THE
RENAISSANCE OF BLACK CONSCIOUSNESS IN THE 21ST CENTUTY- WE CAN DO IT.
A
TALK BY MOSIBUDI MANGENA ON JUNE 16TH, 2001 HELD IN ATTERIDGEVILLE
The
Black Consciousness Movement, led by AZAPO at the moment, has done this country
and its people a grievous harm by not continuing to preach and propagate the
philosophy of Black Consciousness with the same vigour and oomph as it did in
the early seventies. This beginning of the 21st century might be a
good point to correct that mistake and contribute towards the making of a better
society.
Black
Consciousness is indeed an attitude of mind, a way of life. It is a philosophy
that demands that we define ourselves, that we refuse to be defined by others;
that in that definition of ourselves we recognise and value our humanity,
integrity, dignity and worth. It puts us at the centre and seeks to promote our
proud and positive attributes - the beauty of our person, our culture and our
languages.
This
was the message that rang loud and clear in the seventies and produced a new
Black person who did not consider himself/herself inferior to any other being.
It produced a Black person who felt deeply offended by the inhumanity and
arrogance of white racism, dehumanisation and settler-colonial oppression.
It
is this philosophical orientation; this evaluation of the self and the status of
Black people in their own country, it is this spirit of Black Consciousness that
set the tone, prepared the psychology and propelled the generation of 1976 into
action. Through the South African Student Movement which mobilised students at
high schools, the generation of 1976 had imbibed and internalised the philosophy
of Black Consciousness.
But
twenty-five years later, and with white settler-colonialism politically defeated
and Blacks in political office through universal adult suffrage, the same Blacks
seem to have relapsed into mental slavery. The potent weapon in the hands of the
oppressor, which is the mind of the oppressed, which Steve Biko wrote about, is
still where it was prior to 1994. With a captured mind, those who ruled over us
for centuries do not have to physically chain us. We shall be willing slaves.
It
is abundantly clear that seven years after attainment of the vote by the
majority, Blacks still suffer from social, cultural and economic domination as
well as inferiority complexes. Poor self-esteem and the devaluation of
everything that is ours manifest themselves everywhere and every day.
Behold
the levels of violence that we perpetrate against one another. Through the taxi
industry, we are the only people who routinely murder one another for business
purposes. Others own businesses and compete without resorting to routine murder.
Only people who do not value themselves and their kind would do this.
Mkhukhu
developed out of necessity and poverty. But it seems it has now crept into our
mentality to become some kind of sub-culture. We don’t seem to be horrified
enough by the phenomenon. It is all too easy for Black people, particularly the
young, to resort to mkhukhu for accommodation. Collectively and individually, we
seem to have accepted mkhukhu as a dwelling in which Black people can stay.
And
of course in terms of mentality and conceptualisation, mkhukhu, spaza shop and
street hawking go together. It says whereas other people own banks,
supermarkets, shops and proper houses, Black people can do with poor imitations
in the form of mikhukhu, spaza shops and hawking. It seems o’kay that in our
own country we can be relegated to these lowly pursuits while people coming from
all parts of the world come here to make fortunes out of us. Only people who
have no pride in themselves can live with this. There are very few places in the
world where such a situation would be tolerated. It happens here because our
attitude of mind is one of low self –evaluation.
We
are eager and proud to patronise the businesses of others and shun our own. We
don’t seem to mind at all that when we establish law firms, surgeries and
other businesses whites would not patronise them. It does not matter where we
establish those businesses, they won’t patronise them. But whether whites
establish their surgeries or law firms or any other business anywhere in our
country, we will fill them to capacity. We go out of our way to enrich others
whilst we impoverish ourselves.
We
are the only people who eagerly, and at great cost to ourselves, surrender our
children to others to teach. No other people do that. In fact whites will resist
having their children taught by any other, never mind their qualifications. Why
is that? Of course they are racist, but more importantly, they believe they are
better suited to impart knowledge, values and skills to their children than any
other group. Even our teachers are not ashamed of sending their own children
away, by so doing admitting that they are not good enough to teach their own
kids. This is a damning indictment on the adult population of this country. We
are failing to educate, socialise and mentor our own young.
Look
at our neglect of our own languages and culture, not only in education, but in
life in general. We lap up the culture of others and are so keen to emulate and
demonstrate how steeped we are in the cultures and languages of others, but are
coy about our own. So, on radio, TV, in magazines and newspapers, the dominant
culture is one of others. The way of life of others dominates us absolutely.
This is possible because they have captured our minds. It happens because we
have no identity and we are either oblivious of the fact, or we are glad we have
lost it.
The
dawn of the 21st century is characterised by some of the subjecive
factors we have touched on as well as globalisation.
The
unleashing of rampant international market forces on all of us means that those
who are poor will get poorer whilst the rich get richer. It is a phenomenon
whose arrival on other shores is all too real. Retrenchments, downsizing,
unemployment, homelessness, disease and so on are maladies that afflict those of
us who are not rich.
If
we are not to lie prostrate to be ravaged by globalisation, we must, among other
things, assert our humanity and dignity. This cannot just mean verbal assertions
and greater political independence. It must also mean that we must take control
of our economy. We must own the banks, insurance companies, mines, land and
other sectors of our economy at a level commensurate with our status as the
owners of this country and with our numbers.
We
should feel ashamed of the fact that we are strangers and minors in our home. We
should enter the global village as proud owners of our own economy.
Otherwise
we will continue to be the objects of discrimination, exploitation and scorn. We
will be the ones who complain, as indeed it will be the case at the important
conference to be held in this country on racisms, racial discrimination,
xenophobia and related intolerances in August - September. It is undoubtedly an
important conference that must be supported by all of us. But we should move
beyond a point where we are always victims of the actions and attitudes of
others. We should become masters of our own home and destiny.