Your Shiny BEE Suit: a poem (by: Gcobani Qambela)

(BEE = Black Economic Empowerment).

I am not impressed by your shiny BEE suit

Your shiny BEE suit does not impress me.

Picturesque garments never match obnoxious souls,

Ignorant of the sufferings of many,

Lacking self worth and hiding behind your fake Armani suit

And ‘International’ souvenirs of days gone by

Oblivious to the light shining from the suit,

Clearly painting your inner insecurity conflict…



I am not impressed by your shiny BEE suit

Your shiny BEE suit does not impress me.

It lacks authenticity

And oozes vanity in excess,

It screams your arrogance,

And lack of grace.

You are the master of flamboyance,

And a failed student of benevolence.

And yet you don’t even know why your suit shines.



I am not impressed by your shiny BEE suit

Your shiny BEE suit does not impress me,

Because I know why it shines.

Your suit shines because it drips of blood,

The blood of young martyrs, who fought for the liberation of our nation,

Liberation for the de-enslavement of the oppressed mind.

Your suit shines of forgotten promises made,

It drizzles embezzled wealth and unearned riches.



I am not impressed by your shiny BEE suit

Your shiny BEE suit does not impress me,

Because I know it shines of an insecure and weeping soul,

So out of touch with itself

That it seeks external manifestations for inborn confidence

Hiding your historical duty behind the plastic English accent

Hungry for confirmation from the world

You continue to shine with our forefather’s blood.



Your shiny BEE suit does not impress me,

It’s as meaningful as those fake Italian shoes you adorn with such pride

You have etched a memory of loss on the world

And have sold your soul essence

Spiritually poor, you keep searching the world

Ravenous and hungry for security and love

All you are is a little boy,

Who has forgotten who he is…

So your suit shines for you, but it does not impress me.

I see right through it!

*For you - "Black Diamond"*

(c) Gcobani Qambela (2011)

Reclaiming the ANC's Youth Voice

By: Gcobani Qambela
Many young South African’s appear to have reached a point of complete apathy towards South African politics, finding themselves no longer able to relate to the leading party, but with no viable or strong opposition parties to turn to, most are opting and refusing to vote. A comment on Facebook by a Rhodes University graduate and current University of Cape Town Student, Andisiwe Mthatyana sets the scene: “I guess I have really lost faith in SA politics, oh let me say I am anti-SA politics! I refuse to vote!” she says...

FULL ARTICLE AT: http://www.thiis.co.za/politics/reclaiming-the-ancs-youth-voice/

Feedback and comments on ORIGINAL article are always more than welcome :)

The Bastardisation of African Knowledge, transforming colonial minds and re-visiting the significance of Freedom in South Africa

By: Gcobani Qambela

Wednesday the 27th of April 2011 marks the 17th annual Freedom Day in South Africa, a historic day in the country’s history signifying the first ever non-racial democratic elections and the coming into effect of the country’s first ever Constitution with a justiciable Bill of Rights that put an end to over three centuries of colonial and later apartheid rule and domination in the country.

The recent tragic and controversial television broadcast of ‘police brutality’ at a service delivery protest demonstration in Ficksburg, Free State province, South Africa; has brought to the fore a call to re-visit the extent to which the post-apartheid South African government under the leadership of the African National Congress (ANC) has echoed similar behaviour to that of its apartheid and colonial predecessors. This protest was marked by the assault and alleged shooting and death, by the SAPS, of Andries Tetane. This expose makes us not only question the extent to which the ANC government is similar to its predecessors, but also the degree to which it has been able to respond to the demands laid forth for realisation in South Africa’s constitution for the attainment of all-round freedom by South Africans (encompassing socio-economic and political freedoms).

The year 2011 also marks the 34th anniversary of the untimely death of Stephen Bantu Biko (more commonly known as ‘Steve Biko’) at the hands of the apartheid police. This piece seeks to evaluate the extent to which what Biko referred to as ‘the bastardisation of African knowledge’ has persisted into the post-colonial/post-apartheid era. It further seeks to uproot the scope and the boundaries within which colonial minds have been transformed (with a special emphasis on higher education institutions) and lastly concludes with an assessment of the meaning of ‘freedom’ (and consequently ‘Freedom Day’) in 2011 South Africa.

Tapping into the intellectual produce of Steve Biko, this commentary argues that while the discourse in South Africa has shifted since the 1970’s/1960’s from race to class, education has been utilised as the Post-apartheid/Colonial Gatekeeper to opportunity for the black race and economically marginalised in South Africa, and that consequently true freedom in the country can only be obtained when South Africans are given the opportunity to get proper, all round and holistic education - education opportunities that are not premised on race or marginalization history....

PLEASE READ THE FULL ARTICLE AND COMMENT ON THE ORIGINAL AT:
http://bokamosoafrica.org/2011/04/bastardisation-of-african-knowledge-steve-biko.html

Unpacking the post-apartheid narrative on AIDS and black women

By: Gcobani Qambela
... A key question raised by Rhodes University Lecturer, Siphokazi Magadla at the seminar paints the rationale for this short piece. She questioned the extent to which the post 1990 narrative of AIDS has since then shifted from primarily HIV positive white homosexual men (from 1980-1990), to poor black women in the townships/rural areas (post 1990) and consequently repeating the same mistake as made by the medical researchers in the 1980’s/1990’s. Indeed, this cannot be denied – it is happening. The dominant post-apartheid discourse on AIDS has shifted primarily to black women, and black women alone as the carriers and the most affected individuals for the HIV pandemic....

COMMENTS ON ORIGINAL ARTICLE WOULD BE HIGHLY APPRECIATED...

SEE THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE: http://feministssa.com/2011/04/04/unpacking-the-post-apartheid-narrative-on-aids-and-black-women/

No space for women in SA’s political arena

By: Gcobani Qambela
Women in South Africa’s political landscape have always proved to be resilient forces in what has for a long time been a patriarchal cultural and political landscape concerned with positioning women in the kitchen as submissive ‘servants’ of men with nothing but a home-cooked meal to contribute.

Commemorations such as Women’s Day and the creation of special ministries of women have painted a façade of the post 1994 South African government’s position when it comes to fixing culturally, socially and politically entrenched gender inequalities, and indeed one may be tempted to say that ‘they are doing something’.

Political veteran Patricia de Lille was recently howled down by ‘unruly ANC supporters’ during her address a government Human Rights Day event in Cape Town on the 20th of March 2011. Now, while much of the commentary on the event has been centred around legal arguments on the right to freedom of speech and when it could be justifiably accepted when a person freedom of speech has been violated, very few analysts have really uprooted the permitting undercurrents behind the event.

The truth of the matter is that the incidence is instructive of the perceived role of women in political leadership in South Africa, by both government leaders and so called ‘ordinary’ South Africans. The political consciousness in both public and private South African spaces still paints the political arena as solely a reservoir for men, and men only at that....

Read the full article here: http://feministssa.com/2011/03/28/no-space-for-women-in-sa%e2%80%99s-political-arena/

The Peculiar Case of WikiLeaks and the Innate Contradictions of Mainstream Media Democracy: A Third World View

Gcobani Qambela assesses: Is the recent treatment of Julian Assange and widespread political condemnation of the WikiLeaks websites a reflection of democracy in decline or the legitimate protection of a state’s security interests?

The traditional conception of the state has for many years been inextricably interlinked and intertwined with the states exercise not only of violence but also control over information and national intelligence. The post Cold War era has however seen an unprecedented shift and modification in state power both at the economic, military and intelligence echelon. Rapid increase and liberated gateways in internet, social media and digital journalism or what others have termed ‘digital democracy’ have seen new non-state actors exercise conventionally state centric powers.

WikiLeaks is one such actor/organisation. Formed in 2006 and registered as a non-profit organisation, WikiLeaks circulates largely private and classified information from unspecified informants, news leaks and a number of whistle blowers. Julian Assange who is accepted as the Director of the Organisation and Editor in Chief of WikiLeaks, has since received hostile and melancholic treatment from various political state and non-state fractures. US Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton is widely quoted as asserting WikiLeaks as not only an attack on the US’s foreign policy interests, but also international society as a whole. Ima Niboro, Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan in Nigeria released a statement that “Wikileaks is the new travesty that international diplomacy has to deal with”.

Other’s have however hailed WikiLeaks for breaking and bridging traditional boundaries and filling the information vacuity between the state and the citizens. Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez is widely quoted and alleged to have praised the ‘bravery’ of the WikiLeaks organisation, whereas other organisations like Reporters Without Borders have also come out in support of WikiLeaks.

WikiLeaks presents therefore an interesting case study of the post Cold War state security interests against the largely unregulated ‘media democracy’. This piece argues that democratically elected states still have a legitimate right to protect their security interests, and consequently the hostile response of most states to WikiLeaks can and should be justified. While the state might no longer exercise a monopoly on the intelligence of and on the country circulated, the state is still the primary protector of the citizens, militarily and otherwise, something that WikiLeaks cannot provide and hence it is still important to maintain proper diplomatic relation in the interest of peaceful conditions....

Please see original article at: http://www.researchnexus.org/index.php?option=com_myblog&show=wikileaks-competition-the-curious-case-of-wikileaks-and-the-innate-contradictions-of-mainstream-med.html&blogger=Gcobani+Qambela&Itemid=79

FEEDBACK IS ALWAYS WELCOME!

Aligning Knowledge Production with Substantive Development: (re-) Assessing the Role of Intellectuals in Africa

By: Gcobani Qambela and Bose Maposa

The role of intellectuals in Africa's development has since the late 1950's occupied an ambivalent place in mainstream scholarly debate. Thembani Mbadlanyana in his article A conversation with Dr Kwame Nkrumah: Africans as Producers of Knowledge reminded us of the critical role and need for intellectuals to carve and churn out insightful narratives on and of Africa to respond to the old adage: "From Africa Always Something New" [Semperaliquid noviex Africa]. Indeed the task of African intellectuals in this era was primarily to restore Africa’s dignity at an era of imperial intellectual scholarship that supported the colonial domination by providing ‘scientific’ evidence of Africa’s inhumanity. Thereby African intellectuals were pillars of the colonial struggle, many of whom went on to become leaders of their independent nations...



Please read the rest of the article at: http://bokamosoafrica.blogspot.com/2011/03/aligning-knowledge-production-with.html

Comments (on the original article itself) and critical feedback would be greatly appreaciated from minds like yours friends. Let me know if you are experiencing trouble commenting :-)