Archives : 14 February 2013. BALANCE-SHEET OF BLACK CONSCIOUSNESS AND ITS RELEVANCE One needs to state right from the very beginning that the development of the Black Consciousness philosophy had nothing to do with white people but it was a philosophy that addressed itself to Black people and their specific condition first in South Africa and the world. Steve Biko declared that the most positive call to have come from the Black world over a very long period was that of “Black Consciousness,” he did not see the philosophy only in terms of South Africa but in terms of the world. In 1995 I was privileged to be on the same panel with the wife of the assassinated fiery Black leader, Malcolm X, Mrs Betty Shabazz in a Johannesburg television studio, she was asked a question about ‘racism’ and whether it existed in America and she answered that racism, as an ideology of economic, political and social domination and exploitation especially against Black people existed everywhere and Black people needed to fight with their all against it, even the International Labour Organisation has a convention that especially addresses the issue of racism. Now in South Africa, after so many failed attempts at artificial multiracialism which Biko described as racism multiplied and non racialism in a society where racism was in the statutes books, Biko, realized that in that given situation white people had made themselves the norm and Black people found themselves having to judge what they do or say in accordance with that norm and standard. The norm had often placed itself at the head of the liberation struggle. Again Steve Biko was very critical of this, saying white people inflict the pain and prescribe then the most appropriate way according to them, to respond to that pain. He expressed his concern at the fact that Black people find themselves at the touchlines, cheering and watching the game they should rightly be playing. In his view the liberation struggle in Azania the name he most preferred for South Africa, the struggle of Black people, the overwhelming majority needed, as a precondition, to be independent from white people and liberal influences. It also had to place in its centre, Black people, who were both the subject and object of the liberation struggle. Only in this framework would Black people rediscover their eroded humanity and assert their full personhood. The strength of white racism in the world has always been through the dehumanization of Black people promoting an inferiority complex that works to white people’s advantage.This then meant that Black people needed to take leadership of their struggle, determine their norms and values, interpret their own history, then prioritize their liberation. Indeed Black Consciousness drew from the experiences of so many revolutionary struggles and revolutionary leaders the world over. Black Consciousness was described by Biko as the only scientific and systematic way of expressing and advancing the aspirations of ordinary Black people.It was not surprising that the Black Consciousness movement took far reaching but correct decisions on issues of land, Black majority rule and the kind of republic they wished to set up, a Black Republic. SASO declared: Black and white people live in South Africa and will continue doing so but white people will ‘live’ or ‘leave’ South Africa on conditions set down by Black people. It was clear even then that the Black Consciousness Movement did not share the view that South Africa belonged to all who lived in it or worse still, was a European country attached accidentally or mistakenly to the southern most tip of the African continent. He saw South Africa as a thoroughbred African country, period!Therefore, the struggle of the Black Consciousness Movement was both that of national self determination and national sovereignty but it was also a struggle to set up an economic framework that was going to address the inequalities that were created by the twin evils of Apartheid and capitalism. Apartheid and capitalism had a symbiotic relationship that allowed one to continually sustain the other at utter expense of Black people and it was truly not possible to fight one and leave the other.The building of a strong capitalist economy in South Africa which interacted strongly with western imperialism was based on the condonation of white racism in South Africa, and this happened despite the 1973 UN Convention that declareid Apartheid a crime against humanity. The sin of Apartheid was declared a ‘Heresy’ by the World Council of Churches in 1985.The Black Consciousness Movement had to take serious but conscious decisions to address these twin scourges. However, the far reaching decision was on who were actually ‘Black People,’ especially in the face of great balkanization, divisions, state sponsored tribalism and ethnicity. The term ‘BLACK’ according to the Black Consciousness philosophy was first, to be used as a political term describing certain people who live and experience certain political, social and economic conditions, in the same manner as the term ‘WHITE’ in South Africa is commonly used. The term ‘Black’ did not refer to skin colour, texture of one’s hair or even the colour of one’s eyes but it had become a political term that referred to all those who were by law and tradition discriminated against, economically exploited and socially degraded and who as a group, saw ‘Black solidarity’ as the first step of fighting against the racist Apartheid system championed by the white minority regime. In the SASO/BPC trial Biko went to great length explaining why it was necessary for Black people to have an independent struggle especially in the face of ruthless white racist rule. In South Africa white people had achieved that unity in exploiting Black people, so it did not matter whether they were French Huguenots (1688), British Settlers (1820) or the Dutch Settlers of 1652. Their tribes and origins were subordinated to their whiteness. Lots of people of European descent came to settle in South Africa on the simple basis of being ‘white’ and willing to pursue the full program of white racism. On the position and state of Black people, white people, were all agreed and united, even those thought to be progressive could not fathom themselves being equal to Black people, some even proposed qualified franchise to the inferior Black people. They were united notwithstanding the fact that there were exceptions, there are always exceptions to every rule, however, common knowledge and science informs us that exceptions do not negate the rule, on the contrary, they enforce it by the very nature that they are exceptions. This approach united all those who were at the receiving end of the Apartheid system irrespective of all the privileges afforded to some of them. The so-called Coloureds were made second class citizens, the so-called Indians third class citizens and Africans were the lower class. The problem was never with the receiver of a privilege but the giver who uses privileges to bring about divisions and patronage. It was this institutionalized racism that determined one’s position in relation to the means of production. So, the aspiring capitalist who was not classified white was subordinated to even to a white hobo who by his decision to exercise his right to vote could decide the quality of life for all outside. The Black Consciousness philosophy became a nation building philosophy that united all the socially degraded, economically exploited and politically exploited people, - the Black majority around their common struggles and experiences. Steve Biko’s Black Consciousness movement achieved the greatest unity ever for the people of our country and the events of June 16 1976 bear testimony to that. The success of the Black Consciousness Movement brought with it numerous attacks from detractors who obviously were opposed to its political programs especially its non collaborationist stance (no collaboration with the oppressor and all its institutions). Biko was very strong on this principle to a point where he refused to meet members of the BCM student formation, the Soweto Students Representative Council (SSRC) after they went against better advice from the BCM leadership structures and violated this principle by agreeing to meet representatives of the American government, the very government that had in so many ways directly supported the white minority Apartheid regime.From its nascent years the BCM had clearly identified the leading role played by U.S. imperialism which had declared many liberation movements including the PLO, the ANC, the PAC amongst others as terrorist organisations. This was a ploy to make sure that these organisations should not receive support even from bodies such as the UN where various resolutions in their support were defeated by the U.S’ position. These positions of the BCM were not only a thorn in the flesh on the side of the regime but also to imperialism especially after the BCM had organized national rallies in support of the national liberation in Mozambique and their leading party FRELIMO. The BCM had to go. A systematic elimination of the BCM leadership had already started with the callous murders of Mthuli KaSezi, Onkgopotse Abram Tiro and Mapetla Mohapi. All this culminated in the brutal murder of Steve Biko, the banning of all Black Consciousness organizations and an attempt at completely dislocating the entire Black Consciousness movement and all its organizations. The detractors succeeded in drying all financial help both external and internal to any Black Consciousness program.The formation of the Azanian Peoples Organisation under the banner of Black Consciousness, in those very extreme conditions created by the Apartheid regime and the detractors was both an act of defiance, resoluteness, regrouping and above all continuity. It also demonstrated that the BCM, unlike the older and earlier historical organisations, had prepared ground for its continuity irrespective of any conditions imposed on it. From its very inception AZAPO was threatened by both ‘fire and brimstone’ by the regime. Its newly elected leaders were thrown into prison and came out with banning orders. It must however, be pointed out that not all elements of the movement continued in a linear and a positive manner. While it was a movement of all Black people, it had a multi class character that allowed contradictory characters and elements to co-exist, a common feature in national liberation struggles for self determination the world over. While liberation was a common goal, beyond political freedom, it was obvious and logical that there was going to be a clash of class interests. Some of the organizations set up by the Black Consciousness Movement, like some in business became completely reactionary, identifying with both local and international interests of imperialism. The Black Consciousness Movement, though organic in its nature, like all organisations fighting national oppression, had its inbuilt limitations that made some of its se ctions and formations vulnerable to cooptation. It is no surprise, that in the new situation, in the age of imperialism many of its organizations lie side by side, comfortably with imperialism, starting from the Brettonwoods institutions like the IMF and the World Bank and openly subordinating to imperialist inspired organizations. However, in the main, the political organisations, if willing, had the wherewithal necessary to survive. Some of the organisations like the Socialist Party of Azania are continuing the valiant struggle for total liberation and economic freedom for the Black majority. It is for this reason that SOPA organizes under a revolutionary slogan “BLACK PEOPLE FIRST.”That said, the positive role played by the Black Consciousness Movement and that which some of its organizations continue to play cannot be overemphasized. It is for that reason and acknowledgement that in the Socialist Party of Azania we say that: We uphold the best practices and traditions of Black Consciousness and the struggle for Socialism. The truth is, the old Black Consciousness (not all the elements of the nascent Black Consciousness of late 60’s and early 70’s) can be brought back but also the key elements of the struggles of the Black Consciousness Movement remain relevant today and cannot be conveniently dumped into the dustbin of history.The problems that bedeviled the Black Consciousness Movement in the late 70’s, through the 80’s right through to the 90’s still face us today, we can rightly say we are party with little or no support except from members in the country and no external support that can help us carry our program in a meaningful way. The challenges of nation building and sovereignty, Black majority rule and a Black Republic are still relevant as they were during the time and life of Steve Biko. While the Black Consciousness Movement was largely responsible for helping set up trade unions after the Wiehan Commission following the 1976 national students and youth uprising, it has not done enough to encourage and build real working class consciousness though it played a major role in the early labour strikes of the early seventies like the Durban strikes in 1973.Steve Biko had very correctly pointed out that the struggle waged by the BCM in its struggle for national liberation is intricately linked to the struggle for socialism and he saw real economic transformation that will benefit the Black majority as the setting up of a socialist project. He acknowledged the enormous challenges Black people would have to face in this regard especially considering that they would be coming from an Apartheid past. Biko did not believe that there was a middle road other than Socialism in the quest of addressing the economic imbalances that the Apartheid system had created. He rejected completely all forms of assimilation into elements of the Apartheid economy. He saw the struggle of the Black Consciousness Movement as being that of creating a just and egalitarian society. What needs to be borne in mind is that the BCM came into being in one of the darkest historical moment in South Africa. There existed the twin evils of the Suppression of Terrorism Act and the Suppression of the Communism Act which gave the state and its security institutions enormous power and control over the lives of Black people. Language alone, the kind of things one says could land a person in prison depending on police interpretations. It was unbelievably brave and some were even saying reckless of Biko and the BCM to display the courage they showed by articulating positions that could land them in prison or even get them killed. As a matter of fact, that is the fate that finally befell many including Biko himself. At the time of Biko’s death, the BCM was still young, vibrant and developing movement that had made a great impact in the struggle in South Africa. The various policy positions Biko and his comrades had raised were being put into litmus tests by the process of the political struggle itself and not surprisingly they stood the test of time. When the organisations that were formed and led by Biko were banned on the 19th October 1977 after the regime had begun by brutally murdering him, the BCM had to once more assert itself. Azapo was formed as a continuation of those organisations and it has pursued much the same policies with much added vigour and even became more daring on the question of Socialism. It was like AZAPO wanted to affirm the saying that the ‘limits of tyrants’ is often prescribed by the patience or endurance of those whom they oppress. AZAPO at the time was taking the regime to the limit, it had become a fighting organisation-a feature that characterized it for many years.The regime made no single concession out of the goodness of its intentions or even the benevolence and magnanimity of its policies. Every single concession that was ever made was a direct result of the political struggle. Despite the setbacks that included the imprisonment, murders and tortures the regime was often forced to go on back foot. Since the formation of AZAPO through to SOPA the language has been that of socialism but then again we cannot build that project without the direct involvement of the working class and its independent organizations. It is primarily for this reason that SOPA continues supporting the struggles of the labour movement and its organizations. While our commitment to Black Consciousness and its message remain unflinching, we are aware of the great challenges we face. Black Consciousness still remains an integral part of struggles of Black people in South Africa but also in the world. Only Black Consciousness can begin to address the damage done to Black people by white racism and capitalism. That damage began with the horrors of the slave trade, conquests and colonialism, the foreign debt and continued economic subordination cannot be addressed sufficiently without heeding Biko’s call of Black Consciousness. Tiyani Lybon Mabasa-SOPA President 4-16 Renaissance Centre Gandhi Square Johannesburg 2000 [email protected]
Posted on: Sat, 28 Jun 2014 07:43:40 +0000
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