Submitted by Sandisile
“During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against White domination, and I have fought against Black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal, which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”
– Nelson Mandela, Rivonia Trial, 1964
“The struggle must go on – the struggle to make the opportunity for the building to begin. The struggle will go on. I speak humbly and without levity when I say that, God giving me strength and courage enough, I shall die, if need be, for this cause. But I do not want to die until I have seen the building begun. Mayibuye iAfrika! Come, Africa, come!”
– Albert Luthuli, Let My People Go, 1962
Is the present generation of South Africans too self absorbed and concerned with instant gratification to continue the legacy of those who secured the country?
Is there anything worth dying for in South Africa?
Have the efforts of those who fought for freedom been wasted by the youth?
5 comments:
Prideel...
1. Is the present generation of South Africans too self absorbed and concerned with instant gratification to continue the legacy of those who secured the country?
What does this question mean? Because to my mind the youth of everywhere is too self-absorbed. So if that is the state of the world, and not just SA, then are we not on par with everybody else? Nowadays you don't get a lot of blatant racism. So what is today's youth supposed to be focussing on? What is meant by youth? Julius Malema? The age group 16-28? Because within this group there is a whole bunch of cohorts that are dealing with very different issues. We must all remember that freedom does not equal wisdom. And youth is normally the antithesis of wisdom. So ja....
2. Is there anything worth dying for in South Africa?
Of course there is. There are lots of physical and ideological things worth dying for. The physical are not popular themes for self-sacrifice, and the ideological are just not in danger anymore.
3. Have the efforts of those who fought for freedom been wasted by the youth?
Yes and no. Yes in that the youth take for granted the freedoms and opportunities that they have today. And no, because these should never have been kept from them in the first place. In my opinion that is what all these great men and women fought for. That a person of colour would not feel an overwhelming wave of gratitude for the right to go to university, but rather that it was as natural as going for a picnic on Clifton, or taking the train to work and choosing which carriage you wanted to ride in without any fear.
That's my piece.
Sandi....
My interest in this issue is not so much to do with racism but rather in looking around oneslf and seeing big issues that need addressing and getting mad enough about them to do something or at the very least say something. Given the various issues that different cohorts of South African youth have to deal with can they afford to be just on par with everyone else? Can they afford to be self absorbed? Would we say that those who fought for freedom were on par with their contemporaries from around the world? The Civil Rights movement and anti-Vietnam protests was going on in the States (a lot os student activism here), young people in Europe were protesting many issues eg White rule in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). So fear is that there is something amiss in general with the youth (of the world) and that African youth have the most to lose from their complacency given theh largely myopic and corrupt leadership on this continent. As a Zimbo, it is my feeling that present day South African youth have the biggest opportunity to secure their futures out of all the youth in Africa (SA is far better resourced to tackle issues like poverty and HIV and democratic structures are better placed that in most other sections of the continent, civil liberties are enshrined in what is widely lauded as the most progressive constitution in the world - as opposed to Zim for instance where none of that exists) and I think it would be good to start having some conversations on the level of "what bugs me? what do I want to se happening in my country or in my life or community? what's getting in the way of that? what do I need to do to make it happen? how important is this to me?" Crime stats are shocking, matric pass rates are less than desirable, we're barely making a dent on HIV infection - correct me on this if I am wrong- unemployment is high and yet there are major skills shortages. Something is amiss and as far as I am concerened the youth need to own this situation but are too distracted or self absorbed to make a clear articulation of their needs and how they want to see them met.
I agree with Prideel's point 3 because that is what their legacy should be. But shouldn't it be all that and more? Most of the youth are unable to go to Clifton or whatever even though they theoretically can now and no one should bat an eyelid. But they don't. Because they can't. Because it's not a part of their reality. What is the next push that is required for them to be able to actually take advantage of their "freedom" and why are they not fighting tooth and nail to make their reality match the potential that now exists? I am assuming they are not and would be interested to know if anyone thinks they are.
And youth is normally the antithesis of wisdom. And where would we be were it not for Mandela's "unwise" decision in varsity to refuse to take office as the president of the SRC simply on a matter of principle? Risked expulsion, put his degree and career in law in jeopardy but launched himself on a trajectory whose end destination is the "freedom" we now enjoy.
P.S. Poor Bafana but que sera sera!
Prideel...
Yes, I admit that Nelson Mandela was a youth when he started his/our great journey. But I was talking in general, and not in specifics. Exceptions prove the rule because they are exceptions. You cannot use an exceptional person to make a comment on normality.
I agree that some of the examples I gave are not within some peoples realities. But they are just a few of many, and therefore we should focus on why the youth are not grabbing the chances offered them, directly or indirectly, and why they don't "own this situation but are too distracted or self absorbed to make a clear articulation of their needs and how they want to see them met."I don't think they know how yet. We are all still learning a lot.
Lots of people that I speak to seem frustrated by the fact that change in this country has moved slowly, or that certain BEE positions are filled by people who do not have the necessary skills, or that culturally groups still stick to their own and and do what their groups do. We, as a nation, are still toddlers. We are still learning to walk. The effects of apartheid will take a few generations to be completely rooted out. Part of this is the generational thinking of "that is not for me", and "that is just the way things are", "I can't worry about that now because I can't even get a job". The youth learns from the old, and if the old still have that mentality, and they do, then it will take a while before there is a generational increase in confidence and self-worth. Some teach their kids to keep their heads up, while others teach them to do what is necessary and not to draw attention because that just gets you in trouble. "Don't aim your gaze too high because you will only make yourself blind."
I was watching a movie the other night where a black son said to his dad that white parents teach their kids all the things they could be, while black parents teach their kids what not to be. Big difference in cultural thinking that we are feeling most here in SA.
Thabang....
the first and the last questions get a resounding YES from me...the youth is indeed to self absorbed and the efforts of those who came before us are slowly being wasted away.
prideel just to support sandi, no! our youth should not be comparing their asses with youth from everywhere else, by our i mean african youth....african has followed a very painful story that i will not tell and hope we all know...so the youth and by the i use the standard definition of 18 to 35....the youth should not be complacent and think we are all one big happy family, that is all races and creeds because we are not and thats our reality....the malcom x's, the mandela's the steve biko's the lumumbas were all relatively young when the embarked on the journeys that today we should all be thankful of....in support of sandi again i think yes we do as african young people have some coordinated movement that can ensure that the strides made thus far are better realised because dont listen when they say you are free because you are not, freedom is still many many miles away i am afraid....what april 27 1994 did was just open the door and hopefully brave people will take a stance and lead us all to the promised land...same as april 18 1980 in zimba re mabwe......the sad fact is that without this mobilized concerted effort to keep the colonial masters at bay and truly liberate ourselves we stand a chance of reverting back to the whence we came from....the AWB is still alive, need i say more?????
think South African youth are lazy and i honestly doubt we will see leaders like those 'who secured the country' in SA any time soon. I however, do not agree that this is because they are too self-absorbed (tho sum are). what we must remember is the situations out of which leaders arose. yes we have problems but they don't compare to those from our past. i think their is a threshhold of 'struggle' at which great leaders appear. but still i think our youth are lazy! pass rates are bad - because they are lazy! i think back to when i visited Ghana. kids like under 16 yrs worked over wkends to pay there own school fees, sewd their own uniforms and worked hard to finish school. they f*kin walked like 10kms on a dirt road to get to a school that was outside and had over 50 students in the class. i do NOT feel bad for south African youth. I mean theres even this new something-based curriculum which is so much easier than wen we were in school. And just yesterday my frend told me he got and E in maths, went to a very good school, among 'white' students. but he got the scholarship to study engineering. coz he was black. and guess wat he's an interior designer now. uuuuurgh! makes so angry. not that anything rong with wat he chose to study in the end. but coz life is actly so easy for us if we use wat we have. and health care. (sandi, nationally HIV prevalance has fluctuated very closely around 25-30%, but very different between provinces and smaller areas. and HIV infection issues is a whole other cultural problem. has a lot to do with notions of male entitlement, gender imbalances and our history of violence - another interesting topic.)
ok i sadly i can't continue. have to run.
but all in all. i think that the freedom we have will always be the legacy of those who fort for it. and there are a few (like us) who are the light at the end of the tunnel.
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