The world famous photograph of a shot Hector Pieterson being
carried by Mbuyisa Makhubo and his sister Antoinette during the Soweto
uprisings. Picture: Supplied.
Young activists today are asking for the radical restructuring of society.
Anger is simmering today in a similar way to how it did 40 years
ago during the Soweto Student Uprising, when the world had its first
real glimpse of South African youth in revolt. Soweto had been rife with
tension since February 1976, when two teachers at the Meadowlands
Tswana School Board were dismissed for refusing to teach in Afrikaans.
On June 16, 1976, students from three schools – Belle Higher Primary, Phefeni Junior Secondary and Morris Isaacson High – took to the streets in what was intended to be a peaceful march against the enforced use of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction.
It was not just the day that Hector Pieterson was shot and killed for protesting. The violence that ensued on that day, at the hands of the apartheid police, would forever be pegged as a reminder of the importance of youth activism.
Recently, the same level of tension among young people, police and authorities has returned in the form of the #FeesMustFall and #RhodesMustFall movements. Likewise in the form of the hundreds of service-delivery protests spearheaded by young, often unemployed, people.
And again, young people have been seen to be the instigators. Ayanda Poro, head of the Youth News Agency at Media Monitoring Africa, recently conducted a focus group on how young people feel they are viewed in society.
He found that they felt that most of the focus in the media had been on the drama ensuing from the student movements instead of the issues at hand and whether they were taken up by authorities.
“From a media perspective, the common trend is that young people [at least in this focus group] feel that while the media brought much-needed awareness to the movement, they have failed in sufficiently following up on the issues beyond the events that took place,” said Poro.
“Some even wondered if any resolutions were reached. So, immediately, you get a sense that communicating some of the movements’ developments and implications has, and maybe continues, to be a challenge.”
An overview of issues flagged in the media suggested patriarchy and violence had been issues of concern within the movements and these had to be addressed urgently. There were a number of intersecting factors from often marginalised groups that needed to be looked into, added Poro.
Student activism has highlighted the racial tension among youth that reared its ugly head during protests throughout the country. Feminist and student activist Wanelisa Xaba said an angry black youth was unavoidable.
“Black young people are not just angry. We literally can’t breathe. We live under dire socioeconomic conditions and have to live with the reality that blackness equals dehumanisation under a racist system protected by the ANC government. The very structures maintaining this country dehumanise us and are violent, including the education system.”
Student activist Chumani Maxwele, who spearheaded the #RhodesMustFall campaign at the University of Cape Town last year, said feminism was a fringe movement in mainstream politics. Maxwele came under fire this year after pictures went viral of him in a tussle with a feminist student at a protest when members of the #FeesMustFall movement fought each other.
“In mainstream politics, feminism isn’t welcomed and it’s not accepted,” he said. “You won’t find feminism in the ANC. But in the student movements we debate gays, we debate lesbians, we debate feminism. We are not homogenous and we can’t expect everyone to behave the same way and have the same views, so it’s important that many different views are welcomed.”
Asked why young black people were seen as angry and violent, Maxwele said: “The anger is historical. We all know that negotiations leading up to 1994 were incomplete and we know that black people were robbed in those negotiations. It is not just an opinion, it is a lived reality.”
Xaba thought student movements highlighted the deep-seated anger and the racial divide. “I think that #FeesMustFall and #RhodesMustFall is a generation of young people who are tired of being fed lies about rainbows and harmony when South Africa in reality is a violent, ruthless enclave of white privilege. We want a radical restructuring of our society and part of that is justice.”
She said the fight should not be against the ruling party and the government.
“The ANC government is just a symptom of the problem; you have to look at the core. The government is as confused as we are; they have no control of the means of production.”
– simnikiweh@citizen.co.za
On June 16, 1976, students from three schools – Belle Higher Primary, Phefeni Junior Secondary and Morris Isaacson High – took to the streets in what was intended to be a peaceful march against the enforced use of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction.
It was not just the day that Hector Pieterson was shot and killed for protesting. The violence that ensued on that day, at the hands of the apartheid police, would forever be pegged as a reminder of the importance of youth activism.
Recently, the same level of tension among young people, police and authorities has returned in the form of the #FeesMustFall and #RhodesMustFall movements. Likewise in the form of the hundreds of service-delivery protests spearheaded by young, often unemployed, people.
And again, young people have been seen to be the instigators. Ayanda Poro, head of the Youth News Agency at Media Monitoring Africa, recently conducted a focus group on how young people feel they are viewed in society.
He found that they felt that most of the focus in the media had been on the drama ensuing from the student movements instead of the issues at hand and whether they were taken up by authorities.
“From a media perspective, the common trend is that young people [at least in this focus group] feel that while the media brought much-needed awareness to the movement, they have failed in sufficiently following up on the issues beyond the events that took place,” said Poro.
“Some even wondered if any resolutions were reached. So, immediately, you get a sense that communicating some of the movements’ developments and implications has, and maybe continues, to be a challenge.”
An overview of issues flagged in the media suggested patriarchy and violence had been issues of concern within the movements and these had to be addressed urgently. There were a number of intersecting factors from often marginalised groups that needed to be looked into, added Poro.
Student activism has highlighted the racial tension among youth that reared its ugly head during protests throughout the country. Feminist and student activist Wanelisa Xaba said an angry black youth was unavoidable.
“Black young people are not just angry. We literally can’t breathe. We live under dire socioeconomic conditions and have to live with the reality that blackness equals dehumanisation under a racist system protected by the ANC government. The very structures maintaining this country dehumanise us and are violent, including the education system.”
Student activist Chumani Maxwele, who spearheaded the #RhodesMustFall campaign at the University of Cape Town last year, said feminism was a fringe movement in mainstream politics. Maxwele came under fire this year after pictures went viral of him in a tussle with a feminist student at a protest when members of the #FeesMustFall movement fought each other.
“In mainstream politics, feminism isn’t welcomed and it’s not accepted,” he said. “You won’t find feminism in the ANC. But in the student movements we debate gays, we debate lesbians, we debate feminism. We are not homogenous and we can’t expect everyone to behave the same way and have the same views, so it’s important that many different views are welcomed.”
Asked why young black people were seen as angry and violent, Maxwele said: “The anger is historical. We all know that negotiations leading up to 1994 were incomplete and we know that black people were robbed in those negotiations. It is not just an opinion, it is a lived reality.”
Xaba thought student movements highlighted the deep-seated anger and the racial divide. “I think that #FeesMustFall and #RhodesMustFall is a generation of young people who are tired of being fed lies about rainbows and harmony when South Africa in reality is a violent, ruthless enclave of white privilege. We want a radical restructuring of our society and part of that is justice.”
She said the fight should not be against the ruling party and the government.
“The ANC government is just a symptom of the problem; you have to look at the core. The government is as confused as we are; they have no control of the means of production.”
– simnikiweh@citizen.co.za
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