THE CLASH BETWEEN MODERNITY AND ARAB NATIONALISM

@KwaziThabethe

The era of colonialism may have long been declared to have passed but many countries that are former colonies still share formal and informal relationships with their former colonisers and other more developed Western countries. These relationships reflect a pattern that is very similar to the colonial pattern that existed before a country gained independence because the Western countries still set the pace and the standard of how the countries move forward despite the citizens of the former colonies being supposedly free to determine their own agenda and grow at their own pace without having anything imposed on them by stronger, more developed Westernised nations. This aforementioned colonial pattern in relations between two supposedly free countries is evident in many parts of the world but the one place where it seems to be battling is the Arab region of the world. The reason for this is that Arabic countries have been reluctant and slow in adapting to the “modernity” that the Western powers are spreading throughout the world and this piece will explain why that is so by identify Arab Nationalism as the main obstacle in the way of Western modernity spreading throughout the Arab world, which spans from North Africa, The Middle East, and The Persian Gulf. Before engaging in the discussion however, clear definitions will be given of Arab Nationalism and modernity and their features will be unpacked so as to give a clearer understanding when moving forward. The massive role of Islam in the ideology of Arab Nationalism will also be explained because it will be revealed to be the foundation of Arab Nationalism. From then on, we will examine the various clashes of Arab Nationalism and modernity, ranging from the significance religion to the emancipation of women. The links that modernity has with the colonial system will also be exposed along to explain the sceptic stance that Arab’s have taken on modernity.

 

Before we can properly examine the clash between Arab Nationalism and modernity, it is important for us to have a clear understanding of what Arab Nationalism is and what it entails. Webster’s dictionary defines nationalism as “a sense of national consciousness exalting one nation above all others and placing primary emphasis on promotion of its culture and interests as opposed to those of other nations or supranational groups”. The Oxford dictionary defines it as “The belief that nations will benefit from acting independently rather than collectively, emphasizing national rather than international goals”. By using those two definitions as the foundation of our understanding we can deduce then that Arab Nationalism is essentially the unity of Arab’s to form one ideological nation for the purpose of improving the lives of Arab’s, protecting Arab culture, and championing Arab interests. This ideological nation that is formed transcends the territorial boundaries that were formed by colonialism and calls for the unity of Arabic people in the geographically neighbouring areas from North Africa, the Middle-East, and the Persian Gulf. This aspect of Arab nationalism is touched on by Dashiwa when he states “Arab nationalism shares traits with other nationalistic movements, but there is one basic difference: it is not the ideology of one nation-state, but of the entire region” (Dashiwa, 2002: 1). The purpose of the creation of Arab Nationalism was to address the regeneration of Arab self-confidence and sense of dignity after long years of subjugation to colonial rule (Shlaim, 2003).

 

Another aspect that strengthens Arab Nationalism is the fact that it what binds it together is the common religion of Islam, which is followed the great majority of the citizens in the Arab region of the world. To fully appreciate the clashes of Arab Nationalism with the concept of modernity, one must grasp an understanding of the significance and sacredness of Islam to Arab Muslims who are dealing with the daily resultants of modernity. Lewis (1993) explains the link between Arab Nationalism and Islam by saying:

“For Muslims the two forms of expression [national and religious] were never really distinguished. The basic sentiment of identity was religious and social, the complete society of Islam was expressed sometimes in national, sometimes in religious terms as synonymous and interchangeable sets of words denoting the same basic reality”

For the purpose of this essay and by using knowledge gained from the above explanation, we will also consider the problems between Islam and modernity as being interchangeable with the problems between Arab Nationalism and modernity. The Arabic ties to Islam are so strong that when Arab’s fought for their independence and revolted against the Ottoman Empire in 1916, they used Islam as the guiding principle. “Religious identity was more important than national identity. The Arab revolt therefore ought to be excised from the chronicles of Arab nationalism” (Dashiwa, 2002). The two beliefs (Arab Nationalism & Islam) are said to complement each other so well that one system of belief is automatically put forward as the substitute value system if the other meets frustration. For many, Islam is the seed of Arab Nationalism and so it is near impossible to talk about one without mentioning the other. Weijian (2007) explains this dynamic with the following statement:

“Islam is a kind of national religion; its inner core being Arabic. The Prophet was an Arab, the language used in the revelation from the Koran is Arabic, and Islam retains many customs of the Arabs. Therefore, ‘notwithstanding its universality, Islam had an inner appeal to the Arabs and, through its language, formed the core of Arab nationalism.’”

This gives us further proof that Islam goes hand-in-hand with Arab Nationalism although it must be noted that not all Muslims are Arabs and not all Arabs are Muslim. This discussion will not make the make the mistake of not noting the distinction but will only deal with the issues that parallel between the religion and the ideology.

 

Modernity is a way of thought or living that comes about as a result of modernization. The Oxford Dictionary defines modernisation as to “adapt (something) to modern needs or habits, typically by installing modern equipment or adopting modern ideas or methods” and then further goes on to define modernity as “the quality or condition of being modern” or “a modern way of thinking, working, etc.; contemporariness”. We live in a world where modernization is constantly spreading and  a lot of the innovations of modernity seemingly come from the West so what must be noted is that along with modernization, comes cultural fragmentation because it changes the way we do things and we essentially become more “Westernised” along with being “modernized”. With that in mind, it is important to question the integrity of modernity due to the fact that it requires many non-Western groups to relinquish some of their defining aspects to be “modern”. According to Sandeep (2009), “Modernization, typically characterized by free speech, rule of law, respect for democratic institutions, science, technology, rational inquiry, and the work ethic, germinated, grew, and continues to be the defining factors of contemporary Western culture”. Such a situation then creates a slippery slope where we begin to question whether it is possible to modernize without Westernizing or whether modernization itself is a new tool by the Western world to further colonize the non-Western world. According to Munir (2003), “Modernization has permeated virtually all societies, including Muslims. But modernity, part of political and cultural processes by integrating new ideas into society may not always be present”. It is with that observation in mind that we investigate why modernity often clashes with Arab Nationalism.

 

The first and most obvious collision between modernity and Arab Nationalism is that the more modernity evolves, the less significant religion becomes in its rhetoric and behavioral patterns. We have already discussed earlier just how important religion, particularly Islam, is to Arab Nationalism so it understandable why they would feel the need to reject the progression of modernity because it would threaten the significance of Islam. Modernity’s threat to religion is discussed by Weijian when he says “Religion theoretically is grounded on reasonable beliefs, while modernization takes reason and science as its norm” (2007). If you look at Western countries, they traditionally have Christian beliefs but because of the way modernization has spread in their countries, this has come at the cost of compromising their religious principles. An example of this is the gambling capital of the United States of America, Las Vegas. This city is subtly promoted to potential tourists as the place to come and commit adultery and engage in other sorts of immoral behaviour with the universally recognised slogan of “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas”. America, in theory, is a Christian country so a city like Las Vegas would be non-existent if the majority of the country followed strict Christian principles. Citizens of the Arab world though have clearly not allowed modernisation to penetrate their lives as much though because, for the majority of them, religion is a feature of their everyday lives. Weijian mentions this issue by saying “Today, we can still see that though the Arab world has already experienced the impact of more than half a century of industrialization and modernisation, most nations still retain their Islamic features” (2007). This reason for that situation is Arab Nationalism’s rejection of modernity’s implication that religion is becoming more and more obsolete.

 

With modernity come certain concepts that are in conflict with the standards and patterns of Arab Nationalism. The foundation of Arab Nationalism, Islam, for example does not view men and women as equals but in other parts of the world that  have embraced modernity, institutions like democracy and ideologies such as feminism have made great advances in the struggle for women to gain equality with their male counterparts. Patriarchy is one of the teachings of Islam but the position of the male being superior is now under threat because of what modernity brings to the table. “Islamic fundamentalists appear to share a common sense of threat from the changes in gender relations, triggered by the spread of capitalism and modern concepts of feminism” (Munir 2003). Preventing what Western thought considers being the emancipation of women is a vital objective of Islamic fundamentalists because they seek to preserve Islamic law, which was codified a thousand years ago and has remained constant since. The modernist/Western view of this is of course “Under the guise of uplifting Islamic law, the war against women is launched demonstrating the misuse and abuse of God’s authority in order to impose a suffocating patriarchy among Muslim society.  It is imperative that Muslim legal specialists develop critical ways of dealing with these issues” (Minur 2003) but at the same we must also question whether Western views are being imposed on Muslim’s, and for the purpose of this essay, Arab’s against their will. This is yet another example of how the interests of modernity often clash with the interests of Arab Nationalism because no Arab Nationalist will sit by while their sacred religion of Islam is undermined by to accommodate the West’s idea of what’s modern or what’s fair. Weijan elaborates on this Arabic perspective by saying “Only when all cultures are able to enjoy equal dignity can modernization be of real significance” (2007). At the moment that’s not happening.

 

When one reviews Arab Nationalist’s distrust of the West and its modernity, it is important to consider the issue of colonial history that is at play as well. Wherever Europe’s great empires went during the era of colonialism, they considered themselves to be doing a great favour to the people that were being colonised by bringing “civilization” to the colonised people. It is that kind of colonial arrogance that you could say still exists even to this day and that is partly why Arab Nationalists are alienated by this modernity that is being led by the West. Colonialism caused so much injury to Arab pride that you could almost say that Arab nationalism came about as a result of the need to restore that pride. According to Kent (2008), “Arab Nationalism developed, in part, as a response to the social and economic changes that came from the colonial and early post-colonial period” and that alone shows that Arab Nationalism was created as a reaction to the damage of colonialism. Now that this concept of modernity being offered to them, they see it as Western cultural colonialism in disguise. Weijian (2007) explains the suspicions of Arab’s and Muslims with the following extract:

“They oppose modernization because, in their opinion, modernization is nothing but Westernization with secularization as its premise, which is against their Islamic tradition. They think that to restructure their society by the model of the West is actually to promote a “colonial culture” and to impose Western values and lifestyle on their Muslim society. This would result in the alienation of politics, economy and social system and the loss of the traditional values of Islamic states”

What Arabs would rather do is to take pride in their own cultural identity instead of just blindly accepting Western culture as at the risk of being re-colonised. Frantz Fanon (1959) once said “Imperialism leaves behind germs of rot which we must clinically detect and remove not only from our land, but from our minds as well”. It would appear that that politically conscious Arab Nationalists and Muslims are taking a similar stance to that of Fanon’s because they see these elements of Western culture that come with modernity and are sceptical to embrace them for the purpose of protecting what makes them Muslim or Arab instead of having their minds ruled over by cultural imperialism.

           

The Western powers, who are the net exporters of modernity also used to be the colonial rulers of a lot of the world’s territory, including the Arab world, and so that has bearing on how they inter-act with each other nowadays. It would be naïve to believe that the world’s great powers view Arab countries as equals because if they did, the great Western powers wouldn’t have such a hard-time making peace with the Arab world’s stance on modernity. Fanon (1959) explains this by saying “the occupying power interprets attachment to traditions as faithfulness to the spirit of the nation and as a refusal to submit”. Now the Western countries may no longer be occupying powers in most of the world’s post-colonial countries but they still impose themselves in some form or another. When Arab countries stand their ground against Western practices like democracy, free-speech, free-press, and feminism, the Western countries, partly due to their historical colonial arrogance will see this as a refusal to submit to their rules and a rejection of them as nation-states altogether. Perhaps what they fail to see it how much religious and cultural preservation means to these Arabs whose dignity has been compromised by the colonialism previously inflicted by them. During the period of colonialism, “Every effort is made to bring the colonised person to admit the inferiority of his culture which has been transformed into instinctive patterns of behaviour, to recognise the unreality of his 'nation', and, in the last extreme, the confused and imperfect character of his own biological structure” (Fanon, 1959), and now that these Arab Nationalists are no longer colonised and are politically conscious, they have no interest in mimicking the West in the way they live their lives nor do they have much interest in subscribing to rules set to them by the West. Such a situation is yet another example of the tension between modernity and Arab Nationalism.

                       

 

These previously discussed clashes between Arab nationalism and modernity may not look like they will be sorted out anytime soon but that does not mean there hasn’t been some progress in other areas, with regards to Arabs and the West. A resultant of the stand-off between Arab Nationalism and modernity has been the emergence of “Islamic modernity” which encompasses certain aspects of modernity that do not contradict with the teachings of Islam or the agenda of Arab Nationalism. Baraz (2010) explains Islamic modernity to be a consequent way of thinking that is derived from the approach of Islamic modernism, which was an attempt to reach a medium between adaptation and rejection of Western influenced modernity. Baraz goes into further detail about Islamic modernity by saying “Two influential proponents of this idea were Islamic reformers Jamal al-Din and his pupil Muhammad Abduh. They blamed the decline of Muslim societies and their occupation by The West on taqlid, ‘a blind unquestioned clinging to the past’” (2010). These Arab Muslims in the Middle East that are perceptively embracing aspects of modernity to go along with their Islamic beliefs are known reformist Muslim because they are willing to reform in order to adapt to the realities if the times. Their position is explained further by Baraz when he says “Essentially, these Muslim reformists tried to respond to Western imperialism rather than react to or against it” (2010). For reformists, the important thing is to be able to hold on to the defining characteristics of Islam without necessarily rejecting the process of modernity. Such a compromise creates better relations for reformist Arab’s with the West. The following explains how reformist Islam works alongside modernity:

“Muslims could selectively apply features of Western ideas to their own societies as long as they were not divergent to Islam. He also emphasized the need to differentiate between “immutable” and “mutable” Muslim traditions; i.e. certain old traditions, which were not necessary in upholding Islamic law, should be either reformed or discarded. Abduh placed a heavy emphasis on education as a means of reform.12” – Baraz (2010)

The main criticism people have towards Islamic modernism is that politics is inherently embedded in Islam and so by making alteration ns and compromises on Islamic law, Islamic modernists are essentially compromising Muslim principles.

 

            The economic philosophies of Arab Nationalism and that of the West also appear to be at loggerheads and that again makes Arab Nationalism seem to be out of touch with modernity because the Capitalist system is practically economically sacred in the West and thrives on aggressive expansion. According to Kent (2008), “Arab Nationalism, from the outset carried a socialist ideology” and that right there clashes with the capitalist agenda of the great Western powers because they are always going beyond borders in their quest to find fertile investment grounds. American capitalism for example has spawned numerous restaurant chains that are globally popular but are infrequent in the Arab world as compared to everywhere else. Because Arab markets are not as free for capitalist investment or exploitation from the West, the Arab countries that are resistant to it, are seen to be out of touch with modernity.

 

The way in which Muslims are treated in the Western world also plays a part in making Arab Nationalists reject the modernity that comes from people who do not view them as equals. Thomas (2009) discusses this in saying:

“Muslims living in the West who wish to practice Islam in the way it was traditionally practiced in their homelands necessarily find their problems increasing. Even in the simple area of choosing an occupation or finding settled work of any kind, a Muslim must be careful not to displease Allah. When looking for a restaurant, he must find one that offers halal food so as to follow Islamic dietary laws. The list goes on. In the final analysis, a practicing Muslim has a very hard time accepting and becoming a part of the Western world and its modernity. So whichever society of the West he and his family have settled in, the conflict continues and grows deeper!”

The world is becoming smaller and smaller these days and more and more Arabs and Muslims are living in Westernised countries nowadays. Judging from the above comment from Thomas, they live in rather awkward conditions because free people are supposed to live in an environment where their beliefs are catered to.

 

            What can be deduced thus far is that modernity itself, whether the Western powers would like to admit or not, is itself the latest tool of colonialism because to be part of it, Arab states are expected make compromises on the way they’ve been doing things for a very long time now. It would be understandable if the will to change Arabic or Muslim way of life came from Arab’s themselves but when it comes from the Western powers under the guise of bringing “modernity” to the people, then it just smacks of colonial arrogance. What the West seems to fail to realise is that not everyone aspires to be like them and have their values. If they were to realise this, then they would stop trying to re-create the countries that they deem to be weaker, to be in their image. The position of privilege that Western countries enjoy should also be no license for them to see themselves as the benchmark of what’s right, fair, civilised and modern. Arab countries, and everyone else for that matter, should be given the freedom to do things according to their own values and accept modernization on their own terms

 

            It has thus far been proven that the reason that Arabic countries have been reluctant and slow in adapting to the “modernity” is due to their distrust of the Western powers that might have a hidden agenda of spreading cultural colonialism. This essay has also explained why Arab Nationalism is the main obstacle in the way of Western modernity spreading throughout the Arab world, which spans from North Africa, The Middle East, and The Persian Gulf. Part of the discussion was about giving clear definitions of Arab Nationalism and modernity, while their features were also unpacked so as to give a clearer understanding when moving forward. The massive role of Islam in the ideology of Arab Nationalism was also explained because it was revealed to be the foundation of Arab Nationalism. From then on, we examined the various clashes of Arab Nationalism and modernity, ranging from the significance religion to the emancipation of women. The links that modernity has with the colonial system were also exposed as a means to explain the sceptic stance that Arab’s have taken on modernity. Overall we concluded that modernity should not be forced on Arabs and that Arab Nationalism was a movement that was working for the betterment of all Arabs and Muslims by protecting the sanctity of both those institutions.

             

The Top 10 Icons To Enjoy A Cigar With

 

 

Kwazi Thabethe

@KwaziThabethe

Christopher Gaxa Wood

@chrissaiia

 

A cigar transmits the sort of beauty and mystique that defies description. It has the ability to overshadow the presence of all other aesthetically pleasing items in its immediate environment and cigar smoking itself can serve as a pleasant diversion from all the hassles of life or act as the perfect treat when you’re celebrating or you just happen to find yourself in good company. Cigar smokers know that just by cutting and lighting up, you can prolong, enhance or even create a special moment. That passion for life is one of the most significant qualities that sets cigar smokers apart from the rest of the crowd.

 

 

History shows us that it is very rare to come across a cigar smoker who is not a person of quality and a model of distinction since, for generations now, the habit of cigar smoking has been synonymous with leaders, champions, pioneers and visionaries. These individuals have lent their stature, charisma and ambiance of folklore to the custom of cigar smoking and thus it seems fitting that we pay homage in this post by presenting a list of the top 10 most intriguing icons you could have the pleasure of enjoying a cigar with. With a selection that ranged from business moguls, sportsmen, movie stars,  musicians, writers and politicians, choosing the top 10 stand-out cigar smokers in history was an extremely complex exercise but now, finally, it’s been done. So sit back as we rank the chosen heavy-hitters from the 10th spot all the way to the top spot...

 

10- Michael Jordan

Well what can be said about this gentleman? Aptly described as “The best there is, the best there was and the best there ever will be” for his exploits on the basketball court, off the court, Michael Jordan is the ultimate man’s man! He owns over 150 suits, he loves steak so much that he decided to open his own steak house, he plays golf with Tiger Woods in his spare time, and he recently built a mansion that features a giant movie theatre outfitted with special equipment made to handle the mass amounts of cigar smoke. (He smokes at least 10 cigars per day). A lifestyle like his is the greatest perk of with winning 6 NBA championships.

 

9- Francis Ford Coppola

This five-time Academy Award winning movie director  and scriptwriter has been associated with some of the greatest films in Hollywood history. His body of work includes Patton, Apocalypse Now, Dracula, and The Cotton Club (Just to name a few) but the accomplishment that carved Francis Ford Coppola’s name deep in the eternal stone was directing the Godfather Trilogy. This 3-part cultural phenomenon dwarfs the significance of every other detail about Coppola’s life and often causes many to overlook anything else that he’s ever succeeded at. Outside of film-making, Coppola has also established himself as a magazine publisher and is the proprietor of a thriving wine vineyard. Legend has it that Coppola was introduced to cigar smoking by Jack Warner, one of the co-founders of Warner Bro’s movie studios. A detail that lends further credence to the theory declaring cigar smoking to be the stuff of pioneers.

 

8- Mark Twain

 

A ground-breaking writer whose contributions in the fiction genre set a new standard for all novelists and aspiring novelists. Those who knew Mark Twain say that he smoked on a daily basis and that his cigars were as instrumental to his existence as his written words. The degree of his love of cigars was probably best demonstrated when he said “If there are no cigars in heaven then I’d rather not go”.

 

7- Jay-z

For at least 15 years now, Jay-Z has been the rapper that defines the age that hip-hop is living in. Perhaps the most visible and most telling constant during his reign as the culture's standard bearer has been his attachment to Churchill sized cigars. To millions of his fans, Jay-Z's songs and music videos are a spellbinding memento of that old belief that great men and great cigars ought to always go hand-in-hand. Whether he's "Big Pimping" in the Bahamas or hosting his "Roc Boys" at the 40/40 club, Hov usually has a cigar in hand to add to his enjoyment of the occasion.

 

6- Don King

One of the brightest, one of the most eloquent and one of the most charismatic figures in sports history. Don King’s journey from being an illegal bookmaker to a first-class promoter has turned him into boxing folklore and an American icon. This man has promoted bouts for some of the most prominent names in boxing, including Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Joe Frazier, Larry Holmes, Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Julio César Chávez, Ricardo Mayorga, and Félix Trinidad. And during the 3 decades when he was the undisputed number one promoter in boxing, he was almost always seen with a cigar in hand.

 

 

 

 

5- Diego Maradona

 

Although he is widely regarded as the best footballer to ever lace up the boots, Diego Maradona’s larger-than-life persona transcends the realm of football and gives him social significance in addition to his sporting significance. As a player, he played for some of the biggest clubs in the world (Boca Juniors, Barcelona, and Napoli), he inspired his home country of Argentina to a World Cup victory, and he scored the 2 most famous goals in football history within a matter of minutes from each other during a controversial match against England in 1986. Off the field, he’s associated with almost everything that makes Latin America alluring; Cigars, revolutionaries, and beautiful women!

‘To understand that gargantuan shadow Maradona casts over his soccer-mad homeland, one has to conjure up the athleticism of Michael Jordan, the power of Babe Ruth- and the human fallibility of Mike Tyson. Lump them together in a single barrel-chested man with shaggy black hair and you have “Ël Diego”, idol to the millions who call him D10S, a mashup of his playing number and the Spanish word for God’ – The Houston Chronicle

Now just imagine yourself enjoying this man’s company while you both smoke some fine cigars…

 

 

 

 

 

4- Fidel Castro

Soldier, statesman, humanitarian, and all-round legend! In these past 5 decades where he has been the global icon of defiance and perseverance, Fidel Castro has also freed his country from hunger, illiteracy, illness and subservience to foreign powers. Along the way, he’s struck-up some personal friendships with some of the most remarkable figures of the 20th century (People such as Thomas Sankara, Ho Chi Minh, Simon de Beauvior, Hugo Chavez, Salvador Allende, Muhammed Ali, Pablo Neruda and many, many others). His best friend for most of the journey though appeared to be his cigar. He was rarely seen without a cigar until that day in 1985 when he, in another act of noble servitude towards the people of Cuba, decided to permanently abandon his favourite pastime as a means of setting an example after a rising national concern over the health risks of smoking. Still, one can’t help but wonder about the stories he could share over some Cohiba’s while unwinding on a summer’s evening somewhere around the Havana coastline…

 

 

 

3- Ernest Hemingway

Tolstoy claimed that if a gun is introduced into a story, it must be fired. But the reverse is also true. Just as stories use items, so items can conjure stories around them. To many, the stories invoked by cigars were written by Hemingway. Stories of cigars smoked over bullfights in Pamplona, or of cigar smoke mixing with the scent of strong coffee in the salty tradewinds blowing off the Gulf of Mexico. People care about cigars because they speak to a life, or maybe just a moment, that captures who they want to be. Hemingway’s life has become similarly emblematic. At base an insecure, uncertain manic-depressive; the stories he told transformed him into a bold “Man of the World”, traversing between war-zones, boxing rings, Mount Kilimanjaro and the Sierra de Guadarrama. He understood, as all cigar smokers do, that something as strange and simple as a cluster of wrapped tobacco leaves, or a troubled kid from Illinois, can be transformed into the grandest of tales.

 

2- Denzel Washington

The coolest actor to ever grace the screen. In fact he may just be the coolest individual in the history of anything because of the swagger and smarts he lends to every movie role he plays. Seriously, when this man is tackling a new role, all one can do is watch on in awe as his individual brilliance out-shines everything else that the movie has to offer. In a 1998 interview, Denzel gave a Cigar Aficionado an idea of what enjoying a cigar in his company would be like when he said: “Normally I like to smoke outdoors. I love to smoke on the sea or by the water. I like the quiet that it's about. I like to take a nice mile walk up and down the beach, take a nice toasty single malt with no ice and a good cigar. Walk a bit. Sit down on the sand. Can't beat it”. Over the years, he has won 2 Academy Awards and has also gotten the opportunity to study and then portray some remarkable real-life figures such as Steve Biko, Malcolm X, Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, Melvin B. Tolson, Frank Lucas, and Herman Boone.

 

1- Che Guevara

An avid cigar smoker and the patron saint for many revolutionaries across the world because of the example he set by dedicating his life to the cause of freedom and social justice. Che sacrificed a life of privilege and a cushy career as a doctor to pick up an AK-47 and participate in armed struggles that stretched across 3 different continents. What was the motivation behind his self-less sacrifice, you ask? The desire to awaken the consciousness of a "new man" who would be driven by moral rather than material incentives. His passion for cigars is best described in this extract from Cigar Aficionado : “For Ernesto "Che" Guevara, cigar smoking was not a luxury, but very much a part of the business of revolution, a spiritual complement to lessen the hardships of a life filled with difficulties and dangers”

 

DERBY DOWNER

 

 

Kwazi Thabethe

@KwaziThabethe

 

The other day I got home from a hard day of slaving it up for the baas and found my dad watching the biggest contest South African football has to offer; The Soweto Derby! I opened the door, saw it on the TV screen with the vuvuzela's buzzing in the background and you know what my immediate thought was? "OH GOD, NOT ANOTHER ONE!" 

 

Why was that my immediate reaction? Maybe my thinking was influenced by my bitterness from that time in 2011 when I, along with a group of friends, took a 600 km pilgrimage to Soccer City for the Soweto Derby MTN 8 final that ended up being an embarrassing bore? Or maybe I just recalled that time last December when I got caught up in the derby hype and arranged yet another weekend trip to Johannesburg with the same group of friends? Oh yeah, we drove up, fired up the braai-stand, soaked in the electric derby atmosphere, and then made the error of actually watching the game itself. The dullness of what we witnessed on the TV screen just made everyone in the room feel awkward. If it wasn't my unresolved trauma from that tiresome anti-climax then maybe it was the feeling of despair I felt at the conclusion of the last Chiefs-Pirates fixture I watched. I went to a local bar with a friend and there we were treated to a mind-numbing 0-0 snore draw. After that game, I was done! I came to one conclusion about the massive hype that surrounds the Soweto Derby; Kudlaliwe ngabantu! We fans deserve so much better than the poor quality of football we're given time & time again from this fixture.

 

 

Besides complaining about the quality of football, I might also add that Chiefs vs Pirates games always seem to lack that intensity that adds a competitive edge to any sporting spectacle. I'm not in the habit of unfavourably comparing African situations to the rest of the world but at the same time I'm a footballing fanatic and so I can't help but notice that the Soweto Derby lacks the sort of sub-plot that adds mystique and an extra bit of interest to a rivalry. In Turkey for example, the two biggest club sides there are Galatasary & Fenerbache and when they meet, there's a cultural clash in the stands to supplement the football clash on the field. Istanbul, the capital city of Turkey caters to both an Asian and European culture; Fenerbahce represent the Asian side, while Galatasaray are more European. There's nothing culturally different about Chiefs fans and Pirates fans or any significant cultural difference in the way the way both clubs operate. When Greece's 2 biggest teams play one another, it's considered an extension of class warfare with Panathinaikos considered to be representative of the upper class while Olympiacos are the team of the working class. In Argentina, the "Super Classico" derby between River Plate and Boca Juniors is also a game that has a history of an economic disparity between the followers of both sides;  Boca Juniors is known as the club of Argentina's working class or the people's club, with many Boca fans coming from the Italian immigrant community whist River Plate has a predominantly upper class support base. South Africa lacks that sort of dynamic between Chiefs and Pirates fans to thicken the plot of the derby. When a sporting contest goes beyond just being about sport, it adds to the significance of the event and mobilises anybody and everybody around it. Casual viewers suddenly become die-hard fans and even those who tend to show apathy toward sports make time to watch. Because the rivalry between Chiefs and Pirates lacks that polarising characteristic found in other global derbies, it never has the feel of a proxy battle being contested on a football field.   

When an economic, cultural, tribal or political sub-plot acts as the backdrop to the sporting contest, it tends to instil a warrior-like spirit in the hearts of the competitors because they have the confidence of an entire cluster behind them. The athletes then approach the contest in a way similar to how a soldier approaches going in to combat and usually give a performance that reflects poise, hunger,

 

commitment, and professionalism. In recent years I've all too often found myself lamenting the absence of these qualities from players in both camps of the Soweto Derby while also enviously looking on at how titanic clashes in other countries have these qualities in abundance. I recently read an article (can't remember where) where one journalist described the significance of FC Barcelona's rivalry with Real Madrid to the autonomous Spanish region of Catalunya by saying "Catalunya is a nation and Barcelona is its army!". This sort of sentiment is also evident in the sport of boxing when Hispanic fighters step into the ring. The build-up's to their bouts always stir up nationalistic emotions, particularly when fighters from rival Hispanic nations are duelling, and that usually results in spontaneous combustion inside the ring. It’s no surprise then that a Chiefs vs Pirates clash almost always fails to produce that sort of result seeing as the two clubs seem to be on friendly terms. They have the same major sponsors, compete in pre-season friendlies together, and even the 2 opposing club chairmen appear to be good friends. Elsewhere on the African continent, the rivalry between Al Ahly and Zamalek is so intense that match official's need to be brought in from abroad as a means of ensuring impartiality because the stakes are so high. The absence of this sort of friction is a major factor in why the derby is always so tame and underwhelming.

 

The approach that Chiefs and Pirates use in the days leading up match-day better resembles that of 2 corporate entities campaigning to promote a joint initiative rather than 2 enemy camps about to slug it out in grudge match. Vodacom pays for some silly advert to promote the game for both sets of fans, players from both sides appear on the same radio or TV show a couple of days before the game and try to sound convincing when they lie about what a great game we're going to be treated to, and the officially recognised number 1 fan's from each side will do a joint appearance of some sort on whatever medium that's willing to entertain them.  All these scheduled promo's create a working relationship between teams that are supposed to be rivals and that working relationship, whether they know it or not, comes into play when they meet on the field. As a result, a contest that's meant to be between fierce enemies then has the tempo of a game between friends. The football suffers as a consequence of all the commercial interests that safeguard the links between the clubs. At this point the Soweto Derby is headed towards the WWE wrestling route where the stars are depicted as enemies purely for the sake of generating interest but we all know that they're all friends behind the scenes.

The pride that and excitement shown towards Soweto Derby by the people deserves better football then what we're seeing whenever these games are staged and until the quality picks up, I'll instinctively cringe whenever I see it hyped in the media. I've speculated about where the problems lie but I don't have the solutions. All I'll say is that I'm tired of feeling duped and short-changed after the conclusion of these fixtures so I think I'm going to pass on them from now on. But please let me know if the quality of football ever picks up to a respectable level so I can start watching again.

 

 

 

 

 

The Hagiography of Tupac Shakur

 

Kwazi Thabethe

@KwaziThabethe

In my own lifetime, I’ve seen Rap/Hip-Hop culture produce numerous icons that have impacted the world in various ways via the far reaching power of American media and the raw emotion & power of their  lyrics. There’s Snoop Dogg, the rapper that even your grandparents would recognize. There’s Eminem, Hip-Hop Culture’s favourite white boy. There’s Diddy, the mogul whose financial success is the carrot at the end of the stick for any ambitious entrepreneur. There’s Jay-Z, the greatest rapper ever (don’t dare disagree with me on that). There’s Kanye West, probably the most immodest music icon I’ve ever observed (and with much to be immodest about). And now there’s Drake, the rapper-cum-singer who’s become the poster-boy for the mix-tape generation.  Those are just a few of the afore mentioned “icons” and they’ve all attained theirs status using different approaches but in my own opinion, there’s one icon whose legacy  overshadows them all for reasons that go beyond music or entertainment; Tupac Shakur!

Tupac stands out not just because of the quality of his music, but also because of what he symbolized to the constituency and class of people that are inundated with Hip-Hop culture. Over the years, the image of rap has evolved into an industry that seduces the minds of young (and mostly black) people by selling them an opulent lifestyle that is beyond their means instead of addressing the socio-economic conditions and challenges rap fans face every day of their lives. Now I’m not saying that Tupac was above flaunting his wealth in lyrics or music videos, but he certainly didn’t do it with the crassness and degree of buffoonery that we often see from other rap artists. And when delve deeper into his legacy, you’ll find that the Tupac songs that have stood the test of time are the songs where the activist side of him is speaking rather than the superstar side. But like I said, it’s not just his music that sets him apart; it’s his whole life and family history. There’s an education that one attains from just dissecting his adult life, his upbringing, his name, or his family tree (One talk-show host remarked that “his family portrait could well be a poster for America’s Most Wanted). That education you get from examining Tupac the man helps you understand why he’s such a champion of the collective struggle that millions of his fans face every day around the world.

 

The first and most obvious example of Tupac’s consciousness is in his name, “Tupac Amaru Shakur”. His name is significant because almost every prominent figure in Hip-Hop culture has a “squeaky clean” sounding legal name that they’d rather forget (Think “Todd Smith”, “Jeffery Atkins”,  “William Leonard Roberts II” etc) and at some point that name is abandoned for some other slick or tough sounding moniker that’s meant to garner street-cred or inspire awe. In Tupac’s case, his real name was his stage name. Not only that, his name aroused curiosity because it didn’t follow the black American trend of having an English first name from your parents and English last name that some racist slave-master had imposed on your ancestors. When you follow up on your curiousity about the origin of Tupac’s name, you learn that he is named after a Peruvian revolutionary that led an indigenous uprising against the war-mongering Spanish empire. “Tupac Amaru” (the Peruvian) was a chief of one of the great tribes in the Inca state of Peru. His anti-Imperialist stance led to him being executed by the Spanish as part of their imperialist escapades. Tupac’s mother, Afeni Shakur, was an educated and politically conscious black woman and thus decided to give her son a name that paid homage to a figure whose story serves as an inspiration to many of his fans around the world who are subjected to any sort of domination by a foreign power. I’m almost certain that had it not been for my own fascination with Tupac’s life story, the story of the heroic Inca tribes of South America would’ve been lost to me because we are usually only exposed to the kind of history that glorifies and romanticizes the imperialists and colonists. This goes back to the point I made earlier about Tupac symbolizing more than just rap music.

The attainment of knowledge that comes from examining Tupac’s life is furthered when you learn about his ties tied to the now defunct Black Panther Party. When you think of the black struggle in America, the first iconic image that pops into almost everyone’s mind is Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech or a Malcolm X poster because the impact that those 2 men had and the fact that they died as martyrs. But sometimes all the adulation they receive creates a situation where the contributions of other significant figures are overlooked by those that write the history books.  If you look into Tupac’s family, you learn that his mother was once a high-ranking member of the Black Panther Party which played an important role in raising political awareness amongst blacks during the 1960’s and 1970’s. For me personally, it was this exposure to the Black Panthers that inadvertently educated me about the black America’s fallen warriors like Huey Newton and Fred Hampton. It was also through reading up on the Black Panther Party that I learned about Tupac’s legendary step-father, Mutulu Shakur, and his Godfather, Geronimo Pratt, who was also a renowned and respected figure in Black Panther circles. As someone who considers himself to be a small-time activist, I have to say that it was a privilege to stumble upon the legacies of these idols. If I wasn’t a fan of Tupac, I might have not even have heard of them.

After moving past his symbolic name and remarkable family history, there’s the knowledge that’s to be found in listening to the words of the man himself…  With every Tupac documentary that I’ve seen, I got the sense that I was observing a young man blessed with wisdom and an understanding of the world that was far beyond his years. One example of this was in the documentary Tupac Resurrection… In the middle of addressing black America’s poverty cycle, he said “You have to remember that this country had a man named J Edgar Hoover, whose job it was to destroy the credibility of any black man coming up”. He didn’t elaborate further but the bluntness of that statement made me do some research on this “J Edgar Hoover” character and I came across some disheartening realizations  about how the American government spitefully sabotaged the efforts of black public figures to uplift the social and economic conditions of their people. Hoover was the Chief Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for over 40 years and throughout that period, with the full backing of the suits in Washington, he harassed influential black men like Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, Bob Marley, Martin Luther King, Medgar Evers, and Fred Hampton.  Hoover’s FBI planted divisive moles in every major black organization, including The Nation of Islam, The Civil Rights Movement and the Black Panthers, and these moles created an atmosphere of hate that led to the downfall of many black figures. Of course none of this was brought to light when a movie about J Edgar hoover was released in 2011 and I probably  would’ve known very little about Hoover and the FBI’s war on black America had it not been for that one unapologetic statement from Tupac.

 

 

Another priceless gem I picked up from Tupac’s encyclopedia of thought was how he explained the different meanings  and pronunciations of the controversial “N” word that divides opinion in the black community and also has white people saying “Hey, why do you get to say it but we can’t?”.  When a white MTV reporter asked why Tupac was appalled at being called a nigger by the guards in prison when he himself uses the word numerous times in his songs, he simply smiled and said “a ‘nigger’ is the one with a slave-rope tied to his neck and hanging over his head, a ‘nigga’ is the one with a gold chain, hanging out in a club”.  With that one simple sentence, he explained how blacks had taken and redefined the term that was originally meant to oppress them. When you observe footage of him using the term, you can tell that when he talks about his niggas, he’s referring to his people or his friends. For him, the word had come to symbolize brotherhood.  

As a music artist, Tupac has some timeless classics that are dear to the hearts of many people because he’s championing their cause or raising awareness about their predicaments. When you listen to “Brenda’s got a baby”, you see that Tupac is painting you a picture that demonstrates how the ills of the ghetto manifest themselves and how those ills lead to the sufferings of innocent people. In the song ”Keep Ya Head Up” he pays a glowing tribute to virtuous women that are subjected to poverty, abuse and crime whilst also calling for men to clean up their acts with regards to how they treat women. Tupac’s sense of duty to his community was visible in the way he’d sometimes step outside the unspoken understanding within Hip Hop culture that women are to be treated as objects and not as equals who deserve to have their story told and their plight addressed.  And then there was also “Thugz Mansion”…. My God what a hauntingly deep track! The imagery he uses to describe his idea of heaven is enough to put you in a trance. That song also illustrates how Tupac (along with many of his fans) longs for a sense of belonging somewhere because they feel trapped and enslaved by the society that surrounds them. Thugs Mansion is Tupac’s interpretation of the Utopia that his fans long for. Aside from the above mentioned selections, there are many more Tupac songs that go beyond entertaining you as a listener but also educate you about the racism, violence, and hardships faced by so many who are the victims of the social, political, and economic order  that’s found not only in America, but the world at large.

 

There’s a whole lot more that I could say about what Tupac stood for and the empowerment he brought to the lives of those of us who have been lucky enough to be touched by his legacy but even with the little that I’ve touched on thus far, I can’t help but feel that the man’s potential was bigger than rap. I think that although being a music artist provided him with a platform to reach the masses of people that need leaders like him impacting their lives and maybe even saving them from a path of waywardness, his untimely death at the tender age 25 robbed the world of the greater man that he surely would have matured into as he grew older and even wiser.  Quincy Jones touched on this same point when he remarked: ”If we had lost Oprah Winfrey at 25, we would’ve lost a relatively unknown, TV anchorwoman. If we had lost Malcolm X at 25, we would have lost a street-hustler named Detroit Red. And if I had died at 25, we would have lost a trumpet player and aspiring composer- just a sliver of my eventual life potential”. Sadly, we don’t know what Tupac would’ve evolved into but I have a feeling that if he were alive today, he’d somehow be further educating and empowering millions of lost souls through social work, politics, entertainment, or all 3.  His contribution to the world is surely too important for history to remember him as just a rapper. For me, he’s a fallen soldier in the struggle for social justice and may his memory always be celebrated as nothing less than that!