By Vusi Moloi © 2008
The United Steel Workers of Pennsylvania have declared concerns around race as the last frontier that needs to be conquered if the Honourable Illinois Senator Mr. Barack Obama is to win the White House. The steel workers have thrown their massive weight behind Mr. Obama because of his policies which they see as benefiting and potentially expanding the middle class.
Tackling Racism Head On
Mr. Obama of Illinois is America’s first person of African descent to ever lead a major political party for the Presidency of the United States of America. This was in line with the United Steel Workers President Mr. Leo W. Gerard who had earlier declared that United Steel Workers was tackling racism head on and that all Obama supporters should do the same. The fiery Mr. Gerard and a great Canadian from Lively, Ontario, told the delegates that no Presidential candidate had ever won the White House without winning both Ohio and Pennsylvania and the future of the country depended on them. He warned the members of the union against sacrificing their economic wellbeing on account of the color of the skin.
A powerful figure leading the charge in tackling racism is the indomitable Mr. Richard Trumka of the AFL-CIO, a trade union umbrella organization to which the United Steel Workers is affiliated. Mr. Trumka is from a small town Nemacolin, Pennsylvania and he knows first hand how people use a variety of clever ways for their racist attitudes. His address to the delegates, now posted on Youtube under the title AFL-CIO's Richard Trumka on Racism and Obama pulls no punches on the subject.
The indomitable Secretary-Treasurer of the AFL-CIO Mr. Richard Trumka addressing the United Steel Workers Convention at Las Vegas, Texas, USA on July 1, 2008. Mr. Trumka is credited for his fearless anti-apartheid activities in support of the National Union of Mineworkers also known as NUM of South Africa under the formidable leadership of the legendary trade unionist and lawyer Mr. Cyril Ramaphosa and Elijah Barayi who was the Vice-President of NUM and founding President of the Congress of South African Trade Unions also known as COSATU.
1.4 Million Strong Organization
The United Steel Workers Union is a 1.4 million strong organization that endorsed Mr. Obama’s Presidential candidacy this year. Pennsylvania has been described by the international media as a racially intractable terrain. Even Pennsylvania’s home grown leaders like the celebrated 17 term US. Representative Mr. John Murtha of Johnstown spoke openly to the Post-Gazette newspaper about the racist attitudes that characterize the Western part of the state. He pointed out he expected Mr. Obama to carry the state even though it was taking too long for Pennsylvania to embrace the Black President. Pundits hypothesized that Mr. Obama would have a tough time winning Pennsylvania even though the opinion polls favour him over his Presidential contestant the Honourable Senator John McCain of the Southern State of Arizona. Moreover, the formidable and Honourable Senator Ms. Hilary Clinton carried the state during the primaries.
In view of this race factor, the steel workers have made it a priority to knock on doors from house to house to ensure Mr. Obama is elected the new President of the United States. For them, Mr. Obama is the best President for the workers and their struggling families. Their strategy is to explicitly tackle the issue of race and diffuse the voodoo myths that surround it. Their leaders seemingly believe that racism is a powerful divisive tool that thrives in silence like some spellbinding sorcery.
Steel Country
The beautiful state of Pennsylvania is pretty much a steel country and the United Steel Workers Union is a family name over there. Having personally volunteered in South Africa’s largest trade union movement the Congress of South African Trade Unions also known as COSATU during the apartheid years, I learnt then that the biggest concern of a trade unionist is the eerie feeling that a profit motivated boss almost always succeeds in pitting one worker against another as an instrument that enables him to extract and maximize wealth for personal gain at the expense of others. A worker is not regarded as a full human being but rather an instrument of wealth creation.
Separatist Tendencies
The exploitative strategy seeks to inculcate separatist tendencies in the hearts and minds of the workers so that they are unable to coalesce in a cohesive show of strength against unfair practices. The separatist tendencies such as ethnic pride i.e. giving special favours to some members of a group while excluding others are legendary to modern history and yet hurtful in that while some enjoy easy promotion others have to jump voodoo hoops before being considered for promotion. Other divisive techniques that perpetuate a status quo include the withholding of some strategic information or having workers sign some esoteric agreements which ordinarily are not understandable without an expensive lawyer to help them appreciate and avoid the pitfalls in safeguarding their interests and those of their family members.
For this reason, a revolutionary trade unionist is hyper sensitive to the nuances that divide worker against worker. That is because divide and rule enables the masterful capitalist to easily swing the fears and concerns of workers like a pendulum but in such a way that the pendulum appears to swing naturally by itself without some external force. The outcome of such a divide and conquer strategy promotes self-interest above the collective wellbeing of the oppressed group.
In the case of Mr. Obama’s campaign, the idea is to make the workers sacrifice their economic interests for ethnic pride so that they don’t cast their vote for him. That ethnic pride translates into unbridled wealth for the rich. Some of the White voters told the United Steel Workers that they couldn’t see themselves voting for Mr. Obama because he is a “Muslim”, a code word for he is “Black”. They say they don’t trust him and when pressed for real reasons some say they won’t vote for him because he is Black and is not “one of us” as reported by America’s CNN News. This sense of ethnic pride is a powerful concept because it means that even if Mr. Obama stands in defence of their economic wellbeing, some are prepared to turn the other way in order to nosh a deep seated fear of a Black President.
The Canadian Experience
I personally experienced a situation where I met a White Canadian lady who was in a cast with crutches in downtown Ottawa. She was looking for a legal aid office, which at the time was located on Elgin Street before being moved to the current Albert Street. I volunteered my assistance and walked with her to catch the OC Transpo’s bus number 5. Something suddenly happened on the bus. She became uncomfortable once among the lily White passengers. It was customary at the time to be a focus of penetrating staring eyes when a Black guy was seen with a White lady especially on the bus. As the bus got closer to the destination, I signalled to her to disembark on the next stop. She acted as if she hadn’t seen me before and wouldn’t even thank me for my efforts. Despite being singed by this experience, I didn’t allow it to eclipse the natural beauty of the great City of Ottawa and many folks who had been very kind to me. It would seem that being seen with me on the lily white bus of the great City of Ottawa was a form of racial betrayal for her. She couldn’t reconcile her sense of ethnic pride with my altruistic overtures.
The Paradigm of Disharmony
I learnt from this harsh experience that some will put at risk their well-being in order to protect a notion of ethnic pride. In my scholarly paper The Paradigm of Disharmony I show how humans have been deeply uprooted from their natural habitat to turn their back on a sense of allegiance to the supreme law of self-preservation. This supreme law of self-preservation is impossible to be fully realized without being a member of a collective that watches over your back. This is the natural law of the African jungle and all the members of that terrain honour this survival code.
As a consequence of disharmony with Mother Nature, some human will sacrifice a survival advantage to perpetuate an abstract notion of ethnic or religious pride. This is the kind of attitude that Obama is facing in his audacious bid to be the country’s first Black President. He stands for the defence and advancement of the economic interests of ordinary Americans and while giving them a survival advantage under tough economic times, some will be oblivious to all that because they see political power as a White elephant for the White tribe. Like a great Samurai who is psycho-emotionally programmed by society to self-destruct via disembowelment because of no longer being able to serve his particular master, some will throw away the baby with the bath tub. The incredible thing, however, is that racial prejudice is not so much about hate as it’s about ethnic pride and yet this does not diminish the hurtful or sometimes tragic consequences in its defence as already demonstrated in the recent case of the arrests of Daniel Cowart of Bells, Tennessee and Paul Schlesselman of West Helena, Arkansas.
One interesting fact about ethnic pride is that co-workers, friends and members of the same fraternity often work together, joke together, and even help each other out but the thin layer of togetherness disintegrates very easily if an African descendent takes a commanding lead in the spheres of economic or higher echelons of political power as is the case with Senator Barack Obama most strongly favoured to become America's first Black President.
Why Is Race An Issue?
Why is race an issue on the minds of some of our White brothers and sisters? As previously mentioned, they consider political as well as economic power as a no go area except for the White tribe. In South Africa the White establishment is making a spirited attempt to break the ruling ANC so that they can lose a two thirds majority in order to permanently block the land redistribution laws in an African country where around fifty thousand White farmers own more than three quarters of the food producing land while more than forty million Africans only have to make do with less than five percent of the land. This would make South Africa remain stymied like Zimbabwe in failing to achieve economic emancipation for their African natives. While lots of people believe that racial oppression is about hate, in fact racial oppression exists for other reasons that have nothing to do with hate. Hate is just an affiliation that varies with the degree of contact with respect to others.
To say that the struggle between the White folks and the Black folks is about hate is like saying that the struggle between the Palestinians and the Jews or the English and Irish is about religion. Religious affiliation is only incidental to the actors of these theatres of events but the real issue is the land and that is what they are fighting over, the root cause of which is foreign occupation where others came from somewhere and took other’s land. Thus the real issue with respect to racial oppression is not about hate per se but economic and political control. Nonetheless, the capitalist bosses know that if they incite hateful jealousy of one group against another, it only serves to buttress the divide and conquer strategy and this is a cheap instrument that is freely available at their disposal. Racism exists as an ideology that justifies a variety of inhumanity against others.
Our capitalist structure of the economy requires some form of discrimination in order to thrive i.e. sexism, age, etc. In a mining company they assert that men carry and push heavy rocks and as a result they must be paid higher than their female counterparts and yet the irony is that no one pushes heavy rocks anymore because the rocks are now technologically pushed on a push of a button (no pun intended) yet the myth of pay disparity continues.
There are many such examples. Think about a farmer who owns a cow and produces milk. Let’s hypothesize that it costs him 5 cents to produce a cup of milk. He takes it to the dairy board that then gets it into the supermarkets where that cup of milk now costs $1.50. The retailer keeps 25 cents; the dairy board gives the farmer 25 cents. The farmer is happy that he just made 500% as a result of milking a cow. He seems to be doing well; right? Wrong! The dairy board kept $1 for themselves! You see, the members of the dairy board do not milk a cow or own any cow and yet they make more money than both the retailer and the guy that owns the cow and produces milk combined.
To maintain this kind of exploitative economy it’s important to practice voodoo economics so that the workers together with the farmers can believe the unbelievable and accept the unacceptable. In my book A Goodbye To My Little Troubles there is a poem To Convince Or Not To Convince which addresses this question of believing the unbelievable and accepting the unacceptable.
Conclusion
Failing to be open and explicit about issues of race perpetuates a sense of economic disenfranchisement of one group by a dominant group. We see this in a case like the great City of Ottawa where the African descendents are the most racially oppressed group albeit in a gentle way. Mr. Obama’s troops are taking no chances and will rather puncture the balloon rather than hope it will go away by itself.
About the Author
A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, "Zulumathabo" on the Internet. In addition to writing, Mr. Moloi also works as a software engineer.
The Organic Roots of the African Matrilineal Society
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
By Vusi Moloi
This article was originally published in the Africa Unbound magazine and is hereby reprinted with permission. Please visit Africa Unbound to learn more about their innovative approach in putting Africa on the map. All rights reserved.
African societies have been inherently matrilineal in orientation since the beginning of time. The queens and powerful figures in their own right like Queen Nerfetiti of Egypt, Queen Makeda of Ethiopia, Queen Candace Amanirena of Nubia, the Rain Queen Modjaji and Queen Manthatisi of South Africa, Queen Mbande Nzinga of Angola, Ashanti Queen Yaa Asantewaa of Ghana, Queen Amina of Nigeria, Jamaican Ashanti Queen Nanny of the Maroons, Mbua Nehanda of Zimbabwe, or Mmangwane Mmaketsa of Matamong corroborate this enduring social system that has defied the most impossible odds. This socio-cultural construct changed only with the introduction of Islam, Christianity, and the colonial conquest which imposed patriarchal rule.
As is discussed herein, there are several organic features and roots, of a matrilineal culture such as food production, the ruling triumvirate, and healing ceremonies. History not only points to the salient factors that made for the formation of this very vital and organised social system, it also gives reason for its virtual destruction. To enhance my discussion, I offer my own experiences as shaped by an African matrilineal way of life while growing up in the small village of Matamong in the Eastern Free State Province of South Africa. Specifically, I illustrate the function of a powerful triumvirate: Mmangwane, Rakgadi and Nkgono.
Historical Origins
During the peak of the Ice Age around 11000 BCE, the Northern Hemisphere, such as Europe, was covered in ice and people lived in caves. Much of Africa, however, enjoyed the sunshine. This climatic difference affected human response in terms of survival adaptation. Two strategies characterized survival, namely hunting expeditions in Europe and land cultivation in Africa. While the Europeans battled woolly mammoths and sometimes got killed in the process, the Africans explored mathematics as confirmed by Dr. Jean de Heinzelin of the University of Brussels in a paper titled "Ishango Bone" published in Scientific American, June 1962. At the time, African women had already developed a lunar month calendar making African women the first mathematicians as reported by Dr. Claudia Zaslavsky in her book Africa Counts: Number and Pattern in African Culture.
Control of Food Production
The fundamental premise that allows for a matrilineal society is the unfettered control of food production. European societies suppressed a matrilineal culture because hunting expeditions gave control of food production to men. On account of that control, European men entrenched patriarchal rules which permeated all spheres of social and cultural life, including religion. These patriarchal systems continue to this day.
Conversely, African women’s ownership of land satisfied a mandatory precondition in terms of control over food production. African mothers have always owned the land, which is why the land is referred to as the motherland in contrast to the Europeans who referred to the land as the fatherland. Land ownership equipped African women with the ability to produce food. This survival strategy of land cultivation by women formed the foundation, with respect to the genesis and fortification of an African matrilineal culture.
Control of food production allowed women to make the rules that facilitated a matrilineal way of life. As time progressed, these women built powerful kingdoms, as previously mentioned and mobilized men to defend these kingdoms. Some men, however, rebelled against the sometimes authoritarian rule of the females and went away to live as nomads raising livestock. They developed an independently robust and mobile economy.
The two strategies of food production, land ownership and hunting expeditions, determined the type of gender specificity in the governance of the affairs of the people. While hunting by African men resulted in patriarchal societies to a certain extent, the founders of these societies still carried with them the social memories of the matrilineal societies of their origin, which can be seen through artefacts that undeniably depict an unconquerable femininity in a worshipful sense.
Whenever a man married a woman and took her away from her village, it resulted in an economic loss, since each woman was a food producer. The village calculated her economically productive years and demanded a compensation package in the form of livestock. Thus, the concept of lobola or dowry was born.
The subsequent amicable confluence of the nomadic pastoral culture on the one hand and the matrilineal culture on the other, resulted in a progressive adaptation of a matrilineal culture in which some female rulers were selected from the paternal side and such a figure in the village of Matamong is known as Rakgadi.
Powerful Kingdoms
Some of the matrilineal societies were built with meticulous attention to detail in order to survive and inflict a counter strike against hegemonic invaders. Alexander the Great is reported to have backed away from the queenly Kingdom of Nubia in his military campaigns. Interestingly, the indomitable African female warriors confronted and repulsed the powerful European armies of the Roman Empire. The surviving historical accounts, written in both Greek and Nubian texts, tell of a never before seen phenomenon of women warriors like Queen Candace Amanirena of Nubia who trounced the Roman soldiers of Octavian and captured his symbolic bronze head, after breaking it from the statue, to be trampled underfoot at the Nubian shrine.
Emperor Augustus omits this fact in his diaries. Dr. John Garstang, an archaeologist at the University of Liverpool, discovered this bronze in 1910 in the present day Sudan. The discovery unequivocally confirmed that Emperor Augustus had falsified his reports by failing to admit that his armies, under the celebrated Roman General Gaius Petronius, had failed to subjugate the Nubians and were forced to desist. In a war that lasted a number of years, the unconquerable Nubian Queen inflicted fatal blows that destabilized the Roman Empire to an extent that she forced Emperor Augustus to a Treaty of Salmos. The Greek historian, Strabo, tells us that the Roman Emperor complied with all the demands imposed by the Nubian Queen. She gained a well-deserved respect in world history. We are forever indebted to the most eminent scholar to come out of Africa in the twentieth century, Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop of the great scholarly tradition of Senegal, who first brought to us these historical accounts along with Dr. Theophile Obenga.
The Ruling Triumvirate
In the village that I grew up in, Matamong, the affairs of the community are ruled by a triumvirate of powerful female figures namely Mmangwane, Rakgadi and Nkgono. These formidable figures are mirrored at the level of individual families as well. All these three figures must agree by consensus whenever major decisions are made.
Mmangwane is a maternal aunt. She wields decisive and veto powers in the matters of the society and must be consulted whenever major decisions have to be made. Mmangwane rules as the matriarch of the house, sometimes overruling Rakgadi.
Rakgadi is an aunt on the father’s side. This paternal aunt is accorded special powers and privileges particularly in the matters of ceremonies and rituals. The internationally celebrated South African gender activist and winner of the United Nations Human Habitat Award, Ms. Mmatshilo Motsei, commented on the role of Rakgadi. She stated, “The role of Rakgadi is even more critical. She is the one who leads spiritual rituals, meaning she is the channel through which a family communicates with their ancestors. A spiritual ritual – go phasa badimo- can never happen without Rakgadi.”
It would appear that, as the patriarchal systems of colonialism and Christianity became entrenched in South Africa, the role of Rakgadi also grew in power. She increasingly became more vocal and assertive, and among some ethnic groups she is the most powerful figure.
The interests of the men in the society are represented through the role of Rakgadi. Some matrilineal societies did not accept males in their administrative structures. Rakgadi, then, became a critical interface that represented a good synthesis of the perspective of the women as well as the interests of the men. This liaison meant that a new brother-in-law was allowed to be represented by his sister who took on the title of Rakgadi.
Nkgono - The role of Nkgono in African societies is to curate the collective knowledge of the society. She commands mastery of the natural environment and considers the natural environment to be critical to the survival of the society. Nkgono is a grandmother, a guru who commands a broad and deep understanding of the indigenous knowledge systems. She is a wisdom keeper and a living library. To ensure her mastery of knowledge systems, Nkgono secures the expertise of Ngaka, a consultant that ensures the correctness and efficacy of her understanding and applied knowledge of the indigenous knowledge systems. Ngaka is an expert in a traditional African society equivalent to a Ph.D. in a Western society.
During colonial times, the rulers and the church sought to crush and denigrate this intellectual class of the African society. Great minds became vilified and ostracised as witchdoctors and quacks; the only ones recognized were those who acquired their education via Western and Christian schools. Consequently, colonialism isolated Nkgono, and she subsequently lost her credibility on account of the absence of support from her expert, Ngaka. The African society thus became brutalized.
Healing Ceremonies
The power of womanhood and the cleansing/healing ceremonies associated with it are entrenched in African rituals. As a matter of fact, even many Africans who became Christians or Muslims continue to observe these ceremonies, which are core to the communities’ spirituality and wellbeing. In many societies throughout the continent, the majority of priests and healers are female and they keep cleansing/healing ceremonies alive, even today.
At a time when there is an erosion of world peace and the prospects of conflict and war loom large on our horizon, our history proves that the peace making skills of a woman would inject a positive influence on the world stage. Women, by default, have a vested interest in the survival of life. Queen Candace, a warrior as well as a great negotiator, achieved everything she wanted from the Roman Empire despite the fact that the Romans had more armies than she did. Nubia upheld her autonomous Kingdom through women, at a time when Roman soldiers overran many European and Middle Eastern Kingdoms. African cultures are like a compass. If we study our history and allow ourselves to be guided by it, we will find it reveals all the directions for the new generation.
A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, "Zulumathabo" on the Internet. In addition to writing, Mr. Moloi also works as a software engineer. To learn more about his writing please visit http://zulumathabo.blogspot.com.
This article was originally published in the Africa Unbound magazine and is hereby reprinted with permission. Please visit Africa Unbound to learn more about their innovative approach in putting Africa on the map. All rights reserved.
African societies have been inherently matrilineal in orientation since the beginning of time. The queens and powerful figures in their own right like Queen Nerfetiti of Egypt, Queen Makeda of Ethiopia, Queen Candace Amanirena of Nubia, the Rain Queen Modjaji and Queen Manthatisi of South Africa, Queen Mbande Nzinga of Angola, Ashanti Queen Yaa Asantewaa of Ghana, Queen Amina of Nigeria, Jamaican Ashanti Queen Nanny of the Maroons, Mbua Nehanda of Zimbabwe, or Mmangwane Mmaketsa of Matamong corroborate this enduring social system that has defied the most impossible odds. This socio-cultural construct changed only with the introduction of Islam, Christianity, and the colonial conquest which imposed patriarchal rule.
As is discussed herein, there are several organic features and roots, of a matrilineal culture such as food production, the ruling triumvirate, and healing ceremonies. History not only points to the salient factors that made for the formation of this very vital and organised social system, it also gives reason for its virtual destruction. To enhance my discussion, I offer my own experiences as shaped by an African matrilineal way of life while growing up in the small village of Matamong in the Eastern Free State Province of South Africa. Specifically, I illustrate the function of a powerful triumvirate: Mmangwane, Rakgadi and Nkgono.
Historical Origins
During the peak of the Ice Age around 11000 BCE, the Northern Hemisphere, such as Europe, was covered in ice and people lived in caves. Much of Africa, however, enjoyed the sunshine. This climatic difference affected human response in terms of survival adaptation. Two strategies characterized survival, namely hunting expeditions in Europe and land cultivation in Africa. While the Europeans battled woolly mammoths and sometimes got killed in the process, the Africans explored mathematics as confirmed by Dr. Jean de Heinzelin of the University of Brussels in a paper titled "Ishango Bone" published in Scientific American, June 1962. At the time, African women had already developed a lunar month calendar making African women the first mathematicians as reported by Dr. Claudia Zaslavsky in her book Africa Counts: Number and Pattern in African Culture.
Control of Food Production
The fundamental premise that allows for a matrilineal society is the unfettered control of food production. European societies suppressed a matrilineal culture because hunting expeditions gave control of food production to men. On account of that control, European men entrenched patriarchal rules which permeated all spheres of social and cultural life, including religion. These patriarchal systems continue to this day.
Conversely, African women’s ownership of land satisfied a mandatory precondition in terms of control over food production. African mothers have always owned the land, which is why the land is referred to as the motherland in contrast to the Europeans who referred to the land as the fatherland. Land ownership equipped African women with the ability to produce food. This survival strategy of land cultivation by women formed the foundation, with respect to the genesis and fortification of an African matrilineal culture.
Control of food production allowed women to make the rules that facilitated a matrilineal way of life. As time progressed, these women built powerful kingdoms, as previously mentioned and mobilized men to defend these kingdoms. Some men, however, rebelled against the sometimes authoritarian rule of the females and went away to live as nomads raising livestock. They developed an independently robust and mobile economy.
The two strategies of food production, land ownership and hunting expeditions, determined the type of gender specificity in the governance of the affairs of the people. While hunting by African men resulted in patriarchal societies to a certain extent, the founders of these societies still carried with them the social memories of the matrilineal societies of their origin, which can be seen through artefacts that undeniably depict an unconquerable femininity in a worshipful sense.
Whenever a man married a woman and took her away from her village, it resulted in an economic loss, since each woman was a food producer. The village calculated her economically productive years and demanded a compensation package in the form of livestock. Thus, the concept of lobola or dowry was born.
The subsequent amicable confluence of the nomadic pastoral culture on the one hand and the matrilineal culture on the other, resulted in a progressive adaptation of a matrilineal culture in which some female rulers were selected from the paternal side and such a figure in the village of Matamong is known as Rakgadi.
Powerful Kingdoms
Some of the matrilineal societies were built with meticulous attention to detail in order to survive and inflict a counter strike against hegemonic invaders. Alexander the Great is reported to have backed away from the queenly Kingdom of Nubia in his military campaigns. Interestingly, the indomitable African female warriors confronted and repulsed the powerful European armies of the Roman Empire. The surviving historical accounts, written in both Greek and Nubian texts, tell of a never before seen phenomenon of women warriors like Queen Candace Amanirena of Nubia who trounced the Roman soldiers of Octavian and captured his symbolic bronze head, after breaking it from the statue, to be trampled underfoot at the Nubian shrine.
Emperor Augustus omits this fact in his diaries. Dr. John Garstang, an archaeologist at the University of Liverpool, discovered this bronze in 1910 in the present day Sudan. The discovery unequivocally confirmed that Emperor Augustus had falsified his reports by failing to admit that his armies, under the celebrated Roman General Gaius Petronius, had failed to subjugate the Nubians and were forced to desist. In a war that lasted a number of years, the unconquerable Nubian Queen inflicted fatal blows that destabilized the Roman Empire to an extent that she forced Emperor Augustus to a Treaty of Salmos. The Greek historian, Strabo, tells us that the Roman Emperor complied with all the demands imposed by the Nubian Queen. She gained a well-deserved respect in world history. We are forever indebted to the most eminent scholar to come out of Africa in the twentieth century, Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop of the great scholarly tradition of Senegal, who first brought to us these historical accounts along with Dr. Theophile Obenga.
The Ruling Triumvirate
In the village that I grew up in, Matamong, the affairs of the community are ruled by a triumvirate of powerful female figures namely Mmangwane, Rakgadi and Nkgono. These formidable figures are mirrored at the level of individual families as well. All these three figures must agree by consensus whenever major decisions are made.
Mmangwane is a maternal aunt. She wields decisive and veto powers in the matters of the society and must be consulted whenever major decisions have to be made. Mmangwane rules as the matriarch of the house, sometimes overruling Rakgadi.
Rakgadi is an aunt on the father’s side. This paternal aunt is accorded special powers and privileges particularly in the matters of ceremonies and rituals. The internationally celebrated South African gender activist and winner of the United Nations Human Habitat Award, Ms. Mmatshilo Motsei, commented on the role of Rakgadi. She stated, “The role of Rakgadi is even more critical. She is the one who leads spiritual rituals, meaning she is the channel through which a family communicates with their ancestors. A spiritual ritual – go phasa badimo- can never happen without Rakgadi.”
It would appear that, as the patriarchal systems of colonialism and Christianity became entrenched in South Africa, the role of Rakgadi also grew in power. She increasingly became more vocal and assertive, and among some ethnic groups she is the most powerful figure.
The interests of the men in the society are represented through the role of Rakgadi. Some matrilineal societies did not accept males in their administrative structures. Rakgadi, then, became a critical interface that represented a good synthesis of the perspective of the women as well as the interests of the men. This liaison meant that a new brother-in-law was allowed to be represented by his sister who took on the title of Rakgadi.
Nkgono - The role of Nkgono in African societies is to curate the collective knowledge of the society. She commands mastery of the natural environment and considers the natural environment to be critical to the survival of the society. Nkgono is a grandmother, a guru who commands a broad and deep understanding of the indigenous knowledge systems. She is a wisdom keeper and a living library. To ensure her mastery of knowledge systems, Nkgono secures the expertise of Ngaka, a consultant that ensures the correctness and efficacy of her understanding and applied knowledge of the indigenous knowledge systems. Ngaka is an expert in a traditional African society equivalent to a Ph.D. in a Western society.
During colonial times, the rulers and the church sought to crush and denigrate this intellectual class of the African society. Great minds became vilified and ostracised as witchdoctors and quacks; the only ones recognized were those who acquired their education via Western and Christian schools. Consequently, colonialism isolated Nkgono, and she subsequently lost her credibility on account of the absence of support from her expert, Ngaka. The African society thus became brutalized.
Healing Ceremonies
The power of womanhood and the cleansing/healing ceremonies associated with it are entrenched in African rituals. As a matter of fact, even many Africans who became Christians or Muslims continue to observe these ceremonies, which are core to the communities’ spirituality and wellbeing. In many societies throughout the continent, the majority of priests and healers are female and they keep cleansing/healing ceremonies alive, even today.
At a time when there is an erosion of world peace and the prospects of conflict and war loom large on our horizon, our history proves that the peace making skills of a woman would inject a positive influence on the world stage. Women, by default, have a vested interest in the survival of life. Queen Candace, a warrior as well as a great negotiator, achieved everything she wanted from the Roman Empire despite the fact that the Romans had more armies than she did. Nubia upheld her autonomous Kingdom through women, at a time when Roman soldiers overran many European and Middle Eastern Kingdoms. African cultures are like a compass. If we study our history and allow ourselves to be guided by it, we will find it reveals all the directions for the new generation.
A former South African Television Journalist, Vusi Moloi is a published author of a contextual poetry book, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles, and maintains a blog, "Zulumathabo" on the Internet. In addition to writing, Mr. Moloi also works as a software engineer. To learn more about his writing please visit http://zulumathabo.blogspot.com.
The McCains Raised To Respect Black Folks
Monday, October 13, 2008
by Vusi Moloi © 2008
The 20 months campaign for the President of the United States between the honourable Senators John McCain and Barack Obama has been taking a toll on the candidates. One visible sign of that is the extreme rhetoric that has been seething and sometimes bursting into the open among some fringe followers. Most observers and members of the electorate, according to the CNN, ascribe the blame to Senator McCain campaign for either stoking the passions or not doing enough to hold them in check. Senator McCain has recently gone out of his way to tone down the rhetoric.
In my article Political Contempt – Senator McCain and Senator Obama Debate 2 in I addressed the apparent condescending manner in which Senator McCain came across during the debate.
One of the self-respecting members of the McCains, Mr. Barry McCain shared some sobering thoughts about the McCains of Carrol County and Choctaw County in the American South where the Honourable Senator McCain originates. Barry pointed out that the McCains “not only had an excellent relationship with the Black families in the area, but went out of their way, even to the point of putting themselves in danger, to protect Black families from violence.” Barry added that negative racial remarks were unheard of in the McCain households and they were raised to respect all people.
The 20 months campaign for the President of the United States between the honourable Senators John McCain and Barack Obama has been taking a toll on the candidates. One visible sign of that is the extreme rhetoric that has been seething and sometimes bursting into the open among some fringe followers. Most observers and members of the electorate, according to the CNN, ascribe the blame to Senator McCain campaign for either stoking the passions or not doing enough to hold them in check. Senator McCain has recently gone out of his way to tone down the rhetoric.
In my article Political Contempt – Senator McCain and Senator Obama Debate 2 in I addressed the apparent condescending manner in which Senator McCain came across during the debate.
One of the self-respecting members of the McCains, Mr. Barry McCain shared some sobering thoughts about the McCains of Carrol County and Choctaw County in the American South where the Honourable Senator McCain originates. Barry pointed out that the McCains “not only had an excellent relationship with the Black families in the area, but went out of their way, even to the point of putting themselves in danger, to protect Black families from violence.” Barry added that negative racial remarks were unheard of in the McCain households and they were raised to respect all people.
Political Contempt – Senator McCain and Senator Obama Debate 2
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
by Vusi Moloi© 2008
I watched the second presidential debate between the Honourable Senators Mr. Barack Obama and Mr. John McCain held on Tuesday October 7. The highly anticipated debate was carried live by CNN from Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. The NBC retired anchorman and board member of the African American Howard University Mr. Tom Browkaw moderated the debate. This debate comes in the wake of Senator Obama widening his lead over his contender Senator McCain.
The condescending demeanor of Senator McCain towards Senator Obama took many aback. This culminated in a hard to believe flashpoint when Mr. McCain treated Mr. Obama with utter contempt by referring to him as “that one” and not by his name. This perjorative jab for which no apologies were made caught Senator Obama by surprise. Mr. McCain was talking about the Senate energy bill that he supposedly voted against and Mr. Obama supposedly voted for. Mr. McCain’s reference to the energy bill was not a relevant point of discussion at the time; he brought it up and used it to express his disdain of Mr. Obama. CNN’s debate watchers registered their strong reaction against this line of attack.
Why did Mr. McCain decide to disrespect his fellow American Senator? Moreover, in this town hall format, the intimate distance between the debaters and the audience did not lend itself to this combative style. Why go out of one’s way to make waves? Tennessee is regarded as a conservative state leaning strongly in favour of Mr. McCain. One would expect to score high points among some conservatives when jabbing someone whose ethnicity is regarded as lesser and not equal with respect to the historically privileged group.
However, in this case, the opposite was the case. CNN’s post-debate poll indicated that 54% to 43% of debate watchers found Mr. Obama to be a better leader and a 2 to 1 ratio found him more likeable than Mr. McCain effectively awarding a handy victory to Mr. Obama.
What amazes me in all of this is that Mr. McCain is an Irish descendant and one would expect an egalitarian or at least a reciprocal respect towards his worthy opponent who showed great poise and respect towards the elder statesman. The Irish descendants, whom I respect greatly, are natural allies with African descendants a fact underscored long ago by the great Irish liberator Mr. Daniel O’Connell along with the African American liberator Mr. Frederick Douglas in the 1800s during the Irish Potatoe Famine in Ireland. Mr. Frederick Douglas lived in Ireland in a self-imposed exile to avoid recapture by his masters and also to drum up support for the emancipation of the Irish as well as his African people in the American South.
Both the Irish and the African descendents were historically oppressed and brutalized by the same English colonial and slave masters. Moreover, the Irish were not classified as White but were thrown in the same category as African Americans. At certain times, as recent as the mid 1800s, the Irish were treated even worse than African descendents. A noteworthy Irish writer Mr. Edward Wakin in his book Enter the Irish-American mentions a letter written in 1851 by an Irish American to his folks in Ireland as follows:
"The Irish position is one of shame and poverty....'My master is a great tyrant,' said a Negro lately, 'he treats me as badly as if I was a common Irishman.'"
The Irish Americans at the time turned against their freedom fighting Mr. Daniel O’Connell and instead adopted a new reactionary philosophy that sought to dissociate themselves from their African American brothers and sisters. They felt it was a matter of practical importance to hate their fellow African Americans so that the English can tell them apart. The need for a differentiator drove a wedge between the two racial groups. This strategy seemingly worked because in a little more than 100 years, the Irish Americans became an economically successful group leaving behind their African American counterparts.
The U.S. Census Bureau population study 2005 American Community Survey reported that the Irish Americans numbered 35 million, the largest concentration of whom lived in the American South, home to Mr. John McCain of Arizona. In this context, it does not take much for an Irish American to treat with contempt his African American fellow countryman even though it may not be intended in a hateful way.
I watched the second presidential debate between the Honourable Senators Mr. Barack Obama and Mr. John McCain held on Tuesday October 7. The highly anticipated debate was carried live by CNN from Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. The NBC retired anchorman and board member of the African American Howard University Mr. Tom Browkaw moderated the debate. This debate comes in the wake of Senator Obama widening his lead over his contender Senator McCain.
The condescending demeanor of Senator McCain towards Senator Obama took many aback. This culminated in a hard to believe flashpoint when Mr. McCain treated Mr. Obama with utter contempt by referring to him as “that one” and not by his name. This perjorative jab for which no apologies were made caught Senator Obama by surprise. Mr. McCain was talking about the Senate energy bill that he supposedly voted against and Mr. Obama supposedly voted for. Mr. McCain’s reference to the energy bill was not a relevant point of discussion at the time; he brought it up and used it to express his disdain of Mr. Obama. CNN’s debate watchers registered their strong reaction against this line of attack.
Why did Mr. McCain decide to disrespect his fellow American Senator? Moreover, in this town hall format, the intimate distance between the debaters and the audience did not lend itself to this combative style. Why go out of one’s way to make waves? Tennessee is regarded as a conservative state leaning strongly in favour of Mr. McCain. One would expect to score high points among some conservatives when jabbing someone whose ethnicity is regarded as lesser and not equal with respect to the historically privileged group.
However, in this case, the opposite was the case. CNN’s post-debate poll indicated that 54% to 43% of debate watchers found Mr. Obama to be a better leader and a 2 to 1 ratio found him more likeable than Mr. McCain effectively awarding a handy victory to Mr. Obama.
What amazes me in all of this is that Mr. McCain is an Irish descendant and one would expect an egalitarian or at least a reciprocal respect towards his worthy opponent who showed great poise and respect towards the elder statesman. The Irish descendants, whom I respect greatly, are natural allies with African descendants a fact underscored long ago by the great Irish liberator Mr. Daniel O’Connell along with the African American liberator Mr. Frederick Douglas in the 1800s during the Irish Potatoe Famine in Ireland. Mr. Frederick Douglas lived in Ireland in a self-imposed exile to avoid recapture by his masters and also to drum up support for the emancipation of the Irish as well as his African people in the American South.
Both the Irish and the African descendents were historically oppressed and brutalized by the same English colonial and slave masters. Moreover, the Irish were not classified as White but were thrown in the same category as African Americans. At certain times, as recent as the mid 1800s, the Irish were treated even worse than African descendents. A noteworthy Irish writer Mr. Edward Wakin in his book Enter the Irish-American mentions a letter written in 1851 by an Irish American to his folks in Ireland as follows:
"The Irish position is one of shame and poverty....'My master is a great tyrant,' said a Negro lately, 'he treats me as badly as if I was a common Irishman.'"
The Irish Americans at the time turned against their freedom fighting Mr. Daniel O’Connell and instead adopted a new reactionary philosophy that sought to dissociate themselves from their African American brothers and sisters. They felt it was a matter of practical importance to hate their fellow African Americans so that the English can tell them apart. The need for a differentiator drove a wedge between the two racial groups. This strategy seemingly worked because in a little more than 100 years, the Irish Americans became an economically successful group leaving behind their African American counterparts.
The U.S. Census Bureau population study 2005 American Community Survey reported that the Irish Americans numbered 35 million, the largest concentration of whom lived in the American South, home to Mr. John McCain of Arizona. In this context, it does not take much for an Irish American to treat with contempt his African American fellow countryman even though it may not be intended in a hateful way.
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