Remembering
Steve Biko: a Bright & Guiding Light in Dark Times
As
the Unemployed People's Movement have noted we gather here in
Grahamstown to honour the memory of Steve Biko, a man who was indeed
a bright and guiding light, at a moment when a dark night is settling
over our country. As the light of our democratic dawn dims we all
have to look inward and find our courage, individually and
collectively, for the struggles ahead. Make no mistake - the massacre
at Marikana was a turning point and the path ahead will be difficult
and will require real courage.
Biko
– who was a close friend and fellow-worker - was a courageous man.
He was a man who knew that God loved all his people equally and was
willing to act according to that knowledge. Biko was willing to think
for himself and to forge an independent path. He was willing to pay
the price that always comes with the courage to confront oppression.
Biko's
uncompromising insistence on the full and immediate recognition of
the equal humanity of black people was an intellectual and political
earthquake for the generation of the late 60's and the 70's. We still
feel the tremors of that quake today.
As
we search for the strength to set ourselves on the path of justice, a
path that always leads to conflict with worldly authority, a path
that always exacts a toll, we do well to seek courage and inspiration
in the great figures of the past. Here in Grahamstown the historical
connection to a decisive moment in Biko's political life brings us
into a concrete sense of community with his spirit. There are are
other great figures that have passed through this town. We think, of
course, of people like Makhanda Nxele and Neil Aggett.
But
we do no honour to the heroes of the past by misusing them to mask
the injustices of the present. We do no honour to the heroes of the
past by making them the private property of individuals or particular
organisations. We honour the heroes of the past by bringing their
courage and wisdom into communion with the struggles of the present.
Here in Grahamstown unemployment is at an unconscionable level.
People have been living without the dignity of something as basic as
a toilet while millions go missing from the coffers of the local
municipality. We have taken heart at the news that the unemployed
have been organising themselves here in Grahamstown and that
students, academics and clergy have stood with them. We were not
surprised to hear that Ayanda Kota from the Unemployed People's
Movement was arrested on a bogus charge early this year and assaulted
in the police station in front of his young son. We were not
surprised but we were angry, very angry. The days when the police
behaved like this were supposed to have passed. We will not
compromise in the face of a return to repression. We will not
compromise with those, be they in the police, the unions, parliament
or the universities, that offer succor to repression. We will cast
repression from the temple of our democracy.
The
massacre in Marikana did not come out of nowhere. In 2007 we,
together with a large group of Church Leaders, spoke out clearly when
a peaceful AbahlalibaseMjondolo march was savagely attacked by the
police in Durban. In 2009 we spoke out, again in community with other
Church Leaders, when AbahlalibaseMjondolo were attacked in Kennedy
Road in Durban. Activists were openly threatened with death, their
homes were destroyed and some had to go underground for months. This
moment marked the beginning of a precipitous decent into open
authoritarianism and repression.
In
the main the repression of the struggles of the poor has been met
with silence and indifference. Very few students, academics, lawyers
and journalists have stood up to speak truth to power. Most NGOs have
been silent. Even the trade unions have been silent. In many cases
churches have been silent too. Our collective silence in the face of
growing repression means that we share a collective responsibility
for the path that has taken us to the massacre at Marikana. We must
repent. We must commit ourselves to taking a stand with the poor. We
must commit ourselves to insisting that democracy is for everyone.
Campaigns in defense of democracy that do not take the ongoing
repression of grassroots activists seriously are deeply flawed.
I
wish to be clear that taking a stand with the poor is not a question
of easy sloganeering and empty rhetoric. It is not question of
demagogues exploiting suffering to build their own power bases. It is
not a question of bussing poor people in to NGO meetings where they
are exhibits rather than full and equal participants. It is not a
question of experts speaking for the poor. Taking a stand with the
poor is a matter of walking the path of suffering and struggle with
the poor. It requires a presence within the struggles of the poor.
The
pain of the massacre at Marikana has been felt most pressingly here
in the Eastern Cape. It is in the villages of the Eastern Cape that
the majority of the men murdered in Marikana have been buried.
Generations of men from these villages have made the journey to the
mines and worked, deep in the heat of the bowels of the earth, to
make others rich. They have retired as poor men, often dying of
silicosis. It is the women of these villages, poor as they are, who
have cared for the children and the sick and the old. This has been
and remains an evil economic system. The former Bantustans have not
been democratized or developed after apartheid. The miners' struggle
for a just wage is just. The struggle for a democratic economy that
will meet the needs of all our people is just. The struggle for
reparations for the villages of the Eastern Cape is just. However
respect for human dignity needs to be the means and the end of these
struggles.
We
honour Steve Biko today. We also honour the courageous activists of
today, people like S'buZikode and Shamitha Naidoo in Durban, people
like many of you here today in Grahamstown who refuse to accept
injustice.
I
commend you for your stand. And I applaud you for your courage. I
salute you for your dedication. The road ahead will not be easy but
we will walk it. We will walk it with each other and with the light
and power of God. And let there be no mistake about it God is on the
side of the oppressed and He is on the side of those that stand with
the oppressed.
Blessed
are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed
are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be
satisfied.
Blessed
are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed
are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
BISHOP
RUBIN PHILLIP
ANGLICAN
BISHOP OF NATAL(KZN)