Comrade Mondli, I am proud of you my chief, well articulated point.
Comradely, Cedric Gina. On 10/24/08, Mondli Hlatshwayo <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > 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 > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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] . -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
