I need to credit Phil Collins for writing that line. It is in fact from the song "Another Day In Paradise". The following line completes the thought. It says "You can see that she's being there".
I had infiltrated the media covering the last #ZumaMustFall march. It was Freedom Day. I am not REALLY media. Brandishing a camera does have it's advantages and allows one to get into places you would not normally have access to. Mine was a three fold mission. One was to be part of the voice shouting it's displeasure at the headless chicken. Two was to capture the moments and be a part of the media throng, and three was simply to feel the thrill and the andrenalin of been there. Ok, I was also there just to feel what it's like to be a press tog.
I digress. A friend and I were chatting yesterday. The discussion evolved to the point where we were talking about the sacrifices our mothers and fathers had made to get us where we were. How they had fought a fight against the odds to attain our freedom as we know it. Then I remembered this picture. Truth be told, it was one of those "point and shoot" moments. I was stuck behind a guy holding a TV Camera on his shoulder. I barely had enough time to frame and shoot. All I did was capture about five or six frames.
I have this thing in me about capturing faces. I think there was once a song about every face telling a story. This one told me a story. Standing and leading the march, holding up a banner screaming "Right To Know", she was there to express her feeling toward the headless chicken. I do not know her name. She is probably famous. Please forgive my ignorense. But her face told me how she had fought the battle to get us where we are. How she had along with many others faced the baracades manned by men with guns and shields hell bent on protecting a headless chicken against a "foe" carrying placards and singing Jesus songs. The face told me of a determination to protect the legacy of those who died in the streets in the fight for freedom. It told me of a determination to protect her children and her childrens children against the cancer of corruption that had infiltrated the chicken coup.
We owe it to ones like these who still today find the strength to voice their displeasure and rise up show the world what they stand for. We cannot remain silent. At the end of the march the strains of "We Shall Overcome" rang out at the gates of parlaiment. It reminded me of the night when young people gathered in a church in Kuils River in 76 to voice there support for struggle. It's time to change the course of history.............again.
