The Systems Of Exclusion & Oppression
Summary
TLDRThis script tells the inspiring story of a young man born in a small village in Limpopo, who defied the odds to become a successful businessman in Johannesburg, the 'city of gold.' Despite facing immense challenges, he persevered, embodying the spirit of resilience and foresight. The narrative explores themes of opportunity, societal structures, and the importance of framing one's perspective to see beyond current circumstances. It challenges young people to recognize the potential for change and to actively shape their futures, breaking free from the constraints of historical systems of exclusion and oppression.
Takeaways
- 🎓 A young man from a small village in Limpopo, born 100 years ago, dreamed big despite the impossibility of his ambitions at the time.
- 🏙️ The man migrated to the city of opportunities, Johannesburg, also known as 'eGoli', where he aimed to become a businessman.
- 🏢 Today, a mall stands in his name in Johannesburg, a testament to his achievements, celebrated even a century after his birth.
- 👀 The speaker emphasizes the importance of perspective, stating that how we frame what we see determines our actions and responses.
- 🔍 The concept of 'hindsight' is introduced, suggesting that it provides insight based on past experiences, while 'plain sight' refers to current, visible realities.
- 📉 The script highlights the stark unemployment rates in South Africa, particularly for young black females, as a harsh reality that is 'plain sight'.
- 💡 'Insight' is derived from the information given, urging the audience to learn from the data presented about unemployment and gender-based violence.
- 🌟 The story of Dr. Richard Maponya is used as an example of resilience and foresight, someone who lived in a time with limited opportunities but still achieved success.
- 🚀 The speaker shares a personal story about starting a fund to finance small businesses, illustrating the challenges of breaking new ground and the importance of resilience.
- 🌈 The 'rainbow nation' of South Africa is examined, with a focus on the economic opportunities and the structures that have been built, which may not be as inclusive as they seem.
- 🛣️ The speaker discusses the physical structures of South Africa, like the layout of townships and industrial areas, as a form of systemic exclusion and oppression.
Q & A
What is the significance of the young man's birthplace in Limpopo and how does it relate to his ambitions?
-The young man's birthplace in Limpopo symbolizes the humble beginnings and the seemingly impossible dreams he held. It highlights the contrast between his origins and the ambitious goals he pursued, which were not only improbable but also barely conceivable for someone from his background.
How does the speaker describe the city of Johannesburg, and what does it represent for the young man?
-The speaker refers to Johannesburg as 'eThekwini', the place of gold, symbolizing opportunity and wealth. For the young man, it represents the destination of his migration and the starting point of his journey to become a businessman.
What does the speaker mean by 'plain sight' in the context of South Africa's current situation?
-The term 'plain sight' refers to the evident issues and challenges that are directly in front of the people, such as the high unemployment rates, especially for young black females in South Africa. These are the realities that need to be acknowledged and addressed.
How does the speaker define 'hindsight' and how does it differ from 'insight'?
-Hindsight is described as the knowledge or understanding gained from past experiences, often with the saying 'hindsight is 20/20'. It's what you know after an event has occurred. Insight, on the other hand, is the ability to gain an accurate and deep understanding of something, often based on hindsight.
What is the importance of 'foresight' in the speaker's narrative about the young man's journey?
-Foresight is crucial as it represents the ability to envision and prepare for the future. The young man, Dr. Richard Maponya, had to live in the world of foresight, focusing on opportunities that were coming and not just what was currently available.
What does the speaker suggest about the concept of resilience and how it relates to the future?
-The speaker suggests that resilience is not merely about enduring the present but is fundamentally about maintaining a positive attitude and actions in the present due to a strong belief in a better future.
How does the speaker's personal story about starting a fund to finance small businesses relate to the theme of breaking rules and innovation?
-The speaker's personal story exemplifies the theme of breaking rules and innovation by recounting the challenges faced in setting up a fund without established guidelines. It highlights the necessity to break existing rules to create new opportunities and how such actions were initially chastised but later recognized as innovation.
What does the speaker reveal about the economic structure in South Africa and how it limits opportunities?
-The speaker reveals that South Africa's economic structure is not as broad-based as perceived, with few large banks, clothing retailers, and real estate investment trusts, suggesting a lack of opportunities and a need for systemic change.
How does the speaker describe the system of exclusion in South Africa and its impact on young people?
-The speaker describes the system of exclusion as a set of structures intentionally designed to limit opportunities for black Africans, such as subpar education and proximity to industrial areas, which confined them to low-wage jobs and prevented upward mobility.
What is the significance of the lack of billboards in townships according to the speaker?
-The lack of billboards in townships is significant as it symbolizes a deliberate effort to limit the aspirations of the residents. Billboards encourage people to look up and dream, which the system of exclusion aimed to suppress by keeping the focus downward.
How does the speaker suggest young people in South Africa should approach the existing structures of exclusion and oppression?
-The speaker suggests that young people should rethink, reframe, and restart the context of their environment by challenging and redesigning the structures of exclusion and systems of oppression to create new opportunities.
Outlines
🌟 The Dream of a Young Man in Limpopo
This paragraph tells the story of a young man born a century ago in a small Limpopo village with ambitions that seemed impossible at the time. He nurtured his dreams and migrated to the city, known as the place of gold, where he eventually became a successful businessman. His journey took 100 years, and his legacy is celebrated in the form of a mall named after him. The narrative emphasizes the importance of perspective and how young people today have opportunities that were unimaginable in the past. It discusses the concepts of hindsight, insight, and foresight, explaining how these perspectives shape our actions and decisions. The paragraph concludes with a call to action for young people to prepare for the future, to have resilience, and to believe in the opportunities that lie ahead.
🚀 Overcoming Challenges and Breaking Rules
The second paragraph delves into the challenges faced by a young black person in South Africa, particularly focusing on the limited opportunities and the high unemployment rate. It uses the story of the speaker's own journey to establish a fund for small businesses, highlighting the difficulties of breaking new ground without established rules. The narrative underscores the importance of innovation and the courage to challenge the status quo. It also provides a critical analysis of South Africa's economic landscape, pointing out the lack of diversity in major industries compared to other countries like Kenya. The paragraph concludes with a call for young people to recognize the systemic barriers and to work towards changing the structures that limit their potential.
🏭 The Structure of Exclusion and the Path Forward
The final paragraph discusses the systemic structures of exclusion in South Africa, using the physical layout of townships and their proximity to industrial areas as an example. It explains how these structures were designed to limit opportunities and perpetuate a cycle of poverty and low expectations. The speaker challenges the audience to rethink, reframe, and restart the context of their lives by reimagining these structures. The paragraph also touches on the subtle ways in which oppression is maintained through systems that are not overtly biased but are designed to exclude certain groups. It ends with a call to action for young people to not just complain about the system but to actively work towards changing it, suggesting that this requires more than just social media activism and requires a deeper, more sustained effort.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Ambition
💡Opportunity
💡Foresight
💡Unemployment
💡Resilience
💡Innovation
💡Exclusion
💡Oppression
💡Reframe
💡Rainbow Nation
Highlights
A young man born 100 years ago in Limpopo had dreams that seemed impossible at the time.
He migrated to Johannesburg, the 'city of opportunities', with aspirations to become a businessman.
Today, a mall stands in his name, a testament to his journey and success.
The importance of perspective and how it shapes our actions and reactions to our environment.
The concept of 'plain sight' and 'hindsight' in understanding opportunities and past experiences.
The stark reality of unemployment rates in South Africa, particularly for young black females.
The speaker was mentored by Dr. Richard Maponya, emphasizing the importance of foresight in achieving success.
The idea that resilience is not just about enduring the present but believing in a better future.
The speaker's personal journey to establish a fund for financing small businesses, despite initial challenges.
Innovation is often born out of breaking the rules that were not designed for new endeavors.
The economic argument that as young people, our relevance and resilience should be about foreseeing future opportunities.
The social argument on how exclusion is built into structures and systems of oppression.
The historical design of South African townships and their adjacency to industrial areas, creating a cycle of exclusion.
The importance of rethinking, reframing, and restarting the context of opportunities in South Africa.
The speaker's vision to create a fund for small businesses, which was initially met with skepticism and resistance.
The comparison between South Africa and Kenya, highlighting the disparity in economic opportunities and infrastructure.
The challenge for young people to not just accept the status quo but to envision and work towards a different future.
Transcripts
it was just 100 years ago a young man
was born to small village in Limpopo at
the time the things he thought about
doing were not only impossible but could
barely be dreamed of by someone that
looked like him so he kept the ambition
to heart but always kept the dream alive
many years later he migrated to the city
of opportunities
ergo li the place of gold they call it
as he arrived here he said about his
journey to become a businessman it's
funny that the things you and I take for
granted today as young people the
opportunities we are birthed every day
even the things about which we moan for
that young man were the place of gold
today if you drive into that beautiful
metropolis that is so air two houses
over two million people on the main road
you see a mall built in his name we
celebrated even today in 2020 but it
took him 100 years the thing about being
a young person isn't it is that we have
the energy of the day but often we let
the context of the moment it's often
about how we frame what we see and how
we frame what we see in furs how we act
in the time everything you look at is a
function of how you perceive it and
there are different types of
perspectives and how you see things is
how you act in front of the things that
you see think about it this way there
are different types of sites right if
you think about it but there's different
types of sites there's things that are
in plain sight
things that are hindsight and often
hindsight gives you insight isn't is let
me break it down hindsight is the stuff
we know based on what we've experienced
the expression reads hindsight is 20/20
the idea is once you've seen it HAP
you can always think I would have seen
that happen but you didn't that's the
point
plain sight is the stuff right in front
of you if you're a young person growing
up in South Africa today let me tell you
what is plain sight for you
29% unemployment with a narrow
definition of a 41% by the broad
definition and that's pre covered after
this it'll probably lightly be over 42%
narrow definition unemployment for young
black females under the age of 35 living
in the northern provinces that number is
well over 56% it's easier in South
Africa for a young black female to be a
victim of gender-based violence than to
get a job that's plain sight insight is
based on the stuff that I've given you
what do you know and what do you learn
from what you know but all of these
hindsight insight and plain sight still
only speak about how you frame the
context the environment that you're in
see for the young man I'm speaking about
the person I had the privilege of being
mentored by dr. Richard ma pornea he
couldn't live in the world of hindsight
insight and foresight he had to live in
the world of foresight the world that
was coming so what do you believe about
the world that's coming what do you see
in terms of the opportunities that are
going to be presented to you are you
preparing yourself every day as a young
person here's the thing about resilience
that people miss resilience is not about
your ability to enjoy the moment
resilience is about your ability to
enjoy the moment because of your belief
about the future see if you miss the
second part of that statement then
enduring the moment isn't resilience
it's suffering and you can suffer in
perpetuity under the illusion of
preparation without seeing a destination
so foresight is what we believe is
around the corner what are the
opportunities that are going to be
presented to you and I as young people
Richard my bonus journey started 100
years ago but even by the 70s the
countries he was still living in wasn't
exactly the kind of country where you
had ample opportunities as a young black
person so if you're watching this and
you're a young black person in South
Africa today and you're worried about
the opportunities you have I want you to
realize something that of every single
generation that's come before you you
might not have the most opportunities of
all the races but you have the best
opportunities ever for any person of
color in this country it has to be about
how you framing the moment and how you
frame the moment is what you choose to
see personal story so it's about nine
years ago and I have this vision this
idea this dream that I would love to
start a fund to finance small business
people of color it's just an idea it's a
dream and so we said about doing it the
first five years of that journey was as
close to Hell as anything I've ever
experienced first the environment you're
in is not built for you to succeed in it
second because what you're doing is new
there's no rules and third if there are
no rules for what you're doing then how
do you know you're not breaking the
rules that already exist see the journey
to setting new boundaries the third the
journey to constantly pushing the
envelope that journey to constantly and
consistently achieving what's new is
often about doing things that have never
been done before and to do that means
you have to break the rules you didn't
even know exist so as a firm we did we
broke all the rules
around licensing all the rules around
capital distribution all the rules
around how do you perform a due
diligence we broke all the rules today
they study us and they call it
innovation
back then they chastised us and said
we're operating outside of the rules
framework the only reason we kept going
was because we had a particular view of
the future we saw things as they were
going to be not as they were so in South
Africa yours and my beautiful country
the rainbow nation is what they call us
well let's examine the data about the
rainbow fifty-five million citizens
seventy six percent of them black
African eighty two percent black by the
broad definition here are the facts
there are four large banks five if
you're generous there are seven large
clothing retailers nine large and listed
real estate investment trusts see we
think we live in a country that's got a
broad base of opportunities but that's
not really the case and by the way those
who want you to believe different would
have you believe that that's just the
way the market exists it's the way it's
built it's the way the system is
supposed to be it's not let's travel
north of here go to Kenya forty four
million citizens the Kenyan middle class
is only 25% the size of our own yet even
with that a country with a middle class
a quarter the size of ours with forty
four million people they have 40 banks
we've got four they've got 18 large
clothing retailers we've got seven and I
could keep going on and on and on so if
you're a young person living today and
you're living for yourself and for this
moment you're completely missing the
point you're missing the opportunity
you're missing what's around the corner
what's around the curve
let's talk a bit about corners and
curves the main premise of my economic
argument is that as young people today
our premise of relevance and resilience
has to be about what we see around the
corner of opportunities today and that
if you imagine as a young person it's
going to be easy you're sorely mistaken
it's going to be hard it's gonna take
time and all systems have a natural
inbuilt resistance mechanism nothing
changes by itself change is forced
having made my economic argument let's
look at the social argument now just
follow me on this
humor me see if it works see the way
exclusion works is it builds structures
of exclusion and systems of oppression I
promise you this is important so follow
me every single node of exclusion in an
environment is built into a structure
that's how it works the structures
aren't always biased certainly not at
the face of it if you look at the
structure you wouldn't understand why
that structure is necessarily bias so if
you read the book the memoirs of fir
wood the architect of our past apart
date he writes in the book very
eloquently about how to construct these
structures of exclusion in such a way
that it's difficult even for the
excluded to deconstruct them see here's
the way the South African system is
built on one end you have the leafy
suburbs and on the other you have the
townships next to the suburbs you have
the CBD the central business district
next to every single Township you have
an industrial area there's only one
Township in South Africa in fact to that
break this construct the first is Alex
that's because the rate at which Alex
grew meant that the township grew into
the industrial area and the second is
deep slit and the only reason that is is
because deep slit was basically started
after 1994 but every single Timeship in
south africa that existed 394 exists
right next to an industrial
why do you think that is because the
structure of exclusion said this take
the black African person and put them in
the township give them a level of
education that is subpar that meant the
only jobs open to them would be factory
jobs in the industrial areas what that
meant is you could pay them less than
decent wages if you lower the costs of
production you make the serf can economy
competitive which meant it could supply
goods into the CBD and sell those goods
from the CBD into the leafy suburbs
that's the way the system was built
that's the structure so when you drive
into every Township in South Africa
today and you see each and every single
one of those factories on your way in
that's not thereby natural market design
it's built that way but if this is the
case and my argument is that it is then
as young people today how do we rethink
reframe and restart the context of yours
in my country how do we rethink reframe
and restart the opportunities for each
and every single one of us in the same
book four of what says make the roads in
the townships narrow make the houses low
but here was perhaps the most insightful
part of what he wrote in the book he
says make sure there are no billboards
in townships
why because billboards forced people to
look up if you look up you might just
raise your horizons you might begin to
think to dream to reimagine so you and I
were supposed to grow up in an
environment that was cluttered clustered
and uninhabitable we were supposed to be
given an education that made us second
grade citizens we were supposed to work
in the factories so that we couldn't
imagine being in the services economy or
the professional economy that's what we
were destined for but that was built
that's how the structure was designed
and you and I can redesign it today but
take a bit more than a tweet a bit more
than a hashtag a bit more than a comment
in this video and then what you do and
this is the second point is you build
existence of oppression
now the systems of oppression works is
there generally a very smart very
sophisticated genius quiet and subtle
here's a good system of oppression in
most townships in South Africa not until
the year 2008 it was difficult to find
people who lived in those townships that
had title deeds to their homes even
worse many people don't know but the
registry of title deeds didn't have
valuations for the properties of people
living in those townships so let's
imagine your great-grandfather lives you
a home in a township somewhere and you
decide you want to start a business
better still you want to get a loan so
that you can take yourself to school if
you took the title deed to bank they
wouldn't be able to finance it why
because there was no notional value
attached to the title deed in the
township you grew up in even though it's
an asset it was assumed had zero rate
it's changed since then but this is the
way the system was built now you and I
could of course we could make a song and
dance about it and jump up and down
about it but the real thing we should do
is what you think about that system of
exclusion and how do we rethink it how
do we reframe it how do we restart
you
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