Monthly Archives: August 2021

In Arkansas, many are choosing personal liberty over vaccination at a heavy cost.

It's hard to watch the pandemic drag on as americans refuse the vaccine in the name of freedom you're talking about an unproven untested vaccine. That doesn't even seem to really protect people because people have gotten the vaccine are getting sick. I went to one of the places with the worst vaccination rate. I don't want to poison forced into me. I'm tired of Ultron controllers. One of the best things we have is our own God given natural antibodies. It also has one of the worst covid case rates in the country. The Ozarks. I don't take the flu shot. I don't take the pneumonia shot. I don't take any of them. I wanted to find out why residents here aren't getting vaccinated. You're trying to mask these kids up. It's detrimental to their health. And what if anything could convince them otherwise. Okay, Mr Green, it's dr martin here. How are you? I heard you had a kind of a rough night last night. Christopher Green is 53 years old and fighting for his life Like 90% of the patients in this pact hospital. He's unvaccinated. He's just walking a very thin tight rope right now. And to be honest, I don't expect him to get out of this without being on a ventilator and if he has to be on a ventilator. I don't expect him to survive. I immediately asked Christopher why hadn't he gotten the vaccine? Perry and I don't like being told What I have to do is still not completely 100% sold on the inoculation. It was eerie to hear Christopher insists on his individual freedoms even as he struggled to breathe. You think other people, I mean, I think that's everybody's individual rights. A choice to do what they want to. So I'm not wanting to dictate or make somebody feel guilty because they don't. Christopher represents a genuine challenge. Do the american values of individual choice have to take priority over public health by the time they're here, What can you do? You know? And it's when somebody's in a room really, really sick and can't breathe and suffering. I mean, it's just not a good time for a lecture. But the results in a place like mountain home is a 36% vaccination rate and people are dying. Let every live their own life. I heard this over and over freedom. Choice don't do it because somebody is pressuring you to do it. Everyone has the right to choose. Almost everyone I met in Mountain Home told me they knew someone who died from covid. Most people are undoubtedly concerned about the pandemic here. It didn't feel to me like a Q. And A. On convention misinformation certainly exists here. But a powerful force behind the hesitancy is this fundamental idea of personal freedom. But in a community where individual rights are taking precedence over everything else. You get endless individual reasons not to get vaccinated. Like believing the vaccine doesn't work. Have two parents in their seventies both had the the vaccine and both got covered. A preference for hearsay. He had heard that the people that were spreading the virus or people that had already had the vaccine and that that they were carriers straight up here. Just people having reactions. Even among those who overcame their hesitancy, there's a lack of urgency. I don't really have any reasons to be out in circulation with the rest of the public. I just enjoy my dogs and work out on the farm and raise my koi fish with all these reasons not to get vaccinated floating around. It makes it hard for those who actually do want it. I have a parent who does not necessarily support vaccinations. It was hard because she asked me where I was going and I was like I want to get vaccinated and she was not very happy with that. What struck me was that mary Beth had the courage to go against the grain. People should be more concerned about the well being of those around them because I feel like not enough people are thinking about other people when they make the decision not to get the vaccine. There's an irony and someone rebelling against a culture of individualism for the good of their community. But voices like mary Beth so are drowned out by leaders who are contradicting public health officials know the state is not gonna be requiring and mandating vaccinations and I don't believe anyone should be forced to take the vaccine. It should be your personal choice. These vaccines are always voluntary and never force. We don't have to accept the mandates lockdowns and harmful policies of the petty tyrants of bureaucrats. We can either have a free society or we can have a biomedical security state. Yeah. There's no better place to see the impact of this political rhetoric than in the hospital. Only about 50% of the staff are vaccinated. None of the unvaccinated staffers were willing to talk. There are just a lot of people that you cannot convince to get vaccinated patients, employees. It's very frustrating. It's sad. It's I don't know, it's disappointing. Just a few months ago, the staff was planning a cookout to celebrate the end of Covid. But instead of barbecuing there now battling another surge. It's exhausting. We're all exhausted. We don't have staff. We don't have beds. One obvious way out is to mandate the vaccine. But in april the governor signed a law banning government mask mandates and vaccine passports. That shifts the responsibility mostly to private entities, vaccine requirements. As part of employment, attending school or participating in sports are reluctantly motivating some to overcome their hesitancy. It seems to me that the only other thing that actually sways people here is being in the hospital. And I really, I'm upset it myself because I did not get vaccinated. I just I've never hurt like I hurt. It's made a believer out of me. This is what freedom looks like in America today. It's always been complicated. But political leaders should remember that this country was also founded on the idea that government should protect us after all, in a pandemic, one person's freedom can be another person's death. Probably should have had a little healthier fear that it will need to be taken more seriously. Oh, I mean, I don't know how close I am to be in a lot worse. I really don't know. Christopher. Green died nine days after this interview. He was 53 years old. Mhm. Mhm.

Continued here:

Dying in the Name of Vaccine Freedom :: WRAL.com - WRAL.com

(WFRV) The Luxemburg-Casco Spartans and Freedom Irish cruised to opening wins on Friday night. Plus our first Team of the Week from the high school football season.

Spartans senior running back Isaac VandenBush had a big night against Xavier with five touchdowns in Lux-Cascos 42-14 victory. Luxemburg-Casco was named the High School Sports Xtra Team of the Week after the win.

Freedom on the other hand jumped out to a big 33-0 lead in the first half. Jamison Rudie added to the Irish advantage with an impressive 20-yard touchdown in the third quarter.

Kiel and Kewaunee needed overtime to decide their week one match-up. Kyle Karnopp got Kewaunee on the board with a touchdown run, and the Raiders responded Connor Faust to Grant Monz touchdown connection. Kiel would go on to win in overtime 13-7.

Hilbert also earned a low scoring victory to open the season. The Wolves took a 14-0 lead with a Reed Breckheimer touchdown in the second half. Then an interception by Carson Grenzer sealed the 14-0 win in the match-up of old Olympian rivals.

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High School Sports Xtra: Luxemburg-Casco & Freedom roll, Team of the Week - WeAreGreenBay.com

There really arent words to express what we want to say.

But were going to try.

To Gold Star Mother Harriet Goodiron, a Gold Star Mother, and every other Gold Star Mother, and every family member: wife, husband, father, son, daughter, and so on, who has lost someone not only to the war in Afghanistan, but to any war.

Thank you.

It almost feels hollow.

But your sons, Cpl. Nathan Goodiron, along with the other brave military members from North Dakota: Cpl. Curtis Mehrer, Bismarck, Sgt. Travis Van Zoest, Bismarck, Cpl. Chris Kleinwachter, Wahpeton, Spc. Keenan Cooper, Wahpeton, Sgt. 1st Class Darren Linde, Devils Lake, and Spc. Tyler Orgaard, Bismarck, will not be forgotten.

We could never imagine the pain that is felt by those who have lost.

How things ended in Afghanistan, Harriet said it best, Its almost like we didnt make a difference there.

Cpl. Nathan Goodiron, Cpl. Curtis Mehrer, Sgt. Travis Van Zoest, Cpl. Chris Kleinwachter, Spc. Keenan Cooper, Sgt. 1st Class Darren Linde, and Spc. Tyler Orgaard all made a huge difference.

We just cant see it.

Thats probably what makes it so hard.

We can only see the result and not the work done.

Not the change that was made, not the lives affected while the boots were on the ground.

Just the result

Again, Harriet said it best on her Facebook, Nates flag flew along with other unsung heroes, the champions of our freedom.

We are free and it is because of Cpl. Nathan Goodiron, Cpl. Curtis Mehrer, Sgt. Travis Van Zoest, Cpl. Chris Kleinwachter, Spc. Keenan Cooper, Sgt. 1st Class Darren Linde, and Spc. Tyler Orgaard, and all of those who have served.

And

We will never be able to thank those who have fought for our freedom enough.

You are all truly

The Champions of Freedom.

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They're the Champions of Freedom | News, Sports, Jobs - Minot Daily News

When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. When the government fears the people, there is liberty.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

As the world watches the disastrous ending of Americas nearly 20-year occupation of Afghanistan, we cannot lose sight of what is happening here, just below the media radar.

I hope I am wrong, yet I see a time of great suffering coming soon for those of us who cherish, articulate and defend personal liberty in a free society.

I hear it coming in the media drumbeat over the spread of the delta variant of COVID-19 and the demonization of those who exercise their inalienable right to dominion over their own bodies by declining to receive a novel and largely experimental vaccine.

I feel it in the subtle and not-so-subtle hints of politicians attempting to discern which way the winds of change are blowing and beginning to conclude privately that the direction of those winds is toward another sheepish American acceptance of repressive governmental measures in the name of public health.

And I sense it in the outcomes and judicial rationales of the early stages of litigations in which numerous state judges and state supreme court justices in the past week have purported to find constitutional, and thus recognized, the decisions of officials in the executive branch of government the branch that exists to enforce the laws that the legislative branch has written to write their own laws, call them mandates, and use force to compel businesses to close and healthy folks to wear masks on public and private property.

The coming violations of basic freedoms the freedom of total dominion over ones own body including the face, the freedom to exercise personal liberty and to own and use private property without a government permission slip, and the right to a government that complies with its own laws, particularly the restraints imposed upon it by the Constitution will sorely challenge and, if unchecked, will severely weaken the values underlying our American republic.

Add to this the near certainty that the federal government will borrow trillions of dollars in the next three years, thus raising the price of everything and thrusting the obligation to repay those loans onto generations of taxpayers as yet unborn; and add to that the political pressures now being imposed on President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to reestablish U.S. military dominance near Afghanistan, a dominance that under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama was lethal, fruitless, catastrophic, and cost 1 trillion borrowed American dollars and tens of thousands of innocent lives, and which President Donald J. Trump wisely argued should never have happened and ought to be terminated, and you can see my fears.

We have seen all this before.

The principal values underlying our republic are that our rights are natural gifts from God and can only be taken away after due process, which requires that the government proves fault at a fair jury trial; that the governments existence is moral only when it derives from the consent of the governed; that the Constitution is the supreme law of the land; and that when governments abandon these principles and assault our liberties, it is the right and the duty of the governed to alter or abolish or secede from the government.

These are not the musings of a frustrated libertarian.

Rather, they are bedrock American law embedded in and integral to the Declaration of Independence in which Thomas Jefferson and all other signatories characterized our rights as natural and inalienable and insisted that no government is lawful without the consent of the governed and the Ninth Amendment to the Constitution in which James Madison and the Congress and the ratifiers recognized that our freedoms are too numerous to enumerate and thus the amendment commands that government shall not disparage any rights, even unenumerated rights, without due process.

Today, all persons in government take a solemn oath to uphold these documents, which include the Jeffersonian and Madisonian values underlying them. But you would never know that by observing their official behavior.

It seems that no matter which major political party controls the government, the government claims it can right any wrongs, tax any objects, regulate any events, suppress any liberties, kill any foreign foes (real or imagined) and help any of its patrons the Declaration and the Constitution and their values be damned.

Do you know anyone who has consented to a government that can by executive decree take away the very freedoms that the founding documents guarantee and the authors of the decrees have sworn to uphold? Do you know anyone who has consented to a government that can take away personal freedoms by legislation? Do you know anyone who has consented to the government, period?

Our only recourse is massive, peaceful, loud public resistance that meaningfully threatens peaceful secession from the government the same secession Jefferson and his fellow revolutionaries and signatories argued for in the Declaration of Independence.

Resistance even by a persistent and passionate minority can topple the mandates. But it must be resistance so ubiquitous and so loud and so serious that the government fears the people.

If you want to wear a mask, wear it. If you want the vaccines, get them. But keep the government off the backs of those dont.

Then our freedoms will be secure.

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Freedom in the time of COVID-19 | Journal-news | journal-news.net - Martinsburg Journal

MONTREAL -- Basil Katsivalis leaves his wheelchair behind when he sails.

On land you gotta wheel yourself around, but once [youre] on the water, its amazing, he says.

Katsivalis is a member of the Association Quebcoise de Voile Adapte (AQVA), which invites anyone with a physical disability to try sailing, with no experience necessary.

Its very safe, the boat is designed for disabled sailors, Katsivalis explains.

The AQVA headed out to Lac-St-Louis on Aug. 21 to participate in a regatta, which saw a turnout of 42 boats from various clubs.

Unfortunately, the winds werent strong enough to race, but AQVA sailors said they enjoyed it all the same.

You can understand, being on the water is the closest thing to freedom for me, says Victor Levy, another AQVA sailor who uses a wheelchair. Im equal to you when Im in my boat.

Fellow member Nancy Macleod feels a similar sense of satisfaction when she's on the water.

If you're paralyzed or if you're not 100 per cent in your body, your mind is still alert. It makes a big difference to go out on these boats, she says.

Navigating strong winds and currents, sailing can be a highly technical sport. In this case, its a matter of controlling a heavy boat with a double-hull and sturdy keel.

Although in this case a bit more wind would have been helpful, there are plenty more sailing excursions to come.

Original post:

'It's amazing': disabled sailors on finding freedom in the waters - CTV News Montreal

Shimla, August 21

The Himachal Pradesh High Court has dismissed an appeal filed by the Central Government and directed it to pay all arrears of pension, including interest, to the widow of a freedom fighter with effect from 1974.

A division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Ravi Malimath and Justice Jyotsna Rewa Dua passed the order on an appeal filed by the Central Government, challenging the order by a single judge on the petition.

Petitioner Brahmi Devi had sought directions to the Centre and the state government to grant freedom fighters pension to her, being the widow of Dhani Ram, who had served in Dogra Regiment as a sepoy till 1946 and participated in World War II.

Awarded the Pacific Star, the Defence Medal and the War Medal, Dhani Ram, along with similarly placed people, were declared as freedom fighters of the nation.

In 1973, Himachal Pradesh issued a letter to award Tamrapatras to the freedom fighters in Bilaspur, Mandi, Hamirpur and Kullu districts and the petitioners husband name was there along with another freedom fighter Lance Naik Lashkari Ram.

On August 15, 1973, a Tamrapatra was awarded to Dhani Ram, who was acknowledged as a freedom fighter by the Bilaspur Deputy Commissioner and was issued an identity card. However, the state did not consider his request for the grant of pension to him. He went on making representations till his death on May 2, 2010. Thereafter, his widow had been pursuing his claim.

The single judge Bench had allowed her petition on September 29, 2016, observing that it is proved on record that the husband of the petitioner was a freedom fighter and therefore, she is entitled for the grant of freedom fighter pension from the due date, i.e. April 4, 1974.

It had directed that the pension shall be released within eight weeks, failing which, the respondents shall be liable to pay nine per cent interest on the pension. IANS

The background

On August 15, 1973, a Tamrapatra was awarded to Dhani Ram, who was acknowledged as a freedom fighter by the Bilaspur Deputy Commissioner and was issued an identity card. However, the state did not consider his request for the grant of pension to him.

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Himachal High Court: Pay arrears to freedom fighters widow from 1974 - The Tribune

OPINION: In retrospect, almost every era may be viewed as an age of giants as exemplified by the glorious history of the Struggle for liberation in South Africa. It is in this regard, therefore, that Charlotte Maxeke stands out like a cathedral in a citadel, writes Dr Vusi Shongwe.

The present generation may rewrite history, but it does not write it on a blank page. (Maurice Halbwachs).

This work is not for yourselves. Kill that spirit of self and do not live above your people but live with them and if you can rise, bring someone with you. Charlotte Mannya- Maxeke Institute.

Addressing his people, President Igor Smirnov of Transnistria, near Ukraine, once said: We must save the heritage of our heroic senior generation. Their feat will remain for centuries as a caution for our descendants, as a lesson of courage, of selfless service to the Fatherland, of fidelity to the ideals of good and justice.

So, similar sentiments can be expressed in relation to Charlotte Maxeke who by all measure and standards of the time was a woman of great stature.

American civil rights woman activist, Fannie Lou Hammer, teaches us that there are two things we should always care about. Firstly, we should never forget where we came from and secondly, we should always praise the bridges that carried us over.

Regrettably, apathy has made it possible for South Africans to forget the bridges that carried them over to where they are today as a nation. There is, as it were, an apparent forgetfulness that our progress is a march that started with the fallen heroes and heroines.

As we progress, these heroes and heroines hear every footstep and misstep we make. It is against this backdrop that Maurice Halbwachs reminds us that the present generation may rewrite history, but it does not write it on a blank page.

So, Charlotte Maxeke is one of those bridges and also one of those heroines of our Struggle for freedom whose motive to join the Struggle for freedom was to improve the quality of life of the downtrodden rather than personal aggrandisement.

So, it can be gleaned from the above explication on the question of forgetfulness that many magnificent human beings who achieved so much in the past are now almost totally forgotten. Ironically, their contemporaries would have expressed astonishment at their present anonymity.

Thus, in retrospect, almost every era may be viewed as an age of giants as exemplified by the glorious history of the Struggle for liberation in South Africa. It is in this regard, therefore, that Charlotte Maxeke stands out like a cathedral in a citadel.

It needs to be conceded though that there is always an element of danger involved in seeing the past through the present.

Thus, although the contemporary glass through which we review the past may show us new aspects, it may also discolour or distort it. So, if we are to avoid errors, we must try to see Charlotte Maxeke in her own context within which she displayed all the qualities of a great leader.

Arguably, the fact that unlike in the case of other eminent ANC leaders, Charlotte Maxekes history has not spawned a virtual cottage industry of books and commentary despite the rich history she bequeathed us with, has for many years, been an indictment on the ANC as a party for its perhaps unwitting disregard of her monumental achievements.

Our recognition of this historiographical omission which, when correctly construed, should steer us towards rescuing Charlotte Maxeke from the threat of global anonymity and restore her to her deserved position in public esteem.

Indeed, the government needs to be commended for removing Charlotte Maxeke from both the periphery of the discourse of the Struggle for liberation and anonymity by declaring 2021 as the year of celebrating the anniversary of 150 years of the birth of Charlotte Maxeke an icon of the role of women in the Struggle for liberation in South Africa.

She is, therefore, to be conceived of as a towering figure and extraordinary black female intellectual and activist who made superhuman efforts to improve the human condition.

Who was Charlotte Mannya Maxeke?

Charlotte Maxeke was born Charlotte Mokgomo Mannya Maxeke in Botlokwa Ga-Ramokgoba in Limpopo (Polokwane) in 1871. Her mother was a teacher and her father was a foreman on road gangs. Her father was also a lay preacher in a Presbyterian Church.

In 1891, Mannya and her sister, Kate, were invited to join the African Jubilee Choir and toured Britain. The choir was invited to sing to Queen Victoria. Endowed with a beautiful mellifluous voice, Maxeke mesmerised the Queen with her solo performance. It was during her tour of England that Maxeke attended suffrage speeches by women such as Emmeline Pankhurst

Pankhurst was a British political activist. She is best remembered for organising the UK suffrage movement and helping women win the right to vote. Also, during the same tour, Maxeke met students from Wilberforce University.

She realised for the first time that in the United States there were opportunities for black students which were not available in South Africa. Eventually, the African Jubilee Choir toured the US. The tour collapsed owing to the abscondence of its leader, which left , Maxeke and the other members of choir stranded and penniless.

As faith would have it, Maxeke stayed in America, and she met Bishop Derrick of the AME Church, who arranged for her to study at Wilberforce University. She received a scholarship from Daniel A Payne. She excelled in all fields of academia. She also arranged opportunities for other African students to study at Wilberforce.

At Wilberforce she also met her husband, Marshall Maxeke, who had come to the university from South Africa in 1896. She was taught under the tutelage of pan-Africanist scholar and proponent Dr WEB Du Bois and received an education that was focused on developing her as a future missionary in Africa.

Charlotte achieved two very memorable things. She became the first black South African woman to earn a university degree (BSc. degree), and she was betrothed to a fellow countryman and graduate Dr Marshall Maxeke.

To graduate with a BSc degree was no small feat, especially at a time when colonialism, oppression, racism and sexism were considered the norm. It was an unimaginable achievement. Lest it be forgotten, It was the very same WEB Du Bois, the Harvard University graduate who, in 1903, said in his Souls of Black Folks - perhaps his most famous quote, The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the colour line.

With hope for the future, this was said during a time where Du Bois thought that this problem would be eliminated in due time. To underscore and appreciate the incredible academic achievements of Charlotte Maxeke, in 1930 Dr AB Xuma wrote an essay about Maxeke, Charlotte Manye Maxeke: What an educated African girl can do, in order to make an argument for higher education of our African women.

Interestingly, the foreword to the essay was written by Du Bois who described Maxeke as someone who has a clear mind, (a) fund of subtle humour and a straight-forward honesty (of) character.

He further explained, I regard Mrs Maxeke as a pioneer in one of the greatest of human races, working under extraordinarily difficult circumstances to lead a people, in the face of prejudice, not only against her race, but against her sex. To fight not simply the natural and inherent difficulties of education and social uplift, but to fight with little money and little outside aid was indeed a tremendous task.

Shortly after her return from the US, Maxeke helped found the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

It was around 1902, shortly after the end of the Anglo-Boer war, that Charlotte Maxeke, a towering and black female activist extraordinaire and human rights campaigner, took the first active steps in organised politics by attending the annual meeting of the SA Native Convention (SANC) or Ingqungquthela in then Queenstown.

The Cape-based organisation was formed in 1890 and was the early manifestation of efforts to cut across tribal divides and form the South African Native National Congress (SANNC). As pointed out by Zubeida Jaffer in her article, A woman ahead of her time: The Lesseyton moment, Maxeke must have had some inkling that arriving at this meeting would cause controversy. On the day of the meeting, Jaffer relates, Maxeke was the only woman present and said she needed clarity on the purpose of the congress and its objectives. She also asked if it was possible to have women forming part of the congress.

Shocked by Maxekes boldness, the congress nominated a committee to respond to Maxekes questions. As patriarchally expected, the committee tabled the matter and replied by saying the time was not yet ripe for women to lead delegations let alone to take part in civil movements. It further said that it was advisable for women to form their own movements, as women only.

Though she might have expected such a response from the committee, though is no record, as explained by Jaffer, on how Maxeke reacted to the decision of the committee; there is however no doubt that Maxeke was both shocked and disappointed that she could not be part of such a serious meeting because she was a woman.

However, as related by Jaffer, there was at least one man who publicly expressed a different view to that of the committee, and this man was none other than Sol Plaatje. Plaatje was outraged by the way Maxeke was treated. In an article in Koranta ea Becona, he wrote: what was the state of affairs at the Convention? Out of a gathering of 40 robust men, not one could boast of even a Kaffrarian degree, while Miss Charlotte, who was refused admittance on account of her sex is, besides other attainments, a BSc graduate of an American University and in a report covering more than nine columns of the Izwi, hers was the neatest and most sensible little speech We are great believers in classification, you know, but classifications of the right kind, not discrimination and just as strongly as we object to the line of demarcation being drawn on the basis of a persons colour, so we abhor disqualification founded on a persons sex.

The Convention would surely have benefited by the experiences of one, who though a woman, is not only their intellectual superior, but is besides leading an adventurous missionary life among the heathens of the Zoutpansberg, while they demonstrate their manliness by leisurely enjoying the sea breeze at the coast.

The details of Charlotte Maxekes life trajectory are recorded in the book, Beauty of the Heart, The Life and Times of Charlotte Mannya Maxeke, written by Zubeida Jaffer.

Historiographical Omission: A case of the Patriarchal Worldview. Wittingly or unwittingly, the historiographical omission in recording Charlotte Mannya Maxekes achievements cannot go unnoticed. Thus, without being unduly systematic, one would chronicle (without being necessarily exhaustive in this regard) Charlotte Maxekes achievements both as a political activist and intellectual as follows:

(a) In 1901: She was the first black South African woman that graduated with a BSc degree at an American University.

(b) In 1913: She led the first march against the Pass Laws which was the forerunner of the 1956 Womens March against the Pass Laws.

(c) In 1918: She founded the Bantu Women League which was the precursor of the ANCWL of 1943. In the very same year, she led a delegation to Prime Minister Louis Botha to discuss the issue of passes for women.

(d) In 1920: She participated in the formation of the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU).

(e) In 1924: She was elected President of the Womens Missionary Society (WMS).

(f) In 1926: She was appointed head teacher at Lota High School at Idutywa in the Eastern Cape.

(g) In 1928: She attended an AME Church Conference in the USA. In the very same year, she addressed the All African Convention in Bloemfontein.

(h) In 1933: She was instrumental in the formation of the National Council of African Women and she became its first national president.

(i) In 1935: She addressed the All African Convention in Bloemfontein.

In recognising the importance of the National Council of African Women, the president general of the African National Congress of the time, Reverend Mahabane, invited Charlotte Maxeke to join an ANC deputation to Cape Town in 1939.

The overriding purpose of the trip was to interview the Minister of Native Affairs, government officials and several Members of Parliament on the socio-economic conditions of Africans. It is worth mentioning that the Council became the catalyst for articulating the struggle of women in changing the social, political and economic conditions of Africans, both in rural and urban areas.

In her perspicacious closing remarks, just two months before her demise, she said something that any person who is a leader should always guard against: This work is not ourselves. Kill that spirit of self and do not live above your people. If you can rise, bring some with you. Circulate your work and distribute as much information as possible, because this is not your Council, but the Council of African women from here to Egypt. Do away with fearful jealousy, kill that spirit and love one another as brothers and sisters. Stand by your motto: Do unto others as ye would that they should unto you.

Charlotte Maxekes extraordinary intellect and leadership led to her being invited by the South African Ministry of Education to testify before several government commissions in Johannesburg on matters concerning African education the first for an African of any gender. Her sagacity led to a number of job offers which were the first of their kind made by the white government to an African and this resulted in her being made a probation officer, and she was the first African woman to hold such a post.

Thus, in reference to the above explication, my view is that the neglect and overlooking of the role and contributions made by women in the Struggle for liberation can be attributed to the ingrained patriarchal world view which for many years has seen women being relegated to the margins of society. Not only did patriarchy nearly vitiate and overlook the incredible accomplishments and contributions of Maxeke, it almost consigned her into historical anonymity as exemplified by the limited reading material on her history.

Dale Spender, author of Women of Ideas and what men have done to them, argues that fundamental to patriarchy is the invisibility of women, the unreal nature of womens experience, the absence of women as a force to be reckoned with.

In his book, The Founders, Andre Odendaal brilliantly captures the absence or invisibility of women in the nationalist movement when he points out that, Women have generally been absent from South African narratives of nationalism and the nascent struggles for democracy before 1912. It has been accepted that those who started the struggle and the ANC were men, the founding fathers to use the language of patriarchy, and that womens involvement in politics postdates 1912.

Odendaal speaks of the tension regarding the nature of black womens publicness in the 1920s and 1930s.

Meghan Healy-Clancy, in her article In a world of their Own: A history of South African Womens Education postulates that while scholars have generally characterised women as marginal to African nationalism during this period, women were in fact only marginal to the realm of male-dominated political groups in which the ANC was prominent. Ironically, even leaders like Dr AB Xuma, who was one of the revered leaders of the SANNAC could not escape the pervasively prevailing, deeply and sub-consciously ingrained patriarchic influence. He referred to Maxeke as an educated native girl. This was not surprising to Maxeke because in those days, as she mentioned in her speech in England, women were but cattle. That is how distastefully toxic the pervasive influence of patriarchy was.

Indeed, Maxeke had to endure all the obstacles and challenges that were part of her daily life as an African woman living in a 19th-century colonial world which was also compounded by patriarchy.

Sadly, even in the 21st century, one still comes across patriarchal views even from internationally acclaimed and highly revered educated male scholars. For example, in his article entitled, Women and the Evolution of World Politics Francis Fukuyama asserts that women leaders endanger our world given their incomprehension of masculine world politics.

Some women like Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, and Golda Meir may play with the boys by curbing or overcoming their inherent disposition toward peace, love, and other caring emotions. But women, as a whole, are genetically incapable of handling a world rife with testosterone-charged aggression, hierarchy and violence.

He (Fukuyama) portrays, as observed by Youba Raj Luintels piece Do Males Always like War, that women are incapable of venturing into the realm of politics that has been male-friendly: aggressive, competitive, tough and force-demanding. Fukuyama, as observed by Lily Ling in her article, Hypermasculinity on the rise, again, claims that feminists seek to control men and so they should, given mens aggressive tendencies.

As if giving credit to women, the industrialised democracies, argues Fukuyama, score best with the greatest number of women in politics. Higher numbers of female politicians, officials, bureaucrats, and the like, ensure that a zone of peace is enjoyed by liberal democratic states only. Fukuyama cautions, though, that this feminisation of politics would work if and only if the world at large were to become so.

Since this is not the case, dangerous males like Mobutu, Milosevic, or Saddam require(d) steely masculinity, not warm and fuzzy femininity at the helm. In fact, argues Fukuyama, the feminisation of politics may pose greater dangers than stability in this context. Fukuyama continues to argue that despite the rise of women, men will continue to play a critical role, if not a dominant part in the governance of post-industrial countries, not to mention less-developed ones. The realms of war and international politics will remain controlled by men for longer than many feminists would like. Most importantly, the task of re-socialising men to be more like women that is, less violent will run into limits. What is bred in the bone, concludes Fukuyama, cannot be altered easily by changes in culture and ideology.

The grasp of the intensity of the oppression of women is further articulated by Spivak G in her piece Can the Sulbatern Speak: between patriarchy and imperialism, subject - constitution and object - formation, into a figure of woman disappears, not into a pristine nothingness, but into a violent shuttling which is the displaced figuration of the third-world woman caught between tradition and modernisation.

The negative impact of the patriarchal world view is also articulated by Clarisa Pinkola Estes in her acclaimed book entitled Women Who Run with the Wolves. The book is an essential read for men and women, a landmark publication on the female psyche and how through the centuries women have proved to be resilient and strong despite the conventional patriarchal oppression.

Fundiswa A Koka, in his article, A womanist exposition of Pseudo-Spirituality and the Cry of an Oppressed African Woman, points out that South African black women suffered the triple oppression of race, class and gender, and their struggle to challenge the patriarchal culture of insubordination is still pertinent for our context today.

During the liberation Struggle, women continued to perform tasks long associated with their gender they cooked, washed clothing and perform sexual services for the male guerrilla. Women were generally excluded from positions of power.

As Marx and Engels declared: the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle. Also, WEB Du Bois puts it aptly when he says, the meaning of the twentieth century is the freeing of the individual soul; the soul longest in slavery and still in the most disgusting and indefensible slavery is the soul of womanhood. Thus, argues Du Bois, the uplift of women is, next to the problem of the colour line and the peace movement our greatest modern cause.

Indeed, too often, women, including Charlotte Maxekes role in the rise of black politics is limited to a secondary status in which women are perceived as a support structure of the struggle.

Thozama April points out how the gendered oral archives of the narratives of the struggle have failed to account for Maxekes contributions in the authorship of the narratives of the struggle. The interviews Thozama April conducted only highlighted the supportive role of the women in organising political events and various organizations associated with the struggle for liberation from the 1920s to the 1930s. The struggle narratives are constructed around male figures. In short, many narratives overlook the involvement of women in both the formative years of modern politics and the role of women in the struggle for liberation. Indeed, the so called supportive role smacks of the patriarchal world view.

In these narratives, women featured as spouses who provided the much-needed support to the political prisoners. This trend continues to frame and describe the entry of women into the field of politics as mere supporters. The question then is, says April, how was it then that authoritative studies of black protest politics could omit womens theorisations of the political discourse of the twentieth century? And how could these movements have neglected their precursors in the work of intellectuals like Maxeke?

The conclusion we might draw from the survey of the scholarship of the 1980s is that oral narratives when used as a corrective measure in presenting first-hand accounts of womens lives, experiences, achievement and struggles alone do not suffice to overcome the flaws of the nationalist meta-narratives on women.

Written scholarly testimonies on Charlotte Maxekes Achievements

Some notable scholars have attested to the fact that Charlotte Maxeke was not only a prolific black leader, activist and a pan-Africanist who worked with all organisations of different persuasions, but was also a powerful and influential and inimitable intellectual figure who was highly revered even by her own oppressors. She was indeed a servant leader, a social worker and a resiliently brave woman in the face of adversity as she fought for voting rights, welfare rights, womens rights, economic rights, and above all, for a vision that would ensure the dignity of every person. Like Rosa Parks who is heralded as the mother of modern-day civil rights movement, Charlotte Maxeke is heralded as the mother of black freedom in South Africa.

Charlotte Maxeke, the 19th century African intellectual, wrote three very informative essays titled: The progress of Native womanhood in South Africa, The city mission and Social conditions amongst Bantu women and girls.

Masola is instructive in her article, On Black Excellence: Charlotte Maxeke, when she says, glancing at the titles alone one can only see the formidability in Maxekes voice and, she poignantly declares, the silence and erasure about Maxekes life is a travesty.

Maxekes story matters. The truth is, observes Masola, many young black girls do not know Charlotte Maxekes story and there is a danger in this. Masola is of the conviction that Charlotte Maxekes story is a reminder that as a woman she can create the reality she wants; she does not have to respond to the small space that is created for black women to occupy.

Masola further says that whenever she faces criticism for being outspoken about the black experience, she returns to Charlotte Mannya Maxekes words and story as a reminder that my soul is intact (from Nina Simones song Young gifted and black, inspired by Lorraine Hansberrys work) and that her world is straight.

Many scholars, especially feminists, argue that Maxekes name is sadly overlooked in the history of South Africa probably because of her gender - a point argued by Thozama April in her groundbreaking thesis. Indeed, Charlotte Mannya Maxekes stupendously remarkable story should inspire all young women to conquer all the obstacles they face in their personal and professional lives.

They, including men, dare not fail her. Charlotte Maxeke worked as a parole officer and court welfare officer in Johannesburg. She vouched for Hastings Walter Kamuzu Banda, who led Malawis independence campaign and who in 1966 became the countrys first president of Malawi, to secure a passport to enable him to journey to the United States to take up an AME church scholarship at Wilberforce University. With the imperturbability and authority of unshakable experience, she asked the magistrate to approve Bandas application.

With her widely known and highly revered reputation, her work carried great weight and the application was unreservedly and hassle-free approved. This was not surprising, as pointed out by former speaker of the National Assembly, Baleka Mbete, in her commemoration lecture on Charlotte Mannya Maxeke; the latter was a successful facilitator of racial relations across the racial spectrum. Mbete is of the view that Charlotte Maxeke embodies the struggle of a modern woman in her engagements with traditional structures to negotiate Western modes of life into a traditional rural society.

AB Xuma, one of the past presidents of the ANC, notes that Maxekes meaningful engagement with men in the chiefs council was due to her mastery of the customs. She also, despite the challenges, during her stay in Ramokgopa village, which was replete with traditional protocols - Maxeke adroitly navigated her way and laid a strong foundation for Christianity to grow by establishing a community school in the village. It is also widely acknowledged that the chiefs progressive stance towards education was a result of her stay in the village. She was also was one of the few women whose voice was heard and who had an influence in the council of Dalindyebo, Paramount Chief of the abaThembu at Idutywa.

Maxekes multiplex capabilities led to the bestowal of the honour of being the counsellor of King Sabata Dalindyebo. The ANC awarded her the Isithwalandwe, which is the highest honour of the ANC, awarded to those who made an outstanding contribution and sacrifice to the liberation struggle.

In his article entitled Charlotte Mannya Maxeke, advocate Modidima Mannya argues that if there was ever an opportunity for the ANC to have had a female president, Maxeke would have been the best the ANC would ever have. Could it be that advocate Mannya is advancing this argument just because he shares the same maiden surname of Charlotte Maxeke?

Be that as it may, it cannot be gainsaid that Maxeke was an overall pioneer and an incisive leader. Professor Tinyiko Maluleke surmises that the only reason Charlotte Maxeke was not elected the first president of the African National Congress was that she was a woman; for Maxeke herself, noted in her speech in England that in those days, women were but cattle. This was a serious indictment on patriarchy.

Given the colossally greatness of Maxeke, it is rather unfortunate that there is a dearth of scholarly work on the history of Charlotte Maxeke. There are, however, two substantive works on Charlotte Maxeke - the thesis of Thozama April-Maduma and the biography of Charlotte Maxeke by Zubeida Jaffer.

Thozama April-Madunas groundbreaking thesis, Theorising Women: The Intellectual Contribution of Charlotte Maxeke to the Struggle for liberation in South Africa examines the incorporation of Maxekes legacy of active intellectual engagement as an integral part of gender politics in the activities of the Womens section of the African National Congress.

Indeed, Dr Thozama April-Maduna and Zubeida Jaffer should be extolled for their engrossing, riveting and pioneering works on Maxeke.

Having read these two meticulously well researched and elegantly written works on Maxeke, one can attest without any shadow of doubt that Maxeke stands out as an international pedestal alongside her global contemporaries.

April sees Maxeke as the embodiment of the intellectual contributions of women in the struggle for liberation in South Africa. It is regrettable, though, as April points out, that only prominent male intellectuals are often cited as central to the intellectual core of the liberation movement.

April points out that the Intellectual tradition of the 19th and the 20th centuries in South Africa not only flagrantly ignores Maxeke but neglects women intellectuals altogether. A good example of this is a book by Mcebisi Ndletyana entitled African Intellectuals in 19th and 20th Century South Africa.

This book in its surveying of the intellectual tradition of 19th and 20th century South Africa not only ignores Maxeke but neglects women intellectuals altogether. Instead of acknowledging their pivotal role in the struggle, women are only acknowledged for their reproductive abilities.

Charlotte would have been proud of the women of the Algerian society, who, according to Frantz Fanon in his book Year Five of the Algerian Revolution, in their fight for liberation, in their sacrifices that they were willing to make in order to liberate themselves from colonialism, and, probably from patriarchy as well, renewed themselves and developed new values governing sexual relations.

The women ceased to be a complement of men. They literally forged a new place for themselves with their sheer strength, resilience and unrelenting determination. In a nutshell, Maxeke unfolded a discourse that was in sharp contrast to the documentary trends of the nationalist narratives of the struggle for liberation. Her discourse also contrasted sharply with that of the state. But this fissure has unfortunately been omitted in the historiography of the liberation struggle.

Charlotte Maxeke the Mother of Black Freedom in South Africa passed away, joining her husband and her God, on October 16, 1939 at the age of 65. At her funeral at Kliptown, in Johannesburgs eastern periphery, her eulogy ended with the words She was everyones friend and no ones enemy.

It bears repeating, therefore, that to sustain her abiding legacy, a submarine, S102, is named after Charlotte Maxeke, and the former Johannesburg Hospital in Parktown was renamed Dr Charlotte Maxeke Hospital. A statue has been erected of the woman who has come to be called the Mother of Black Freedom in South Africa and this is in Pretorias Garden of Remembrance.

Conclusion

It is unfortunate that most members of the public remain ignorant of Charlotte Maxekes significance in the struggle for liberation in South Africa.

Hopefully, the celebration of her 150 year anniversary will help remove Maxeke from the periphery of the political discourse and place her in the epicentre of the scheme of things because that is where she belongs.

Known for her moral consistency, independence of judgement and the courage to express it, Charlotte Maxeke spoke from her soul with great feeling for all, and everyone listened. It could be easily said she cared deeply for all humankind.

As Zubeida Jaffer puts it in her article, Heraldine heroine: Why is Charlotte Maxekes Life such a blurry memory for South Africa, many will know that Charlotte Maxeke is the name of a heroine -class submarine. And a heroine she was. Jaffer says Maxeke has bequeathed a legacy that should no longer be absent from school and university curricula.

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Charlotte Mannya-Maxeke: The Mother of Black Freedom in South Africa - IOL