At the close of the Football for Hope Festival 2010

In the air is a sweet symphony of people affirming this wonderful achievement, where South Africa has hosted the Football World Cup in Africa, and more especially the awesome effort of organizing and delivering the Football for Hope Festival 2010, in Alexandra Johannesburg. People who worked tirelessly to deliver this world class event have given of their time, talents and treasure to ensure that this event was delivered with excellence.
It has been a once in a life time opportunity to be a part of a team of people who worked together to ensure that the 11th stadium of the Football World Cup 2010 and all related programming and operations in Alexandra were on par with the excellence and magnanimous achievements of thee other 10 stadia. For those privileged to be a part of the festival organizing team of the Football for Hope Festival 2010, we know and appreciate the symbolism of having a township host a world class event.
As the closing ceremony of the Football for Hope Festival 2010 came to its finality, there was dancing and celebration of young leaders who will go forward to be social change agents and propel development through football in their 40 some odd countries around the world. It was a moment to behold seeing people from a great diversity of language, ethnicity, class, gender, culture and religion celebrating the moment and success of work that has been done, and work that will continue on through young leaders and their passion to see development through football bring social change in their respective localities and nations.
Being present and intimately active in the preparation, strategic engagement and delivery of the Football for Hope Festival 2010, is best captured as follows, “I was no just feeling it, I was responsible for causing the motion that allowed others to feel it.” I believe that while this event like other events has a start and finish, this Football for Hope Festival 2010 will be a solid foundation to inspire the already established Football for Hope movement spear headed by streetfootballworld and FIFA. More especially the memory of this event will be cherished and solidify a collaboration of organizations who have been part and parcel of an event that is a part of a process , a movement , a hope, a dream to see a world where there is equality, freedom and justice for all.
It is my hope that through the Football for Hope Movement authentic social change will emerge, allowing our world to experience social change that is lasting and sustainable. May the work and the future scope of social change possibilities be numerous and amazing, because people choose to really do what we otherwise only dream or envisage but seldom do we realize!

Reconciliation: No simple answers to complex situations

Reconciliation a word, a verb, a ministry, an action, an ideal. I am passionate about doing the work of reconciliation. As much as I have some understanding I am still learning about the length and breadth of this God ordained agenda of Reconciliation. Let us consider together "reconciliation," as a ministry, a theology and a way of life, where there are no simple answers to complex situations.

I find that reconciliation as a focus of our way of being within the realm of living faith, or living out our faith, needs to be defined and extended much further than the lines upon which races are divided, this may be a priority of the social disparity and the cause of much pain within society, but reconciliation must not and cannot be limited to the discussion and the concern for racial reconciliation alone!

There are many a social discord that is racial, but is also religious, cultural, socio-economic, class based, abilities based, gender based etc. The work and ministry of reconciliation must be so defined that reconciliation provides a framework that allows for our people: meaning our parents, our elders, our children and youth, and future generations to be able to grapple with this broad based definition of reconciliation.

For the purposes of an example, and to be transparent and authentic about my concern, I have found too many white people excited about having their, in USA wide terms- ‘persons of color'- friends, who they are willing to reconcile too and with, and even tolerate, but there is limitation concerning their ability to wrestle with the historic social injustice and social realities. The reality that under pins racism and the related matters concerning power and privilege etc, and moving from accepting an individual to accepting a community, is some how excluded from understanding reconciliation and embracing ‘authentic reconciliation.

On the other hand, I have noted persons of color, who have bought into becoming co-opted into a system of whiteness, instead of these persons of color being voices for and of the marginalized, we see people who play the system wide recognized social reality of bicultural operative-ness. They do the shuck and jive or the duck and dive, they do the divisive, detrimental, and demeaning dance, where everything is premised upon succeeding within the confines of a system, and very little thought is committed to transforming the system. If reconciliation is ‘watered down’ like this, we may as well just call it a work or ministry of 'weak reconciliation.’

I am not blinded to work of white persons, and persons of color who are seeking to make positive change, but I do believe that there must be a freedom of people's minds concerning their consciousness and their image of self. If people continue to operate in a world where whiteness is the standard then we will never be able to combat the matters of racial and other disparities on an equal playing field.

In my personal journey I was born into a society plagued by legalized racism through the governance of Apartheid, within South Africa. I have been immersed in a racialized society, from birth and even within a post Apartheid era, it is my work to un-work the mechanisms of ‘brain wash’, where white was categorized as superior. This ‘un-working’ process is the tough work of introspection and reckoning with my self concept that I must commit daily, as I journey seeking to live free of labels and stereotypes, and more especially a system that enthrones whiteness. I must, and we must together, consider that the great equalizer is the consciousness that we are created in God's image, and this fact must propel the mindset that 'I am not more than any one, I am not less than any one, and that my bank balance should not dictate my confidence and my belief in who I am!’

We must wrestle with the issue of consciousness and how much of whom we are is based on the social construct of whiteness, yet there is much greater diversity to which we are, where we come from, and our heritage. When we can grapple together with the hypocrisy and social evil of racism, religious intolerance, homophobia etc., without the time wasting process of an internal need to defend, we may arrive at a place of utter, complete and bold courage to do the sacrificial work of reconciliation: that calls us to lay down our right, to be willing to stand in the tension, and even be beaten and sworn at: like Gandhi, like Martin Luther King Jnr., like Malcolm X, like Steven Biko, like Roberta Menchu, like Nelson Mandela, and like Jesus Christ.

I believe that our world is in a season when authentic reconciliation can take place. We should seize the moment, to really get deep with this practice, ideology, theology and God's highest agenda "Reconciliation.” let’s stop beating around the bush and go deep with this work and ministry of coming together. In the words of Mother Teresa, we have the opportunity to 'make something beautiful for God.' May God give us the strength to deal with the complexity of life and the reality that 'there are no simple answers to complex situations!"

Alutta continua - the struggle continues

Alutta continua- the struggle continues!

I have been home in South Africa for two months as of the 6th of August, 2009. I am grateful that my family and I are home in the land of our beginnings. But while we celebrate our 15th year of democracy, and the transition of presidency from Mbeki to Motlanthe and now to President Jacob Zuma, I am critical and concerned about the substance of our democracy.

Now more than ever before our democracy is in need of a check up before we wreck up. People who have been left outside the realm of economic blessings are becoming increasingly agitated by the promises that democracy has not provided within the last 15 years. Just two weeks ago South Africans witnessed the voices of frustrated citizens as they took to the streets of Durban- Kwazulu Natal in protest, demanding government to step in with a monthly remuneration for families without income.

I have been in the presence of committed activists for social change, who cannot but shudder at the continual misgivings and shortcomings of a democracy that continues to serve the elite and economically enfranchised of South Africa. Who will answer the cries of help of the poor and marginalized? Who will come to the aid of people who are fighting to survive the strain of chronic ailments without moneys to purchase life line medical supply and assistance!

It is my hope that people of faith will come to the forefront and take a stand of active solidarity. Fore ideological solidarity is just a scapegoat and not good enough, when people are living in desperate times. It is my hope that people, who profess faith in Jesus Christ, will revisit Holy Scriptures and rediscover Jesus’ concern for the sick, the marginalized, the wounded, and demised. It is my hope that Christians who see the injustices of profit making schemes and capitalistic escapades in their every day working environments, will speak out and provide an alternative option. Jobs need not be cut when top bracket earners can take a slight cut in their salaries. People need not go hungry when restaurant meals have left over going to waste.

The struggle continues in South Africa, it is a struggle that is connected to our past, but it is equally a struggle of our present, and if ethics and economic policies refuse to budge, it will be a struggle that we carry into our future.

Power of the Powerless! by Seth Naicker

In times of great chaos and stress, people need voices of reason and inspiration. Minister Vernon Johns was, is and will forever be one such prophetic voice and stalwart. Johns preached fiery and passionate messages from the pulpit of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama from 1947 to 1952. He was Dr. King's predecessor as pastor, and a mentor of people like Ralph Abernathy, Wyatt Walker, and many others in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

“The road to freedom”, is a movie that documents the life, work and ministry of Minister Vernon Johns, and in many ways the beginnings of the civil rights movement in the U.S.A. Before Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Minister Malcolm X came Minister Vernon Johns, who preached in unconventional yet passionate and practical ways. One Sunday morning Minister Johns stood up at the pulpit and reached down to fresh vegetables he farmed in his garden. Minister Johns encouraged his African American congregation to break free from the power of the social reality of a socially constructed racist society. Such freedom was possible if people became producers and refused to exist solely as consumers.

The advice of Minister Vernon Johns must be revisited as a source of strength and a strategic vice to reclaiming a quality of life existence in the midst of tough global economic times. Having people connect with their abilities to produce and initiate is a worthy task. The dominant culture of consumerism has the detrimental result of draining people and communities of their resilience and struggle for political and economic freedom. However the notion of becoming a producer could equally be demeaning to the soul of a person, a nation and a world. Producer-ism must be liberated and redeemed from the hands, strategies and venomous vexes of free trade and capitalism, which seeks to further disenfranchise the already disenfranchised.

The wisdom of Minister Johns is immersed in a notion of consciousness and pedagogy that speaks from, with and in struggle. The producer-ism that Minister Johns encouraged was not to aid the creation of another status quo. Instead it was for people to rise in their consciousness and take a hold of their worth. People were to be liberated from the vicious cycle of systemic oppression, their personal –communal - mental -physical oppression, for the purposes of producing a community of equity, fairness and justice.

In my local community Lenasia, Lenasia South and the broader community of southern townships of Johannesburg- South Africa, townships like Soweto, Eldorado Park, Ennerdale and Orange Farm, there are people living in dire strait circumstances. Right here in the Twin Cities, my community and home away from home, there are people who are equally trapped in troublesome economic times, and house foreclosures. As I walked through the streets of Frog Town in Saint Paul Minnesota, I saw several houses with these bold bright yellow notices stuck on the doors. People have been displaced from their homes and are clearly feeling the pinch, pain and disparity of tumultuous economic times.

The social reality of poverty and further complexity offered by a faltering economy has been prevalent in the U.S.A and the Globe long before the crash on Wall Street. Long before major insurance companies and fortune 500 companies started feeling the pressure of systems they are part of and systems they propel, economic pressure was the plight of people whom privileged people and power based systems would rather deny. There is a need therefore, for power structures and people who have power to invest their time and effort in bringing development and aid to people and communities steeped in globally trying times, and chaotic circumstances.

President Obama has had to defend himself, as he grapples with and attempts to bring resolve to the maze of social factors facing the U.S.A. It may be politically nonstrategic for Obama to go about multiple projects which may result in the lack of targeted success. Being a successful leader is important, especially when success is concerned with pleasing systems of power and having the popular vote. But Obama may be on a mystical path of engagement that may not make sense or fit the arena of logical and strategic thinking. Obama may be about the work of being true to his consciousness, and mindset that has been informed from, with and in the context of struggle. Obama could choose to anchor his ideology, and continue his political leadership and theology in pedagogy of the disenfranchised and oppressed.

However, as much as I am hopeful of the Obama regime I am equally critical of power based systems and people who have the power to bring positive social change. For persons who have come into power have also been noted to fall into the trap of being co-opted into the power frameworks, this ultimately diminishes their advocacy and activism for positive social change.

It is therefore of vital importance for people to emancipate their minds, their social existence and humanity from an unhealthy dependency and consumerism mode. People and communities must come together and pool together their resources to ensure that more families are not dislocated from their homes. People must claim their humanity and get creative with that which they have. It may require planting vegetables instead of purchasing them at the store. It may require communal living instead of individualized existence.

According to Howard Thurman Jesus recognized with authentic realism that anyone who permits another to determine the quality of his or her inner life gives into the hands of the other the keys to his or her destiny. The hope of the poor and the disenfranchised is anchored in their ability to believe in their worth, and to live life in human dignity even though their economic standing is not sound. This hope is provided in the basic fact that Christianity was born in the mind of Jesus, a Jewish teacher and thinker as a technique of survival for the oppressed (Thurman, A Strange Freedom, 1998, pg. 143). Jesus motivated people to break through the psychological oppression and free their minds, to determine their own destiny. Impoverished communities must rise up in the midst of their poverty and draw strength from each other, without the dependence on investment hand-me-downs from power based political systems and haughty people.

It is therefore possible for me to acknowledge my struggles, my failures, and downfalls, but rise in the midst of my troublesome circumstances and social settings. It is therefore possible for me to live with hope and a spirit of empowerment, without the power of position and economic enfranchisement. In my weakness I am strong. In my struggle I am blessed. I can live a life of activism and advocacy challenging systemic injustices. I can mobilize positive social change, and refuse to sell out on my rooted values and core faith inspired ideals. I can act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with God, for there is power in collective, community consciousness and pedagogy of power of the powerless!

Obama putting words into action (by Seth Naicker)

For millions in the U.S.A. and hundreds of millions throughout the world, the much anticipated inauguration of the 44th President of the United States of America, Barack Hussein Obama, has come and gone. For some this inauguration is a dream come true and promises a hope of a better future, while for others there is still great doubt and skepticism. There maybe those who are even dismally disappointed, but what ever the case and where ever people find their political landings it is clear that the 21st century has witnessed a majestic, miraculous and mystical moment. It is in many ways a global moment of hope and the dawn of a new day in world leadership and politics.

Obama (2006) explains,
“I believe a stronger sense of empathy would tilt the balance of our current politics in favor of those people who are struggling in this society. After all, if they are like us, then their struggles are our own. If we fail to help, we diminish ourselves [some lines further] No one is exempt from the call to find common ground. Of course, in the end a sense of mutual understanding isn’t enough. After all, talk is cheap; like any value, empathy must be acted upon” (The audacity of hope,2006, pg. 68).

Obama in his earliest remarks as president has stressed the need for diplomacy and development in the forefront of U.S. foreign policy to ensure success of reshaping and rejuvenating U.S.A.’s global image. Obama is taking the lead in displaying empathy by bringing an end to torture tactics as a means to pursue U.S. ideals. Obama has stated clearly that U.S. values must match their ideals. From rhetoric and actions, one can affirm that President Obama is enacting empathy and not just allowing it to be a case of “more was said than done”.

In a post Obama inauguration era, “Sekunjalo”(now is the time- for leaders and people to get engaged in moving from justice pursuit with their lips, to justice pursuit with their hands and feet. Now is the time for our values, morals and ideals to be immersed in rolling waters and mighty streams of empathy. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. reached back to the prophetic words of Amos as referenced during his prophetic projection of “I have a dream". Ling told of a day that in some ways was realized by the world on January 20th, 2009. Amos 5:24 as recorded by The Message Bible states, “Do you know what I want? I want justice--oceans of it. I want fairness--rivers of it. That's what I want. That's all I want.”

The voice of Amos and the voice of Rev. Dr. M.L.K. Jr. spoke truth to power in their time and they speak truth to the power today. In a world where developed countries live in luxury while people in developing countries are stricken with chronic poverty-Sekunjalo- for oceans of justice and rivers of fairness. In a world where the gap between the rich and the poor is further increasing-Sekunjalo- for empathy that is followed up with action to right the wrongs. -Sekunjalo- for securing human rights and equitable living conditions for all people. May the hope for and pursuit of change as propelled by President Obama, remain consistent as well as provide a new stimulus, which will propel leaders and people all over the world to enact empathy, diplomacy, justice, and peace.

Reconciliation Day ! by Seth Naicker

The 16th of December 2008, marks our South African Day of Reconciliation in our 14th year of democracy. President Nelson Mandela in his speech in 1995 stated:

“There are few countries which dedicate a national public holiday to reconciliation. But then there are few nations with our history of enforced division, oppression and sustained conflict. And fewer still, which have undergone such a remarkable transition to reclaim their humanity. We, the people of South Africa, have made a decisive and irreversible break with the past. We have, in real life, declared our shared allegiance to justice, non-racialism and democracy; our yearning for a peaceful and harmonious nation of equals” (MESSAGE BY PRESIDENT NELSON MANDELA ON NATIONAL RECONCILIATION DAY 16 December 1995).


There is a remnant that still holds true to the wise words of our honorable Madiba. But today we are in a post romantic era of our South African politics, an era filled with anxiety, anguish and concern about the depth and authenticity of our Reconciliation process.

In my discussions with seasoned leaders and political minds, it has become apparent there is great critic of our current day South Africa where our differences are being utilized as political rhetoric and device to divide us rather than unite us ‘into a source of strength and richness’. It would be most insightful to hear the Father of our Nation Nelson Mandela reflect on our political process thus far, as we draw closer to the 15 years of democracy. I choose to believe that our honorable Nelson Mandela would acknowledge the divisive schemes of politics gone bad, and would reach out to the souls of leaders and consciousness of people to live for a ‘peaceful and harmonious nation of equals’.

Our current political process leading up to our 15th democratic election, is held by some as an exciting, rigorous and competitive election, which will yield a better South Africa for all. There are others who are skeptical and fearful of the signs of the times, as political competition between the African National Congress and Congress of the People intensifies.

It is my hope and prayer that there will be a recommitment, a revitalizing and reviving of our South Africa to remain true to as Nelson Mandela proclaimed in 1995, “The rainbow has come to be the symbol of our nation. We are turning the variety of our languages and cultures, once used to divide us, into a source of strength and richness.”

Reconciliation is worth pursuing at all costs, and I am hopeful for my country as I am for our world, that there are people who are willing to go the distance and take on the pressures and social injustices of our day. DeYoung (2007) explains, “Faith-inspired activists live and practice their faith in ways that do not recognize socially constructed boundaries They strive to transcend race, culture, class, and other artificial limitations” (Living Faith, 2007, p. 139). On this Day of Reconciliation, may we be reminded of transcending the barriers that prevail, pursuing a world that some might say cannot be realized in our ‘here and now’.