Old Marcus Garvey

Remembering to Re-member

  

1.    The Fall of governments

"The fall of nations and empires has always come about first by the disorganized spirit - the disorganized sentiment of those who make up the nation or empire.The one class opposing, fighting against the other, the other class seeking to deprive them of the essentials of life which are necessary for the good and well-being of all."

– The Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey*

It’s been said that South Africans are overly and unnecessarily obsessed with race. Most of the people who vocalize this opinion are liberal or conservative democrats who strongly feel that those who strive to address social inequalities by trying to deal with the racial challenges of the country are being disrespectful to the sacrifices of the Mandela’s and the Tutu’s, architects of our non-racial post 1994 Republic.

While this is not written to spark arguments, I must strongly advise these naïve and innocent souls that as the old dreaded Peter McIntosh sang, ‘there’s no peace without equal rights and justice.’ And before we delve into further thoughts about matters of neo-colonial and global problems of injustice, it would be reasonable to zero in on the specter of inter-racial injustices. 

Although South Africa has to deal with its racial inequalities which are a result of our infamous apartheid past, it must not be forgotten that the biggest challenges facing us are beyond the skin or the colour-line, they are simply matters of justice and until they are sufficiently dealt with, there is no amount of racial argument that will help us reconcile our differences. As Ethiopia’s last emperor Haile Selassie I once said, ‘International Morality is what is at stake’.

We must endeavor to restore Ubuntu to the world, what Steve Biko meant when he said that the gift of modern day Black people will be to bestow a ‘more human face’ upon the human race.

Let us also be reminded that we are not living in a vacuum, we are living in a world that is said to be undergoing rapid integration via a phenomenon called Globalization. Although experts would remind us that globalization is in fact not an innovative concept triggered by modernist industrial monopolization, it is equally true that due to present day technologies it has acquired an unprecedented quickening and an unrelenting pace. But just like its colonial and pro capitalist foundations, globalization can also be said to be losing its grip as Third World societies begin to assert their own self reliance.

It must also be noted that globalization also assumes some of the traits inherited from the preindustrial and post-industrial features of overt and covert racism.

Failure or unwillingness to recognize this is tantamount to amnesia and a deliberate desire to maintain the status quo, but if one is eager to see sustainable changes in our society, this racism has to be tackled head-on or else it will plunge us back to another Scramble for Africa. While the imperial powers of the world no longer openly trade in slaves and other people’s lands, they continue to trade in our resources, skills and various forms of talents. Many of the tactics used to play the political game are still tinged with the distinctive racial biases. While others overcompensate for their own prejudices by playing the race card in every compromising situation, they reduce the serious work that should be done in this field to sensationalism which uncouth media thrives upon.

As much as that is true, it shouldn’t entirely diminish the zeal of those who still seek proper ways to address issues of reparations, repatriations and even proper implementation of economic policies such as Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment. It is unfortunate yet not surprising that in Azania/South Africa there are still a lot of democracy advocates who’d rather not mention the word race, BEE or reparations unless they mentioned them in a negative light.

In order to jolt these ignoramuses, or as Lauren Hill called them ‘Intelligent Fools’ and masters in mass deception, let us review a telling page from recent American and United Kingdom history.

“In 1999, a year before the controversial presidential elections in the USA, Katherine Harris, George Bush’s presidential campaign co-chairperson and Florida secretary of state in charge of elections, called in researchers from Database Technologies to sift through Florida’s electoral rolls. Its brief was to systematically remove anyone ‘suspected’ of being an ex-felon (convict in SA parlance).

Thirty one per cent of all black men in Florida have a felony on their record and they were immediately struck off, as were thousands of other blacks that had had their voting privileges reinstated (after misdemeanors). Black people overwhelmingly vote Democrat – that is, they would have been potential Al Gore supporters. But as Michael Moore points out in his book Stupid White Men, the brief to Database Technologies went further and it was instructed to include not just felons, but those blacks who shared similar names to those of felons or had similar social security numbers.” – Rebel Columns, Danny Morrison (beyond the pale productions, 2004)

Let us not go any further, the intelligent reader will note that what happened there was clear electoral fraud, yes, and the perpetuation of un-free and unfair elections in the so called Land of the Free. Of course one would think that in a civilized world where the US of A is known as the protector of the exploited and the shining beacon of democracy, an incident such as this one would be widely reported and that the votes would be rescinded. But no, this is America, and we must bear in mind that this was a clear war of wills between the Republican Bush and the Democratic Gore.

But this is not to say that the democratic candidate would have been a godsend to the already ailing image of American politics, since there is very little that can convince anyone that Americans would not engage in indecent foreign policies, illegal and internationally condemned wars and the wanton plundering of other countries resources if the vote was swayed otherwise. The point is there is something intrinsically wrong with the type of democracy that is being practiced worldwide, it is a far cry from its basic definition.

What I wish to illustrate here is how the general injustices and political wars even in the USA (especially in the USA) have largely been racially based. Just like everywhere else in the so called civilized territories of our God-forsaking world, the scales are always tipped against the darker peoples whether they are seen as minorities or whatever labels the powers that be choose to bestow upon us.

 It is as if we were truly born to suffer from the consequences of our white sisters and brothers deliberate injustices.

But this is not a metaphysical thing at all, it has nothing to do with the power or the powerlessness of God or gods, it is the direct result of what old Marcus Garvey calls a ‘disorganized spirit’.

But what on earth might this mean and how can we unlearn our prejudices and somehow find ways to re-organize and save our collective spirits?

It is clear in many cases that people of all races can live in perfect harmony with one another. It has been done before, it is being done by some and it certainly can be multiplied in our future. The unfortunate thing about all these instances is that this non-racialism is being enjoyed by people who generally turn a blind eye to the suffering of billions of Black people. This is type of liberal tendency to enjoy the trappings of the Eurocentric world at the expense of true racial justice is part of what made upright figures such as Garvey, Malcolm X, Steve Biko and Thomas Sankara persona non-gratas even among their own race.

Many Black people even without their own awareness crave to live like Europeans, this is the power of white supremacy and its insidious weapon against intelligent dissent and outright revolution. The racists make it difficult to think of them as an enemy that needs to be eliminated in order to achieve true liberty since many Blacks still fear that without the white-man there would be no civilization to speak of, no morality and even no knowledge of God, our parents believe that without the white Jesus we would all descent into hell. This is a serious pathological trauma, and it requires a massive army of Garvey types to induce people to practice New Thoughts and a different attitude towards their own government.

Beginning with Southern Afrikan society, where rampant police brutality, crimes against women and children have increased, corruption is endemic and the ruling government and opposition parties have slid into a seemingly perpetual disorder, how can we re-organize our collective Spirit; what is Garvey’s advice to we the people who still yearn for a better world, a freer and more just society?

“Our modern systems of Government have partly failed and are wholly failing. We have tried various forms, but none has measured up to the Ideal State. Communism was the last attempt, and its most ardent advocates have acknowledged its limitations, shortcomings and impossibility. The reason for all this is not far to seek. The sum total of Governmental collapse is traceable to the growing spirit of selfishness, graft and greed within the individual. Naturally, the state cannot govern itself: it finds expression and executes its edicts through individuals, hence the State is human. Its animation is but the reflex of our human characters.

If we must correct the maladministration of the State and apply the corporate majesty of the people to their own good, then we must reach the source and there reorganize or reform.” – ( Essay by Marcus Garvey, page 29, Governing The Ideal State )

   

If seemingly perpetual social and institutional racism is somehow a form of natural competitiveness gone extremely awry, then surely there is a way to somehow re-channel it through some kind of humanitarian cooperation. If racism, xenophobia and all its nefarious manifestations can be done away with, then there is potential for the justice and rule of conscience that is needed by all of us, but if our fears and selfish tendencies continue to rule us, then we will remain the victims of discord and war that we have been trained to become ever since we gave in to beliefs that told us that we are essentially animals instead of the divine beings that we truly are.

Hutuapo!!!

By Any Revolutionary Means Necessary?

Southern Afrika Pre and Post Revolution

24 June 2012

Scenarios: No Country is an island

As the Republic of South Africa heads towards the leading party’s policy framing conference, the people of the Republic and surrounding countries are undergoing what could be termed a silent revolution, marked by sporadic yet recurring ‘service delivery’ and labour strikes, civil society constantly battling against the States abuse of power and infringements upon the constitution and the list goes on. The elites declare that these are merely an indication of a robust and healthy democracy. In fact the world “robust discussion” have been thrown around so much that their meaning has all but disappeared.

But could these surging and seemingly separate social uprisings be the catalyst, a seed for a mass popular revolution? The question could be phrased in much the same way as South Afrika’s President Jacob G. Zuma put it in his statements during the recent NUMSA national rally held in Durban. The president said that a revolution in this country is unavoidable but it is up to ‘us’ to shape the direction of the masses, to make it a creative rather than a destructive revolution. He said that it would be unfortunate to undo the progress made since 1994. Yet the majority of South Afrikans would say that they have benefited very little from whatever progress there may be. I am also curious to know what the President really means by us, because surely if he means his African National Congress and the scores of people who blindly follow him, then a really radical and progressive revolution in Southern Afrika will never happen.

In the meanwhile we are all witnessing the gradual and often bloody unfolding of massive popular uprisingsin the North Afrikan, Middle Eastern regions, these upheavals have even been termed the Arab Spring. A curious and connotative name if there ever was one, a spring is something – usually water - that bubbles out as if out of nowhere and is able to engulf a wide region and in its wake  influences either growth or destruction. In the case of the Arab Spring, it refers to the fact that the revolutionary sentiment has been mostly sparked by youth, before it engulfed entire countries as in a domino effect.Since most of the conflicts in worldly affairs are based on competition over access and or delivery of resources, then it is clear that everything we do is tied to the use or misuse of such resources. Then it would be reasonable to say that the social unrest springs from a general dissatisfaction and disillusionment with the direction of capitalism. In other words, it is a mass reaction to a global systematic failure, the source of which is not just North African and Middle Eastern countries, but the very spine of Western civilization. The whole system does not require reformation, a review or a transition, it needs to be totally overhauled and done away with. But then we need to think up a New World, a more beautiful and sensible system, one that puts humanity before consumables.

Some have said that South Afrika missed a golden opportunity in 1994 to turn the transition from apartheid to democracy into a fully fledged revolution, a cataclysmic popular transformation of not just political power but also economic wealth. But the sunset clauses and compromises that the leading political party entered into with their former enemies – the apartheid government - ensured that a large share of resource wealth firmly  in the hands of white people and their foreign partners who continue to exploit workers and enrich themselves while whole still divided communities languish in poverty.Some say 95% of state owned resources remain in white hands and the State is only administering policies to keep it that way, on our behalf.

Our once faithful political leaders assured us that a peaceful, read un-revolutionary transition was necessary to avoid general blood-shed, we had to endure the precarious terrain of ill begotten legislation and policies forced upon us by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, globalization and become a submissive rainbow people of God.

It is no surprise then that only a handful of Black people have been able to reap the gains from such legislations as affirmative action, Black Economic Empowerment and purported economic stability. BEE even the so called Broad Based type still benefits mostly the executives who are still predominantly white and male.Thus after 18 years of majority rule, the gap between the rich and poor in this country has drastically widened, contrary to the promises and boasts of the leading party. But be are told to ignore the human and environmental cost and focus on the  industrial gains, in a country that has shut down many factories and outsources even the sowing of the national sporting teams jerseys. We are urged to be proudly South African when we cannot even manufacture our own textiles and clothing, shoes and much, much more.

 If we are to really bring about a revolutionary or radical change in the Black condition in Southern Afrika, we will have to review some of the more nuanced causes for the slow pace of transformation. If we cannot as a society diagnose our self, the world will continue dumping its ideas, failed systems and even their waste matter on us.

In light of what is happening all over the world regarding the failure of free market capitalism, the financial crisis in Europe, the ongoing conflicts in Mali, Sudan and human rights abuses in some of our neighboring countries, we also have to begin envisioning some scenarios in South Afrika whereby the country will be rendered ungovernable and the masses of unemployed people begin to forcefully assert their rights. The patience of the poor masses cannot be expected to last that long, and although the leading party’s admit to this, it does not seem like they quite appreciate the degree of urgency. Is South Afrika ready for revolution?

Scenario 2: No longer at ease

Perhaps South Afrika’s liberation movements, especially the popular ruling party, the African National Congress was naïve and gullible when it received political power, perhaps it should have formed a better alliance with the more Pan Afrikanist movements such as the PAC, SOPA, AZAPO and a serious social contract with certain civil society institutions beyond the dubiously accepted tripartite alliance with the SACP and COSATU.

This is just a retrospective musing, and it is possible that after the CODESA meetings, the ANC was in such a position as to render it incapable of negotiating efficiently with parties with which it had fundamentally divergent policies, especially regarding land, the rendering of services and most crucially regarding economics.

Yet it did not seem so hard to form a pro-capitalist alliance with a dubiously Communist party, a New National Party made up of the old apartheid heads, we were told that this was all necessary in order to ensure a smooth and bloodless democratic process.

We have thus inherited many of the oppressive attributes of a colonial government, including untransformed and a deformable social structure. In other words, no matter how excellent our new constitution, it is impossible to liberate the masses while we are still operating within a system co-designed with our enemies. We have to break the degenerative seeds of neo-colonialism, there will be no progress while we still nurture and legitimize white supremacy.

The cracks within the ANC and its alliance partners are merely a staged show designed to distract the media and to cool the tempers of the seething masses. The problem is systemic and it can no longer be covered up by political posturing. Are we ready for an ANC, DA, IFP-less country?

Let us take a brief look at the challenges that were and are still faced by South Afrika’s present developmental state, which is really a fanciful welfare state. We have to look at what kind of government we do have before we even begin to challenge it and strive to replace it by all means necessary.

“Following on from South Africa’s constitutional development process which took place in the early 1990’s, the country’s constitution established a three-sphere system of government comprising local, provincial and national levels of government.

This system was viewed by experts and politicians at the time as the most appropriate for South Africa, which is a large, multi-ethnic country featuring important regional differences.

The local level of government is correctly understood as the pillar of democracy where politics meets people. Political plans and decisions should be the result of a participative process that includes the cultural context and specificities of the locality. However, municipalities and districts are heavily reliant on subsidies and capacity support from higher spheres.

From the perspective of the local level, the national administration is far removed from their specific problems and finds it difficult to support the communities adequately.

There are many examples throughout the world where governments have adopted centralized systems because decentralization was not able to deliver properly. A problematic consequence of centralization however is a lack of ownership of and responsibility for decisions especially at the lower levels, or the advent of separation movements.

In South Africa, the Department of Provincial and Local Government has introduced a provincial review process. This coincides with the ongoing political debate on poor service delivery and the alleged mismanagement that is affecting the relationship between the three spheres and government.” – (Dr Werner Bohler, KAS resident representative in Johannesburg, in the Review of Provinces and Local Governments in South Africa: Constitutional Foundations and Practice.)

I decided to quote this foreword at length because it is instructive if one is to understand the challenges of South Afrika’s government, regarding both services delivery and how the State apparatus is shaped. It is clear from the above that RSA appears to have a very participative democratic system and that both a centralized and decentralized method is employed to ensure the most efficient fulfillment of the governments duties. Yet despite all the legislation, the celebrated constitution, matters of maladministration, graft and general inadequacy persist in the RSA, of course one is not asking for a utopian State, but there appears to be a system failure in our country. Even the claim that we are a popular democracy is beginning to sound more dubious. What seems to have gone wrong from such well laid plans?

Let us look at a few reasons.

Due to many reasons, perhaps because of the pressures of an impoverished majority, it is possible that the ANC government adopted a disastrous social welfare model. While the government had to use all the political weapons at its disposal, it had to also claim that the methods and policies it was developing were in harmony with popular notions of Ubuntu, namely, the values and principles of humaneness, a spirit of giving and industriousness, while balancing that with strong anti-entitlement messages.

Essentially we the people had to see to it that we strive to be creative and self sufficient entrepreneurs and that the government would offer all the support it possibly can muster.

Developmental social welfare became therefore the reclamation of an authentically African, non-Eurocentric way of caring, based on reciprocity and community development.

This is how the ANC continues to triumph over opposition, whatever failures it has are either attributed to inherited apartheid era backlogs or they are portrayed as the results of counter-revolutionary elements especially from civil society or other popular opposition parties.

Through carefully chosen words and emotive statements, the rising anger and disillusionment of the masses is thus quelled. All anti ANC voices are labeled counter-revolutionary, unpatriotic and even racist. Whistle blowers are increasingly under attack and there is an arsenal of elitist intellectuals whose business it is to be apologists for the ruling party, crushing all popular insurgence by claiming that all the policies and constitutional rights of the public are in place, therefore the country is in good hands. No need to panic. Problems! what problems?

“Armed with developmental social welfare, the ANC could now discredit the very idea that political liberation entailed a structural change in the distribution of resources:

 The idea that ‘the world now owes me a favor because I was a victim of apartheid oppression may well be understandable, but it is simply confirms and continues a cycle of dependency.’” –

(African National Congress, 1997 )

Ironically, this statement is dubious since then ANC government has continued to depend on IMF policies, World Bank handouts and even the willing seller willing buyer land policy that is unpopular even within its ranks. There is very little to show that this is a self reliant government, yet it continues to tell its citizens that they must become more economically self reliant.

Note these blatantly self-aggrandizing statements from one of the running party’s former chiefs:

‘Leila Patel – a social work professor and from 1995 to 1999, the Welfare Departments director general, argued for a “family-centred and community-based social policy to propagate “entrepreneurial values” with which “disadvantaged groups” could overcome their ‘passivity’ (Patel 2001). She actively promoted the sub-contracting of welfare services to companies, NGO’s and community associations ( DOW 1999) With the help of non-state actors, she wrote, the poor would become “empowerment partners in the privatization of state assets” and “potential shareholders … without making capital contributions.”’ – (Patel 2001: 39)

Furthermore, Patel found ammunition for welfare cutbacks in the idea that “in pre-colonial times, the welfare needs of individuals were met through the wider society, and communalism, cooperation and mutual support by individuals and the social groups were highly developed.”

 (Patel 1992: 34)

In the same paternalistic and preposterous spirit that I have already mentioned, the political elites are always eager to blame someone else for their own failures, Patel continues:

‘Colonialism disrupted African “self –reliance, dignity and respect of tradition” not through capitalist market – relations and wage labor but by imposing “curative”, institutional and “bureaucratic” European welfare models.’

By mentioning this I aim to illustrate that although the ANC government aims to be inclusive and representative, by making sure that it has in place ‘Commissions of inquiry, public hearings and consultative processes provide platforms for stakeholders to enact competing visions of society, legitimation strategies, citizenship claims, and expectations on the roles and status of productive and unproductive members of the nation.’

This is how the State charts its progress against constitutional promises of rights and grand programs of delivery. Business tries to ennoble corporate profits with social responsibility, labour demands its policy payoffs for past and present struggles, and marginalized communities seek recognition and relief for their plight, phrased in the language of common humanity.

All these forces conspire to make one assume that the Southern Afrikan political terrain is a complex one and this is also how the ruling elites manage to win the hearts and minds of the majority. We are enticed to believe that despite the many challenges, the government ministers and all public servants are doing their best and that there is no need for a regime change.

After analyzing the precarious nature of wage work, labour unionism and South Afrika’s democratic transition, here is what one researcher had to say:

“By the first half of the 2000’s, the decline of decent jobs, despite robust economic growth, and widespread protests at the governments lack of delivery dramatically placed the idea of work based social inclusion at the center of contestation in the policy process.

As under the apartheid government, in democratic RSA the employment status determines citizen’s access to social provisions. The social security system is still characterized by the drastic separation of its two main components, social insurance and relies on occupational schemes, like retirement pensions, medical aid, ad unemployment benefits.” – (Franco Barchiesi, p.98)

He continues to state:

“The second class citizenship of precarious workers mirrored indeed the ‘second economy’ official metaphor of their productive functions. Belying the constitutional universalism of rights are representations of the non-working poor as an alien threat to the body politic, for which self-help is a psychological as well as social treatment. E.g. A disability grant claimant once told a researcher: “Yes, I like this HIV/AIDS because we have grants to support us. (Cited in Nattrass 2006: 13)” – (Barchiesi, page 107)

In other words, the victims of apartheid and ultimately the democratic welfare state are not only portrayed as part of the problem, they are also reduced to neurotic and pathological social outcasts, eager to endure debilitating illness trusting that their government will deliver the proverbial fish  and bread without the providing the means to produce it.

Whatever positive values that ever existed in the concept of Ubuntu have been rendered nonsensical by the governments watered down and anti-black version of it, once again, Barchiesi is very instructive when he states that:

“A social policy discourse infused with anti dependency morals and images of individual initiative tried to bring to life a virtuous individual citizen – at once a worker, consumer, and owner – as the imaginary partner of the state.” (Barchiesi, page 107)

So we must ask ourselves then, if wage work cannot does not generally guarantee decent income, social security, retirement provisions, decent healthcare, utilities, decent housing for the large majority of wage earners, and then what is required to transform our unequal society?

Perhaps it is not possible to come up with one or even a series of simple answers, but if we are to become a prosperous and successful nation, we all have our work cut out for us, and to fulfill this mission will require proper analytical tools and leadership that is willing to shed old notions of statehood.

While we all have a role to play in the Afrikan economic renaissance, it is clear that we are not operating in a vacuum, besides the surging social and labour dissatisfaction, there are international forces that clearly show that capitalism as we know it is a failure, yet despite the contending ideas urging RSA government towards more socialist policies, our leaders continue to fight silly political wars and to any serious person, it is clear that there is no real difference in this regard, between the socio-economic policies of the ANC or the DA, the two main ‘opposing’ forces.

Currently, the economic conversation in high and low places circles around entrepreneurship, moral leadership and job creation. Very few if any of these voices are concerned with what kind of citizen is required to ensure that the economic and ethical success of this country is sustainable. We are faced with problems which go far beyond the matter of employment, we are currently mostly paying lip-service to our ecology, environmental degradation and the Green Economy issues that could really enable millions of citizens to become meaningfully employed.

Employment as we know it will not solve the socio-economic and identity problems that plague our people daily.

Note the following study:

“A vast research project outlining employment scenarios up to 2024 concluded that even if the unemployment rate fell by half, to 13%, the share of South Africans living in poverty would decline by only 15%, to 35% of the population. The director of the project, economist Miriam Altman, commented: “I was shocked because I thought if you halved unemployment, you would halve poverty.” Past the initial shock, Altman (2007a: 18) concluded that “the link between work and well being in South Africa seems tenuous.” As Baudrillard (1983: 65) wrote, work as an institution that heralds the rise of the social is producing and destroying the social in the same movement.” –

‘The question which stirs us…is not the well-being human beings will enjoy in the future but rather what kind of people they will be.” – Max Weber, ‘The Nation State and Economic Policy.

This all sounds a bit confusing perhaps to a person who is not yet convinced that a revolution should take place in whatever form, beyond a general uprising and masshysteria.  It should be a change of attitude, a gradual yet radical transformation of the society’s manners that can really improve our lives, especially those of Black folks who have endured many years of indignity. But are we ready, are we even sufficiently mentally prepared to be stewards of such a change?

Scenario 3: Visionary Leadership

If Southern Afrika does undergo a radical and massive revolution do we have among us any visionary and dedicated leaders, can we honestly say that Azania can produce an Upright Man in the fashion of a Thomas Sankara, an Amilcar Cabral, Solomon Plaatjie and Marcus Garvey, Robert Sobukwe, Steve Biko,  to name but a few? Is it possible that among the Born Frees there is a young woman or young man in whose veins surges the revolutionary and Pan Afrikanist zeal of all these figures?

For all our sake, let us hope so, and indeed, if such people do exist in the real New Southern Afrika, they will have to be trained in a radically new and progressive political science, endowed with the necessary skills to carry out the affairs of a resource rich region without succumbing to current trends of corruption. We are not talking about a superhuman being, but if we should believe in the future of a sustainable and acceptable New SA, we must be allowed to dream big.

It is a well known fact that in our turmoil ridden past many young visionaries were tortured, murdered and forced to escape to other countries, some of them even died in exile, while some returned to become embittered citizens as they watch their colleagues plunder the freedoms they all collectively toiled for.Be that as it may, Southern Afrika’s young democracy is still much at risk of being curtailed by many forces. It would serve us well, to look into the past in order to learn from mistakes, victories and trace the steps of greatness. As Bob Marley put it, so poetically, “In this great future, you can’t forget your past…”

To begin our quest towards the ancient future, let us learn from the words of another great son of Afrika that was stolen away yet whose lion like roar still continues to ring clearly through the centuries, none other than Marcus Garvey. Here’s a shortened version of his vision of a sound an ideal Government:

“If we must correct the maladministration of the State and apply the corporate majesty of the people to their own good, then we must reach the source and there reorganize or reform. Under the pressure of our civilization, with its manifold demands, the individual is tempted, beyond measure, to do evil or harm to others; and if responsible, to the entire state and people, and if by thus acting he himself profits and those around him, there arises corruption in Government, as well as in other branches of the secular and civil life.

All other methods of government having been tried and failed, I suggest a reformation that would place a greater responsibility upon the shoulders of the elect and force them either to be criminals, that some of us believe they are, or the good and true representatives we desire them to be. His or Her administrators and judges should be held to strict accountability, and on committing of any act of injustice, unfairness favoritism or malfeasance, should be taken before the public, disgraced and then stoned to death.

This system would tend to attract to the sacred function of Government and judicial administration, only men and women of the highest and best characters, whom the public would learn to honor and respect with such satisfaction as to obliterate and prevent the factional party fights of Socialism, Communism, Anarchism, etc., for the control of Government, because of the belief that Government is controlled in the interest of classes, and no for the good of all the people. It would also discourage the self-seekers, grafters, demagogues and charlatans from seeking public offices, as the penalty of discovery of crime would be public disgrace and death for them and their families.” – (The Marcus Garvey and Universal Negro Improvement Association Papers, p.31)

To Be Continued!

Garvey Lives!!!

verbalism documentary - shorter edit

Fun.: We Are Young ft. Janelle Monáe (ACOUSTIC)

Out With The New In With The True!

 By Any Means…?

Before delving into the comparison of a mass global movement called Occupy with the September National Imbizo, let’s look at a few quotations:

“Class separation and perpetuation and the growing wealth divide is not a by product. It is inevitable. In the Free Market, one is actually ‘free’ to take away the liberty of others through the mere economic pressures generated from the game. You are only as free as the size of your wallet. The term ‘institution Racism’ was coined by civil rights activist Stokely Carmichael in the 1960s referring to how often unnoticed underlying policies and structures within the social system undermined African-American prosperity and equality. What we have today is a mere variation: “Institutional Classism”.

“The Zeitgeist Movement is a global sustainability activist group working to bring the world together for the common goal of species sustainability before it is too late. It is a social movement, not a political one, with over 1100 chapters across nearly all countries. Divisive notions such as nations, governments, races, political parties, religions, creeds or class are non-operational distinctions in the view of The Movement. Rather, we recognize the world as one system and the human species as a singular unit, sharing a common habitat. Our overarching intent could be summarised as “the application of the scientific method of social concern.”” – (Press Release by TZM – The Zeitgeist Movement to “Occupy Wall Street” – www.occupywallst.org, sent to Tsidi* who forwarded it to me.)

On the 31 May 2011, a certain Dumisane Ndubane wrote a report on the September National Imbizo’s blog ( http://imbizosni.blogspot.com/) titled ‘My Take on the JHB-SNI June 16 Work-Shop – From Alex to Sandton’. In his own words he called it his ‘impression of the proceedings at the SNI Workshop for the Planned June 16 March with the following theme: “From Alex to Sandton – From Hell to Heaven”. Here’s a glimpse of his observations, and I mention the following in order to put into contrast any differences and similarities between the international social movement called Zeitgeist… and the September National Imbizo and to see whether any collaboration is anyway at all necessary.

“The discussion(s) were informal and structured in a conversational manner, the type you would expect from a family or long time friends. I must say it took a paradigm shift from the way I expect workshops and political meetings to go. Then Zwelenkani (Chairperson of the Wits chapter of Black Wash) introduced the Black Wash and SNI…me and my big mouth…I then asked I the SNI and Black Wash are political formations and if one of the end results were a formation of a political party?

Andile answered the question by saying that it is too early to say atm, they are not political parties and do not have immediate intentions of forming one…yet if the question manifests itself later then it will be engaged. They enter into politics to end politics. And quoting Malcolm X “By any means necessary”…if establishing a political party becomes a means to an end then it will be considered.

I was partially satisfied with the deferring of this issue as I firmly believe that any social organisation aiming for some social change will have to engage politics and its dirty game at one point or another. But I guess SNI will be forgiven for deferring this question, after all, every questions need critical mass… I am a technical person, it is my job to hear ideas, translate them into plans, cost them and make them a reality. The answers came as adhoc as they were, but they came. The Peoples Manifesto was introduced and discussed. It is an impressive document and I will be posting it at the BCF for general discussion and adoption. June 16 is meant to highlight the Education aspect of the Manifesto. ---All in all I am happy about the planning and progress and will be organising 1000 – 2000 copies of the manifesto in preparation of the planned pamphleteering at Alexandra on the 10^th -11^th June. ITS ON!!! Hell comes to Heaven…Alexandrians go to Sandton to reclaim Mandela Square Back to Alexandra, where it belongs!! Reminded me of the following pledge I took last December:

“I pledge my allegiance to the BLACK cause.

I commit to this struggle to re-awaken the BLACK man in me.

I refuse to make my existence

A consequence of the sounds of my hungry stomach”

SANDTON Convention Centre, June 16… don’t miss the action.  – By D.S.N “

– (Dumisane Ndubane*)

Basically what I have just tried to illustrate is that here on the Southern tip of the most bountiful, beautiful yet most beleaguered continent in the world, there are meaningful moves to radically end politics as we have known it.

The reason why I aim to contrast the SNI to the Occupy Movement is simply because although both these social movements pride themselves in being on the radical and revolutionary path, there still remains a great divine between them, this is what I hope to come to terms with and I hope that by writing this I can inspire the conversation to continue.

I have decided to begin by quoting a relative stranger in the person of the above mentioned D.S.N and avoid simply writing about SNI from my own perspective which may prove biased as I am an active member.

It is no secret that the SNI is hugely inspired by the ideas of Black Consciousness and indeed acts to end White Supremacy by all means necessary. We aim to transform and end the prevailing Black Condition of wretchedness, dehumanisation and systematic violence, while recognising that the challenges which beset Black people everywhere are a direct consequence of a generally wicked capitalist system. Thus we have taken our ideology from a variety of schools of thought which have organised, planned and raged against the global behemoth of a racist, classist capitalist regime.

But it is clear that we are more concerned with beginning at home,that is dealing with the re-education, awakening, and mobilisation and organising of the most immediate Black communities.

As much as we have gained much support from the affected society and even some people in high places, this very simple premise has created many enemies for this young movement, yet this was expected and surely anticipated. We have been warned about liberal tendencies and even the prevalence of enemies within, those among us who would like to maintain the pretentious and anti-Black system or at least enjoy its bitter-sweet fruits.

For what its worth let us remind ourselves what SNI is, according to its 2011 - :

“September National Imbizo: We as the citizens of this country, are concerned that after 16/17/18 years of democracy there is no end to the suffering of the majority. We now hereby call for a national dialogue to discuss our situation and collectively find answers. This call is for a September National Imbizo!”

Now this call has been heeded by a small fraction of Azanian/South African citizens supported by a few individuals from the African diaspora who have been with the movement from its inception in Soweto in 2010.

While the SNI has not gained the publicity and the focus that characterises the Occupy Movement, it is clear that it is also gaining a gradual momentum, which is quite a feat for a movement that prides itself as being leaderless, or believes that each and every member is a potential leader.

“We are inspired by the great vision of change our liberation fighters were committed to. We wish to rekindle the betrayed  dreams of Oliver Tambo, Robert Sobukwe and Steve Biko”, went the SNI’s title statement, to the above names one can also add such exemplary revolutionaries as Malcolm X, Thomas Sankara and even Che Guevara, but as already stated, the SNI is cognisant and in solidarity with the internationalist upsurge of Revolution, yet has chosen to remain a localised peoples movement for the time being.

As Andile Mngxitama has stated above, when the time comes to become a political force, that could also be considered, but for now, the SNI aims to ‘end politics as we know it.’

Herein does the legitimacy of the Pan-Black socio-political struggle rest, in the fact that unlike the Occupy Movement, we as Black people cannot yet be talking about class when the majority of Black people have not even become ‘classified’ or valued as complete human beings. The current political forces have not begun to look at Black people as fully human, not in a way that can spur them to meaningful action towards addressing the real social problems. The present Non-White government only pays lip service to Blackness, even their vociferous Youth Leagues are simply barking up the wrong tree, claiming to fight for the economically marginalised Blacks and championing nationalisation in the name of ‘the people’, but they know very well that theirs is an elitist struggle which will benefit the few. The ANC Youth League is only fighting to become the next generation to ride the gravy train of White privileged within an un-free market democracy.

There is nothing even remotely pro-Black in their policies and neither do they aim to do away with the father party’s anti-Black constitution which so many liberal and multi-racialists defend so dumbly. Even I was almost totally won over by the lure of Black Economic Empowerment, until I worked for a young company that dealt in it discovered from first hand experience that BBBEE is just another pro-capitalist scheme co-created with White power using Non-White leading capitalist men who just happened to be previously disadvantaged blacks. All voices of true Blackness are either systematically silenced or ridiculed. Here is one:

“One of the greatest liberation heritages of our country, is the Black Consciousness (BC) philosophy. In a context where our grid of criteria for contribution to liberation is he political party and the famous prison-decorated-individual-cum-military-commander, we may miss just how phenomenal Black Consciousness has been for this country. In a context where we are looking for blood-soaked mass events of the ‘skop-skiet-en-donder’ type, as the only milestones in the road to liberation, the more enduring intellectual, psychological and political role of BC can be missed. We all know that the man deserves more recognition than has been given since the advent of democracy, but by BC I mean more than Steve Biko. Nor am I speaking of AZAPO or the Black Consciousness Movement – mere political parties which tried to capture (that horrible word again) the spirit of Black Consciousness. I am talking about an intellectual tradition that made the pursuit of knowledge a hallmark of the struggle for liberation. It helped us reconnect to the Pan-Africanism of Marcus Garvey, Edward Blyden, WEB Du Bois, Kwame Nkrumah and Robert Sobukwe. BC helped us rescale the heights of the intellectual traditions of the Drum magazine generation of black writers and the works of Frantz Fanon in the early 60’s. BC taught us that liberation is something to be attained on the inside as much as it must be taken on the outside. In this regard, BC was perhaps the deepest, most creative, and most revolutionary response to the Freedom Charter dictum “South Africa belongs to all who live in it.” – It was a total philosophy rooted in the belief that the oppressed need to help themselves if they and the oppressor are ever to be free. It is and has always been about economic freedom – broadly and comprehensively defined. But this was not economic freedom based on tenderpreneurship.

 It was economic freedom based on the enlivening and tapping of local knowledge in dynamic dialogue with knowledge from elsewhere. The idea was never about making the “leaders” the richest and loudest men and women in their lifetime – a warped and wicked inversion of the noble phrase “leading by example””. – ( Posted by Tinyiko Sam Maluleke, on the Mail & Guardian,Thought Leader online – www.thoughtleader.co.za/2011/09/19. )

As one might expect, the responses/comments to this post were both positive and also probingly intense, for while it is a norm for many intellectuals, politicians and even politicians to sermonise about Steve Biko and the beauty of Black Consciousness, there are very few who are willing to put their money where their mouth is, to literally use BC to make a revolution. The sad fact is that a lot of sweet intentioned black writers know it in their hearts that BC has all the ingredients to carry us over the White Supremacist capitalist mire, but very few are willing to lose their office jobs and Sandton, Umhlanga Rocks and Cape Townian lifestyles for it.

You see, we are at the revolutionary crossroads as the country’s president Jacob G. Zuma put it during the recent NUMSA trade union speech, where he said that the revolution could either turn ugly and undesirable or we could all steer it towards an expected direction. The curious thing is the president omitted to specify exactly which direction he envisions the South African revolution to take. But such omissions are not surprising, since an actual revolution would entail his relinquishing of the reins of his juicy gravy train, now which of the world leaders would shoot themselves on the foot like that?

For the past 18 years, the ANC government has bent over backwards in order to protect white interests and white people from the “swart gevarr”, what the good Dr N.H. Mandela meant when he famously sang to the glory of liberals and whites everywhere “I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination…”. Herein lies the discrepancy with the Freedom Charter’s ‘South Africa belongs to all who live in it’, but we’ll leave that for another day.

But of course the world never stopped to question this sage words of the sainted world leader, very few dare to ask Mandela where and when did he ever witness or experience his so called ‘Black Domination’. Such are the reasons why we believe that for whatever it is worth, the Occupy Movement is not here to free Black people from white domination of any kind and we believe that only through massive mobilisation, political and reality education by the likes of September National Imbizo/ Black Wash will we begin to see real change.

Allow me to close with one of the comments/responses to Malulekes Thought Leader post where a disgruntled yet ever so well meaning white person, going by the cute name of Lockstock#:

“Alrighty then. I give up. What is Black Consciousness? What is it’s cornerstone as a philosophy? How is it defined? We’ve read how it allegedly affects people, movements, thoughts, but we still do not have a solid description, not by you or anyone else for that matter. --- The Renaissance (the proper one) can be described in one sentence. The Age of Reason is a simple concept that can be explained in but a minute. So pray tell, what is this elusive, inexplicable, indescribable BC?

We’re forever being lectured how we whites just don’t understand black people. And how things should be done the ‘African way’.  And that Black Consciousness is this hugely, magnificent theory on life itself and should be embraced by one and all.

So with all this being said, why is it that I get the distinct feeling that there seems to be so much noise to this empty vessel? And why do I have this sneaky suspicion that this is all one big lie, to pander to white liberals in lieu of an ACTUAL, practical movement that the world could benefit from as well as TRULY respect?

With all of Africa’s bloodthirsty infighting, extreme poverty, disaster piled upon disaster (routinely bailed out by those former colonialists) and depressingly repetitive political upheavals, forgive me for being somewhat sceptical of this BC.” – ( Posted on September 20, 2011 at 3.55 am).

I hope you notice the time in which this ignorant rant was written and help me understand why such a one is able to spew such racist ignorance in a platform which purports to be a Thought Leader and as far as I can see, escape unchallenged?

This person has obviously never read a word of Biko, let alone any other Black intellectual and he also still thinks that foreign aid is a sufficient saving grace for an unworthy Black masses. Let me not engage with such foolishness now, suffice to say that he speaks for a lot of angry white folks who would still like to live in Ah-free-car without bearing the nuisance of Black truth.

These are the conditions that SNI and many other intelligent Black centric social movements have to deal with in addition to a majority of non-white people who still do not see the immediacy of BC and the imperative of affirming their race as the beginning of their emancipatory struggles.

Typically, the aforementioned Lockstock did not bother to read the comment by one Shaman sans Frontiers# :

“This is where BC is – a whole worldview, not dogmatic or doctrinaire, but performative, inviting, engaging, calling for ways of being and becoming, which must ultimately be as numerous as there are people.” – (posted September 19, 2011 at 9:53)

The aforementioned Stokely Carmichael/Kwame Toure in a speech entitled Black Power, delivered before students in 1966 in Berkely, California is loud and clear:

“ We must begin to think politically and see if we can have the power to impose and keep the moral values that we hold high. We must question the values of this society (White-Capitalist America), and I maintain that Black People are the best people to do that because we have been excluded from that society. And the question is, we ought to think whether or not we want to become part of that society. I do not want to be part of the American pie. The American pie means raping South Africa, beating Vietnam, beating South America, raping the Philippines, raping every country you’ve been in. I don’t want any of your blood money. I don’t want it – don’t want to be part of that system.”

Now many of the young Blacks in Azania and indeed all over the world still nurture the wish of becoming part of the American dream, tasting at least a bit of that American pie, becoming acceptable to white society, speaking the Queens English and having that ‘Good Hair’, little do they know that none of what they imbibe in school is designed to free them, they are being trained to be slaves in a system that will use them, abuse them and discard them.

It is only through radical and creative Black Consciousness that they can truly be emancipated from mental slavery, but only if they are WILLING TO BE, the solid foundations have been laid.

Hotep!!!

Menzi Maseko