A leap into a blind future.
The title itself sells the meaning and poses a question: What’s going on? A simple question that I always find myself in deep thought with and unfortunately, I myself cannot answer it. What’s going on? The opening words take me on a journey around the corners of my beloved country, simply reading:
“Mother, Mother…there’s far too many of you crying
Brother, brother, brother… there’s far too many of you dying…”
In one year, we as a nation have committed many atrocities which include the much spoken of xenophobic attacks towards our own siblings and parents, thereafter followed by the racist squabbles in one of the most prominent universities in the country, still against our own kind. Ladies and gentlemen of the rainbow nation, again I ask myself and you: what’s going on? When we look at one of the many perspectives of Afrocentric paradigms, it innocently states that we as African beings are interconnected and that the true meaning of Africanism is expressed through ones’ surrender to African principles such as, according to Asante (2003), being rebellious against all forms of oppression, racism, classism, homophobia, patriarchy, abuse, paedophilia and white racial domination. All these are interlinked to being or becoming an African. The actions of my beloved nation bring out a rather saddening humour and distasteful view of the future. Why have we castrated ourselves and shown our neighbours our true nakedness- what’s going on?
How does an entire ‘interconnected’ nation turn its back on its own? It seems almost like a dreadful betrayal. Continuing on my journey with this song, Marvin Gaye takes me to a land where the soil thirsts for water, plants dead and dry with no hope for tomorrow. Where are the keepers of the land? They have died in their own squabble, shunned by their own blood. The song then reads:
“You know we’ve got to find a way – to bring some lovin’ here today…
Father, father, we don’t need to escalate, you see, War is not the answer
For only love can conquer hate. You know we’ve got to find a way – bring…”
It’s a strange repetition of a dark history, the only difference in this case is that we, Africans, who were once the victims of oppression and violence have now turned the tables – even for our own – hence we see the ones who were once oppressed becoming the oppressors. The hatred inherited in the past, still lives to haunt the future, even after the many attempts by our fallen hero’s such as Biko, Madiba, Sisulu and many more, who are probably turning in their graves with turmoil, to restore or inaugurate peace into the beloved land. Nowadays, mankind acts irrationally, hence his actions are absurd and destructive. We find ourselves resorting to violence instead of tackling the roots of our troubles in what is more or less considered as civilised.
This cliché and misunderstood four letter word Gaye proposes to be the cure for hatred seems to be the most difficult form of act for any man or woman to master- simple yet very difficult- as it requires one to give up one’s self completely in order to be able to accept, respect, value and – well - love the next person unconditionally and limitlessly, simple yet so difficult. Where is the love that was instilled within us from birth? I quote from the late and very well respected Nelson Mandela, he states that, none of us were born hating, but hatred instead is something we’ve learnt as a nation or as a people, therefore if we can so easily learn to carry and bear resentment, surely we can also learn - to love. I then ask again habitants of the mother land, what’s going on? Where has the love gone to? Can it be found again?
“Picket lines and Picket signs, don’t punish me with brutality
C’mon [sic] talk to me, so you can see what’s going on…
Mother, Mother, everybody thinks we’re wrong, simply
Cause [Sic] our hair is long, oh, you know we’ve got to find a way
To bring some understanding here today… Picket Lines and Picket
Signs, don’t punish me with brutality…”
The melody then slowly takes me back to the desk I’m seated in, leaving my mind with endless thought. The journey that Marvin Gaye had taken me on whilst he sang his song unfolded many realities that seem like tales and fables if one has not seen or experienced them on their own skin. Don’t punish me with brutality…DO NOT PUNISH ME WITH BRUTALITY? The notion of equality amongst all humans, despite background, sex, orientation, gender, status, religion, culture, Race and skin colour, identity, age, health, ability or disability is one that has been protested for since the times of our forebears, be it vocally or silently. Mimetic, mob and barbaric behaviour has always ruled the land, giving no space for equality, love, respect and human decency. One might try to defend their own honour but the saying bears a horrifying truth: Evil prospers when the good do nothing.
We are drunken with pride, shamelessness, hate, ruthlessness, prejudice and greed as a people, and instead of learning to live with one another in pure serenity and calmness, we continuously want to feed our own anger without bearing in mind that conflict has never, even in history, brought any feasible solutions. Sadly, we cannot even see through our actions that we have become disruptive in our nature.
Cry – for the beloved country has drowned in its own turmoil and sees no clear future, what’s going on? I can only find one impossible solution for my worries, which is, why not start from the bottom? Why not bring the battle home and start internally? Why not start with the self? The African soul, the individual, the person you see when you look in the mirror. I believe in change and development, and I believe that if one is developed as a spirit, change, for the good, is only a stepping stone away. How will we heal our tainted land? By starting with the soil, filling it with nourishment and health, ridding it off what was once old and dead and replacing it with the new. Heal the soil of the lost country so that it be found again…
Till next time, Stay Liberal.
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