- SLAVERY
- >>African Holocaust
- >>Slavery in America
- >>Arab Slave Trade
- >>Jewish Slave Trade
- >>Slavery Revolts
- >>Modern Slavery
- >>Mental Slavery
- CULTURE
- >>Culture Complex
- >>Scripts of Africa
- >>Rites of Passage
- >>Kwanzaa
- >>African Agency
- >>Language & Africa
- >>Music and Dance
- IDENTITY
- >>African Race
- >>Consciousness
- >>Educating a Child
- ANCIENT AFRICA
- >>African Kingdoms>>Ptahhotep of Egypt
- PAN-AFRICA
- >>South Africa Watch
- >>African Cinema
- >>Art of Revolution
![]() |
![]() |

- African Kings and Queens
- African Marriage
- Consciousness
- Made In Africa
- White Supremacy
- Scripts of Africa
- Business & Africans
- ICC & Africa
- African Fundamentalism
- Capitalism or Socialism
- Facts About Africa
- War and Religion
- Death of African Languages
- Garvey Economics
- Cabral Theory
- NGO and Development
- Garvey Legacy
- Willie Lynch Hoax
- Malcolm OAAU
- Ethics of the Reparations
- Afrocentrism Pseudohistory?
- Marley Film Review
- Abolition and Wilberforce
- Black Panther Critique
- Jews and Slavery
- Gay Rights
- Failure Of African Leadership
- Capitalism or Socialism?
- Female Genital Mutilation
- Failure to Engage
- Libya Invasion
- Dubois: Souls of Black folk
- Slavery in America
- Amilcar Cabral
- Agency and Africa
- Mis-Education of the Child
- African Revolt
- The Flag of African Cinema
- The Politics of Liberation
- White Supremacy
- The Horrors of 500 Years
- Africa and the Rise of Islam
- Why Kwanzaa
- Seen But Never Heard
- African Classical Music
- South Africa: 10 Years On
- Music and Dance in Religion
- White Abolition of Slavery
- A Threat to Black Studies
- Art of Revolution
- African Influence in Barbados
- Origins of Voodoo
- Black Out White Wash
- Ethiopian Slave Trade
- Darfur Report
Until lions tell their tale, the story of the hunt will always glorify the hunter
– African Proverb
Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will
– Frederick Douglass
The most pathetic thing is for a slave who doesn't know that he is a slave
– Malcolm X
Every man is rich in excuses to safeguard his prejudices, his instincts, and his opinions.
– Ancient Egypt
What kind of world do we live in when the views of the oppressed are expressed at the convenience of their oppressors?
– Owen 'Alik Shahadah
We are not Africans because we are born in Africa, we are Africans because Africa is born in us.
– Chester Higgins Jr.
Leave no brother or sister behind the enemy line of poverty.
– Harriet Tubman

If we stand tall it is because we stand on the shoulders of many ancestors.
– African Proverb
If we do not stop oppression when it is a seed, it will be very hard to stop when it is a tree.
– ' Alik Shahadah
If the future doesn't come toward you, you have to go fetch it
– Zulu Proverb
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
TERRIBLE RACISM
The brand is less Proudly South African and more Proudly South Afrikaans. As Proudly South African is an majority white business pact which is sold internationally as "Native" Business. People buy into "products from Africa" without asking are these products made by Africans. True democracies do not simply say "We advertised for staff and the best came back 80% white - fair is fair", That's not a democracy, that is apartheid with drops of Black.
End of Apartheid was a compromised sell-out, had it been an African revolutionary struggle we would have got a different result- but it was a White liberation movement to advance economic opportunities in the face of encroaching globalization. 1/2 victories re-applying the chains of slavery.
Imagine a German Nazi descendant building the Israeli statue of Ben Gurion? But had the SA government given the gig to a Black Zimbabwean the blacks [sic] would have been up in arms, "how you give the job to a "foreigner"" OVERVIEW
Just like post-segregation America. The BEE lip service from the politicians was only to prevent a race uprising from a still disenfranchised poor. Do as little as possible to stop open revolt, but never so much to cause change and upset the White folk. So-called Blacks became the new buffer protecting White Privilege. Yes, some made a race row to shake off the frustrations which comes with selling-out, but few sincerely needed anything more than what they had gained for themselves. Race justice for the new Middle class no longer was a revolutionary necessity. But development divorced from race was. It can be argued that the struggle was never a Black-Conscious struggle. No more than the Palestinian struggle is an Islamic struggle.
After struggling for 100s of years, post 94 marked the end of struggle and the emergence of a new beautiful rainbow (where Blackness was absent for both the White vision as well as the new Black middle class future vision). "Don't talk about race, that was a long time ago" Free from race, and the burden of race, South Africa has in 15 years thrown a rug over a rotten floor and praying that it will hold up for another 300 years. If enough world cups are held, if enough whites hold hands with Mandela just maybe the still oppressed people will believe the rainbow hype. A shallow notion of "identity and pride" is only superficial if it has no roots in any form of human agency. So the pride seen in a national identity has zero properties in establishing pro-African agendas outside of white tutorship. "Freedom" is realized and no longer pursued after 2% 'Blacks' move over to management positions and senior government jobs and can afford the BMW and Mercs that whites sell them.SA is a place of gross contradictions. They speak of moral regeneration yet promote pornography, alcohol and greed on TV. They talk about BEE, yet support the Proudly Afrikaans as an African project. They only challenge whiteness for symbolic reasons but leave in place the entire mechanisms of white supremacy. If it is out of sight it is alright. Not one single National park is run by an African, not one single anything of any value is in Black hands. The images on TV are White, made by White for White. White SA actors top Hollywood, White writers publish internationally, all the books in the Bookstores on "the struggle" are by White authors. Every image on TV representing SA is White. Whites are the experts on everything. The government in a nutshell is in partnership with the White elite to protect the privileges born from apartheid. Just managing to do enough to thwart accusations of overt complicity. TRC, is a abstract Biblical brainwashed paradigm, the kind of liberal turn the other cheek ideology that worked in stealing the wealth of Africa. The TRC's failure to demand restitution and will build an expectation of impunity that can only encourage further crimes. [Soyinka, Burden of Memory, The Muse of Forgiveness, The (1999)] RACE DEFINITIONS AND THE NEW TRICKS South Africa has a gross agenda of nationalism before racial kinship with the rest of the African world, and this nationalism has acquiesced with unresolved relationships with the former and current apex oppressor, who shares nothing with the African except being the bearer of oppression. The relationship is therefore slave and master. How is it possible for this relationship to ascend the more pressing matter of race and race-based Pan-Africanism. What are the features of that relationship that bonds these two groups? How can a colonially created country be a definitive bond? SA has an agenda of nationalism at the expense of Pan-Africanism. and we must be careful with them because they are using money to invade and destroy our revolution. SA has been busy using money to define itself as the leaders of the Pan-African movement. Forcefully and unapologetic South Africa (the newcomer to independence) is setting and funding agendas for Pan-Africanism where their principle agenda is branding Pan-Africanism as "Proudly South African."
Lets ask a question. An African man takes an Indian woman back to his village for marriage- how will she be treated? An Indian woman takes an African man back to her community for marriage how will he be treated. This highlights a fundamental difference between Africans and everyone else. Indians in South Africa are boasting about 150 Years of climbing the economic ladder to being now "Captains of industry" .How did they get this "success" at whose expense? And are they SA first? How many SA Indian women have you seen with African men? They have their own Indian channels, their Indian culture, a deep connection to everything India from films to food, so are we sure they are South African first? During Apartheid Indians were the social-economic buffer protecting White privilege. And in their defense, they were used by Whites but have profited from their preferential relationship with Whites. Now Indians in South Africa should stay Indian first, but they should then stop deceiving the people about their loyalties. An Indian film made by an Indian from Durban is triumphed by Black politicians from Durban, because the filmmaker is from Durban. The story is Indian, the cast and crew are Indian, the motives and profits are Indian but "White Gold" is a champion of the accomplishments of Durban. This is the mentality of Black politicians in South Africa, who put silly notions of nationality above race, while Whites and Indians continue to put race first without apology.
Casting uses African as consumer of alcohol and in roles servicing Whites. Most African South Africans have been so oppressed and cut off from the rest of the world they do not even realize the deep nature of these offenses. The few Africans allowed to ascend are little more than token and themselves oppressors. Winnie Mandela breaks the myth of Mandela as a traitor to the revolution for agreeing to a deal that allows white oppression of Africans under the guise of transformation. It is therefore no mystery why he is loved globally by whites with a passion. Clearly they don't feel this way about many great Africans such as Malcolm X. South Africa is one rare example of a heavily socially engineered society which started during apartheid and is an ongoing experience. The "Rainbow Turn the cheek" rhetoric is artificially engineered and pumped into the society creating a theoretical rainbow. However, the question of justice has been shied at for so-long that often the stress reaches boiling point as what happened with the brutal xenophobic attacks of 2008.
At the close of Apartheid, a deal was done between the White elite and the Africans who were to inherit positions of power. Mass engineered rhetoric was used to lullaby the people into an ideology of a rainbow nation where 'reconciliation without justice' had virtue. The general politics focuses on reassuring the beneficiaries and perpetrators of racism that they have nothing to worry about, all is forgiven. See Reconciliation without Justice
Hidden in plain view is an injustice, which speaks volumes to the global condition of Africans and their inherent social and economical disadvantage even in their own lands: a condition unique to African people as a racial family.
WHITE POLICING WHITE FOR JUSTICE???
Many so-called civil societies (Advertising Standards, South Africa Race relations) exist in South Africa, attending with varying sincerity, to equality. The majority are run by White people. Now they will probably have a major conference where race and justice are discussed and they will make sure they say "We don't know any African organizations to invite" So they keep policy and complaining to the limits of what they (the Whites) see as problems. So these areas are kept all white, or with passive non-threatening Blacks. So if anyone gets to say, "There is racism in South Africa" it is a white person, and a white person who owns/controls the race institute, who profits from the research, who authors the books, takes the funding, and who poses the solution and acts as gate keeps - all at once.
If they are celebrating 40 years it means they are celebrating their apartheid years and their role in that system. No wonder it doesn't service African interest. So a top person dealing with Slavery for UNESCO - white. Do children of Nazi Germans head up the Jewish Holocaust memorial? Whites have inserted themselves into positions of power to control Africa. This power maybe in the form of NGOs, or in the form of Multi-national businesses and the one thing all these things have in common is they are full of White people, with a few sprinkles of brown and black.
Magteld Venter - Online Content Coordinator of African Film Library -- All White just like in Apartheid. No Questions ask. Who runs the Durban Film Festival? White, Who runs M-NET? White, Who decides what gets printed - White. But it remains unchallenged by the enslaved Africans. It is far too much White in key positions to be called "multicultural" or "inclusive". And racism has always had a good excuse for keeping everything White. No other continent is so represented by an absolute ethnic minority.
THE EXPERTS FOR JUDGING AFRICA
Durban FilmMart 2010 Lead Experts
Durban FilmMart have failed to response to how they expect to develop African cinema with an all white panel of experts. Musonda Chimba ( durbanfilmmart@durban.gov. za) gave us the following reply: Musonda Chimba (reply: The website features 4 of those experts, who are 'white'. We did not subject the panelists and experts to a pencil test to establish their 'true' 'race', therefore I cannot tell you the racial demographics, and I simply cannot tell from sight/ pencil tests/ scientific tests- Africa is so vast and diverse. OUR REPLY: The fact clearly remains all the experts on your website are White, in an African continent. Because if Africa is so diverse we know it is 90% Black i.e. African. So basic mathematics tells you that the chances of having 4 white "experts" speaks to a mathematical impossibility. Maybe SA made a mistake when they created BEE, because that does demand a "pencil test", the same "Pencil test" that was done to make sure Africans did not have a place in the film industry. And why most "experts" always seem to be white. And the entire South African international film industry is 95% White. I guess no pencil test existed and it is just another race accident . Clearly you have no problem showing our African population that "experts" and "genius" is always White. Think of the impact on the African mind. None of these facts are contested by any serious African scholar. It was also asked what have they done to engage African Diaspora and other African professionals who would be far more qualified to instruct and train other Africans on the challenges of African cinema and is Musonda Chimba (HNIC) in charge of responding to emails. We are fully aware she is not qualified or well read to understand the scope of the issue at hand. She has been paid and is just doing a job. The basics of race dynamic eludes our sister we should all email her and bring her up to speed on why All white faces is a no-no in Africa's development. Transparency and plurality are only skin deep, they exist until a real demand is put on them at that point they catastrophically collapse and are proven to be ill-design and only service White dominance. In the entire African continent these are the experts they have shown the world: Mike Kelly (WHITE) Luciano Gloor (WHITE) Clare Downs (WHITE) Leena Pasanen (WHITE) HELLOPETER ANOTHER WHITE RACIST The illusion of checks and balances is the sign of a healthy society. Consumer standards and forums for the public to engage big business. Now Hello Peter a self-styled South Africa (monopoly on complaints wannabe) suggest several areas for complaints. Bad attitude, poor service, all kinds of things. But guess what, no racism? No discrimination. In a country which breed the most virulent strain of racism there is no category for race-related complaints. Someo of us started using Hello Peter to draw attention to the terrible racism in their advertsing policies of White owned business who have a habit of casting Whites for everything good, Africans for Beer and HIV. Finally due to the attention and negative publicity for White business, as well as complaints from their white demographic - the principle group they service) they blocked the account and said: Dear Sir, As per the Terms and Conditions on the site : Users are prohibited from posting unlawful content, including defamatory, insulting, racist ..... or otherwise objectionable material ("unlawful content") on Hellopeter.com. In the event you violate these Terms and Conditions, the owner of Hellopeter.com has the right to terminate your access to the site and take whatever other steps the owner deems necessary.’ Numerous emails have been sent to you regarding your reports relating to race issues. Unfortunately you have continued to post such reports. Your account has therefore been blocked. Regards, Linda Mail: admin@hellopeter.com Now the funny thing is insulting, racist or unlawful does not apply to these complaints See Corruption notice board. But the "law" or discretions lies exclusively in these peoples hands. And their is zero burden to prove any true violation. And during apartheid people like us also complained and they threw the word "unlawful" , these words used by Linda means nothing in a racialized society while they (the Whites) hold all the cards. The real violation is to spin the situation around and try to pin labels of "racist and unlawful" on the accuser. Hello Peter is an Afrikaans space for controlling dissent which is appropriate to white consumers (the elites). So a complaint about the municipalities terrible service is no problem. A complaint about a car rental complaint again no problem. All services and issues relevant to the white population. Now start using these structures to deal with hard core issue and guess what happens --the doors start to close. Welcome to the new South Africa where racism continues to spit in the faces of the majority but still wears legal clothes as it did during apartheid.
MAD - Making a New generation of African slave leaders
They call themselves MAD (Charity). The only people that are MAD are the Africans who allow Tarzan to teach their children. Now they care so much they have created an all White company with vague agendas to re-program, pacify and carry on the work of the missionaries. Where has white help gotten Africans? A race of beggars kept just out of reach of the prize will always be begging depending needing wanting, looking to white for salvation. If all your food comes from White hands what mental impact does that have on your self-identity? Whites still see Africans as pets, a child race, which they must impress their humanity on. What does a White man know about African ambition to be such an expert on what leadership we want? What arrogance gives them this right? Anyone with 1/2 an education will read between these White supremacist lines: The primary goal of MAD is to identify academically talented South African learners from less fortunate backgrounds and support their education and life skills development up until the point at which they are ready to enter the job market. Such a learner will join MAD's Individual Education Programme under the guidance of the Mentorship Programme. What is the nature of this mentorship in creating strong African centered leadership sensitive to African interest? We can already see the all white team. Is that the new future a generation of Africans who are loyal to protecting White monopolies? One thing we know about whites and skills, they never teach skills they only teach dependency.
Below is our complaint to Advertising standards and MAD We find your DSTV advertisement of White people being shown teaching Africa's next generation as neo-colonial, arrogant and down right offensive especially in such a racialized society. Most African South Africans have been so oppressed and cut off from the rest of the world they do not even realize the deep nature of these offenses. In post apartheid South Africa, we find your racial representations to be regressive and insensitive to the ethnic majority who are still marginalized. 78% of adverts of South African origination are still pro-white. We have seen that without exception all of your team in Africa is White. Your images show yourself to be Tarzan bringing about a new African leadership is a vulgar assault on African agency and self-determination. What kind of leadership could come from your racial in-sensitivities? Is it a leadership that services White at the expense of the African majority? Developing another generation of puppet leaders in service to Europeans? With these white dominate adverts coupled with the very obvious economic apartheid how is your company responsible for a new South Africa? Because unless this is challenged the notion of a rainbow will remain the greatest South African Hoax. A hoax painted white, confirming the distrust between racial groups - where is your representation? A complaint will also be lodged with the advertising standards, although we know it will fail (since they are white also) it will continue to create a public record of the racial arrogance which Africans are subjected to. Africans post-colonialism, post-slavery, post-apartheid Africans are still victims denied their basic human rights, having to be spoken at, spoken for and by the Great White hope with his White burden. There are certain university degrees and business exclusively associated with Africans: Social development, etc. At the expense of nation building subjects. African study them because "I wanted to go the university" and prefer easy degrees to medicine and engineering, etc. So yes some of them are going--that is good. But our research shows the kind of degrees they are doing are all Social science. In SA tourism, hotel management, social development, political studies are the soft degrees people engage in at a disproportional level vs. accounting, engineering, medicine, optometry or IT. And if you look at the race split you will see other races not do these soft degrees. Its a problem because yes numbers are up-- but doing what? So in the job market even with a degree Africans are marginalizing themselves. Because they want to study, but nothing too hard. And socialization is enforcing this stereotype, especially among women, their friends select these degrees and now it is the norm. The same is true for business, if there is a business it will be a barber shop, taxis, or tenders. Two thirds of children grow up without both parents Only a third of children are living with both of their biological parents, according to a new report released by the South African Institute of Race Relations this week. The report, The First Steps to Healing the South African Family, shows that 40% of children live with their mother only, 3% live with their father only, and 23% live with neither of their biological parents. Some 8% of children live in ‘skip generation households' with their grandparents or great aunts and uncles. Ms Lucy Holborn: ‘There are nearly 4 million orphans in the country, 859 000 of whom are double orphans who have lost both their parents. Many of these children have lost their parents to AIDS. However, nearly half of all children have living but absent fathers, meaning that the AIDS pandemic alone cannot explain family breakdown in South Africa.' The proportion of children with absent but living fathers has risen from 42% in 1996 to 48% in 2009. ‘What emerges from the data is a pattern of many men not taking responsibility for their children. Unemployment and poverty contribute to this phenomenon, but probably so too do male attitudes to women and sex,' Ms Holborn said. The report highlights international and local research which shows that children growing up without a father are at a significant disadvantage when it comes to educational outcomes, employment prospects, behaviour, and future relationships. ‘Family is not an issue that is high on most policy agendas, but we believe our research demonstrates that the cycle of dysfunctional families needs to be broken in order to address many of the social problems in the country.' Statement issued by Lucy Holborn, South African Institute of Race Relations, April 5 2011 NELSON MANDELA: The fabricated legacy of a compromised 'hero'-- aka Traitor
They love to talk about poverty as disconnected from race politics. The Mandela foundation has crafted a “change” video for South Africa and nowhere in this agenda does the word race come up, it is all “a dialogue about HIV.” Nowhere in his campaign does he upset white dominance or put a challenge to the very visible and oppress continuation of racism in all sectors economic and social. Nowhere is this race justice agenda asserted in his dream for the nation. A very insincere leader sees the living breathing condition of a nation ready to be torn apart at its racial seams and says nothing to that problem. Even all the merchandizing in South Africa (the clothes, the badges, the buttons the entire for Mandela) is owned by Whites. Branded and exploited for their benefit. Of course they love him, he protects them from the anger of the oppressed population. The minute someone Black raises their hands to strike everything oppressing them Mandela gentle hands steadies the rage with self-serving Eurocentric abstract ideals of non-violence and love. Some say that he has done all he can do, he is only one man. However, at some junction, the people who he represents must look at that contribution and re-weight the outcome of those choices made. In addition, the acceptances of the burden of leadership means he is responsible for those he had power over. Therefore, if the deal was bad then the deal maker is responsible. Whites everywhere love him, and that is a cause for concern. Why do they love him so much? Do they love Malcolm X with this passion? Do they love Farrakhan? Why are they so busy to fan the pages of history to dry the ink on the legacy of this man? Whites love him because he secures their interest in every department bar none. But today on the streets on South Africa the fabricated legacy of Mandela is being torn apart by a generation frustrated and tired of lies and no volume of propaganda will change that reality. Mandela Rhodes - building excellent leadership in Africa | You have to clear you eyes and look again. Yes Mandela and Cecil Rhodes Scholarship. That's right Cecil Rhodes who named an African country Rhodesia. A violent and brutal racist who used forced labor tactics as a means of founding De Beers and other portions of his lucrative success to exploit African resources and steal wealth. He introduced the Glen Grey Act to push African people from their lands and make way for industrial development. To make the point, which needs no help, we should have a Mother Teresa and Joseph Stalin Award: Teresa-Stalin Award. So how could this oxymoron exist Mandela and Rhodes? Who thought this up, the abomination? That has 70% non-African recipients with drops of Blacks.[ref] What does this tell you about Nelson Mandela? How could he sign his name with the like of Cecil Rhodes? The educational reforms of Rhodes were just like the scholarships they issue, for White benefit. South Africa averages 50 murders a day in a nation of 47 million. The rich class in South Africa has moved into gated communities, creating a schism between classes and evidently races, one which was theoretically abolished during the apartheid. It is ranked first in rapes per capita amongst the whole world and has a notorious record for car hijacking. The problem is so severe, that women are allowed to speed through red lights to avoid being car hijacked, or worse. One of its capitals, Johannesburg, is the most dangerous, with almost all middle-class and high-class families carrying weapons merely for protection. (BBC.com) Is the crime in SA race related (i.e. the racial economic disparity). Yes. However crime in the UK is not. UK has one of the largest economic middle classes in the world yet surprisingly has a very high crime rate. America has the economic disparity so it is very similar to South Africa.
THE POLITICS OF ‘WHITE AFRICANS’ African is a jacket worn to suit an economic or political opportunity See African Race
However, the definition of racism does not accommodate in-group exclusion as a characteristic of being racist. And the power of definition like “who is a Jew”, “who is Chinese” belongs with the majority, not the minority. Africans cannot over night just say they are Chinese and then call Chinese racist if they do not accept them. Despite claiming "African" in name they are very conscious of Whiteness when propagating the White dominant image on the broadcast mediums they control. Being White is clearly obvious when it comes to the dilemma of ownership which is still tipped in their favor. When all of these White South Africans rush home to Europe (when Africa gets a little sticky) do they encounter job discrimination experienced by fellow African South Africans or even 3rd and 4th generation African-British? They integrate beautifully into the social environment created by White privilege. Same like with the Indian "Africans", African is a jacket worn to suit an economic or political opportunity. Let us ask a question. An African man takes an Indian woman back to his village for marriage- how will she be treated? An Indian woman takes an African man back to her community for marriage how will he be treated. This highlights a fundamental difference between Africans and everyone else. A Characteristic exploited by every visitor to Africa. So this argument or false focus serves to disrupt the greater Pan-African solidarity necessary for African people. And anyone trying to put a taboo on such debates is probably an oppressor. Now the classic straw man argument is to associate this stance with expelling Whites from Africa. The human rights of the African cannot be secured while violating the human rights of another people. We do not need a new Israel in Africa. However, gross inequalities must be destroyed. What business does someone have with 1000 of acres of land while the native people starve all around them? Especially when that land was acquired by displacing their ancestors from that land? So all of these issues need to be collapsed into the broader debate of identity and native claim. In the scramble for linguistic real estate, why would these descendants of European colonialist who devastated and exploited the continent want to be called African? And in terms of self-determination who introduced these concepts? It would be very strange if a European, after 200 years in China or India, could be so powerful to alter the definition of Chinese just to be accommodated. Linguistic accommodation is only possible in Africa because of the prevailing injustice of a post-colonial dominance of European settlers. Race was not only defined in the 18th century, in Aksum and Kemet African peoples have always identified with degrees of racial inclusion and exclusion. The arrogance of Whiteness is to assume they are responsible for every single point of view that has ever existed on this planet. All the while South Africa remains White dominant and unchallenged by people who are the most vocal White Africans. Interestingly if you examine their lifestyle, you will find them to be the most racial conservative personalities. They date and marry women of their specific race, they socialize in White circles, and engage a distinctive non-African culture. And if they do have a few token "Black" friends they are often culturally compromised aberrations the continent can produce. The injustices of White dominance and the legacy of that dominance are smooth over by fictional fantasies of non-returning colonial tourist who still impose their reality as the norm for everyone else. Moreover, in dealing with these issues they always select broad base arguments and never deal with the core issue of African self-determination and agency. The fact that Europeans are sensitive to the politics of things suggests that they do not do anything for romantic reasons. It is very disappointing when senior African academics, so desperate to embrace the rainbow theory and share the “African burden”, rush with open arms to embrace these pseudo concepts without any political or economic consideration. What is the objective of these claims? It is interesting to note Europeans (including Caucasoid Arabs) constitute around 10 million people verses the 800 million Africans. Now, this negligible minority, by way of social influence, has caused the majority to need to refer to themselves with the adjective of “black” to separate themselves from a serious minority group who want to be “Indian Africans” or “white Africans.” Minorities of Europeans live in China, in India and in Arabia yet only in Africa has linguistic accommodation been given to these European minorities. Africans now must make room for those settlers who want to identify with the continent for capitalist reasons. Because once you identify with a continent then you have a legitimate claim to its resources. Thus, the saying and the philosophy of Garvey “Africa for the Africans” becomes usurped. In South Africa, the new trend of “Black Economic Empowerment” has seen the broadening, opening up of the borders of blackness so to speak. Indians are economically classified as ‘black’, and recently Chinese have been included in this definition. So again, we see the relationship between linguistics and economic profit. What about people who are European who speak African languages, wear African clothing, eat African food, etc? With all due respect, the mistake made by Dr. Ali Mazrui in his accommodation was to confuse the empirical reality of being African with the cultural phenomenon of being Africanized. Just as most Africans in the west are to a large degree Europeanized Africans, it does not make them in anyway shape or form European. PHYSICAL CULTURE
South African Indians are said to be majority Hindu but the preserved dominate culture is that of Islam, Islam has many natural cultural landmarks which are visibly obvious within 5 minutes of touring Durban, most notable is the Arabic script and the Halal food restaurants. The distinctive dress shouts out wherever it lives.
The language of the Africans is distinctively Zulu in Durban and it offers a refreshing cultural connection to Africa. The dancing Sagomas frequent to the beach also offer an insight into the spiritual realm of hidden South Africa. The Sagomas are said to have the ability to foresee the future: one wonders what secrets they hold on their wise tongues for South Africa's future. All desperate attempts to access authentic Zulu African music are thwarted, even the Zulu stations seem more loyal to African-American artist, and the European controlled stations more partial to Elton John and George Michael. Considering the technological development of South Africa, which unlike most other African nations, is on par with any western nation in terms of visual and audio technology, it is strange to observe the lack of an obvious strong local music scene. Not that it doesn't exist, had it been compared to the Caribbean almost covert rather than a prominent feature oozing out of the pores of African communities locally and internationally, instead a visitor is forced to purposely search beneath the popular western music for a taste of the South African flavor. RELIGION AND CULTURE
But the rule of “providing for” sets natural limits. Regardless of western mental perception of polygamy it is clearly an extremely successful and sensible option in the African landscape and serves African non-urban communities well. All the children live together under one roof and regard all the wives as their mother. Within these rural areas is the healthy resurgence of African traditions which is redefining Christianity from an African perspective. To reflect this are the increasing growth of new African centered Christian churches which stress African value systems: a stark contrast to the government legislation which makes South Africa the only country in Africa to recognize homosexual marriages. The ugly side of the story (New)
And most women by the age of 21 have a child and you can be sure there is no husband around to contribute. The priorities, as witnessed in the Americas, is transient visible wealth; gold, expensive cars, etc. The value of the cars often is three times the value of the houses they own (if they own a house). They live grossly materialistic lives with no aim for future development. The youth generally have no scope for navigating education and becoming legitimate businessmen, they are looking for that “get rich or die trying” 50 cent mentality. As ugly as these truths are it is impossible to reflect on a society if one side of the story is exposed. Europeans everywhere, especially the conquering Europeans, express their oppression via the same agents. But in the case of South Africa it couldn't be more profound. And one feature of European occupation is to make real the original stereotypes laid down to justify conquest. Thus the barbarity and sexual freedom which exist today are pointed to, in a bid to justify the separation. But when we look at cultural traditions such as the reed dance we see it could not have been so. How did South Africa go from a nation which cherished and celebrated virginity to a nation of teenage mothers and competing abortion clinics? But it is no longer safe to point the blame as it is for those suffering to examine the problem and rectify it. The mission of the so-called leader (leaders of government, communities, churches, mosque, etc) to stand-up and demand a moral society. If they chose is between human rights for the sake of looking “democratic” and reintroducing the death penalty for the sake of addressing the hideous crime rate, then South Africa will continue to be the worst victim of moral decay in the 21st century. The freedoms the liberators of South Africa fought for where freedoms which build societies and build people, not to exercises in every excess imaginable. We cannot be offended by a stark truth because it is true. We must be bold enough to stop washing over the sickness which plagues a people if we are serious about a cure. And the illness of African urban communities is so deep it will take more than a generation to repair. And at the root of why it would take so long is the dynamics of socialization. You can take the most gifted youth and empower them, but the minute they return to that environment they become absorbed into all kinds of negativity.
Economic apartheid gets less press, it appears less evil. Unlike pure apartheid that was a clear evil on global display, economic apartheid continues and generates less concern because people see a Black government.
post, they lie silent in the corner accepting the barks from their former slave masters now reassigned and reissued into the exact same position of authority but only now with the fake grin required “by law” in the rainbow nation forged from oppression and compromised.
Indian culturally, Black economically. They take the best of being Indian and the best of being "black" without any of the hardships and oppression that come with a "Black" identity. And this play on words and terms is a form of vulgar corruption which continues to disadvantage the most disadvantaged people in South Africa-- The actual Africans.
On any given day in Durban it is possible to see large exclusive congregation of Asians around central social business spots like restaurants. A brief tour of Durban shows a stark monopoly of supermarket ownership, restaurants, practically everything that is worth owning. Even the small one-man street vendor trades are dominated by them. And now with the “death” of Apartheid the European and Asian business are venturing into the townships, the heart of the African community, and setting-up large business. With years of skills advantage, economic advantage they out compete any local venture. The promise of only servicing ones own local area has become more and more remote. New markets are quickly opening and closing to African people. It was said by one up and coming African supermarket owner that some Asians actually hire killer squads to break-up African business unity. Impossible to believe, but the same rumors are fresh and old in Guyana and Tanzania.
This proves that the best plans, fall-short if dependency still exists in the economic chain. More Africans in European run companies will not deliver justice. More African presenters on television answering to European writers and executives will fall short of reflecting diversity and restoring justice The role of the government is to create a conducive environment, which sparks to African genius. Snatching wealth from people on its own will not fix the problems of economic apartheid in South Africa. However, conditions on the ground must be challenged and changed to restore the imbalance of Apartheid. Economic transfer cannot happen by a forced process because it requires as its core sincerely skilled people who are able to operate at an exceptional standard. Symbolic handing over of keys of industry will do nothing for the future of Africa. Development must be holistic and speak directly to creating competence and wiliness among African people. So that Africans, like Japan at the turn of the 20th century, become global leaders in management, technology and other innovations. WHITE PRIVILEGE EVEN AS AN ETHNIC MINORITY
The new argument of Black oppression or Black privilege in South Africa is beyond ridiculous because as the below items show all of these things apply to Whites in America, Whites in Europe and Whites as a minority group in South Africa in particular. White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack - Peggy McIntosh (everything applies here) 1. I can if I wish arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time.
2. If I should need to move, I can be pretty sure of renting or purchasing housing in an area, which I can afford and in which I would want to live. 3. I can be pretty sure that my neighbors in such a location will be neutral or pleasant to me. 4. I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed. 5. I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented. 6. When I am told about our national heritage or about “civilization,” I am shown that people of my color made it what it is. 7. I can be sure that my children will be given curricular materials that testify to the existence of their race. 8. If I want to, I can be pretty sure of finding a publisher for this piece on white privilege. 9. I can go into a music shop and count on finding the music of my race represented, into a supermarket and find the staple foods which fit with my cultural traditions, into a hairdresser’s shop and find someone who can cut my hair. 10. Whether I use checks, credit cards or cash, I can count on my skin color not to work against the appearance of my financial reliability. 11. I can arrange to protect my children most of the time from people who might not like them. 12. I can swear, or dress in second hand clothes, or not answer letters, without having people attribute these choices to the bad morals, the poverty, or the illiteracy of my race. 13. I can speak in public to a powerful male group without putting my race on trial. 14. I can do well in a challenging situation without being called a credit to my race. 15. I am never asked to speak for all the people of my racial group. 16. I can remain oblivious of the language and customs of persons of color who constitute the world’s majority without feeling in my culture any penalty for such oblivion. 17. I can criticize our government and talk about how much I fear its policies and behavior without being seen as a cultural outsider. 18. I can be pretty sure that if I ask to talk to “the person in charge,” I will be facing a person of my race. 19. If a traffic cop pulls me over or if the IRS audits my tax return, I can be sure I haven’t been singled out because of my race. 20. I can easily buy posters, post-cards, picture books, greeting cards, dolls, toys, and children’s magazines featuring people of my race. 21. I can go home from most meetings of organizations I belong to feeling somewhat tied in, rather than isolated, out-of-place, outnumbered, unheard, held at a distance, or feared. 22. I can take a job with an affirmative action employer without having coworkers on the job suspect that I got it because of race. 23. I can choose public accommodation without fearing that people of my race cannot get in or will be mistreated in the place I have chosen. 24. I can be sure that if I need legal or medical help my race will not work against me. 25. If my day, week or year is going badly, I need not ask of each negative episode or situation whether it has racial overtones. 26. I can choose blemish cover or bandages in “flesh” color and have them more or less match my skin.
There are not enough words in the English language to stress the importance of economic power and how it relates to self-determination. In the airport, on the television, on billboards there is an entire industry that caters for the taste and fancies of those with the economic currency to satisfy and sustain the feasibility of the items on offer. There is thus an orientation of items of which seem to be solely targeted to European taste, but this is natural as they are the ones with the necessary consumption power. At the airport there is more to cater for the celebration of the Hajj, despite Islam being a minority religion in South Africa, however economically South African airlines are getting a large percentage of business from the Asian Muslim community during the hajj period.
thus retains strong powers of negotiation by virtue of the economics this culture generates; food, religious travel, clothing, religious buildings, religious schools, etc. If the African middle class in South Africa grows, this will naturally change products and services as this new African middle class begin to become of economic interest to businesses. Outside of this development of a middle and upper class, the trap will keep supporting those with the funds to attract the interest of businesses;; the adverts for merchandise will exclusively target those minority groups with the funds to access those services and products. "Kaffirs are as a rule uncivilized - the convicts even more so. They are troublesome, very dirty and live almost like animals. -- Mahatma Gandhi. The top hotel such as the City Lodge charges £55 per night while the cleaners get £5 per day; breakfast is £5 per day. This is a hotel charging international rates but paying staff sub-standard rates. Maybe it is sufficient to point to the condition called “something is better than nothing” as this argument serves the basis for the ruthless exploitation of labor, which has one intention; to approach slavery, i.e. free labor. Thus paying people 2 pennies above the zero line would be acceptable if they could get away with it; feeding on desperation born from abject poverty. This is the ruthless reality of capitalism, a system rooted in a Eurocentric post Darwinian model of survival of the “fittest” at the price of the “weakest”. SKILLS, EDUCATION AND BUSINESS Under Apartheid South Africans faced generations of generations of lost of vital skill banks. So while Europeans were getting access to qualifications and then acquiring years of experience and special knowledge in nation building sectors, these opportunities were denied to African people. This did not go on for one generation, and now South Africa today for the first time has a brand new generation now, and only now, accessing the necessary qualifications in nation-building subjects. It will take 30 years for this current generation to acquire the experience to become leaders in these fields. And with the de skilled generation dynamic no forced legislation of “Black Empowerment” could reverse the European domination of all key sectors within South Africa and Africa as a whole. Thus the earliest projection for senior African take over in South Africa is an optimistic 30 years providing education is up and ready to go in service of the underprivileged.
The government favors giving loans to African business people but if these people are skill deficient, a lot of wastage and failure will occur, to the cheer of critics who believe Africans are incapable of self-governance. Again the balance between business ownership, education and skill experience will determine the pace of true progress. If one of these things is out of balance the fragile process servicing progress will be arrested, because education without job opportunity doesn't create skill experience, education with skill experience limits the ascension of Africans within industry and will forever see them answering to a skilled European boss.
Entire organizations are set-up by insincere people solely as havens for attracting funding. Skeleton projects whose sole objective is to attract funding as opposed to actually producing any tangible result. Hiding behind the BEE card they are allowed to act without accountability because in the bigger picture they look good on paper. In the township you can find young African filmmakers funded to the teeth with the latest technology still sit unproductive on their hands waiting for the next European to come along and spoon-feed them. The leadership of these places are unskilled or unconcerned about real development and blindly fail to facilitate real development often squandering millions of rand each year. The mind set voiced is “when the big studios discover them”, “when the x and y fund pay for their script.” As opposed to adequate utilization of the benefits of funds, they believe themselves incapable of any advancement without direct assistance.
Hence entire generations do not grow-up sensitive to capital generation or viable business strategies, they grow up sensitive to filing for funds and drafting proposals in areas (ignoring other areas), which grant access to funds. Thus a superficial look around sees Africa full of programs which are solely dependant on funding. Africans now mental believe without this funding there is no other option. And hence other options are never explored. As opposed to develop resource utilization they make big lists to satisfy budgets, hence when funds arrive there is no appreciation of what they have. A sad truth mentioned by a known enemy of African self-determination, Bob Geldof, is that there is an economic limit on how much funds can be given to Africa after which it becomes inefficient. Regardless of his malicious ill-informed reasons this statement is not beyond truth. Solutions interested in reforming poverty need to be broader than raw funds. Funding dependency is like opium in a war clinic, which eventual kills that which it intends to help.
Even if economics was poured on Africa, it still requires the same knowledge of Europe hence—Dependency. If education is achieved it is hinged on Africans obtaining capital to create business and jobs hence they return to the dependent condition. Quick fixes for European conscious will leave nice brochures and tidy projection models satisfied, but the condition on the ground in Africa would be as dire as ever. It is critical that the objective not only be lifting Africa out of poverty but the social/political and economic empowerment of the natural people of Africa beyond dependency. So speaking of foreign investors to create jobs is a side dish, what is needed is African owned industries which employ their own people. BAD LEADERSHIP: EDMUND MHLONGO Not only bad leadership skills , but also corruption South African is desperate to prove to the world that it has truly transformed the society from the injustices of the apartheid era. The situation of funding a generation means that the culture of begging for money is glorified by such as Edmund Mhlongo. While good has come from such people leading art projects in previously disadvantaged areas like KwaMashu, some good is not an acceptable standard. If someone is given 10 million and builds something with only 2 million and waste the balance then the little good can not justify poor management. To sum up Edmund Mhlongo is to sum up the dilemma faced by many South African Africans where they believe themselves to be more intelligent than their peers. In their intelligence they are very cunning and smart to steal pennies or trinkets but stupid with dollars. They go fishing and come home with the bait and lose the fish. So Edmund Mhlongo would steal or trick someone out of a small studio equipment and lose an entire life time of investment and business revenue. He would steal 20% of a project 99% finished and lose the entire project for immediate greed. He believe that merely building an art center, with government money, is an objective in itself; the actually work of development and growth is inconsequential.
Edmund Mhlongo has a collection of cars worth $100,000 US dollars all on a salary from a poor non-profit organization. He finds space in the funding to finance his wife's abysmal career, while the CDs manufactured with sponsors money sit thrown up in a storage room. Without real skills he eats the sweat of greater men and starves the South African youth of a brighter future. A long list of needy township artist are waiting in line to get there music recorded and developed but this does not happen. But no one wants to expose this activity. Because charities are a business and funding charities is politically correct. In a meeting the government development worker says "we spent 10 million this year on arts development in the township." And no one ask to see fruits of how and where this money was spent. When the government runs out of money then the European Christian organizations are another source of revenue. But this time the story is a tour of orphans singing and dancing in Edmund Mhlongo's opera. The issue is that the supposed children are not orphans and are being paid slave wages while Edmund Mhlongo retains the full profit. Now what do white people say about Africans? Must Africans continue to prove them right? Must the children of Africa return to be visited with criminality? This continent has a foundational cancer and Edmund Mhlongo is a very small fish but a contributor to this dilemma. It does not t matter if it is charities, schools, etc the greed and corruption poison everything they touch. And we must look at the root of the disease in Africa and not the symptoms of bad leadership and corruption. Transparency, accountability are far better in South Africa than in say Nigeria. The government does have funds but for lack of suitable BEE candidates this money is squandered on failure after failure. Yet another case study of a Pro-African center which was supposed to be built in Johannesburg does not get funded because they are not part of the Zulu ANC Clique. The Edmund Mhlongo case study is not unique or not rare. It is almost expected to be part and parcel of the African reality. The South African tale is anomalous and unique, but it is one that must be told as it best exemplifies the dependency brewing throughout the continent. South Africa was simply ignored by the West and its media during apartheid. Yet, its rich resources permitted the Apartheid regime to reap immense profits and produce technological and industrial development to the extent that once the regime was officially abolished the western media returned to reveal a wealthy and prosperous South African economy. In fact, they have more natural and economic resources within their borders than any other African country, but the years of deprivation during apartheid have made Africans incapable of efficiently managing their own resources. By eliminating apartheid Africans can no longer find a tangible obstacle to their social progress. It is embedded in years of academic ignorance, disease, lack of vocational training, psychological and physical abuse. Unless Africans see their current situation and the disparity within it through their own eyes, the wealthy minority will continue to reap the fruits of the immense resources of Africans. Not only must Africans in South Africa have financial access to the best educational institutions at all levels but there needs to be a curriculum change to reverse the attitude that the majority of South Africans are bound to townships and removed from any possibility of successfully managing the resources that they own. The right to education cannot continue to be formulated to oppress a particular race yet alone the majority. It is the most brutal man made concept for this to happen, particularly in such a rich land. In the South African society nobody aspires to maintain their Africaness, yet unlike any other African country (where Africans are the majority) its development is on par with Western countries. It is particularly sad that Africans cannot stop looking for capital generating sources externally because they have so much to gain from doing so within their borders. However, it is up to South Africans to recognize their own worth, to reverse the psychological effects of Apartheid and implement an attitude that will ensure that no other South African will be conned into such a system. South Africans should be proud of who they are because their status must generate wealth and development from resources that they own. Institutional change cannot reverse the effects of Apartheid on its own. It must be accompanied by an attitude change amongst South Africans for it to be of any significance. REVERSE APARTHEID?
There is however only one reality, Indians and Europeans for the natural life of what is called South Africa inherited hundreds of years of advantages and it is beyond reason at what steps, that will give them comfort, should be taken to restore an imbalance they are more than comfortable to maintain. This is why words like democracy and equality when thrown against justice are found wanting. Because “equality” fails to look at legacies, “equality” is confined to this time-frame and does cater for historical inequality, while justice speaks to legacy. Justice restores balance and if positive employment in African communities is what is needed to restore this imbalance then that is what has to happen. Despite the skills Europeans, farmers or other people have obtained through a horrid system of oppression, which become meaningless because this advantage means it will always maintain Europeans at the top Africans at the distant bottom. Europeans think by volunteering to offer more managerial positions to Africans vindicates the past horrors but we need to be careful because these are still European owned business at their charity picking and choosing from the African populous, like a slave market. The issue is not for only greater Positive Employment but for absolute African economic self-determination, which can only be realized if African owned business start appearing on the all European South Africa stock market. This kind of vocabulary will bring social reform by actively reshuffling the color dynamics in the upper echelons of the South African economics. When we challenge corruption we must understand the hideous forms in which it takes. When we pose a challenge to pro-White organizations such as DSTV they will always say "We are sorry you are offended.." and leave it at that. This is a trained semi-automated copy-and-paste response to ALL challenges. Never in a million years are they allowed to take responsibility. It is a form of unlimited deniablity , which can never be challenged. These challenges unless conducted in a public space are the silent injustices of our world. In post-apartheid South Africa, we find your racial representations to be regressive and insensitive to the ethnic majority who are still marginalized. 78% of adverts of South African origination is still pro-white. That means the visual advertising time is dominated by White European people. In a nutshell Africa's image is projected via White images. When coupled with international adverts and international programmed content across all visualized broadcast mediums it raises White visibility to 89%. It is almost as if the African demographic is invisible as a target audience. Beyond blatant tokenism our findings found the African visual representations in HIV, servant roles and alcohol related content to be 83% in the same given period. Therefore when Africans are present onscreen they We all respect people like Martin Luther King, jr who said
Now how does this apply to an African country with 80% African people? Overview of White racial bias DSTV (80% pro-White) One voice makes the news, the same group that are nurtured hand and foot to make sure the political temperature in South Africa isn't too hot, less they run away taking precious funds and skills. And it is in this rainbow nation that the colors are neatly arranged with white then brown then colored then finally with a massive gap--Black. A very interesting observation is that South African television is so clean that they edit out every curse word from the broadcast. They even edit out the expression “My God,” but they have no problem with the word Nigger which is blasted from all the negative European sponsored African-American “reality” movies about “hood” life. A stark reminder that from North pole to South Pole Africans have an agenda being set for them by a force outside of their control and outside of their interest. This global force defines reality; may it be the constant “hood” films or yet another European produced South African story of life filed with violence in Soweto. 95% of the content is White dominant. Watching the adverts on TV it would be hard to believe that Africans make up 80% of the population. Most adverts are exclusively white and those that do contain a few Africans usually show them as servants or part of an illusionary rainbow nation.
A casual observation of a young African lady on a plane reading a book, a simple innocent act. But what is she reading? Who wrote it? Where did she buy it? Who from? Questions that paints the deepest picture, for if all information is informed by the oppressor, then what hope of self-awareness does an innocent African child in South Africa or anywhere else in the world have?
A casual conversation with three friendly boys two African one “colored” revealed the hideous vestiges of mental damage caused by living in South Africa. The darkest boy argued that he was really “colored” and not “African” he spoke with a “colored” accent, which is very unusual for an African to speak with, something that at 12 years old he was truly proud of. All three boys expressed their desire to get white or “colored” girlfriends and scoffed at the idea of an African young lady, the two African boys remarked how ugly African women were and not “sexy” like the “colored” girls. But top on the score list was the all precious European girls. Among themselves they pointed out who was “black” and who was “colored” often not being fully sure of this color caste which evidently has no bases for validity, but clear from the confusion and mental occupation it created, only served to show how mentally destructive race can be. The chaos and the destruction visited was erupted when they started comparing the “curliness” of their kinky hair seeking strands from their head which were less kinked as evidences of “mixture.” All of this from three young boys approaching puberty all educated in the best schools in South Africa. Born into a “free society” of inherent self-hatred, which has the ugliest manifestations of absolute identity rejection, for one boy it was painful when he realized he was the same skin color as someone he had just labeled as “black and ugly.” Mixed into this self-hatred was the irony of the hip-hop culture which was one thing they were desperately proud of. The lightest one with his red-brown skin, green eyes and thick straight hair showed signs of an African ancestor but so distant through the “color on color marriages” could be forgiven for being confused in such a racial confusing country, but the other two were so much more vocal on proving their non-Africaness even denying being able to speak Zulu. The final insult was when they asked a European friend to judge between them for who was more or less African. This is South Africa, this is London, this is Barbados, and this is the world forced head first into a Eurocentric dominating culture which is utterly intolerant and mentally and socially destructive. It is next to impossible to see a girl beyond seven years old without the tell tale “bad” Revlon effect. Blinded by European ideas of beauty fed from Europe and “famous” African-Americans, hair-mutilation products poison children from day one. Before they buy books or shoes, they have their hair terribly burnt straight in the most hideous way. Stiff and inflexible it steals from their innocents and natural African beauty. It is unlikely skin-bleaching products would be as popular in South Africa as in other parts of Africa because the people are generally much lighter skin due to the climate of the region. And in this is the twist of Eurocentrity where the light-skin Khoikhoi (man of man) people, were artificially classified as “colored” in an attempt to sustain the natural hatred between them and their Bantu colonizers. Historically, European self-interest is the overriding factor in race definitions, regardless of if it is "race whitening" in Brazil or "coloreds" in South Africa, "mixed" in the UK, or the "one-drop rule" of America. In every instance "race" theories have been constructed to services the interest of White people. South Africa is unique in the world for creating super-identities for pure political reasons. It thus allows a unique window on a great social experiment in identity. Only in South Africa is there an “ethnic” group known as “colored”; one of the most confusing groups who compose of anyone who is not “blatantly” European, Indian or African by virtue of the ease at which a pencil passes through someone’s hair. So, years of this social set-up have created a new community of people identified as “colored”. Being identified as “colored” created a peculiar situation as it granted privileges greater than that of the African populations. Thus, people were desperate to not be identified as African. The complex surrounding being African lingers despite the dismantlement of apartheid. In some cases, members of the same family would be split apart due to being classified in different race groups despite being 100% related.
Their identities as a group seems rooted in actions which allow them to approaching the unobtainable “whiteness.” While espousing social self-hatred of their African bloodline fighting desperately to escape anything that connects them to this. Their language is naturally that of the Europeans—Afrikaans. Violently emotionally seeking Whiteness means their desired choice of partners orientated towards Europeans, furthering their disconnection in a world where authentic identity is becoming more of a birthright to be celebrated. The entire concept of Africans being labeled “black” served the racist European settlers in legitimizing their claim to African land. Because then Africa was the land of two races blacks and whites but the minute the word African was used as a label it constantly shinned as a reminder that the people of Africa are called by the continent which bears that name, a deeply significant unbreakable bond to that which is the bases for all of the oppression—land. However agency demands the power of definitions remain with the majority and not the settler minority.
With the efforts of Thabo Mbeki who proclaimed everyone in South Africa, Africans testify to a tragic dilemma of misrepresentation. Mbeki then found space in the lyrics of the national anthem for the curtsied Afrikaans language which at every singing must remind Africans that the price of “freedom” is to sell-out ones heritage and history. Cheek turning casual ill-informed policies of appeasement crash hope in those who have suffered so long. These are the things obvious to the eyes, how can the African put faith in a government so obviously compromised. The ancestors must ride out immortality in tearful silence watching their pain and sacrifice, hopes and dreams traded for cheap trinkets. CORRUPTION AND EUROPE'S AGENDA
Petty corruption cannot be Africa's downfall. And again and again we see the European agenda showing its head where Africa is blamed and Europe is vindicated: Slavery—Africa's fault, Poverty Africa's fault. AIDS Africa's fault. The mention of Mbeki's name in the West always focuses down on his HIV/AIDS policy, of all the things he has said and done why is this the key area of focus? Because Europe selects the agenda for Africa. Transatlantic slave trade, colonial rule, viral introduction, destruction of African family unit through poverty and slavery has no bearing in these issues. It is almost like Africa woke up and found itself in this mess. And this gross injustice speaks to the head of the issue—Self-Determination. Europe ultimately decides which voices they will be aired, and not aired, demonize or celebrated. Mugabe is a victim of this; Mandela is another example of this on the flip side. Once they love and sell back to the world and the other they hate. It is a fact Europe doesn't act in its disinterest and the love of Mandela is not accidental, once a terrorist he is now a world symbol, the unspoken question needs to be asked---Why? South Africa has produced three European approved greats in the African World Mandela, Wangari Maathai and Desmond Tutu. It must be said quietly there is no mistake when Europeans select and celebrate Africans. GUM TREE PROJECT A new scheme in South Africa is the new gum tree, which litters the roadsides outside of the major towns. The new trees have an unusually fast growth rate that means they are ready for harvest within 10 years. The wood has limited use and cannot be used for construction without extensive post-treatment. However, whoever engineered the scheme forgot to tell the eager Africans. It was said the first harvest belongs to the Europeans and the harvest after that belongs to the Africans. It would be interesting or hopeful that the economic value of the Gum trees would be as profitable by the time the Africans get their turn. But we can see a new product arriving on the market by the time they get to harvest and Europe collecting again and again. And we have to ask who owns the processing factories? Who owns the pulp factories? It is no surprise to find the answer to these questions because when solutions for Africa keep coming from those whose traditional role is that of exploitation it is no surprise to see the constant implementation of projects that profit them first Africa last, if at all. DEMOCRACY 10 Years of democracy seems to be a political and economic backdoor for one of the most ruthless exponents of White supremacy in the world. They lose political power, or appear to lose political power while making sure all the old injustices get window dressed and glorified as truth and reconciliation. Europe gave up what it could afford to give up, while the Africans cashed in their justice for the admin of a country governed by white economics. They escape economically by maintaining the same business monopoly to save a few dark faces, which can exist at sub-managerial roles, so now walking into an office it, is just that much darker.The structures and systems in place hold no true promises of change if they are built defensively to the whims of Europeans. In other words if the policies of change are more orientated on what compromises Europeans are willing to make rather than what Africans need for liberation.RECONCILIATION WITHOUT JUSTICE " Look at this Truth and Reconciliation charade. He should never have agreed to it. What good does the truth do? How does it help anyone to know where and how their loved ones were killed or buried? That Bishop Tutu who turned it all into a religious circus came here " - Winnie Mandela The proceedings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the body charged with exposing the atrocities of the apartheid years, showed "the unwillingness of white society in general, including white politicians, business, the judiciary, the media and the church, to explain its involvement in the maintenance and perpetuation of the apartheid system".- Mary Braid
However the average person on the street had no idea of what the day was about. It is interesting that on this day of reconciliation millions of Africans swarmed the beaches to enjoy this holiday but where were the Asians and Europeans?—no where to be found. Truth and reconciliation is one of the biggest farces put before the world. From “Red Dawn” with Hilary Swank to “In my country” with Samuel Jackson, film and politics work together to social engineer passive acceptance of this insult to human suffering. All these films display one thing, the ability to forgive and forget, to move on and allowed the Whites to keep the spoils of war. Which brings into question so-called African cinema in South Africa which is a European only domain. They write the themes and set the agendas, agenda which protect their interest for clearly Africans forgiving them is only in their interest. Europeans come from the wealthy suburbs to tell their “truth” and Africans come from the townships of poverty to listen to the “truth” without any hope of justice that is supposed to bring closure. The Europeans, not even seeking forgiveness, gets in their Mercedes Benz and drive back to their house equipped with a full range of African servants and heated swimming pool while the African walks back to their township with slung heads, empty pockets and evaporated hopes. The price for hearing the truth is everything stays the same. Denial of justice is not just an issue for South African people, as some believe but an issue for Africans globally. Because Africans didn't create the false notion of Southern Africa. Hence the blood and pain and oppression levied on South Africa are an injury on Africans across the globe. The European voice internationally cheers the success of the “monkey courts” use to trade hundreds of years of pain for silly gestures. The tone is one of normalizing suffering across the board “we all suffered,” “let's heal as one.” It is interesting no one expects this of other communities. If the Jewish community found a 100 year old Nazi war criminal they would hunt him down and give him a full trial without an eye blink. Can you imagine the Jewish community hugging and kissing the Nazis that burnt them in ovens? Those present and not present those in the Diaspora who spoke out, so the betrayal is strongly felt not only by South Africans but by Africans globally. CONCLUSION
Transformation in South Africa is a job for humanity. Everyone on this planet has a role to play. But the roles are not equal or the same. The role of the African must be as an agent in self-determination. The role of the international community is in holding SA to the promises of equitable societies, free from racism. Only bold steps can salvage the economic and moral issues of SA. Superficial gestures cannot repair or smooth over the horrible ongoing legacy of white supremacy. And it must be called for what it is. South Africa unlike Ethiopia does not have massive famines but it is said HIV/AIDS is a crisis beyond any other country on Earth. It is interesting a disease unprecedented in Africa is now most common in Africa, and for those that venture into this discussion are labeled as conspiracy theorist, but not so those European writers, which still “factually” claim, AIDS has its roots in “deepest darkest Africa.” in every breath Europeans serve their own interest first and at the expense of justice and truth, clearly the question of intention must be asked. Until Africans can place their own benchmarks and international standards for evaluating themselves, they will always fall short of global excellence.ms, profited from these problems, transferred these problems during “independence” and now is back with a new hat profiting from solving these problems.
Justice and honesty must be the root of a society and South Africa is one of the most vivid examples of the global African dilemma of oppression. And how it still manifest itself in a society which has physically destroyed the mechanism of racism and left the roots in place to continue to favor White privilege and domination.
Dr. T.Shabazz. Is an African-American (of Guyanese parents) sociologist and journalist who moved back to Johannesburg South Africa in 1996, he writes on Diaspora Repatriations.
|
|