We Don't Need Another Hero?

"The pages of history are full of heroes who created for themselves roles of glorious valor which they played at decisive moments. Likewise the pages of history are also full of heroic roles which never found heroes to perform them. For some reason it seems to me that within the Arab circle there is a role, wandering aimlessly in search of a hero."- Egyptian President Nasser, 1970's

A few years ago a friend and I started working on a clothing brand we called Wholegan aka Who Will Lead the People Again.
My man Zee-Lion had been strongly inspired by the music of Bob Marley and the sounds we would listen to included Burning Spear among others. Marley's chant in his song "Exodus": - HERE COMES ANOTHER BROTHER MOSES ACROSS THE SEA ...had a strong effect on black young men who were born in apartheid era townships where there had been few opportunities for well-being, for progress, for redemption from the traps of colonialism and capitalism.
And Burning Spear's "Follow Marcus Garvey" was just one of those songs that caused us to reflect on what we could possible do for ourselves without succumbing to materialistic over consumption. How could we work as black business men without being 'corrupted'by lures of greed and consumerism which we could see was ravaging some of the consciences of our former leaders.
Essentially we felt leaderless, socially and politically. It appeared as if all our leaders with any backbone were either dead or operating as managers of anti-black institutions which were not transforming our lives in any significant way ...

This morning I was listening to a radio dj interviewing some independent political analyst, the topic was the aftermath of the #FeesMustFall student protests currently gripping occupied Azania aka RSA. Their shocking conclusion was that these protests are being rendered irrelevant due to the "fact"that most of the students being produced by these untransformed universities come from Middle Class backgrounds and they will not change the world anyway because they don't even vote. The point was that these students do not have a strong ideological foundation where upon to base and sustain their struggles ...

TBC