Thanks for the article Roman. I have not read the book. I think Wokism is very dangerous. It is creating divisions within, as well as between different races. It is not going to solve the greater economic problems and unemployment in South Africa. Being woke is, in my opinion, destroying, breaking and dividing rather than uniting and building.
I think the central problem of South African political life is that the ANC, like many hegemonic parties in Africa, exists solely to perpetuate the interests of the bureaucratic bourgeoisie, and to rob two groups of people (minorities in the middle class, and the majority poor) to satiate the appetites of that group. All of the rhetoric that they use about transformation, redress, and development masks this fact. This is by no means a new thought, many political commentators have pointed to this before
My guess is that if you look at the most "woke" sectors of South African radio stations these days, like 702, they are disproportionately consumed by the bureaucratic bourgeoise. The kinds of people who like to quote Fanon and talk about radical economic transformation, they're far more likely to be overpaid (thanks COSATU) and inefficient low to mid tier bureaucrats than they are to be rural grant recipients or transient miners/farmworkers.
P.S. I will be interviewing Helen Zille this Friday at 8pm. Set a reminder here: https://youtu.be/IjGL9Dt_AVo
Nice piece Roman. I'll sleep on it before commenting further.
Thanks for the article Roman. I have not read the book. I think Wokism is very dangerous. It is creating divisions within, as well as between different races. It is not going to solve the greater economic problems and unemployment in South Africa. Being woke is, in my opinion, destroying, breaking and dividing rather than uniting and building.
I think the central problem of South African political life is that the ANC, like many hegemonic parties in Africa, exists solely to perpetuate the interests of the bureaucratic bourgeoisie, and to rob two groups of people (minorities in the middle class, and the majority poor) to satiate the appetites of that group. All of the rhetoric that they use about transformation, redress, and development masks this fact. This is by no means a new thought, many political commentators have pointed to this before
My guess is that if you look at the most "woke" sectors of South African radio stations these days, like 702, they are disproportionately consumed by the bureaucratic bourgeoise. The kinds of people who like to quote Fanon and talk about radical economic transformation, they're far more likely to be overpaid (thanks COSATU) and inefficient low to mid tier bureaucrats than they are to be rural grant recipients or transient miners/farmworkers.
Ironic though, that DA members use wokeness themselves, in order to villify anyone who speaks against the DA.