BalOp007
Al Pacino
Plays Winnie Mandela
Part One –
Being African
The terms
never and always have to do with hysteria and; by talking one is bound to say
something that others validate as profound.
Having
worked in the USA, Australia and China, I observe that there, when referring to
a public persona the person is always described as an American, Australian, or
Chinese National. This manifests when
talking about politicians, musicians, sports people, and more.
I do find it
strange that the descendants of African slaves in the USA claim Africa to be
their motherland. These African Americans can, if that is their wish, but I
find it strange. I find it strange because the Afrikaner in South Africa does
not claim Holland as their motherland; the Malay of the Cape have no yearning
for an Indonesian, or Malaysian so-called motherland despite several words
continuing to pepper the colourful language of the Cape-Malay tongue - “tamaaf”
(sorry). People generally claim a nationality derived from the country that
they were born in. The places where people spend their formative years more
than likely determine the way they define themselves. To cite an example,
people who experienced their formative years in Cape Town speak of themselves
as Capetonian South Africans.
- During 1619 the first African people were sold as slaves in North America
- The first Dutch arrived in the Cape in 1652
- People
brought to the Cape from Mauritius and Madagascar were first sold as slaves in
1653.
We have to
be careful about how much emphasis is placed on nationality and regional
definitions because over-analyses and emphasis can result in xenophobic
tendencies emerging, which in itself is a form of discrimination.
If your
forefathers were born in Africa, captured and sold as slaves nearly 400 years
ago and; on an opposite continent where you today form part of a minority
group, does this make you African?
Others argue
that your nationality is determined by where your forefathers came from.
Palaeontologists
claim that all human life began in Africa.
If this be the case then all people are African.
What is long
ago?
Part Two –
The Impact of Being Local
Johnny Clegg
and Ladysmith Black Mambazo are local musicians. Each year these local musicians entertain
more in foreign countries than they do at home in South Africa.
At the time
of writing Johnny Clegg is performing to full-houses on different legs of his
2012 world tour.
In America
Michael Jackson remains an American Superstar.
In South Africa Johnny Clegg is a local entertainer. During 1988 Michael Jackson cancelled a show
in Lyon, France after it became apparent that Johnny Clegg had sold more tickets
than he did for a performance on the same evening.
In
Stockholm, Sweden, during a world event, the South African Afro-fusion group,
Sakhile (to build), were the entertainers of choice. To the majority of South
Africans Sakhile were unknown - celebrated by the world, but relatively unknown
at home.
Our
affirmation is disempowering.
Part Three
Why are we
surprised when others come to tell our stories? If we continue to talk
ourselves into being less than we are then others will continue to do for us
what we better can do for ourselves.
In the film
“Cry Freedom” Denzel Washington tell the Steve Biko story; whilst Morgan
Freeman is Nelson Mandela in Invictus, why?
Big budgets
are used to pay these known actors. Big
budgets were used to make these actors known. Why are the same big budgets not
used to create new actors, actors drawn from people, people who then can tell
their own stories?
The American
actor, Idres Elba portrays Nelson Mandela in the soon to be released adaptation
of Long Walk to Freedom. Why?
Is it
possible that Richard Attenborough, or Guy Richie; Steven Spielberg perhaps, or
Oliver Stone would call on John Kani and Marius Weyers to play Martin Luther
King Jr and Winston Churchill respectively? No, because those people tell their
own stories. They create their own Denzel Washingtons, but us we allow them to
tell our stories - why?
On the other
hand Meryl Streep was Margaret Thatcher…
I don’t
think that it is right, even here, in the “Motherland”; where our obsessions
include fixing the past whilst, and possibly the Italian-American, Al Pacino,
is in training to play Winnie Mandela.
