In South Africa where I'm from the colonial system engineered to create a non white population & place whites in an obliviously privileged position in what was once an African society. Now this modern ghost of Africa houses beings who live in black bodies but would prefer life outside of it because of the loss that they have to admit they have went through. Instead of engaging in the truth of who they are many of my fellow Africans distance themselves from their internal being by bringing themselves ever so close to the facade of whiteness. This false consciousness sees the indigenous African keep at arms length all those things that will force them to acknowledge and come to terms with who they are in a global context. And because the system has caused their vision to become so myopic as not to see how their localised problems are happening concurrently with their continental neighbours as well as those in the Diaspora when another African comes into our communities to help build local economies we turn them away in anger for stealing our jobs or opportunities. My question has always been why is this same resentment never directed towards European immigrants who own many restaurants and other types of businesses. The answer is only whiteness deserves this status in their minds; most likely a subconscious reaction to generations of colonial and apartheid style conditioning which always sought to deter self determination and distort the African personality till the day the physical empires of imperialists were no longer needed. The curious thing is that most of these empires never even ended in reality; now we wage a different kind of war against them on a different kind of battlefield. The war for the mind and soul of the African is still continuing to this day, on university campuses especially where a new era of the African resistance seeks to reclaim its identity from a society which keeps it at the periphery of daily life. And this time the war is with a black ruling class which seeks only to enrich itself as a reward for liberating its people. Now however they are up against effectively the generation of their grandchildren who profess vehemently that their liberation was compromised and hence never really completed and it is because of the fact that black peoples place in this society is effectively the same as it was under colonial and apartheid masters.
Landless, limited chance for social mobility for the majority of people and poor living wages for miners and other key components in the labour section. For this reason and the continuation of the status quo my generation has decided that enough is enough and the struggle must inevitably continue until the dignity and genuine liberation of African peoples is achieved; by any means necessary.
Image: Black Skin, White Mask inspired by Frantz Fanon
