A black “Golliwog” woman screams desperately as a blonde-haired woman cuts into her genitals with a cake knife. Then smiling, the blonde woman leans over and feeds the slice to the now laughing figure, cheered on by her giggling peers.
This was the scene at a recent event held by the Swedish Artists Organisation to celebrate its 75th birthday. Artist Makode Linde was invited to design a cake, and chose to highlight the Swedish Cultural Ministry’s work against female genital mutilation (FGM).
Linde chose to create a cake in the shape of a stereotyped racial depiction of an African woman – the “golliwog” caricature with big white teeth, a long neck held up by gold rings, large breasts and pitch-black skin. Linde lay under the cake with only his head exposed.
Guests were then invited to cut slices of cake from the figure’s genitals. Linde screamed in mock-agony as each guest came up.
The image that spread all over the internet was one of Swedish Cultural minister Lena Adelsohn-Liljeroth laughing and feeding Linde slices of the cake she had just cut from the figure’s genitals.
Backlash
The image caused outrage and shock, and the African Swedish National Association called for Adelsohn-Liljeroth’s resignation. Kitimbwa Sabuni, the head of the group, said: “According to Moderna Museet (the museum where the cake was on display), the cake eating party was intended to highlight the problem of female circumcision, but how this is supposed to be done with a cake depicting a racist caricature of a black woman … is unclear.”
Others argue that the shock people felt when they saw the images were an intentional part of the artist’s installation, and that it highlighted still-present attitudes towards Africa in western societies such as Sweden.
Liepollo Pheko (@Liepollo99) , Executive Director at NGO Trade Collective and prominent South African social commentator said:
“This is so nasty and so vile. Sarah Baartman was the object of physical humiliation and mutiliation thoughout her life and, apparently, throughout her death. She was sliced up while on display in Europe, and is again sliced up long after the last of her brutalised remains finally made it home. To even use the image of slicing a Black woman’s genitalia — supposedly in solidarity with women who are sliced on the continent — is perverse beyond words. And while smiling and carrying on like it’s some S&M thrill”
Max Fisher, editor of the Atlantic in the US had the following to say about the cake:
“The African in the room is a caricature, an outdated Western golliwog distortion that looks nothing like actual Africans. The black face, the tiny limbs, the face paint that exists only in Western portrayals – it’s a symbol of the Western imagining of helpless, agency-less, child-like Africans.”
Apology
Adelsohn-Liljeroth has sinced apologisedfor her participation, but still supports the manner in which Linde chose to highlight FGM. In a statement she said “I am sincerely sorry if anyone has misinterpreted my participation. While the symbolism in the piece is despicable, it is unfortunate and highly regrettable that the presentation has been interpreted as an expression of racism by some. The artistic intent was the exact opposite.”
Witsies were surprised and curious to see red Kony 2012 posters covering campus when they arrived yesterday morning.
The flyers formed part of a collaboration between Stop Kony SA and Model IBSA (India, Brazil, South Africa) who aimed to raise awareness for the Kony 2012 campaign. The original campaign was started by charity organisation Invisible Children, to create awareness about the Lord’s Resistance Army leader Joseph Kony in central Africa the hopes that he could be arrested for his crimes by the end of this year.
The posters were a part of a worldwide campaign to “Cover the Night” on the 20th of April, especially among the youth.
SA Stop Kony leader Giancarlo Agrizzi, Wits second year International Relations (IR) student, spoke to WitsVuvuzela before the event. Agrizzi had met Invisible Children leader Jason Russell in the US who then personally motivated him.
“I would say that they have been successful, I mean, the AU sending 5 000 troops is quite a major achievement for anyone … We hope they will be even more successful after the 20th of April,” said Agrizzi.
5 000 posters were put up all over Wits, including the East-West tunnel, the bridge and Central Block.
Esther Caddy, president of IBSA and vice-president Chantelle Holthuis, said they hoped to get Wits students motivated to find out more about the campaign.
“The students in South Africa hadn’t really taken part in Kony 2012 and they weren’t aware what it meant,” said Holthuis, “so we wanted to make an impact in our immediate environment.”
In reaction to the criticism the campaign has received, Caddy responded, “It’s not calling for pro-war activism, it’s calling more for global awareness and for global action.”
“It was needed, and what I like most about this campaign is that it is youth empowered,” explained Bambi Stewart, first year IR student and team leader for the night,
When Wits Vuvuzela asked Stewart if she thought the campaign would succeed in Kony’s arrest by the end of the year, she said “I think the campaign will be successful in creating awareness, but I’m not too sure about him being arrested.”
GALLERY
Photos by Akinoluwa Oyedele and Lisa Golden
Poster lies in flower bed in front of Great Hall
Team leader Bambi Stewart preps her team as they get ready to cover the night
Posters cover a wall in Central Block
Esther Caddy (left) and Chantelle Holthuis (right), President and Vice-President of Model IBSA
Handprinting the banner that later hung over the highway
Voice of Wits (VoW) is introducing a new line-up of shows and presenters as some VoW veterans move onto commercial stations like YFM.
VoW interviewed for new staff at the start of the year and a new batchw of presenters, news reporters, marketers and designers are finding their groove in the station. New presenters will be starting after their six-week training programme which is designed to get them comfortable with how the station functions.
Most of the recruits are from the Humanities and Commerce, Law and Management faculties. Lucky Mdaweni , the marketing manager for VoW is excited about the talent coming in. “They’ve jumped onto journalism, already getting stories and really doing good impressive work,” he said.
One of the new recruits, Sithengwa Mzili, is finding his place as “the only guy in a newsroom full of women”. “It’s exciting stuff, its challenging me, its opening me up into the world,” he said.
Along with old presenters moving to different time slots, there are new shows for Witsies to look out for.
The Buzz will showcase unsigned performers who are looking a platform to promote their work. The Afro Box is a four-hour show on Sundays which will promote local music with an SA-based playlist as well as explore local record labels, managers and marketers.
VoW is also looking into a Kwaito show and an hour-long law show is being introduced on Monday nights.
Well-known presenters Musa Mousse, MoStar Kaiser and Smash Afrika have been picked up by YFM.
The new line-up will be posted on the website and posters advertising the new VoW family will be out on campus this week.
With 600 000 BA graduates currently unable to find jobs, matriculates deciding what to study at university should consider whether or not their degree will make them employable.
The Politics Society hosted Jeffrey Sehume, an academic and researcher at the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (MISTRA) to discuss the value of a BA degree in today’s economically-unfriendly environment.
Sehume highlighted the “transdisciplinary” approach to education which encourages a holistic, non-abstract alternative to the “grand narratives” followed when studying subjects like politics, psychology or anthropology.
“Universities are about minds, not markets” said Sehume. He said that the BA degree “went wrong” in the late 80’s when “real life problems fell away to text”, and that academic writing and ideas became “only of concern to one another”.
Sehume discussed how educational models used by the “Asian tigers” had evolved from the ability to memorise and repeat to a focus on analytical abilities and taking ownership of knowledge production.
In the discussion, 3rd year Bandile Ngidi asked if it was possible to “manufacture passion” for subjects where jobs are available, namely the science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The “STEM” industry has over 800 000 positions which need to be filled.
Sehume said that unfortunately “academic learning is not enough” and that if BA students cannot find jobs they should apply for the various FET colleges, which the government has allocated substantial funding to develop.
However Sehume did emphasise that universities play a role in society that is not confined to learning certain skills but allow a place in society where people can learn ethics, critical analytical skills and a chance to understand the interconnectedness of society’s issues.
While the release of the second Stop Kony video counted as a viral whimper against the bang of its predecessor, the campaign’s tactics could be working.
The follow up video, which was made to address concerns raised by its detractors, has only one and a half million views compared to the original videos’ 87 million views.
However, the African Union’s decision to launch a military force could indicate that despite the searing criticism, the campaign might have created enough political pressure to achieve its aim of having Joseph Kony arrested by the end of 2012.
The African Union is launching a 5 000-strong military force from South Sudan with the sole purpose of finding and arresting Kony, leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army.
The original video, designed to make Kony “famous” in an attempt to have him arrested for his war crimes, became a hot talking-point because of the methods it advocated and the way it portrayed the situation in central Africa.
While Invisible Children, the organisation behind the videos, advocated for a US military intervention to find Kony, this African solution might be more palatable to detractors who said the video was too westernised and encouraged a “saviour-complex” in the West.
Both videos call for the international community to “Cover the Night” on April 20th, an initiative that encourages the youth to cover their cities in posters of Kony in order to “make him famous” so that governments will feel continued pressure from their citizens to support the efforts to capture Kony.
NUCLEAR energy is “too little, too late, at too high a price” as an option for the country’s growing energy crises says Greenpeace South Africa.
Amnesty International and Greenpeace united at Wits on Wednesday are to give a presentation titled The Nuclear Debate: Lessons from Fukushima and Human Rights to highlight the connection between the human right to a safe and healthy environment, and the health and environmental implications of nuclear energy plants.
The South African government has tendered a R1-trillion contract to build six nuclear reactors, a deal which would account for 20% of world expenditure on nuclear energy in the next two decades.
Greenpeace representative Ferrial Adam challenged the three “myths of nuclear power” being; nuclear energy is the best way to respond to energy needs, that it is safe, and that it is the answer to reduce carbon emissions which would in turn help slow down climate change.
Amir Bagheri, an Amnesty International representative and former Wits student used his presentation to highlight the connection between a healthy environment and access to basic human rights, pointing out that all human rights are effected when people are forced to live in unhealthy environments.
Adam used the Fukushima nuclear disaster, which occurred over a year ago, to show how radiation can make a very large area around the site uninhabitable. She contested that while pro-nuclear groups are quick to point out that there were no fatalities from meltdown at the plant, the health consequences of radiation exposure are long term, such as increased chances of developing cancer and a rise of birth defects in children.
Along with the health risks, there are no effective methods of disposing of radioactive nuclear waste, which remains dangerous for centuries after it has been created.
To see photos from Greenpeace’s recent campaign against nuclear energy click here
ACCLAIMED Somali writer Nuruddin Farah yesterday told Wits staff and students “South Africa is not interested in improving education” in comparison with other African states.
The country’s attitude impacted on literacy and the ability to develop an African consciousness, he said. He was giving a lecture which he named “Green in the salad of my judgement”, a nod to Shakespeare. The reference was used to introduce Farah’s experiences growing up in Somalia, and being exiled for writing novels about his homeland.
Farah spoke of the “grotesque caricature” the media had made of Somalia, and how important it was to remember “there is still love” and humanity in Somalia. He emphasised the need to portray Somalis as equal to all humans, and therefore understand that “they deserve the same justice”.
Farah’s eloquent anecdotes from his childhood and time in exile demonstrated how much Somalia’s oral tradition had influenced his story telling.
Farah has been praised for his portrayal of female consciousness in his novels and has, in the past, said women could provide strong leadership in his war-torn country. Questioned on this during the panel discussion that followed his lecture, he said: “Women are never the initiators of war in history… However they lose very much. They know very well the consequences of war.”
Farah encouraged young Africans to produce their own cultural knowledge by reading in their native language, highlighting the removal of one’s original self when experiencing the world through a foreign language.
After the lecture, Maimuna AY Darir, a Somali student at the African Leadership Academy, told Vuvuzela: “It is interesting to me because there are not a lot of Somali writers out there telling this story in a non-fictional way… It’s really motivating for young Somali writers to actually believe they can do something better for themselves.”
The panel, which included Farah and Wits academics Prof James Ogude, Prof Véronique Tadjo and Dr John Masterson, discussed themes of post-colonial alienation, the role of women in the leadership of Somalia and representations of Somalia in the media.
See my live tweets from the lecture @Lisa_Golden_SA #NurridinFarah
It’s hard to get a “unique perspective” on the Run Free Run Jozi 10km that streamed through Jo’burg last night, because it felt more like a group effort than an individual attempt.
We started with the high of running across the illuminated Nelson Mandela Bridge, with the side walk filled with photographers and well wishers, and fireworks creating the lights and noise needed to make us feel like we were doing something important.
But we were soon alone, our rhythmic jogging creating a new soundtrack as we made our way through the darker, cooler part of our run.
While Nike did a good job of making sure their recognisable Swoosh was on every piece of merchandise they provided, the mandatory T-shirts created a perhaps unintended effect.
While we looked like a homogenous group of neon yellowness, moving like a stream of radioactive honey through the city, closer up most runners had a name or motivation on the back of their shirts.
As the residents of Hillbrow and Yeoville came out to watch our strange display, they read the names and used them to cheer us on individually.
Kids lined up to do the obligatory high-fives, well some locals decided it was enough to scream “Run for your lives!” as we dashed past their homes.
The Hillbrow Hill got the better of most of us, but the last push to the end was a nice downhill slope, allowing us less-fit runners to cross the finish line with the allusion we had been running the whole time.
While we all enjoyed the day off on Wednesday, many Wits students did not know why Human Rights Day is celebrated on 21 March every year. We spoke to Wits students about their understanding of Human Rights Day. Watch the video below to hear their responses.
The SRC has given a March 14 deadline for anyone wishing to make suggestions on amending its current constitution.
“This constitutional review process affects every student and student organisation in this University, therefore we encourage students and organisations to get involved and take part in this review process by making submissions,” said Yusuf Peer, the Policy, Constitution and Legal Affairs Officer in the SRC.
Submissions will go to the Constitutional Review Commission, consisting of five senior law students. They will review the suggestions and constitution models from other universities, before finally submitting a review to the SRC.
The SRC will the vote on the proposed changes. A two-thirds majority is needed to change the constitution.
The constitution outlines the conduct that the SRC follows, such as a commitment to “providing democratic, transparent, effective, accountable and coherent student leadership”. It also includes protocol for membership, meetings and duties.
Peer has urged students, clubs and societies, school councils and house committees to make submissions.
Students who wish to look at the current constitution can find it on the SRC website on student.wits.ac.za/SRC, under the important documents tab. Submissions can be emailed to siwisaa@yahoo.com or handed in at the SRC reception in the Matrix.
Maybe think twice before eating a Big Mac, it’ll cost you an hour and a half-long run around the Oval if you don’t want it going directly to your thighs.
Putting on weight in first year isn’t inevitable. The “first year spread” is caused by the change in life-style when we move from high school to university.
There are a number of factors at play that cause weight gain. Moving to res means leaving nutritious and controlled portions provided by mom to picking up a deep fried spring roll during lunch or eating at the res dining halls.
Usually our exercise habits also fall away as essays, projects and endless readings take higher priority.
While eating healthily takes more planning and time than eating fast-food, its benefits to your heart, mind and over-all immune system in the end. Not to mention fitting into your favourite pair of jeans.
Check out the table below to get an idea of how much exercise you have to do to burn off some the most popular take-away treats. The calories burned per hour are based on a 60kg person, for a more accurate idea of how fast you burn energy, check out websites like nutristrategy.com or intoshape.co.za
*Note that 1 calorie = 4.184 kilojoules
Coco-Cola Buddy Bottle (500mls) 189 calories Half an hour of fencing
McDonalds Fries Large(154gms) 500 calories Cycling an hour
KFC Streetwise 2 529 calories Over 2 hour walk
McDonalds Big Mac 540 calories Run hour and 15mins
KFC Colonel Burger 590 calories An hour of Rugby
AS new students explore their new-found freedom by eyeing local tattoo parlours, campus counsellors urge students to think carefully before inking.
Raj Naran from the Counselling & Careers Development Unit (CCDU) believes students should consider how their tattoos could affect the image they present when applying for jobs.
They should also think about the environment in which they hope to work when considering displaying their tattoos. “My opinion is that a conservative business environment is likely to show less tolerance of excessive tattoos,” he said.
“A more artistic and less conventional environment is likely to be more accepting, if not encouraging, of such creative expression.”
“The question is how far does one push one’s boundaries? Excessive display of tattoos could lead to inappropriate assumptions being made by recruiters.”
Former Wits student Daniel Gallan, who has a tattoo on his leg, was denied a job as a photographer on a cruise-liner because of a strict policy on visible tattoos.
Most students with visible tattoos approached by Vuvuzela said they would ensure their tattoos did not affect their future careers. They would simply cover them.
Bianca Dacruz, 1st year psychology, has a line from a Jimmy Eat World song and a date tattooed on her back to remind her of her grandmother.
She said she would cover it up if she went for a job interview because “people frown upon tattoos”. She said she would not want to come across as unprofessional. She did not feel the need to show it in a work environment because it had a sentimental meaning.
Chiara Molinaro, 4th year drama, has a melting clock on her wrist, inspired by Salvador Dali’s Persistence of Memory,as a reminder of time spent and still to be enjoyed in her life.
Molinaro believes the creative arts are much more lenient than office environments and feels it won’t present such a problem.
When asked how she would react if asked to cover her tattoo, she said: “Besides ‘fuck you’?”
Since her announcement as the Democratic Alliance’s mayoral candidate for Johannesburg, Helen Zille has dominated national headlines. In this bonus episode of We Should Be Writing podcast, hosts Lulah Mapiye and Bonolo Mokonoto dissect a media meet-and-greet with the mayoral hopeful. From her extensive political résumé to her controversial public utterance, we examine why the Democratic Alliance has chosen Hellen Zille as their candidate for the 2027 local mayoral elections. Additionally, […]
