Saturday 16 June 2012

Day 42 - happy Youth Day, SA!

With total acknowledgement that I've committed the sin of all internet sins, and gone three whole days without blogging, I can only plead exams, revision, and two more essays. One of these is a Creative Project, and it's essentially involving an adaptation of a fifteen-minute-long play I wrote, aptly, at the age of fifteen. I won't go into too much detail here, as I don't want to have any potential effect on my mark/the credibility of the piece (even if, as far as I'm aware, anything I divulge on this blog wouldn't constitute plagiarism because it's written under my name and copyrighted) but it's about the Soweto student uprisings.

These were demonstrations by South African schoolchildren took place on this day in 1976. The students marched because they wanted to be taught lessons in their own language(s) - mostly Zulu, but Xhosa as well - instead of the Afrikaans of their oppressors. Fair enough, right? Apparently not - the police began firing on them, despite the fact that the students themselves were being completely peaceful, and a good few demonstrators died.

Now, on this day every year, South Africa remembers those young people who lost their lives for what they believed in. So, whatever misgivings I may have about the slightly romanticised and idealistic title, the memorial event that has become known as 'Youth Day' is, at its basis, a very important one - and it feels highly symbolic that I'm writing up this particular project at the moment!

Happy Youth Day, SA, and I'll return to normal blogging tomorrow - so prepare yourself for a mammoth post!

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