OPINION: JOBURG PRIDE – WE ALL NEED TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY
One in Nine, a relatively obscure group, has generated huge controversy through its protest action at Joburg Pride on October 6th. Sadly, its vital cause of defending queer women has been overshadowed by public mudslinging and heightened factionalism within the LGBT community.
One in Nine claim that they needed to ‘ambush’ the parade to make a statement about the event’s “depoliticisation” and racial exclusivity. The reality is that organisations such as One in Nine are in large part behind this state of affairs.
I was among a handful of people who moved to rescue Joburg Pride in 2006 from a scenario in which it was run by one man who had driven the event into the ground; owing considerable amounts of money to suppliers and charities. As someone who came out to the world at my first Joburg Pride in the early 90s I knew what a powerful experience it could be and how very needed it was – as a liberating platform for queer self-expression and as a political tool. With Pride on the verge of being cancelled, I called for a meeting of interested parties at Constitution Hill to help “save” the oldest LGBT event in Africa.
At that meeting an exciting mix of LGBT political activists and people with skills such as event organising and marketing came together to do just that. Over the course of weeks, months and years that followed, however, the activists began to fall away, one by one.
Having spent four years on the board (I resigned in 2010) I can attest to the lack of interest displayed by the LGBT activist community in taking part in Pride’s organising during that period. Despite repeated requests to the Joint Working Group – the now defunct network representing LGBT community groups in South Africa – only one, or at the most two, representatives ever volunteered to the board.
“This act of turning on one’s allies perhaps reflects One in Nine’s frustration at the complete failure of the activist community in making headway in the crisis facing LGBT women in South Africa…”
E-mails requesting participation were either ignored or we were told that people were too busy or organisations did not have resources. All of us, in fact, were too busy, but we still took the time to make meetings and participate. The result of this vacuum is that what should have been a balanced board consisting of activists with political savvy and focus and people with organisational skills who could put on the event became dominated by the business-minded members.
Yes, meetings usually took place in Bryanston; but we needed those people who had skills in organising an event of Pride’s scale to help us put the damn thing together. We as activists needed to defer our time (not necessarily our views) to these volunteers who took time out of their day to contribute their staff, resources and offices at no cost. Perhaps it was inconvenient for some activists and perhaps they were challenged by hard-headed corporate-minded people with a middle-class worldview. But all of us need to be able to function outside of our comfort zones to bring our community together. Middle class people are just as gay as any radical activist.
I would argue that the current Joburg Pride organisers are not ultimately responsible for the lack of political substance at the event. While their intention is to both celebrate our community and to highlight the challenges facing us, they are not professional activists. They run businesses during the day and work on Pride after hours. And, admittedly, most of them are white and most of them do not have strong personal ties to black lesbian women most affected by hate crimes.
However, the current members of the board have done exactly what they were expected and tasked to do, based on their skill set and experience: put on a financially sustainable, increasingly well-organised, well-promoted and well-oiled machine that can safely accommodate 20,000 people through the streets of Joburg. That’s why they were asked to be part of the board in the first place.
Has Pride lost its centre in terms of political sensitivity, awareness and strategy? I’d argue in many ways, yes. I think it has become an event that almost exists for the sake of existing. But I’d place most of the blame at the feet of the very same activists who are now slinging emotive and inflammatory accusations of racism and of being sidelined at the board. It is they who should have taken charge of Pride and provided leadership when it was needed. It is they who failed to show up when they were required to do so. Their moral outrage now smacks of hypocrisy and opportunism.
Pride was not, as claimed by one journalist, hijacked by the Pride board, it was instead abandoned and neglected by the LGBT activist community.
When One in Nine staged a similar ‘die in protest’ at Soweto Pride a week before the Joburg event it was a powerful and moving experience that highlighted the dire circumstances many of us face. On that occasion they worked with the organisers of Soweto Pride to integrate it into the parade to make it a success. Why did they not do the same with Joburg Pride? An opportunity to have similarly impacted on 20,000 people, instead of a few hundred, was lost. Why?
Activists won’t volunteer as they do not get paid for work at Joburg Pride. NGOs are big business in SA and pay salaries to their directors and staff – out of donor money. That is the reality. All these NGOs with names like 1in9 and AMSHER and OUT etc etc have a huge payroll and that is what keeps them alive. Cut the aid – us what happened to Out in Africa which its then 6 full-time employees, and it is the end of the NGO because it is the end of the Money. It is very ironic that organisations such as 1in9 shout “money-making” and “commercialism” at Pride when in fact, the situation is the other way around …
I just have to set the record straight. Some NGO directors and representatives receive not a single cent for their efforts and contributions and pay for the upkeep of the NGO out of their own pockets (meaning they have day jobs and do activism work after-hours). They are thinly spread and unfortunately cannot contribute where they would like to due to the demands of a job and a life replete with responsibility. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that *all* NGOs are just riding the gravy train.
So in short, I support the views of Luiz, and the statement that board members have to make space in their busy schedules and that so much is taken for granted. We owe much to these people and their selfless contributions.
I am proud of Joburg Pride because it is very well run. Any attempts to sow division just erodes our community.
I agree – and I should have made it clearer. Not all NGOs – those with foreig and other donors – like oneinnine (1 in 9) …
Those who are arguing that the 9 in 1 protest was illegal are rather ignorant. Guess what? Not so long ago being gay was illegal in SA but ‘radical’ politics changed that! Desperate times call for desperate measures.
The problem isn’t so much black and white. It’s more the have vs the have not. Jo’burg is the capital of capitalism in Africa. Nothing wrong with that but one must have a conscious. Perhaps we should do a little less finger pointing and a little more deliberation as how we can move forward in a more united and productive way.
I think it’s great that there is finally a conversation taking place. That is the best thing that came out of this and for that I thank 1 in 9. Like any other family, the LGBT community does have it’s issues. It’s how we go about solving these issues that matter.
I would suggest having one pride in Gauteng taking place in Jo’burg CBD; the neutral ground and center of our metropolis. I’m sure some will say it’s not ‘safe’ but it’s us the people who can change that and things are progressing in the city.
Secondly, let’s make the pride march a serious political event and party after. This is what the gay pride parade was initially about.
“What’s needed now is for both the Joburg Pride board and people like the One in Nine campaign to step outside of their respective comfort zones and put the needs of their community first”. I second that emotion.
1in9 is a Woman’s Movement, not a LGBTI movement. They are no family of mine.
The Director of OUTmakes R540 000 per year. Their salaries are more than R2 and a half million per year – and where are they? Their annual repor is on their website.
OUT is not an activist organisation per se – they provide professional services to the community in PTA. HIV testing, medical services, they have a nurse and a clinic. If you read their annual report properly you’ll see “where they are” and what they do…
Article is spot on …
Well said Luiz. Couldn’t agree more. It seems increasingly that LGBTI people are their own worst enemy in SA.
Dito! Well said Luiz.
Where were you when I was looking for someone to write a meaningful story on Pride for SANDTON mag? Getting comment on the gay scene was akin to hen’s teeth….
As much as the author tries to justify these things, he fails to explain why during the day’s of apartheid and our own Joburg Pride in the early years – was it easy to stop marches in excess of 20k – it wasnt uncommon to do so at all? The excuses that this article is riddled with leaves a lot to be desired.
I agree, that NGO’s who are at the forefront of Activism needs to step up and assist – but you cannot do so when the majority of board members only ever see dollar signs.
In a similar case down in Cape Town, Cape Town Pride decided on a rather derogatory theme, JOU MA SE Pride.. now knowing that the majority of people down their is Coloured and how the term is associated – it was sad to see how the board completely ignored the input from the NGO’s who understand the community and it’s issues better. In this light i can totally understand why community organizations retreat and feel like it’s pointless to engage with corporate’s who only have one thing on their brain and couldnt care less of what the real community thinks. Majority of organization boycotted Pride that year and to date not much engagement are given from them. Cape Town Pride is a loose canon that has run in a deficit each year with funds going into a Shelter that doesn’t really benefit the outreached areas as originally designed.
Cape Town Pride – seeing that no one else has highlighted this has been marred by the same racist allegations this year by not being inclusive enough and mainstream media wrote an article about it too. The Cape Times were extensive in its coverage. They had no form of advocacy and the Pride march never went via the City Centre, but instead traveled through the former gay capital of Cape Town, Seapoint. White’s get Pride on their doorstop while non-whites get bused in and are expected to leave as soon as the after-party starts. Prices are hiked way above for normal beverages and entry fees, deliberately to keep them out. The Gay Flag SA, another opportunist group who seeks to make money out a flag that we dont really need. Apparently proceeds go to some NGO, but to date no financial report has been released to see how much is really going to the NGO. They are a privately registered company who is FOR PROFIT, just like MR GAY SA. All undercover operations to exploit us with things we don’t really need or want.
This seems to be the norm for South African Pride’s and it is really sad to see. The racist ways and attitudes of the Gay white elite is disgusting and needs addressing asap. Not so long ago were they too outlaws together with the black majority but forget the liberation that the same people fought for their rights too.
I am ashamed and wish that we can just get to work on the real issues than create these constant divides. Pride was always taken to where the front-line fights are – otherwise what is the point – Take it to where we can challenge these corrective-rapists and lets see how they deal with us en masses. If we ever march in the rich suburbs – then what is the point, they just celebrating their rights while the real fight continues on in the front-line.