Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Chapter 1 Introduction: Searching for South Africa
- Chapter 2 Nothing Must Ever be Bigger than our Dreams
- Chapter 3 A Report and Comment on Worker Organising at the University of Cape Town
- Chapter 4 Race and Resistance in Post-Apartheid South Africa
- Chapter 5 ‘There is No Middle Ground!’
- Chapter 6 Masiphumelele: Making the Ordinary Endure on the Outskirts of Cape Town
- Chapter 7 Women's struggle during this democratic government
- Chapter 8 Daalah Cape Flets: Hip-hop, Resistance and Hope
- Chapter 9 Viva Revolution!
- Chapter 10 ‘Looking Back Moving Forward: Legacies of Struggle and the Challenges Facing the New Social Movements’
- Chapter 11 Fairytale violence or Sondheim on solidarity, from Karnataka to Kennedy Road
- Index
Chapter 5 - ‘There is No Middle Ground!’
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 February 2020
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Chapter 1 Introduction: Searching for South Africa
- Chapter 2 Nothing Must Ever be Bigger than our Dreams
- Chapter 3 A Report and Comment on Worker Organising at the University of Cape Town
- Chapter 4 Race and Resistance in Post-Apartheid South Africa
- Chapter 5 ‘There is No Middle Ground!’
- Chapter 6 Masiphumelele: Making the Ordinary Endure on the Outskirts of Cape Town
- Chapter 7 Women's struggle during this democratic government
- Chapter 8 Daalah Cape Flets: Hip-hop, Resistance and Hope
- Chapter 9 Viva Revolution!
- Chapter 10 ‘Looking Back Moving Forward: Legacies of Struggle and the Challenges Facing the New Social Movements’
- Chapter 11 Fairytale violence or Sondheim on solidarity, from Karnataka to Kennedy Road
- Index
Summary
Working Class Woman
Working class woman knows the misery
And the poverty
More than any woman
Working class woman knows the evictions
And the homelessness
More than any woman.
CHORUS:
Abamama bavuk’ ekuseni bayokusebenza
(The mothers that wake up early in the morning to go and work)
Abamama bavuk’ ekuseni bashiye ingane zabo.
(The mothers that wake up early and leave their children)
CHORUS:
Working class woman
Working class woman
Working class woman
More than any woman
Working class woman knows exploitation
And knows discrimination
More than any woman.
CHORUS:
Abamama bavuk’ ekuseni bayokusebenza
(The mothers that wake up early in the morning to go and work)
Abamama bavuk’ ekuseni bashiye ingane zabo.
(The mothers that wake up early and leave their children)
CHORUS:
Working class woman
Working class woman
Working class woman
NOTE: This song was dedicated to the working class mothers who continue to suffer most in the name of women's liberation. In South Africa, like anywhere in the world, while we see few and fewer women rising to positions of power, the working class woman's situation is worsening. Not all women suffer the same. This the members of the band know from their personal experiences as they are all sons of domestic workers.
Why The Bourgeoisie?
CHORUS:
LEAD : Why the bourgeoisie
They are messing up the working class?
BACKING : Rise working class
LEAD: Why the bourgeoisie
They are messing up the working class?
BACKING: Fight working class
[Repeat]
LEAD: Abangxowankulu bayadlala ngabasebenzi
[The bourgeoisie are messing up the working class]
BACKING: Yilwani basebenzi
[Fight working class]
[Repeat]
SOLO 1:
Listen to this and listen to us.
We are Conscious Marimba Band for the working class
We conscientising you through music
Put up a struggle and fight the bourgeoisie
[Repeat]
LEAD: Why the bourgeoisie
They are messing up the working class?
BACKING: Rise working class
LEAD: Why the bourgeoisie
They are messing up the working class?
BACKING: Fight working class
LEAD: Working class in a South Africa are you ready?
BACKING: Yes we ready, yes we ready, yes we ready for revolution
LEAD: Working class in a Zimbabwe are you ready?
BACKING: Yes we ready, yes we ready, yes we ready for revolution
LEAD: Working class in a Iraq are you ready?
BACKING: Yes we ready, yes we ready, yes we ready for revolution
LEAD: Working class in a US are you ready?
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Searching For South AfricaThe New Calculus of Dignity, pp. 78 - 84Publisher: University of South AfricaPrint publication year: 2011