---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Mafika Damane Mndebele <[email protected]> Date: Thu, Apr 14, 2011 at 1:19 PM Subject: .Let’s enlighten, educate and civilise these backward, uncultured and barbaric Africans To: [email protected]
.*Let’s enlighten, educate and civilise these backward, uncultured and barbaric Africans* *“A story of a song, our heritage and racism”* The recent court case involving the singing of the revolutionary struggle song “Ayesaba Amagwala” by the President of the of the ANCYL Cde. Julius Malema has started quite a heated discussion. Some are arguing that the song is racist, constitutes hate speech, instigates and promotes violence against Boers and or white people in general, while others argue that banning the song is erasing of our struggle history and heritage. I felt it important that I add my own views to this discussion as I believe this is quite a critical discussion which goes to the root of the struggle against apartheid. I believe there are three main issues that need to be considered as we engage in this discussion the song, racism and our struggle heritage *After all what’s in a song* The mere fact that there is a court case about the song tells us clearly that the issue here is more than just about a song but it’s important that we pay some attention to the question, what’s in a song? . A song in the African culture is more than just a mere vocal exercise, it encompasses various forms of expression from emotional feelings, communicating a message or a call to action, a song can be one or a combination of these forms. As in most other cultures a song is seldom literal in its meaning andinterpretationthe same is true in the African culture, our songs are adorned with beautiful metaphors, symbolism, and imagery. It is therefore quite worrying that there are people who want to analyse the song “Dubuli Ibhulu“ in its most bare literal meaning, this narrow academic exercise actually displays their ignorance of the African culture or even worse their condescending attitude towards our culture. I’m convinced that this pseudo analysis moves from a very prejudicial and racist point of view in that it suggests that the Africans lack the sophistication necessary to use figurative language, all we can do whether in song or poetry is to be literal, for figurative and metaphoric language is persevere of the “civilised” cultures. The failure of the people who say we must ban our struggle songs to grasp the metaphoric and symbolic nature of songs in the African culture actually betrays their hidden racist attitudes. *The term “Ibhulu” in context * We must note that throughout the history of our struggle we have never understood our struggle to be a struggle against the individual White person or Afrikaners (Boers), it has always been a struggle against the institutional arrangement of racial exclusion and exploitation. Therefore if we are to locate the use of the term Ibhulu in the song within its correct context we must understand the use of the term within this premise. When we use the term in the context of the struggle we use it to refer to the apartheid system not to individual Boers or Whites, we located Boers collectively as an embodiment and the face of the apartheid system. This understanding of the use of the term “Ibhulu” is evidenced by a number of historical facts but primarily by the fact that we fought the struggle against apartheid side by side with many Boers and Whites. In the height of the struggle when our people were fuming and some were even armed, these songs were sung but they never incited the masses of our people to go on a rampage killing every Boer or White they could find. It is therefore quite illogical and insulting to our intelligence as Africans to suggest that in a free and democratic South Africa, Africans could simply be incited by a song to go on rampage killing Boers and Whites. There are some who suggest that the term Ibhulu is derogatory and racist, the term Ibhulu or Ibhunu is a Xhosa/Zulu (Nguni) version of the term Boer and there is nothing derogatory about it. It is on this basis that I’m again convinced that the conclusion that the song could incite violence against the Boers or Whites moves from a deep seated underlying racist prejudice that Africans are barbaric savages ready to massacre the Whites at the sound of a song *Racism subtle or explicit must be exposed, isolated and defeated * After 17 years of democracy when we think we are finally burying the demon of racism, it just keeps rearing its fat ugly head to spoil our perfect fairytale picture of the beautiful rainbow nation. Our inclination not to spoil this perfect picture always tempts us to just keep throwing more soil into the grave of racism even though we know that the demon is not dead yet. Chairman Mao cautions us never to let things slide for the sake of peace, we therefore must not be afraid to dig up this grave to expose racism and deal with it head on till we defeat it totally. There is this tendency in our country that when we identify racism we are accused of playing the “race card”, this cheap labelling like all other forms of labelling is just an attempt to distract us from addressing the real issue at hand. The attempt to distract us is part of an old ploy to trivialise the issue we are raising and to suggest that we do not have the necessary intellectual capacity to discuss any issue without degenerating into a trivial discussion about non-substantive issues and therefore demonstrating our inferior intellectual capacity. We therefore remain convinced even this attempt of using our courts to ban our struggle songs is just part of the old programme to enlighten and remove from his uncivilised ways the” backward African” *The history of the struggle is our heritage* As the people of South Africa the struggle against apartheid is our common heritage, it is the story of a people united fighting for a just and humane society, It is a story of a people standing up for themselves against a brutal regime, united by a common purpose of living together in the country of their birth as equals. The story of our struggle is indeed a true demonstration of human solidarity, the indomitable human spirit and the belief in the ultimate good of humanity. Our struggle will continue to inspire generations of South Africans and millions worldwide to continue to struggle for a just and humane world, like the French, Russian, American * etc*. revolutions it has impacted on our country some its defining features and values. There is more at stake here than just a song, the history of our struggle, our common heritage is at the brink of being erased just because of some people who have appropriated themselves the right to enlighten, educate and civilise us backward, uncultured and barbaric Africans. As Africans we must state it quite categorically that we will fight sparing neither strength nor courage to preserve our history, culture, values and symbols as they are all an inherent part of our identity as a people. We will refuse any attempt from our self appointed masters to decide for us what part of our history and culture is appropriate to be celebrated and preserved “Ayesaba Amagwala Ayesaba” Awethu Zumana is the former Provincial Secretary of SASCO in Eastern Cape and currently YCLSA DEC Member of Skenjana Roji -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. 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