Sean Jacobs's Blog, page 462

The Promised Land

Last Thursday we blogged about Israel’s intention to deport African asylum seekers back to unnamed African countries in exchange for “benefit packages”–basically weapons. Now comes the news that last night Israel repatriated–for the first time–14 Eritrean asylum seekers back to their country. This has been confirmed in the last few days by detainees at Saharonim prison–near the border with Egypt–who have contacted the Israeli Hotline for Migrant Workers. The 14 Eritreans, who spent the last year in the prison, will be returned to Asmara. According to detainees, the Eritrean Ambassador in Israel was supposed to escort them on their return.

The Israeli authorities haven’t confirmed the information yet. However, there have been reports in the last few days that the Israeli Administration of Border Crossings, Population and Immigration has been getting imprisoned Eritrean asylum seekers in Saharonim to sign “willful emigration” documents that allow deporting them from Israel. This process also goes against the United Nations’ stance on the matter and follows the Attorney General of Israel’s decision to approve the procedure three weeks ago.

According to the Hotline for Migrant Workers, detainees are repeatedly told by Ministry of Interior representatives at the internment camps are their only way out it to go back to Eritrea, and that otherwise they will spend years in prison.

Starting from June 23, about 350 of Saharonim detainees went on hunger strike to protest their detention. The Israeli Prison Authorities made extensive efforts to end the mass hunger strike and succeeded on their mission on June 30.

In a letter by one of the hunger strikers that was published in Hebrew last week, he described their encounter with immigration authority officers during the hunger strike:

We were prosecuted and victimized in our country and we didn’t have democracy. We were not able to live in peace. Many among us were tortured and raped in Sinai. When we reached this democratic state of Israel, we didn’t expect such harsh punishment in prison and we still don’t know which crime it is that makes us suffer for such a long time in this prison. We lost all hope and became frustrated by this situation so that we ask you to either provide us with a solution or send us to our country, no matter what will happen to us, even if we have to endure death penalty by the Eritrean regime.

At the end of the hunger strike, more Eritreans decided to leave the Israeli prison. According to the hotline, about 200 Eritreans have already signed an agreement to go back to Eritrea, but the detainees have been told that the Eritrean Embassy is able to arrange passports to only to 15 people a day and therefore the process will be gradual.

There are some 36,000 Eritrean asylum seekers (out of a total of 50,000 African asylum seekers) in Israel. Hundreds of them are being held in Israeli prison facilities under the Anti-Infiltration Law from last year which allows imprisoning of asylum seekers for three years without trial.

The promised land

Last Thursday we blogged about Israel’s intention to deport African asylum seekers back to unnamed African countries in exchange for “benefit packages”–basically weapons. Now comes the news that last night Israel repatriated–for the first time–14 Eritrean asylum seekers back to their country. This has been confirmed in the last few days by detainees at Saharonim prison–near the border with Egypt–who have contacted the Israeli Hotline for Migrant Workers. The 14 Eritreans, who spent the last year in the prison, will be returned to Asmara. According to detainees, the Eritrean Ambassador in Israel was supposed to escort them on their return.

The Israeli authorities haven’t confirmed the information yet. However, there have been reports in the last few days that the Israeli Administration of Border Crossings, Population and Immigration has been getting imprisoned Eritrean asylum seekers in Saharonim to sign “willful emigration” documents that allow deporting them from Israel. This process also goes against the United Nations’ stance on the matter and follows the Attorney General of Israel’s decision to approve the procedure three weeks ago.

According to the Hotline for Migrant Workers, detainees are repeatedly told by Ministry of Interior representatives at the internment camps are their only way out it to go back to Eritrea, and that otherwise they will spend years in prison.

Starting from June 23, about 350 of Saharonim detainees went on hunger strike to protest their detention. The Israeli Prison Authorities made extensive efforts to end the mass hunger strike and succeeded on their mission on June 30.

In a letter by one of the hunger strikers that was published in Hebrew last week, he described their encounter with immigration authority officers during the hunger strike:

We were prosecuted and victimized in our country and we didn’t have democracy. We were not able to live in peace. Many among us were tortured and raped in Sinai. When we reached this democratic state of Israel, we didn’t expect such harsh punishment in prison and we still don’t know which crime it is that makes us suffer for such a long time in this prison. We lost all hope and became frustrated by this situation so that we ask you to either provide us with a solution or send us to our country, no matter what will happen to us, even if we have to endure death penalty by the Eritrean regime.

At the end of the hunger strike, more Eritreans decided to leave the Israeli prison. According to the hotline, about 200 Eritreans have already signed an agreement to go back to Eritrea, but the detainees have been told that the Eritrean Embassy is able to arrange passports to only to 15 people a day and therefore the process will be gradual.

There are some 36,000 Eritrean asylum seekers (out of a total of 50,000 African asylum seekers) in Israel. Hundreds of them are being held in Israeli prison facilities under the Anti-Infiltration Law from last year which allows imprisoning of asylum seekers for three years without trial.

Weekend Music Break 45

We took the week off last week so we’re coming back at you extra strong today. For those of you trying to stay warm this winter and those of you keeping it cool this summer we’ve got ten tracks that’ll give you what you need.

Kicking it off is Brooklyn-based Rwandan Iyadede. It’s been far too long since we’ve heard her uniquely entrancing vocals. In the new video for “Not the Same”, invincible Director-DP team Terence Nance and Shawn Peters capture visually the ghostly dissonance that sets in when a relationship fades into a masquerade. Radiant, even in melancholy, Iyadede, delivers her trademark lyrical introspective brilliance over an eclectically electric beat.

Under the warmth of the Senegalese sun Lam’in Tukkiman finds himself stranded in an open plain amongst a herd of cattle and a majestically lithe angel. Blending hip-hop flows with rock rhythms, the track’s Wolof and English vocals are well accompanied by a symphony of strings.

Kenya’s most innovative multimedia creators Just a Band have tapped into their collective nostalgia for classic television once again to create the video “Dunia Ina Mambo”, one of the strongest tracks off their latest record, Sorry for the Delay. The crackling VHS effect never looked so good.

Ethiopian-Israeli Ester Rada makes the transition from actress to singer with the title track off her latest EP, “Life Happens”. Blending soul with Ethio-Jazz, Ms. Rada will be one to pay attention to. She keeps it funky in the video with stylish bright colors and scenes filled with clones that could be mistaken for fine art.

Brazilian electronic music producer Boss in Drama features MC Karol Conka, in their collaborative track “Toda Doida”. The upbeat song is coupled with an equally feel-good video that exudes positive vibes.

Filmed by the fantastically prolific producers at Amplificado TV, this live video captures members of the South African band BLK JKS performing their song “Tselane”. Opening with footage of the massive scale of Johannesburg, the video finally hones in on the performance and demonstrates how captivatingly intimate the city can be.

Off his new EP “Tokyo”, French rapper Joke spits the lyrics to the track “Louis XIV” with a smooth, slow confidence. Behind the grand, ecclestical visuals, a church choir provides the backup for Joke’s flow. The rythmic dancing of a veiled woman bids the viewer to make a confession.

A relative newcomer to the popular Ghanaian music scene, Bisa Kdei had been producing scores for the Gollywood (think Nollywood) film industry, when his song for the recent cinema release Azonto Ghost became a surprise hit (plus it has an incredible movie poster). Kdei’s hypnotic neo-Azonto song “Over”, featuring the star of the Azonto Ghost film Lil Win, demonstrates that Kdei’s success is no fluke.

Short and sweet, Blitz the Ambassador’s video for his new track “Dikembe” shows him repping Accra on the streets of Rabat. Amidst scratching organs and wailing guitars Blitz also make sure to show love for fellow musicians Nneka, Baloji and Sarkodie.

Speaking of Nneka: her “Kangpe” seems to have slipped through the cracks. Shot in Côte d’Ivoire, the video reveals how someone that is ostensibly pious can moonlight as an abusive big man. But if you dey Kangpe, the thing en no fit kill you, it go make you strong.

Weekend Music Break, N°45

We took the week off last week so we’re coming back at you extra strong today. For those of you trying to stay warm this winter and those of you keeping it cool this summer we’ve got ten tracks that’ll give you what you need.

Kicking it off is Brooklyn-based Rwandan Iyadede. It’s been far too long since we’ve heard her uniquely entrancing vocals. In the new video for “Not the Same”, invincible Director-DP team Terence Nance and Shawn Peters capture visually the ghostly dissonance that sets in when a relationship fades into a masquerade. Radiant, even in melancholy, Iyadede, delivers her trademark lyrical introspective brilliance over an eclectically electric beat.

Under the warmth of the Senegalese sun Lam’in Tukkiman finds himself stranded in an open plain amongst a herd of cattle and a majestically lithe angel. Blending hip-hop flows with rock rhythms, the track’s Wolof and English vocals are well accompanied by a symphony of strings.

Kenya’s most innovative multimedia creators Just a Band have tapped into their collective nostalgia for classic television once again to create the video “Dunia Ina Mambo”, one of the strongest tracks off their latest record, Sorry for the Delay. The crackling VHS effect never looked so good.

Ethiopian-Israeli Ester Rada makes the transition from actress to singer with the title track off her latest EP, “Life Happens”. Blending soul with Ethio-Jazz, Ms. Rada will be one to pay attention to. She keeps it funky in the video with stylish bright colors and scenes filled with clones that could be mistaken for fine art.

Brazilian electronic music producer Boss in Drama features MC Karol Conka, in their collaborative track “Toda Doida”. The upbeat song is coupled with an equally feel-good video that exudes positive vibes.

Filmed by the fantastically prolific producers at Amplificado TV, this live video captures members of the South African band BLK JKS performing their song “Tselane”. Opening with footage of the massive scale of Johannesburg, the video finally hones in on the performance and demonstrates how captivatingly intimate the city can be.

Off his new EP “Tokyo”, French rapper Joke spits the lyrics to the track “Louis XIV” with a smooth, slow confidence. Behind the grand, ecclestical visuals, a church choir provides the backup for Joke’s flow. The rythmic dancing of a veiled woman bids the viewer to make a confession.

A relative newcomer to the popular Ghanaian music scene, Bisa Kdei had been producing scores for the Gollywood (think Nollywood) film industry, when his song for the recent cinema release Azonto Ghost became a surprise hit (plus it has an incredible movie poster). Kdei’s hypnotic neo-Azonto song “Over”, featuring the star of the Azonto Ghost film Lil Win, demonstrates that Kdei’s success is no fluke.

Short and sweet, Blitz the Ambassador’s video for his new track “Dikembe” shows him repping Accra on the streets of Rabat. Amidst scratching organs and wailing guitars Blitz also make sure to show love for fellow musicians Nneka, Baloji and Sarkodie.

Speaking of Nneka: her “Kangpe” seems to have slipped through the cracks. Shot in Côte d’Ivoire, the video reveals how someone that is ostensibly pious can moonlight as an abusive big man. But if you dey Kangpe, the thing en no fit kill you, it go make you strong.

Weekend Music Break

We took the week off last week so we’re coming back at you extra strong today. For those of you trying to stay warm this winter and those of you keeping it cool this summer we’ve got ten tracks that’ll give you what you need.

Kicking it off is Brooklyn-based Rwandan Iyadede. It’s been far too long since we’ve heard her uniquely entrancing vocals. In the new video for “Not the Same”, invincible Director-DP team Terence Nance and Shawn Peters capture visually the ghostly dissonance that sets in when a relationship fades into a masquerade. Radiant, even in melancholy, Iyadede, delivers her trademark lyrical introspective brilliance over an eclectically electric beat.

Under the warmth of the Senegalese sun Lam’in Tukkiman finds himself stranded in an open plain amongst a herd of cattle and a majestically lithe angel. Blending hip-hop flows with rock rhythms, the track’s Wolof and English vocals are well accompanied by a symphony of strings.

Kenya’s most innovate multimedia creators Just a Band have tapped into their collective nostalgia for classic television once again to create the video “Dunia Ina Mambo”, one of the strongest tracks off their latest record, Sorry for the Delay. The crackling VHS effect never looked so good.

Ethiopian-Israeli Ester Rada makes the transition from actress to singer with the title track off her latest EP, “Life Happens”. Blending soul with Ethio-Jazz, Ms. Rada will be one to pay attention to. She keeps it funky in the video with stylish bright colors and scenes filled with clones that could be mistaken for fine art.

Brazilian electronic music producer Boss in Drama features MC Karol Conka, in their collaborative track “Toda Doida”. The upbeat song is coupled with an equally feel-good video that exudes positive vibes.

Filmed by the fantastically prolific producers at Amplificado TV, this live video captures members of the South African band BLK JKS performing their song “Tselane”. Opening with footage of the massive scale of Johannesburg, the video finally hones in on the performance and demonstrates how captivatingly intimate the city can be.

Off his new EP “Tokyo”, French rapper Joke spits the lyrics to the track “Louis XIV” with a smooth, slow confidence. Behind the grand, ecclestical visuals, a church choir provides the backup for Joke’s flow. The rythmic dancing of a veiled woman bids the viewer to make a confession.

A relative newcomer to the popular Ghanaian music scene, Bisa Kdei had been producing scores for the Gollywood (think Nollywood) film industry, when his song for the recent cinema release Azonto Ghost became a surprise hit (plus it has an incredible movie poster). Kdei’s hypnotic neo-Azonto song “Over”, featuring the star of the Azonto Ghost film Lil Win, demonstrates that Kdei’s success is no fluke.

Short and sweet, Blitz the Ambassador’s video for his new track “Dikembe” shows him repping Accra on the streets of Rabat. Amidst scratching organs and wailing guitars Blitz also make sure to show love for fellow musicians Nneka, Baloji and Sarkodie.

Speaking of Nneka: her “Kangpe” seems to have slipped through the cracks. Shot in Côte d’Ivoire, the video reveals how someone that is ostensibly pious can moonlight as an abusive big man. But if you dey Kangpe, the thing en no fit kill you, it go make you strong.

Mandela and Hip-Hop

Eighteen months ago, South African rapper and former frontman of The Volume, Tumi Molekane (stagename: Tumi) released ‘POWA’, a song which was as much a rally against women abuse as it was speculative banter in which the rapper imagined a post-Mandela South African dystopia. “When Mandela dies, who gon’ really care about us?”, he mused. That refrain has assumed various incarnations for the past six weeks of the old man’s stay in hospital. The media frenzy has been unparalleled, with (some) international news organisations rehashing the tired rhetoric of a warzone (here’s another example) where the natives drive the white man back to the sea sans Madiba. Mandela, the stately figure who became co-opted by the world as a symbol of the triumph of good over evil, has been transformed into little more than an extra in a soapie featuring ambulance breakdowns, exhumations, and ousted chiefs. In this media frenzy, the voices of artists have been mute, at least in mass media. So we decided to reach out to three hip-hop artists in order to get their perspective: Black Noise founder and African Hip-Hop Indaba organiser Emile YX; graf artist and spoken word mastermind Ewok; and self-proclaimed ‘legend of the golden mic’ Zubz.

Ewok, what are your thoughts on Mandela being deified in popular discourse (his presence on South African money, for instance)?

Ewok: I don’t dig the money vibe. South Africa is bigger then one man, even Mandela, and I’m sure he would agree. When we get reduced to a symbol as simple as a single figure then it becomes easier for those in power to manipulate that image for their own ends. It’s easy to fly a flag, it’s hard to fold it up and put it away and still get up and get to work. I think we are seeing that happen now. It’s like reducing the whole struggle against apartheid to a couple of songs. Madiba is being used to sell a pretty picture. It’s rainbow nation propaganda. As cynical as that sounds, that’s the reality. When we recognize the reality behind the picture that politicians would paint for potential investors, that’s when we become truly South African. We become a people who aren’t scared to face the truth of how segregated and fear filled our society is, and in true South African-style we make a plan and carry on. That right to reality is denied to us when those who can choose to make a man more than a man. Madiba on money is like Che Guevara on t-shirts, the commodification of spirit and strength and struggle into a product that pacifies those aspects of human nature. It’s a way of not having to deal with the problems that are prevalent and putting the past into a package that can be promoted prematurely. Madiba on money is a way of ensuring that his smile can stop being genuine and start being generic enough to print and produce whenever necessary.

And what of this underlying narrative that people are going to go buckwild and start rioting and killing each other after he passes away; where do you think that line of thinking comes from?

Ewok: That’s the old Swart Gevaar mentality all over again and it’s only really a small demographic of the population that perpetuate it. I think that white people need to realize that most black South Africans recognize that the biggest threat to their existence is more likely an unchecked police force being deployed by a corrupt government to silence and subdue a populace. If most white people scared of some kind of black revenge-fueled uprising stripped their blinkers they might see that the violence they fear is already a daily reality for the majority of the poorest South Africans. There is a dangerous level of ignorance inherent in that line of thought that betrays a significant disconnection with or distance from the reality of most South African lives. There is also a subliminal racism there that sees the poor black populace as uneducated savages, a colonial mentality manifesting in an exaggerated fear of “the other” without recognizing any common humanity. That’s what Mandela lived for, humanity, and those who rely on him and his amazing human quality for some kind of protection from a riotous onslaught, lack that humanity themselves.

***

Emile, what did Mandela symbolise on the Cape Flats during the political commotion of the eighties?



Emile YX: Initially Nelson Mandela represented the face of our liberation as he did to most people throughout the world. As we grew older he also acted as a symbol representing all those people that struggled for our freedom. As a statesman he often said that he was but one man that stood on the shoulders of giants and that was the faceless multitude of South Africans from all backgrounds that faced-off against the force of Apartheid. He was the symbol of our resistance. I have witten a story about my thoughts about Mandela, for example, called “Captive Sunbeams.”

There is a perception that coloureds have been sidelined post-1994, and there’s been a systematic operation to erase First Peoples’ status in South Africa. Is there anyone to blame for this? Could Mandela have done better to preserve the heritage of indigenous people in general during his presidency?



Emile YX: This is a difficult question to answer, as I do not see Mandela as the saint that can walk on water nor give houses to all South Africans. He is a man like all of us. I agree that the so-called coloured people have been side-lined and that first people aka “Boesman” (so-called Khoisan) have been purposefully “played” or bamboozled by the [attempts to write the wrongs of the] 1913 Land Act. This land belongs to the Bushman, as the first people, but now everyone else is claiming ownership because of the consideration of white settlers first instead of the first nations of this country. The secondary immigrants also saw that they could benefit from land that belonged to others and it was proof in the Afrophobic attacks that took place when their very not so distant relatives tried to come and settle in Southern Africa as well. Suddenly Apartheid lines and borders and racial language were okay. They were successfully enslaved to enslave others who looked like them … other Africans. The malls and other white-looking shops were acceptable because they are used to being oppressed by those types. The negotiations [of the late 1980s and early 1990s] are to blame. The capitalist power that strong-armed Mandela-them into being too friendly is to blame. Their violence that they showed through the Witdoeke  [in Cape Town as well as the] IFP before the first election. There’s also the violence of drugs, AIDS and gang warfare which occupied the poor’s minds so much that we did not see the implementation of trade benefits for the same slave masters and their international criminals of capitalism. Yes, we could blame the ANC and their negotiated freedom, but we are to blame for dropping the ball on [fighting for] a government for and by the people. That’s what we fought for, yet as soon as we got it, we handed it over to people we thought we could trust. Political parties have the parties interest before that of the people. Yet, we trusted them with our future and we also made the usage of us and them easier to blame anyone but ourselves for the exploitation. It is a global safety mechanism that “We the people” do. We place the responsibility elsewhere so that we are never blamed. It is never too late I feel and I know that South Africans will create the same civics [that flourished in the 1980s and] that are more important than political parties to take care of their own communities instead of trusting a few massive political parties that seem to have more time to party with big business than to take care of the people. We are all to blame. In closing on this question, I don’t think that we can blame one single man for the decision of his party, because if the majority are greedy capitalist minded tribal fools, then the idiots rule and win the decision. That’s a capitalistic democracy, where the party interest is satisfying its financial backers more than to take care of the people that vote them into power.

What do you make of the way Mandela’s story is playing out in mass media now that he’s nearing the end? Also, do you think it was a wise decision to put his face on South African money?



Emile YX: It’s really sad that he has been blown up this way by their corporate machines above that of the many that made him who he is. I do understand that this is what capitalism does, they take a hero and they make him saintly and then they destroy the image of anyone close to him so that people think that the man is an island and that no others like him can come from South Africa. I have news for them. We had a few others from the same street in Soweto Vilakazi Street. Imagine the greatness of our people in South Africa if that is possible? To me they had to make it seem that it was impossible for that to become a reality again. They had to make South Africans feel small in the over-manufactured legacy of Madiba. It is not his creation, but theirs. Carefully done so for the benefit of their silencing a potential revolutionary like him to rise up again from South Africa to take the peoples minds and hearts by storm. Capitalism cannot afford that. It is for this reason that they also played down Winnie Mandela’s role in our revolution or that of Steve Biko or Chris Hani. Capitalism sells servitude and they found the best version of it to sell Mandela. Never his leadership of Umkonto We Sizwe, nor commands that brought about the deaths of the people’s enemy. No! They will sell what is safe and promote the “scandal” of his children to destroy potential revolutionaries from believing that another could come from this magnificent country of ours. I say wake up and smell the reality TV show that is nullifying South African revolutionary greatness.

***

Zubz, you’re one of the artists who’ve contributed to the canon of great (and not-so-great) songs about Madiba. What emotion(s) were you trying to convey when you penned “My distress”?

Zubz: A not-so-biographical, sonic biography. When we did “My Distress” we really just wanted to portray to my audience at the time the human being behind the name Nelson Mandela. Sure, we get that he was an ordinary man doing extraordinary things with his life, but do we really get how ordinary he was? The key with “My Distress” and doing it all in 1st person was in understanding that we can all be Nelson Mandela, ordinary choosing to be great and impactful, just as we are. I wrote it in my language, Hip-Hop, as me, Zubz. So like when he’s imagining being out of prison after so long, what would he be thinking? I’d be thinking: “how the world’s got/ man, I’d even get to see the Italia World Cup/ But what would really blow my head the most is/ if we were so free we’d even get to host it…” We must never forget tata Madiba is a regular man. That’s one of the reasons I wrote the song that way.

What are your thoughts/feelings about how mass media has covered Madiba’s story? Do you think the reporting has been fair? 

Zubz: Of course we understand that the Madiba legacy goes beyond his life, his truth as a man, his native country SA and even his time. We also understand that the Madiba phenomenon has gone from a rallying flag for a movement, to a talismanic, magical motivator, to an ideology. As with many ideologies it has lent itself up for scrutiny, discussion and most importantly, selfish utilization. Media use the Madiba story as a smoke screen for subtext at best and a fishing hook worm for remotely related agendas at worst. Today you are more likely to read a Madiba piece focused on the failings of the Health Ministry or the petty in-fighting amongst close relatives to Mandela than about tata’s inspirational story of triumph over oppression or even illness. I also feel like perhaps the world has been given ample time to prepare themselves emotionally for any outcome regarding our great leader, and in mass media’s eyes the only real way to make a greater story of it, is to stir up issues that lend themselves towards more animated responses to Madiba. I’ve always felt like the media goes too far in their probes of public figures and does not know where to draw the line. Tata has been no exception here. The medical records released were unnecessary and aimed to incite. Just as the story on Ambulances breaking down was also meant to incite, as well as the in-fighting among close relatives…all of this in my opinion is meant to add more drama to what would otherwise be a relatively drama-free, healthy and soul-easing transition into a new era in SA’s ( and the world’s) continued walk to freedom.

What does Madiba represent to you as a human being? To some people he’s a symbol of hope. Is it the same for you?

Zubz: To me, Madiba is a man who played a key role in creating the SA that exists today; one that allows me to exist here, make music, fall in love, watch movies, eat out with my friends, live for the most part free. For that I will always revere and honour him. Symbolically, tata Mandela reminds me of who we are (black Africans) where we came from (colonialism and oppressive rule) where we are (post-colonial, global Africa) and where we are headed. It’s so easy to forget the key lessons of the past, sacrifices made, strides made etc in a world wrapped in social network chatter, medical and scientific wonder and the pursuit of that “baller” life. It’s easy to lose sight of what the goal was for what Mandela and his peers did. Personally Madiba reminds me to take a second to remember that we are who we are, where we are, not by accident but by deliberate effort. It’s sobering and inspiring for me, not to mention grounding.

* Ewok is part of a French-South African collaboration called Blue Gene. They will release their debut album “These Meditations” and will tour in France 17th-31st July. Emile YX is having an event at Princess Vlei on the Cape Flats on Saturday, July 20th. Details here. Zubz’s latest project is a Digital only release called “DragonLion_FullCircle.” You can follow Zubz on twitter: @zubzlastletta.

Mandela and Hip-Hop in South Africa

Eighteen months ago, South African rapper and former frontman of The Volume, Tumi Molekane (stagename: Tumi) released ‘POWA’, a song which was as much a rally against women abuse as it was speculative banter in which the rapper imagined a post-Mandela South African dystopia. “When Mandela dies, who gon’ really care about us?”, he mused. That refrain has assumed various incarnations for the past six weeks of the old man’s stay in hospital. The media frenzy has been unparalleled, with (some) international news organisations rehashing the tired rhetoric of a warzone (here’s another example) where the natives drive the white man back to the sea sans Madiba. Mandela, the stately figure who became co-opted by the world as a symbol of the triumph of good over evil, has been transformed into little more than an extra in a soapie featuring ambulance breakdowns, exhumations, and ousted chiefs. In this media frenzy, the voices of artists have been mute, at least in mass media. So we decided to reach out to three hip-hop artists in order to get their perspective: Black Noise founder and African Hip-Hop Indaba organiser Emile YX; graf artist and spoken word mastermind Ewok; and self-proclaimed ‘legend of the golden mic’ Zubz.

Ewok, what are your thoughts on Mandela being deified in popular discourse (his presence on South African money, for instance)?

Ewok: I don’t dig the money vibe. South Africa is bigger then one man, even Mandela, and I’m sure he would agree. When we get reduced to a symbol as simple as a single figure then it becomes easier for those in power to manipulate that image for their own ends. It’s easy to fly a flag, it’s hard to fold it up and put it away and still get up and get to work. I think we are seeing that happen now. It’s like reducing the whole struggle against apartheid to a couple of songs. Madiba is being used to sell a pretty picture. It’s rainbow nation propaganda. As cynical as that sounds, that’s the reality. When we recognize the reality behind the picture that politicians would paint for potential investors, that’s when we become truly South African. We become a people who aren’t scared to face the truth of how segregated and fear filled our society is, and in true South African-style we make a plan and carry on. That right to reality is denied to us when those who can choose to make a man more than a man. Madiba on money is like Che Guevara on t-shirts, the commodification of spirit and strength and struggle into a product that pacifies those aspects of human nature. It’s a way of not having to deal with the problems that are prevalent and putting the past into a package that can be promoted prematurely. Madiba on money is a way of ensuring that his smile can stop being genuine and start being generic enough to print and produce whenever necessary.

And what of this underlying narrative that people are going to go buckwild and start rioting and killing each other after he passes away; where do you think that line of thinking comes from?

Ewok: That’s the old Swart Gevaar mentality all over again and it’s only really a small demographic of the population that perpetuate it. I think that white people need to realize that most black South Africans recognize that the biggest threat to their existence is more likely an unchecked police force being deployed by a corrupt government to silence and subdue a populace. If most white people scared of some kind of black revenge-fueled uprising stripped their blinkers they might see that the violence they fear is already a daily reality for the majority of the poorest South Africans. There is a dangerous level of ignorance inherent in that line of thought that betrays a significant disconnection with or distance from the reality of most South African lives. There is also a subliminal racism there that sees the poor black populace as uneducated savages, a colonial mentality manifesting in an exaggerated fear of “the other” without recognizing any common humanity. That’s what Mandela lived for, humanity, and those who rely on him and his amazing human quality for some kind of protection from a riotous onslaught, lack that humanity themselves.

***

Emile, what did Mandela symbolise on the Cape Flats during the political commotion of the eighties?



Emile YX: Initially Nelson Mandela represented the face of our liberation as he did to most people throughout the world. As we grew older he also acted as a symbol representing all those people that struggled for our freedom. As a statesman he often said that he was but one man that stood on the shoulders of giants and that was the faceless multitude of South Africans from all backgrounds that faced-off against the force of Apartheid. He was the symbol of our resistance. I have witten a story about my thoughts about Mandela, for example, called “Captive Sunbeams.”

There is a perception that coloureds have been sidelined post-1994, and there’s been a systematic operation to erase First Peoples’ status in South Africa. Is there anyone to blame for this? Could Mandela have done better to preserve the heritage of indigenous people in general during his presidency?



Emile YX: This is a difficult question to answer, as I do not see Mandela as the saint that can walk on water nor give houses to all South Africans. He is a man like all of us. I agree that the so-called coloured people have been side-lined and that first people aka “Boesman” (so-called Khoisan) have been purposefully “played” or bamboozled by the [attempts to write the wrongs of the] 1913 Land Act. This land belongs to the Bushman, as the first people, but now everyone else is claiming ownership because of the consideration of white settlers first instead of the first nations of this country. The secondary immigrants also saw that they could benefit from land that belonged to others and it was proof in the Afrophobic attacks that took place when their very not so distant relatives tried to come and settle in Southern Africa as well. Suddenly Apartheid lines and borders and racial language were okay. They were successfully enslaved to enslave others who looked like them … other Africans. The malls and other white-looking shops were acceptable because they are used to being oppressed by those types. The negotiations [of the late 1980s and early 1990s] are to blame. The capitalist power that strong-armed Mandela-them into being too friendly is to blame. Their violence that they showed through the Witdoeke  [in Cape Town as well as the] IFP before the first election. There’s also the violence of drugs, AIDS and gang warfare which occupied the poor’s minds so much that we did not see the implementation of trade benefits for the same slave masters and their international criminals of capitalism. Yes, we could blame the ANC and their negotiated freedom, but we are to blame for dropping the ball on [fighting for] a government for and by the people. That’s what we fought for, yet as soon as we got it, we handed it over to people we thought we could trust. Political parties have the parties interest before that of the people. Yet, we trusted them with our future and we also made the usage of us and them easier to blame anyone but ourselves for the exploitation. It is a global safety mechanism that “We the people” do. We place the responsibility elsewhere so that we are never blamed. It is never too late I feel and I know that South Africans will create the same civics [that flourished in the 1980s and] that are more important than political parties to take care of their own communities instead of trusting a few massive political parties that seem to have more time to party with big business than to take care of the people. We are all to blame. In closing on this question, I don’t think that we can blame one single man for the decision of his party, because if the majority are greedy capitalist minded tribal fools, then the idiots rule and win the decision. That’s a capitalistic democracy, where the party interest is satisfying its financial backers more than to take care of the people that vote them into power.

What do you make of the way Mandela’s story is playing out in mass media now that he’s nearing the end? Also, do you think it was a wise decision to put his face on South African money?



Emile YX: It’s really sad that he has been blown up this way by their corporate machines above that of the many that made him who he is. I do understand that this is what capitalism does, they take a hero and they make him saintly and then they destroy the image of anyone close to him so that people think that the man is an island and that no others like him can come from South Africa. I have news for them. We had a few others from the same street in Soweto Vilakazi Street. Imagine the greatness of our people in South Africa if that is possible? To me they had to make it seem that it was impossible for that to become a reality again. They had to make South Africans feel small in the over-manufactured legacy of Madiba. It is not his creation, but theirs. Carefully done so for the benefit of their silencing a potential revolutionary like him to rise up again from South Africa to take the peoples minds and hearts by storm. Capitalism cannot afford that. It is for this reason that they also played down Winnie Mandela’s role in our revolution or that of Steve Biko or Chris Hani. Capitalism sells servitude and they found the best version of it to sell Mandela. Never his leadership of Umkonto We Sizwe, nor commands that brought about the deaths of the people’s enemy. No! They will sell what is safe and promote the “scandal” of his children to destroy potential revolutionaries from believing that another could come from this magnificent country of ours. I say wake up and smell the reality TV show that is nullifying South African revolutionary greatness.

***

Zubz, you’re one of the artists who’ve contributed to the canon of great (and not-so-great) songs about Madiba. What emotion(s) were you trying to convey when you penned “My distress”?

Zubz: A not-so-biographical, sonic biography. When we did “My Distress” we really just wanted to portray to my audience at the time the human being behind the name Nelson Mandela. Sure, we get that he was an ordinary man doing extraordinary things with his life, but do we really get how ordinary he was? The key with “My Distress” and doing it all in 1st person was in understanding that we can all be Nelson Mandela, ordinary choosing to be great and impactful, just as we are. I wrote it in my language, Hip-Hop, as me, Zubz. So like when he’s imagining being out of prison after so long, what would he be thinking? I’d be thinking: “how the world’s got/ man, I’d even get to see the Italia World Cup/ But what would really blow my head the most is/ if we were so free we’d even get to host it…” We must never forget tata Madiba is a regular man. That’s one of the reasons I wrote the song that way.

What are your thoughts/feelings about how mass media has covered Madiba’s story? Do you think the reporting has been fair? 

Zubz: Of course we understand that the Madiba legacy goes beyond his life, his truth as a man, his native country SA and even his time. We also understand that the Madiba phenomenon has gone from a rallying flag for a movement, to a talismanic, magical motivator, to an ideology. As with many ideologies it has lent itself up for scrutiny, discussion and most importantly, selfish utilization. Media use the Madiba story as a smoke screen for subtext at best and a fishing hook worm for remotely related agendas at worst. Today you are more likely to read a Madiba piece focused on the failings of the Health Ministry or the petty in-fighting amongst close relatives to Mandela than about tata’s inspirational story of triumph over oppression or even illness. I also feel like perhaps the world has been given ample time to prepare themselves emotionally for any outcome regarding our great leader, and in mass media’s eyes the only real way to make a greater story of it, is to stir up issues that lend themselves towards more animated responses to Madiba. I’ve always felt like the media goes too far in their probes of public figures and does not know where to draw the line. Tata has been no exception here. The medical records released were unnecessary and aimed to incite. Just as the story on Ambulances breaking down was also meant to incite, as well as the in-fighting among close relatives…all of this in my opinion is meant to add more drama to what would otherwise be a relatively drama-free, healthy and soul-easing transition into a new era in SA’s ( and the world’s) continued walk to freedom.

What does Madiba represent to you as a human being? To some people he’s a symbol of hope. Is it the same for you?

Zubz: To me, Madiba is a man who played a key role in creating the SA that exists today; one that allows me to exist here, make music, fall in love, watch movies, eat out with my friends, live for the most part free. For that I will always revere and honour him. Symbolically, tata Mandela reminds me of who we are (black Africans) where we came from (colonialism and oppressive rule) where we are (post-colonial, global Africa) and where we are headed. It’s so easy to forget the key lessons of the past, sacrifices made, strides made etc in a world wrapped in social network chatter, medical and scientific wonder and the pursuit of that “baller” life. It’s easy to lose sight of what the goal was for what Mandela and his peers did. Personally Madiba reminds me to take a second to remember that we are who we are, where we are, not by accident but by deliberate effort. It’s sobering and inspiring for me, not to mention grounding.

* Ewok is part of a French-South African collaboration called Blue Gene. They will release their debut album “These Meditations” and will tour in France 17th-31st July. Emile YX is having an event at Princess Vlei on the Cape Flats on Saturday, July 20th. Details here. Zubz’s latest project is a Digital only release called “DragonLion_FullCircle.” You can follow Zubz on twitter: @zubzlastletta.

How not to study sexualized violence in the DRC

Excerpt from a post Maria Hengeveld wrote over at Dan Moshenberg’s work blog Women In and Beyond the Global:

… Not all research carried out is actually helpful or constructive in reducing the violence, as Marsha Henry, points out, in her piece, ‘Ten Reasons not To Write your Masters Dissertation on Sexual Violence in War’: “Here’s another important reason not to write a dissertation on sexual violence as a weapon of war in the DRC. It’s been done already! Students continually ask me ‘can you suggest a couple of books on the subject?’. Where to start? There is so much to be said about gender and violence in militarised contexts more generally, but there has also been a great deal written about by a number of scholars. And it is precisely this body of knowledge that has sometimes been misanalysed by students. That is, although much of this writing has politically exposed the issue, students often read it as a holistic canon on the subject, interpreting the text as they wish. Dissertations often become regurgitated and simplistic snapshots of other work, reinforcing particular perspectives and portrayals and therefore contributing to the reification of the subject (missing a cogent assessment of narrative forms). A rhetorical stasis is created, where certain material and citations are circulated and re-circulated, with little new insight or critical perspective provided”.

One explanation for the disproportionately large interest in the DRC, compared to other conflicts, is the horror at the brutalities women have faced. If indeed this horror plays a key role in igniting students’ interest, how does that shape the findings and value of the final work? According to Henry, it does so in a troubling way: “Honing in on the bodily experience of rape, for example, can remove rape in war from the wider social, cultural, economic and political context in which it always takes place. It can be an abstraction of the total experience. The affective impact is that readers of these dissertations distance themselves from subjects in the studies.”

Read the full post here.

 

 

 

Eating Nando’s in Gaborone

I spent part of last month at the biennial gathering of historians organised by the Southern African Historical Society. The conference at the University of Botswana was fantastic. Gaborone was, well, less so.* I think that the city is best summed up by an exchange between a conference delegate and her husband, who had spent the morning exploring downtown Gaborone. When asked what he had discovered, he answered: ‘There’s a Nando’s.’

This comment is interesting for many reasons. One of the most striking features of Gaborone – other than the many posters for visiting gospel choirs and the absence of any form of newspaper advertising – is its malls. Having had lunch and dinner at two of them, it seems to me that most of the major shops and restaurants in the city are branches of South African chains: from Spur, that staple of middle South Africa, to the relatively upmarket Primi Piatti. Given the hostility which locals appear to reserve for South Africans – and relations between the two countries became particularly tense during the late 1980s, when ANC and Umkhonto we Sizwe exiles in Gaborone became the target of the apartheid state’s raids – this felt deeply ironic at the time.

Nando’s is an odd addition to the pantheon of South African culinary exports. In his speech delivered at the University of Cape Town during his recent visit to the country, Barack Obama referred to Nando’s – alongside the vuvuzela and Freshlyground – as prime examples of South African institutions. But like so many cultural icons which seem to embody national identity, Nando’s was founded by immigrants.

When I mentioned to friends in the UK that Nando’s is South African, I was often greeted with expressions of confusion. Surely, they argued, it’s Portuguese? Well, yes and no. Before its devastating civil war, Mozambique was a popular destination particularly for young, white South Africans. They visited its pristine beaches, its fun capital Maputo (Lourenço Marques before 1975), and ate its excellent and distinctive cuisine. Indeed prawns from Mozambique are still a regional delicacy. Radio Lourenço Marques – which could be picked up in South Africa – played the music banned by South African broadcasters. Mozambique represented, for young whites at least, relative freedom from the restrictions of a repressive and oppressive South African state.

For part of its civil war (1977-1992), South Africans escaping the country travelled to Mozambique to join up with the exiled ANC. Moving in the opposite direction, legions of whites migrated southwards to South Africa after Mozambique’s independence from Portugal in 1975. Two of these exiles founded Nando’s in Rosettenville, a Johannesburg suburb with large ex-patriot Portuguese populations from Mozambique and Madeira. Although by no means the first or only chicken fast-food restaurant in South Africa – local Chicken Licken (opened in 1981) and foreign KFC (introduced in 1971) do a roaring trade – Nando’s distinctiveness lies partly in its adaptation of the hybrid Afro-Lusophone cuisine which developed in Mozambique.

The chain is probably best known for popularizing peri-peri – a sharp, spicy sauce which is a feature of both Portuguese and Mozambican cooking. Its name derives from the Swahili word for the African bird’s eye chilli – the pili pili – which was taken back to Portugal by traders who had been present along the east African coast since the sixteenth century. Portuguese piri piri sauce entered Mozambique with the advent of white settlement, where it was re-adapted by Africans.

Following the first wave of white South Africans to leave the country during the transition, Nando’s opened its first overseas branch in Australia in 1990. Franchises in the UK (1992), Botswana (1993), Canada (1994), Malaysia (1998), Pakistan (2001), and elsewhere followed. It now operates in the United States and around southern Africa. It doesn’t, as far as I can tell, have a branch in Mozambique.

Nando’s menu is very obviously the product of the long interaction between Africans and Portuguese interlopers over the course of around four centuries. It purveys a global cuisine, and one which has become increasingly globalised as it adapts itself to the tastes and expectations of new countries and new customers. The restaurants in the UK, for instance, are noticeably more upmarket than the Nando’s outlets in South Africa. It’s also the product of the geopolitics of late twentieth-century southern Africa. It was founded as a result of white Mozambicans’ migration to South Africa in the mid-1970s, and catered to local enthusiasm for Mozambican cooking both among migrant Mozambican mine workers as well as those whites who had holidayed in Mozambique. Its first attempt at opening an international store accompanied white South Africans’ migration to Australia.

And yet, for all its hybrid identity, Nando’s identifies itself as a distinctively South African brand – and particularly through its advertising campaigns. Nando’s has a reputation for responding quickly and wittily to political controversies – like blacking out its ads during protests against the potentially oppressive Protection of State Information Bill in 2011. Although this is a strategy which backfires occasionally, it means that Nando’s can cash in – quite literally – by siding with (middle-class?) South Africans’ exasperation with the government and the country’s politicians.

It was this which made Nando’s presence in Gaborone feel incongruous. Despite its expensive PR campaigns, Botswana has a deserved reputation for being one of the most secretive states in southern Africa. It’s particularly intolerant of dissent, and has expelled those who have challenged the political status quo. As a recipient of the Media Institute of Southern Africa’s Golden Padlock award in 2011, the real country is worlds away from Alexander McCall Smith’s sanitised and gently patronising depiction of Botswana’s people and politics. I doubt that Nando’s advertising would be legal in Gaborone.

* Historian Sarah Emily Duff is on Twitter.

Have some sympathy for the poor suffering bosses

Miners at multinational Lonmin platinum mine at Marikana in Rustenburg, South Africa, speaking to (South African) Sunday Times reporter Lucky Biyase:

‘Whenever we ask for a wage increase, these companies plead poverty and threaten us with retrenchments. This is because they don’t want to pay money to black people. Why work when you don’t get what you deserve?’ [The workers are] are aware of the failing platinum price, but … mining companies were reaping the consequence of their greed. Management rewarded themselves, while workers sweated … Workers needed to be more militant because the mining companies could afford the 60% increases demanded. ‘Yes, the targeted metal is platinum, which has experienced a fall in prices, but there are other commodities in the process of mining platinum’ … These included nickel, palladium, rhodium, copper and even gold’ … This made the companies complaints about falling prices ‘nonsensical.’ ‘They can afford this percentage. If they want to close the mines, so be it. We will reorganize our lives.

* No hyperlink; password protected.