"And across the parapet. I see the mother of African unity and independence, her body besmeared with the blood of her sons and daughters in their struggle to set her free from the shackles of imperialism." - Kwame Nkrumah, Ghanaian leader, 1957 - 1966
My primary aim is to write a personal response to the multi-layered challenge of Africide, the propensity of Afrikans to killing each other over the perceived scarcity of resources. I wish to state a few facts about the history of Afrika and its cultural and other contributions to global civilizations. But in as I continue reading the book The Curse of Berlin, Africa After The Cold War, it dawns on me once more that a lot has been said and written already, and more eloquently than I ever could - about what Africans have done and how we can emancipate ourselves from all forms of slavery. What does it matter then, what I write and say from podiums?
Can a poem, an essay or a song alter the price of oil, bread or the school fees?
Today, I was visited in my office by three teenage girls who said that they have come into my library because they have been locked out of school, yet they still wanted to complete their homework/project, something to do with tourism and could I help?
Moreover they added that they were kicked out of school because they could not afford the school fees which total R7000 and their parents could only afford to pay for half the term.
This saddened me but I did not want to show them how deeply moved I was by their plight. I teased them about their hairstyles and we joked a bit as I proceeded to pick out books and magazines that would help them to finish their schoolwork ...
One of the three girls had a central Afrikan accent and I later discovered that she was actually from the un-Democratic Republic of Congo, she was the only one who had already done her homework even before they came, but they all had the same financial problem.
To me this visitation was just a sign that beyond any shadow of doubt, the so called xenophobia problem in Southern Afrika is a direct result of the socio-economic imbalance deliberately created by the colonial experience of Afrikans everywhere.
Conditions of inequality and non-transformation of every sector and aspect of black lives is rooted in the neo-colonial project so precariously mismanaged by the the ANC government and indeed all the governments of an un-liberated Afrika.
We remain colonial subjects partly due to our leaders unscrupulous dealings with the West and our own unwillingness to wage a pan-Afrikan revolution, one that is detribalised and centred on ensuring each unique Afrikan countries sovereignty while maintaining a common cause - that cause being to strike a death-blow to white capitalist monopoly.
So while our young girls are let loose on the streets simply because they cannot afford an education ( as flawed as that may be), we are busy flirting with our new colonizers, the Chinese oligarchs and neo-monopoly capitalists in high places.
These girls may be in Grade 10 now, but they may end up on some Sushi-eatists table come next-year.They are already clad in Brazilian weaves and Chinese stockings, they are already wearing Chinese lip-gloss and listening to hyper-sexualized Amerikkkan music from a media that has black faces in white masks. Who will save them from the world that does not love them?
Who will liberate their minds from the mental slavery, cultural imperialism and the debauchery of the globalized CBD?
When will these young black women graduate from a useless education system to Self Knowledge and a liberatory spirituality and politics?
These are some of thequestions I will have to ask on their behalf when I attend the seminar on education tomorrow -
Ironically it is titled: The Doors Of Learning And Culture Shall Be Open ...
Tell that to those black children who cannot afford the fees.
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