Opinion Two Nobel laureates in an Apartheid street
Being Black is our only crime, sang South Africans struggling against humiliation,denial of liberty and physical torture under White Apartheid rule.
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Being Black is our only crime, sang South Africans struggling against humiliation,denial of liberty and physical torture under White Apartheid rule. The revolution to dismantle such racial isolation was driven by swaying to beats,music and impromptu songs. Speeches or lectures in meetings are too laborious and intellectual, said one of the Black political heroes. People connect better when you drive a simple message with the natural African rhythm of life.
In their daily life during Apartheid days,Blacks were uprooted from home to segregated areas,given passes that prohibited entry to most places. Protesters were gunned down indiscriminately,their bodies strewn untended. That was the time when Blacks would stealthily pick up the bodies to bury them as per Christian rituals. Its very painful to go through old documentation of that time. White missionaries had entered their land,converted and baptised unsuspecting natives into Christianity. Yet these religious fundamentals disappeared disrespectfully into thin air in the White mans craving for dominance. After attaining freedom,the Black community fished out the bones of known people and intellectuals who were tortured,and gave them fitting reburials. Abject poverty drove Black people astray towards crime,yet the demoralised homeless would sing together,Ancestors tell us what is our mistake that White people hate us so.
Their hero of heroes is known as Madiba,his Xhosa clan name. Even from the solitary imprisonment torture cell of Robben Island,he could inspire South African youth to mutiny against their White oppressors. From 1976 to 1986,adolescent students and college-goers revolted braving gunfire. Poets and singers who inspired the uprising were exiled. Desmond Tutu,the first Black South African Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town,rose to global fame as an unequivocal opponent of Apartheid. When the world was sensitised to Black persecution practised by South Africas White government,economic sanctions were imposed on it. In 1985,the US and UK stopped investments in South Africa,the Rand currency plunged more than 35 per cent pressurising the government toward reforms. What finally resulted was Madibas freedom after 27 years in 1990 and South Africas liberation in 1994.
Madiba initially started opposing Apartheid with Gandhis theory of non-violence. But after a certain time,he understood this was not going to work. He fled the country,got trained in guerilla warfare,and returned to advocate fighting with firearms. When their beloved Madiba was released at age 72,the Black population was ecstatic and celebrated in song,dance and rhythm under the African sky. Madiba grudged no anger towards the White regime but he too danced in his now famous typical swaying style. His powerful leadership had inspired several Black African intellectuals,musicians and singers to create world propaganda against South Africas White dictators. From 1960 to 1990,musicians like Miriam Makeba,Hugh Masakela among others not only messaged the world of tyrannical rule through song,they also influenced world music with African beats and rhythm.
Whats most remarkable in erstwhile Soweto Apartheid colony that was forcefully created by Whites to segregate Blacks is that its produced two Nobel Laureates. And both live on the same street,the only street in the world that houses the homes of two Nobel Laureates. Madiba won the Nobel Peace prize in 1993 and Archbishop Desmond Tutu in 1984. When in Soweto,we saw White people freely cycling around,our guide Japh said this signals that this is not a trouble-prone area unlike downtown Johannesburg,an anti-Apartheid epicentre. But socially,the Black-White divide continues in South Africa. Is it hypocrisy on the part of so-called sophisticated Western societies that they chose to give the most admired Nobel Peace Prize to anti-Apartheid workers just to assuage their own guilt feelings? Or to keep the Blacks in check,and non-hostile in future? In India weve gone through colonisation,but the visible experience revealed to every visitor to South Africa compares more or less to Auschwitz-Birkenaus mass murdering museums where innocent Jews were brutally killed by Hitler.
Madiba is a superb intellectual,strategist,fighter,influencer and leader in the body and mind of every Back African. Hes got about 250 awards worldwide,international rock concerts,songs and films were inspired by his struggle for social justice. His statue adorns several public places in the world. As you enter Johannesburgs Sandton Square,you suddenly get dwarfed by a six-metre Madiba. My curiosity was aroused in Johannesburg airport when I saw large Madiba photographs inside a boutique chain. Called Presidential,this store was selling African origin batik printed shirts that was trademark Madiba dressing style. Ive seen San Franciscos Alcatraz prison sell prisoner outfits,but what a extraordinary tribute this was to the freedom fighter imprisoned for 27 years,who emerged to liberate his country and become its first democratically elected President from 1994 to 1999. I find it outstanding that people can experience his iconic image by wearing a Presidential shirt.
In this last part of my African sojourn,I leave the identity of 93-year-old Madiba for you to discover. When you search,you will find that everything can be diminished when we as human beings have tenacity and self confidence to overcome woes.
Shombit Sengupta is an international creative business strategy consultant to top management. Reach him at http://www.shiningconsulting.com
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