Socialist Youth Movement calls for Rhodes University to be renamed after Steve Biko Month October (1870) marks the arrival of Cecil Rhodes in South Africa and not only is it his arrival that we remember but his brutal actions against African people. It is quite disturbing and saddening to learn after all these years we still find persons like Cecil Rhodes as beacons of our hard earned liberal democracy. A man who was at heart of land dispossession, oppression of African masses, exploitation of mother Africa and her people! Whos Cecil Rhodes? Cecil Rhodes was an agent of western imperialism. An ardent believer in British Empire, Rhodes occupied part of southern Africa through maneuvering and force. Sloganeering to expand the British Commonwealth, Rule from cape to Cairo, he land dispossessed the natives, and in turn created laws that forced them to be subjects of exploitation (particularly in the mines) through wage Labour. Glen Grey Act is part but one example of Rhodes strategies to compel the natives to cheap wage labourer. Although capitalism still thrives in these countries and their working classes (predominantly blacks) exploited, former Rhodesian countries (Zambia and Zimbabwe) have altered their country names after independent to mark a sign of relieve from subjugation and oppression. Why can’t the same be for Rhodes University? A beacon of western imperialist expansion who is responsible for massacring Matebele people and many of our forefathers is left to be the beacon of a hard earned democracy! Socialist Youth Movement argues how then can such a man who represents earlier marks of rigid oppression and exploitation of African people be honoured? Instead, the university must be named after Steve Biko, a tree that gave fruit of freedom. This is a man who revived the struggle for liberation of this nation at the time of political vacuum (1960s), and challenged successfully the student life crafted to conform to standards of separateness. It is in the very month, October 1977, when the Apartheid government banned 18 political organizations including the very writings of Biko which were viewed as an attempt to give a black person political consciousness. The call to rename Rhodes University is an integral part of a broader call to expropriate land from the greedy capitalists who rejoice in the misery and plight of the poor. Therefore Socialist Youth Movement calls for renaming of Rhodes University to Steve Biko University. SYM National Convener Abuti Elmond
Posted on: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 08:59:37 +0000
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