Left of What’s RightBy Marlan Padayachee
Marlan Padayachee is a freelance journalist and a media communications strategist and he writes in his personal capacity. (marlan.padayachee@gmail.com)As we continue with our journey into the new South Africa, now entering its 15th year, maybe it’s time to take a gratitude stroll into our past.
While the new generation of South Africans may experience discomfort in grappling with the horrendous stories of life under apartheid and before that the equally divisive rule of colonialism, those who walked on the segregation road know and understand the pangs of discrimination.
Each country has its own history and its own story to tell to the world.
Through our eyes, South Africa is unique. Our story is poignant and painful. Our liberation struggle has been a hard-fought achievement in which no particular political bloc or individual can claim sole credit. It was a people’s monopoly.
Out of this centuries-old struggle for human dignity, social justice, political emancipation and economic opportunities emerged countless heroes and heroines. They ranged from King Shaka to Mahatma Gandhi. Albert Luthuli to Reverend Sigamoney. Nelson Mandela to Oliver Reginald Tambo. Walter Sisulu to Thabo Mbeki. Veliammah to Albertina Sisulu. Kesaveloo Goonam to Amina Cachalia. Winnie Mandela to Fatima Meer. Yusuf Dadoo to Monty Naicker. Robert Sobukwe to Alan Paton. Ruth First to Ela Gandhi. Joe Slovo to Alec Erwin.
What about the brave youths of Soweto who turned the apartheid state on its head on 16 June 1976? This sheer act of heroism fuelled a nation-wide schools protests and boycotts that not only galvanized the voteless millions, but put the apartheid oligarchy on its back foot.
We need to be grateful to the Soweto landmark, landscape and its people, hence it is time to take Youth Day seriously and reinvest in our youth who are ultimately tomorrow’s leaders.
So, any such list of the who’s who of the struggle era will be seamless.
While travelling through the United States last year, I was reminded about the story of David Patrick Columbia, who arrived in New York City as a super-optimist, dreaming of a top-notch job, but did a low-level assistant job. On a grey, damp Manhattan morning, he could have stayed in bed and moaned, but instead took to the streets on his “walk of thanks”, admiring a mother walking her baby , recognizing that the toddler’s smile made him happier, and watching a jet in the sky and marveling at the science of flying. Then he navigated the hustle and bustle from the “sizzling smells of the bistros to the eye-catching window displays”. Hours later, he was feeling thankful that he had relocated to the Big Apple. Today, he’s a successful media entrepreneur and still takes his gratitude strolls to stay focused on the bright side of life in New York.
The Greeks once said: “Swift Gratitude is Sweet”.
I am taking a gratitude stroll this week, firstly to all those political, social and sports activists who stood firm in their opposition to apartheid. Then there were those who fled the country and lived under harsh exile conditions abroad. Sam Ramsamy opened my door to London.Newspaper chiefs Peter Davis, now a Democratic Party city councilor, and the late editor Ian Wyllie, were liberal about sending me to work abroad. A face-to-face interaction with the ANC in the early 1980s was unthinkable, or even a tete-a-tete with Thabo Mbeki in Harare would have been unbelievable. These rare and enriching experiences were made possible by those who walked before me on freedom road.
Govin Reddy and Tessa Colvin, Jaya Appalraju and Dr Goonum, whom racists labeled as the “Coolie Doctor” and the ANC family in exile provided these opportunities and wonderful insights about how the new nation was being hammered and shaped far away from home.
By then Lenny Naidu and Krish Rabilal and countless comrades in the making were headed for the military camps across our borders to learn about the revolutionary tactics and strategies of Che Guevara, Mao Tse Tung and Das Kapital.
Chatsworth paid homage to Naidu on his 20th death anniversary; along with the eight other ANC Umkhonto we Sizwe cadres, who were ambushed by an apartheid army while re-entering South Africa to strike a blow against an unjust system.
Inside the country, MJ Naidoo and George Sewpershad and their Natal Indian Congress were keeping the home fires burning through campaigns aimed at preventing Indians and coloureds from subscribing to the proxy parliamentary representation of the House of Delegates in the tricameral parliament.
Significantly, Naidoo’s family will preserve his legacy through the newly-launched MJ Naidoo Foundation for Social Justice which made its public appearance at an inaugural debate at the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s UDW Campus, once the hotbed of resistance to the old guard government.
The foundation was established on 16 June last year as a tribute to the one-time NIC president, whose ideals of non-violence, racial equality, and peace have served to inspire generations of social activists. Naidoo died ten years ago on this defining day of political watershed, aged 67.
The foundation believes that these debates on the current challenges and opportunities for democracy in South Africa and the SADC region will serve as a platform to underline the significance of Youth Day and act as a catalyst to inspire people and organisations to promote social justice and contribute to the spirit of humanity in our changing society.
In the sands of time as the country grapples with its domestic challenges, we must not forget those who walked before us and sacrificed their lives, families and careers so that our children can breathe the fresh air of freedom and democracy.
Together with his legal colleague George Sewpershad, who was awarded the Order of Luthuli, posthumously, by President Mbeki, Naidoo and the Natal Indian Congress came to the aid of thousands of schoolchildren and parents who became embroiled in the 1976 student revolution against the teaching of Afrikaans as a medium.
This daring duo who specialised in assisting marginalised communities with pro deo legal work were part of the famous Consulate Six, who turned Margaret Thatcher’s Downing Street upside down when they occupied the British Consulate in Durban’s Field Street Barclays Building with four other resisters, including lawyer Archie Gumede, to highlight the socio-political conditions in South Africa and detentions without trial of anti-apartheid activists.
Naidoo, who lived in Merebank and continued, practising at his law firm in the Grey Street CBD, was born in Umkomaas. He followed his brother, Advocate MD Naidoo, into politics. MD Naidoo was also persecuted and imprisoned before fleeing to exile in London in the 1960s.
MJ Naidoo’s work epitomised moral and social justice, human dignity and fair play. In his life and career, he championed the human rights of the poor
In the final analysis of saluting heroes and heroines for their heroic and epic battles so that we can take a day off every Youth Day, lets sometimes take a gratitude stroll and remember these giants who walked on this planet.
Until next week, let me leave with these words of inspiration from Martin Luther King: “True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice.”
ends
Showing posts with label Dateline: Durban June 2008 Published in 6 Newspapers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dateline: Durban June 2008 Published in 6 Newspapers. Show all posts
Friday, June 13, 2008
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Give Us Hope Barack Obama
Left of What’s Right
By Marlan Padayachee
Marlan Padayachee is a freelance journalist and a media communications strategist and he writes in his personal capacity. (marlan.padayachee@gmail.com)
IN what has clearly been one of the most challenging six months of 2008, the ANC’s post-Polokwane tensions with President Thabo Mbeki, the Kenyan election violence, the perennial problems in Zimbabwe, the xenophobic explosion at home and food riots in some parts of the world, comes a spectre of hope. His name is Barack Obama who fascinated the world with his political savvy, elegance and style, particularly his dress sense with well cut suits and matching shirt and ties, and of course his boyish smiles.
The Africans would now start proudly proclaiming ownership of the first black President-elect (I am hedging my bets here) to serve the more than 200-million American people: “He’s one of us, he’s from home.”
The Democratic Party’s Presidential hopeful stole the world headlines this week, outflanking his closest rival Hillary Clinton, despite her 16-year experience in US politics and stunning stints at the White House as First Lady to law college sweetheart and charismatic former President Bill Clinton and her popularity as a New York senator.
Obama, backed by the powerful TV talk show queen and billionaire Oprah Winfrey, and accompanied by a stylish First Lady in waiting, and some of the finest aides on the Washington’s political and electioneering landscape, flashed past the winning past like a breath of fresh air on a global stage polluted by more wars, internal strifes and racial and ethnic conflicts in the past decades.
His roots are in a tiny village near Nairobi and as the son of Kenyan father and American mother, Obama’s winning campaign trail threw a lifeline to the struggling Third World, and South Africa in particular, last week.
How does the hurly-burly world of a greenback election affect a country that’s still trying to find its transitional bearings in the wake of the racist and ethnic cleansing of foreigners and illegal immigrants? How will Africa, still in the post-colonial throes of poverty, corruption, dictatorships, ethnic and racial politics, benefit from BO at the White House when GWB could not come to grips with our homegrown blues, let alone pouring cold water over the flaming Middle East conflicts?
Firstly, from segregation to nomination, Obama has given new hope to long struggling African-Americans and Hispanics, provided he delivers smartly to the marginalized minorities battling to make headway in a super-capitalist continent. He is locked in the history of this chequered nation and his work will be cut out when he takes the Oval Office after the big polls in November.
South Africa, ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and the rest of Africa will become his biggest policy poser. His foreign policy in the Middle East and rest of the world has to be ratcheted towards world peace. What he is going to do with Osama bin Laden, Afghanistan and Pakistan will be interesting.
At least Africa will benefit not just from the HIV-AIDS dollar endowment, but relations will improve significantly from Cape to Cairo.
Maybe, he will inspire Kenyans to stop killing each other when polls go wrong or are rigged. Maybe, he will give Harare a call from his red phone and tell Robert Mugabe that he sullying the “I Am an African” vision created by our quiet-diplomat Thabo Mbeki.
At least the second half of the year will be exciting with the razzmatazz of the American elections in which change-agent Obama may pummel his Republican rival into voting for McCain’s as a profitable business in the oven- fried chips and snacks industry rather than running for President.
With SA’s leadership crisis taking its toll with the Zimbabwe refugee crisis exercabating our domestic problems of joblessness, homelessness and the shrinking Rand, the clarion call should go out to the young blood to come to the fore and replace the sleepy MPs and Cabinet Ministers ahead of the 2009 elections.
Imagine what Lenny Naidu and his ANC cadres, who were ambushed by the apartheid army, be thinking today, in the wake of how the Beloved Country has gone from darling of democracy to a controversial country beset with corruption, nepotism, inside-trading and the economic elbowing of the proletariat et al?
In a rapid-fire 24-hour consumer society, well done to the Lenny Naidu Development Institute – including Professor Kovin Naidoo of the International Centre for Eyecare Education – for pulling together the 20th death anniversary commemoration at the city hall at which SARS Big Chief Pravin Gordhan will pay homage to the fallen heroes.
A few significant breaking news events caught my attention. DStv-backed e-tv turned broadcast journalism on its head with its 24-hour e-news channel, albeit the repetitive and canned stuff, but its baptism of fire was a far cry from SABC’s black-and-white TV debut in the 1960s. The death of fashion guru Yves Saint Laurent was splashed on all the major networks, so was the fire that gutted a Hollywood’s studio, with a British tabloid taking the bun with this headline: King gone! – a reference to the giant King Kong’s fiery death.
Until next week, a print-out of an email with the breathtaking face of Bolllywood screen goddess Aishwariya Rai read: “Don’t wait for your ship to come in, swim out to it.”
Nkosi Sikelel iAfrica – God Bless Africa.
Footnote: Marlan Padayachee’s International Visitor’s Award from the Clinton Administration enabled him to observe the run-up to the 1996 American elections, visit the White House and interact with political, social and media communications institutions in major cities.
Durban Dateline: Published in six newspapers in the Tabloid Group (http://www.tabloidmedia.co.z/) with a readership base of 2million readers in Greater Durban Region, South Africa.
By Marlan Padayachee
Marlan Padayachee is a freelance journalist and a media communications strategist and he writes in his personal capacity. (marlan.padayachee@gmail.com)
IN what has clearly been one of the most challenging six months of 2008, the ANC’s post-Polokwane tensions with President Thabo Mbeki, the Kenyan election violence, the perennial problems in Zimbabwe, the xenophobic explosion at home and food riots in some parts of the world, comes a spectre of hope. His name is Barack Obama who fascinated the world with his political savvy, elegance and style, particularly his dress sense with well cut suits and matching shirt and ties, and of course his boyish smiles.
The Africans would now start proudly proclaiming ownership of the first black President-elect (I am hedging my bets here) to serve the more than 200-million American people: “He’s one of us, he’s from home.”
The Democratic Party’s Presidential hopeful stole the world headlines this week, outflanking his closest rival Hillary Clinton, despite her 16-year experience in US politics and stunning stints at the White House as First Lady to law college sweetheart and charismatic former President Bill Clinton and her popularity as a New York senator.
Obama, backed by the powerful TV talk show queen and billionaire Oprah Winfrey, and accompanied by a stylish First Lady in waiting, and some of the finest aides on the Washington’s political and electioneering landscape, flashed past the winning past like a breath of fresh air on a global stage polluted by more wars, internal strifes and racial and ethnic conflicts in the past decades.
His roots are in a tiny village near Nairobi and as the son of Kenyan father and American mother, Obama’s winning campaign trail threw a lifeline to the struggling Third World, and South Africa in particular, last week.
How does the hurly-burly world of a greenback election affect a country that’s still trying to find its transitional bearings in the wake of the racist and ethnic cleansing of foreigners and illegal immigrants? How will Africa, still in the post-colonial throes of poverty, corruption, dictatorships, ethnic and racial politics, benefit from BO at the White House when GWB could not come to grips with our homegrown blues, let alone pouring cold water over the flaming Middle East conflicts?
Firstly, from segregation to nomination, Obama has given new hope to long struggling African-Americans and Hispanics, provided he delivers smartly to the marginalized minorities battling to make headway in a super-capitalist continent. He is locked in the history of this chequered nation and his work will be cut out when he takes the Oval Office after the big polls in November.
South Africa, ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and the rest of Africa will become his biggest policy poser. His foreign policy in the Middle East and rest of the world has to be ratcheted towards world peace. What he is going to do with Osama bin Laden, Afghanistan and Pakistan will be interesting.
At least Africa will benefit not just from the HIV-AIDS dollar endowment, but relations will improve significantly from Cape to Cairo.
Maybe, he will inspire Kenyans to stop killing each other when polls go wrong or are rigged. Maybe, he will give Harare a call from his red phone and tell Robert Mugabe that he sullying the “I Am an African” vision created by our quiet-diplomat Thabo Mbeki.
At least the second half of the year will be exciting with the razzmatazz of the American elections in which change-agent Obama may pummel his Republican rival into voting for McCain’s as a profitable business in the oven- fried chips and snacks industry rather than running for President.
With SA’s leadership crisis taking its toll with the Zimbabwe refugee crisis exercabating our domestic problems of joblessness, homelessness and the shrinking Rand, the clarion call should go out to the young blood to come to the fore and replace the sleepy MPs and Cabinet Ministers ahead of the 2009 elections.
Imagine what Lenny Naidu and his ANC cadres, who were ambushed by the apartheid army, be thinking today, in the wake of how the Beloved Country has gone from darling of democracy to a controversial country beset with corruption, nepotism, inside-trading and the economic elbowing of the proletariat et al?
In a rapid-fire 24-hour consumer society, well done to the Lenny Naidu Development Institute – including Professor Kovin Naidoo of the International Centre for Eyecare Education – for pulling together the 20th death anniversary commemoration at the city hall at which SARS Big Chief Pravin Gordhan will pay homage to the fallen heroes.
A few significant breaking news events caught my attention. DStv-backed e-tv turned broadcast journalism on its head with its 24-hour e-news channel, albeit the repetitive and canned stuff, but its baptism of fire was a far cry from SABC’s black-and-white TV debut in the 1960s. The death of fashion guru Yves Saint Laurent was splashed on all the major networks, so was the fire that gutted a Hollywood’s studio, with a British tabloid taking the bun with this headline: King gone! – a reference to the giant King Kong’s fiery death.
Until next week, a print-out of an email with the breathtaking face of Bolllywood screen goddess Aishwariya Rai read: “Don’t wait for your ship to come in, swim out to it.”
Nkosi Sikelel iAfrica – God Bless Africa.
Footnote: Marlan Padayachee’s International Visitor’s Award from the Clinton Administration enabled him to observe the run-up to the 1996 American elections, visit the White House and interact with political, social and media communications institutions in major cities.
Durban Dateline: Published in six newspapers in the Tabloid Group (http://www.tabloidmedia.co.z/) with a readership base of 2million readers in Greater Durban Region, South Africa.
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