Funda Wenze | Read Do | On Speeches

The history books are fat with the greatest speeches of our time.

“The crude truth is perhaps that texts can only change reality when they inspire readers to see and act, rather than merely see. Scripture once did this – but scripture has become an idol. To see through its eyes would be to possess (in the Voodoo sense) a statue – or a corpse.”  Hakim Bey

What corpse do we possess? Are we trapped in the past era of revolution and vitriolic orations? Are we trapped in the “I have a dream” and the “Let freedom reign” hero worship? Or is there a present and a future that is being built by the good speeches of now? What lives on a after the speeches are said and heard? What maketh our cup runneth over? Rather than constant nostalgia, do we have a present foundation built by such great words?

We’ve heard the orators of our time shape us the words that we couldn’t assemble into coherence. Social engineers of the pulpit and stage. Shaping opinions through courage and charisma. Leaders change things.

We’ve watched dreams shot on stage. Liberators imprisoned for life. Yet somehow, each consecutive generation produces another batch. For a good speech is a bastion against mediocrity and failure. It is a rally that purports the continuation of courage and good will. But we have heard and seen too many speeches silenced. Too many martyrs, if you ask me. There’s one too many a missing man, an unmarked grave, a weeping widow. Makes me wonder if it’s a soapbox or a chopping block.

This generation has thousands of years of History to reflect upon. I mean to truly reflect. To look at their selves against the surface of all past transpirations. This way, we can shape more informed opinions of our selves. The words of Marcus Garvey, on his path seeking and attaining Universal Negro Improvement, must not be allowed to be merely words. For no person enjoys slavery, by any chain. It is a purposeful thing, and quite ironic, that the Greek Slave trade is hardly discussed in popular media. Yet Aristotle is a household name and his works are university standard. It is purposeful and ironic that a country would name a town after a freedom fighter President, yet stain his city with horrendous service delivery and corruption. You really should visit Nelson Mandela Bay. When the words of our leaders are reduced to just words, we lose something. Impetus, perhaps.  Or maybe responsibility and accountability to the work that must be done after the words.

The viewer and listener can often be guilty of complacent hands. As if that isn’t enough of a challenge, there is also the war against the words of liberators. We know every detail about Kylie Minogue but where are the other speeches of Nelson Mandela? There was a mountain of work attained by the period of around 1970. Mandela had a dark side. The bomb delivery, bribery, forgery, perjury and the vitriolic speeches he gave.  There is an old struggle song, rarely sung these days. “uMandela uthi ayihlome! uMandela uthi ayihlom’ihlasele! Ngom’Khonto weSizwe.  uMandela uthi ayihlome!” “Mandela says arm up. Mandela says arm up and attack. With the Spear of the Nation. Mandela says attack.” This song is not just a jive fiction. It has history and actual spoken words as their inspiration. We know full well of the violence in South Africa during the 1970s and 1980s. Chris Hani was killed in 1993, and where are his speeches now? Who chooses what we remember? Do we concede the violent past and it’s “inflammatory texts” for a weak semblance of South African Democracy? Are the words of Steven Biko not good enough to be studied in senior high school? I see the manipulation of public opinion. A re-writing of consensus. A travesty to the good works of the past, relegating it to just idealistic history.

 Ask you again. What corpse do we possess? Or do we possess a living thing? Something that is nurtured and nudged to act from the words of our forebears. Actualizing of dreams, holding the reins of freedom in one’s own hands. There is always resistance to the man of pure heart and good intention. The onus is on us to never let their words e in vain. So onward, with liberating media, proliferating excellence read as well as excellence done. For the texts and the difference made, must be one.