Should the revolution be photographed???
Here’s a powerful piece sent to us by SowetoRocks.com – it talks of the new struggle for the youth – HIV and AIDS and how the youth need to, like their ancestors 30 years ago, take the situation into their own hands if it is to truly change.
Today we were listening to a popular radio station and heard one of the female freedom fighters comparing the youth of ’76 with the youth…
of today – we felt that her stance was an important one – Our take on what she was saying was that “The youth of ’76 had DISCIPLINE – they knew how to focus, how to get it together and how to move forward as one.” Question is, can our youth find the same discipline? Do they need an iconic image to remind them of this discipline? What do you think?
Here it is:
June 16th is a day set aside to celebrate the spirit and power of South African Youth. We proudly honour the sacrifices of the generation of children past; and there is no more powerful symbol of this than Sam Nzima’s famous photograph of our children bearing the bloodied body of Hector Pietersen.
As you might expect, the world is a very different place for today’s youth.
While they no longer face the oppressor’s bullets, boys and girls today face a far more insidious threat: the HIV virus.
Society also sees today’s youth very differently, for our legal system rules the age of sexual consent is 16meaning it’s legally ok for a 16 year old to have sex with 49 year old if both consent.
We do ask them to wait to 18 before they can elect a president, bear arms in our armed forces, drive to the club or consume alcohol. Somehow the responsibilities that go along with these rights are too much for 16 year olds.
In our HIV and AIDS documentary UNZIPPED (sponsored by Levi’s Red 4 Life and run last year on SABC1), one of the most poignant moments is when a 17-year-old teen declared, “we need to realize that we are children playing adult games.”
Clearly we need to ask ourselves when do today’s children become adults. (As an aside, when the parent protested that her daughter had no right to appear in our documentary without her consent, SABC required that the teen be visually distorted. Old enough to do it but not old enough to talk about it.)
Generally accepted policy to prevent the spread of HIV amongst our youth is summarized as follows:
A.) abstain
B.) be faithful
C.) condomize
D.) delay having sex
Given the power of human nature (not to mention the influence of the overwhelming bombardment of sexual imagery in the average teen’s world), it’s hard to see how any path but C.) is viable.
Yet the average 16 year old’s world is virtually free of condoms. CHOICE condoms are not distributed in high schools, these kids have little access to government buildings and it’s hard to imagine a teen with enough guts to march boldly into the neighborhood health clinic and demand to know where the free condoms are.
Testing presents another challenge to the average 16 year old. Teen’s deserve a unique approach to counseling that takes into consideration their issues. Outside of the LoveLife efforts in their Y Centers, one would be hard pressed to find such programmes.
Today’s teens seek truth. But it is the reality of a teen that they can’t hear truth, they must work it out for themselves.
30 years ago, the youth did just that; they worked out that apartheid had to be overthrown. On June 16th, we celebrate their revolution of responsibility. We celebrate their actions. We celebrate their initiative.
Today’s youth battle with HIV and AIDS is no less heroic, yet it is a far more interpersonal and private revolution. A one person at a time battle that need not fill stadiums to judge its support.
The Levi’sý Red 4 Life initiative believes this June 16th, it’s time to start telling our 16 and 17 year olds that they need to work out this HIV and AIDS thing for themselves. They have pledged to support the youth in this revolution in every way possible.
This begs the question: Does this revolution need an iconic image?
Should we reshoot the famous Sam Nzima photograph&only with today’s youth carrying one of their comrades stricken with full-blown AIDS.
No doubt this debate cuts very close to the bone.
Antoinette Pietersen (Hector Pietersen’s sister and head of the Hector Pietersen Foundation) summarizes one argument.
“Today’s children are dying by the thousands, with many more being infected every day. If reshooting the image helps in the battle, then let’s certainly do it.”
Thulani Nzima (son of Sam Nzima) eloquently argues the counterargument in an email response,
“I am not comfortable to use the picture in the context proposed, including an alignment with Levi’sý. As you correctly pointed out, Sam Nzima’s picture has become much more than just another picture. It is iconic, carries historical importance for the country and its youth. It therefore, must be used with a lot of circumspect to preserve its relevance, lest new generations will lose the context within which the struggle was fought. We all have the responsibility to avoid compromising our heritage for commercial expediency. I would, respectfully, decline the offer and trust you understand the national responsibility we both have to exercise.”
Both sides have completely valid points and this debate is worth having.
Everyone knows our teens are at risk. According to the Nelson Mandela Children’s Survey, nearly 1 in 10 girls between 15 & 19 years old are HIV positive&with that rate growing to over 24% in 20- 24 year olds. While the boys statistics are lower, we are still faced with tens of thousands of HIV positive teen males.
Painful as it is to say, it’s the teens themselves that must work out safer sex strategies for themselves. As adults we must ask ourselves if we are truly prepared to support them in every way possible, as they take on this pandemic.
Scanned picture sent in by Sowetorocks.com. Taken from the Sunday Times 11 June 2006.
