in this empire of sustainable trickery null and void in the name of security. No one really cares about what Jonah thinks; his culture, his race, his marital statute, his religion in sum, his "business" will never be credible enough to advocate on his behalf for a short-stay visa on that ship.

"They took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm." (Jonah 1:15)

Welcome beyond the borders of fancy. Welcome to the abyss nearer to God(de)’s face.

Sybille Ngo Nyeck is a regular contributor to A Globe of Witnesses. Her monthly column is Colors of Conscience. Sybille can be emailed at sybeck77@yahoo.fr