the past in the present

my first encounter with south africans was at the waterfront, where the ship was docked - a very vibrant, commercial, and western area with yachts, upscale indoor malls, waterfront bars, restaurants and cafes, as well as tour companies and other recreational activities. racially it is a very mixed area with all south africans mixing easily and comfortably. it's a tourist area for sure, but south africans congregate here too because it's considered safe.

at first it seems remarkable that apartheid existed here so recently (laws abolished in 1991; elections in 1994). it's hard to reconcile the past with the present - the long history of oppression with the present - its model constitution, the public interaction of black, white and colored peoples in cape town malls, restaurants, museums, and bars. it's really baffling that such freedoms are a new phenomenon that whites feared and opposed for centuries. what exactly was so frightening. the current social state seems so natural, as if it's always been. what was the big deal about different peoples mixing. i wonder if the people feel the past in the present? i think they must. i didn't live through jim crow or slavery, but in the u.s. i, sadly, still feel, and see signs of, that past in the present.

the brown paper studio international field trip wasn't at all what i expected or described in the previous post. it was a full day of theatrical play with some of south africa's youth, students too young to remember apartheid. it was a welcome change from talking to older south africans i met at the waterfront who experienced and enjoyed the benefits of being part of one of the more privileged groups under apartheid, some of who aren't thrilled with the redistribution of resources, especially land and jobs. one taxi driver told me he preferred life under apartheid. i had to ask him what his racial status was under apartheid; it wasn't obvious. he proudly stated that he was colored then and still is. other complaints are about the immigration of africans from other countries, and escalating housing costs. however, many of these same people have never visited a township, and don't know how fortunate they are to have any job, and a home made from more than found materials - cardboard, tin and and a few two by fours - constructed on the side of the road.

brown paper studio international (bpsi) is a theater company judyie al-bilali (pictured; s@s theater prof) started in 2000 when she was teaching at the university of the western cape (aka the university of the left; a university with a history of protest, first against the the university, then against apartheid). the s@s field trip judyie organized was a historical tour in reverse chronological order of bpsi groups and performance spaces. our first stop was azaad youth services in district six, the current home of bpsi. district six was a vibrant mixed area before apartheid. it is also where the first forced removals occurred. it was made a colored only area. at azaad, the company is one of several skills building programs for people 18 and older. when the director of azaad, a polish immigrant who physically helped tear down the berlin wall, saw her work with young people across racial groups, he invited her to join azaad. judyie teaches movement and theater, using techniques where students have to express themselves without words (only sounds and movement). she has developed a bpsi group on the ship. while at azaad and the other bpsi performance spaces we played a variety games and performed movement pieces with south african company members. south african and s@s bpsi members taught the rest of us.

the next space and bpsi company we visited was at glendale high school in mitchell plains, part of the cape flats (colored communities and township settlements can be found here) where students (colored and bussed blacks) did bpsi work as part of a school program. they led us in a number of excecises, performed a piece of their own, told us about what bpsi meant to them, and generally hung out with us before we headed to our final stop uwc, where bpsi originated.

at the university of the western cape (uwc) we did more of the same - they performed for us, we performed with them, we heard about the history of the school, we heard from a filmmaker who did a film about a local hip hop icon (mr. devious) who was killed while trying to save his father from a mugging.

these students, like the younger ones we met, were much more positive about the current and future state of south africa. they also stood out amongst their peers, because they did the hard work of working across racial lines to create something of their own, together.