De-constructing the colonised mind

“To take part in the African revolution, it is not enough to write a revolutionary song; you must fashion the revolution with the people. And if you fashion it with the people, the songs will come by themselves and of themselves” – Bantu Biko

“For if, in fact, my life is worth as much as the settler’s, his glance no longer shrivels me up nor freezes me, and his voice no longer turns me into stone. I am no longer on tenterhooks in his presence; in fact, I don’t give a damn for him.” – Frantz Fanon

Steve Biko, that greatest black man to ever live in this wretched part of the world, opened his paper, “White Racism and Black Consciousness” with the following quote from Aimé Césaire: “No race possesses the monopoly of beauty, intelligence, force, and there is room for all of use at the rendezvous of victory”

I am tempted to quote him and Frantz Fanon, the Martinique philosopher, throughout this article. The temptation is too great. I have never read so eloquently written books, than “I write what I like”(a compilation of his essays and speeches) by the former and “The wretched of the Earth” by the latter. These great sons of Africa, dearly departed so many years ago, still resonate fondly in our hearts, and it can never be wrong to be put in communion with their spirits.

Today, in a society in which we live, were the black man is continuing to be humiliated, shamed and treated as nothing but a labourer in the country of his birth, it is very fitting that we recall the gallantry of these two great Africans, whose backs were of unyielding oak, and their vision more acute than that of an eagle. There is something profoundly interesting about the two, for they preached a simple message that black people have no business minding how other people perceive them, but should instead take the bull by the horn and make their own destiny. It is at this moment very apt to bring a quote by one the most celebrated writers of our time, Dr E’skiel Mphahlele:

“The eternal theme of a victim who hollers from the depths of a pit for the tyrant to lower a ladder for him just won’t do. We still have to make the transition in our minds, from the status of bleeding victims to that of the proactive initiator
who knows what changes he wants”

To-day, in a country where more than 50% of the youth are trapped in a vicous life of unemployment, lack of adequate skills, no proper health, it is very astonishing how we havent rebelled yet. But the reality is that the ANC have conditioned our people to accept being second-class citizens. I don’t imagine that African people living in places like Diepsloot and Kayamandi would tolerate living in such squalor without showing hints of resistence, had it not been for the ANC. I for one, am for taking responsibility for one’s own life, and asking from government only what you cannot do yourself. However, the South African story tells a tale of a landless majority, of a minority that continue to make money off the majority(and call it genius). Often our people are caught up in circumstances not of their own undoing, but because they are denied proper education, thus, releged to the trenches, unable to partake meaningfully in the economy of their country, but as proud slaves, who labours heavily just to feed themselves and their families. The ANC, that organisation that has for the past 20 years managed to cutapult corrupt individuals from rags to riches, should be blamed entirely for this.

ANC has failed epically in eradicating white supremacy, and the supposed white intellectual superiority. To this day, even liberal whites, are more likely to think themselselves the oasis of hope for the continent at large, the alpha and omega, the bginning and the end. Often, when engaging them in conversation, they must have the final word. I am not saying this because I am a sore loser of a debate; I have observed time and time again, these want to condition me. The liberal white is resolute, and the absolute beginning: ‘”This land was created by us”; he is
the unceasing cause: “If we leave, all is lost, and the country will go back to the Middle Ages.”‘ – Biko. Of course, I am obliged to state that these is not a blanket generalisation, as I have found South Africans detest generalisations, and sometimes, logic.

A colour free society is an affront to the African, when poverty in this country discriminates by colour. As one columnist put it, inequalities created on the basis of colour can only be reversed on the basis of colour. Africans need not feel ashamed for being affirmed. Their progress have been stagnated for the last 300 years, and their humiliation continues to this day. What is more essential for me, is that the African should realize that it is only he that will get himself of out his situation. I have never know a person that will bite their nose to spite their face, and the DA has proven more than often the truism of that. Banto Biko spoke thus of these so called liberals: “Basically the South African white community is a homogeneous community. It is a community of people who sit to enjoy a privileged position that they do not deserve, are aware of this, and therefore spend their time trying to justify why they are doing so.”

Biko went further: “The role of the white liberal in the black man’s history in South Africa is a curious one. Very few black organisations were not under white direction. True to their image, the white liberals always knew what was good for the blacks and told them so. The wonder of it all is that the black people have believed in them for so long.” It is to be noted that I am not preaching racism, in case I am about to be dismissed as racist. What I have always found interesting about Biko and Fanon, is how they attempted to make the black man find inner peace, to be content with himself and be confident with who he is, his abilities, with how he looks. Many times, black people needs to be verified by the white person to feel good and to feel important. Nelson Mandela(not to take anything from him), Lindiwe Mazibuko, Mmusi Maimane, etc ..are some of the blacks who got verfied by whites. I am not saying you have to be despised by whites. But you often have to be verified by whites for other whites to take you seriously. That is the kind of liberalism that we have going on in this country. A liberal white can call you a monkey today and say “Oops, slip of a tongue” tomorrow and be forgiven.

We need to verify ourselves. And while at it, we need to guard against the temptation to be superior when we make it. It is very unAfrican to want to be bigger at the expense of belittling another person. Recently, at a home affairs department to collect an ID, I saw something that left me quite embarassed: I have been waiting on the queue from 7:30 in the morning, and the woman who was supposed to help us, arrived there at 9:30. She had brought a KFC meal and apparently we had to wait for her to finish the her meal before she could help us. Some white on the queue(blacks don’t usually complain about service from government workers, because often we know how futile that excersize will be) complained that they have been there since morning and the office was supposed to operate from 8:30. The woman told them: “This is not aparthied days” and refused to help them even when it is their turn. I found that disgusting, so I caution against this kind of revolution. We must live the revolution, of Thomas Sankara, of Robert Mugabe. We must live the revolution of these great sons of Africa, that seeked to emancipate our people, from all spheres of oppression, but that same revolution that guards against greed and mediocrity. The African must be confident and take the bulls by the horns.

One of my friends, an unashamed Pan-Africanist, said: “The biggest problem with Africa is that we as Africans are very fragmented. Africans can never agree on any single point collectively”. And I think he was right. Some Africans, if you make mention to them that 100 years ago, we were dispossessed of land and it is only fitting that we get it back.. some South Africans do not understand that. I find that absolutely contemptible!

In closing, let me leave a quote from the greatest president since the dawn of democracy, President Thabo Mbeki: “I have seen what happens when one person has superiority of force over another, when the stronger appropriate to themselves
the prerogative even to annul the injunction that God created all men and women in His image”. Needless to say, I am an atheist.

Mayibuye i-Afrika. Morena boloka sechaba sa heso! Salute!