In The Beginning Was The Word?

The Inside Story of Information: Part 1

 Wisdom

By Menzi Maseko ©

“Much of the bafflement about life is due to confusion in the meaning of terms like order, organisation, entropy, chance, randomness, information and complexity. These words are frequently employed in a slipshod or ambiguous way, without any proper definition. In particular, order and organisation are often conflated.” 
– (Page 98, Paul Davies,The Fifth Miracle: The Search for the origin of life)

“Why is there God? “ The answer popped into his head the way some lines of poetry occurred to him. “Information, not decisions.”

“Cannot God make decisions?”

“God is the source of information, not of decisions. Decisions are human. If God makes decisions, they are human decisions.” 
– (Page 107, The Jesus Incident, Frank Herbert and Bill Ransom)

Ever-since I was a youth I had just one special prayer, one specific request to God, the God of my parent(s). I continuously asked Him to favour me with Wisdom. Having read countless times about the stories of the judges, kings and the prophets of Israel, I was quite clear that I needed a type of Wisdom which surpassed that of the likes of Solomon. I have since lost count of how many times I placed all my faith in the Unseen Jehovah and at the cross of His Son Jesus, absolutely convinced that my heartfelt cries would be answered sooner than later.

And so I went on about my life, attending school, church and cautiously doing what other ‘born again’ young people did, but my hobbies included writing Poetry and songs. But I kept on waiting, and waiting and waiting for my miracle to arrive. Having heard somewhere that God helps those who help themselves; I also began to help myself to all kinds of knowledge which of course also included the carnal type. 
In my mid-teens I also began reading intensely anything that even slightly resembled my elusive first Love, the highly praiseworthy Wisdom. Everything that I could find interesting, from mostly African and African-American novels, historical and futurist books; I read about the creation stories from other traditions besides the biblical ones that I found available at home. Later on I found myself inclined towards the various branches of Pan-Africanism.

I happened upon the Poetry, essays and plays of NgugiWaThiongo such as Decolonising The Mind, Pen-points and Gun-points, I Will Marry When I Want, and my personal favourite, The Black Hermit. I read the polemics of Leopold Senghor, Mongo Beti, Franz Fanon, AimeCesaire, Langston Hughes, Assata Shakur, NtozakheShange, Bessie Head, Mongane Wally Serote, Amos Toutoula, Amos Oz, Naguib Mahfouz, B. Kojo Laing, Octavia Butler, James Baldwin, Lewis Nkosi, Njabulo Ndebele, Toni Morrison and countless others.  I learned about the roots, purpose and urgency of Ethiopianism, Negritude, Black Aesthetics, Black Power movements and ultimately came to appreciate and also overstand the lifework of Stephen Bantu Biko.

But was this it? Had I finally arrived at the sacred Oasis, the fountainhead of useful knowledge? Had I finally ‘learned’ to know wisdom by getting myself acquainted with such luminous rhetoricians, storytellers, leaders and beacons of hope? Something within me said, Yes, but not quite!

Perhaps it was my Christian upbringing – my Mother’s fault - that kept on bringing me back to the Bible, the Quran, The Book of Enoch and the KebraNagast. Wisdom seemed to be slipping through my 12 fingers and I had desperately needed Her help, It was in the latter wherein I found these rather unsettling words:

“Wisdom found no dwelling place on earth among the sons of men, so she retreated back to heaven.”

I did not know how to react to this, was I supposed to be happy that no one alive could possess the pure elixir of Wisdom or was I to assume that we are all doomed – forever to do without a proper dose of the Guiding Light? It all appeared like we all better look up to the sky for Wisdom. 

It seems like all kinds of education, listening, research or even experience could not help one to be wise enough and to live in such a way as to give accurate direction to the wayward Self and bestow upon the next generation. I had begun to believe that Faith is all I needed, thinking that all one needs is enough skills and information to conduct a (Spiritually and Materially) well-balanced life.

But then again, if the Ancients say that wisdom could not be found among men, perhaps I still had hope finding It among Women. So then, when I began meditating about the intrinsic value and the meaning of the girls, women (lovers, strangers, soul-mates), aunts, and grannies that have been and continue to be in my life, I began to realize that Wisdom never really left for good, she flew away because of the foolishness that many men have been doing on earth. The deeper I meditate, the more I listened to the less reasonable part of my self, the better informed I become. And so I have made a quality decision, I am going to honour the Woman in me, the Auset/Isis/Het-Heru/Sekhmet, the Ma, the Yin, the Omega, The Lioness, the Gogo and the Beloved in my life with all my strength and all the energy invested in me.

NB. “The heart never speaks, but you must listen to it to know.”– The Oracle (The Black Woman in the Matrix Trilogy)

Menzi Maseko ©

The Story of Information: Part 2

Inevitability

By Menzi Maseko ©

“The total failure of Marxism … and the dramatic break-up of the soviet Union are only the precursors to the collapse of Western liberation, the main current of modernity. Far from being the alternative to Marxism and the reigning ideology at the end of history, liberalism will be the next domino to fall.”

 – Takeshi Umehara (Japanese political analyst)

“These deep and abiding differences between the capitalism of Japan and that of England and America mark a fundamental truth. Both the supporters and the critics of capitalism have fastened on individualism as one of its central features. But the connections between capitalism and individualism are neither necessary nor universal: they are historical accidents. The early theorists of capitalism – Adam Smith, Adam Ferguson, Karl Marx, Max Weber and John Stuart Mill – mistook them for universal laws because the evidence on which they based their theories was for the most part limited to a few western countries.”

–(Page 170, False Dawn: The Delusions of Global Capitalism by John Gray)

It is safe to say that a lot of what is called Western civilisation, modernisation and indeed most of what they call enlightened philosophy and reason is largely based on misinformation. To say that it is centred on a false premise would be putting it mildly. There is hardly anything mild or negligible though, when it comes to counting the costs of this misinformation on the rest of humanity. The negative consequence of basing a whole civilization on lies, deliberate half-truths, omissions and conscientious propagation of distorted information is diabolical mayhem. Such is the world we find ourselves having to endure today under the tyrannical tutelage of neo-liberal democracy. Not only are we trained to live a lie, we are also encouraged to build a future upon its dubious foundation.

When John Gray’s book (quoted here) was first published it was seen as a pessimistic and even nihilistic work by many reviewers, who clearly revealed themselves as the architects and gatekeepers of neo-liberal capitalism. Yet its message was well thought-out, researched and executed. But this was a typically arrogant reaction to the truth by the defenders of the lie.

One of the reviewers, an aptly named Prospect has this to say on the sleeve of the book; using meticulously selected phrasing:

“A sustained attempt to explore the possibility of reconciling justice and social cohesion, while dispensing with the idea that reason alone can solve the problems of political life…Gray’s new book on international capitalism portrays the age of free-trade and globalisation as a False Dawn.”

I would assume that Prospect is some kind of media or academic publishing institution and that their balancing act of a statement, strove to not injure the sensitive conscience of their liberal readers and patrons. After all, you can’t bite the hand that feed you.

Now when honest readers and publishers read such books that tell of the delusions and deleterious nature United States and United Kingdom styled capitalism, they should only be glad, happy that someone dares to call a spade a spade instead of a pitchfork. Not only is it refreshing to see a clear and unbiased refutation of the myth of liberalism - western democratic capitalism; it is a sign that the unequal and unsustainable world as we know it can and will surely end. It is inevitable.

From False Dawn to True Light

At the inter-Continental Encounter for Humanity &  Against Neo-Liberalism on 1996 in Chiapas; Subcommandante Marco’s of the Zapatista moved said:

“What the Right offers is to turn the world into one big mall where they can buy Indians here, women there…” he fell short of also mentioning Blacks everywhere.

It is well known that black majority is at the bottom of the proverbial totem pole when it comes to global wealth standards. This is true despite the charismatic boasts of the musical superstars such as Jay-Z, Kanye West and the rest. The black condition globally is that of well documented and much publicised wretchedness, even though there are many cases where this is grossly exaggerated and used as a scapegoat to serve white interests and to appease white guilt, it remains a truism.

But this is also a condition that thrives largely on the incorrect and deliberate misuse of information. All the negative images of Africa and indeed all the darker peoples of the world…

Informed Power

A People Empowered To Prosper

“If we want to abolish our powerlessness, if we want to abolish our poverty, the theme or objective of Pan- Africanism has to change from African Unity to Black African Power and Prosperity; if Pan-Africanism is to become once again relevant to the ordinary people, it must return to its 1958 ethos and become the champion of the reforms that will give the ordinary Black African a life of prosperity and dignity.” – Dr Chinweizu (www.houseofknowledge.org.uk/site)

Section 1: People and Power

The word Power, like democracy has become dishonourable and stigmatic. It no longer denotes strength and valour or capability, but it carries now carries the negative connotations of avarice, corruption and abuse.

To say that one or certain people have power is easily construed as meaning they have a certain authority or that they are better than others.

It is a power over other human beings and not just over situations or conditions.

One has to then qualify or even quantify this power. There is traditional power which is usually associated with rulers, such as that attributed to monarchs, chiefs, magistrates and the like.

Then there is the power of the religious, the super-natural the charlatans and the crooks.

All such power is assumed and presumed and at most times rightfully earned either through excellent service, study or display of extraordinary tenacity or courage.

Even in this modern time many people still assume that Kings or Queens are divinely placed in their high and mighty positions, either through ancestry or by a higher power.

The reverence that is given to the Queen of England, the King of the Zulus and the many other monarchs and royal individuals from Africa all the way to Japan is nothing short of mesmerizing.

The royals are thus feted, pampered and given special treatment even via the taxes received from ordinary people who are not even their subjects. One wonders how such people managed to be elevated to such high and mighty status.

Whether there are those who question, refute and deny that these people possess any significant power at all becomes irrelevant. The lavish lifestyle of the ordained powerful and aristocratic appears natural and it’s even protected in the constitutions of various democratic governments.

One can then be justified in thinking that such power is something that is not only shared but it is also regulated and allowed to flourish. Like energy, power is something that can be stored, preserved and discharged whenever it’s required. This is called the exercise of power.

Well, if some people have got the power and are recognizable by their wealth, ability or position; does that mean that others who are without such power are subjects or subservient?

Let us take a look at two kinds of power; that of royalty and that of modern governments.

At a recent workshop on organizational behaviour and management today, one of the facilitators posed this question: “Why is it that the Queen of England is not called a traditional leader and yet in Africa, our Kings and Queens are called traditional leaders, chiefs and Induna’s?”

Among the mostly young people (under 30’s) who attempted to answer him, some pointed out that kingship in Africa still implied some connection with our primitive past, customs and traditions.

The very word tradition was considered as something indigenous and analogous to Black Africans.

The facilitator was not satisfied. These were deeply flawed and presumptive answers; they showed that even as young Africans we had a limited knowledge of our own past and indeed of the cultural and political traditions of other peoples.

But by no means can this be considered the view of all the people of Africa; it us just an indication of the assumptions held by a few young people in a single room.

What the questioner was insinuating and what he was probing is our general acceptance of Western terms, labels and general social positioning which often connoted a prejudice or biased view of Africans and our gradually diminishing social systems and customs.

He meant that we as Africans are also to blame for perpetuating the very negative stereotypes and prejudice aimed to demean us.

Our complicity can also be exemplified by the manner in which the so called Democratic values are accepted or at least allowed to permeate in our social lives.

The question of the efficacy of democracy as an acceptable model of existence in our society has been raised numerous times, yet the fact that the appropriate answer has not prevailed indicates that we also have not offered a feasible or adequate alternative.

Many Black people, when asked whether they chose democracy or not would usually say that they prefer their traditional ways, often tempered with a bit of the accepted Christian values.

While some may claim that there is no need to seek for an alternative since democracy essentially caters for both the rulers and the ruled; it is clear that this is a serious contradiction.

If the basic interpretation of the word democracy means ‘Power for the people, by the people’ or ‘the governing of the people by the people’; one has then to contend with the nature or general disposition of such people.

Matters such as the level of literacy, education, degree socio-economic participation, politics and knowledge of international trends – among a few factors all play significant roles in the nature of a democracy, if indeed democracy we must maintain.

It is a fact that the majority of South Africans had no real knowledge of what democracy meant, let alone whether it was needed.

To many, the word was known for the first time just prior and at the formation of the United Democratic Front in 1983 while most of our liberation parties were banned and their leaders and supporters were jailed or exiled.

Clearly this was a system or culture which was favoured by the intellectuals and the politically literate among our population.

This showed in the fact that none of the struggle songs which emerged and were mostly sung from the grassroots people who suffered the brunt ravages of systematic White racism.

This is very telling in many ways. If our songs were about freedom, liberation, the rights to roam and build our prosperity freely in our native land, then how did all these simple aspirations culminate in becoming a democracy and having a right to vote?

Yet we are still largely landless, impoverished in almost every conceivable way and we remained largely disempowered by any modern standard. 

Now is a good time to question the powerful and also ask ourselves whether we are being led in the desired direction.

It is highly possible that democracy is just another well-meant Western effort to further alienate us from ourselves, our customs and communal ways of life.

As the Tunisian born writer Mohamed ElhachmiHamdi notes in Islam and Liberal Democracy: 

“Why on earth should the entire world convert to Western norms? Would it not be better to preserve fruitful pluralism in the world, by which nations can express themselves in different ways, while respecting the basic values that are essential for all human beings?”

What we knew for sure was that apartheid had to end and total liberation from racism and all its discontents had to come by any means necessary. Many of our local and exiled political leaders were self-confessed communists, Marxists, Leninists, Trotskyists and socialists.

Thus, places such as the Soviet Union, Cuba and Maoists China were seen as the beacons of modern civilization where people enjoyed freedom and economic equality.

Needless to say, at the fall of the communist system in Eastern Europe and the Soviets, this utopian vision was dealt a crushing blow.

Emerging from being a liberation movement towards being at the helm of national leadership, the African National Congress had to deal with the implications of altering its foundational ideologies and adhering to the seemingly natural order of the day, the ubiquitous word at the time was of course Democracy. Thus neo-liberalism and free-market capitalism was reluctantly yet wholly adopted and we all were forced to tow the party-line.

A degree of disorientation followed after the 1990’s. Some intellectuals on the left transferred their allegiance from the authoritarian socialism of Moscow to the authoritarian capitalism of Seoul/Korea. As the ANC came under increasing pressure from local and international corporations to declare its economic policies in detail, the old habit of referring to the Freedom Charter of 1955 was no longer enough. In 1993; it produced a few drafts of a new plan, called the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) whose final version was produced as the parties election manifesto in 1994. We can say that this is the period in which democracy in South Africa was inaugurated as the document reads:

“The RDP is an integrated coherent socio-economic policy framework. It seeks to mobilize all our people and our country’s resources toward the final eradication of apartheid and the building of a democratic, non-racial and non-sexist future.”

Today, 18 years after the RDP has been tested in the fires of experience, it is abundantly clear that many of its promises and plans are unmet. In fact many have called it a resounding failure, an indictment of the ruling party’s inability to listen and thus meet the real needs of the majority.

The willingness of the of the ruling party and even the elites who act as its opposition, to adopt neo-liberal economic policies and the privatization of many state resources, slow land redistribution and general corruption within the state (leading to lack of adequate utilization of available state funds) are just a few indications that democracy is not properly understood in our country.

Even the State president J.G. Zuma himself has recently been caught sleeping at the steering wheel. When he was grilled by MP’s at a parliamentary Q&A session, he clearly demonstrated his ignorance and that he too had no real idea what democracy really meant. But perhaps the crudeness of his statements is just an indication of the leading party’s unfitness to spearhead democracy.

The party has recently adopted a new growth plan (The New Growth Path/The Second Transition); but critics and even certain members within the ruling party have found fresh ammunition to attack the very notion that the first transition ever occurred. The truth is that there has not occurred a real Revolution or significant change in South Africa…

Certain comparisons to South Africa’s transition from apartheid National Party to the ANC with the French Revolution are misplaced, yet they may have a smidgenof truth – however stretched. We know that the transfer of political power has not meant much transformation in the lives of majority Black people; in fact the same conditions that were apparent under apartheid are now glaring.

The same inferiority complexes still abound and a greater number of landless Blacks still dwell in shacks, receive inferior education, have to endure poor service delivery, are largely unemployed and continue to be massacred in the wealth producing mines in which they have no share or hope of ever transcending. Thus democratic change has been nothing more than cosmetic glossing, a dream that did not come true for them.

While older histories of the French Revolution stressed the static, extractive nature of the ancien regimeand the misery of the peasantry and urban poor, more recent studies – for example, Simon Schama’sCitizens – have found mid-century French society to have been in a ferment of economic and social change. On the newer analysis, the monarchy fell because it could not manage the political consequences of this dynamism, rather than because of an explosion of wretchedness or poverty. There are some parallels in the South African experience.

Herbert Adams saw as early as 1970 that the National Party, far from being locked in a 17^th century worldview (as earlier liberals had thought); was intending on “modernizing racial domination”.

More recently, John KaneBerman’s South Africa’s Silent Revolutionchronicled the many ways in which South Africa adapted to the coming political transition years before it took place. Notwithstanding the impact of the UDF and international pressure against apartheid in the 80’s, it would be fair to assert that the ANC was allowed to assume some sort of manageable power in the 1994 compromise – while we The People were tricked into thinking that our majority votes and rage mattered much.

The real powers of white supremacy and black subjugation still exist in the New SA. One cannot honestly say that a few hundred thousand RDP houses, being allowed to integrate into white society and being able to draw an X in a box constitutes real power. As a people, it is clear that we are still landless, visionless and powerless.

With all that said, no one ever said that democracy is a perfect system; its promoters often state that it has its flaws and it depends much on how it is adopted and utilized by citizens. Yet again the concept of citizenship has not been fully appreciated understood by traditional African leadership – further compounding their perplexity with the institution of democracy. Many traditional leaders who are still treating people as if they are their own estranged children are adamantly and vociferously opposed to any notions of democracy as they see it; so much so that they even attempt to stamp their own authority in often absurd and unconstitutional ways – ( a good example is on ILanga Newspaper – where a chief/king of the AbaThembu clan has been forcing his ‘subjects’ to shave their hair, abstain from sexual intercourse and the women must avoid wearing trousers for three months while observing a period of mourning for the passing of his grandfather.) But even academics who are stern protectors of the rights of kings and queens have urged these rulers to accept the changing times; citing proverbs that state that even tradition is should not be stagnant.

One then has to wonder just how long democracy will take to infiltrate traditional societies from South America, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and even Capitalist-Communist China. Perhaps it is just a whimsical dream, a benchmark or an aspiration towards a standardized and easily manageable world order, one that requires us to be more educated about each other. One thing is for sure, if it is imposed and enforced as the US often does, the repercussions are always deadly. 

Section 2:

“No matter how exotic human civilization becomes, no matter the developments of life and society nor the complexity of the machine/human interface, there always come interludes of lonely power when the course of humankind, the very future of humankind, depends upon the relatively simple actions of single individuals.” – Frank Herbert, from The TleilaxuGodbuk (Page 103, Vol.2 of the Dune saga)

Crawford Young has argued: “If we have learned anything about identity politics in recent decades, it is the importance of flux and change. No formulas are permanent. If we assume that democratization in Africa will be slow, uneven and uncertain, yet will remain a defining element on the agenda of change and recovery, then constitutional formulas that embody these aspirations will need to remain open ended, experimental and responsive to evolving cultural realities.”

Earlier, I mentioned that democracy was and still remains mostly understood by the learned.

The general majority has mainly been told what it is and how it is good for them, yet aside from NGO’s and other institutions that aim to deepen understanding and democratic engagement between citizens and the rulers – we are yet far from achieving desirable socio-economic conditions necessary for real participatory democracy.

 So does it make any sense to pursue something that we cannot realistically achieve?

Perhaps the way for South Africa is to go through the Socialist route, especially the Socialist-Democratic models that take in to consideration much of the environmental implications of all economic decisions.

All of this has something to do with access and levels of high quality modern education.

This type of education should necessarily take into consideration much of the Indigenous Knowledge Systems that many of our academics have been putting a lot of work into.

This is one way of involving traditional societies into the national economic platforms, from the grassroots levels all the way up to the frontlines of technological advancement.

Even the so called traditional societies have historically maintained ‘higher education’ among aristocrats, the elite and monarchs. It was not until the emergence of missionaries during the colonial periods that the ‘light of education’ finally filtered down among the general population.

But even if it’s merely a matter of affordability; a good education still remains mired in the socio-economic realms of classism.

After so many promises of free education, aspirations of the Freedom Charter, the aspirations of Negritude, Black Consciousness and many lives lost in the trenches of Socialism, the ideally educated Black African is still a rarity. 

There are pockets of improved lives here and there, yet the general social conditions of Black people are still as wretched as Fanon, Du Bois and Marcus Garvey found them 50 to 100 years ago.

Note the following historical development among Ancient Egyptians of the writing system:

“The Egyptians called hieroglyphs ‘MdwNtr’, the ‘Gods Words’ and considered them to be the creation of Thoth/Tehuti who is often shown in scenes of the ‘Weighing of the Heart’ making a written record of the judgment of the deceased. In the earliest periods the use of writing was closely linked to the kingship. The king and his closest officials could demonstrate their authority by having their possessions and monuments labelled with their names. This implied that the upper echelons of society were, to some degree, literate or at least that they had servants who could both read and write. There seems to have been an inbred need to record ownership and to keep records, not only of the kings achievements but also of the day-to-day business of the temples and palaces.” – (Page 96, Understanding Hieroglyphics, a Quick and Simple Guide, by Hilary Wilson)

This clearly shows that education and literacy was highly valued in Ancient North African society, so much so that even writing was linked to divinity.

But it did not just remain the exclusive privilege of the gods/neteru (a word which essentially means powers), the elites and the powerful, as attested here:

“In theory even the lowliest peasant boy if he showed talent, could aspire to an education as long as he could bring himself to the notice of someone who was in a position to help him. The Egyptian governmental machine depended on a vast army of clerks, taxation officers, recorders and accountants.” – (page 100)

This was not just true of Ancient Egypt, but higher learning was valuable in many African civilizations even before the emergence and the predominance of the Abrahamic religions.

Some of these indigenous knowledge systems are still intact today, long after the damage done by colonialism.

The education was available in written, oral and ritualistic forms. The value of Initiation, the so called Sacred and Mystery Schools and apprenticeship has shown that fromMaphungubwe, The banks of the Zambezi, The Kalahadi, Ghana, Nigeria, Kush, Mali, Nubia and Senegal to name but a few, learning was highly valued by Africans before we were disturbed by the destroyers or our practical and environmentally harmonious ways.

Let us note what I think is an important point made by a columnist in the South African newspaper called The New Age:

“The popular uprisings in North Africa cannot be narrowly defined along the dictum of ‘left’ and ‘right’ wing politics. A wider confluence of social and class forces has emerged to oppose the basic character of undemocratic regimes in that region (North Africa and the Middle East). However, it is the outcome of such popular struggles that requires more attention, because even such revolutions can reproduce reactionary social phenomena if not guided by a progressive political ethos embedded within the values of social solidarity and African unity.” – (page 23, The New Age SipheloNgwangu’s Opinion: Lessons from Wretched of The Earth, 50 years on)

The viewpoint expressed by this columnist is so important to understand if we wish to appreciate the value of African of Black people’s power and the possibilities of African unity.

As Chinweizu states in the beginning; Africa has to transcend the long striven for struggle for Unity, but we have to set our sights on a kind of Power that will ensure our prosperity and dignity. If we wish to earn the respect and admiration of other peoples in this world, we must follow the examples of Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, Thomas Sankara and even the Emperor Haile Selassie I, we must become a force to be reckoned with. Haile Selassie I advises that we must ‘become larger than ourselves, we must become something we have never been.’

Hutuapo!

Menzi Maseko ©

Heedless Nation?

Indlu Yegagu…: What is the collective vision of SA?

“The most delightful thing concerning the Law is that it cannot be manipulated or bent to favour the rich and torment the poor. It is a priceless seed implanted within the hearts of all creatures. It is well preserved like an expertly cut diamond alive with the infinite sparkle of Divine Lustre.” – Abiding By The Law (The Sacred Gospel of Hunhu/Ubuntu) by Simbarashe Simbarashe

Ever so often, there comes a time in a people’s life that they have to stop and question the direction of their collective efforts. All the various endeavours that are undertaken within that nation, from the ordinary folk’s daily tasks at home, places of worship, educational and other institutions all the way up to the governmental levels.

It is quite clear even to the simple minded that the socio-economic condition of South Africa /Azania is not an admirable or acceptable one. While We are certainly not the only country undergoing macro-economic strains due to perhaps the global failure of the capitalist democracy model that threatens to re-colonise the whole universe, it is also abundantly clear that our leaders in industry, political organisations and all the institutions that should be guiding us through a possible progress do not have any idea what to do, despite to merely defend their policies and continue speculating. In other words, most leaders are perplexed and it has become a matter of ‘the blind leading the blinded’.

We shall return shortly to what I think should be the primary foci of our dedicated efforts. Our future can still be decided by us right now, but only if we do willingly act decisively.

For now I’d like to direct our attention towards the ancient past. I know that there are aspects of our cultural and traditional past that can no longer work efficiently in today’s reality, yet there are those that can be studied in order to help us rise above our embarrassing situation.

Looking at the various institutions whereby leadership and moral guidance are expected, I have found them seriously wanting. The poverty of scholarship and values in our education and government systems is a serious indication of what kind of future lies ahead of us and it is certainly not a pleasing scenario.

I have been studying the writings and oral, ‘painted and etched’ history of KMT/Egypt and there have been so many ideas coming to my mind, I have shared some with my brother Khaya and some with a few of my friends and scholars.

My friends also see the rot pervading most if not all of the political world, although at first we have argued, we now agree that a radical change has to occur, it must be made to occur for the forthcoming generations cannot be asked to inherit such a tired and ineffective system. My brother on the other hand, who is quite a philosopher in his own right thinks that we should not try and take any lessons from the past, instead we should strive forward and simply learn from whatever mistakes we make.

He says that whatever our sciences produce should be tried out without all the moral hang-ups that have characterised our past, since all the moralising and religiosity has only been done to control each other rather than to help individuals to progress naturally.

During one of these regular philosophical conversations which can often get quite confrontational since he calls himself an atheist and I call myself a believer or potential knower of God, we got to talking about what I called the efficacy of Ancient Egyptian and Kushite theocracy…the worldview that Ubuntu or Ma’at can be an excellent system considering its insistence on Cosmic harmony which filters down to everyday actions.

The main point was that I had been reading a historiographical novel called A God Against The Gods, written by Allen Drury, the author of a non-fiction book called “A Very Strange Society”…anyway, this novel published in Great Britain in 1976 deals with the life and adventures (ascendance and rule) of KMT/Egypt by the enigmatic pharaoh famously known as Akhenaten. 

This novel is leaving a deep impression on my psyche, I see so much in it that is similar to what is happening to the world right now. There are so many similarities to contemporary African society.

Perhaps it is just the power of the Egyptian intrigue or it is just myself choosing to see things the way I wish to, but aside from that, what I see is that once in every while there appears a ruler who wishes to transform subtly or sometimes stealthily the lives of his/her subjects.

There have been many such rulers in both African and Western history, some have built monuments that still stand for all generations to see and touch while others have left their legacy in the wisdom and inspiration that they managed to exert in peoples lives. I am well aware of the complexity of todays society as compared to the ancient world, we appear to have become more sophisticated technologically and in the way we view leadership, yet there still hands a spectre of perplexity over every society. Most people are still unable to think beyond what we are shown in the media, the political arena and the religious platforms.

Yet there is still no sophisticated or evolved system of living, one that all can know how to apply without much coercion or force.

Let us take a brief look at Akhenaten, former Prince of Thebes, Son of the Sun, tenth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Born around 1390 B.C., Akhenaten and his equally if not more famous Great Wife Nefertiti reigned for about 60 years  from the city of Akhet-Aten which is presently called Tell-el-Amarna. He was called ‘the Heretic’, ‘the Criminal of Akhet –Aten’. He has been called history’s first idealist and some have called him history’s first great mad-man. The other of this book say’s that he was possibly both. The desert sands of present day Egypt have erased most of what can be clearly known about this great African king, yet his fame seems to grow from strength to strength, more authors are emerging to write about him and more archaeologist and serious anthropologists have been digging up all the evidence that can be found under the tell tale sands of KMT.

 According to evidence found on the hieroglyphics and surviving and preserved papyri, his throne name was “Nefer-Kheperu-Ra”, yet his original name was Amonhotep IV as agreed by serious historians.

For those who have read some of my writings on Egypt, some may wonder how a personality possessing such a lovely name ended up being called a heretic and a mad-man.

We have to keep in mind that this passionate and idealistic ruler ascended to the throne of one of the most stable, peaceful and longest preserved kingdoms and attempted to change or alter the course of its history by challenging the status quo. His biggest sin was to neglect the worship of the many neteru/gods of Egypt, gods that had been help in reverent fear and adoration by thousands of generations before him. Primarily, he went against the authority of the ancient priesthood of Amen/Amun, the God who the original rulers of Egypt the Kushites had also known and praised albeit in many aspects.

He can be compared to a pope who comes to Rome and directly or indirectly goes against the worship of Jesus Christ. If he does not get killed he surely would be called a heretic and a mad person.

In changing the way people worshipped the gods and attempting to cause the whole society to worship one single all powerful God, Akhenaten necessarily also had to transform specific institutions within the socio-economic frame of KMT/Egypt. This meant that even the arts and cultural life of the people would be directed in accordance with the ‘new’ and primary God. But would this ever be possible, can people make the transition from what they know works (with all its flaws and sacrifices) to whatever an idealistic ruler wishes them to observe?

Here is some of what Akhenaten did, according to some historians.

“Akhenaten was simply carrying to the extreme his pursuit of a dream-ideal, and insisting upon perpetuating this symbol of life passing from the Globe ( Aten ) to the double-principle of the couple, itself essential to the enduring omnipotence of the Globe ( Aten ).”

Here is what the author of this novel has the young pharaoh say:

“Why do the people like so many gods? Why do they not see the simple advantages of one?

This I ask my uncle Aye, whom it horrifies. Apparently never, in all our two thousand years of history, has anyone, let alone a Pharaoh, questioned the gods. Apparently never has anyone, let alone a Pharaoh, thought out for himself the advantages of one single, universal god to channel the worship of all men, to simplify the gathering of all tribute, to serve as instantly recognisable, universally acceptable unifier of empire, if Empire we must have.” (p.103)

This is the supposed sin that this great Pharaoh committed; he dared to go against the grain.

But then perhaps it was the manner in which he did it that caused future Egyptian ruler and priests to remove his memoirs and try to remove him from history.  He also is made to say this of his parents: {-There are many inspirations for a ruler but his religion may be the primary and most evocative one -}

“I hope they do not under estimate me, for I am supported by their love and Nefertiti’s and the love of the people; and perhaps, if the plans that are forming in my mind take shape as I want them to, I shall open a new way for Kemet that will make my name live forever in the minds of men.” (p.105)

And also this is what is inscribed on one of the many monuments to his god that Akhenaten had build all over Egypt/KMT in his endeavour to de-centralise power and counter-balance the power of the reigning God Amen.

“Live, Ra, ruler of the Horizon, rejoicing in the Horizon, in his role of light

Coming from the Sun’s Disk, giving life forever and to all eternity, Aten

The Living, the Great, Lord of Jubilees, Master of all that encompasses the

Sun’s Disk, Lord of the Heavens, Lord of the Earth, THE ATEN”

Of course the above was written in the language of the Metu Neter (mdw Ntr) now better known as Hieroglyphics, as long ago as 1367 B.C.

It is not my purpose to tell the entire history of Ancient Egypt and how its many kings and queens were able to maintain truth, justice and order for such a long time and in such a treacherous area which we now call as the Middle East.

What I mean to illustrate is that whenever someone attempts to transform the masses via his or her own however inspired agenda it may work for a while but then it usually backfires, this is the sad indication of people’s unwillingness to change.

What Akhenaten tried to do was to simplify the manner in which his people had worshipped their God.

He knew that essentially there was and is only one Supreme Being and that in many religions He, It or She was characterised/symbolised by the Sun which he called the Aten or the Disk through which flows all terrestrial and even some of the astral energy.

His own parents had encouraged him to revere the Aten as they had been disturbed by their first son’s (Tutankhamen) murder, which they vehemently blamed on the god Amun/Amen.

They just did not anticipate that their troubled son would take things as far as he did, in their eyes and indeed in the eyes of many Egyptians, he was indeed defying Ma’at (the cosmic order of justice, rightness) the principle that had kept Egypt/KMT so prosperous for as long as they could remember.

It appears that my reasoning is turning towards a more religious rather than a political nature, yet I think that the two have long been indivisible. Rulers rule with an ever so subtle reliance on principles and manipulation of peoples sense of faith and beliefs. This can be recognised everywhere from national symbols to the creeds and swearing in ceremonies done by even governments that appear so far removed from the religious.

The problem that I have found is that of intermediaries, those of us who feel that they need to preach and transform the minds, hearts and souls of others. This is not the kind of transformation that so many people bled and continue to bleed for, our mothers and fathers did not cry freedom so that we all could become reformed and neo-liberal and forward Christian soldiers. The Christian faith is suitable for a Western democracy build on such pathetic capitalist ideals as we now have, but there surely must be a better Tradition and Knowledge System for Africans to use in order to realise our great purpose. This tradition has to be built on the realistic and truth based intuitive principles of UBUNTU, that great humane faculty that we have been assured is our birth right. All the proselyting is a mistake that continues to cost humanity a lot of lives, the building of mosques, churches and all temples has not helped mankind progress any further:

Hear the argument between Akhenaten and his equally famous and powerful mother, the Great Queen Tiye:

“But if your god is the greatest god –“He interrupts instantly.

“The Only God! Amon and the rest are but profanation now!”

“If he is, then, the only god,” I persist, “why is it that the people must worship anyone besides him? Why must they worship you, my son? Why cannot they worship the Aten directly without your intervention?”

“Do the people worship Amon directly without the intervention of my father?” he asks sharply; and there of course, he has me. “They worship Father Amon and they worship my father who is his son – Father and Son, indivisible. They would not dare worship Amon did they not also worship my father. He speaks for them to Amon; he speaks for Amon to them. So they are worshipped jointly. Is it not so? Has it not been immemorially so.” (p.159)

It is now as it was in the beginning, it is now and forever will be. The challenge then is to cause young African’s to remember that We have been around for many years before we were subdued by the Western powers. It is time for the reclamation of our dominion, our sovereignty as a humane people with divine tendencies. Our vision must be steady and unmoved by the West winds, thus we shall be victorious in our politics and belief systems for longer and for a better world.

Menzi Maseko ©