Headline : Exorcising Mandela’s ghost

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We are disparaging the legacy of Mandela by the many self-absolving acts that tend to categorise Mandela Day. I have been inundated with requests to make donations — food parcels, blankets, visits to orphanages — to mark Mandela Day. These initiatives, though important, miss an important part and obscure the real legacy of Mandela as a man who devoted most of his time to fighting structural injustices. 

The manifestation of our society’s deeply structural inequities is glaring. Homelessness, poverty, sexual violence, and a general sense of alienation and powerlessness cannot be ignored. Mandela Day calls on individuals to do what they can in their personal and collective capacities to offset some of the effects of structural inequities. Herein lies the problem. 

Shifting the burden of addressing the deeply structural ills by over-emphasising individual agency feeds into the Western logic and tactic of deflecting responsibility and the cause of the many catastrophes that plague our world. Within this frame, individuals are advised to recycle and compost to reduce waste sent to landfills, give to the poor, drive e-vehicles, eat a plant-based or low-meat diet, and practice self-care even in toxic environments. 

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