Rainbowism: a concept of wraps and traps

Will the problem of racism ever end in South Africa? South African society seems to be at odds when it comes to issues of cultural identity. After much work had been done by different stakeholders since the birth of a democratic society in 1994, the progress made seems to backtrack every-time racist tendencies protrude themselves. This is against the backdrop of an ideology which the democratically elected government of the day proclaimed and the masses embraced. In the following discussion we ask: does the rainbow nation exist? For many, rainbow ism remains an ideal concept for nation building but at what cost to the cultural identity and liberties of individual race groups?

The Rainbow Nation is a concept that was coined by Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu after the success of the national elections in 1994. The concept was further elaborated by the then president Dr Nelson Mandela when he proclaimed:  "Each of us is as intimately attached to the soil of this beautiful country as are the famous jacaranda trees of Pretoria and the mimosa trees of the bush-veld - a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world". What this simply suggested was that from 1994 on-wards, South Africa would become a united country where everyone was represented by the colors of the rainbow, united in diversity. Although the concept earned the respect of many, both black and white, this move by the newly elected government came as a bit of a surprise to certain sections of the black community radical voices of black community. 

For sections of the white community, rainbowism was a advantageous in that it did not only dash some of the hopes that black radical thinking had during the fight against apartheid - a thinking which suggested that blacks were "going to chase away whites towards the sea after the struggle against apartheid was won". Of course, this radical thinking was not only a black thing since there also existed voices of dissent and radical white conservative thinking. During apartheid, Pan Africanist and Black Consciousness Movements were founded to align members of the black community with a political ideology which reinforces self knowledge and self pride. This political ideology was by then appropriate given the many decades of colonization where African cultural identity was nullified as barbaric and belonging to the dark ages. Has the struggle for cultural affirmation being won since 1994?

The idea of introducing the issue of race and racism in South Africa to this blog to try and understand the qualms, misconceptions and perpetual stereotypes which exist within society today. And although the discussion was not meant to be exhaustive, the amount of wording already here suggests that there is so much to be questioned, so much to be investigated, so much to be empathized as long as we dont go off topic. So, before i get carried away by the magnitude of the racism problem in South Africa allow me to make reference to Professor Louise Mabille's recent racist remarks regarding rape. 

After 20 years into a democratic dispensation, South Africa is still home to individuals in the white community who still perceive blacks as inferior and therefore deserving of the insults such as the one which Professor Louise leveled against blacks and in particular black culture. From where i write, it seems like the problem of racism is complex and transcends many dimensions. That still, the dimension i intend to highlight has more to do with the broader political ideology which was introduced by the then incumbent president Dr Nelson Mandela; who contrary to what many black political radicals in movements such the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) and the Black Consciousness Movement(BCM) thought would happen -  and that is "sending all whites back to their homelands via the sea". When that did not happen, many of those who were affected and  traumatized by decades of apartheid rule had hoped that the process of healing through reconciliation that was started by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission(TRC) would give justice where its due. But all of that did not happen. In fact looking back, for many in the black community in 2013, the TRC was nothing but a slap in the face mockery kind of an exercise which did nothing to sort out the social, political and economic problems emanating from the past.

Since the ideology of "forgive and forget" was advocated for, problems for the South African population have escalated more than subsided. Every-time a white person calls a black person a baboon and a black person calls a white person master, local black residents fight, loot or even kill non South African black people from Ethiopia or Mozambique  we are reminded of a reality that many have lived to deny for twenty years: South Africa is divided and we are living an illusion. Say whatever you like about social cohesion but the phenomenon of claiming social cohesion or unity or reconciliation through dubious measures such as sport is not working. No one can deny the fact that blacks and whites attend different sporting codes in stadiums and when that happens; we all seem united. Is that an illusion? With that in mind it is important to understand the ideology of rainbowism against that backdrop of the critical question of whether the ideal has helped restore pride and dignity of black people as the previously disadvantaged bloc or served to reinforce(sort of cover up) some of the racist beliefs white South Africans became notorious for during colonization and apartheid periods?

Musicality of the word

Music plays a central role in every human's life. By composition, music was created to serve a particular purpose. As many would relate, the nature of music is that the composer plays both the role of a scribe and a performer. This post is going to introduce the reader to the type of music artists in the BWARF movement listened/listens to, explain the allegiance to this type of music and most importantly review the music video embedded in this post. The ultimate aim here is to highlight the relationship between what others often refer to poetry and that which others call hip hop. What are the similarities? Any differences?


Type of music
Throughout BWARF's trotting of Limpopo province's landscape, music has always played a central role. It is not surprising to note that most of the preliminary engagements between local artists at our weekly poetry sessions would include introducing new members, the state of the arts and culture industry, the exploitation experienced by artists, the line up for that day and most importantly; what everyone who was part of the movement was/is listening to and by that i mean the type of music they had in their MP3 players, mobile phones and computer hard drives - that is music.

For BWARF, hip hop has always been the number one choice. And by hip hop we are not just talking hip hop, but Underground Hip Hop -  a mixture of ghetto life experiences, jazz, gospel djelis and hard hitting lyrical content marinated with cultural, social, political and economic commentary. It cuts across cultural, social and economic divides. For those in the crucible, listening to one type of genre was never encouraged and so the slogan was always "explore the adventure like End Beginnings". Suffice to note that our understanding of the concept underground simply means the raw often uncensored not easy to find on the mainstream media type of music for obvious reason: its too educational to be allowed to dominant the Free Market Economy.


Allegiance with hip hop
As the mission of the movement stated, our role was to create a local platform from where artists can grow and this meant that a visit to our sessions encouraged artists to share what they were listening to and that in itself helped shape and increase their music collection. Perhaps our love for hip hop was/is also inspired by the fact that out of all available genres in the world, hip hop captures black culture and talks the musical language taught by the socio-economic conditions we face as a black nation worldwide. Of course we were/are poets and authors; not Mcees although the two are closely inter-related and separation thereof could mean a death of either one of them.

Music video review
Anyone who listens to Underground Hip Hop should know who KRSOne, Zac De la Rocha and Last Emperor are. Perhaps considered heavy weights alongside Public Enemy, Rakim, Wu Tang Clan, Afrika Bambaata & the Zulu Nation, Grand Master Flash, these three Mcees are known for writing and reciting lyrics that are astute in observation and politically relevant in a time when the black nation is under siege from forces hard to identify? Wonder why i chose this music video in the first place? Hip hop is a spiritual genre; meaning; it allows the third eye to protrude and shine the way when things arent going right. BWARF was/is a movement of symbolic resistance and we were/are activists through the spoken words we scribed/scribe and "by all means necessary". So now lets look at the lyrics as Zac De la Rocha introduces: "...and shatters the calm of the day/like an alarm/so wake up brad and you/take up arms...".

As one would imagine, the existence of secret societies on the planet is a reality we wake up to everyday. As the content in the lyrics attest, secret societies like the CIA(Central Intelligence Agencies) or Criminals In Action as the Mcees call it appear to have a dual nature. On the one hand the public knows that the main objective of secret societies like the CIA is to gather intelligence for national security reasons but according to the assertion made by these three Mcees and many other activists of the underground, the CIA is simply saying one thing and doing the opposite -  and this is often manifested in; like Last Emperor retorts "as the Free Market Economy of Crony Capitalism advance", the  selling of "rocks" is orchestrated and encouraged against the democratic principles of constitutionalism and social liberty as represented by nations such as the United States of America. And all this, as KRSOne remarks; is: "all in the name of intelligence gathering?". 

Does that ring any bells or listeners will take this music video for just another unreasonable tounge lashing cum forever whinging attitude of artists in the underground? Be that as it may, the content is as was/is as prophetic as the words written in the Bible. The last line of verse "in the new millennium/there will be no central intelligence"  in the music video by KRSOne illustrates this prophecy. Since the birth of hip hop after Jazz and Reggae as an instrument of inspiration and a symbol of black resistance, freedom of expression and the promotion to access to information through art; the new millennium has seen a rise in new social movements of resistance against secrecy and censorship. Who would have thought an organisation like Wikileaks for instance; would ever emerge and continue the resistance on a scale that its founder Julian Assange has come out and given us a new interpretation of resistance, using new ways nogal? Who would have thought Edward Snowden; a agent of the NSA in the United States; would bow the whistle and  reveal so much about CIA surveillance programs to a point where the world super power(US) was left bitter and shaken; fearing the unknown?

Its is clear from the points highlighted above that the power of Underground Hip Hop is endless. That the genre plays a vital role in our everyday lives. The fact that hip hop is able to come forward against the world's most powerful systems and secret societies is indicative of its intellectual form and the inspirational nature of the music given the existence of problematic social paradigms, oppressive political and economic systems across the world.

Hip hop & Poetry Concert - in commemoration of Black August: 2007

The year 2007 was the year of implementation for the BWARF movement. Apart from hosting Weekly Poetry Sessions we had managed to get the word out and attracted a sizeable audience. It had become common knowledge that the movement’s principles revolved around self-knowledge through some of the materials that were published. It’s therefore not surprising that most people came to know the acronym BWARF as Black Writers and Artists Forum. In all the materials such as leaflets and brochures, there was a clear indication that blackness was the core of our existence: that black consciousness was in actual fact, the ideology behind the words and the mental attitude initially embraced.

During the first half of the year we had attracted strategic partners such as DJ SOJ, Graffiti and graphic designer artists such as a.k.a Imo who would later help gather a team of competent like-minded individuals in organising our very first concert in our three years of practice around Limpopo province, Polokwane. Imo and company painted the mural as seen in the picture(above).The people we attracted were strategic in that they all saw, through our formal involvement with Polokwane Municipality Cultural Services, an opportunity to grow their respective talents beyond their individual selves, although many never became registered members of BWARF, and they were very close to the operations one would say they were registered as members.

Of course who would blame them for believing the time had come for local artists to emerge and get recognised for their talents given the sad state of affairs we as a forum had found locally. Apart from the ideological mission of the BWARF movement, the main objective was to create a platform from where local artists can grow and shine. Given the many emerging artists that we were able to unearth during the weekly poetry sessions, we were quite satisfied that we were achieving that goal. There were many young aspiring poets, authors, fine artists and singers the BWARF movement help shape and groom during its prime – they know themselves and there is no need to mention name here.

When a decision was made during a joint meeting with one representative of Polokwane Municipality Cultural Services and the rest of supporting artists that the time had come to host a concert, everyone was exited. We started off preparing for the concert with BWARF playing a sweeping role in as far as shaping the concert purpose and organising performing acts was concerned. By then, BWARF was a registered NPO with both a logo and a letter head which was enough to attract external sponsorship and donations. Unfortunately, the problems of incapacity and the forever absence of executive committee members prevented the forum from applying for funding. This was a huge obstacle towards progress and it was also a great impediment during the planning of our very first provincial concert: the Hip Hop & Poetry Concert   - in commemoration of Black August of 2007.  

Together with a.k.a Con Artist (self-confessed), BWARF planned, organised and partook in the concert both as host and a pool from where performing acts for the day came. It was during the planning that a few surprises came on board as we continued building on momentum. Corporate giants Cell C and SAB Miller became part of the planning and their involvement was clearly recorded in the concert marketing material such as the famous leaflets which had a black clinched fist alongside “The Backyard” as the host. What many people weren’t aware of is that the involvement of the two giant corporates was just strategic and a non-monetary sponsorship and therefore no monies were made from this partnership. What’s available for people to know though is that some people invested some money into the planning and coordination of the concert.

The only misgiving unto this day was that since the people who invested money had corporate interests in the concert, a lot of injustice was done on the performing acts of that day since most of the entrance fee intake went the way of the investors and not of the artists: a move that would later cause a great fall out between BWARF and the Polokwane Cultural Services Unit. We were co-nned.
We were less concerned with getting paid ad more with preaching a message of cultural affirmation and self-knowledge. Prior the concert, a lot of people had asked why BWARF wasn’t recorded as the host and the explanation we gave then was that due to the incapacity and disagreements between executive board members in as far as the operations of the forum were concerned, it was decided in a joint meeting with supporting artists that the alias “The Backyard” be used on the marketing material instead of BWARF – this move would keep individual BWARF movement members on the safe side since doing the opposite would mean they would bring the forum into disrepute according to its organisational constitution which was binding at the time.

During that time, author and performing artist Mahlaga Molepo was visibly the only executive member , out of the original executive four, who was hands on in as far as planning, organising and coordinating the weekly poetry sessions and later the concert  was concerned. The disagreements and incapacity was slowing sending off the organisation to its death. It was during this period that new members came in and helped fill in the gap but the fact that the BWARF movement was a registered organisation meat that for decisions to be taken, a quorum was needed and this never happened as fellow executive members were always absent during meetings. Due to these internal problems, BWARF became an acronym used to refer to the movement instead of the much contested then registered name: Ba-Pedi Writers and Artists Forum - which in short meant two people had founded the organisation. The name had in fact, caused the disagreements and internal infighting for opinion as some executive members had argued the name send out a wrong message – that the word Ba-Pedi relayed a message of ethnicity and not “two” as originally thought when the forum was registered. The forum continued to exist amid these internal shenanigans and so the concert happened.

After much media publicity through articles written in the Capricorn Voice, and a big mural was painted outside the walls of the Polokwane Art Gallery and interviews done on local radio stations such as Thobela FM, the 31^st of August 2007 17:00pm sharp came and the concert began. The Polokwane Auditorium was abuzz with activity as local Poets, Mcees, B-Boys and Singers strutted their stuff from the stage to the amusement and delight of the crowd. It was estimated that the auditorium was full to capacity and the number of people had exceeded the 250 capacity crowd minimum the auditorium was allowed to accommodate. There were many standing in between the seats and others waiting outside. In the crowd were socialites, celebrities and lay people and the event went on until 11:00pm when the audience left behind artists to finish off the days commemoration until the wee hours of the morning. What a day to remember for local artists, what an achievement by the BWARF movement. The downside of it was that the video footage of the event somehow got lost?; a careless mistake on the part of the photographer.The message had sunk deep into the conscience of the provincial population and had even ringed in the ears of people as far as Gauteng, Mpumalanga. We continued to attract a huge following….