South Africa’s Enduring Unfreedom

24 April 2024

The Boston Review have published an interview with S’bu Zikode to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the end of apartheid.

Here is an excerpt:

A lot of people think that we can only come together around our living conditions. Of course, this is important, and we struggle very hard to improve those conditions. But when we are together, the first thing we must do is recognize the humanity of each and every one of us, because it’s only from that position of humanity that we can take our place among other people on this earth. We came to realize why people lie to us and make fake promises to us: it is because in their eyes we are not human enough. It is very deep. So we come together because our humanity is troubled. We come together to develop and defend our humanity, our dignity, to make the world more human. Only after this do questions of living conditions come into being.

For us, the first questions are whether you respect us and how you respect us. Do you engage with us in a respectful way, allow us to speak what we think is right? We want to fully participate in decision-making. We want to participate in development. We want the state and the NGOs to think with us, not for us.

I often talk about the African idea of ubuntu. When I do, I’m not just referring to a concept, but the praxis that demonstrates, builds, and defends collective humanity. It is a broad political spirit of humanism that also appeals to the questions of freedom and liberation. And for us, the political form that humanism must take is socialism—particularly democratic socialism built from below.

The full interview is available at: https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/repression-is-always-a-lesson/