Social Apartheid

The 27^th of April has become a historic day for many South Africans; especially the black community. This day marks the 19^th anniversary of a false democracy and an exaggerated social integration. Freedom day is supposed to be a celebration of the ‘death’ of apartheid (separation) but one still finds traces of our dirty history in current society.

I had decided to spend my ‘freedom-day’ in Newtown at ‘Back To the City’; this event was a celebration of all that is Hip Hop, featuring B-boy dancers, rappers, graffiti artists, Dj’s, poets..etc. All these ‘different’ styles of hip hop came together to share and celebrate the life and role of Hip Hop in our current society.

The interesting thing about all these different groups within this culture is how they ‘fought’ to be different from the rest; this is clear when you look at their self-expressions through the attire that they chose on the day. What I noticed by looking at these people who claim to be individuals, was a trend. You could tell the poets apart from the skaters, rappers and vice versa.  I realised that defining yourself is stripping yourself of being an individual. By labeling yourself; one has to be conscious of the fact that you are calling/naming yourself according to a criteria and behavior already set by someone else for you, eg rappers sagging their pants.

Like any other Hip Hop event, you get what are called ‘wack cats’ and these are artists that produce mainstream ‘bubble-gum’ (nonsense) music that so many who claim the culture, enjoy. The separation of the stages was a wonderful idea as each stage catered for the different tastes of individuals. The stages showed, very clearly, who was there for the hip hop and who came to just have fun and kill time in the excitement.

Although it was my first time at the event, it was clear that this event was pretty big. The number of people in attendance was massive and the atmosphere at the Red Bull Stage was phenomenal. Hip Hop has evolved into a new way of self-expression, especially considering how dub-step is growing bigger and bigger within the culture. Although the main stage had relatively prominent artists, it was really difficult to enjoy their performances as there were technical issues between the microphone and the speakers; thus making it difficult to get the full experience of the artist’s work. Even if there were no technical problems with the equipment, I could not help but feel as though the main stage was there to promote artists instead of celebrating the culture and enjoying the hip hop. The performances lacked emotion and sincerity, whereas the second stage just pulled the crowd and kept them there. One artist in particular that really impressed me was young white man who was mimicking dub-step beats using his mouth.

A part of me was impressed by the number of white people who actually came to the event(as few as there were) to share and experience a culture primarily associated with black people. The fact that they chose to come to this event, instead of the Metallica concert that was happening on the same day means that there is a difference but still no change in the integration of races within South Africa.

The fact that a relatively huge rock band had a concert on the same day as the event I went to, speaks volumes about the meaning of ‘freedom-day’. It is clear that although direct apartheid was abolished, social apartheid still exists. I would see this as an insult to our democracy; to me it is just another sign that shows the lack of consciousness of the people of our country. The fact that after 19 years, we still cannot enjoy each other’s cultures, is a clear indicator that this is not accidental but it is by design.

The capitalist culture that so many countries have adopted will forever create apartheid between people. Understanding capitalism enables one to understand socio-political structures that exist in society to maximize monetary gain.

Apart from all the politics of the day, I enjoyed the event and I would gladly buy tickets for the next ‘Back to the City’, not because I’m such a huge fan of the culture but because the atmosphere is one that betrays literature and can only be understood through experience.

For once in my life I had a glimpse of freedom. It felt as though I existed in a different time- where people around me did not care where everyone else came from or who/what they were; the law did not matter; people were smoking weed, laughing, dancing. A common love for a culture created unity among strangers- I felt FREEDOM!