The Unfinished Story of Humanity

Becoming Human Again

“Something cured me of the effect of education, and made me very sceptical of the very notion of standardised learning. For I am a pure autodidact, in spite of acquiring degrees. My father was known in Lebanon as the “Intelligent Student Student Intelligent”, a play on the words as the Arabic phrase for “Intelligent student” (or scholar)” - Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Among the vociferous and increasingly agitated circles of Black Consciousness, the question of what or who can be deemed human is a nagging constant. In fact the only other topic that can rival this one is probably the question of Steve Biko and his statements on liberals, white liberals to be specific. These are fundamentally related questions and they both form the basis of this essay.

 Somehow we as Black Afrikan thinkers have been dealing with this matter since even before the advent of Biko activism and his brilliant conception of Black Consciousness. In the aftermath of William Styron’s book The Confessions of Nat Turner in the 1960’s, which provoked not only the ire of many Black American writers, but also raised difficult questions about history – the matter of who is worthy to tell black peoples stories and fight our struggles remains unresolved.

While Nat Turner is a powerful symbol in the cultural memory of America, as a prophet, rebel, and as the leader of the bloodiest slave insurrection in American history who has fascinated both fiction writers and historians; Biko remains a misquoted and thus most misunderstood leader in Southern Afrika.

Many are those who take pleasure in quoting his words out of context, attempting to lend weight to their own paltry intellectual capacities. There are those who deliberately use his words to further the personal and political positions in the psyche of the gullible public. Politicians and other tricksters are prone to placate us with their moralising speeches peppered with some familiar yet misconstrued Bikoisms.

What is problematic is that aside from the outraged voices of the real lovers of Biko, the ones who a radically pursuing his vision for a truly transformed Azania, a South Afrika devoid of racial prejudice, there are very few people who actually understand the depth of his revelatory statements and the meaning of his work.  The other problem is that some even within the Black Consciousness bloc have been fighting dubious battles over the ‘ownership’ of his intellectual gifts bestowed upon all.

The crucial point is that people who are non-white have been dehumanised and the people called Black more so. This has been a deliberate and calculated mission of the ones who wield economic and contemporary culture, the imperialists who own the means of production. These are the image makers and the masters of industry.

But when there have been so many outstanding scholars, intellectuals, authors and leaders in every field in South Afrika, what makes this particular person so special? Was he not educated in the same schools and read the same books as all of his contemporaries and had he not been reared on the same Christian foundation as the rest of the liberation fighters? Perhaps the answer is a more nuanced yes. Yet there is also a big BUT.

So what is so special about the son of Mr and Mrs Mzimgayi Biko? Perhaps we shall have to leave the autobiographical notes aside and let us concentrate on the fruits of his mind. Let us begin with a basic summary before we zero-in on our subject of the re-humanisation of the wretched people called blacks and indeed all of the non-white people of the world.

What is the meaning or relevance of Biko’s work today and can these loud mouthed 'clever blacks' really put their words into action? This statement made at the BPC – SASO Trial given in May 1976 said it all:

“SASO is a black student organisation working for the liberation of the black man first from psychological oppression by themselves through inferiority complex and secondly from the physical one accruing out of living in a white racist society.”

The work of Biko cannot be disregarded or relegated to the archives wherein many great and useful ideas are manipulated unto oblivion. History is also given to all types of twists and turns as the canonizers and even the praise-singers do their utmost to outdo each other and the legacy of the canonised as they recreate the ‘hero’ in their own image. Academics, especially white liberals have done this to Fanon and others.
In South Afrika, Biko continues to suffer this acrimonious fate as the ruling elites plunder his legacy and deliberately misquote his work for their own purposes.

Yet I have always had this nagging feeling that we need to either transcend worshipping our intelligent brothers and sisters whether dead or alive in order to focus on making their work really real. 
If we really are the ones we have been waiting for, then the time is now to do what Biko asked of Afrikans : 
“to give to the world a more human face.”

Matters of racial pride, addressing and debunking stereotypes and doing away with economic and social slavery require us to think more creatively. To picture many robust and possible futures, anti- fragile futures as Nassim Nicholas Taleb has written about in his book  ANTIFRAGILE : How To Live In A  World We Cannot Understand. 
If we claim to truly understand the world and thus wish to END it, what is the next step after that, hopefully not another heaven or hell on earth.

Menzi Maseko ©

31/03/13