Cde Modi you have hit the nail in right in the head.
Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2008 11:05:21 +0200From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]: [EMAIL
PROTECTED]: [YCLSA Discussion] Malema's Matric ResultsCC: [EMAIL PROTECTED];
[EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Hi comrades
I want to state it from the very onset that I am not a Julius Malema's fan. I
really disagree with a number of statements that have been made by Malema in
the media. I think his approach to politics is not advancing the interest of
the South African youth but that is debate for another day.
On the other hand, I do think though that those who are socialists and
activists should not fall into the trap of the petty bourgeois elements, the
analysts of the bourgeois order and the mass media. During our dark of the
struggle, formal education and qualifications were always taken with a pinch of
salt. We knew that in general formal education was there to serve the interest
of the apartheid capitalist system.
Our approach was to go to the school and use them as a site of struggle. Of
course, we studied and got formal qualification but individual qualifications
and certificates were not glorified. If you read a popular pamphlet issues by
students of 1976 called, "To town, To Ellof", you will notice that for them the
certificate was the struggle. We had a lot of comrades who did not have all
these formal qualifications but they performed better politically. In many
cases, these comrades were sharper than those who had university qualification.
The struggle was their school.
In fact, their education was what we call popular education which was based on
collective learning and sharing of experiences. These were grassroots
intellectuals or what Gramsci would call organic intellectuals. A number of
these comrades were shop stewards, student leaders and so on. In fact, these
comrades were able to debate with professors and academics. These comrades ran
their own study circles and read the Learning Nation of the then New Nation.
The mass movement and the struggle gave these comrades education. .
Today, we are faced with a situation where certain petty bourgeois elements
want to judge us on the basis of our grammar, pronunciation, certificates and
even matric results. In other words, it is only those who have masters degree
who are entitled to public opinions. We must never forget that the apartheid
system never provided the black working class children with proper education.
Even today, it is the kids of the middle class and the ruling class who are
able to excel in formal education because they have all the material support
from their parents.
Over the past few days, I witnessed a very painful and a touching incident in
Freedom Park, the South of Johannesburg. I had gone for a meeting there. There
was a working class kid at the meeting. He is probably three years old but he
could not hold the pen properly. Now if you were to compare that with middle
class and upper class kids, what do you get? The kids from better family
backgrounds at that age are starting to read and write. They even speak English
fluently. They are exposed to computers. Now we can see right from the
beginning that this working class kid is unlikely to compete with the kids of
the middle classes.
I have worked with a lot of good comrades who do not have matric results. Do I
then undermine these comrades just because they never matriculated? I think
that would be reactionary and backward on my part. I have to confess that these
comrades sometimes perform political tasks much better than the
certificate-wielding petty bourgeois elements.
Yours in the struggle for the total emancipation of the working class
Mondli Hlatshwayo
0843773003_________________________________________________________________
Join the all-new Windows Live Messenger family
http://get.live.com
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You are subscribed. This footer can help you.
Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this
message.
You can visit the group WEB SITE at
http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options,
pages, files and membership.
To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [EMAIL PROTECTED] . You don't have to put anything
in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part.
All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [EMAIL
PROTECTED] .
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
