Folk the Park and the Neoliberal South Africa

(This is a slight introduction to the research I will be immersing myself into for the next few months, its still a bit disjointed, and incomplete, but I shall be building on it over the next year in preparation for my dissertation.)

Folk the Park, a guerrilla folk festival held at either Emmarentia Dam or Zoo Lake, is a seemingly political activity with no political agenda. It is now looking forward to its fifth event and is attended by over 200 people, a large majority of those in organisation, attendance and performance are punks.  I plan to study how the punks occupy the space of Folk the Park. In terms of their dress, performance, and interaction in order to better understand Levi Straus’s idea that “Images cannot be ideas but they can ... co-exist with ideas in signs and, if ideas are not yet present, they can keep their future place open for them and make its contours apparent negatively.” (Strauss 1962; 13)  I would like to explore what ideas could be extrapolated; Folk the Park being a sign, and because of its context with in Johannesburg, a post-apartheid city – in just existing it creates a space for meaningful ideas. I shall juxtapose this with a study of how previous events in South African music have been seen to have meaning, or ideas attached to them.  

Folk the Park is seemingly political in relation to law. The law in Johannesburg stating that to have more than 15 people in a public space constitutes a protest, a law which has its roots in the Riotous Assembly and Suppression of Communist Amendment Act, Act no 15 of 1954. But one could go further back to the first take-over of land in the 1600’s with the reclaiming of the commons, when land became property that could be owned. The disjuncture comes in when we look at the fact that all Folk the Park stands for is a free platform for bands to play their music and jam with other musicians, within a public space. 

Folk the Park is not a new concept, in the 1950’s The Kwela Jam Sessions were held at the Zoo Lake. They started coming under government attention when white kids from the suburbs became interested in them. This is an example of another instance in history which underlies a seemingly political activity with no agenda. But in having the situation meaning has occurred. There are multiple instances of this in South African music history. Another example would National Wake – a multi-racial punk band who existed between 1979 and 1982. While they believed themselves to have no agenda, their existing created meaning within the context of Apartheid.

In using Folk the Park I hope to attain an understanding of the meaning or ideas that this festival creates in today’s context in relation to a past of South African music which also embodied the ideal of seeming like protest but had no underlying agenda, and the meaning those instances created in a South African context.

In doing this I hope to explore the relationship of the nature of ideas to the study of anthropology and is theoretical framework. For if anthropology is but a study which transposes ideas (theories) upon subjects what is its role as a science? Or how does it question the nature of science, being a largely deductive discipline.

In order to understand the meaning that such an event as Folk the Park would have in the greater scheme of things is no simple task, for a history of South Africa, and Johannesburg is to some extent necessary. The cross pollination of Colonial frames into Africa is something that has to be detailed.

Let us start in the micro. A conversation turned rant had with a friend, a self-labelled punk, who regularly attends and performs at Folk the Park, Mike B. This conversation took place at The Bohemian, a live music venue in Richmond, Johannesburg. “What can an upper middle class kid in South Africa do? I know I have money behind me, and my parents expect me to be the same as them, get a job, make more money. I don’t want to fucking make money. What’s the point about singing about anarchy here. What difference does it make? We’re a minority. I’m just going to sing about beer and getting drunk. Fuck singing about politics.”

He stops, calms about and apologises. “Sorry. I’m frustrated.”

The frustration that Mike feels is a common sentiment amongst the group of Jozi punks with which I hang out regularly. Caught in a post-apartheid, neoliberal, capitalist system. Most of them do have money behind them, but they see the nature of inequality and hate the fact that they do. Money is the evil, gained off of the backs of exploitation during apartheid.

The story of South Africa from 1994 is not a new one. Nelson Mandela was elected as the countries president, and the nation’s ideology was meant to shift to one that embraced a non-racial South Africa. (Tomlinson, et al; 2003) But looking back to 1979 and footage from a National Wake show held on Rocky Street in Yoeville, the project of apartheid only seems to have thickened. The footage shows a muli-racial crowd dancing to the multi-racial band National Wake.  In an interview with Ivan Kadey, rhythm guitarist and only surviving member of the band, he explained that the streets in apartheid were never segregated. 

It seems that now, in the wake of Apartheid even though the laws the held class, and racial divisions in check have been removed. A culture of fear in the growing disparity between the high rates of poverty and unemployment, lack of housing has taken on the new face of segregation. The symbol of this fear being high walls, an influx of security companies – privately owned and the growing number of boomed off areas, that have become common in the upper-class suburbs to the north of the city. As Louw suggest the adding of these security measures “encodes class relation and residential segregation (rass/class/ethnicity) more permanently in the built environment.” (Louw; 387)

The dismantling of apartheid gave way not to a mutli-racial South Africa, but a neo-liberal South Africa. The essence of this era’s “economic fundamentals” are based in the necessity of attracting foreign capital, redistributing income, expanding the economy, balancing local government budgets, and counter-acting the AIDS epidemic. But the problems now faced but the country and its citizens that need to be solved in order to achieve a just system, do not seem to be aligned with the outcomes of neo-liberalism. (Tomlinson et al; 2003)

More-over it seems as if South Africa is still part of a colonial project, or a project of the “West”. While it may be argued that the West has become an integrated part of globalized culture, the disparities between the so called “first” and “third” worlds still remains evident. Johannesburg being a prime example in the micro of this macro picture; having both the traits of a first world economy– in its thriving business hub of Sandton, and the third world - present in the decaying city centre.

The hope portrayed for the beginning of the new South Africa by advertising agencies and consultants had been that foreign investment and tourists would flood to the city of Johannesburg. But the perception of the city as dangerous and the economy unstable stuck. And neither tourists nor investment came willingly. Even as South Africa made the transition to a neoliberal agenda of privatization, a down-sized government, open-markets and wage restraints as were the international “best practices” – the Johannesburg city centre still has not restructured itself to be attractive to the international capitalist market. The city was deserted by the affluent white working class communities who retreated to the suburbs and to form their new economic centre in Sandton, as the city became the home to an influx of Africans from around the continent. This created a new hub of street traders, prostitutes and drug trading (Tomlinson et al, 2003).

Following its independence from the British colony South Africa was given the chance to remold itself. But the nature inherent in the structures of built society dictates a specific system of order - one that was inherited from the colonies. And Johannesburg as a city has not been able to break free from the ever looming presence of the Western World. We are still driven by its ideals, even though the majority of the population is in poverty, and with the introduction of privatised water and electricity the constitution promised in 1994 has been breached. What with Suez installing pre-paid water meters in Soweto in 2003, which led to massive water disconnections. (Bond; 122)

Around the world various groups and organisations have been standing up against the injustices of neo-liberalism, in South Africa the Anti- Privitisation Forum is at the fore-front. Their aim: to liberate electricity and water from expensive and unreliable meters. As well as to win access to basic lifeline electricity and water. (Bond; 124)

And within all of this turmoil, there is a group of middle class white kids inhabiting a park and playing music. For seemingly no end other than to play music. But on the inside there is more going on. As Mike’s rant shows, there are feelings of angst, guilt, frustration building up, of hopelessness of being an elite minority, of wanting a better world, in light of the poverty faced every day. And it is these ideas which I will explore within the context which I have so briefly outlined.

Spatial Time

There is something deeper to be said about the notion of “instant gratification” and punctuated time when looking into the industry of sex work and pornography. And it is evident in all the players. The prostitutes, their clients and a young group of anthropology students who sought, in a short instance, to find out more about how prostitutes spend their time on Oxford Road in Rosebank, Johannesburg. 

Report

This report will outline the events of the evening of Saturday the 31^st of March 2012, when said anthropology students set out to become voyeurs of the ladies of the night. As an anthropologist I could not help but study my peers as we embarked on this mission together. It would skew my findings if I did not.

We met at R’s house at 8pm, N was already there, she had been dropped off by her father. He was unaware of the plans for the night, although he was aware that she was there to do a project. I had gotten a ride with L. We convened in the kitchen and drank (rum for those still suffering the ills of the previous night, and coca-a-cola for those who were not of the drinking ilk) as we waited for the last member of tonight’s scouting crew to join us, A. The conversation revolved around sex, play parties and feminism.

A full hour late A arrives. We set off – walking towards Oxford Road, which is a few blocks away. The mood is jovial, conversation between N, A and I is focused on our research proposals. L and R are a short way ahead. They have stopped on the next corner, interrupting two prostitutes at work.

Error one: The prostitutes become hostile as R explains they are waiting for us, and gestures down the road. One of the ladies tells them to get out of their office. This momentary action has caused us to come under suspicion. We learn that travelling in a group is not a wise decision. For two reasons: firstly, it is not inconspicuous. Secondly, it is distracting.

We walk across the road, and lurk in some shadows. Discussing whether to walk on, split up or stay where we are, the decision is made to stay in a group. While we sit, smoking in the shadows. At 9.30pm a cop car rolls by, the ladies send off a whistle down the road, we assume this is to warn fellow prostitutes down the road that a van is approaching (but this is mere speculation). At 9.40 a silver combi pulls up to the corner that the ladies are standing on. They both approach the vehicle. After a brief discussion, one of the girls gets into the combi. The other is left on the corner.

The conversation in the group turns to how long the transaction will take from here on. R wanders how men can just rock up in the mood so quickly, he speculates it will take a while. I counteract him, saying 10 minutes maximum. R does not believe this is possible. The rest of the group join in. A concern comes up of how the ladies clean themselves after each transaction. Although they each have large bags, their contents are not known to us.

The lady that was left on the corner now makes her way down the road towards Corlett Drive. We wander if this is for safety, not wanting to be on the corner alone, or whether our presence has gotten to her, and she is moving to another spot. If it has she does not show a sign of it.

The other lady, who had gone with the silver combi, returns. The transaction has not taken more than ten minutes. R mouths his disbelief.

The lady is alone on the corner. At 10.10pm a man in black walks towards her. They talk, and walk up the road away from Oxford together. L and A set off to follow them. Another cop car drives past shortly after. We did not take down licence plate details. It could have been the same car. At 10.20 the lady who had walked towards Corlett Drive comes back up the street. She walks across the road, stopping midway on the island. She lifts her skirt (already so short that the cheeks of her bottom are sticking out) and flashes passing cars. She then takes some money out of her bag and counts it. She finishes this takes a bottle out of her bag, from where we are sitting it looks like wine, and drinks. She then makes a call. It is a short one, maybe two minutes. With the call finished she proceeds to whistle or yell “hey baby” at passing vehicles.

In this time L and A return, they have lost their targets. By 10.20pm the lady who they had set out to follow returns. She has hitched down her skirt, to below knee length and put on takkis. She looks respectable as she makes her way down Oxford towards town.

The lady on the island makes a phone call while yelling at us that “you will get what you deserve.” We choose this point to leave. The ethics of the situation, which we had been ignoring, now staring us in the face. We head back to R, N is getting picked up soon. We get back to the house and wait for N’s father. R wishes for L and I to stay so that it does not look as if N is hanging around with just R and A (both male). N’s father arrives, and she leaves. We retreat back to the kitchen to discuss.

We talk about the notion of time and living in a culture of instant gratification. Where if one has money ones desires can be fulfilled instantly.

Assessment

The concept of fulfilment has a deeper meaning in relation to time. If we argue that we live in punctuated time, then in this context, of the brief transactions between a sex worker and a client, this assumption would be correct. But this is in relation to a goal; if the purpose is to fulfil ones’ duty as a sex worker, or to obtain sexual gratification, or to study sex workers in periods of time. Then punctuated time becomes a reality, because if you are not fulfilling your task, then time is meaningless – in this context.  

If we look at the above story all that can be perceived from it is moments in time that seem significant to our aim, which is to see how prostitutes spend their time in between and during interactions with clients. The rest of the time becomes irrelevant. But time is nothing without movement in space. Which can also be dissected as time is in our analysis. What is important to this report is that we are on the street, so we do not describe the trees, or the cars driving by that do not stop. It becomes meaningless detail, because we are only reading meaning in relation to a specific goal; although our goal is not mediated by money but by information, which is a form of commodity to some extent.

But in this description it can be seen that firstly it is not just time, but space that can become punctuated. And secondly this perception of punctuation is in relation to a goal, and that the time and space that is not related to the goal at hand is meaningless.

This cannot be true in relation to how we actually perceive things if we want to maintain the idea that people move within time from past to present. That because we share the same space (this planet) that we all exist in the same frame of time. Time, and its meaning, becomes arranged around a subjective goal. Thus each person’s perception of time becomes subjective, as their space is subjective as is their goal. As is their perspective of what meaningless and meaningful time would be.

It seems that our current description of time is objective, that everybody adheres to the same time. But this is impossible because time is nothing without movement in space. And nobody inhabits the same space with others continuously. So at most we can say that time can be objectively spent with others, as in the case of the anthropologists studying the prostitutes in that their goal is the same; but subjective in relation to their previous experience through time and space, and their ulterior goals. But one could not assume that time is linear and we all exist in the same time, for we do not inhabit the same space.

The problem is the notion of moving forward and backwards in time - which creates the illusion that everyone is moving in linear time, from a point in the past to a point in the future and that time is punctuated by events. But in actuality it would seem that we live from meaningful moment to meaningful moment, with meaningless time in between; time that is not spent in relation to a goal. Time need not be conceived as linear but spatial. As our perception of past and future only exist within that space in time, in relation to other spaces in time.

Time is thus only noticeable in relation to the achievement of a goal, but the perception of the fulfilment of a goal must take place within a space. Because our perceptions of space are not linear, our perspective of time cannot be linear, and are not because we perceive time not in relation from one moment to the next, but in a mixed acquisition of thoughts about the present, past and future all embodied in different fragmented spaces.

Unemployment and the World Class African City

Johannesburg, South Africa, 2012, a city striving to be world class. One, like many developing countries, that is constrained by neo-liberal policy and a structural adjustment programme. And within the city and country and continent we find some of the highest unemployment rates of the newly independent states after the so called breaking away from the colonies in the twentieth century. While it was first opined that it would be the east that would fall and Africa that would flourish economically – this has turned out to not be the case. And a growing discourse around estrangement begins to surround the ever present decline in employment opportunities. Which I shall discuss in terms of the Comoroff’s picture of this estrangement being more related to a generational divide as opposed to class or race. But, before one can even begin to start looking at estrangement within these societies now suffering from the growing gap between the employed and the not so lucky – two questions must be asked. Firstly – what is this concept of a “World Class African City”? And secondly, if the underlying law of capitalist society is that the rate of profit is inversely related to labour costs, why is no body exploiting our desperate masses? A grim thought indeed, but this is the position we find ourselves in, with a very wealthy elite and a huge gap to the impoverished. Where is the money going?

To answer the first question I would like to go back to the beginnings of the African Nationalist Movements. Where did they evolve from? And the answer to this is that during colonialism there was a demand for local intermediaries – teachers, court interpreters, medical orderlies and agricultural extension workers – these intermediaries bridged the communication gap between the colonised and the coloniser, and became a small movement of Westernised black elite. While the movement paraded themselves as a liberation front the truth of the matter was they too wanted to enjoy the spoils of colonialism. A system which was not designed to develop the productive capacities of the colonies, but rather to extract the countries raw materials and ship them back to the mother land for processing and manufacturing.  So at the turn, when Africa became independent what replaced the colonial elite was now the new black elite.  And the exploitation of the black masses continued. (Mbeki 2009:6-7) This to me is the underlying premise of our World Class African City. One that is merely an extension of colonial rule. An exploitation vehicle.

The second question I do not have in my capacity to answer, yet, although I have an inkling it has something to do with the relationship between the private sector and the politics that rule it. But the picture I have so far painted is that of the emergence of a new elite, one that is still bound in some way to colonial ideals. And it is in this that we find the roots of the problems that have shaped mass unemployment in our country. If the World Class African City is the ideal towards which South Africa is striving, then there is no hope for the poor, for a world class city is a capitalist city, one where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. And it is out of this that the so called estrangement has emerged. But is it really anything new?

The Comoroff’s boldly state that estrangement is no longer mainly a problem of class, but of generation. (Comoroff 1999:284) Of shifting culture in a dynamic world. Perhaps in part they are right. When one looks at the rise of occult economies – the uneasiness of the youth and their need to blame the older generation for the rise in unemployment rates, for the lack of change in the post-apartheid system. And in turn finding new magic to do so, burn the witch – sell the body parts. (Comorof 1999:279-303) When cultural norms are flipped in Madagascar and it is women that emerge as the new provider, and the trade of sex becomes less of a taboo and more of a way of life. (Cole, Jennifer 2004:573-588) Where the youth in Senegal, although highly educated cannot find work, and kill time by perfecting the art of tea making. This now symbolises as a lack of productive activity - as opposed to a traditional art of the former generation. (Ralph 2008:1-29)

But to state that the problem of estrangement is that of a generational gap and put class on the back burner cannot be right in its entirety. Yes it is a new discourse, or perhaps an old one with new stories, for hasn’t it always been the way that the younger generation shall rebel against the old?  And while there may be shifting ideologies between the youth and their predecessors, are they all still not involved in the class struggling together? A struggle which still has its roots, and its present, in a colonial mind frame.

To speak of shifting identities with in a new context, is to bring an old topic back into the forefront. All we are asking is of the identity of the unemployed today. How are people evolving to fit into society today, and is that not the perpetual question of the new school anthropology? What is happening to people today in relation to the past? Because it seems that all our studies from the colonial era to now have been the study of people in a world changing due to western ideals being integrated into a global conscious. The identity of the unemployed hasn’t changed since the reclaiming of the commons in the 1600’s, they are still the peasants, and the elites are still the elite.   

References

·         Comoroff, Jean and John. 1999. “Occult Economies and The Violence of Abstraction: notes from the South African Postcolony.” American Ethnologist 26(2):279-303.

·         Cole, Jennifer. 2004. “Fresh Contact in Tamative, Madagascar: Sex, Money, and Intergenerational Transformation.” American Ethnologist 31(4):578-88.

·         Mbeki, Moeletsi. 2009. “Architects of Poverty.” Picoador Africa, Johannesburg.

·         Ralph, Micheal. 2008. “Killing Time.” Social Text 26(4):1-29