One painting so many issues...

Wow, twice in 1 month, but can you blame me? Greetings dear friends trust this life is treating you as well as you treat it!

Ahh never a dull week in these parts I tell you. I, like most of you, am frankly most bored with the amount of airtime that this Brett Murray painting, The Spear, has been getting, but I can’t help but write about it.

I write this because it follows nicely onto my last blog and also touches on a few new ones. The saddest thing about this painting is that I am not sure anyone who is vehemently opposed to this depiction of JZ has actually seen any of Brett Murray’s work. There is a piece he did in 2002 called ‘White like me’ which takes a stab at whites calling themselves Africans. In 2000 he did some work called ‘I love Africa’ which has Bart Simpson with his privates showing, should Bart take him to court? In 2010 he did a series called “Hail to the Thief”, there is one piece which has the ANC flag and a For Sale sign across it, one that shows the outline of a struggle comrade with a fake quote from Solomon Mahlangu…have a look…http://www.brettmurray.co.za/work-on-paper/hail-to-the-thief/. So anyway I was saying it’s sad, it’s sad firstly because the people that protest the most couldn’t really give a rats bottom about art, lets be honest, and secondly as usual in this country every ‘disagreement’ degenerates into an issue about race.

Ok, back to the matter at hand. I was raised to respect my elders, I was raised where someone elses pops/moms could discipline me if I was out of line. I was brought up to inherently respect my elders and women, we stand up and call my elders sir/madam, give up my seat for the elderly or ladies. When we were younger and Kitt was about to turbo boost or Macgyver was about to sort out the biggest puzzle and an adult came to visit the folk, no argument, we got up a stepped the fork away. It is who I am. Would I paint the spear, not too likely. How I choose to be prohibits me from doing this. Perhaps Mr. Murray wasn’t raised the same way, perhaps he was raised to express himself and question the status quo in whatever manner he deemed acceptable/appropriate. Now right here we have a case of contrasting beliefs and the beauty of this land is both beliefs are protected by our wonderful constitution.

People are throwing around this respect word left right and centre, some say it should be earned, I don’t think that’s a valid argument. We are raised to respect authority, women, men, elders. Without you earning it you generally have peoples respect and its up to you to lose it not so? Are you respecting me by trying to muzzle the media, not giving me basic services that were promised me, but by instead spending millions on luxury cars and parties? Is respect not a 2 way street?

Dignity, the president’s dignity has been compromised. Seriously. The only people that would actually look at this painting are the same people who have already formed an opinion of the president. And its not a result of any painting it might have something to do with reports of: the amount of wives, children, children out of wedlock, acquitted rape trial with an HIV positive family friend, sleeping with the Iron Dukes daughter, insisting on hiring Richard Mdluli as the chief of police, a man who reportedly has had a questionable record… These people will not think any more or less of the president because of this painting. On the flipside all those people who were outside the court today…do they in any way think any more or less of JZ as a result of this painting. To the core of my being I strongly doubt that, but what do I know.

Another thing that this highlighted for me is the tolerance or seemingly acceptability of lawlessness in this country. The painting was someone’s work, it’s how he earns his living. He sold it to someone. It’s displayed in someone else’s ‘house’. 2 buffoons take it upon themselves to go and deface the work. because why? They don’t like it. It’s the exact same as someone coming to my house to relieve me of my Range Rover or my TV, because well because he can and its acceptable. I haven’t seen/heard anyone raise an eyebrow over that whole incident and say it was wrong or speak up against it in anyway. That to me is a far worse crime that someone drawing a picture. Because its exactly that…A CRIME, but I don’t see Gwede or Jackson shouting from the mountain tops  about how we must stamp out crime, the message it sends, destroy peoples property if you don’t like it, its fine, but hey, woe betide if you must go and paint ne!!

Then there was the heavy handedness of the security guard against the African vandal. That fool’s actions were properly over the top. With the white guy who drew the red x’s it was a simple eish baas why, you just stand there nice nice ne, then the brother with the black paint bra, head butts, WWE suflex to the ground cable ties…why, because security guard you are yet to emancipate yourself from mental slavery!

I read an article about how in the old days the black males member was used to divide and create fear amongst people and as such would used by the slave masters to rule over the slaves, it was a long and very interesting piece that made sense, but to be honest I don’t believe it was relevant in that this self same painter was around when uTata Madiba ran the ship and uTata Tboz ran the ship and Tboz made a few blunders, one being the HIV…AIDS thing, but no such depiction of him was made and they were both African males not so?

Say I am a president of a country as racially divided as this, yet I preach unity. One day one of my citizens depicts me as per the spear. I take offence to it, what would I do? I would pick up the phone and say to him, young man, I know you have your freedom of expression, but I have kids etc. this what you did ne, where I come from it is unacceptable. Now Mr. Murray would have the choice of either removing it or explaining his point of view, we agree or agree to disagree, case closed…

But nooo. This painting is by far the biggest crisis to befall this country in the last 18 years. Not the fact that daily, there are a vast number of able bodied men aimlessly loitering on Katherine street in the hope that someone with a bakkie may come by and give them a ride so they can earn some sort of a wage for the day. Not the fact that our former homelands (Transkei for example) have degenerated to run down villages (no disrespect), where the education system is so poor that people are escaping to ZilleVille. Not the fact that with this cold that is upon us, many sleep under bridges, in shacks that could burn down effortlessly. Not the fact that we have such a lovely land with such potential yet we choose to continue dividing ourselves, why because of a painting…one persons opinion or interpretation, its an interpretation because this man has not seen your weapon, he was merely putting something out there to spark debate and debate he has gotten. Then we have Gwede calling for people to ban the purchase of City Press, does he know who he was addressing? I wouldn’t be surprised if the majority of those people read Sunday World…come now get serious.

The whole issue of taking this thing to court, in my mind is a waste of time and money. Firstly what were you going to achieve? How are you going to achieve this. There are so many ways to look at this as I mentioned above, wear a colonial hat, wear a hat of the current situation of nepotism, corruption, look at it through religious or cultural, look at it as art, freedom of expression, all of these ways of looking at it will yield vastly different results not so? I am no lawyer, but from what I read about this interdict story, in order for the court to grant it against the City Press and the Goodman gallery, JZ should have a clear right that has been infringed, now as a layman I cant see any such right of his that has been clearly infringed. The word dignity in common law refers to persons feeling of self worth. To have this defamed though it should be in the eyes of a reasonable person, with no JUSTIFIABLE REASON. For the defamation to stick im sure JZ’s peops will have to prove that the art doesn’t provide fair commentary and based on the articles available in the public domain even I would find it hard to prove it not to be fair commentary, but then again I am no lawyer. But they aren’t even suing for defamation but rather an interdict, now I don’t know law so well but wouldn’t there be clear rights infringed or defamation proved before such interdict can be granted?? Then say City Pres takes down the picture what of all the facebook twitter and international sites that have the pic, courts cant enforce their judgment can they?Anyway interesting times…

People you are a politician in a very democratic country, you think you are beyond ridicule, then I think you have something coming. I clearly remember a few cartoon pictures of George W Bush looking like a monkey with big ears. Not a peep was said.

Bottom line from me and judging by the goings on in court today taking this to court and trying to get an interdict is a futile and yet another wasteful exercise. I am absolutely indifferent about the painting, it in no way enhances or reduces my image of JZ, Goodman Gallery or Brett Murray. Tomorrow I am going to wake up, have to pay R12 for petrol, drive past guys on the side of the road, dodge a pothole here and there, try and figure out how to earn a living so I can pay electricity, water, taxes so the powers that be can find another futile case to take to court, because there is nothing better to worry about…

Birthdays

Mel, Gillie, Lazendorf, June, Ham, Lance, Sivan, ChaCha, Amrain, Inge

As usual massive respect and oneness people, because what the world needs now is Love sweet love man!! So what if you are different from me?

Y

South Africa, are the born frees really that free

Yup guess who is back to pay all you lovely people a visit J. Man its been a long time. I have started and stopped this blog almost every week since the last one but I was unable to complete it because I keep thinking, man you have written about this before or nah man that blog is wack, yes I know what some of you are thinking, it hasn’t stopped you before J anyway lets see if I will finish this one…

Trust the universe has been treating you all kindly and if not, I hope you take some comfort in the fact that nothing lasts forever, not even your troubles…For those who care, personally I feel absolutely blessed with this existence I have been granted ;)

Since I last wrote, there has been much fun and games in this lovely land of ours, South Africa, Julius got expelled from the ANC, which is quite an interesting dynamic in itself because there are now growing tensions between the youth league and the mother body. The much-maligned e-tolling systems got a kick in the nuts, this tells me that this country and its constitution works. This is Africa, citizens cant go take government to court 1 and 2 they cant win the case… we take such things for granted, but it’s a function of the great future this land of ours COULD hold. Since the 2010 FIFA SWC, this e-toll saga has been the only solitary time that in my mind, the people of this nation have been united. Which brings me to this weeks email.

This week we have 2 random 20 year olds making rather inflammatory racial slurs in public space. For 2 such insignificant souls (in the greater scheme of this country and its other concerns) to have the nation in ruptures tells me that we still have some deep wounds that is on the verge of developing into a fatal septicemia. Now in my mind racial slurs of any type, delivered in any medium have no place in the society we want to build or live in. A lot of people have condemned these ‘fools’ because they verbalized what many of us internalize or spew forth when we are at a braai or chisanyama with those we consider of a similar ilk. Now in my mind us cowards who think these things are just as bad if not worse than us fools who speak them out loud.

Anyway so these kids are roughly 20 years old now right, so they would almost be classified amongst the born free generation, they were born in 1992, apartheid I guess officially ended in 1994, even though Tata was released in 1990 and the unbanning of political parties etc. was happening in the years between. A few days ago I watched a movie called Otelo burning which was shot during the bad old days in a township called Lamontville, it reminded me of how little I knew of what really went on in South Africa, then there are these youngsters who go off mouthing racial slurs because they think they are the bees knees. And then there are those who constantly try and remind me that it has been almost 20 years when is this BEE and affirmative action crap going to end.

You tell me what progress we have made in the past few years since the end of apartheid as a spoken of system? I say spoken of system because the term may not be used publicly to divide us, but in many of our minds it still reigns supreme. A white guy with a mediocre business proposal doesn’t get a contract they feel they deserve, they blame it on backhands being paid by their black counterparts, an average black guy doesn’t get the promotion he thinks he deserves, he says ya neh its because I’m black. One person tells another you are a fool, you damn racist is the response. We have not progressed at all! We have glossed over the cracks like the lady who uses base to cover her blemishes on the surface but deep down those blemishes still exist and are playing on her mind, eating away at her like a cancer.

Our biggest issue is we have never reconciled. As a society we are soo fake and so divided, we don’t even speak about Cape Town because in my mind that place is the most Narniac (think I may just have created a word, I am trying to say its a fantasy world) place on this continent, we all know I smaak that place stukkend, but visiting this European African city baffles me no end. It’s the most segregated place in this country…that I have been to. People might be oblivious to it, but to someone who observes quite a bit, its quite evident in its ‘intimidatory’ exclusion of certain race groups, well mainly black people in the urban culture. I dare you if you live in Cape Town, Thursday, take a walk to Jade in Cape Town, there will be some ‘big’ di ck brothers with a bottle or 2 in the VIP area, draped in model types, then there will be my brother (if he decides to take a night off study) my cousin Emmanuel and the help maybe one or 2 others, but no more. Then you take a stroll in Camps Bay on Saturday afternoon, take a walk up and down long street on any and every day, or go to Rafikis, same same. Tuesday go to Asoka Tiger Tiger, Tin Roof, St Yves you name it. That’s because only 5.6% of the population in Cape Town is black African, wow, in this country of 50.5mil of which 71% are black African as it were, but I digress…

We haven’t reconciled, we haven’t taken ownership of the issue, its like an elephant in the room, a big fat white one with glitters all over it asking to be notice, yet we all look past it. I will be the first to admit that growing up in a homeland like Umtata, sheltered me from a lot of what was South Africa, except when we had to leave to go and submit our passports or get a visa to enter the Republic. I had a reunion of sorts with some of my classmates, some of whom I have known since 1984 and it was such a diverse mix, 2 white people, one indian, one coloured and blacks we were. We caught up on the old days spoke pooh about life now and those who had families (all of them except me J) etc. Now isn’t that what we should all be doing? But we acknowledged that we knew nothing, good thing and a bad thing, good thing in that we were allowed to grow up as kids, bad thing in that we were oblivious to the suffering that many like us endured. Only in 1994 when I moved to CT to study did I start to see what this place called South Africa was all about back in the day, but I still didn’t really know…now I have more of an awareness, but I still doubt I am able to fully comprehend it all.

TRC was a start, but in truth it was a farce, because some of the known atrocities were unearthed, but no one took true ownership, feet were washed, tears were shed, it made news, we all put a cloth over it and pretended it wasn’t there. Some of us are like, ok, so it happened, lets move on now shall we. You go and tell someone who’s mother, father, brother, sister, mother, cousin, neighbour…was taken to Vlakplass, tortured and burnt alive or buried alive, shot in the back, run over by a Casper, to move on. You go and tell someone who was incarcerated because they said screw this nonsense, this too is my land and I deserve a right to make a decent living here too, to move on. You go and tell someone who was driven off their land and forced into some hovel to move on…now lets just imagine for a moment that person was you being told to move on….

For us to truly move forward, I believe, we have to recognize that these ills were performed by us. We have to accept that we are fortunate that there was no bloodshed, and even though Madiba may have ‘sold out’ many in the name of peace and reconciliation, those same many, are still bleak and we are lucky to be where we are. We need walk a mile in each others shoes so we can truly understand the plight of Auntie Betty who has to leave her home at whatever time so she can get to my house by 7 so I am not late for work, work her bum off for R150 a day when I make R2500 a day, going to meetings, having fancy lunches, sitting in an air conditioned car/office, because I was fortunate enough to escape the educational restraints of apartheid. No one must move on. Ask Jewish people if they moved on? Perhaps they have, but we all know about the holocaust and woe-betide if you trivialize it, as it should be. Many German people that I have met both there and here and everywhere seem truly remorseful for the roles of their forefathers in the ills that befell the Jewish people at their hands. The same can’t be said in this country, and in my mind that air of superiority of one over the other and the victimization of another is still very dominant. I too have had the mindset of guys lets move on too, but I too have not fully appreciated the rocky foundations on which this potentially beautiful democracy of ours is being constructed. I too am flawed in my thinking. Much wrong was done to a vast sector of this population. This mindset cripples us a united nation daily. For example the ANC will rule the roost for a while still because inspite of their perceived or real mismanagement of this country, the only alternative is the DA and even though their one and only municipality is evidently well run, the 70% odd of this country’s people will never vote for them because even though they might give me better roads, government, water, housing etc., they are still white… 

I really believe that this rape issue we have in this country has a lot to do with the emasculation of men in SA brought on by the doctrine of apartheid. Now lets put it firmly on record that I am no psychologist/psychiatrist or social worker, just a guy who thinks he might be onto something. So the ‘doctine’ renders me useless as a man really, my dreams are squashed, my life entails carrying a dompas everywhere, brutalized and assaulted by the baas, hustling to work in some underground pit, or in someone’s garden, I cant be anything but that. I come home, the place where I will am the darn king and make my escape through the help of my quart or plenty of black label or good old ol brown sherry, I get home and the woman of the house gets it in whichever shape or form she gets it cos I want my way. Little Vusi, this is his reality. Now he is a ‘man’ and what does he do? I haven’t done deep research but I am sure the majority of these sexual crimes are occurring in the townships, the communities that most epitomize the remnants of apartheid.

For us to move forward, we have to engage more and on a sincere level man, don’t do it because you feel you have to, do it because you want to. We need to reach a stage where we first see people as equal humans deserving of respect and dignity. And if a man incarcerated for 27 years for wanting to live an equal life can truly overcome his prejudice and bitterness, you tell me who the hell you are that you cant?! We need to take responsibility for what our forefathers did. Understand that we are where we are because of what was! We must show remorse as opposed to entitlement for the status quo to remain. We need to find ways to meaningfully make a difference to the disenfranchised, even if it means just merely giving some clothing to those in need during this approaching winter time, spending time in THEIR communities as opposed to just wanting them to come to ours all the time. We need to engage to overcome our own fears.

Its our problem, not Government’s, there is no lets not talk about it…its still manageable now, but people lets not be fooled, a few more years of this and it will become unmanageable. Empathy my dear friends, lets put ourselves into the shoes of someone who doesn’t know better nor does he have anything to lose and you tell me…

To end I quote from the master Robert Nesta Marley: “That until there are no longer first class And second class citizens of any nation, Until the colour of a man's skin Is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes, Me say war”

Birthdays

I have missed plenty since my last one but I think I personally wished you a happy happy. List is pretty long so I will just write this weeks birthdays

6^th Tarin

7^th Shakira, Claude, Bishnen

9^th Nana S

10^th Adjoa, Keith

11^th DPH, Liesel, Shireen

12^th Dear mother and Nomi

Stay blessed people and take some time out to know each other

Plenty respect as always

Y