Le Lions Clubs au Bénin : un club caritatif qui pratique une liturgie à dessein politique

Abstract

The comparison of meetings and protocol of the Lions Clubs in a ritual, offers an opportunity to measure the political impact of this community and the effect the meetings have outside the circle. The study also allows us to understand the importance of the Lions Clubs in Africa, where it cannot be reduced to a meeting of wealthy people seduced by the opulence and the opportunity to find new sources of profit. Lions are compared by population to diplomats because of their appearance, wearing uniforms and medals and are received by the highest political authorities from other nations. In the West this behaviour is seen as a caricature of governance but for members the meetings offer occasions for work and friendship. This appears like political religion because of the hidden goal: to conquer the independence of Africa in the Lions Clubs. This objective is facilitated by the explosion in the number of African members showing the social movement that rages at the top levels of society. The African elite, by its transformation of charity into political rally, proposes a new form of pan-Africanism.