Fresh Interventions - in light of this week

It's been a turbulent week for South Africa and we haven't seen the end of it yet. Our educational institutions are still reeling at what has been a most active week in the arena of decolonization. The decolonization of a freed nation is always an important part of the transformation of that nation. The ability to manage your resources your selves. The rights that come with being sovereign. The land and language questions which arise and need tackling. All of these things and more become very important and must be done. South Africa has been through a terrible start, but we've been trying. just not hard enough. The outcry in these universities is that our education institutions are not nearly African enough. The cry has been for more African representation in the curricula of our institutions of higher learning. To study in one's native language has been an important demand among the protesters. The fee exclusions and the maladministration has also been a big part of the conversation. The recent incident of the UFS and NMMU Rugby game was one of the worst incidents to occur this week. It rings and reeks of South African 1976.

My friend Jannous had this to say a few days after:

"This rugby incident is rocking people's worlds right about now, "I never knew how bad we were... Oh John, what are we going to do with all these deservedly angry natives carrying pangas asking for the land?"-"I just don't know Betty, perhaps we had this coming..."

The fact is, no one carried pangas asking for land in 1994, and we didn't really get it back. This time, the land and education outcry is stronger and far more focused. The issues of truly decolonizing our country is on the lips of the bourgeois and the proletariat alike, more than ever. The students who were born into "free" South Africa have lived long enough to wake from the pipe dream sold to the nation by the African National Congress and National Party.

University students have been picketing and marching for their rights to study in a non-racial environment. They've been getting shot at, and the last time I was shot at wass at here during an afrophobia incident.  Here are th 2 links to those events. Link 1. Link 2.  But in these universities, it's been more like this...

Now the universities all over South Africa have decolonization and anti-academic exclusion graffiti all over. Rhodes included. University of Free State went to the hilt with their university. UCT as well. Here are a few University of  the Free State pictures courtesy of Mpho Khati.

The Chris Hani issue still has not been properly closed. And he should be remembered. Justice should be served. The white man in prison (Derby-Lewis)  is not the only one who should be there. 

I like this one for it's partition. The way it's spelled out for you. By the way, the Durban University of Technology has a Steve Biko Campus. 

I also respect the global perspective this graf shows. The spray painter(s) knows the people who fought for decolonization at home and abroad and sees them as part of this struggle. This shows a certain kind of awareness of the forces at play in this dialectic. 

So it's very real, and we need to be aware that the students have succumbed to graffiti because the names of Chris Hani and Nkrumah are not in the placards in front of our universities. They are not a part of our high school or university curriculum. They really should be. Because the higher-ups have not tackled the issue of decolonization hard enough, it has come down to the students to represent these issues. And they  are doing their level best.

Personally, I am against the culture of picket as a form of protest. The authorities of most countries in the world shoot protesters. They harm and attack them no matter who is in the right or wrong. This kind of protest has not worked consistently enough for it to be a go-to.  We need to be more creative. I like this graffiti protest. I also like the manner in which Black First Land First have been tackling the Land Question. It didn't work so well in the shell of the Economic Freedom Fighters, but Black First Land First seems to be a great vehicle for attacking the problem. We need smarter ways of working. We cannot just give our selves to be shot at and stomped by anyone. The racial tension that has been involved in the recent university protests leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, but I must swallow the pill. Obviously these things needed to happen, to be exposed. But now that they have, we should be smart enough to collect our selves and discuss wisely. to reflect from as many angles as possible on what this country really needs to do. we need to move from the paper talk to the direct interventions. To the boardrooms and into the classrooms. That's where the fight truly is and we don't need pangas, rubber bullets and stun gas grenades in there. We need the sharpened intellectual tools that will get us over this hurdle and into a truly decolonized South Africa. A place where we can study safely, in any language we choose. To study affordably without the specter of crippling debt hovering over our heads.

And lastly, a message to the South African Police Services: No matter which generation, from 1955 all the way  to now, you have been shooting people who are complaining about bad governance. Get the hint. Something is wrong with every employer. From then til now. They are using you all to fulfill an agenda that will ensure that people need violent pacification for decades to come. Stop shooting our future. Think. Act. And rethink your position in this country. We all need money and we all need work, but things won't change if we don't change.