We must invent a humane world in which to live and die with dignity. This entails both an economics and a consciousness of black freedom
Steve Biko
Posted inNews/Politics
The ANC’s psycho-political failure
The politics of compromise and concessions preserve, rather than rupture, the master-slave dialectic
Posted inEquality
The burden of collective black victimhood
The froth over a shampoo advert allows us to consider that we are not the victims we have always been made to believe we are
Posted inEnvironment, Equality, General, News/Politics
Biko: Philosophy, identity and liberation
Reading Biko: Philosophy, Identity and Liberation by Professor Mabogo Percy More; I am left to wonder of the man (Bantu Stephen “Steve” Biko) who should have been king; that is the man who should have been the first black president of the Republic of South Africa. Or is that racist? Perhaps I should say, the […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Heritage Day: What’s wrong with this picture?
I have a love-hate relationship with Heritage Day. Beyond the warm and fuzzy feelings of seeing people in different and beautiful outfits representing their heritage — our diversity as the rainbow nation — it’s also a point of tension and possibly pain. In the wake of a cultural appropriation incident a few months ago, Heritage […]
Posted inEquality, Lifestyle
We are not born inferior to anyone
Far too many suffer from self-imposed inferiority complex. This is because they pay too much attention to what others have, especially the advantaged. They feel inadequate because they are looking at what others have: money, houses, furniture, clothes, cars, food and positions. As they say in the in the townships, “Bhek’indaba zakho wna!” – just […]
Posted inEquality
Critical consciousness is the answer
There is, increasingly, a common message that is emerging about South Africa 21 years since the formal end of apartheid — things are getting bad. As argued elsewhere, this might not be surprising particularly if we look at the developmental experiences during the first two decades or so for many post-independent countries on our continent. […]
Posted inEquality
The problem with “Why I can’t ‘get over’ apartheid”
I had the privilege of teaching both “white” and “black” children during the apartheid era, during the transition, and thereafter. This was from about 1988 to 2004.* Xhosa teenagers in Langa High** (I taught there in 1989 and 1990) were highly politicised, talked about oppression and how to dismantle apartheid. Once the ANC was unbanned […]
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
If Rhodes goes, Jesus Christ must go
Here’s an inconsequential bit of South African literary history. The late poet Professor Stephen Watson used to have me over to his little house on Rouwkoop Road in Rondebosch just across the road from the railway line. This was in the mid-Eighties. With the occasional roar of a passing train in the background we often […]
Posted inEquality
Biko lives but transformation suffers
As we commemorate the brutal and barbaric killing of Stephen Bantu Biko this time of the year we are once again forced to reflect on where we are as a country against the ideals that Biko died for. South Africa is also marking 20 years of political independence. It is fitting, indeed, to ask and […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
Don’t talk to me about race or blackness!
It was one of those easy and relaxed days over the weekend. I was in a group of family and friends enjoying drinks, snacks and good company. After all, we had been invited to hang out and just catch up. I was aware that this was an exclusive black group in a so-called former white-only […]
Posted inEquality, General
Times are changing…
It was at a girl’s varsity residence room the morning after we had sex that I read, for the first time, Steve Biko’s I write what I like. I was lying next to her, naked, and she had a handful of books on a bedside table. I read the first few essays, which left me […]