I am not an ardent follower or scholar of Steve Bantu Biko who died this week back in 1977 at the hands of the brutal South African security police. But I venture to ask … what would he feel, what would he do in present day South Africa were he alive? Many people dare say he is quite pleased wherever he is because suddenly even those that sought to demonise his philosophy a mere thirty years ago are today ardent proponents of black consciousness. Even though many of us still battle with grasping how such a consciousness is not at all contradictory to the building of a non-racial society. He should have been pleased when upon the adoption of this country’s Constitution for which he was maimed — a man of no less a stature than the then deputy president of our republic declared that: “None dare challenge me when I say, I am an African.” Indeed he would have celebrated the launch of that which celebrated no less than his philosophy, the African renaissance.
He would be pleased to see the nation engaging in an important debate about race consciousness, a debate that has been suppressed for many years with the hope that it will disappear. He would be so pleased because of his ardent belief that black people should not be ashamed but be proud to be black. He would be elated to see the existence of organisations such as the Black Management Forum and the Black Lawyers Association — organisations that did not rush to disband out of the excitement of 1994 understanding his often quoted saying: “Black man you are on your own.” He would be sad to see Azapo tethering on the brink of political obliteration, sad to see the divisions in organisations such as the PAC and therefore sad to see their failure over the years to put black consciousness on the agenda of public discourse and be credible carriers of the message he died for.
He would be saddened by the long road we still need to travel as black people to embrace our heritage and values. He would be shocked by the crass materialism that has overtaken our self-worth. He would be appalled to see how we now define ourselves according to the size of our bank accounts or the size of the engine of the car we drive and the address where we live or even the number of women to whom we can be suitors. He would be embarrassed by how we look down on indigenous knowledge systems, traditional ethos and practices confining these to the bucket of backwardness. He would bemoan the state of our languages those that have become worse off even after the dawn of our freedom. Those that our children cannot speak or understand.
Having argued vociferously for the economic emancipation he would shudder to experience the growing gap between the rich and poor where the rich are gleefully getting richer and the poor getting worse of than before. He would frown at the failure of policies meant to empower black people such as affirmative action and black economic empowerment and how these have so far achieved the opposite of their noble intentions, generating nepotism and cronyism that is ripping our body politic apart and frustrating our people.
If you undertook a serious study of his works such as I write what I like you would agree with me that he would be depressed at the pathetic state of our public discourse dictated to by patronage and political correctness instead of profound and robust intellectual debate on issues of national concern. He would be terribly ashamed of the new “thought police” who sometimes even in his silent name try and determine who is worthy to express what views in our deteriorating state of intellectual being as a nation.
More than being concerned about those that have seen better days, he would be concerned about the young people of our land. While he would bemoan the uninspiring youth leaders of our time, he would spend time campaigning to do something about the parlous state of our education which produces so few who can cope with higher education. The hopeless state of our basic education would worry him greatly. He is the kind that would shed a tear over the fact that there are kids who are still being taught under trees and that close to eighty percent of our schools are without libraries, school halls or laboratories. He would wonder like most of us do how on earth we are preparing our young people to prepare to take over the economy of this land and place South Africa on the world map to compete with other nations.
Talking about education still, he would be aghast at the latter-day academics who litter the higher education corridors today, academics who prefer to be silent in the face of the dearth of intellectual discourse and the missing decent African perspective in so many national debates that are raging in our land and our world today. Biko was a prophet of his time and saw the world with a perspective second to none. He would be agitated by the state of governance in the world especially in our continent and would have some harsh words for despots such as Robert Mugabe who disgrace us all. Not that he would spare the colonialists who have plundered Africa and are now nowhere to be found at the time of reconstruction.
I am no ardent follower of his. When he died I was in grade one. But God knows I would have loved to see how the 60-year-old Biko would have shaped our body politic in the face of so much complacency, materialism and globalisation. One thing is for sure , he would have still been in a class of his own lighting up the sky of our intellectual stage with profound and original articulation pandering to no patronage, deferring to no powers that be and walking a lonely path of principle.
Our country needs so many like Biko. If I had the power to resurrect him from the dead I would say … Woza Biko … for South Africa needs you so.
Thank you for this lovely article. I know that as ‘mlungu’ and not to mention an immigrant from Europe my position is ambiguous but my kids are half African and I consider Biko as part of their cultural heritage so they grow up knowing about the atrocities that were commited against blacks in general and Africans in particular and about the need to correct wrongs by implementing certain policies.
Do not be discouraged by racists who make a noise on this site. The reason they are logging into your blog is because they have nothing better to do in the first place.
thanks,
Phillipa
I cant agree with you more. I am an ardent follower of Bantu Steven Biko. His basic message and advice to the people was “Appreciate who you are first as a black person and then you will be in a position interact or deal with other people.
Let me add by saying he will be fuming to see some black political parties are based or divided along tribalisim.
We so want the white world to accept us that we are willing to destroy and kill the last treds or evidence of our cultures. He was killed while he was preparing us for this era we are living in now.
Yes we need him more that ever and those of us who believed in his philosophy will do anything to raise him from the Dead. We can now only honour him by keep on talking about his teachings and encourage our black brothers and sisters to appreciate themselves for who they are and thank God for being African
Tautona
Mafikeng
the last 15 years of free south africa has seen the decline and demise of black political intellectualism of the kind propagated by Steve Biko. in the absence of a definitive black political philosphy, it is hardly surprising that what passes of as black public discourse amounts to nothing less than sloganeering, and in the process most of us have settled for “political mud pies” and think that is mete for public discourse.
No wonder it becomes easy to trade insults instead of well thought through arguments and world views. We are where we are today as a people because those who stood opposed to the philosophy of Biko, and that of Sobukwe before, failed to craft a counter black political philosophy, which would have been the basis of a post apartheid south africa. Nature, it is said, does not allow a vacuum. The vacuum that Biko/Sobukwe left has been filled by the ruling party with some sort of “neo colonialism” which benefits only the cream of the ruling party, leaving no room for those who hold different political convictions from theirs. A simple example of this “neo colonialism”, ubiquitous in its nature, is the naming of public places only after ANC leaders and members. The mentality of “to the victor goes the spoils” permeates the political thought of the ruling party.
your reflections on biko testify that we need to return to his philosophy before it is too late.
Great article! Yup, I’m sure he’s turning in his grave… We need to erase the word “entitled” from the dictionary.
Spot on Onkgopotse! I think that, not only black South Africans but all South Africans are in dire need of a philosophy or belief system that can wean us of the “us and them” mindset on racial, class, cultural and material terms.
Biko’s seventies “black consciousness” credo, cribbed holus-bolus from Frantz Fanon, has dated more terribly than the fashions of those days. Both only have nostalgia value today.
And he would be sad to see an organasition that had so much potential as COPE had engagin gin factional activities instead of mobilizing our people. He would be sad that today COPE want to go to bed with none other than the Democratic Alliance, a political party with so much in common with the NUSAS BIko broke away from. He would be sad to hear Terror Lekota saying that after a lousy 15 years of qualified freedom, the state does not need to pu inplace measures to uplift the black majority. Biko would a very sad man today indeed, if he were to see the false promises of the past 15 years, and how we as Africans seem to have accepted that we are God’s step children
H aha ha you say TWICE that you are no ardent follower of Biko, I thought your blog is Quite Frankly cos you are biting his reported psuedoname Frank Talk!!! Anyway I am not getting the line ‘Even though many of us still battle with grasping how such a consciousness is not at all contradictory to the building of a non-racial society.’ To me it seems you are hinting that a move to nurture more PROUD BLACK MAN will hinder creating non-racial society?? I hope I got you wrong because that is disturbing.
If I got you wrong, my apologies, but if thats what you are suggesting than you really need to read his writings and interviews twice. A proud black man is the only think that will save this country, a man who feels his worth from within not from his size of his BMW, not from the size of his business, a man who loves life not because he is in parliament, but because he wakes up to a neighbourhood with an atmosphere of safety, responsibility and selflove.
Bikos ideas should have been a compulsory reading to African children and I tell you the 2008 xenophobic attacks would not have happened, cos those black men killing, vandalizing and burning people there would be having more self love to know that they are responsible for their own well being and they can’t blame Africans from other states for their financial stress. Biko’s ideas are needed now!
One greater than Biko arrived and sadly left too early – Goniwe. His (Goniwe’s) legacy is still to be penned; William Marvin Gumede’s caricature of the great man is best left to rot. I enjoyed your post.
Nah, he wouldn’t be shocked by the crass materialsim of the ruling party. He’d be ordering his new Benz and Range Rover like everyone else and wondering how many R1000′s he can spend on a really cool sound system, how many free air travel tickets he can get and how much gravy he can get from the state train.
Now this wouldnt be shocking at all, but deserved if the poor of this country had been uplifted in the past 15 years.
The only tragedy that is clear is how badly the ANC and the other so called “freedom fighters” have failed Steve Biko in their rush to scavenge the spoils of war.
you write like a real Cope man, a party of white supremacy just like the ANC under the guise of non-racialism. you guyz have finally now agreed that there is indeed no major policy difference between yourselves and the DA in the same way the NP dissolved itself into the ANC and continued to run a modern version of apartheid with all those cope leaders- who now project themselves as messiahs. i suggest you stay away from Biko and stop making claims about how happy he would have been about the 1994 “miracle” of god which simply brought about a born again racism where black people continue to be voting slaves. biko’s vision of what it means to be free runs fundamentally counter to what has occured here since 1994. the rot dear Ongopotse didnt start after polokwane- it started with Mandela and Tutu giving our freedom away in the name of a raibow mirage. i suggest if you would to get a copy of the first edition of New Frank Talk at exlclusives rosebank or Xarra books- i argued there that Biko wouldnt have voted in the “new” SA, coz to do so would be to legitimise fraud, i go into some great detail to elaborate Biko’s conception of liberation and compare it with what has happened here and the result is simply that post 1994 is exactly what Biko warned against. Biko is no part of the non-racialism fantacy of Cope, ANC, Azapo, PAC…
Do yuo really think so?
Often one accredits one’s own view to someone no longer with us, but in this case, even though I knew him not, I think maybe you have gotten it just about right.
Where is the black pride and black confidence never mind black conciousness? Surely enough time has passed on to have enabled people to move on from formulating all of their thought processess in a single minded manner and perputally framing them in terms of apathheid and race. Surely we have much more important work to get on with, surely we can do all things, simply because we are…..people!
I enjoyed your article JJ.
@ Phillipa
Great comment sister. all the best.
An excellent article.
Let’s keep Steve alive by embracing the values he stood for, challenging that which is crippling our country and speaking truth to power.
Has anyone worked out what really happened to Chris Hani?
The lessons of Biko’s life and death would require one to do a self-assessment regarding one’s stand on the current politics of factionalism, corrupted self-interest and intellectual immorality. Our body politic is dominated by a cabal which professes progressive principles of inclusive development, austerity and tolerance in word only but its actions display utter contempt for those very principles. Biko would be appalled at the cronyism and patronage that characterize government appointments, the growth of the thought police and the readyness with which constitutional institutions are prostituted at the altar of political expediency and party hegemony. He would speak out a la Tutu, Kriegler and others against the cult of personality around Hlophe J, the worship of Malemaistic imbecility and the surprising public display od opportunism by people such as Ray McCauley. Good article.
thanx,
Gauta
Wonderful article! I believe we need a new -ism and that is Africanism. Pride in being African, since all of us are from one blood regardless the colour of our skin. We need to rremember those first few wonderful years when Mandela walked free and reached out to the people from all walks of life. I too am a pale skinned 60 year old African and I have stayed because I wish to help rebuild and remind those who are younger that being different does not make you less. There is much in the thinking of Biko which we could do with today. Be proud of who you are, be principled in your dealings with all people but especially those unable to understand because of lack of education of the First World variety. The first world has made a total mess of things with its glorification of materialism and controlling everything. The Southern Hemisphere and its inhabitants have much to teach the Northern and instead we will adopt their ways thus becoming the very kind of society that the Biko’s and Tutu’s sought to deliver us from. All those years of apartheid when I fought against it in the only way I was able I never envisaged that freedom would simply mean a change of guard from white to black. I wanted people to love and forgive and learn that by combining what was good from all people we could be great. I am bitterly disappointed but still here.
I`m baffled by your logic and reasoning in this regard since its not clear on what basis are you remembering Steve Biko because informed people will tell you that people die but philosophiesw don`t hence Verwoerd died but he lived on because his philosophy has been watered,nannied and nurtured.
You where you are have not been wateringand nurturing his philosophy and his former comrades have adopted capitalism telling us that they went into the struggle not to be poor and the Luthuli Ho0use hyenas will tell you that they embrace non-racialism.
The fact that by now there`s no talk about commemorating his death shows how colonised and Americanised the black people of this country have been.I`m busy writing lamppost placards commemorating him if you ask me what I`m doing and if you follow my contributions to these blogs i have been reigniting his philosophies.
This article is a tumultuous panegyric- unbearable to read. Its riddled with incoherence, plain stupidity and contradiction- Shikota’s gift to the ‘rainbow’ nation!
Biko was a caricature of Fanon. He essentialised race, and inversely revised Hegel who had been discredited 200 years earlier by Feumburg.
No point engaging with this piece, which is a demonstration of the intellectual degeneration you complain of.
Beatiful story, brother, some of us though non-South Africans have been following Biko up to his death. It is encouraging to read people of your age, thinking this way. However, i do not share your sentiments on Zimbabwe and Mugabe. My experience is that, Biko would support Mugabe against the neo-colonialists, fronted by mdc-t. Africa needs the Bikos, Mugabes and of course young men and women of your callibre, who are not afraid to write what they like. In 1978 i was kicked out of South Africa for sharing Bikos philosophy at my work place. God bless you, brother.
I agree entirely with you Tabane. [As you put it though, you were in grade 1 when Biko died, and you are now an adult , more than a generation later] It is very hard to say what a 62 year old Biko would have to say about present day SA [I still have a vivid recollection of how I felt when I heard of how Biko, a 30 year old Black conscioussness activist/leader was brutally murdered.I was a 26 year old youth]
No doubt, Biko’s ideas would have evolved had he not been removed from society……but in which direction? Terror Lekota and Barney Pityana were very much in Biko’s camp and so was Mosibudi Mangena. We all know where Lekota, Pityana and Mangena are today.How would Biko’s ideas have evolved? Only God [and "Biko", wherever he is] knows.
While I’m all for the absolute freedom for all people – I’m very much against any form of “ x – consciousness”.
Biko’s “black consciousness” suggests that you are a black first and a human second. Any “-ism” that makes an accident of nature its primary cause, is a concern for me. I’m not denying history, but while we still see ourselves ar part of a race, to be “race-conscious” is detrimental to the non-racial ideal. Only when we scrap “black consciousness” and “white consciousness” and “gay pride” and all the other things, will we start to see and engage with each other as PEOPLE and not “the other”.
I’m not interested in black people. I’m not interested in white people. Or women. Or men. Or atheists, or Christians or rich people or poor people or book-nuts or illiterates or Jews or Palestinians or or or. I’m interested in PEOPLE. The individuals that make this planet so damn interesting.
As long as we label ourselves, and others – no matter how noble or worthy our cause seems to be – we will always create a divisive society. I’m a human being. It does not matter what race, gender, religious views, sexual orientation or movie-fan I am. I’m not proud, or ashamed, of any of these things. I’m a person – engage with me as such.
Biko once cautioned that “a nation that forgets its martyrs would itself soon be forgotten”. Many think without the gallant contributions of the Biko and the Black Consciousness Movement the present democratic dispensation would have fallen short.
So stubborn is the refusal to honour Biko that even the Medical School he attended would be named after the honourable Mandela, who never studied medicine. His thoughts and legacy continue to be systematically marginalised under the entrenched intellectual intolerance.
Dear JJ
I am also very happy that those who despised Biko are now paying tribute to him. Your article does capture the essence of our problems as a country. I am not sure though about your understanding of BC especially when you think it stands on opposite ends with non-racialism. Biko espoused for an egalitarian, anti racist worker republic of AZANIA. He was not anti white but pro black. He explains in his writing about the need for black people to be proud of themselves even before espousing intergration. He was correct that the intergration of unequals was merely going to result in the kind of assimilation we no witness in South Africa. How I wish that many of you understood him then. We could not be in this mess that you so eloquently describe. The Kind that Lekota and Shilowa and others have put us through. You are correct that Biko would not have loved to see organisations so divided, including COPE. Remember when he died he was attempting to Unite liberation movements. You have a great role to play JJ in paying tribute to Biko and it starts with facilitating unity within Cope.
I strongly believe that you are an ardent follower of Biko, you just dont know it yet.
I am disturbed by what the comments of Gauta Komane. Gauta is being personal in attacking some personalities and glorifying others while we know what is the root of their attack on the Hlope saga. I am Not a COPE nor an ANC member and the writer of this article might be a COPE member but I believed he did not write to articulate or advance the COPE view. I agreed with Mr Tabane because he was adressing issues that are affecting the morals and attitude of black people living in this era in South Africa
If indeed he is advancing His Party’s view as Gauta is in a way implying then Mr Tabane you masters at Cope are as Guilty as the Ruling party actually most of them started this decay that is Making Our Beloved Bantu Biko turn in his grave.
everybody knows that COPE was formed based on wrong reasons and greed that is why the is a lot of confusion within the party
Tautona
Mafikeng
I don’t know JJ, it’s just not that simple. I believe in black consciousness and a need for a vibrant debate to be held in order to heal the collective psyche of not just South Africans but black people on the African continent as a whole. That is why I was very excited at the possibilities held by the African Rennaissance (though nothing has coome of it).
I however know that such things are not that simple, as much as governing a country is just not that simple, there are too many unkown factors that heed progress one way or the other. On race and black consciousness, pride, confidence etc, I am of the view that it’s a psychological issue and therefore needs to be treated as such. We need to debate and talk about it over and over until we all believe and see the value and virtue of who we are as black people. It can’t happen overnight.
The materialism you speak of is a symptom of this psychological issue, black people need other ways to feel worthy or valuable and the easiest way is through accummulation and display of wealth. South Africa is still a very racially divided country and people who say contrary are not realistic. You need come to provinces like Mpumalanga to see how race and the psychology of race is still as it was prior to 1994.
@Tabane-No! No! Biko wouldn’t be happy with the sell out Kempton Constitution for it legitimises black exploitation and protects white privilege. Something that Biko fought against in real life.
@Tabane-Black Consciousness as defined by the BC movement in SA,was defined along class and not racial lines.And so there’s no way it can undermine “non-racialism”.Besides,”non racialism’ operates from an oversimplied premise and pretends to be fighting against white-racism when it actually maintains it.Therefore,the non-racial approach works for the black elite and not the working class and peasantry.
@Jon-No where in his writings does Biko claim he invented BC and a close study of all the 18 essays(in the authentic copy of I Write What I Like) reveal that,Biko was influenced by amongst Fanon,but he and his peers were able to develop BC further and situationalise it to the South African context.I therefore don’t agree that he”cribbed” Fanon’s Black Consciousness ‘holus bolus”.Besides,all thinkers are influenced by those who precede them.
@Lamani-Please elaborate, in what respect is Goniwe greater than Biko?
@Andile-irrespective of what you may think of AZAPO,long before many appointed themselves custodians of Biko’s legacy,AZAPO,through the blood of it’s members,upheld the name Biko since 1977 and like many liberal commentators,you are a late comer in this regard.
An idea/article should be judged based on it’s merits and not on the race, tribe or political party the individual expressing the idea belongs to. If we sideline ideas in this fashion, then we really risk killing off useful debate. Mr. Tabane’s political party should not be used as a reason to write off the points he is making. I think Mr. Tabane makes a lot of compelling points in this article.
For a person pleading ignorance about Biko and Black Conciousness, you`ve done quite handsomely in holding a mirror to the nation on Biko and his philosophy.
Biko and other martyrs of our revolution have played their part and moved on. It is now up to us the living to pick their fallen spears and take the revolution to its logical conlusion.
Armed with their ideas/contributions, we can make sense of the nonsense that charecterises modern day South Africa and chart a clear wayforward to a future the likes of Biko laid their lives down for.
PS. JJ,continue the good intellectual work that you are doing. You are an inspiration to many of us, COPE or no COPE.
Great article. Our intellectuals have started to to think with their stomachs.
I really do not know where to start.JJ is an ardent Biko fan.Well that is not enough.Espousing Black Consciousness goes deep as it seeks to place itself as a Philosophy a la Karl Marx,Lenin,Malcolm X,etc.Black pride has and always was the epitome of BC.One blogger,Sabelo,is right when he makes mention of the Afrophobic(Xenophobic) attacks.If we were conscious that the next person you attacking looks like you and you love who you are,probably if not most definitely,you will not attack that person.Generally Black life has become cheap.We are not scared to kill each other nowadays.Before I get misconstrued,Biko was very articulate in stating that Blackness is a mental state of mind, not skin colour.That is why his inclusive Black definition has Africans,Indians and Coloureds(Namas,Khomani Sans,Malays,etc).His was a robust rebuke for Europeans calling themselves Whites and us Non-whites and yet when you look at them you see pink/pale people.Thus the emphasis not being on colour but a state of mind.
There is a lot that Biko said including addressing White fears over Black aspirations which is what is happening today.We are constantly reconciling and persuaded to forgive and forget yet Black aspirations are constantly being eroded at the altar of the Rainbow nation.My litle knowledge of geography does not show Black or White colours of the rainbow. Amen.
I am left astounded by some of the responses to what was merely a wake up call for all of us to take stock of our consciouness. I am equally humbled by all the positive feedback about the need for us as a nation to debate issues that are critical for our unity whether we agree with each other or not.
My friend Chris -I did not imply that non racialism and black conciousness are mutually exclusive. I ONLY acknowledged that many of us are battling with the fact that they do not contradict …its an acknowledgement that will help all of us learn to put this matter of black conciousness in perspective. I hope that clarifies.
None of us can ever claim to have all the answers and since none of us are GOD we can never fully analyse what Biko would have done. This was however a way of provking all of us to hold up Biko’s policies against present day South Africa and think together. The repsonses here are some of the best reponses to any debate I have ever started and it says to me there is Hope in intellectual engagements. There are some who regardless of the debate will always seek to reduce the debate to a partisan port-short taking exercice. I have developed a hard skin over many years for such people…Biko would be emabrassed at such a conduct but like him QUITE FRANKLY I shall write what i like.! ” JJ
in the past :bc”was put in place by blacks whereby we were black in all our activities.
“consciousness is practiced by just about every community and race in the globe that`s wh you hav white,indian,chinese,portuguese clubs where they talk abou the avancment of their cause.
you black can`t talk about it while you ignore blacks who does things in a manner that seeks to negate b.i`m talking abot these gangs who are masquerading as jobles and homeless and are appearing in an inappropriate state of dress and conduct.
During my time parents collaborted ith teachers and police and ocil workers fo the good of thei children and that`s why gangs failed to penetrate our schools because parents could spot psychological changes in their children and sk th teachers for help to restore that child`s life.if teachers cn`t change th child then social workers were brought in and if they too fail then ops were brought in nd if they fail too then reformatory schools were the viable ption that`s why you had less crime in our townships because youths were kept in check.
now today blacks gang-up with whites to bring black children on the streets to enrich themselves by starting bogus shelters thn rake-in the money.
to be bc you need to b proud of your traditional and rural bckgounds and don`t be shy to be traditional in your day-to-day routines.
black
This is interesting stuff indeed. But nobody knows where Steve Biko would be in his thinking and political action, were he still alive today. No doubt, his ideas and aims, aspirations, were great. But a lot of it got frozen in time when he died. Take the venerable Nelson Mandela for instance, he preached armed struggle at the time when he got arrested and imprisoned. Many of us know how he got to be pushed to resorting to violence, no need to go there. My point is that had Nelson Mandela died then – god forbid – we’d probably be going on today about the importance of armed struggle because that is what he would have been pushing before his death. It’s very easy to romanticise the past, we in Africa just love doing that: African values of this and that, love thy neghbor here and there, sharing blah-blah-blah, but look at the behaviour of most African leaders since independence! I cannot wait to see a modern South Africa where it would be ridiculous to have “Black Lawyers Associations”, “Black Management Fora”, “Black Editors Fora”, etc. This would probably be understandable if we lived as a minority in Europe, North-America, Asia, etc. We are the majority that ridiculously condones living as a people under siege! Sies! Can anyone imagine a “Chinese Student Organisation” in China? A “White Lawyers Association” in France or England? Then why the heck do we do this?
Hear Hear G, we need to carve out a new way of being. Reading these comments its dawned on me that as the prominent leaders have lost their vision of non-racialism, the old attitudes and hangups are bubbling to the surface in these forums. The ANC seemed to change tack and “100% Zulu Boy” campaigns, Malema’s racist and sexist rantings have redrawn the lines in some people’s heads. Whereas before it wasn’t PC to classify people according to race and colour as we were either embracing the rainbow nation or at least trying to appear that way, at least we were trying. Now open hate speech and incitement is tolerated – it reminds me of another big 1994 event – in Rwanda.
Hmm!! Pasile, Pasile. Come on Pasile, really?? I doubt if the powers that be would listen to Biko. Here is Tutu administering them free advise and what do they do? – insults after insults.
One thing bothering me though, Nelsom Mandela is too quite for my liking.
The question “where would Biko belong today?” is not unfamiliar. But it is grossly ahistoric and anti-intellectual. It is a project of the official intellectual establishment that seeks to reinvent a watered-down version of Biko. A mortal being’s politico-philosophical personality is measured in terms of his contributions while alive – never about our own prejudiced guesses. He died a a leader of the BCM -period!
BC is a pro-poor philosophy. It seeks to infuse the hopeless with life, and make them assertive and take self-initiative in shaping their own destiny. With this pride, we would not be complaining that white people do not greet us, or watch Bafana Bafana, or welcome Caster. We do not seek patronage but real change that speaks to wealth redistribution and economic parity. It is only then that we could speak of genuine race reconciliation. Abolish the shacks and bucket toilets that are “for blacks only”, and restore the humanity of humanity in this country!
The first edition of New Frank Talk was titled “Why Biko wouldnt vote?”. the point was not to speculate about Biko (a dead person’s) poltical views in 2008, but to run an analysis of what his version of liberation was when he was murdered and how it squares up agains what was delivered by Mandela and Tutu in 1994. its very easy actaully to this since biko was so clear about what it means to be free. where would biko be if he didnt sell out? the answer is not mistry at all if you understand his project. of course no one knows what Biko would be doing right now, but i think if he was spared we could be able to say to him “tower you sold out”- if he supported the post 1994 settlement. what i find interesting is that not a single bc “intellectual” more so the azapo have contradictd my thesis (i argued in the same essay that Azapo is not different fromt the DA), again i did this by a comparative analysis of the two parties elections manifestoes). truth is there is NOTHING that Biko would support in the post 1994 neo-apartheid reality, run by black colonialists. South Africa is anti black not becuase of white people, but becuase its political leadership defers to whiteness. and here i mean all of the existing political parties those who claim to be bc included. JJ, Biko was a black power revolutionary, not a non-racialist.
@Nelvis Qekema
What would be ahistoriacal and anti-intellectual about Mr Tabane`s intervention on Biko and Black Conciousness?
Mr Tabane hasn`t tried to reinvent Biko. What he did, is to refreshingly hold up Biko and the philosophy he advocated for us South Africans to draw lessons from as we grapple with challenges of present day South Africa.
Your manner of engagement is the one that is ahistorical and anti-intellectual as you`d argue that the likes of Mr Tabane have no business in debating Biko and BC. It is this tendency that has led to BC being interred with the mortal remains of Biko.
The three splinters of the current Black Conciousnes Movement, of which you are part, have done nothing but bring shame and ignonimy to the philosophy that Biko so articulately espoused.
You attitude, if it is taken serious, will kill thinking and debate in the same that your ilk killed the vibrancy and appeal of BC.
I couldn’t agree with you more, Nelvis!
The sad thing about much of our behaviour today – some would argue, possibly with some reason, that it’s a result of years of colonialism and apartheid – is that we seem to desperately need “acknowledgement” by whites. I’ve even heard black brothers and sisters complain that they hate attending gatherings dominated by whites because nobody comes to talk to them!! If there is one thing that I love about the BCM, it is that it aimed to encourage attitudes of self-love and pride in ourselves. We still lack that. It is certainly ridiculous to see prominent people complain that white people do not share our passions – e.g. the celebration of Heritage (a.k.a Braai) Day as prescribed by the government. We need to instill this self-pride in ourselves so that we stop thinking that a restaurant must be good if most of its patrons are white! Others will admire us and respect us when they see us loving ourselves and respecting us first. It goes the same way in personal relationships, but that is another topic!
Andile. When AZAPO does not respond to you comparing it with the DA it is not authomatic that they agree with you. It could simply be because you are not to be taken seriously. Many have tried to make Biko a personal project but they have failed. To all those who are trying hard to massage JJs ego – JJ started this debate knowing he was to receive different kinds of feedback. He himself is very impressed with the feedback he has received. You must remember that some are not distant admireres of what Biko stood for they have scars in defence of Biko and BC. They had their houses burnt and they too have a right to defend Bikos legacy. No one is questioning JJs affiliation. He has a right to COPE with whatever he is COPING with. This does not give him immunity from criticism. I commend him for continuing with this debate. AZAPO should be commended too for keeping BIKO alive when so many wanted him dead. We are now able to celebrate him due to the resiliance of AZAPO in placing him on the international picture. I wish others had the same spirit as AZAPO, Maybe Sobukwe and Thembisile Hani wouldnt be as dead as they are right now. This despite the overwhelming resources at the disposal of the ruling party.
Biko’s BCM offered (and hopefully still offers) a path for SA. I grew up amid proud and competent black people who hit the apartheid ceiling, some hard. Two things stood out; pride and non-racialism.
Both seem to have gone, replaced with crony capitalism, celebration of political connection over competence and then corruption and plain criminal activity. Just about every person who effectively steals money via the above routes gives away their pride. When they are criticised and play the race card, they give away non-racialism and their pride in being black. Black people run SA with an overwhelming majority; knuckle down and make it work, for Biko’s sake.
Quo vadis Biko, Et tu Biko but certainly we need another Biko but there is no sign of one. The tall, proud and honest black poppy is brutally hacked off at the knees, pretty much like Biko but by black hands now.
Blacks have killed Biko`s ideals and so all we can do the least is to honmour him for his courage of bravery,fearlessness and concern.
However,let me not hesitate here to admit that I might be wrong because maybe this was a collective thing and not his own initiative but according to intellectual and academic pieces it was his and his alone.
I`m now surprised to see these luthuli house hyenas honouring the likes of ghandi and not matyres like Biko AND i URGE THOSE MONIED BLACKS TO ERECT A STATUE OF BIKO IN ALL THE PROVINCES.
IN MY OWN LITTLE WAY I WILL BE POSTING PLACARDS ON LAMPOST
THE BOERS KILLED HIM BECAUSE HE THREATENED AFRIKANERDOM SIN CE IF BLACKS COULD HAVE IMPLEMENTED HIS IDEALS IN TBHE RURAL AREAS THEY COULD HAVE CREATED THEIR OWN ESTABLISHMENTS THAT COULD HAVE REALLY COLLAPSED AFRIKANERDOM.
HE WAS ALSO A THREAT TO THE DOMINATION OF THE ANC AND ONE DO SUSPECTV THAT THEY PLAYED A ROLE IN HIS INCARCERATION SINCE THEY USED TO CALL THE BOERS AND TEASE THEM THAT YOU`RE SCARED OF SO AND SO AND THE BOERS WILL SHOW THEM THEY`RE NOT SCARED BY DETAINING SO AND SO!
People who have no meaningful experience as liberation activists(in the organisational sense)can not be expected to all of a sudden understand how organisations like AZAPO or the BPC worked. Unlike many who purport to uphold his legacy, Biko wasn’t a haughty status seeking self-proclaimed “intellectual”, who would periodically fart against the thunder in the name of “critical discourse’.Until his death,Biko was a member and activist of the SASO/BPC,a community activist who forsook the glitter of the medical profession in favour of the noble yet thankless job of serving the poor.Biko was a man of organisation and collective action-not an amorphous lone ranger.Therefore,based on his history and character as an activist,if Biko were alive today,he would most probably do whatever his organisation told him to do.And this is what our intellectual sangomas fail to grasp.So unlike Biko, Andile has the luxury to excrete expletives as and when he feels like it,this he is able to do because,unlike Biko,he belongs to no credible organisation and therefore accounts no one but himself.But why is Andile so obsessed with Biko and AZAPO? It’s simple, he has infantile urge to prove he is not hallow between the ears and needs to continue attracting the resources that give him the platform to preserve Biko’s legacy by denigrating the very Movemennt that made Biko was he is today.Biko Lives! AZAPO Leads!
The problem is we’re inclined to suffer in silence.We don’t complain; we don’t quarrel. The media got us to believe effective governance in your first 100 Days in office is to be accessible, smile, greet and dance. There’s now a “Listening Campaign” ostensibly to ask people what they want. It must denote a serious disability to listen for 15 years and hear NOTHING! Besides, were there no manifestos on whose basis we promised to govern? Critical disagreement does not imply mutiny or a coup. That’s what is required to deepen democracy
Biko asserted that “Blacks no longer seek to reform the system because so doing implies the acceptance of the major points around which the system revolves”. A revolutionary, indeed!
BC was never an individual’s project, or Biko’s. No! It emanated from the existential conditions of the poor majority. Not from the universities or intellect podiums. Biko articulated organisational views, not his own. Thus it is reactionary to hijack Biko and BC as a domestic affair, or some anointed elites’ exclusive preserve. AZAPO’s present challenges should not disqualify it to hoist the BC banner as it did through thick and thin. I’ve lost count of how many times the ANC split. PAC, UDM COPE are splinters of the ANC. The ANC splinters have themselves split many times. But splitting can itself demonstrate the vibrancy of democracy.
Thanks JJ for starting the debate. I sincerely thank you all!
Mr Tabane, you did in a few words what those who purport to be the custodians of Biko`s legacy failed to do in more than thirty years. Keep up the good work of raising issues very sharply.