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ISBN 0-620-30482-0
An analysis of our Southern African society reveals a thread of unwillingness, by many stakeholders, to take responsibility for the AIDS tragedy unfolding before us. Yet a call for greater responsibility is often narrowly misunderstood as searching for someone to blame. Many culprits have been readily identified including, tragically, the victims themselves. Others see the cause of the plague in the work of the devil, in angry ancestors, in witchcraft, in an American plot to destroy Africa, in the general promiscuity of blacks and even in God. Attitudes like these are common in our society. Responsibility, however, is not principally the apportioning of blame but rather the empowerment of people to take charge of their lives in an ethical human response to this crisis which affects us all. Irresponsibility is seen in actions like the rape of virgins for a cure, the refusal to admit the presence of the disease in our communities, the hiding away of AIDS victims, reckless sexual behaviour and, disastrously, the apparently incoherent response of the South African Government to develop an effective strategy to fight the disease. It is omnipresent in the stigma that the disease carries throughout society. Responsibility means enabling the fullness of life expressed as concern, care for others and the promotion of the common good. Responsibility implies seeking ways to prevent the spread of the infection and the illnesses that accompany it. It also means care for victims and the promotion of moral lifestyles which promote the fullness of life for all in our society. This book explores these themes from a Catholic theological perspective.