The Muso brought a very interesting, albeit misinformed article to my attention, written by none other than The New York Times.
I've often thought of the NY Times as a reliable source of news and the ultimate place to work as a journo. Guess I was wrong.
But that's besides the point.
The point is, this little rock number called 'De La Ray' written by Louis Pepler and co is just that, a little rock song abotu someone they admire. It is not a call to arms. It is not inciting anarchy a la Sex Pistols. it is in fact a song to remind those of Voortrekker descent where they came from. And granted, at the time, South Africa was a harsh place and war was rife as everyone was fighting for a little piece of land to call thier own, so of course there will be a lot of things we'd prefer to not remember as it is not PC under the new South African constitution.
This comes at a time when the government is changing street/building/city/airport names at a dizzying rate, wiping out any trace of the previous government. Here's a question...had we not had the previous government and apartheid and 'The Struggle', would SA be in the state it is today? Every country throughout the world and history has had a violent past and many have risen above it.
Let's look at the ever policing country that is the US.
They sat on thier high horse, telling us that apartheid is wrong when barely 50 years before, they had herded the Native American community into homelands, aka reservations.
And yet, they still make movies worshipping the cowboys that did it. Dare I say it? Tsotsi is our answer to Dances with Wolves. In terms of understanding other cultures.
And the Brits hardly have a leg to stand on. They were the ones instigating death camps and parading thier 'superior race' attitude not only in South Africa, but in all thier colonies.
If I remember my history classes correctly, the Afrikaners/Voortrekkers were the ones who adapted to the harsh wilderness of Africa. The Empire demanded on taming it. It is ugly. Untoward. Brutal.
But true.
On a personal level, my generation of Afrikaans kids are raised to feel guilty for being just that- a white, afrikaans speaking South African. But what are we guilty of? I was ten years old when we had the first democratic elections. I had never lived with apartheid. But I am living with the shadow of it over my life. We are paying for the crimes of our forefathers.
Haven't we apologised enough?
When will the government be satisfied?
They've taken our job options, our safety, our security, our right to live unprosecuted and have warped it through Affirmative Action, BEE, unstoppable crime, reversed discrimination.
For that is what it is.
I would like to tell my kids one day of the history of South Africa and its past heroes. I will tell them of the brilliant guerilla tactics used by the Boers, the discipline of Shaka Zulu's warriors, the ambition of the Brits and the bravery of every person who tried to make a young SA home. Each culture has its heroes and we must respect that. We must respect the songs written about war heroes, no matter what side of history they were on.
I am a proud South African, bilingual, white woman. And I am not about to have my culture swept under the carpet to appease sore losers in history.
