Let the Youth Define their own Struggle
A generational gap exists between every current generation and the preceding generation. The preceding generation has a tendency of always casting the assertion that the current generation is a ‘lost’ generation. Soweto uprising leader Seth Mazibuko asked a very important question that all old people should ask themselves: “When we were young we were told that we are a lost generation because we left our family responsibilities to join the struggle and go to exile as well as prison. If we say that the youth of today are lost, then what are we doing to find them?”. What the generation that fought against apartheid must understand is that the youth are the products of the society they created.
Frantz Fanon has explained that each generation has its own mission; however he does not say that a previous generation must define the mission of the current generation. The fact that the youth are not fighting an overtly racist and violent regime does not mean current struggle is a bed of roses. The youth should be given the necessary space to define their struggle without being told to be patient and less angry while they live in the most unequal society in the world. #FeesMustFall is the first step in the realisation of a generational mission and fulfilling the promises that the older generation made pre and post democracy. The youth can not afford to live on promises which do not fill the stomach.
Socially the youth is increasingly being ravaged by alcohol abuse, substance abuse and crime among many other social ills. The youth must accept part of the the blame but so should the parenting generation. What happens to a generation where sports, arts and other extramural activities are not highly organised starting at school level? They fall prey to social ills because they have too much time on their hands. Talent is lost between doing nothing and abusing alcohol because not all schools and communities have the diverse sporting/cultural activities that this new generation want to try. Sporting codes such hammer throwing, judo, swimming, golf, formula one racing, I mean half of the games played in the Olympics majority of black youth only see on television and never in their communities/schools. It does not even need a sports scientist to explain why our medal achievements were well below 20 and other the top countries are around 120. Countries with smaller economies than South Africa received more medals than us.
The last issue that must be demystified is the notion that youth has it better off. Credit must be given to the older generation for defeating apartheid but discredit must be given to them for not dismantling the apartheid economic structure that keeps black people at the bottom of the economic hierarchy. As the rainbow begins to fade the youth is left with the struggle of transforming a white dominated economy and its comprador bourgeoisie. The South African economy was not designed to work for all the citizens of this country. Patience is important but blacks can not be imprisoned to another 20 years of patience while the material conditions are not changing much.
If the status quo is not changed 14 million South Africans will continue to go to bed hungry everyday. Corruption will continue to eat away at our society until we are kleptocratic state. African countries have been there before, the cycle must end. Only a youth that does not aim to mimic current corrupt leaders can do so. Only a youth that refuse to be used as political tools can do so. Only a revolutionary youth who want to pave their own way can do so. ANCYL 1940s youth managed to discover their mission and they managed to defeat the greatest crime against humanity.
The youth must set out to achieve a true non-racial society by destroying whiteness as a social construct and build a society in which Steve Biko said “…there shall be no majority there shall be no minority shall just be people”. The youth must lay the foundation for a better future through struggle and sacrifice.
Mogale Daniel Matsose holds a honours degree in Political Science & International Relations (NWU)
Wednesday, 5 October 2016
Sunday, 24 July 2016
Xenophobia in the context of the triple challanges* of South Africa
The absence of xenophobic attacks does not translate to the absence of xenophobia. Therefore is imperative to confront the root causes of this attitude before it manifests into attacks. South Africa is not only viewed as an Africa’s economic superpower and “the land of opportunities” but unlike other African countries this country has better political stability. Even South Africa’s rival in the battle for hegemony in Africa, Nigeria has been battling to stabilise the country against Islamic insurgent group Boko Haram (till today we plead: Bring Back Our Girls). Population studies and demography outline that migration is guided by push and pull factors which influence a person’s decision to migrate. Offering better pull factors than any African country, it was inevitable that South Africa would be the first choice country to migrate to. According to the 2011Census 3.3% of South Africa’s population which is about 1.7 million people are “non-South African”.
However this immigration happens in a country that has the highest Gini-coefficient in the world standing at 0.69, about 47% of South Africans are poor and the unemployment rate stands at 24%. The spirit of Ubuntu asserts that we should share in each other’s struggles and strive to assist fellow Africans. Unfortunately most of the African migrants I have come across are more Capitalists then they are Pan-Africanists. Most African foreign businessmen that I’ve seen predominantly employ fellow foreigners and largely have no Cooperate Social Initiatives in the poor communities where their businesses operate.
Small Black businesses such as Tuck-shops thrived during and post-apartheid but ever since foreign shops have emerged- South African tuck shops have died. In the CBDs across the country foreign shops dominate the market. If our fellow African brothers are more successful business people, why are most of them not assisting South African small business people? Why are most of them not including surviving South African tuck shop owners in their intelligent bulk buying? Why are most Somali, Ethiopian, Pakistani and other foreign shop owners uniting against South African shop owners?
African and Middle East foreign business people who are in a solid alliance in some parts of the country are even expending from tuck-shops to fish & chips restaurants as well as salons. As a consequence slowly South African owned fish & chips and salons are dieing a slow death. Ultimately the last black owned business sector left will be the taxi industry. However, the taxi associations from what we saw last year in Mamelodi do not take an attack on their lively hood lightly. Xenophobia will show its ugly head again because there is an us- against-you situation between foreigners and South Africans. The government also needs to play its part not only through fiela but legislation needs to regulate not only white dominated Multinational National Cooperations but also African foreign owned business. These businesses must be registered; taxed, labour law must protect foreign labourers exploited in these tuck-shops, BEE as well affirmative action must also apply to them.
Immigrants have played a central role in the history and evolution of South Africa. Black South Africans are conscious of how the European immigrants disposed their ancestors. Today the children of European immigrants still own most of the land and the economy of South African although they are a minority. Indians have also come to become business magnets in South Africa. Chinese clothing stores and import of cheap Chinese clothes or steel have also contributed to the killing of the local textile and steel industry. One expects that Africans business people would sit down with their fellow black South African business people and assist each other.
Myopic politicians and commentators have not been able to grasp why locals say foreigners take their jobs. Global capitalism represented by white-monopoly capital as well as multinational companies are relentless in their quest for cheap labour in order to maximize profit. Whenever South African labour (both skilled & unskilled) is dissatisfied with the low wages, they are fired and replaced with a foreign national who would work for that low wage. The advantage for the foreign national is that when he gets to his country the value of the low wage increases because the Rand is stronger to his native currency. On the other hand Rand remains of the same value for the black South African labourer. As a matter of fact real income has decreased in South Africa as the wages have gone higher.
However, the violent attacks and looting of foreign shops cannot be justified or condoned. The xenophobic attacks are equally a setback for African integration. During these attacks not only foreign nationals were killed by but South Africans too. The real opponent for the working class and the poor remains white monopoly capital and its comprador bourgeoisie. Marx explained that “Accumulation of wealth at one pole is at the same time accumulation of misery, agony of toil, slavery, ignorance, brutality, mental degradation at the opposite pole”. Structural apartheid has been allowed to continue to put black people at that ‘opposite pole’. The inequalities raging in South Africa have polarised society. Such polarisation will soon create animosity between the social classes at different poles. As much as broadcast channels where active in making video and audio clips saying no to xenophobia, they need to also make these clips saying no to poverty and inequality prevalent in our country.
*Triple Challenges refer to the severe poverty, unemployment and inequality ravaging South Africa
The absence of xenophobic attacks does not translate to the absence of xenophobia. Therefore is imperative to confront the root causes of this attitude before it manifests into attacks. South Africa is not only viewed as an Africa’s economic superpower and “the land of opportunities” but unlike other African countries this country has better political stability. Even South Africa’s rival in the battle for hegemony in Africa, Nigeria has been battling to stabilise the country against Islamic insurgent group Boko Haram (till today we plead: Bring Back Our Girls). Population studies and demography outline that migration is guided by push and pull factors which influence a person’s decision to migrate. Offering better pull factors than any African country, it was inevitable that South Africa would be the first choice country to migrate to. According to the 2011Census 3.3% of South Africa’s population which is about 1.7 million people are “non-South African”.
However this immigration happens in a country that has the highest Gini-coefficient in the world standing at 0.69, about 47% of South Africans are poor and the unemployment rate stands at 24%. The spirit of Ubuntu asserts that we should share in each other’s struggles and strive to assist fellow Africans. Unfortunately most of the African migrants I have come across are more Capitalists then they are Pan-Africanists. Most African foreign businessmen that I’ve seen predominantly employ fellow foreigners and largely have no Cooperate Social Initiatives in the poor communities where their businesses operate.
Small Black businesses such as Tuck-shops thrived during and post-apartheid but ever since foreign shops have emerged- South African tuck shops have died. In the CBDs across the country foreign shops dominate the market. If our fellow African brothers are more successful business people, why are most of them not assisting South African small business people? Why are most of them not including surviving South African tuck shop owners in their intelligent bulk buying? Why are most Somali, Ethiopian, Pakistani and other foreign shop owners uniting against South African shop owners?
African and Middle East foreign business people who are in a solid alliance in some parts of the country are even expending from tuck-shops to fish & chips restaurants as well as salons. As a consequence slowly South African owned fish & chips and salons are dieing a slow death. Ultimately the last black owned business sector left will be the taxi industry. However, the taxi associations from what we saw last year in Mamelodi do not take an attack on their lively hood lightly. Xenophobia will show its ugly head again because there is an us- against-you situation between foreigners and South Africans. The government also needs to play its part not only through fiela but legislation needs to regulate not only white dominated Multinational National Cooperations but also African foreign owned business. These businesses must be registered; taxed, labour law must protect foreign labourers exploited in these tuck-shops, BEE as well affirmative action must also apply to them.
Immigrants have played a central role in the history and evolution of South Africa. Black South Africans are conscious of how the European immigrants disposed their ancestors. Today the children of European immigrants still own most of the land and the economy of South African although they are a minority. Indians have also come to become business magnets in South Africa. Chinese clothing stores and import of cheap Chinese clothes or steel have also contributed to the killing of the local textile and steel industry. One expects that Africans business people would sit down with their fellow black South African business people and assist each other.
Myopic politicians and commentators have not been able to grasp why locals say foreigners take their jobs. Global capitalism represented by white-monopoly capital as well as multinational companies are relentless in their quest for cheap labour in order to maximize profit. Whenever South African labour (both skilled & unskilled) is dissatisfied with the low wages, they are fired and replaced with a foreign national who would work for that low wage. The advantage for the foreign national is that when he gets to his country the value of the low wage increases because the Rand is stronger to his native currency. On the other hand Rand remains of the same value for the black South African labourer. As a matter of fact real income has decreased in South Africa as the wages have gone higher.
However, the violent attacks and looting of foreign shops cannot be justified or condoned. The xenophobic attacks are equally a setback for African integration. During these attacks not only foreign nationals were killed by but South Africans too. The real opponent for the working class and the poor remains white monopoly capital and its comprador bourgeoisie. Marx explained that “Accumulation of wealth at one pole is at the same time accumulation of misery, agony of toil, slavery, ignorance, brutality, mental degradation at the opposite pole”. Structural apartheid has been allowed to continue to put black people at that ‘opposite pole’. The inequalities raging in South Africa have polarised society. Such polarisation will soon create animosity between the social classes at different poles. As much as broadcast channels where active in making video and audio clips saying no to xenophobia, they need to also make these clips saying no to poverty and inequality prevalent in our country.
*Triple Challenges refer to the severe poverty, unemployment and inequality ravaging South Africa
Tuesday, 21 June 2016
Blacks can not be racist
Racism might not be a trending issue in public discourse currently but it is a permanently topical issue in our country because of its historical significance and due to that history, racism is an everyday reality for black people. For quiet sometime now I have been increasing appalled by even the slight suggestion that a person is racist or even acted in a racist manner. I have heard of this phenomenon on the media, social media and even members of parliament (both black and white) have condemned white as well as ‘black racism’. But the question is how? How can a black person be racist?
The argument advanced by proponents of ‘black racism’ relies on the premises that according to the dictionary racism is discrimination based on the colour of a person’s skin. Unfortunately in certain cases the dictionary simplifies the meaning of the most complex of words in such a way that it creates more misunderstanding and in cases like this, it creates more ignorance. Racism is not mere discrimination, but like patriarchy, racism is a social system. To discriminate is one thing, to systematically oppress and subdue an entire race for generations is another. Skin colour was used by the founders of racism as a basis to systematically dominate a particular race economically, politically and socially. But which particular group was this?
Anti-Semitism is a social system aimed at dominating particularly Jews. Sexism or patriarchy is aimed at dominating particularly women. When we take it to the ideological debate of capitalism versus communism, it is worth noting that in capitalism it particularly the working class and poor who are dominated. On the other hand in Communism it is the capitalist class or the bourgeoisie who are dominated. Hence racism equally was created to dominate particularly black people. There is not historical evidence that black people have ever created a social system which dominated white people.
Black Economic Empowerment and Affirmative Action are mere reversal policies but as many black people have learned these policies are insufficient to deal with a systematic racism prevalent socially and economically today. As the Minister of Labour has revealed recently and throughout her term of office, there is a lot of gatekeeping in cooperate South Africa by predominately white males who occupy most senior positions. In the past 20 something years the government have put policies in place to ensure transformation however these policies can not measure up to the resistance against such transformation by the economically dominant race. Thus economically the above mentioned policies are merely bringing an assegai to a gun fight.
Although black people cannot be racist, I do concede that they can be prejudice. This prejudice is based on a perpetual state of being dominated and being subjecting to some of the worst atrocities mankind has ever seen, from the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade to Colonialism till today’s imperialism. My sister Mbali Nkosi perfectly explained to me that black anger is premised on what most white people has done and continue to do. Newton’s third law of motion puts it that ‘every action has an equal yet opposite reaction’. There is no tranquil manner for a racial group to handle close 400 years of oppression across the world.
Nevertheless Nelson Mandela got it right when he preached for blacks not to be consumed by hatred. A bloody revenge will not solve the problem of racism or those of poverty, unemployment and equality. It is only a united South Africa that can attempt to solve these problems plaguing our country. However, our beloved icon also got it wrong by putting reconciliation before justice. When you live in the most unequal society in the world you realise that a predominately poor dominated race cannot run to give forgiveness to the race which has dominated it for generations until now. On the other hand why would the dominant race even want your forgiveness when they own most of the land and wealth of the country? True reconciliation can only be achieved on the basis of equality. True equality can only be achieved on the basis of justice.
It is not with pride and joy that I refute the opinion that a black person cannot be racist. The harsh reality is that racism is the foundation on which this country and its economy are built upon. The only racial group that can be racist is the racial group that has benefited from racism as a social system and dominated the other till it in a perpetual state of paralysis. How then can black people be racist when they have never dominated another racial group? I then put it to you that as much as a Jew cannot be anti-Semitic; women cannot be sexist and a sheep cannot eat a wolf- a black person cannot be racist!
Racism might not be a trending issue in public discourse currently but it is a permanently topical issue in our country because of its historical significance and due to that history, racism is an everyday reality for black people. For quiet sometime now I have been increasing appalled by even the slight suggestion that a person is racist or even acted in a racist manner. I have heard of this phenomenon on the media, social media and even members of parliament (both black and white) have condemned white as well as ‘black racism’. But the question is how? How can a black person be racist?
The argument advanced by proponents of ‘black racism’ relies on the premises that according to the dictionary racism is discrimination based on the colour of a person’s skin. Unfortunately in certain cases the dictionary simplifies the meaning of the most complex of words in such a way that it creates more misunderstanding and in cases like this, it creates more ignorance. Racism is not mere discrimination, but like patriarchy, racism is a social system. To discriminate is one thing, to systematically oppress and subdue an entire race for generations is another. Skin colour was used by the founders of racism as a basis to systematically dominate a particular race economically, politically and socially. But which particular group was this?
Anti-Semitism is a social system aimed at dominating particularly Jews. Sexism or patriarchy is aimed at dominating particularly women. When we take it to the ideological debate of capitalism versus communism, it is worth noting that in capitalism it particularly the working class and poor who are dominated. On the other hand in Communism it is the capitalist class or the bourgeoisie who are dominated. Hence racism equally was created to dominate particularly black people. There is not historical evidence that black people have ever created a social system which dominated white people.
Black Economic Empowerment and Affirmative Action are mere reversal policies but as many black people have learned these policies are insufficient to deal with a systematic racism prevalent socially and economically today. As the Minister of Labour has revealed recently and throughout her term of office, there is a lot of gatekeeping in cooperate South Africa by predominately white males who occupy most senior positions. In the past 20 something years the government have put policies in place to ensure transformation however these policies can not measure up to the resistance against such transformation by the economically dominant race. Thus economically the above mentioned policies are merely bringing an assegai to a gun fight.
Although black people cannot be racist, I do concede that they can be prejudice. This prejudice is based on a perpetual state of being dominated and being subjecting to some of the worst atrocities mankind has ever seen, from the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade to Colonialism till today’s imperialism. My sister Mbali Nkosi perfectly explained to me that black anger is premised on what most white people has done and continue to do. Newton’s third law of motion puts it that ‘every action has an equal yet opposite reaction’. There is no tranquil manner for a racial group to handle close 400 years of oppression across the world.
Nevertheless Nelson Mandela got it right when he preached for blacks not to be consumed by hatred. A bloody revenge will not solve the problem of racism or those of poverty, unemployment and equality. It is only a united South Africa that can attempt to solve these problems plaguing our country. However, our beloved icon also got it wrong by putting reconciliation before justice. When you live in the most unequal society in the world you realise that a predominately poor dominated race cannot run to give forgiveness to the race which has dominated it for generations until now. On the other hand why would the dominant race even want your forgiveness when they own most of the land and wealth of the country? True reconciliation can only be achieved on the basis of equality. True equality can only be achieved on the basis of justice.
It is not with pride and joy that I refute the opinion that a black person cannot be racist. The harsh reality is that racism is the foundation on which this country and its economy are built upon. The only racial group that can be racist is the racial group that has benefited from racism as a social system and dominated the other till it in a perpetual state of paralysis. How then can black people be racist when they have never dominated another racial group? I then put it to you that as much as a Jew cannot be anti-Semitic; women cannot be sexist and a sheep cannot eat a wolf- a black person cannot be racist!
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