Medialternatives

For Desmond Tutu, the 1989 Peace March was a “tipping point”, for Allan Boesak, it “wasn’t about getting permission, it was about marching for peace come what may”. Those who were in the front of the 30 000 gathering which became the last “illegal march” under apartheid, at least in the minds of the majority of people who were there — a supreme act of defiance against the regime of FW de Klerk — appear to contradict today’s revisionists who at once focus on the failure of the government to suppress the march as evidence of the man’s noble intentions (which had yet to manifest in tangible policy) while writing off an act of insurrection by Cape Town’s Mayor at the time, Gordon Oliver.

Oliver is a Unitarian and thus his views are not readily given the kind of credit they deserve, at least as far as the Anglican Church is concerned. I attended today’s commemorative event hosted by St Georges Cathedral and was swept up in the highly emotional interfaith service which appeared to unite various strands of the Abrahamic tradition. From a Call to Prayer by Yusef Ganief which utilised the supreme acoustics of the venue, to the closing hymnal of Birkat Khohanim, a Judaic paeon to Peace sung by Jessica Thorn, the whole event struck a raw nerve. I was simply and elegantly brought to tender tears by the Cape Cultural Collective, after a candid speech by the Cape Flats’ Cheryl Carolus who surely embodies the youthful rebellion of the time?

It is easy to forget the kind of political will which exemplified itself in People’s Power and which made the United Democratic Front (UDF) such a revolutionary force in South Africa. One can always slip into neat semantics of the kind which gets people Nobel Peace Prizes and forget the fortitude and determination which marked the crowd of “students, business people, domestic workers, civic and political activists; of every race, faith, age and class”, some of whom had witnessed the Purple Rain debacle ten days earlier and the chaotic start of a defiance campaign spurred on by an all-white election, and a velvet revolution which was occurring in Eastern Europe (which would result in the End of the Cold War and fall of the Berlin Wall).

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CAPE TOWN empresario, chick magnet and purveyor of hard liquor held what must be rated as one of the most Over the Top (OTT) 60th birthday celebrations ever. The date – Saturday April 5, The venue, the Royal Albert Hall in the bohemian paradise of Lower Woodstock. Here are some snippets — I am greeted by Wonder Woman, a barrage of artists on roller skates, odd members of a 70 piece orchestra, Waddy Jones and an “8-year-old boy” whom I mistake for a live alien from Zeta Reticuli.

The alien is eyeballing me, with the ancient eyes of a creature who has just traveled a million light years across the interstellar tide in a fifties flying saucer (with matching soap dish). I rub my brow, but everything is still out of focus. Is this it, an extraterrestrial contactee, at an art party of all places? My unconscious screams — I am co-hallucinating, or maybe somebody slipped me a Mickey Finn? It all compresses down, an 8 foot high human transmogrified into an Eloi. I may as well have tripped down a rabbit hole and ended up with Jessica, the March Hare and the Red Queen. 

Mary Maddock signs Cape Town declaration

A GROUNDBREAKING declaration calling for an end to all forced and coerced psychiatric procedures and for the development of alternatives to psychiatry was signed at Cape Town ’s Robben Island Gateway in a ceremony held on Monday, March 24.

Members of MindFreedom International and local and international psychrights activists gathered to witness the historic occasion in which Mary Maddock, founder of MindFreedom Ireland, handed over the document to Moosa Salie of the World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry.

The declaration recognizes South Africa’s contribution to the struggle and the need to eliminate all forms of torture and coerced treatment. A spokesperson said: “South Africa has an admirable Bill of Rights, especially article 12 which grants all citizens the right to security in and control of the body, as well as bodily and psychological integrity”, but he cautioned against being too upbeat about current legislation, “Although South Africa has ratified the UN convention on the Rights of the Disabled which includes all those given psychiatric labels, notions such as self-ownership and the right to refuse treatment have yet to be incorporated in national legislation.

“We renew our fight today, against discrimination, injustice and for human rights in order to empower and improve the quality of life for those considered different or maladjusted, and others marginalized and disadvantaged by society, including those labeled with psychiatric disorders,” declares the groundbreaking document which follows on last years Declaration of Dresden opposing the use of forced electroshock, also known as Electro Convulsive Therapy (ECT) which is increasingly being used in poor and developing countries.

As more countries develop psychiatric services there is a significant increase in involuntary hospitalizations, forced treatment and drugging to conform to the biomedical model of human behaviour.

MindFreedom made news headlines when it assisted psychiatric patients fleeing detention in the United States under laws which have resulted in the incarcaration of people with different religious and political beliefs. The Declaration also follows last week’s ISAD conference in the city, sponsored by the pharmaceutical industry.

CAPE TOWN: “Christian Dauriac has produced a work of art,” says artist Zavick Zaroff Botha who in conjunction with Marianne, the premier French Wine estate in Africa, and Franck Malassigne, has created a startling new piece that will be forever associated with the estate’s 2004 Pinotage.

The Marianne Pinotage won an award at the ABSA Top 10 Pinotage ceremony held at Cape Town’s Castle on Thursday, March 6 2008. The award, sponsored by the Pinotage Association in conjunction with ABSA, saw Zavick’s original artwork commended for its innovative interpretation of the wine-making process.
The collaboration is a natural development for Botha, who stumbled upon the vineyard in 2007. “I could taste the fullness of the berries and Mr Duriac explained that they were 100% Pinotage. I immediately fell in love with the estate.” Zavick believes he has captured the very essence of Marianne in a select artwork produced exclusively for Mr Duriac.

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AS Cape Town gears up for the 2010 soccer world cup, fears are being expressed that local arts and culture will be driven onto the sidelines as much-needed financial support is redirected into building and construction around the soccer stadium. Instead of seeing the event as a purely FIFA affair, it should rather be seen as an opportunity for Capetonians from all walks of life to express how they feel about the Mother city.

Soccer fans coming to Cape Town want a lot more than the soccer. The whole city is being revamped, but as usual, arts and culture enjoys Cinderella Status. This blog would therefore like to announce a competition for the best Cape Town Anthem. Aspiring composers and musicians are asked to incorporate landmarks, history and geography into a modern theme that can be used to combat the FIFA-fication of Cape Town. We are not simply a soccer venue, and a lot more should come out of the cup than a bunch of horribly deconstructed buildings that nobody will be able to afford to use or occupy after the tournament goes away.

Cape Town deserves a lot more from its City than foreign aid, Swiss dignitories and Pommies making money. Where are the opportunities for locals to participate in the economic feasting that is going on behind closed doors? It is time for the City to put money on the table as far as the Arts are concerned, without which, the World Cup will be just another World Cup without anything except Table Mountain to remind an international audience that Cape Town exists.

Send Entries to Cape Town Anthem, PO Box 4398, Cape Town 8000

THE man who produced the first serious attempt to fictionalize Observatory and the Cape Town art scene in a contemporary narrative, was saved from the gutter by his wife Christine, a wealthy heiress who later took her own life in mysterious circumstances — some say a protest against a stifling academic environment and the constant globetrotting of her husband.

Ashraf and I sit down at a local café – Le Petit Paris. It is 1995. Fresh back from San Francisco, I casually mention a novel in progress, The Fleshiton, a surrealistic orgy that is part Science Fiction novel, part romantic disaster. My final break-up with Rehane Abrahams has had devastating consequences and there is only one thing to do, regroup, plan ahead. Write the “great novel”.

We arrange a reading in the Tamboerskloof home of my actress sister, Carolyn. Needless to say, the academic is a little shocked. I have painted characters from a post-gender existence with a landscape that cross-references pop-culture, Aushwitz and the blues. Lindzi Rabinowitz and architect Johnny Jacobson are there, but my kabbalistic erotic fantasy fails to impress them.

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WHILE there seems to be some consternation by social advocacy groups that Cape Town’s proposed nuisance bylaws will outlaw begging and fail in the interpretation of statutes as they are applied to the poor, there is another side to the story of public nuisance in the city.

For years, buskers have had a raw deal from council, and it seems an unappreciative response from local business who see panhandlers and “begging for entertainment” as a public nuisance. Let’s get real, some buskers aren’t that good, but they deserve our support. Will the “begging bylaw” be applied to street entertainers, who routinely cadge tourists and passersby for the odd buck?

If you are one of the many “public nuisances” in the city, then you have the right to be outraged by remarks made by JP Smith. Will panhandlers be arrested if they get a “negative” response? Will buskers be thrown in the tjokkie for “touching” tourists with their presentation? For some, the “touching” issue is a sensitive one, and a sad indightment of the Cape caste system that turns some residents into “untouchables”.

What looks reasonable on paper, could very well turn out to be exceptionally draconian, since, who hasn’t been “touched” by poverty? Who hasn’t felt the heart move within, while listening to a Kwela player on Long Street, or a Marabi musician in St Georges Mall, some Goema in Greenmarket Square? The DA would love to clean the streets of all those troublesome locals, while turning Cape Town into a Singapore for developers who have absolutely no interest in supporting “street entertainment” and who want nothing more than to “ban poverty” by pushing the poor into the ghetto.

Then there are people like myself, who I must confess, have been forced to panhandle their wares on occasion for want of a decent living. Are we going to be arrested simply so that the bylaw can get a decent hearing in court? There are many buskers in Cape Town who attract tourists and get absolutely no support from our new pro-rich, anti-poor “larney” council who are the real untouchables. Let’s remember those of us who will never give up busking, since it is the one thing that is guaranteed to put you in touch with the people. So much for the Cape’s anti-touching laws.