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Opinionista

Building a bridge over troubled waters

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Andrew Ihsaan Gasnolar was born in Cape Town and raised by his determined mother, grandparents, aunt and the rest of his maternal family. He is an admitted attorney (formerly of the corporate hue), with recent exposure in the public sector, and is currently working on transport and infrastructure projects. He is a Mandela Washington Fellow, a Mandela Rhodes Scholar, and a WEF Global Shaper. He had a brief stint in the contemporary party politic environment working for Mamphela Ramphele as Agang CEO and chief-of-staff; he found the experience a deeply educational one.

Building a bridge is easier said than done. South Africans have not mastered the art of real communication. It goes beyond likes on Facebook and Instagram. It will take serious commitment before the real work begins.

The arc of time has not yet swung in our favour. South Africa is still plagued by the ills of the past, the struggle of the present and the disillusionment and frustration of trying to transcend that reality.

We are not articulating that vision of something different, we don’t have enough people speaking about the alternative reality. We do sadly have an oversupply of hubris, arrogance and polarised and entrenched views.

Social media is a dangerous space. It is a space that allows us to believe our own web of bluster, and soon we begin to believe that we have “arrived” and that there is nothing else to do. We forget that there is real work to still do.

The number of Facebook friends, the Twitter followers, the desperate need for Instagram likes, and the reach on Google+ (well, maybe not, because no-one really uses it) are all perceived as measures of our ‘value’ in the world.

The arc of time will not simply swing because enough time has passed. That arc will need to be pushed into place, and the moment will need to be created by our collective effort. It will not simply spring into place because we have wished it to be so, but we will have to exert every nerve and sinew in order to bring that about.

Young South Africans need to begin to shift their focus from outrage to a space that charts a vision of a country that they wish to live in. We must be vigilant in our efforts to create that alternative reality.

Last year, I spent two months in a very real American city, a city that was known for its industrial and manufacturing power – but after the recession of 2008, that city shrunk from a population of over a million to just 600,000.

Baltimore, Maryland, reminds me of Cape Town. It is a gritty and real city where the truth cannot be ignored. We are reminded by incidents like Marikana or Ferguson or Soweto that certain lives matter more than others.

Baltimore has vibrant business districts, with a beautiful inner harbour area with plush suburbs and then entire neighbourhoods that are gutted empty and reflect the hurt of an entire generation.

Schooling in the “forgotten” parts of Baltimore remind me of parts of the Cape Flats and township areas of Cape Town. Hubris and your social media reach are not going to galvanise change here. We need so much more – we need for you to step up.

I am reminded about this disparity in the recent Cape fires that raged across Cape Town. I am not here to compare tragedies, but it has been very sad to see the response that predominately affluent area received in comparison to places like Langa or Khayelitsha or 2de Laan on the Cape Flats have received in the past.

This is an opinion which has been voiced for things that are often forgotten or don’t take centre stage, especially in times of crisis. We have seen the movement after Ferguson that Black lives matter. We should be able to reflect on ourselves and realise we can do so much better.

We are going to require a meaningful conversation but more action on the part of young South Africans to shift that reality. The spatial planning of a place like Cape Town still remains a precursor for the amount of amenities and facilities available to citizens. This statement is true in places like Baltimore, it is true in places across the world; but the reminder is that it is true in our home and we should actively work to change that.

The “talking heads”, as President Zuma likes to call them, may be providing us all with insight on the problems of the day, analysis of what is right and wrong with South Africa. Young South Africans need to craft a different vision for our country.

America still struggles with trying to deal with the legacy issues of discrimination, slavery and oppression. We are uniquely placed, especially as young South Africans, to craft a different and new path.

President Obama, just this weekend, had this to say –

Selma is such a place. In one afternoon 50 years ago, so much of our turbulent history?—?the stain of slavery and anguish of civil war; the yoke of segregation and tyranny of Jim Crow; the death of four little girls in Birmingham; and the dream of a Baptist preacher?—?all that history met on this bridge.

America may have marked its own historic day, and the pictures of the event are indeed iconic. The speech by Mr Obama is one of his most powerful dealing with issues of race. But is it really enough on its own?

As the custodians of our democracy, we must begin to meet on this bridge. We cannot fall prey to hubris or arrogance. We must never overstate our voice, but we must begin to articulate our voice meaningfully.

It is easy to get lost in the amount of likes your Instagram picture of mange tout is able to garner, but that is not what this moment requires.

We require a commitment from young South Africans to actively begin to shape the conversation of the future. We are a generation well placed to begin the journey. We should be able to throw off the shackles of polarisation, prejudice and the status quo – we should chart a different path because our voice matters.

This is not an easy journey. However, South Africans are accustomed to difficulties, and the inconvenience of speaking truth to power is a necessary evil if we are ever to find our way to that bridge.

South Africa needs to meet on the bridge of our choosing and making. We cannot flounder anymore amongst the weeds of hubris and the need for popularity – we must begin to craft a real vision of change. DM

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