The Dream Deferred

So remember I spoke last week about that article written by Mark Gevisser? Well, I went to his public lecture this evening which was really very interesting. He is an acute person who I think has very unique insights into South Africa. He expresses himself eloquently too, and one looks up to him a great deal because of this.

He gave a fascinating presentation of Thabo Mbeki’s life, and illustrated how his history and where he comes from has very much shaped the way he sees the world. I’m not going to go into it right now, not only because I am tired and wish to go snooze, but because I think it is all eloquently explained in his book, The Dream Deferred. The title of the book is based on a poem by Langston Hughes, which goes like this:

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore–
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over–
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

From my understanding of what Mark Gevisser was saying, the dream is that of a utopic Africa, encompassing our aspirations as a united South Africa – the typical rainbow nation construct, where we all live happily together as one. We certainly held this dream aloft in 1994, and held it up high in 1995 and 2007 (our rugby world cup victories, for instance), but do we allow it to defer and sag like a heavy load?

The answer, of course, is that we do, because our cynicism overrides any high aspirations that we have. We either have these high aspirations, or we don’t (remember the dichotomy between the two extremes in SA?), and there is no middle ground in South Africa.

Gevisser’s interpretation of Mbeki’s idea of the dream is that it explodes, perhaps into a million little pieces that again become dreams. And so Mebki encapsulates his ideas of the African Renaissance, for instance, where we remember our roots and embrace them to continue realise our dreams.

We have this idea in our lives that the ultimate goal in life is to reach home base – we fight and we struggle and strive towards this goal. Gevisser says that we have reached that home – we have reached that goal where by and large we are, for want of a better word, free. And for sure there are instances where we are not free, and our home is by no means perfect, but we must realise that home is the platform upon which we build our dreams for the future.

I recommend you all go read the book, not only because I think it is going to give us insight into our ‘complex and clever’ president, but because it should be essentially reading for any concerned citizen of South Africa. Proviso: One should not read this book as being a complete appraisal of Mbeki, because it isn’t. It’s merely a look at the world through Mbeki’s eyes.

That is all. Goodbye. x

ps: there was an annoying man during the talk who loudly told a panelist to keep quiet for she was talking too long. Irrespective of how long this person talks, I think he was being rude, and he should be ashamed of himself.

pps: i loved how Mark Gevisser said he was a proud Johannesburger because we were a bright and intelligent city with lots of buzz. And you could see this in the massive turn out. I thought – ‘yeah baby!’

ppps: only 21 more sleeps to go before Japan!

pppps: i have a date on Saturday night with an uber sexy and naaaice bee.

The picture below? I couldn’t think what picture to put in, so I put my photo in of this park in Killarney. I loved how the Jacarandas bloomed to make this natural archway.

The Process of being a Sefrican

So on Tuesday night there was an armed robbery at the place where I worked. I could very well have been working that night, but thankfully (and ironically) I was studying Criminal Procedure for my exam the next day. Anyway, it was quite hectic, and most demeaning to people I care deeply about, and so I was really shaken up about it.

As usual, it got me thinking about the state of our country, and I started to think how it was going down the drain, etc etc etc. Thankfully, however, my optimism for this country has been completely fucked over, because I reason with myself that whilst it would be so nice to live in a completely crime-free society, I would get bored. Or at least, that’s what I think.

I don’t really know, because I wasn’t the one with a gun in my face on Tuesday night, and I’m not one living the life in Perth. Although I must say that I have been to Perth, and found it to be a bit like the town of Kimberly with skyscrapers, and I think I would find myself pining for the frenetic nature of Joburg.

But I’m digressing, as usual. My whole point is that over the past day or so, I have gone through a period of what Gevisser calls ‘the bust.’ In this well-written and insightful article, available over here, and with thanks to Kev for pointing it out to me, he talks about how South Africans see in their country in a dichotomy: it’s either in a boom, or it’s in a bust.

We’ve just recently had a boom with the Bokke wining the rugby world cup. It was exemplified as much in the photo below, where Mbeki took on the iconic figure that Madiba has always held on to, and represented all that was good about South Africa: that after years of Apartheid, we were finally united as one country.

A few years ago rugby was perceived as an inherent white Afrikaaner male sport, and now it is seemingly supported by everyone in South Africa and is no longer seen as the ‘Sport of Oppression.’ Indeed I was really quite surprised when I filled up my car with petrol the day before the game, and a black female ‘mama’ (who was filling up my car – viva female empowerment in the petrol-attendant industry!) told me how excited she was about the upcoming match.

And I thought to myself that perhaps we are finally starting to see our country coming full circle, into one where all people are one and where we all relate to each other in ‘YAY-Rainbow-Nation’ and ubuntu type of manner.

But then the armed robbery happened, and I thought – FUCK! Crime seriously is tearing apart the social fabric of our society. And whilst I don’t deny for one second that it’s certainly doing a good job of it, we have to take a step back and remind ourselves of the ‘boom’ times – When we won the bid for the Soccer World Cup, or when we won the Rugby World Cups in 1995 and this year.

We have to remember how these events united us all as one nation, and how they showed that South Africans can actually live together in harmony with one another. And, in fact, we have to do this in order to undo the ‘busts’ that threaten to destroy the social fibre of our society. If we don’t, then the ‘busts’ will override the ‘booms’ and then South Africa might just go kaput.

But we must also remember is that we cannot expect South Africa to be a perfect country, and I think that many of us did that after 1994. We must try see our problems in a proactive, rather than a reactive light. We have a high crime rate – what should we do? Create a culture of humility from a very young age, and teach kiddlie winks that they must face the consequences of our actions. But to run away, or killing the fuckers, isn’t going to solve the problem.

Anyway, read the article, and also attend the talk Mark Gevisser (who wrote the article, and will soon be releasing a book on Moooobheki) will be giving at Wits on November the 12th. Should be fascinating. I’m like totally gonna be there.

P.S – two posts in one month – i is rox. x

Point-by-Point by Tom Cat – Volume 3 (A two-week catch-up!)

Yes, Yes, I know it has been a gazillion years since my last blog post.

 Indeed, as Angel opined, I had gone kyknoord. Which, I think means I went AWOL.

The truth is that I have just had so much work to get done. It has been an incredibly busy two/three weeks, with difficult assignments due, many gazillions of meetings, academic talks, and of course, lots of bunny hopping to do.

 To give you an itemised list of what I have been doing…

• Academic Talks by…
  • Armartya Sen - a Nobel Prize-winning developmental economist (1)
  • Nadine Gordimer - a Nobel prize-winning author (1)
  • Trevor Manuel - our minister of finance (1)
  • Edwin Cameron - a Supreme Court of Appeal judge (2)
  • Faarooq Manghere – director of the Gay and Lesbian Equality Project (1) and,
  • Fikile Vilakazi – director of the Centre for African Lesbians (1).

    The first four took the form of a conversation, where Armatya Sen talked a lot about economics that I’m afraid I didn’t really know much about. His accent also wasn’t the most coherent, and so I struggled to hear him, and instead ended up checking out who was in the audience, which resembled of Who’s-Who of Joburg’s academic arty-farty elite. The last three took the form of a student forum, which my society (Wits Model UN), as well as Golden Key and the Law Students Council all co-organised, and it involved a public forum discussion surrounding the issues of gay rights etc etc etc. It was quite stimulating (I thought) and students appeared to enjoy it, which you can find here if you really wish… http://www.youtube.com/joburgtom  

• Oh yah. One other academic talk we (Kev and I) went to was one given by Ruthann Robson, who can be considered the ‘Mother’ of Lesbian legal theory, is a visiting professor from an American university. Anyone, she talked about sexual constructs which we create in society, which was very interesting and indeed mind-opening. She ended off with this question: “If a man wishes to legalise his sexual relationship with his dog, and he claims that the both he and the dog do this consentually, should we allow him to do it? No, of course not! But just consider the fact that the argument we are using to say No, is the exact same argument other people used to justify the criminalisation of homosexuality – ie that it’s unnatural and that it just can’t possibly be consentual.”Ok.. so yah.. even liberal-ass me finds it a bit of a whacky concept to get one’s head around, but it’s nevertheless an interesting argument, and I think it could be applied to say, for instance, two consentual adult brothers wishing to legalise their sexual relationship.
• Afterwards, Kev and I (and Kev’s new boyfriend, our friend Angelo) went to Ants in Melville. I think I have blogged about this restaurant before (maybe on my blog), but i simply have to blog about it again, because I LOVE IT!!! The restaurant is rather rustic in it’s nature, but it serves the best pasta, and chasing the pasta done with a good glass of red wine just fills with such joy. It’s the type of joy that just is.

  Afterwards, we went to the Oh bar, which although isn’t normally anything to blog about, will be blogged about today because I got a cool shot of the ceiling… I think it looks incredibly 70’s disco.

  

• Besides all the academic talks, we also were given a lecture by Edwin Cameron. He gave us a lecture in our HIV/AIDS and the law course, specifically on how the criminal law can and does interact with HIV/AIDS. I have sort of forgotten the gist of what he had to say (I know, I know, bad student are I), but I remember it being fascinating, and that’s all that matter really.
• Somewhere in the past two weeks, a whole bunch of us also went to go see the musical Hair at Montecasino. The cast was really quite excellent, and they sang with such passion. I also thought they were very brave when suddenly they all appeared out of nowhere NAKED. *gasp* And they just pranced about willy-nilly (hehe – my use of puns are cleva, neh?) without any inhibitions. I was also suprised when I saw a guy that I once went on a date with. It was, incidentally, one of the worst dates I had ever been on, because I ended up having more of a bond with his straight male friends than him, but I still felt imporant and stuff cos I knew someone from the cast. heee heee.

  Anyway, afterwards we went to the new lifestyle extension at Montecasino, which as far as fake Italian goes, is not bad. And coming from me – that’s something. They have a musical fountain too, and I took a video. I hope it comes out. If it doesn’t, then go here… http://www.youtube.com/joburgboy, and have a look for it somewhere on that page!

• Other than that, I have been lank busy with assignments, bru. I have had Competition Law and Moot to get through, and they both been incredibly looooong and incredibly difficult. Moot was perhaps the most interesting one, as we got a topic and you have to argue for both the applicants and the respondents. In this case, the applicants was this NGO who represented people who had been raped, murdered etc, and they wanted to hold the government responsible under the constitution for failing to secure their rights to freedom and security of the person, life and dignity. One works in teams, and so Keval did the applicants, and I did the respondents. And I found it really difficult because we found in many of the issues raised that the government simply didn’t have much of a defence. Procedures weren’t followed and certain core constitutional obligations were totally disregarded. So I ended making up THE most whacked up and convoluted arguments for the government. It wasn’t really that fun.
• But it’s over now, and I am preparing to enjoy my weekend. Today is Freedom Day in South Africa – 13 years ago, South Africa went to the polls to vote in the first truly democratic elections. The country is now a teenager, and isshowing all the volatility and promise that a country of this age would typically show. It makes me proud to be a citizen of a nation that is so young and has such room for improvement.

  HAPPY BDAY SOUTH AFRICA!

  

• Before I leave, I must note that I haven’t checked this post for spelling errors and the like. And so I apologise in advance.