In the Name of Ota Benga

by Jacques Depelechin

IN THE NAME OF OTA BENGA
Who on March 20, 1916
Took his own life
In his memory
Let us stop people like Mr. Generic Autocrat (GA),
his supporters and allies,
in their determination to torture and kill
people that many of them are driven
to contemplate suicide

Is it not people like Mr. GA
Who drove Mohamed Bouazizi
To take his own life?

I received the news of the latest attempts by (Mr. GA) and company to evict people from where they live, on land that happens to be public land. Several months ago I remember having a hard time understanding the behavior of people like Mr. GA. I have a hard time understanding Mr. GA of today. Maybe this effort could also help him understand himself in a context and a dynamic that he might not have contemplated.

Sometimes, people who can only see their own history or, worse, their own individual dreams do tend to forget that even they would not find life worth living if it were not for the existence and contribution to life and living by the people that they despise the most.

Given the historical context, in South Africa, more precisely, in the Durban’s neighborhood coveted with such raging persistence by Mr. G (a distant cousin of Mr GA), it is not difficult to conclude that he is convinced that he is on the winning side. But then during January, February, March of this year, he kept seeing on TV people like Shamita Nadoo and Nozuko Hulushe turning into heroines. Standing up they were saying in most eloquent terms they were tired of being on the losing side.

However, given Mr. G’s trajectory as well as his objectives, it is quite possible that this kind of evening news diet was not so helpful after all. It must have been distressingly stressful. Under stress, most normal human beings tend to behave abnormally, and, from the reports, it is fair, so far, to look at Mr. G as a normal being. Still one is forced to ask, on the basis of reports, could it be that Mr. G is acting abnormally, i.e. against his own interests, his own future?

If he is stressing at the news coming from Tunisia and Egypt, could it be that, unconsciously, Mr. G might be aligning with the rich and super rich autocrats of Tunisia and Egypt? If so, he might be doubly forgiven for feeling stressed out. Could it then be that Mr. G’s conscious way of relieving the stress is to act in solidarity with the obesely rich Tunisian/Egyptian, without flying to Tunisia/Egypt?

It is so much easier and cheaper to take it out on people who live so cheaply, in Mr. G’s view, that they should be gotten rid of, in stages.

After all, the example coming from on high, he will be forgiven, again, for confusing the situation in Tunisia/Egypt with the one that prevails in South Africa.

However, the richest of the richest in South Africa, certainly aware of the behavior of people like Mr. G, can see how much opportune (and cheaper), for them, it will be to get rid of the likes of Mr. G before the VV (virtual volcano) of the poorest of the poorest gets too hot for them.

Mr. G has openly complained about people he does not like, talking to the media. A strategy that can only increase his stressed out state; and Mr. G is aware that the more people know about his doings, the less shining he might appear to his political friends. Greater exposure cannot be good for sure because, deep down, he has to know (remember he can be normal at times) that what he is doing is not only against the law, but also immoral, amoral, against decency and dignity. In short, he knows, deep down, that he is going against all of the things that, possibly, his mother, tried to instill in him.

But then, in his childhood, who knows for sure, he might have sworn, after having been humiliated by a white person, that, one day, he would take his revenge and be the richest person in South Africa.

However, Mr. G’s ambition, fed by a quirky imagination and vision, seems to be on a collision course with the will of those who are saying “enough is enough”.

Mr. G himself must have observed, while watching TV, that fear had changed side, almost overnight. The poorest of the poorest (he used to refer to them as the cheeky ones), were gaining on all fronts that mattered in politics. Having lived injustices for so long, they articulated their denunciations of their torturers more eloquently than the best trained and most experienced lawyers and/or academics could ever hope to do.

Having experienced indignities and humiliations from institutions that were supposed to work for them, they have become their best advocates for calling for their transformation. They have become experts of why democracy keeps failing when it serves only those who can pay for the politicians.

One must not discard the possibility that Mr. G., sensing that the tide might be turning, has begun to ask himself unlikely questions. Could it be that his recent nightmares might be a signal that his projections for the rosy future will indeed go up in flames and be reduced to ashes? At the same time, it is very hard for him to let go when he felt so close to achieving his dream of rubbing shoulders with the millionaires and billionaires of the world. Hence his stressed out state that leads him to do things that seem, to the ordinary person, so incomprehensible.

Like many of his friends, Mr. G. must be wondering if the things he has seen on TV will keep growing and change the way people relate to each other, radically, irreversibly. They (G and friends) thought they could control anyone, but especially the poorest of the poorest, through fear, but fear no longer works as it used to. He has never had nightmares in his life, but now it is almost every other night. Could it be that he and his friends went too far when they razed to the ground the altar to the ancestors.

He has never asked himself so many questions in his entire life. At the same time he feels odd because, for the first time, he is forced to think for himself, but the questions that are coming to his mind are incredibly hard. It is as if he is being tested, but what for? He is not interested in running for office, after all it is so much easier to get things done the privatized way, for just a pittance paid to folks who have never seen so much money in one time going into their pockets.

But then the questions keep coming: is it worth taking such short cuts?

This is not based on any person alive or dead but “Trials and tribulations of a person virtually invented in South Africa” shall continue its next episode soon.