In wie se hande is werkskepping in Suid-Afrika?

Ekonoom Johannes Jordaan: Suid-Afrika by kruispad; hoe om groei te bewerkstellig

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Dis nuut en vars en dit is opwindend hoe die Paarl se TopWineRoots Laailou Musiekfees, in samewerking met Bok Radio, oornag ’n huishoudelike naam en volksbesit geword het.

Vir feesstigters, Corné Pretorius en Wynand de Villiers, was die resonansie van die naam belangrik, maar meer belangrik was dat die naam die regte toon daarstel, en al die elemente van die fees omarm: Die onderskeidende kristalhelder element is natuurlik dat jy die fees op jou laailou kan aanskou.

Jou laailou is daardie opblaas-dryflêding wat ons gewoonlik net in Desembers uithaal. Hierdie Maart gaan feesgangers hul laailous aandra na die Bergrivier-oord in die Paarl vir een van die beste line-ups van kunstenaars wat die Wes-Kaap in jare gesien het: Karlien van Jaarsveld, Spoegwolf, Early B, Jan Bloukaas, Janie Bay, Francois van Coke, Die Heuwels Fantasties, Corné  Pretorius en nog vele meer sal feesgangers diep die langnaweek in laat feesvier en dans.

“Ons glo die line-up is uitsonderlik, maar vir ons is die setting van die fees en die vibe wat ons wil skep, die groot onderskeidingselemente van die fees. Die Bergrivier-oord is absoluut geskik vir die aanbieding van ’n baie unieke fees met twee sitplekkeuses, en byna die hele oord is onder ’n wonderlike skadubedekking van ou bome,” sê De Villiers.

“Dis ’n fees met ’n verskil. Jy kan die konserte kyk terwyl jy in die Bergrivier op jou laailou ronddryf, of sommer van die gemak van jou kampstoel onder die bome in die feesterein.

Paarl het histories nie ’n hoeksteenfees soos baie ander dorpe in Suid-Afrika het nie, en daar is baie rolspelers in die Paarl, sowel as Drakenstein Munisipaliteit, wat die fees nou uitgesonder het as ’n fees waarmee die Paarl in die toekoms vereenselwig wil word. Ons is bevoorreg om soveel ondersteuning vir die eerste uitgawe van die fees te hê, nie net van die stadsvaders af nie, maar ook van korporatiewe borge soos TopWineRoots en Bok Radio,” sê De Villiers.

Die verhoog by die fees word met ’n 270 grade gehoor-radius opgestel sodat dit toeskouers in die rivier op hul laailous, sowel as toeskouers op hul kampstoele in die kampeerfeesterein, bedien.

Die Bergrivieroord het pragtige staanplek vir tente asook luukse staanplek vir karavane.

Bring jou laailou, bring jou kampstoel!

Kaartjies is te koop by https://itickets.co.za/events/462003 en beperk tot 2000 per dag.

Vir al die feesbesonderhede en die feesprogram gaan na www.laailoufees.co.za.

Vir kampplekbesprekings by die Bergrivier-oord gaan na www.bergriverresort.co.za.

The post Persverklaring: Topwineroots Laailou Musiekfees, Afrikaanse musiek se nuwe skat appeared first on LitNet.

Tydens ’n direksievergadering van die Innibos Kunstefees is daar vandeesweek besluit dat Innibos nie in Junie vanjaar in sy pre-Covid formaat aangebied gaan word nie. Die risiko van  ’n vyfde Covid-vlaag, wat in Mei verwag word, asook die verwagte voortgesette regulasies rakende groot byeenkomste, het hierdie besluit genoodsaak.

Mathews Phosa, voorsitter van die Innibos-direksie, sê dié besluit is geneem met inagneming van die risiko en ontwrigting vir feesgangers, kunstenaars, borge en ander rolspelers indien die fees weer, weens onvoorsiene omstandighede, afgestel moet word.

“Maar wees verseker, vir 2023 beplan ons die fees der feeste. Innibos gaan wel vanjaar, ondanks beperkinge, voort om sy mandaat as kunstefees gestand te doen. Onder die oorkoepelende tema ‘heeltyd feestyd’ sal verskeie opwindende projekte deurlopend in en om Mbombela aangebied gaan word. Ons beplan om steeds optreegeleenthede aan kunstenaars te bied, die plaaslike ekonomie te stimuleer en ’n ondersteunende en opbouende rol in die plaaslike gemeenskap te speel deur middel van eiesoortige projekte, getrou aan die aard van Innibos.”

Van die projekte wat beplan word, is onder meer verskeie musiekvertonings in genres wat strek van rock tot klassieke musiek en jazz, ’n teater-safari, ’n familiefees met talle buitelugaktiwiteite asook die sesde aanbieding van die Innibos Handwerkkuns-kompetisie.

Sandra Jacobs, media- en bemarkingsbestuurder van Innibos sê: “Vanjaar val die klem daarop om ’n wye verskeidenheid unieke ervarings vir feesliefhebbers aan te bied wat die fees steeds relevant hou en vir ondersteuners van die kunste genoeg bied om te geniet. Innibos kon, ondanks die beperkende Covid-regulasies, verlede jaar werk skep vir meer as 220 uitvoerende kunstenaars, en ons wil dit vanjaar oortref.”

Die finale datums vir die onderskeie Innibos-projekte sal teen einde Maart aangekondig word.

The post Persverklaring: Innibos 2022 – geen winterfees, maar heeltyd feestyd! appeared first on LitNet.

Die sopraan Janelle Visagie, mezzosopraan Minette du Toit-Pearce, tenoor Given Nkosi en die bariton Conroy Scott gaan hulle uitsonderlike musikale talente saamsnoer wanneer Blaauwklippen op Sondag, 6 Maart, die Opera under the stars-konsert aanbied. ’n Kwartet, bestaande uit Suzanne Martens (viool), Petrus Coetzee (viola), Peter Martens (tjello) en die gevierde pianist, Elna van der Merwe sal die sangers begelei.
 
Hierdie skitterende viering van operamusiek op die gras voor Blaauwklippen se herehuis gaan ’n pragtige verskeidenheid musiek, van Bizet se Carmen en Delibes se Lakmé, tot Mozart, Lehár, Puccini en nog meer insluit. Die uitvoering van die gewilde kwartet “Bella figlia dell’amore” (“Beautiful daughter of love”), uit Verdi se opera Rigoletto, deur die volle ensemble van wêreldgehalte kunstenaars beloof om een van die vele hoogtepunte van die aand te wees.    

“Hierdie konsert is ’n wonderlike geleentheid om uitstekende klassieke musiek in ’n gemaklike piekniekstyl te geniet saam met ander konsertgangers wat ook hulle stoele en komberse bring om saam buite te ontspan,” sê die sanger en ervare musiekkonsertorganiseerder, Niël Rademan, wat hierdie spesiale program saamgestel het.

Die hekke maak om 17:30 oop en die vertoning duur van 18:30 tot 20:00. 

Blaauwklippen sal wyn, drankies en kos te koop aanbied. Dit sluit die volgende opsies in: 

• ’n Bord met piekniekhappies vir een persoon en ’n glas wyn teen R150 om voor en gedurende die vertoning te geniet.
• ’n Driegang maaltyd by die Blaauwklippen Restaurant vir R250 na afloop van die konsert.

’n Volledige kroeg sal beskikbaar wees. (Konsertgangers mag nie hulle eie drank bring nie.)

Besprekings kan by plankton.mobi gemaak word.

The post Persverklaring: Roemryke musikante saam by Blaauwklippen in <em>Opera under the stars</em>-konsert appeared first on LitNet.

It started not too long ago. My heart had begun rattling out of control. There was a heaviness over my chest. Trapped in plastic. Suffocated. The sleepless nights re-emerged. I could feel the screwdriver twisting. I had become unhinged. My anxiety crept up on me. Once again. An unwanted guest in a lifeless home. I felt like a failure. Everything had been so good to me for the past three years! How had I got back into this slump? Deep down, I knew the root to my anguish, but I wasn’t ready to reveal the insides of my heart, just to have it crushed again. Instead, I knew there was one place I needed to go, just to breathe. My happy place.

Is there a place where you can go? Unwind? Gain inner peace? A place where you call the clichéd home-away-from-home? A place that you can add to the “mentally I am here” meme? My go-to place is called Saunders’ Rocks Beach. It’s the last beach of Sea Point, before the row of Clifton beaches, placed perfectly sunken below 329 Beach Road. When I was younger, during each day of my summer holiday or even on random hot weekends throughout the year, our family would cram our entire home into our blue 1400 Nissan Sentra, and we’d cruise off to Sea Point. There were also days when my father or I did solo trips to Saunders, in which we’d just pack a lonesome umbrella and towel, with one pre-stop at Pick n Pay for an ice-cold Fanta Orange and a large packet of Cheese Nacks. Irrespective of the nature of the trip, immediately after placing our belongings on the coarse sand, without any inhibitions, I would race to the tidal pool – ensuring that I always balanced myself on the rocks or slippery seaweed leading to the water. After a mighty spring of my tiny body into the air, I would curl myself into a bomb, and hit the bone-freezing water.

Pictured* from left: Me (10) with childhood friends Yusuf Adams (12), Tashreeq Adams (10) and Isgak Behardien (11)

My nostalgic view of the beach has, however, changed as I’ve become an adult. You see, I suffer from inconsistent anxiety, and after getting my heart broken in the summer of 2019, I decided that I couldn’t mope around, sit at home and blast the music of Lana Del Rey through my headphones. Instead, I forced myself to go to Saunders each day to stop my poisoning thoughts from gnawing at my mind. I was no longer the excited little boy, racing to bomb into the tidal pool; instead, I was shattered, lifeless and trying to get myself sane. Most days, I would just sit on the rock, watch the waves crash to the sea-shelled shore and reflect upon my life. Although alone, the presence of the beach allowed me to heal – bringing me much needed comfort.

Aside from giving me my alone time to clear my unhealthy mind, Saunders has always been filled with familiar faces. There’s a sense of community and security I feel in my heart, and presently I have begun to wonder if they, too, classify Saunders as their happy place. For instance, when I reach the top landing of the stairs that lead you to the beach, and look down to my left, I’ll see the Isaacs family under their mighty navy blue gazebo. The matriarch, Bernadette Isaacs, 45, is a mother to all beachgoers, and everyone is welcome under her gazebo for a good laugh, an intense game of dominoes or even a snack to eat. A Sunday with the Isaacs family and friends is always an occasion, as we all bring our lunches and all our food is shared! On Bernadette’s table you can expect a wide array of food and Cape Malay cuisine. We’ve eaten breyanis, leg of lamb and roasts, creamy pastas, various curries and hearty Greek salads, and let’s not forget about succulent watermelons or sweet melons for dessert. In today’s society, in a world with so much cruelty and disconnection, my heart is warm knowing that Bernadette and her family have the value of sharing, and that they are always good to me.

“I’ve been coming here to Saunders for the past 17 years,” explains Bernadette, as we step out from the shade of her gazebo and climb up to a nearby rock that looks over the entire beach. I explain to her that I want to go around and speak to the Saunders community to know if we all share similar views of the beach, or perhaps she could explain what makes Saunders so special.

“There’s always a great atmosphere and vibe created here by our people. We are all part of the Saunders family.” Bernadette stops and smiles and, in unison, we look over the beach. “I’m a socialite,” she continues, “and at this beach, I get to speak to and shelter people. After the days when I’m not here, people ask us, ‘Waar was julle?’ (Where were you?).” She chuckles and shakes her head. “At Saunders, people notice; the people here care.”

I’m curious to know where Bernadette’s giving nature comes from, so I ask her about the values that she’s learnt over the years. “When I was growing up, my single mom was always giving. She had four children, and she taught me that you never make food for just one person, or just for those living in the house, and I took that lesson upon myself. At home, they worry that the food will go to waste, but I know that someone is always going to need. When we come here to Saunders, I always pack in something extra.” However, our conversation returns to our happy place. “Everyone I’ve introduced to Saunders always comments on how friendly the people are; everyone is always surprised. But to go back and answer your first question,” Bernadette tells me, as I wrap my arms around my knees, intrigued by what she is about to say, “just like you, I also enjoy my quiet time. I mentally tell myself to leave things here – all my stress and worries. When I’m here, I’m at peace.”

Bernadette Isaacs (45) looking over the beach as she reminisces about the past 17 years

“Zubayr! Kom speel” (Come play), and our conversation is cut, after I’m summoned by the husky voice of my beloved 76-year-old friend and other mother, Auntie Rachmat, to return to the gazebo to play the next boom (round of five) at the dominoes table. The queue at the dominoes table is long today, and I’ve arrived too late to klop (knock) on the table to secure my seat. Under the Isaacs’ gazebo, we play intense rounds of dominoes – you could say it’s the Olympics of dominoes, that’s how high-pressure the game is. Players partner up, sitting opposite each other, and if you merely plak aan (play the game without strategy) and you cannot tel (count) what the other players have in their hands, then you have no business playing at the highly competitive table. On the days that my game partner and I are on a winning streak, when we all happen to be playing for hours, I swear my brain literally pains from continuously having to tel and strategise.

“Ons het hulle ’n porky gegee. Hulle kan solang die vuur reg maak” (We’ve won them 5–0. They can get the fire ready to burn their loss), giggles Auntie Rachmat, as I sit down on the Camp Master fold-up seat, taking over from the losing team and getting ready to get into my game mode and challenge Auntie Rachmat and her game partner.

A pensive Auntie Rachmat Isaacs (76) at the dominoes table

A few steps away from the Isaacs’ gazebo is where the ou ballies (older men) sit. You do not walk past them without extending a loud, “Asalamu Alaykum” (May peace be upon you), because in Islam, respect towards our elders is of utmost importance. Aside from cracking jokes, chorusing ’60s and ’70s hits like “Venus” by Frankie Avalon, “Can’t help falling in love” by Elvis, or my personal favourite, “Never said goodbye” by Engelbert Humperdinck, the ou ballies are most likely to be in a highly focused card game of klawerjas. Today, four uncles sit hunched around a pink towel, on a flat-surfaced rock, with their eyes piercing down at the different piles of cards. Aside from their hoary facial hair, shiny bald heads and tanned bodies, I promise that you would never say that these ou ballies are over 60 years old!

“En sê daar vir die mense daar in jou storie dat ek het daai jare al die beach ingebreek!” (Tell the people, in your writing, that many years ago I was one of the first people of colour to come to this beach!), bellows Uncle Gamiet “Goya” Lucas to me, as he throws a jack of spades onto the pink towel.

The ou ballies playing a game of klawerjas. Pictured from left: Allie Samaai (69), Gamiet “Goya” Lucas (64), Isgak “Oupa” Isaacs (82) and Yusuf “Yu” Benjamin (67)

Pictured from left: Rushdien Booysen (47), Abduraghman “Maantjie” Abrahams (70), Ebrahim Saal (53) and Ismail “Brother” Khan (70)

With the sun reaching nearly 40 degrees, some of the uncles are not singing from the flat-surfaced rock, and instead they sit under a gazebo, serenading the beachgoers with their velvet voices. As the sounds of the guitar and singing of “Love me with all of your heart”, another classic rendition by Engelbert Humperdinck, wafts with the crashing of the Atlantic Ocean, Daryl van Berk (62) struts towards the gazebo, inquisitively seeking out the music. The uncles quickly change to a more upbeat song, and Daryl, who also identifies as “Darylina Girlfriend”, begins to entertain the crowd of beachgoers. In his blue speedo, floppie (bucket hat) and rectangular-shaped sunglasses, he hops and shakes to the crowd, singing “Jou Hare Kan’ie Pom Pom’ie” (Your hair cannot tie in a pom-pom), with the crowd being left merry with laughter. At the end of his elaborate performance, we clap and whistle for Daryl, and I’m left feeling content knowing that Daryl is accepted here at Saunders.

I follow Daryl as he struts back over to the group of ladies whom he has randomly just met today on his way to the beach. With a slight change to his outfit, now wearing a pink curved straw hat, he prances around the umbrella belonging to his new friends, telling us stories of local drag queens and their antics.

“Maar, Daryl! Jy kan mos’ie jou masker oor jou Speedo so sit’ie! Jy moet dit nog later dra!” (But Daryl! You can’t keep placing your mask over your Speedo! You must still wear it later!), I plead with him, as he comically demonstrates the art of tucking. His infectious, loud guffaw screeches after he realises his silly mistake. On occasion, he flings his one arm into the air to new faces that are walking down the stairs to get to the beach. I’m happy to have met Daryl. It’s good to be around good people with great energy; you see, it’s lekker to be around lekker people.

Spreading light and laughter, Daryl van Berk (62), also known as “Darylina Girlfriend”

It’s now time for me to go swim, and on my way to the ocean, I spot Uncle Abdurraheem Isaacs (64) as he completes his wudhu (ablution) in preparation for the Asr Salaah (midday prayer). He has previously told me that it’s okay to perform the wudhu with sea water, as it is pure and it comes from Allah.

“There is a time for everything, Zubayr,” says Uncle Abdurraheem after returning from the ocean, as he reminds me that it is time to pray. “We have fun here, but we cannot forget about our creator. Look, the uncles sometimes sing or play klawerjas, but, first and foremost, wherever we are, we need to be practical Muslims. We must practise our deen (religion) in all circumstances.” Uncle Abdurraheem and I depart, with him walking up towards the section of the beach that resembles mountainous rocks – there is a concrete floored section, just before the large rocks, where the men perform their salaah.

The wise Abdurraheem Isaacs (64)

I decide not to follow Uncle Abdurraheem and the other men to the concrete block, because I haven’t been submissive to Allah (God) in months due to a loss in faith. In this moment, I close my eyes and reminisce (I’ve been doing this a lot lately) about a time when I did perform all my prayers at their designated time slots, to a time when I was practising my deen. Did you know that it is most spiritually uplifting to perform a salaah at a beach? You see, the sun pierces so fiercely, you have to shut your eyes tightly and focus on your prayer – focus on Allah. You have to concentrate and block out everything – the sound of passers-by, the gushing sounds of the wild ocean, the heaviness in your heart – and focus on the light. We believe that Allah is omnipresent, inside of us, around us, watching over us, but many times when I performed my salaah on that concrete block, I knew in my heart that Allah was standing in front of me at Saunders. But, as I’ve said, I’m disappointed for not practising Islam and keeping my prayers up to date. In’sha’Allah (God willing), at some stage, I know I will start again, when I am ready, and one day I will feel Allah’s presence around me again.

The men at Saunders in sujood (prostration), during the Asr Salaah (midday prayer), giving glory to Allah, the most high and mighty

A day at Saunders would not be the same without a dive or jump, depending on the tide, from the rock – which has a diameter of nine metres and stands approximately four metres high. The rock is situated adjacent to the tidal pool, but it has been decades since I’ve been in that tidal pool. As I balance across the walkway that surrounds the tidal pool, joyful sounds of children paddling and splashing in the water greet me. I can still hear the laughter and splashing of my younger self as I pass them. It’s also perhaps unknowingly a rite of passage to make your way from swimming in the tidal pool over to the rock and the open, unpredictable ocean. A metaphor for adult life? But, as I said, the rock is often used as a diving board. In anticipation, you have to wait and watch for the ocean to pull back. The wave gains and grows in momentum; thereafter, it gushes forward, and just as the wave is about to pass the rock, you have to pounce forward and dive in.

Patiently waiting for that intricate moment when the wave gushes by the rock so that I can dive

On a scorching hot Cape Town summer’s day, when the sun boasts over 30 degrees Celsius, there’s nothing more refreshing than the icy cold waters of Saunders’ Rocks Beach. For me, in this volatile moment in my life, I allow the freezing temperature to calm my body. I let my worries seep out of every pore, and I allow myself to be present and one with the ocean. The physicality of the ocean moving back and forth reminds me that there are many factors in life that I have no control over. In this moment, with the open ocean flowing around me, I know that I, too, just have to let things flow in life, and not fixate on negative eternal forces.

The sun slowly merges with the ocean, signalling the end of another day. A golden pink horizon glows over me while I sit back and breathe, allowing the sea air to embrace my lungs. Tomorrow will be a brand new day and the beginning of a new week. I’m not sure whether I’ll wake up in the middle of the night from another panic attack, or whether I’ll have to let another Betapan pill scrape the back of my tongue to calm myself down again, wilting away in the sheets of my bed. Maybe tomorrow I’ll finally be ready. Maybe I’ll finally have the courage to say how I really feel and not be afraid of rejection. I’ve lost my chutzpah. There’s no fire in my eyes. But, as I close my eyes, taking in my surroundings here at Saunders and recounting the conversations that I’ve had today, I know that in this specific moment, I feel free; I feel at peace.

Despite my anxieties, I once again allow the presence of Saunders’ Rocks Beach to help me heal, just as I once did in 2019, and build the strength in me to face 2022. And to you, my dear reader, I ask the Almighty to protect you for the forthcoming year, and may peace be saluted in your heart, as my hope is for you to find your happy place.

* Editorial note: All the people in each of the photographs had seen the photographs and had read the piece; they agreed to be named and shown.

The post Where is your happy place? appeared first on LitNet.

Foto deur Chris Curry op Unsplash

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Maar Ouma het ok maar baie sights gehad. Mens kan nie stry nie: Dit móés Mackintosh se butterdrops wees by Kingwill & Murray; dit moés Atlantic pantaloons wees by Cleghorns se Miss McGregor; Salka Sheim van Simon’s móés bel as hul haberdashery en materials department nuwe Arnel- of Selenise-material ingekry het.

...

Dit was nog in daardie tyd toe die Berrangé-brug nog oor die wye Sundays River van hout gebou was en toe dit net wyd genoeg was vir twee rygoed; maar weerskante one-way traffic sidewalks ok gehad het vir die kollege se students – alles wit en groen gepaint.

En dit was ook daardie tyd toe die hele lengte van Kerkstraat, vanaf die brug right through tot by die Grootkerk, either side van die straat die most beautiful oak trees gehad het. Grotes met skurwe stamme.

Ek en Ouma kon dié prentjie daam so bewonder wanneer ons by die charge office oorie pad na die library moes loop op pad na Mrs Bester vir Ouma se fittings. Mrs Bester is Ouma se dressmaker.

Sy laat maak weer so ’n paar, twee of drie, nuwe outfits.

Nou kyk, my se ouma het ek baie lief gehad. I worshipped her ... Sommer al van kleintyd af. Fairytale ouma met towerstok en al – die feather duster wat sy saggies haar blou en wit pottery mee afstof, orals deur die huis.

Maar Ouma het ok maar baie sights gehad. Mens kan nie stry nie: Dit móés Mackintosh se butterdrops wees by Kingwill & Murray; dit moés Atlantic pantaloons wees by Cleghorns se Miss McGregor; Salka Sheim van Simon’s móés bel as hul haberdashery en materials department nuwe Arnel- of Selenise-material ingekry het.

Sy’t mos net fyn patrone gedra, want groot goed laat mens uitgestoelt lyk nes ’n adamsvy. In die winter was dit Viyella – was mos van merinoskape se wol geweave. Dis seker wat van FCU se wol geword het, het ek gedag. In England, my dear. Nie sommersó nie! Niks crimplene of trilobal nie.

En die lang borstrok móés net van Gossard wees. Met al sy dertig eyes ’n hooks wat ek moes kom vasmaak smiddae na teetyd as sy opgedress het vir dorp toe gaan. Smoors was maar sommer net step-ins. Én ek moet die suspenders ook vasmaak.

En die smiddags se opdress was even net so as daar net sundowner spots met Oupa en Mammie oppie sidestoep gemaak word, agtermiddag as Mammie ons optel after work. Mind you, nou nie van die nuwe Arnel- en Selenise-roksmateriaal nie. Net dié wat al bietjie opgedra was, maar nog goed genog is. Daai wat se belte se ogies al bietjie misgesteek was, offie soom was al twee maal ingewerk gewees en die material het plek-plek sy flair verloor.

Ouma was vol geite met materials, hoor! Dit móés chintz wees vir gordyne, candlewick vir bedspreads, en Oupa se plus-fours moes Mr Nolte maak van Viyella – somerstyd en winter. Dis nou except die grys flannels. Daai broeke het hy only met sy blazers gedra. En sy whites het van Garlicks in die Baai gekom vir sy bowls se gespeel.

As ek klaar gehelp het en Ouma haar gesigpoeier en lipstick aansit, moes ek meantime ysblokkies gaan uithaal en in die ice bucket sit innie yskas. Dit was omtrent a job, just vir sterk mense hoor! Die ice cubes was in ’n bakkie in die deepfreezer en dit het ’n lang handle gehad wat jy moes optrek om die cubes los te maak voor jy dit kon omkeer. And that was a job I tell you. Dan praat ek nie nog eers van die sodawater maak nie. Die syphon was groot en swaar met ystermeshdraad al in die rondte om die bottel. En mens moes koue tank water tot by die merk ingooi, die keps opsit en toedraai en dan kom die Sparklet. Ek was so skuins vir daai contraption, want dit het net so hard geskiet as ’n roer as jy dit uitdraai! En mens kon mos nou nie same time jou ore toedruk nie!

Oupa het self die spots ingegooi op die bin in die spens. Dit was ál bin wat gesluit was, die drinks bin. Ek en Jeanne se Oros Crush was sommer in ou brannewynbottels aangemaak and was innie bin next to the fridge. Ek moes ek en Jeanné s’n ingooi met koue tank water en net een blokkie ys. The rest was for the grown-ups. En ons mag net eenmaals cooldrink kry in the water glasses, want they was big en jy gaan jou bed natmaak as jy so baie liquids drink laatmiddag. Onthou soppertyd se tee wag nog!

Anyhow, ek’t nou baie wyd loep draai. Where were we? O ja, ons wil Kerkstraat cross op pad na Mrs Bester. Met dié wat ons so links en regs virrie traffic kyk, steek een van Ouma se sunshade se ribbetjies amper in my oog. Ek moes koes vir die vales!

Ouma se Triple Star-skoene, met supports vir die bunions, het so hol geklink as we walked oorie straat. I loved that sound. By skool was gesê só much authority ...

Met die crossing kon ek agter Ouma verbyloer vir Mammie se kar, die blou 1953 Anniversary Ford, waar dit gepark was by die magistraatskantoor.

By die Anglikaanse Kerk moes ons onderdeur ’n groot koelteboom loop wat rooi lucky beans uitgeskiet het vir seeds. Mens mag nie meer sy naam sê nie, want dan kom fetch die police jou. Dis politics. Weetie van daai so goed nie; maar ek ken sy naam, even as ekkitie mag sê nie ... Ek’t vir Mammie en vir Lollie elkeen een saadjie opgetel om huis toe te vat.

Toe draai ons af in Cross Street en oppie hoek, onder, was Mrs Bester se huis. Aan die linkerhand. Die voordeur was in Pastoriestraat.

Dis haar man wat so op sy bicycle gery het deur Graaffernet se strate om die water readings te neem by die small meter boxes oppie sidewalks met die ysterdekseltjies. En haar se Elsa was married met die town clerk, Kotie Theron.

Mrs Bester het ’n gryskopbolla gehad en brille gedra, sharp nose, nooit gesmile nie en kort-kort deur die netgordyn geloer om te sien wie loop verby. Sy’t ’n yslike speldekussing om haar arm gedra, full of knoppiespelle. Party van hulle was coloured ok; rooies, geles, bloues – you name it.

En terwyl Ouma in die naaldwerkkamer die fittings moes doen, het Mrs Bester my uitgewys om in die eetkamer te gaan sit en wag. Die fitting room was te klein vir ons almal. Op sulke hoë stoele langs die table – ek kon my bene darem in en uit swing as ek op my hande sit.

Die kamer was always cold en dark en mens konnie uitmaak wat Ouma en sy gesels agter die aangestote deur nie. En ek kon ook nie gaan luister nie, want dit was ’n kraakvloer, en ek was maar bangerig ...

Op pad huis toe het Ouma altyd haar purse uitgehaal by Arthur Shamley se café en vir my ’n Wall’s ice cream cone gekoop wanneer ons opdraai in Bourkestraat by die ou seminary verby, verby Lollipop se oppie-pad library en die Bessingers se huis verby, Mrs Theron, Flippie Retief se tuishuis en om die draai by die Wesleyaanse Kerk en die Dudley Hall, die manse, met sy woodbine laning, Mrs McNaughton, Miss Rex, voor ons oppie hoek die afdraai kon vat af in Milnerstraat, toesetyd nog stofstraat, na nr 7, Oupa en Ouma se huis en my eie kasteel met sy groot ystervoordeursleutel.

Ouma het die sunshade al toegemaak as ons by Enid Minnaar se lawn verbyloop en gewaai vir Inez Kroon waar sy op hulle koeltestoep sit.

“Where you walking around? It’s so damn hot, Georgie!” roep sy na Ouma van die stoep af.

“Nee,” sê Ouma, “I’m having a new dress made and must to have gone for a fitting, and ou Barney is playing bowls again,” hou Ouma innie loop nog aan, “en my bunions are killing me, I can’t wait to take off my shoes! Lekker aand Inez!” Ouma waai dan vir haar.

“Shame, enjoy your evening too – lekker slaap.”

Ek waai ok vir haar. Ek’t gehou van aunty Inez, but Ouma het gerekent sy’s bietjie a busybody, en gerekent dat sy bietjie haar distance hou.

“Kyk, Ouma se kind moet weer bietjie die knipper loop haal en die soutbos bietjie trim. Dit maak weer die geel streep toe teen die ligpaal, dan kan die vuurwa nie sien waar daar water is nie. Okay?” sê Ouma toe ons die stoeptrappies opgaan.

Ons het ok net tot ruste gekom in die koelte on the sidestoep na sy haar skoene gaan uittrek het, toe Oupa van die bowling club af arrive en Jeanné van haar hockey practice.

Oupa sê hy moes eers study toe, want Hannah Oberholzer se horlosie het gaan staan oppie green. Sy en Duimpie, die spekulant tussen die boere innie district, het saamgespeel.

Trips. Oupa rekent dis ’n flywheel wat gebalance moet wôre. Hy’t mos so gelike van met horlosies peuter en try regmaak smiddags as al die test books van die klas gemerk was. Hy moet nog kyk ook na more se klaswerk, want hy gee science by die Union High School.

“Barney, daar kom Elsebie al daar bo om die draai vannie werk af. Jy kan mos maar eers mos ietsie gaan skink vir ons en bietjie chat met ek en Elsebie en later na Hannah se horlosie kyk tog?”

Oupa vryf sy hande so teen mekaar met ’n verleë smile terwyl hy kyk hoe Mammie stop voor die deur voor hy die glasdeur oopmaak op pad spens toe.

Ja-nee, die brandy glase is uitgesit oppie silver tray, daar’s ys in die yskas, die syphon is vol. Hy moet net skink ... Daar’s hy, dink hy.

Sulke tyd het ek gelike, want Oupa het altyd dan grappies vertel ok. Maar nou en dan het hy my my times tables laat opsê. Dit het my altyd nervous gemaak.

“Hallo, hallo, hallo – en hoe gaan dit hier?” kom Mammie opgewonde en vrolik om die hoek. “Waar’s Mammie se kinders? Kom gee vir my ’n drukkie en ’n soentjie!”

Die gesels van allie gedoentes van die dag word blootgelê. Mammie was Clerk of the Court by Graaffernet se landdroskantoor. Onder die gesels brei Ouma een strook deur, al kyk sy nie oppie naalde nie, en Mammie pak haar handbag uit om netjies te rearrange, en na ’n paar grappe het Oupa gesê hy wil net ’n draai gaan loop. Maar ek het gesien hoe sluip hy in by die study na hy met die trappe opgekom het vannie longdrop af. Hy kon ’n challenge net nie refuse nie – en kyk, daai horlosie is mos nou vir hom ’n challenge. Hy moet reggemaak word – dis vir seker.

Ek haal skaam die lucky beans uit en sit een voor Mammie en een voor Jeanné oppie stoeptafel. “Dis julle persente,” sê ek trots. Mens kon Mammie se liefde voel soos dit shine uit haar oë toe sy vooroor leun en sê: “Dankie my skat, kom gee vir Mammie nog ’n soentjie, toe!”

Met die skaam opstaan van die opvoustoel stamp my elmboog per ongeluk ’n groot poinsettiablaar af van een van die skadubome langs die stoep. En daar waar dit af is, bloei toe ’n taai melkerige traan. Stadig rol dit af teen die tak, al stadiger, Tot dit val oppie grond ...

The post Oumaklere appeared first on LitNet.

Berigte te velde: Net meer as 36 uur het verloop sedert Oekraïne deur Rusland binnegeval is. Eben Viktor is in Oekraïne en hy lewer verslag.

The post Eben Viktor berig uit Oekraïne (25 Februarie 2022 om 21:35) appeared first on LitNet.

Berigte te velde: Eben Viktor is in Oekraïne. Hy lewer verslag oor die oorlog, buitelandse steun en hoe burgerlikes reageer op die inval.

Luister ook:

Eben Viktor berig uit Oekraïne (25 Februarie 2022 om 21:35)

The post Eben Viktor berig uit Oekraïne (27 Februarie 2022 om 09:15) appeared first on LitNet.

The post Die bekendstelling van <em>Teen Helderberg</em> deur Louis du Plessis appeared first on LitNet.

Berigte te velde. ’n Vrou vernietig ’n Russiese tenk met ’n petrolbom en heelwat meer nuus. Eben Viktor is in Oekraïne. Hy hou ons op die hoogte van die jongste nuus.

Luister ook:

Eben Viktor berig uit Oekraïne (27 Februarie 2022 om 09:15)

Eben Viktor berig uit Oekraïne (25 Februarie 2022 om 21:35)

Reguit met Robinson: ’n videogesprek met Leopold Scholtz

Lees ook:

Die Rusland-Oekraïne-konflik: die geskiedenis en Poetin se wêreldbeskouing

Putin’s invasion and the failure of peace

Van Rusland, met liefde?

The post Eben Viktor berig uit Oekraïne (27 Februarie 2022 om 15:43) appeared first on LitNet.

Foto: Eugene op Unsplash

...

Suid-Afrika kon in die apartheidsjare sanksies op baie vernuwende maniere omseil, maar toe ons bankrekenings in 1985–86 in New York en Londen gesluit is na die Rubicon-toespraak, was die skrif aan die muur. Dit sou my kort en bondige boodskap aan president Wladimir Poetin gewees het.

...

“Everything takes a different shape when we pass from abstractions to reality.” (Carl von Clausewitz)

“No one starts a war – or rather, no one in his sense ought to do so – without first being clear in his mind what he intends to achieve by the war and how he intends to conduct it.” (Carl von Clausewitz)

...

Donald Trump het met sy presidentskap baie spanning tussen Europese lede van Navo veroorsaak en Poetin het geoordeel dat hy sal moet optree voordat die Biden-presidentskap daardie bande herstel. Duitsland het pas ’n nuwe kanselier aangewys in die plek van Angela Merkel wat die sterk politieke figuur in Europa was. President Macron van Frankryk word as ’n liggewig beskou, en Boris Johnson het homself vasgeknoop in interne politieke intriges.

...

Die wêreld het vir meer as drie weke in afwagting geleef voor die dramatiese ontknoping van die politieke spanning tussen Rusland en Oekraïne dié week plaasgevind het. Rusland het uiteindelik op 24 Februarie 2022 Oekraïne met militêre geweld binnegeval, met sy geweldige militêre oormag teenoor Oekraïne, kwesbaar en amper onbeholpe. Die Noord-Atlantiese Verdragsorganisasie (Navo) en sy groot Amerikaanse vennoot het konstante kritiek en dreigemente gelewer en met verdere ingrypende sankies teen Wladimir Poetin se Rusland gedreig. Hoe skerp die kritiek egter ook al, daar bestaan min politieke aptyt vir direkte militêre konfrontasie in die meeste van die 30 Navo-lande. In reaksie op die inval het beide internasionale sokker en internasionale motorsport reeds hulle sporttoernooie in Rusland vir 2022 gekanselleer. Het ons hier ’n herhaling van wat Stalin in 1945 gedoen het toe hy die verswakte Oosblok onder Russiese beheer gedwing het? Sien ons iets van die Koue Oorlog wat hom onder Poetin herhaal? Of is daar ander polities-strategiese redes vir die Russiese optrede, ten spyte van die ekonomiese prys wat Rusland gaan betaal? Daar moet egter aanvaar word dat Rusland ook nie sonder strategiese hefbome is nie – hulle weermag is geografies aangrensend, en hulle is ’n groot olieverskaffer en ’n dominante aardgasverskaffer aan die energiehonger Wes-Europa.

Hierdie artikel gaan die konflik in Oekraïne van verskillende hoeke bekyk en kortliks wie die rolspelers is. Die artikel gaan eindig met ’n aantal moontlike uitkomste vir die politieke drama wat hom tans op die wêreldtoneel afspeel.

Oekraïne is ’n streek wat oor honderde jare baie konflik beleef het en in dié verband ’n geskiedenis met Pole deel. Groot militêre konflikte het dikwels in die twee lande afgespeel sonder dat hulle direk daarby betrokke was. Napoleontiese oorloë en die Tweede Wêreldoorlog is paslike voorbeelde. Die oorspronklike woord Oekraïne beteken selfs “grensgebied”. Die huidige konflik kan ver gehaal word, maar ons hoef nie veel verder terug te gaan as 2013–2014 om die militêre konflik beter te verstaan nie. Oekraïne verteenwoordig die tweede grootste grondgebied in Europa naas Rusland en was buiten sy uitstekende landboupotensiaal ook ’n hoogs geïndustrialiseerde deel van die voormalige Sowjetunie. Oekraïne voer ongeveer 40% van die wêreld se sonneblom uit en is ook ’n groot uitvoerder van koring (oa aan Suid-Afrika) en mielies.

In ’n kronologie van gebeure is ’n paar punte van belang. In 2003 word Viktor Janukowitsj op omstrede wyse wenner van die presidentsverkiesing verklaar, maar sy opponent, Viktor Joesjtsjenko word na die vreedsame Oranje Revolusie as leier aangewys. Dit het later bekend geword dat Joesjtsjenko vergiftig is, maar hy het dit oorleef. Hierdie politieke ommeswaai het met sterk Westerse steun gepaard gegaan en is baie negatief deur Rusland beleef. Op 17 Januarie 2010 word Janukowitsj egter wel as president aangewys, en hy verwerp toenadering deur die Europese Unie en versterk sy verhouding met Wladimir Poetin in Rusland. Teen 2013 ontwikkel daar egter groot weerstand binne Oekraïne teen Janukowitsj se leierskap en hy word verplig om in Februarie 2014 uit die land te vlug. Die konflik in die ooste van die Oekraïne bly egter voortduur, met gereelde skermutselinge tussen regeringsoldate en pro-Russiese groepe.

Hierdie onstabiele grenskonflik sou tot die eskalasie in 2021 voortduur. In hierdie onstabiele periode annekseer Rusland die Krim-skiereiland en word ’n Maleisiese passasiersvliegtuig met ’n Russiese geleide missiel afgeskiet. Terwyl daar onstabiliteit in die Donbas-streek van Oekraïne heers, val Rusland die Krim-skiereiland gedurende Februarie 2014 in en beset die hele gebied. Daar is wêreldwye teenkanting oor die saak en ekonomiese sanksies word teen Rusland ingestel. Die hoofrede vir die anneksasie deur Rusland was om beheer oor die hawestad Sebastopol te kry, waar die Russiese Swartseevloot gehuisves word. Wat sake verder vererger het, was die afskiet van ’n Maleisiese passasiersvliegtuig (Vlug MH17) op 17 Julie 2014 in ’n gebied van Oos-Oekraïne waar pro-Russiese rebelle in beheer was.

Rusland bly egter aandring daarop dat hy aan die etniese Russe wat in die Donbas-streek woon, beskerming moet bied, en die grens tussen Rusland en Oekraïne bly ’n gebied van onstabiliteit. In die Donetsk- en Luhansk-streke is selfs referenda gehou en het Russiese separatiste hulle onafhanklikheid van Oekraïne verklaar. Met die verkiesing van president Wolodymir Zelenski op 21 April 2019 beweeg die intensiteit van die spanning tussen Rusland en Oekraïne na ’n hoër vlak, omdat Zelenski openlik groter samewerking met die Europese Unie voorstaan en gesprekke met Navo begin plaasvind. Dit is ook in hierdie tyd dat Donald Trump in die prentjie kom met sy omstrede telefoongesprek met Zelenski en sy dreigement oor die voorwaardes vir lewering van Amerikaanse wapenhulp.

Na 2014 se gewapende konflik ontstaan ’n soort skaakmatsituasie, met kleiner skermutselinge op die grens, maar in Oktober 2021 begin Rusland met ’n berekende strategiese ontplooiing van soldate en toerusting, en teen Desember 2021 word bereken dat daar meer as 100 000 Russiese soldate aan die oosgrens van Oekraïne ontplooi is. Van die magte is ook in Belarus, buurland en bondgenoot van Rusland, ontplooi. Oorlog met Oekraïne begin onafwendbaar lyk.

In Februarie 2015 het Frankryk, Duitsland, Rusland en Oekraïne probeer om die konflik te besleg deur middel van die Minsk-ooreenkoms. Hierdie ooreenkoms sou lei tot skietstakings en onttrekking van swaar militêre toerusting; die Oekraïne sou ook volle beheer oor sy grondgebied kry. Hierdie ooreenkoms was egter nooit baie suksesvol nie en is in Februarie 2022 deur Wladimir Poetin finaal verwerp.

Gedurende Januarie en Februarie 2022 is daar intense diplomatieke pogings aan die gang om die Russiese aggressie te probeer ontlont en dreigemente word oor en weer gevoer. Uiteindelik val die Russiese weermag Oekraïne op 24 Februarie 2022 in uit drie rigtings; vanuit die Krim-skiereiland, vanuit Rusland en vanuit Belarus.

Waarom sou Rusland en sy lewenslange president, Wladimir Poetin, hierdie ongewone stap doen? Daar blyk vyf redes te wees. Die eerste rede is om strategiese toegang te kry tot die Krim-skiereiland wat reeds in 2014 geannekseer is, maar geen direkte verbinding met Rusland het nie. Beheer oor Oekraïne sal aan Rusland onbelemmerde toegang tot sy Swartseevloot in Sobastopol gee, wat ’n groot strategiese voordeel sal wees. ’n Tweede regverdigingsgrond wat deur Poetin aangevoer word, is Russiese besorgdheid oor die 17% van die bevolking in Oekraïne wat etniese Russe is. ’n Derde rede is om beheer oor die industriële en landboupotensiaal en industrieë in Oekraïne te verkry. Voor 1990 was Oekraïne een van die welvarendste dele van die USSR. Waarskynlik die belangrikste rede is die ambisie van Wladimir Poetin om die grense van die ou Sowjetunie te herstel, of ten minste politieke en strategiese beheer oor voormalige Oosbloklande te herstel. In die geval van Oekraïne het die politieke trajek en toenadering tot die Europese Unie en Navo die vyfde rede geword waarom Oekraïne ingeval moes word om die regering van Zelenski te vervang.

Omstandighede het dit ook vir Poetin in 2021/22 baie meer geleë gemaak om die inval in Oekraïne uit te voer. Donald Trump het met sy presidentskap baie spanning tussen Europese lede van Navo veroorsaak en Poetin het geoordeel dat hy sal moet optree voordat die Biden-presidentskap daardie bande herstel. Duitsland het pas ’n nuwe kanselier aangewys in die plek van Angela Merkel wat die sterk politieke figuur in Europa was. President Macron van Frankryk word as ’n liggewig beskou, en Boris Johnson het homself vasgeknoop in interne politieke intriges. Verder het Rusland sy ekonomiese en finansiële posisie oor die laaste paar jaar sterk gekonsolideer en teen 2021 meer as $600 miljard se reserwes opgebou uit kommoditeite soos olie en gas. Dit wil voorkom asof Poetin ’n berekende stap gedoen het om Oekraïne oor te neem wat reeds ’n jaar of vier gelede vorm begin aanneem het.

Hoe gaan die Russiese inval in Oekraïne verder ontvou? Ons weet na die eerste paar dae na die inval reeds die volgende:

• Enige oorlog, wat ook al die ideologiese of strategiese regverdiging, het slagoffers, mense wat getraumatiseer word, mense wat in die kruisvuur sterf, mense wat onmenslike en bomenslike keuses moet maak in die aansig van tenks en pantserkarre en gepaardgaande omvangryke onsekerheid.
• Ons weet dat Poetin Oekraïne as ’n verlengstuk van Rusland beskou. Uit baie oorde word dit reeds Poetin se oorlog genoem.
• Ons weet dat Westerse moondhede alles in hulle vermoë sal doen om druk op Rusland te plaas, maar nie soldate tot die stryd sal voeg nie – daar is net nie genoeg politieke aptyt daarvoor nie.
• Ons kan reeds sien dat daar wêreldwyd ekonomiese reaksie op die inval was, maar dit wil voorkom asof internasionale finansiële markte reeds besluit het dat Oekraïne ’n slagoffer van Russiese ekspansionisme geword het.
• Europa leef in vrees dat die inval dalk verdere militêre aksies elders tog gevolg kan hê, veral in lande soos Estland, Letland, Litaue, Georgië en selfs Pole. Dit is veral die vrees dat ’n kernoorlog kan ontwikkel uit die eskalering van die konflik. Russiese skimpe dat hulle hul kernmissiele op gereedheidsgrondslag geplaas het, word baie ernstig in die Europese Unie ervaar.
• Swede en Finland besin daaroor of hulle nie dalk tot Navo moet toetree nie. Dit is sedert 1949 hulle keuse om buite Navo te staan, soos Switserland en Oostenryk.
• Daar is wêreldwyd kritiek op die Russiese optrede behalwe van die state wat Rusland begrens, soos Belarus. Dan is daar die lande wat afsydig staan, soos China, maar wat nie aan globale sanksies gaan deelneem nie. En dan is daar natuurlik Suid-Afrika wat sy morele kompas in die saak byster geraak het en vra vir onderlinge onderhandelinge en mediasie.

Daar is verder minstens vier verskillende uitkomste wat blyk uit die dinamies-ontwikkelende situasie in Oekraïne. Dit gee aan Poetin op kort termyn wat hy graag wou bereik, maar op langer termyn gaan dit betekenisvolle nadele vir Rusland inhou.

1. Die grootpad na Sobaspotol. Die blitsoorlog is die eerste opsie wat ontvou het in die eerste paar dae van die inval. Met ’n totale oormag op die grond, ter see en in die lug is dit moontlik vir Poetin om die hele Oekraïne in te palm. Die vraag is of dit werklik sy plan is. In hierdie scenario sal Rusland alles doen om ’n totale oormag te bewerkstellig, maar nie die Navo-lande die geleentheid bied om in oorlog betrokke te raak nie. Die Zelenski-regering sal selfs toegelaat word om voort te gaan, en in ’n blyk van toegewing sal Poetin onderhandelinge toelaat en die oostelike deel van Oekraïne opeis op grond van die beskerming van etniese Russe in die gebied. Dit gaan aan hom onbelemmerde toegang tot die Krim-skiereiland bied. Na die onderhandelinge sal die Russe terugtrek met onder meer die onderneming dat Oekraïne nooit by Navo sal aansluit as bondgenoot nie.
2. Die blitzkrieg. Die tweede opsie wat kan ontvou, is dat Poetin die hele Oekraïne wil inpalm, die huidige regering wil ontsetel en ’n nuwe lojale interimregering in die plek daarvan wil instel. Soos enige suksesvolle blitzkrieg het dit ’n groot skokeffek op die land en sy mense en stort die stelsel gevolglik in duie. Na die instelling van ’n lojale interimregering onttrek Russiese magte en word daar in internasionale forums gesoek na normaliteit. Hierdie opsie word tot ’n groot mate reeds deur finansiële markte verdiskonteer. Uit hierdie optrede kry Rusland sy strategiese toegang tot die Krim-skiereiland, maar ook al die ander bronne in Oekraïne. Oekraïnse weerstandsbewegings sal beslis kop uitsteek, veral onder die nie-etniese Russe, teen Russiese oorheersing. Die Russiese militêre oormag sal dit egter kan beperk, maar nie die negatiewe beeld van Russiese ekspansionisme nie. Voormalige Oosbloklande sal onder hierdie omstandighede hulle verhoudinge met Rusland baie versigtiger beoordeel, omdat Poetin die een kritieke aspek van strategie gedemonstreer het, naamlik om dreigemente met doelgerigte en berekende optrede op te volg.
3. Tot by die afgrond. Hierdie derde opsie is ’n scenario waar die Russiese magte Oekraïne totaal oorneem en waar onderhandelinge telkens misluk. Die uiteindelike gesprek gaan oor totale oorgawe en nie ’n skikking van een of ander aard nie. Poetin het in duidelike terme sy oogmerke uitgestippel, naamlik om die voormalige Oosblok te herstel in sy vorige glorie, en dit sluit Navo en deelname aan die Europese Unie uit. Deur Oekraïne met berekende optrede in te val het Poetin gewys dat hy die vermoë het om konflik tot op die randjie van die afgrond te neem en nie af te wyk nie. Dit kom wel teen groot sosiale en ekonomiese koste, maar na hierdie inval sal dreigemente deur Poetin baie ernstiger opgeneem word. Met hierdie opsie neem Poetin die wêreld tot by die rand van ’n militêr-politieke afgrond, maar trek dan terug.
4. Aggressiewe eskalasie. Dit is die begin van die reïnkarnasie van die ou Oosblok en die onwaarskynlikste opsie. Hierdie scenario is egter die groot vrees van mense in Europa, naamlik dat Oekraïne net die begin van ’n lang proses gaan wees waar Poetin as lewenslange outoritêre staatshoof van Rusland sy invloed wil uitbrei, baie verder as om net goedgesinde bure te hê, maar om daardie bure ook polities, ekonomies en militêr te beheer en te domineer. Hierdie vrese is veral teenwoordig by lande soos Estland, Georgië, Letland en Litaue. In dié scenario word die politieke situasie in Europa total gepolariseer en word daar teruggekeer na die denkwyse van die Koue Oorlog. Om hierdie scenario nog meer te kompliseer moet die rol van China oor hierin oorweeg word. Tans staan China eenkant, maar is ’n betekenisvolle handelsvennoot van Rusland. Met omvangryke sanksies teen Rusland sal China beslis die vakuum in wêreldhandel en in handel met Rusland vul. In die Koue Oorlog-era het ons in ’n bipolêre wêreld geleef en na die val van die Berlynse Muur was ons basies in ’n unipolêre wêreld met die VSA as die enigste wêreldmoondheid. China het egter oor die laaste 25 jaar ’n betekenisvolle rol in die wêreldekonomie en -politiek begin speel en ’n multipolêre orde is aan die ontwikkel. In ’n gepolariseerde konteks tussen Navo-lande aan die een kant en Rusland met sy ondergeskikte en goedgesinde bure aan die ander kant het dit skrikwekkende moontlike gevolge vir die huidige stand van internasionale politiek. Dit sal onder andere die wêreld “veiliger” maak vir kleiner konflikte. Die Midde-Ooste en dele van Afrika kom dadelik hier ter sprake.

Ten slotte: Die Russiese inval in Oekraïne, “Poetin se oorlog”, het ’n dramatiese effek op wêreldgebeure gehad so vroeg in 2022. Dit het die wêreld se beheptheid met die koronapandemie heeltemal op die agtergrond geskuif en ’n besinning gebring ten opsigte van politieke, ekonomiese en strategiese risiko’s. Selfs die gesaghebbende Wêreld- Ekonomiese Forum het in hulle globale-risiko-assessering vir 2022 die grensgeskil tussen Rusland en die Oekraïne aangedui, maar tiende geplaas na ’n reeks klimaatsverwante en maatskaplike globale risiko’s. Op kort termyn wil dit voorkom asof Poetin sy strategiese anneksering van die Krim-skiereiland in 2014 nou opgevolg het met ’n oostelike toegang tot die hawestad Sebastopol, tuiste van die Russiese Swartseevloot. In die proses het hy Oekraïne ingeval met ’n soort blitzkrieg en ’n ongelooflike menslike drama van sterftes, vlugtelinge en dakloosheid tot gevolg gehad. ’n Golf van onsekerheid spoel tans oor Europa en politieke polarisering wat herinner aan die Koue Oorlog, het posgevat. Die verwagting is dat die oorlog van korte duur gaan wees, maar langtermyngevolge vir Oekraïne en vir Rusland gaan meebring. Dit was waarskynlik een van Wladimir Poetin se berekende strategiese optredes wat hom in die wêreld buite Rusland gaan vervreem en uiteindelik in Rusland ook, as ingrypende finansiële sanksies die Russe gaan begin knyp. Suid-Afrika kon in die apartheidsjare sanksies op baie vernuwende maniere omseil, maar toe ons bankrekenings in 1985–86 in New York en Londen gesluit is na die Rubicon-toespraak, was die skrif aan die muur. Dit sou my kort en bondige boodskap aan president Wladimir Poetin gewees het.

Luister ook:

Eben Viktor berig uit Oekraïne (27 Februarie 2022 om 15:43)

Eben Viktor berig uit Oekraïne (27 Februarie 2022 om 09:15)

Eben Viktor berig uit Oekraïne (25 Februarie 2022 om 21:35)

Reguit met Robinson: ’n videogesprek met Leopold Scholtz

Lees ook:

Die Rusland-Oekraïne-konflik: die geskiedenis en Poetin se wêreldbeskouing

Putin’s invasion and the failure of peace

Van Rusland, met liefde?

The post Oekraïne: Die storie kom van ver af appeared first on LitNet.

Credit for book cover: https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-8214-2438-4

Mohamedou Ould Slahi: The actual true story of Ahmed & Zarga (2021)

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Published in the excellent Modern African writing series of the Ohio UP, Ahmed and Zarga tells the story of a Mauritanian Bedouin camel herder who, with the aid of his trusted, loyal camel, Laamesh, more friend than beast or mount, goes in search of a particularly treasured young female camel called Zarga – intended as the eventual steed of Ahmed and his wife Jamila’s young son, named Abdallahi – for Zarga has gone astray from the herd.

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Published in the excellent Modern African writing series of the Ohio UP, Ahmed and Zarga tells the story of a Mauritanian Bedouin camel herder who, with the aid of his trusted, loyal camel, Laamesh, more friend than beast or mount, goes in search of a particularly treasured young female camel called Zarga – intended as the eventual steed of Ahmed and his wife Jamila’s young son, named Abdallahi – for Zarga has gone astray from the herd. Mohamedou Ould Slahi (the author) qualified as an electrical engineer in Germany and has a wife and baby son there (though he is at present banned from Germany for political reasons); he himself is of Mauritanian Bedouin stock and is, in fact, the son of a camel herder. He shot to literary fame with his entirely different first work, a memoir titled Guantanamo diary, written in 2005 during a 14-year incarceration period (2002 to 2016), with neither charge nor trial, in that notorious facility. Born in 1972 in Mauritania, Slahi went abroad for his tertiary studies in 1988, but travelled to Afghanistan with idealistic intentions which, in the minds of CIA investigators, made him a suspect and got him arrested in Mauritania three months after 9/11 for association with Al-Qaeda. In Guantanamo Bay, he was subjected initially to months of severe torture and relentless interrogation. The US government allowed a severely “redacted” edition of Slahi’s prison memoir to be published in 2012; the “fully restored” text appeared in 2017. Slahi’s memoir was made into a film titled “The Mauritanian” in 2021; filming (with top stars) was done in South Africa. Given this highly traumatic background, Ahmed and Zarga can possibly be seen as a “return to roots” and as a type of self-healing exercise: imaginative re-immersion by the author in his paternal and ancestral sphere – far removed from the horrors he lived through in the West, though, of course, with the dangers, stresses and fears of its Northeast African pastoral desert setting fully depicted.

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Ahmed and Zarga educates its readers concerning the reverence in which camels are held in this context, as it does in making clear the basis of this Bedouin attitude towards their beasts. Slahi’s novel’s natural, informal style and the impression of oral narrative that it establishes are extremely appealing, as well as elegant and aesthetically admirable.

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Ahmed and Zarga educates its readers concerning the reverence in which camels are held in this context, as it does in making clear the basis of this Bedouin attitude towards their beasts. Slahi’s novel’s natural, informal style and the impression of oral narrative that it establishes are extremely appealing, as well as elegant and aesthetically admirable. The narrative context which is maintained throughout is of a sphere of life mostly far removed from modern technologies – though not entirely unaware of or untouched by the beginnings of an “outside world” that is slowly, inexorably, starting to encroach upon it. Ahmed – full name Ahmed Ould Abdallahi – is the main character. The narrator opens the story by saying that “wise and righteous men through the years related to [him and all his people] the story of Ahmed and Zarga”, but that he is the one who knows “the real and complete” version, since he heard it from his sister, who in turn heard it from their neighbour, “old Aunt Aicha … who knows all the stories of the Bedouins” (1). From her he learnt that “for Ahmed, love for the nobility of camels was in his blood” (3). We are also informed that “Ahmed knew too well that the day would come when the camels would disappear”, referring to it as “that sad and dark day when all the family’s camels [are] gone, and that day would be the end of time” (4). The signs are already there, Ahmed knows, for a terrible drought is ravaging their area. He believes that “people can only live when camels live”, so if these noble creatures become extinct, “humans would soon follow” (3–4). Ahmed – like the other Bedouins – is “subject to two traditions and two systems”, ie his people’s mores and traditions, and the rules and laws (including taxation) of the French colonisers. But, like most other Bedouins, “he accepted both as they presented themselves, as he knew to do in order to live and die a happy man” (5). Ahmed is evidently a mature man of calm good sense and balanced emotions. Bedouin life is not easy; they are a people who spend their “entire life in survival mode” (8). The year in which the story is set is especially dry and finding enough food for one’s camel herd increasingly difficult for the Bedouin herders, requiring them to take their beasts far away to graze.

The narrator’s respectful if somewhat anthropomorphic-seeming attitude towards camels is both charming and amusing, but evidently based on generations of experience and careful observation:

Camels need both freedom and company. They enjoy their time with the herder, but constant company is the negation of their freedom. They get sick and die of depression when the herder fails to understand that they need time alone, when they can discuss in their own language the things they cannot discuss in front of humans. (14)

Ahmed understands them, so once they have been taken to a place where they can feed, he leaves the herd for the day, going out to guide them home only in the late afternoons. On this occasion, he finds that something is amiss: Zarga has gone missing! Zarga is a beautiful beast: known as a “blue” camel (her colouring of a type rarely seen), because her fur is mainly dark, but with white patches. Ahmed is so taken aback by her inexplicable absence, that his blood runs cold; then he feels “a current of great sadness” overwhelming him, mind and body (18). He is agonised at the thought of having to tell his young son that the special camel intended to be his personal mount has now disappeared. Zarga is the granddaughter of Ahmed’s revered grandfather’s personal camel, a creature of such nobility that, when the man to whom she had devoted her life passed away, she refused to go out to graze with other camels, “remain[ing] in the camp, circling the tents and crying loudly in a heartbreaking voice”. When her late master was being carried to his grave, “the animal followed the procession solemnly”. She refused to leave the burial place when the humans returned to their homes, instead remaining “kneel[ed] between the man’s remains and the kiblah for days”. She would neither eat nor drink, and the deceased’s “family allowed her to rest in peace beside the man”. Because Zarga is the offspring of such legendary origins, bringing her home “meant more [to Ahmed] than restoring a camel to his herd” (22) – deep ancestral memories are involved.

Ahmed and his personal camel, Laamesh, have a comparably excellent relationship and great trust in each other. With several shared journeys behind them, “they knew and respected each other”. Laamesh is five years old, a mature and intelligent creature (a castrated male, hence tractable) compared with the two-year-old she-camel, Zarga. Laamesh never needed to be chased or compelled to do anything – when Ahmed “needed to put the tether in Laamesh’s snout piercing, he just gestured and the camel came”. Ahmed, because he knows what good companionship Laamesh will provide, is not so much anxious as excited about the possibly lengthy and arduous search that they will have to undertake to try and recover Zarga in the “treacherous, endless desert”. He knows many “hidas, songs sung for camels during long trips” (24) for the benefit of both mount and human rider. And although he will have to set out and journey further on mostly by night, he is used to this – it is a simple and practical way to avoid the unendurably hot desert daylight hours. Ahmed sets out quietly (he has not informed his wife or son that he is going off on this quest, to avoid burdening them with anxieties concerning the “disappearance” of Zarga or the dangers he himself might have to cope with). And the deep night is serene: “nature’s magnificence manifested itself in a clear sky and an infinite ocean of sand dunes in every direction. Everything everywhere looked exactly the same, … the shining moon and the bright stars reflecting off the clean white dunes” (30). Ahmed, like all Bedouins, also knows how to read the stars as his night-time map in the trackless desert wastes.

Lost in a dream-like haze, Ahmed has a disquieting vision – a portent of disaster that has broken through the spiritual defensive web which Ahmed attempted to establish around himself and Laamesh prior to setting out, including the protective talismans both man and beast wear permanently around their necks. In the vision, a witch-like old woman from his camp appears, flying towards him and the camel, enwrapped in malicious intent. She grabs one of his fingers so viciously that it feels as though it has been bitten off; when Ahmed jerks away, he nearly falls out of the saddle. He wakes in a fright, at once “mumbl[ing] some prayers to ward off the bad spirit” (33), for Ahmed is a deeply devout Muslim, though not demonstrative in his piety. But the frightening vision is fulfilled in the early hours of the day when Ahmed, having lightly tethered Laamesh to allow the beast to graze while he himself catches up some sleep, lying beneath a bush in the absence of proper shelter, is awakened by a sudden pain in his left index finger. He jumps to his feet in terror and, still half asleep, spots an especially dangerous snake – a desert viper – slithering off. Had he not been woken by the pinch of the snake’s bite, he would never have risen alive. “Ahmed knew that he had to act and act fast; it was simply a matter of life and death.” Knowing that there is only one (albeit drastic) remedy for his predicament, Ahmed prepares for the act with a fervent supplicatory prayer to “God of a burning flame! God of the living and the dead! God of the heat and the cold!” (39). The beautiful, moving prayer is too long to be quoted in full, but other parts of it go as follows:

I take refuge in God from the evil of all evil men, from Satan and the magician. … By God, I take refuge from all animals and people that are under your control. My God is on the righteous path. Their evil plans shall not hurt me for God knows everything they plan, say, and do. In the name of God, who is enough as my protector. In the name of God, who cures me. (40)

After concluding his prayer, Ahmed slowly removes his prized “Swiss knife, one of the … expensive ones known as a 108” from his satchel (40). The knife is essential equipment for any Bedouin, since its powers of cutting cleanly and efficiently when necessary are highly treasured.

What Ahmed has to do is, of course, to perform an emergency amputation of the snake-bitten finger, otherwise the poison will spread to the rest of his body and kill him – and he has to do this immediately. He begins by binding a painfully tight tourniquet on his left arm, tightening it as much as he can bear. Next, Ahmed lays the injured hand on his left foot, with the bitten finger sticking out. Lifting the knife high in the air, but aiming carefully, he plunges it downwards, severing the finger with a blow so hard that it is flung away in a high arc into the surrounding darkness. Ahmed will have to retrieve it later, but for now he has to deal with the pain and shock. Removing the tourniquet, Ahmed, after allowing the finger to bleed a bit more to make sure he is rid of all the poison, ties it tightly around the wound. After this, he allows himself a wee while to lie down on the sand to regain his physical and emotional equilibrium. Then he searches for the severed finger in order to give it a decent burial later, since people must honour their body’s parts. Next, Ahmed applies a little of the Chinese ointment he always has in his satchel, to the wound, aware that over the coming days the follow-up treatment is a further daily application of his camel’s “high-quality urine” (43). His blood has now clotted, the bleeding stopped and the pain begun to ease. After a small sip from his limited water supply, Ahmed lies down to sleep a little more. However, his dreams are fevered, disturbing and horrifying. He sees a pack of huge dogs attacking him. The dogs then get mixed up with (as well as transformed into) naked people, who – along with the baying dogs – shout at him that he must leave; he is a trespasser. He looks around wildly for his camel, but cannot spot Laamesh anywhere. At last, he wakes up, bathed in the pleasant early morning sunlight. As he in a near-reflex takes out his pipe to have a smoke, he beats out the old tobacco and applies a little bit of tobacco oil to his wound. Ahmed cleanses his body with the still cool desert sand, in lieu of water, after smoking, and performs the morning prayer. He hears “Laamesh grumbling not far away, and beyond that human voices” (49) – he is within reach of a human settlement, he realises with great relief.

Ahmed had learned to take everything life threw at him with grace and acceptance, but he didn’t deal well with the headache that came when he didn’t get his cup of tea. It was his weak point, he would admit, but he would never apologize for it. A man needs his cup of tea. (49)

He soon finds Laamesh, who “looked at his owner with the side of his eye and smiled’’ – a delightful detail. He seems to anticipate Ahmed’s every move and mood! Ahmed is anxious to get to the nearby settlement, knowing that “in the desert, three days in a strange tent is your right”. Without such a rule of required hospitality, survival in the desert would be impossible. The host is considered “merely proxy between the guest and Allah” (50). Hence Ahmed is well received at the tent he has chosen, with the host (a man named Omar) soon handing him a steaming cup of tea – the first of the ritualistic three cups the Bedouins drink in succession. Omar provides Ahmed with the information that the previous day a “renowned Moroccan tribe” (57) that sometimes spends time in Mauritania with their “sea of camels” in search of fresh grazing, was seen hurriedly driving their beasts towards their home. He is suggesting, of course, that Ahmed’s camel Zarga might accidentally, inexperienced as she is, have been caught up among these foreign camels, and swept along with them. Omar thinks the Moroccans aren’t above a bit of camel-snatching either; Zarga is a beauty, after all. Disquieting as the thought is, Ahmed will at least have little difficulty in tracking the Moroccan herds. Without saying a word to the men, Fatima, Omar’s gracious wife, goes off and returns with a tall woman who is a direct descendant of the Prophet. She is a healer and exorcist, and Fatima brings her in order to examine and treat Ahmed’s snakebite finger wound. She performs a complex curative ritual that will also endow Ahmed with further protection. The ritual is described in full, respectful detail as it is observed by Ahmed. Though slightly bemused and a little overwhelmed, he submits to the great woman’s ministrations with suitable humility. “Healing, he reminded himself, is to be received blindly, unquestioningly” (63). With Ahmed being evidently unable to provide the healer with a suitable token of appreciation (nothing as vulgar as payment), Fatima provides “some dehydrated meat, a handful of Medina dates, and a between-two-fingers measure of tea leaves in a small wooden bowl” (65). The given items all have appropriate spiritual significance. However meagre their material resources, we see, Bedouin people conduct personal encounters and exchanges with recognisably refined generosity and grace.

Following Omar’s helpful directions, when Ahmed sets off early the next day, he easily follows the tracks of the Moroccan camels. He does not overtire Laamesh, dismounting at the bottom of steep sand dunes so that the camel does not have to struggle to the top with him in the saddle as added burden. He does need to seek shelter before the dangerous worst of the day’s heat begins to strike down; however, he soon spots a small settlement of about twelve tents, choosing the most modest of them to request hospitality. Ahmed feels uncomfortable amid wealth and ostentation, and hates having to watch his Ps and Qs in pretentiously “refined” company, preferring the easygoing manners and earthy talk of poorer people. He has chosen his temporary hosts wisely, as usual, for “in the tent he found a lone, slender, athletic-looking woman. She had a hardworking, self-confident look to her, and when he greeted her he could see the honest welcome on her face” (69). Her husband is named Mohamed, she informs him, but she is quite at ease to be alone in a small space with a strange man, since Bedouin life conditions do not allow for or require full purdah for womenfolk, and trustworthy, cooperative conduct is both a deeply ingrained ethos and a practical necessity among them. Sensing his need for rest, she simply tosses Ahmed a worn cushion, on which he lays down his head. He is asleep within minutes of doing so, while the woman continues her preparations for the coming meal.

Ahmed dreams of Zarga being beaten by the stick of a foreign herder – a stick that has assumed a life and identity (and a scolding voice) of its own, while he can only watch from afar in helpless fury. He himself transforms into a huge camel-like creature, but in that shape remains unable to aid Zarga, who (crying) sometimes changes into Ahmed’s son Abdallahi, and then back into herself. Then Ahmed starts imagining the strange herder approaching him to sear his hand with a burning rod, but he is helpless as he struggles, terrified, to try and get out of harm’s way. The next moment, he wakes up in the stifling tent. The woman of the tent is gently touching his hand with a hot teacup to bring him out of his dream’s distress; it is her child that is crying. As Ahmed wakes fully, the woman pronounces that he was protected in his nightmare by Jatma. Considered “everyone’s grandmother”, she is a spirit in whom the Bedouins put their trust for her guardianship against nightmarish threats that can cause spiritual harm. Mbarka is the name of Ahmed’s gentle but practical hostess. Certain details make him suspect that she is a former slave, especially her way of assessing him as an individual and not in terms of his family connections and antecedents. The meal that she serves is offered on a single plate set in the middle of the small circle formed by Ahmed and the host family, which includes a young son; the meal, unusually lavish for such clearly poor people, contains some meat – probably provided by a neighbour to allow the family to feed the unexpected guest.

Another neighbour probably sent over the beautiful and costly tea service on which Mbarka next offers her expertly brewed tea. While they drink the rich, strong brew, the two men discuss the most appropriate ways in which Ahmed might retrieve his camel and manage the feat – or ordeal! – of driving a single, skittish young camel home without the usual aid of the entire rest of the herd to help guide her. It is now time for Ahmed to resume his journey, since the day has started cooling down. His hosts send him on his way with blessings, but Ahmed is in a hopeful frame of mind, for “being around good people made his heart joyous and satisfied” (80). Mbarka recites a famous poem appropriate to the occasion: “I’m going out to Allah as his guest,/ truly the guests of Allah will find comfort and face no hardship,/ I’m the guest of the only one,/ O Allah, guide the travellers on the righteous path!” (81). Ahmed loves singing, so as soon as he has mounted Laamesh, some way beyond the settlement, he launches into another hida. As the sun sets, soon after, Ahmed dismounts to perform the evening prayer. Then they are off again and, to ease the journey, Ahmed takes out his pipe, tobacco and utensils and has a smoke, as he loves to do as often as his supplies permit. And he resumes singing into the quiet night. He savours the fresh breeze from the Atlantic side. “Around them, the vast desert was silent and the sky was clear. The bright moon bathed the dunes, and the dunes recycled the moonlight, so Ahmed could see everything as far as the horizon: a rolling ocean of sand with only a few scattered trees to break the monotony” (83). When both man and camel reach a point of exhaustion, Ahmed halts the camel, tethering Laamesh for safety after dismounting and lying down for sleep in some meagre shelter of bushes. Sleep comes in an instant.

Yet again, however, his dreams are terrifying, involving the necessity of a life-threatening leap down a huge, steep cliff only to land among hostile, creepy persons and creatures. In the dream, he resorts to another prayer, part of which reads: “O Allah, I am under your care and protection so protect me from the trial of the grave and torment of [the] Fire. Indeed you are faithful and truthful. Forgive and have mercy upon me, [for] surely You are The Oft-Forgiving, The Most-Merciful” (86). The dream continues, however, with even more awful twists and turns and truly dreadful threats to the dream-Ahmed, so that he eventually resorts to the most drastic remedy at his disposal, waking (and hence rescuing) himself from the dream threats by bellowing out the name of his mother: “ZAHRA!”. This reversion to childhood was brought about, he knows, because “in all the great many times Ahmed’s heart and mind had been subjected to trials and tribulations, he had never felt sadder or lonelier. … He woke up scared and shaking, soaked in his own sweat” (89–90). After performing the dawn prayer and as the sky lightens, Ahmed makes a horrifying discovery: he has been sleeping close beside “a telltale mound of human bones” (92), inadvertently breaking a strong taboo. Immediately, he starts reciting a prayer for the dead person buried here, to appease him, her or them and ask for forgiveness. Although he afterwards begins planning his next stop and the route to it, Ahmed “felt a wave of goose-bumps washing over his dry body. The place was eerily quiet, with no sign of life, not one single sound.” Yet Ahmed knows there is a nomadic camp nearby, and if so, strangely “it was as silent as in the midday heat or dead of night” (95), which greatly troubles him. His reliable instincts are warning him to be careful of some great and unknown danger that will soon be upon him.

It is already dark when Ahmed inadvertently stumbles upon a strangely constructed, lone black tent of a type he has never seen before. “Have I crossed the border into Morocco?” Ahmed wonders to himself. The place has a sinister aura and resembles the kind of demon settlement that was described to him in childhood scare stories. He mutters some customary prayers, but he is in dire need of a drink (preferably tea) and some solid sustenance, so he starts tethering Laamesh; but as he begins to lift the heavy saddle off the camel’s back, some deep warning instinct makes him stop and leave it on his mount’s back. Resolutely, Ahmed decides that his wisest course (on meeting whoever is or are the tent’s occupants) is to “show neither fear nor wonderment” (97). This is a bit difficult as he catches his first sight of the tent’s occupant:

a very tall and extraordinarily fat woman …. If it weren’t for her old veil and the lack of facial hair, he would have greeted her as the man of the tent. Her face was wrinkled, with strong jaws and a long pointing nose. … [T]his woman looked nothing like the kinds of delicate women Ahmed grew up around. Her hands were big and rough, likely from doing men’s work. (102)

She greets Ahmed with the customary blessing, but it is spoken “impatiently in a deep, hoarse voice” – no social refinements or warmth of welcome here! She extends her large hand in greeting, and as she does so “the veins of her well-defined arm popped out like the roots of an old desert tree” (102). The woman has “sparkling” and extraordinarily “sharp” eyes capable of seeing far beyond the usual reach of sight, as Ahmed somehow discerns, and he sees and smells that she has been chewing the strong Moroccan tobacco that is popular in this area (104).

Morocco (where Ahmed now finds himself) was to him a fabled land in his childhood, when his saintly grandfather told him many accounts of this country’s famously learned and pious sheikhs, and of its alchemists able to turn stones into gold. His grandfather even told him that half of their own tribe lived there, but that “these distant cousins had lost their ways to the French and the Germans”. This might be a clue to this strange woman, though definitely not of their tribe, who “had shaken his hand”; for “the only people Ahmed knew who dared to shake hands with the opposite sex were the French” or those who had spent much time in their company, like his own cousin, “the translator Sidi Mohamed”. The observation contained in the next sentence indicates how very uneasy Ahmed feels here, for as the woman invites him to enter the tent, he mentions her smiling “dishonestly” at him. The feeling that this is a sinister place only increases when “the smell of rotten meat hit him, making his eyes water”. Ahmed concludes that “someone must have died here recently” and describes the “darkness and macabre serenity” inside the tent (108). Is his strange and clearly not too willing hostess mourning the recent death of someone close to her? She does at least hand him a cup of tea, but the woman seems to be keeping a “close watch on him with the side of her eyes, never saying a word” but only “sticking her tongue in and out in a quick, uncontrollable motion”. He takes a first sip – apprehensively. The tea is very bitter and thick in texture, and Ahmed soon starts feeling very odd, his lips “heavy and numb like two big bricks hanging from his mouth”, and he has lost his sense of touch. His sight, too, is affected: he sees everything “moving in fuzzy colors, with small, bright dots”. The small cup of tea feels heavier and heavier, and Ahmed is unable to raise the cup to his lips – nor can he throw it down. Although readers soon understand that Ahmed has been given tea with some powerful drug in it, he sees his situation as having “fall[en] victim to a bewitched cup of tea” (110–1).

Ahmed wakes up from the stupor into which he has been plunged, feeling “heavy and tired” and profoundly disoriented, still unable to control his muscles. He cannot even change from lying on one side to another, as he wishes to do. Even “his quest to bring back Zarga was gone from his memory”, which retains only a single point of reference: “that he was Ahmed, a proud nomad” (113). Now he makes out that his hands have been tied to his feet; he is trussed like a captured beast. The large woman is nearby, still keeping her huge eyes fixed on him. He next spots “a muscular man wearing only a pair of baggy, dirty black nomad trousers” – the garment emanating a strong, unpleasant odour, while he adds another strong smell from the strange, large bone pipe (still with bits of meat on it!) that he is smoking (114). Hygiene is definitely not a major concern in this small establishment. The woman is harshly scolding her husband, although Ahmed cannot easily follow the dialect they are speaking (not that the man says much). Ahmed understands Arabic and Zenaga and can partially understand “French, Wolof, Fulani, Soninke, and Bambara” (115), the dominant languages of the region, but his unpleasant “hosts’” tongue is beyond him. Ahmed is regaining his senses and now recognises that he was drugged, but is still bewildered by the questions whirling through his head, such as, “Why did they shackle him like a crazy bull?” (116). He wonders whether he has been captured in order to be sold into slavery by members of one of the notorious “raiding tribes” (117) of the region.

The woman of the tent has been “cutting and arranging” meat on a platter, and as she walks past the still tied-up Ahmed, she trips, sending the meat flying. One of the pieces is a human head, which rolls close to where Ahmed is lying! The horrifying sight can mean only one thing: he has fallen into the hands of a cannibal couple, who probably have similar plans for him as for their recent victim. Ahmed “wanted to cry”, but “a bitter taste filled his mouth [and] his stomach cramped, in an agony worse than he’d ever imagined” (121). The couple aren’t only cannibals, but probably also traders in human body parts sold for exorbitant prices in foreign areas, where the sold flesh is used to brew powerful, destructive potions. Ahmed has no one with whom he can share the terror of the death fear that is now upon him; he cannot even speak or pray aloud. In a semi-stupor of anxiety, he calms his mind by spontaneously composing a meditation on the serenity and significance of the desert moon he saw a few nights ago. It contains lines like the following: “O moon! … Give me comfort and show me light. You sing the praise of Allah in all majesty and silence. … Tell my wife and my [son] that I love them …. Tell the universe I love it …. My family shouldn’t worry about me,/ I’ll be waiting for them in heaven until they join me …” (123–4). This poem and the “devotional prayer” it contains, revives Ahmed somewhat. He knows that if he cannot begin to fight back by conquering his own fear, he is lost. His grandmother taught him that one’s own fear is “the biggest ally of the enemy” (125). He forces himself to address the man as the more reasonable member of the household, holding out the bait of a supposedly very wealthy family paying a huge ransom in camels in exchange for letting him live. He also appeals to the man as a fellow pipe smoker desperately longing for a smoke, for his “host” is still puffing away. If he can persuade this man to give him a few puffs on his pipe, disgusting as the thought is, he will have succeeded in establishing something of a human bond between them.

Soon after, an argument ensues between the man and his wife, and even though Ahmed cannot understand their actual words, it is clear that the husband is wavering in his murderous resolve (for which he has been sharpening his knife), but that the wife, with her domineering and ruthless personality, is successfully insisting that they carry out their plan. She grabs Ahmed around the neck in a powerful grip, and, as she does so, a charm that he always wears around his neck on a string – the hajab that his mother gave to him when he was little – nearly falls to the floor, since the woman’s rough grip has snapped the string holding it. Determined to keep it on his body somehow, Ahmed clutches it under his chin, but the man is suddenly stunned at the sight of the charm. As he points to it to draw his wife’s attention, she grabs it and throws it across to him. The man, in shock, utters the worst [European] swear word Ahmed has ever heard, for he immediately recognises the charm, having probably been conventionally brought up in a non-cannibal family before his awful wife lured him into marriage. The charm is one that was blessed by one of the most revered of holy men in Bedouin culture, Sheikh Ibrahima. He and anything or any person associated with him is either feared or revered. The revelation that Ahmed is protected by the sheikh’s aura makes the husband terrified of the consequences of harming him. The wife, undeterred, lunges over towards Ahmed. She is salivating at the sight of this “fresh meat” and begins to bite into Ahmed’s neck when her husband, determined to stop her, leaps upon her, the knife getting knocked to the floor in the ensuing scuffle. Ahmed seizes his chance. The precious, powerful charm is flying through the air, and he catches it and slams it onto the woman’s leg, the charm cutting deep into her leg and wounding her, momentarily disabling the threat she poses. Ahmed scoops up the knife in the couple’s shocked pause, and in a moment is dashing from the tent with the man in hot pursuit.

“Ahmed needed to find his friend Laamesh as soon as possible, jump on, and ride wherever the camel found it easiest to run” (132). As Ahmed glances back towards the tent from where he is running, he sees that the cannibal woman, initially stunned, has recovered and is now the closer and more powerful pursuer – having easily overtaken her husband. The woman is an astonishingly fast runner, in view of her immense bulk, and quickly catches up with Ahmed, to the point where he can feel her hot breath between his lean shoulder blades, but since he is now at last next to Laamesh, he slashes the rope tether of his camel and leaps into the saddle after giving the woman an elbow to the chin that momentarily sends her reeling backwards. But even as Laamesh launches into a quick trot, the cannibal woman grabs his tail and hangs on relentlessly. This is a method used to tame recalcitrant camels, by tiring them out – a terrible excess burden for the camel, but for the woman, a type of “sand skiing” (134). Thinking fast, Ahmed devises an emergency plan: he pulls the camel up short, the woman’s momentum forcing her to crash full tilt into Laamesh’s hindquarters, so stunning her and making her fall backwards, where she now remains prone in the sand. Laamesh, with Ahmed still safely on his back, can now proceed at his usual steady, speedy pace, putting increasing distance between them and the awful couple. Ahmed kneels down to thank Allah, after which he kisses his mount’s back in gratitude, whispering: “May Allah give you a long and blessed life!” (135) into the camel’s ear. He has made his escape from a dire, life-threatening situation, but feels that he needs to put at least a day’s journey between himself and the cannibals. However, he is unsure of where he should be heading, and can spot no guiding landmarks or signs of human settlement. All he knows is that it makes sense to head south. At last, exhausted by the battering sun and aware that he needs to give Laamesh a chance to rest and feed, Ahmed stops at a “suitable acacia”, tethering the camel to the tree. “He lay down on the shade-cooled sand, using his stick and the end of his turban as a pillow and the rest of the turban to cover his head,” partly shutting out the glare and heat of the day and falling into a dream world (136).

“When he woke up, the day had begun to cool down” (137). He is not yet as hungry as he will soon become, but dreadfully thirsty, and has very little water left in his guirbah (water bag). Ahmed has to share this water with his camel, for if Laamesh collapses, he is lost, whereas if he himself does, the beast might still carry him to safety. After praying, now that the sand has begun to cool off, Ahmed and Laamesh set off once more. As evening begins to fall, Ahmed forces a little urine from his body, which he catches and (half gagging) forces himself to drink. Among desert travellers, this is a known emergency measure, but can only be resorted to thrice – after this, the urine will poison one. Next, Ahmed simply throws himself down on the sand, face down, in exhaustion. At least he can feel “a gracious ocean breeze”, and the desert dew further cools the by now feverish man. The next morning, Ahmed is hardly in any better shape. Fortunately, his camel is profoundly loyal: “if it had been up to Laamesh, he would have found his way by now to where he needed to be, but he was ready to die in pain and dignity to try to save his master. It wouldn’t be the first or the last time a camel made this sacrifice” (141). The passage continues:

Ahmed crawled toward the camel like the weak and vulnerable baby he’d become. He tried to climb onto the saddle, failed, and tried again. Each try left him weaker and farther from his goal. At last the camel lay on one side, allowing Ahmed to hug the saddle with his arms and legs. As soon as he settled, Laamesh tilted his head slightly and stood up gently. (141)

As the weary day wears on, Ahmed begins to hallucinate; he is in a dangerously dehydrated state of extreme exhaustion. “He saw the sun now as a big tent providing him shade and shelter.” Ominously – but without Ahmed apparently registering it as a bad portent – “the freshly stripped cadaver of a nomad who had been claimed by the desert”, an earlier traveller’s corpse, lies on a dune nearby, vultures having feasted on it. Ahmed even “enjoy[s]” the smell of the victim’s decomposed flesh! It “remind[s] him, ironically, of life” (144), of his having escaped the cannibals. But soon the predatory birds start attacking Ahmed, too, to strange effect. He fends them off, but when one of them nips off his ear, he gets a taste of his own blood and is by some crude, deep instinct reminded that if he does not take sustenance of whatever kind is available, he will die. He chases off the foul birds, and then himself takes a bite of the dead man’s flesh! He takes three quick bites before a strong sense of guilt strikes him. Although this is a mortal sin under normal circumstances, Islamic law is flexible when life is at stake – as it undoubtedly is here. The small amount of unusual food gives Ahmed at least sufficient strength to stand up again. He knows the end is drawing near, but he wants to be as far as possible from the corpse when death strikes him, too. He cannot burden Laamesh with his weight, as the camel is itself weak with hunger and thirst, so Ahmed ties the camel’s tether to his own body, setting off and walking on for several hours until he can go no further. He accepts death’s coming to him, but does not want to be awake when it overtakes him. When he spots a lone tree ahead, he stumbles towards it. The tree provides a small spot of shade, in which Ahmed lies down, using his turban as a makeshift cushion for his head and drawing the end of the cloth over his face. He does not so much fall asleep as pass out, losing consciousness. Laamesh at least gets to feed on some of the tree’s minimal foliage, remaining by his master’s side.

In the dream that floats through the unconscious Ahmed’s head, he is reduced to babyhood, and is in the presence of his (actually long since dead) grandfather. He is terrifically thirsty, and the old man understands this, but knows that it would be dangerous to allow the apparently dehydrated child to drink a great deal at once; what he does is to put the tip of his leather belt into his water container, inserting it subsequently into the child’s mouth to release only a few drops at a time. Gradually, Ahmed’s sensations return to him; he can hear a number of people conversing nearby, but does not understand their language. Nevertheless, “the music and pace of their speech was the same as back home, and he could pick up one word and then another”. Ahmed can hear tea being poured, cries of children playing, the call to prayer, as well as “the grumbling of camels and mooing of cows” (151) – all indicators of civilised pastoral society as he knows it. A little girl brings him tea, which so revives him that he feels fully recovered from his ordeal and sees that he is in a lush canyon, with the signs of prosperous life all about him. He sees that a muscular man wearing a blue turban is sitting next to him, but he has to try several languages before he can make the man understand that he is asking him about his camel’s whereabouts; “a version of Tuareg closely related to Zenaga” (152) eventually seems to work, for the little girl is called to be his guide and she leads him to Laamesh – contentedly grazing on an acacia with fresh green leaves. Next, the girl takes him to the shack inhabited by the small seminomadic settlement’s leader. “The imam didn’t smile, but he had a very friendly face” and is reading from a holy book while softly singing; Ahmed is glad to be in his company (155). As this man introduces himself, Ahmed deduces by the name that he is in a Tuareg settlement – in his own Bedouin culture, it is his middle name, “Ould”, that signifies his Bedouin heritage. The imam next tells Ahmed the story of how he was found, and so saved.

The settlement’s people had sent out a salt caravan, when they came across an apparently dead man “under a tree in far Morocco, half-buried by the wind”. They dug a grave for him, washed his body and said the appropriate prayers, but as Ahmed was being lowered into the grave, one man thought he heard him faintly breathing. They decided to put the question to the test by untethering Laamesh (evidently the “dead” man’s camel), but instead of going off, the camel “knelt by the grave with his head toward Mecca” – taken as a clear sign that Ahmed was still alive. They sprinkled water over his face and so revived him. The sheikh adds: “that was not the only way your camel saved your life” – he explains to Ahmed that the men of the caravan found him in the first place only because they had heard Laamesh’s “growls”, and saw the prone man when they went to investigate (156). Although Ahmed requests a meeting with the man who found him, the imam says he is someone so spiritual that he is unwilling to accept grateful praise. He does, however, ask what the point of Ahmed’s quest is, and when Ahmed tells him about Zarga, he invites him to walk with him to the settlement’s own herd, where he asks Ahmed teasingly, pointing to her: “Do you know that blessed camel?” (160) – for he knows something of her noble ancestry and about Ahmed’s honourable tribe. The Tuareg salt expedition’s members bought her when a man at Beer Sahel (where they loaded their salt) offered her to them “for a good price”. They intended to slaughter the camel as sustenance for the group’s arduous return journey, before deciding that she was too fine a creature to be used in this way. Ahmed expresses heartfelt thanks and, of course, offers to buy Zarga back, even though their allowing him to do so would itself be another favour to him. However, the imam refuses; they will simply let Ahmed have his camel back. For, the gracious man explains, Allah “bestowed upon us a great blessing in our small oasis, and Allah forbid we indulge ourselves in the sin of greed by asking [payment for] what is not ours” (160). He insists that Ahmed spend the night with him in his hut. The next day, he is given an ample but simple breakfast, and “for his trip home, the imam gave him a small sack of dates, a sack of salt, and a kilo of the finest grade of tobacco leaves” (161). What a feast this must seem to Ahmed after all his sufferings and deprivations!

Ahmed headed home, equipped with the navigational information he had been given by his host and the now-restored wiring of his nomadic brain. … The trip between Timbuktu and his people’s region of Laaguil passed safely and easily. He spent seven nights between the Tuareg camp and his home, each night with a different tribe. He was welcomed and well tended every night, and never even touched the provisions the imam had given him. (162)

Eventually, just before he at last enters his own people’s settlement, he makes a brief detour to visit his father’s grave in their family’s wind-battered graveyard. He tends the grave and, as he is about to leave, he spots a new grave nearby. The gravestone inscription indicates that it is “his” grave! When he failed to return from his quest, his grieving family assumed that he had perished in the desert. He is now one of two people in his community who have seen their own burial places – but he must rush to comfort and reassure his beloved wife and son of his survival and well-being. Unbeknown to him, someone has spotted Ahmed at the graveyard with the two camels and forewarned the family, so that, as he enters the home environment, he is saluted with a famous welcoming song performed in his honour by the settlement’s female singer. “And so Ahmed arrived home a hero.” For some time, a few people are awkward around him and even a little suspicious of Ahmed, but before long it all settles back into the old rhythms. His innate modesty takes the sting from others’ envy of his fame. Ahmed and his wife even (initially) feel “strange before one another …. But love is love,” and they soon overcome this. As Ahmed steps outside the tent on his first night home, “the clear sky seemed bluer and wider than ever, except in the east, where the setting sun was painting beautiful colors on an ominous bank of clouds”, while “across the camp, another round of singing was slowly dying” (165). Thus the saga is fittingly concluded. Slahi’s engrossing and beautifully wrought narrative treats his characters – human and animal – with moving empathy, profound respect and deep insight.

The post African Library entry: <em>The actual true story of Ahmed & Zarga</em> by Mohamedou Ould Slahi appeared first on LitNet.

Moscow (by azazelok | Pixabay)

...

In his mind, Vladimir Putin is no longer just the president of Russia; he’s a historical figure with a unique mission. He sees himself as the leader of the only country in the world that can oppose the expansion of NATO and the spread of the “vile” Western values that could be a threat to the authoritarian Russian regime.

...

For me, Kyiv will forever remain one of the sunniest places on earth. Back in the ’90’s, when I was about eight years old, I went there with a friend of mine who’s half Ukrainian. We spent about a month in the beautiful Kyiv, accompanied by our grandmas. We were exploring the streets in the city centre, visiting churches and cathedrals, learning the history of the Kyivan Rus’. Running down the Andrew’s Descent while checking out the goods of the local artisans, taking the metro to get to the river beach, playing on the swings, splashing in the fountains – these are my brightest memories from that summer. I felt welcome and excited to get to know that amazing city with its unique history. I had fun learning the Ukrainian words that were so similar to Russian ones, yet had completely different meanings. Back in those days I truly believed I had the connection with the Motherland of the modern Russian civilisation. Last and maybe the least (since I’m not particularly religious), I was even baptised not far from Kyiv and, thus, also have a spiritual connection with Ukraine.

...

For at least the past 14 years, since 2008, when Putin was temporarily replaced as president by his pawn Dmitry Medvedev, we’ve been observing this transition from democracy to authoritarianism, from the freedom of meetings and speech to government-controlled media and a full ban of protests.

...

Today, Kyiv is being bombed and attacked by the Russian forces. The pictures of the city suffering from the air raids, with people hiding in the metro and fleeing the capital, are a hurtful sight for me, as well as for the millions of Russians who never imagined something like this would happen. On February 24 we woke up with the terrible news: At night, Vladimir Putin announced the “special operation” in Ukraine and launched an attack into the lands of this sovereign state. The official pretext of protecting the Russians in Ukraine against the “nationalists” doesn’t have much to do with reality. In his mind, Vladimir Putin is no longer just the president of Russia; he’s a historical figure with a unique mission. He sees himself as the leader of the only country in the world that can oppose the expansion of NATO and the spread of the “vile” Western values that could be a threat to the authoritarian Russian regime.

For at least the past 14 years, since 2008, when Putin was temporarily replaced as president by his pawn Dmitry Medvedev, we’ve been observing this transition from democracy to authoritarianism, from the freedom of meetings and speech to government-controlled media and a full ban of protests under the guise of health and safety measures during the Covid pandemic. But even those of us who could always see the worst in Putin and who, like me, never voted for him or Medvedev, couldn’t believe that Putin would go as far as to start a full-blown war against Ukraine. The annexing of the DNR (Donetsk People's Republic) and LNR (Luhansk People's Republic) after the recognition of their independence … most likely. But not a real war. Not in the shape it’s taking now.

As long as the internet works (there are some rumours that the access to foreign media, as well as Google, might be blocked) we can see the posts and shocking videos from Ukraine. We can call our friends and relatives to get an update, to make sure they’re still safe. We can spread the news, share and repost, protest on the streets with the high risk of being arrested. But as long as we remain Russian citizens, what we worry about most is, as selfish as it may sound, our own security and the well-being of our families and friends here, in Russia, as things are getting pretty dark for us, too. I must underline that the inconveniences we’re experiencing right now can’t be compared with what the Ukrainians are going through. However, for the purpose of this piece, while sharing endless sympathy with those who are suffering under the attacks, I’ll focus on Russia and my personal fears and concerns.

...

Here’s a quite realistic scenario of the near future that terrifies me. The SWIFT system is off, the banks don’t have any money, the ruble goes bankrupt, the inflation grows. No foreign businesses are possible. Crazy mortgage rates, insane fuel prices, no foreign cars, stagnation. We can’t travel anywhere because the sky is closed and the leased-out airplanes are taken away. Neither can we welcome our friends and loved ones from abroad. As I’m in a long-distance relationship with someone living in the UK, the latter is just as painful.

...

All the public talks and podcasts in Russia, all the conversations with friends and family, come down to just a few topics: Will the metro be a safe place to hide in case Moscow is bombed by NATO? Is it the right time to withdraw all cash from our bank accounts? Is it too late to buy US dollars and sell the stocks? Will our young male family members be mobilised and sent to war, most of them against their will? Will the government start mass repression of its own citizens, those who dare to speak up? What will happen to the ruble? What are the short- and long-term consequences for our economy? How can we stop stressing, at least for a bit, knowing there’s not much we can change right now? Is it the right time to emigrate, or is it too late?

Right now, the worst thing is that we don’t know the answers to any of these questions. It’s enough to turn on the TV just for 10 minutes to get an idea of the official state argument: We’re going to keep fighting the “nationalists” until we’re guaranteed by the US that NATO isn’t going to expand to the east, and that the DNR and LNR are recognised. On top of that, more demands and threats. It seems that even this won’t be enough for Putin anymore. What in the world can stop him? Is there even such a force?

For my generation this is the worst time in our lives. Being born right before or straight after the collapse of the USSR, we used to think we were lucky to avoid living in the closed-off country with an economy that fully depended on state planning. Well, right now it seems that this is exactly what awaits us. Here’s a quite realistic scenario of the near future that terrifies me. The SWIFT system is off, the banks don’t have any money, the ruble goes bankrupt, the inflation grows. No foreign businesses are possible. Crazy mortgage rates, insane fuel prices, no foreign cars, stagnation. We can’t travel anywhere because the sky is closed and the leased-out airplanes are taken away. Neither can we welcome our friends and loved ones from abroad. As I’m in a long-distance relationship with someone living in the UK, the latter is just as painful. However, it’s only a small addition to the overall picture of depression, fear and despair that will probably prevail in the society in this scenario. I understand why the Western countries are introducing their sanctions, but they’re only going to make the Russians suffer. They’re not going to stop Putin – he’s beyond the point of no return. He’s determined to make for himself a place in modern history, and doesn’t seem to care about anything else. History is written by the winners, and he believes that he will win.

I hear more and more talks of running away, emigrating and leaving Russia behind. I’m thinking about this myself, but I’m not sure that Russians will be welcomed anywhere any time soon. Still, I will keep trying. The threat of a nuclear response to any careless actions of the West voiced by Putin just a few hours before I started writing this article, seems to be clear enough. If one person pushes the button, the whole world will suffer, and there will be no way back. We live in fear of a nuclear attack, of bombing, of hunger and poverty. We’re the hostages of our own state, and the most of us won’t escape until our torturer is gone. I’m not asking for empathy from those who believe we’ve deserved it. I’m asking for at least some understanding – no one expected that things would come to this. Not even those of my friends who until just recently believed no one else can replace Putin, and voted for him.

Of course, the internet is still full of bots. They praise Putin and blame everyone else; they curse and laugh at our fears and concerns. But right now, it becomes very easy to tell between them and the real people who are simply afraid. The real people have emotions. Bots can only troll.

Then there are those who still believe in a sacred war for Russia, our mission. But even those who sounded so optimistic and proud 24 February seem to have calmed down a little bit. Maybe they’re thinking. Maybe they’re slowly realising that the war started by one delusional old man is not the solution.

Just last week, before the war, my boyfriend and I were planning to spend a week together in Dubai. Now this seems highly unrealistic. We can only live in today, we can’t plan anymore. We can follow the news, try to stay connected with friends and family, make some money-saving decisions, work, and mentally keep preparing for worse. And, of course, protest. Sign petitions against the war (there is one is available at change.org). Support those who need us. And hope, despite everything, for a brighter and not-so-distant future without war and dictatorship in Europe.

See also:

Putin’s invasion and the failure of peace

Die Rusland-Oekraïne-konflik: die geskiedenis en Poetin se wêreldbeskouing

Van Rusland, met liefde?

Oekraïne: Die storie kom van ver af

Listen also:

Eben Viktor berig uit Oekraïne (27 Februarie 2022 om 15:43)

Eben Viktor berig uit Oekraïne (27 Februarie 2022 om 09:15)

Eben Viktor berig uit Oekraïne (25 Februarie 2022 om 21:35)

Reguit met Robinson: ’n videogesprek met Leopold Scholtz

The post Russians: Hostages of our own state appeared first on LitNet.

Berigte te velde: Hoe hanteer gewone burgers die oorlog in Oekraïne? En waarom word kodewoorde gevra op straat? Eben Viktor berig uit Oekraïne.

Luister ook:

Eben Viktor berig uit Oekraïne (27 Februarie 2022 om 15:43)

Eben Viktor berig uit Oekraïne (27 Februarie 2022 om 09:15)

Eben Viktor berig uit Oekraïne (25 Februarie 2022 om 21:35)

Reguit met Robinson: ’n videogesprek met Leopold Scholtz

Lees ook:

Russians: Hostages of our own state

Oekraïne: Die storie kom van ver af

Die Rusland-Oekraïne-konflik: die geskiedenis en Poetin se wêreldbeskouing

Putin’s invasion and the failure of peace

Van Rusland, met liefde?

The post Eben Viktor berig uit Oekraïne (28 Februarie 2022 om 17:52) appeared first on LitNet.

PEN Afrikaans and PEN Ukraine are both part of PEN International. PEN Afrikaans hereby shares important information from our fellow PEN centre to combat the disinformation and propaganda prevalent on the social media.

PEN Ukraine appeals to international PEN centres and fellow writers, journalists and intellectuals.

We share information about the current situation in Ukraine and share official sources, media and accounts on Twitter, whose information can be trusted.

You can follow the updates on sources that we recommend.

Now it is important to tell the truth about the Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and appeal for support of parliaments and governments in the world.

What is going on?

• Russia attacked Ukraine on the morning of February 24. Rockets were fired onto several military facilities and airfields. Dozens of civilians were also killed in residential buildings and civilian buildings. At the same time military equipment entered Ukrainian territory from Russia, Belarus and the previously occupied territories of Ukraine – parts of Luhansk and Crimea.
• The Ukrainian army repulses the aggressor. Ukrainian society is more united than ever, helping the army and supporting people forced to flee the war zone. Now the Russian regime is shelling Kyiv, Kharkiv, Sumy, Kherson and other Ukrainian settlements. Among the facilities seized by the Russian army is the infamous Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

What can you do for Ukraine right now?

To demand that Western leaders like German Chancellor Scholz, French President Macron, US President Biden, and British Prime Minister Johnson:

• Cut off Russia from SWIFT;
• Protect Ukrainian airspace;
• Send NATO troops to Ukraine.

Why is this important?

• By cutting off Russia from SWIFT, we significantly weaken the enemy.
• By "closing" the airspace over Ukraine, ie ensuring its security, the West is drastically changing the balance of power in Ukraine. At the moment, Ukrainian soldiers are winning on land but losing in the air.
• By sending a NATO military contingent to Ukraine, there is a chance to end the war. The only language Putin understands is POWER!

Official websites where you can find fair information about the situation in Ukraine:

• Official website of the President of Ukraine (in English) https://www.president.gov.ua/en
• Minister of Defence of Ukraine (in English) https://www.mil.gov.ua/en/
• Armed Forces of Ukraine https://www.zsu.gov.ua/en

You can check the information and learn about common fakes and manipulations that Russia throws into the information space of Ukraine on the websites of fact-checking organizations:

• Vox Ukraine (in English) https://voxukraine.org/en/
• StopFake (in English, Russian, Spanish, German, French and other) https://www.stopfake.org/ru/glavnaya-2/
• Detector Media (in Ukrainian) https://detector.media/
• The National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (in English) https://www.rnbo.gov.ua/en/
• Joint Forces Operation (in Ukrainian) https://www.facebook.com/pressjfo.news
• Official site of the ArmyInform news agency (in Ukrainian) https://armyinform.com.ua/
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• The Kyiv Independent (in English) https://kyivindependent.com/
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• Volodymyr Zelenskyy https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa
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Opsomming

Antjie Krog se digbundel Verweerskrif (2006a) stel opnuut die vraagstuk van veroudering, liggaamlike aftakeling en die besef van verganklikheid, sterwe en dood aan die orde.¹ Die besef van sterwe en dood laat beslis ’n wond in die brose “siel” van die sinsoekende mens. Verwonding verwys na die verlies aan liggaamlike vermoëns binne die aftakelingsproses van veroudering en die besef van eindigheid en onafwendbare stoflikheid. Maar is die liggaam bloot stof en die dood aaklig? ’n Alternatief is om die vraagstuk van veroudering, liggaamlike aftakeling, sterwe en dood vanuit ’n spiritueel meta-fisiese hoek te benader ‒ die méér van transendentale verbeelding (désir métaphysique). Antropologies gesproke is die mens dan nie bloot homo ludens (die spelende mens) nie, maar ten diepste homo transcendentalis (die verwonderende, selfoorstygende mens). Die vraag duik dan op of, in die woorde van N.P. Van Wyk Louw, die dood ook “mooi” kan wees. Indien die mens nie inherent ’n “onsterflike siel” besit nie, hoe moet daar dan teologies en vanuit ’n Christelik-eskatologiese perspektief oor die estetika van sterwe, dood en die uiteindelike graf nagedink word? Die basiese stelling is dat die metafoor van saad, en die korrelasie tussen sterwe en ontkieming, nuwe perspektiewe open vir ’n doksologie oor “die oop graf”. Stof en kosmos word dan estetiese elemente van ’n opstandingshoop ‒ die sogenaamde “pneumatiese liggaam” (πνευματικόν/pneumatikon).In dié verband bied Dostojefski se siening van ’n dodekamer as bruilofskamer (Joh. 2:1), en Michelangelo Buonarroti se soeke na “siel” in die gebeitelde volmaaktheid van die menslike liggaam asook die estetika van beskilderde, harmonieuse lyflikheid ten spyte van aftakelende veroudering, ’n verhelderende, hermeneutiese perspektief om “mooi” teologies te herinterpreteer. Vandaar die spirituele estetika van liggaamlike verwonding as die wonder-baarlike ontkiemingsproses van ’n “onsterflike siel”.

Trefwoorde: homo transcendentalis; liggaamlike aftakeling; mooi van die dood; opstandingsteologie; pneumatiese liggaam; spirituele estetika van dood en graf; veroudering

Abstract

Wonderment despite woundedness. Being encapsulated between a sense of mortality and the germination of immortality ‒ reframing ageing, dying, death and entombment within the spiritual aesthetics of a pneumatic body

In the publication Body Bereft (2006b), Antjie Krog uncovers her battle with ageing, the degeneration of the body and the dehumanizing awareness that she is no longer in control of her body within the very demeaning awareness of mortality, dying and death. The overwhelming realization of dying and death imprints scars of woundedness in the very essence of one’s “soul” due to an acute realization of vulnerability and limitation. Being frail and growing old cause inflictions to our capacity to find meaning in life. The following intriguing question surfaces: But is the degeneration of the body merely about the dust of death and, therefore, a horrifying, fearsome and ugly prospective? To approach dying and death from a more meta-physical perspective (désir métaphysique), i.e., from a spiritual angle, opens up new options regarding an aesthetics of dying and death. In this sense, dying and death can also become an aesthetic yearning: Come o beautiful death! (J.S. Bach cantata). Taking into consideration that a human being does not possess an “immortal soul”, how can the option of a Christian and eschatological view on dying and death contribute to what can be called a doxology on the mortality of the grave? In the New Testament there is reference to the link between hope of resurrection and the condition of a “pneumatic body”. A very interesting perspective on an aesthetics of dying and death is offered by Dostoyevsky in his interpretation of John 2:1. His description of the death chamber of the old priest Zossima as a wedding chamber could be viewed as a hermeneutical key to a spiritual reframing of the ugliness of dying and death. Bodily degeneration could be reframed as the preparation for immortality. Thus, the importance of a doxology on dying and death due to the spiritual facticity that the “natural body” that is sown, is a prefiguration of the expected spiritual body (πνευματικόν/pneumatikon). Thus, the following anthropological proposition: Our being human is fundamentally shaped by a yearning for transcendence (homo transcendentalis) and the ontic tension between mortality and immortality. The theological argument is developed that despite bodily decay, dying and death should be approached from an eschatological perspective of wonderment ‒ a corpse as “germinable seed”. The notion that the perfect form and harmonious features of a naked human body already encapsulate the mystery of soulfulness and a metaphysical yearning for immortality, was magnificently captured and depicted by Michelangelo in his sculptures and fresco on the Last Judgment in the Sistine chapel.

Keywords: ageing; homo transcendentalis; beauty of dying and death; bodily degeneration; pneumatic body; spiritual aesthetics of dying, death and grave; theology of resurrection

1. Inleiding

Om te leef, sensitief en met integriteit, asook hoopvol te leef, is nie ’n gelykpad nie. Mens skommel op die gruispad van daaglikse lewensoriëntasie tussen sinvolheid en die besef van grense, verlies, prysgee, sterwe en dood. Die enigste absolute feit is: Ek gaan sterf. Ek bestaan onontkombaar as syn tot die dood (Heidegger 1968). Menswees word gemaal tussen die paradoks van gerigte vooruitgang en beperkende, lydingsvolle eindigheid. Die besef van uitsigloosheid, die worsteling met verlies en mortaliteit, laat jou voel of jy saam met Jeremia wil klaag: Die lewe word galbitter en ek voel of ek net gruisklippertjies kou (Klaagl. 3:15‒6).

Die besef van sterwe en dood skep ’n diepe bestaansangs. “The angst of facing mortality has no remedy in probability” (Kalanithi 2017:135). Hierdie eksistensiële ervaring ontketen ’n “siels-worsteling” en gee aanleiding tot ’n soort van ontiese toestand van vertwyfeling. Laasgenoemde is op ’n eiesoortige wyse deur Søren Kierkegaard in twee publikasies geartikuleer: Fear and Trembling. The Sickness unto Death (1954) en The Concept of Dread (1967). Toevallig beteken Kierkegaard in Deens dan ook “die ruimte rondom die kerk”, soos byvoorbeeld ’n kerkhof. Volgens Kierkegaard hang verwonding saam met ’n kosmiese blootstelling aan brute niksheid wat uiteindelik aanleiding gee tot die ontiese feitelikheid van vertwyfeling. Dit kan selfs aanleiding gee tot bestaanswoede en uiteindelike eksistensiële walging (nausea) ‒ ’n soort van nihilistiese lewensingesteldheid (Sartre 1943). Verganklikheid is in hierdie sin ’n noodwendige, selfs noodsaaklike noodlottigheid wat alle lewende organismes bedreig. In die woorde van Singer (1994:111): “Life is a terminal disease, sexually transmitted!” Maar dan stol die vraag na die sin van lewe voor die verskrikking van sterwe: “One dies and it’s all over. One dies and either finds out about everything or ceases asking. But dying, too, was dreadful” (Tolstoy 1978:407).

1.1 Bestaan binne die knyptang van ’n “siel”-dodende paradoks: sterflikheid ‒ onsterflikheid

’n Integrale deel van menswees en ons daaglikse oriëntasie in die werklikheid is die faktor van teenoorgesteldes: geboorte en dood; ontwikkeling en agteruitgang; groei en sterwe (mortaliteit). Verwonding is daarom ingebed binne ’n fundamentele bestaansparadoks: die soeke na onsterflikheid (permanensiehartstog) te midde van die werklikheid van verganklikheid (veroudering, verlies, disintegrasie en lyding). Só byvoorbeeld argumenteer Sokrates dat teenoorgesteldes nodig is vir die skepping van iets nuuts of iets anders. Lewe en dood vorm die paradoks vir ’n knaende worsteling om sinontsluiting. Singewing en sinneming is ingebed binne ’n besef van eindigheid wat tegelykertyd ook ’n sug na onsterflikheid veronderstel.² Daarom dat Phaedo, in sy weergawe van Sokrates se selfdood, die stelling maak dat Sokrates bestem was om die gifbeker te drink want die doel van die filosofiese lewe is om die siel te bevry van die tydelike behoeftes van die liggaam ten einde onsterflikheid te verwerf (Conolly 2021). By Plato was daar dan die oortuiging dat die siel tot die sfeer van die immateriële, onsigbare en onsterflike behoort.³ Vandaar sy dualistiese siening oor die “onsterflikheid van die siel” sodat die dood die mens verlos van die kerker van liggaamlikheid (Frede 1978:27).

1.2 Die ironie van ’n tragiese metafisika: verwondering ingebed binne die pyn van noodlottige verwonding

Ten spyte van die feit dat, binne die raamwerk van ’n antieke Grieks-gefundeerde antropologie, die mens soek na die uiteindelike vorm (skoonheid) binne ’n besef van teenstrydighede,⁴ word die lewe aangevreet deur noodlot (moira) en dra dit die kiem van tragiek. “Tragedy gives aesthetic form to a world palpably at odds with the world as we desire to view it” (Hall 1996:51). Volgens Heering (1964:17−20) is alle ontsnappingsroetes aan pynlike noodlot (moira) dan gebaseer op angs; selfs hoop word ’n verkapte vorm van gemanipuleerde angs met behulp van valse optimisme. “So then it is an infinite advantage to be able to despair; and yet it is not only the greatest misfortune and misery to be in despair, no, it is perdition” (Kierkegaard 1954:148).

Maar is die menslike bestaan gedoem tot tragiek met die dood as skoppensboer wat wag? Troef die dood die sin van die lewe tot absolute tevergeefsheid?

2. Die mens as homo transcendentalis: die knaende eksistensiële soeke na méér (désir métaphysique)

Ten spyte van die faktor van tragiek (moira) en die menslike, desperate soeke na sin binne ’n komplekse spinnerak van noodlottige lewensparadokse, gaan dit ook in die tragiek van verwonding om ’n soort van hartstog; na ’n vorm van estetika, gebore vanuit die soeke na die liefde; na iets wat sielsverheffend en onverganklik is. Vandaar die soeke na transendensie; die hartstog na meta-fisika, na dit wat méér is as wat jy sensories waarneem; die hunkering na die wonder van ’n sublieme ervaring; die sug na skoonheid. Vandaar die antieke siening dat kuns die verbeeldingryke soeke is na dit wat agter, binne-in die fisiese skuil.⁵

Volgens Plato, in sy The Republic (Plato 1946:98), is dit dan ook skoonheid wat die menslike siel genees. “Rather we must seek those craftsmen whose instinct guides them to whatsoever is lovely and gracious” (Plato 1946:88).

Die vraag na onsterflikheid en die hunkering na onverganklikheid behels ’n soeke na ’n vorm van lewensdinamika wat prosesse van agteruitgang só kan oorstyg en transformeer dat ander vorme van vitaliteit en bestaansfunksionering op die vlak van kreatiewe ver-beeld-ing moontlik raak ‒ die mens as homo transcendentalis. Vandaar die opmerking van die neurochirurg Kalanithi (2017:81) dat neurochirurgie, en die werk met kadawers, hom by die vraag van transendensie uitgebring het. Daar moet tog tussen breinfunksies, bewussyn en die toestand van skynbare bewusteloosheid ’n vorm van transendensie en méér-waarde van sin kan bestaan? Die mens kan tog nie net tot organe, weefsel, senuwees en spiere gereduseer word nie? (Kalanithi 2017:49).

Hierdie soeke na méér bring my dan by die volgende metafisiese vraag: Is daar ’n lewe na die dood (désir métaphysique) (Levinas 1987:31) en spatsels van wonderbare skoonheid ten spyte van verwonding en liggaamlike beperking?⁶

Of daar lewe na die dood is, weet niemand met absolute sekerheid nie. Daar bestaan ook nie ’n rasionele of logiese antwoord, of akkurate voorspellingsteorie nie. Want nóg die nihilerende posisie van “alles is tevergeefs”, nóg die Platoniese optimisme van ’n “onsterflike siel” bied troos en hoop. Die punt is, lewe is ingebed in wat Levinas noem ’n metafisiese begeerte na dit wat méér is as bloot die fisieke, die sigbaar-voorhandene, die bloot mundane beperktheid. Die soeke na sin hang saam met die sug na die sublieme en vorme van transendensie (désir métaphysique) (Levinas 1987:31; Van Rhijn 2021; Meulink-Korf 2019:207). Hierdie begeerte na “iets méér” is onlosmaaklik gekoppel aan ons soeke na vastigheid en sekuriteit, veral na skoonheid (Plato 1946:88‒98).

Dit is dan ook presies hierdie soeke na skoonheid wat ’n fundamentele dryfkrag in Michelangelo se skilderkuns en beeldhouwerk was. Hy soek dus na die estetiese binne die vorm van perfekte lyflikheid en die harmonieuse vorme van “besielende liggaamlikheid”. Om dan uiteindelik ’n perfekte, naakte liggaam uit die brute massa van marmer te voorskyn te beitel, is om die naaste te kom aan dit wat mens “siel” kan noem. Daarom is sy beelde uiterlike vorme van “be-siel-de spiritualiteit”. Sy kuns is ten diepste ’n stryd tussen ekstase en verwonding met die altyd pynlike vraag: Het ek geslaag? (Schoeman 2009:687−727), ’n vraag wat hom uiteindelik aan die einde van sy lewe tot die verwonding van melankolie gedryf het. In van sy laaste briewe merk hy soos volg op: “Ek is ’n ou man en die dood het my van die drome van my jeug beroof … Oud, doof, blind, en onbekwaam van hande en liggaam; jou Michelangelo Buonarroti in Rome” (Schoeman 2009:723).

Within the beauty, at its very heart, Michelangelo’s mind is revealed and laid bare, the dominating affirmation of an intense personality, a spiritually wholly taken up with the vision of mankind as heroic and at the same time tragic; this vision sometimes expresses itself in a powerful reaction, sometimes in sorrowful melancholy, or in the deep sadness of someone overwhelmed by grief (Giuisti Di Becocci Nova LVX:5).

Kalanithi (2017), wat as medikus betrokke was by die disseksie van kadawers, stel die volgende antropologiese vraag: Is dit net ’n kadawer? Wat van die menswaardigheid van ’n “lyk”? Dit bring ons voorts by die verdere estetiese en spirituele vraag rondom sterwe en dood: “What makes human life meaningful in the face of death and decay?” (Kanalithi 2017:42).

3. Die misterie van verwondering: Kan sterwe en dood inderdaad “mooi” wees?

As mens vanuit ’n aftakelings- en verganklikheidsperspektief na die feit van verganklikheid kyk, blyk dit dat sterwe en dood slegs verskrikking bring en inderdaad aaklig is.

Met die onlangse staatsbegrafnis van oudpresident F.W. de Klerk op Sondag 12 November 2021, is daar tydens die uitsending van die diens oor die televisie melding gemaak dat kort voor sy heengaan aan hom die vraag gestel is oor hoe hy voel oor die onafwendbaarheid van sy naderende dood. Sy merkwaardige antwoord aan sy pastor was: “I approach death with wonderment”. Die ingesteldheid van verwondering val saam met daardie metafisiese sug na méér, na transendensie (désir métaphysique). Dit spreek van ’n besef van die sublieme en die onontwykbare hunkering na ’n vorm van onsterflikheid verpak in die estetiese taal van “mooi”: verwondering oor die misterie van die dood ten spyte van die verwonding van sterwe en die verskrikking van doodsangs.

Op ’n heel eiesoortige wyse word die worsteling met verganklikheid in die bundel opstelle met die titel Wreed én mooi is die dood. Verhale oor verlies, hunkering en heling aan die orde gestel (Wiese 2019). In sy opstel: “Mooi is die lewe en die dood is mooi”, sluit Wilhelm Jordaan (2019:34‒44) aan by Van Wyk Louw se gedig Nog in my laaste woorde. Mooi beteken dan dat die dood mens noop tot ’n poëtiese selfspraak waarin die twee lewensgroothede, Liefde en Skoonheid, voor jou opdoem en waarvan jy moet afskeid neem. Mooi is dan die estetiese omarming en aanvaarding van ’n misterie binne ’n hunkerende besef van ’n andersoortige werklikheid, gedra deur die gedagte “… dat alles wat is, uit die nágloed van ’n kosmiese ontstaansoomblik kom en ’n plek, skoonheid, orde en bestemdheid het” (Jordaan 2019:36).

In haar boek Spertyd (2017) worstel Elsa Joubert ook met die metafisika van méér (désir métaphysique). Sy beskryf dit as ’n soeke na “U”; dit behels ’n soeke na krag wat saamhang met die ontdekking “… dat daar ’n magtige drang in my tot U is” (2017:195). Dat “U” ook ’n behoefte het aan haar soekende aanhanklikheid, terwyl sy weet dat die benouende besef van veroudering en die naderende dood inderdaad alles tot stofdeeltjies reduseer (Joubert 2017:200). Maar dan besef sy dat dood en sterwe tog ook “mooi” kan wees: “Dan is dit vir my mooi om dood te gaan. Want ek word opgeneem in U” (Joubert 2017:195).

3.1 Is lewe bloot maar ’n solipsistiese “inwaarts” sonder die visie van “uitwaarts”?

Beteken ’n besef van verganklikheid met die bewussyn van die misterie van “mooi” bloot dat die lewensreis inwaarts gaan sonder die uitsig op ’n relasionele “uitwaarts”, of selfs ’n metafisiese “opwaarts”? Bloot ’n duiselingwekkende innerlike opgeslotenheid en totale ontiese opgeslotenheid in sigself en siel-dodende afgeslotenheid (solipsistiese monadologie)?

In die boek Die reis gaan inwaarts (Wepener 2017) word die vraagstuk van die kuns van lewe en sterwe aan die orde gestel. Hierdie inwaartse reis handel oor die worsteling van Karel Schoeman met veroudering en die feit van sterwe en dood. Bewus van liminaliteit en verganklikheid vertel Wepener in Nawoord (2017:207) hoe dat Schoeman hom herinner aan ’n ouer persoon wat jare gelede aan hom gesê het: “… dis baie mooi. ’now the journey goes inwards.’ En vroeër het jy rondgejaag en jy’t dinge nagestreef en gekoop en jy wou hê, en jy wou erkenning hê, wat ook al – en nou besef jy dit maak nie saak nie.”

Is einde die inwaartse wroeging van selfdood? “Soos ’n wagkamer waar mens die koms en vertrek van ’n vliegtuig afwag, lydsaam, geduldig, maar sonder vreugde?” (Schoeman 2017:162). Na hierdie opmerking, haal Schoeman ’n paar verse van Whitman aan: “Come lovely and soothing death / Undulate round the world, serenely arriving, arriving …” (Schoeman 2017:162).

Hierdie omhelsende sug na die dood bring ons by die vraag na die sin van ’n begrafnis en die rol van oorgangsrituele in die verwerking van doodsangs en rousmart (Wepener 2017:35‒7). Vandaar ook die titel van die boek Die reis gaan inwaarts sodat sterwe en dood mens konfronteer met die feitelikheid van liminaliteit, te wete op-weg-wees as iets eiendomlik aan liminaliteit en oorgangsrituele wat ander perspektiewe oor sterwe en dood oopmaak (Wepener 2017:35). Kan ’n ritueel soos die aanskoue van ’n lyk, en die bêre van ’n kis in die grond (selfs die strooi van as) onder die tradisionele formule “stof is die mens en tot stof sal jy terugkeer” óók ’n estetiese belewing⁷ van “mooi” wees?

4. Verskeie perspektiewe op die eksistensiële worsteling met veroudering, verganklikheid en sterflikheid: net maar stof of ook “be-siel”?

Die vraagstuk van onverganklikheid en onsterflikheid kan genoem word die onopgeloste raaisel en geheim van menswees. Daar bestaan geen logiese antwoord op hierdie vraag nie. Daar bestaan wel verskeie perspektiewe wat veral die interaktiewe, sistemiese verband van siel ‒ gees ‒ liggaam (Van Peursen 1961), asook ons soeke na sin, raak.

4.1 Homo aestheticus: die spelende en fantaserende mens

As homo aestheticus is die mens ’n spelende mens: homo ludens. Harvey Cox (1969:11) voeg hier by: “Man is homo festivus and fantasia homo”. Oor speelsheid as kunsvorm, en skepping as ’n kosmiese lied, merk Dag Hammarskjöld (1993:77) soos volg op: “A landscape can sing about God, a body about spirit”.

Binne die meer antieke tradisie is die liggaam nie as bloot verganklike stof (materie) beskou nie, maar as simbool van die spiritualiteit van lewegewende be-sieling. Die vorm en gestalte van die menslike liggaam verteenwoordig jeugdige skoonheid, vitaliteit en krag. Dit word beskou as ’n waarde in sigself: die aristokrasie van menswaardige, selfverheffende “goddelikheid” (Erez 2012:3); ’n soort van elite self-identiteit omgeef deur die transenderende ruimte van verwondering. Liggaamlikheid beteken dan om gegryp te wees deur poëtiese ekstase, inspirerende verwondering, permanensiehartstog en oomblikke van selfoorstygende “gees”. Nietzsche merk oor hierdie poëtiese inspirasie soos volg op: “One is seized by an ecstasy” (Nietzsche 1966:20). Ekstasis in Grieks beteken dan ook om buite ’n gewone staat of toestand te verkeer; ’n soort van transenderende “out-of-body experience” wat anders kyk en beleef (Pentcheva 2010:37).

4.2 Sublimiteit: ekstatiese verwondering binne die bipolêre spanningslyn van lig ‒ skaduwee

Die Latynse oorsprong van die konsep subliem verwys na dit wat kan ophef, verhef, hoog opneem. Sublimiteit besit die kwaliteit van ’n soort majestueuse grootsheid anderkant die grense van die fisiese; dit beskryf ’n metafisiese ervaring van spirituele grootsheid wat die vermoë besit om te kan waarneem en só te kan begryp dat tydelikheid en eindigheid, binne die kreatiwiteit van verbeeldingskrag, oorstyg en oorrompel kan word. Dit is dan juis hier waar die verband tussen die kunste en die ervaring van sublimiteit na vore tree. Want die sublieme boesem ontsag in sodat dit wat jy vrees jou tegelykertyd nadertrek en bring tot die ekstase van verwondering. Die sublieme kan selfs beskryf word as die antitese van bipolêre spanningspunte: ontsag ‒ pyn; verwondering ‒ begrensing; volgens Edmund Burke: ’n negatiewe pyn van opwinding (Eco 2004:290‒3).

’n Mens kan die volgende definisie waag: “To be temporarily overwhelmed by awe (beauty) within the paradox of light and darkness; it seems as if darkness contradicts light, yet awe creates an awareness of something greater, a kind of intimation of something more; something that is indeed magnificent (beautiful) despite the threat of horror” (Louw 2014:154−5).

Die “negatiewe pyn van opwinding” kan lei tot óf ’n sug na dood en sterwe, óf ’n houding van sorgelose fatalisme en roekelose plesier want môre sterwe ons tog, óf transenderende opwinding wat uitstrek na lig! Van die omstanders by Sokrates se “selfdood”, terwyl hy begin om die gifbeker te drink, het geweier om saam te drink want hulle wou eers weer van die plesiertjies van die lewe geniet, veral seksuele plesier en ’n sorgelose oorgawe aan die oomblik se genot. Die sublieme wek nie net ontsag nie maar soek ook na oomblikke van ontspannende “lekker”.

4.3 ’n Slukkie koffie vóór die sug na die skoonheid van die dood – die meta-fisika van “lekker”?

Johann Sebastiaan Bach was bekend vir sy besadigde en sielsverheffende kantates. Tog het hy in oomblikke van “menslike swakheid” liewer ’n koppie koffie gekies al was daar selfs die hunkering na die dood wat mens van die pyn van hartseer kon verlos!

Hy komponeer sy kantate Kom o skone dood in Weimar vir die sestiende Sondag na Triniteit; waarskynlik op die 27ste September 1716. Die kantate verwys na Efesiërs 3:13−21 waarin daar versugting is na “liefde wat ons verstand te bowe gaan” asook na ’n goddelike ingryping om meer te doen as bid of dink. Tog bly die luike van transendensie wasig soos ’n spieël in ’n raaisel sodat in alle vorme van empiriese ervaring, daar altyd ’n blindevlek op die retina van elke dag se kyk verskyn.

Die raaiselagtigheid en misterie van menswees word egter soms omseil deur die metafisiese sug na iets lekkers; iets wat die moenies van elke dag kan pypkan, al grens dit aan iets stouts wat selfs “boos” mag wees. So byvoorbeeld is daar in piëtistekringe in die 18de eeu geglo dat koffie, omdat dit verbind is met Turkye, boos was (Greenlee 2017). Selfs Bach was versigtig vir die “spirituele vergiftiging” van koffie en skryf in 1730 sy sogenaamde Koffiekantate in Leipzig (Bach 2022: Coffee cantata).⁸ In een van die strofes is daar dan die dringende versoek dat die omstanders met al hul gebabbel sal ophou en dat hulle vir ’n oomblik sal stil bly (“Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht”; Bach 2022 BWV 211, [a], Wikipedia). Die erns moet vir ’n oomblik deur die lekkerte van ’n koppie koffie onderbreek word. Te midde van die geklink van bierglase en dronk stemme, berispe ’n sopraanstem (Lieschen) die vader: “Father, sir, don’t be so harsh. If I couldn’t three times a day, be allowed to drink my little cup of coffee, in my anguish, I will turn into a shrivelled-up roast goat. ... Ah! How sweet coffee tastes, more delicious than a thousand kisses, milder than muscatel wine” (Greenlee 2017).⁹

Figuur 1. ’n Koffiedrink-partytjie in die tuin met van die kinders. Skildery deur Nicolas Lancet. Die ruimte wat die figure skep is soos ’n intieme oomblik van baie lekker ‒ metafisika van homo ludens!

(Lancet, N. 2017. Coffee party in garden; https://fineartamerica.com/featured/2-a-lady-in-a-garden-taking-coffee-with-some-children-nicolas-lancret.html; afbeelding gebruik vir niewinsgewende, opvoedkundige doeleindes om die openbare diskoers aan te moedig, ingevolge die webwerf se terme en voorwaardes – 6 Desember 2021 geraadpleeg).

Die plesier van koffie en die ligte oomblik van luim en plesier is wel deel van die ligkant van sublimiteit. Ongelukkig pypkan dit nie die skaduwee van verganklikheid nie. In sy boek De Kleine Johannes beskryf Frederik van Eden (1961) hierdie skaduweekant, naas die ligkant van Windekind (verwonderende soeke van verbeelding), die skaduweekant van die altyd teenwoordige dood: Hein. Uiteindelik steek Hein dan sy hand uit na die bejaarde Kleine Johannes terwyl die horlosie in die gang stil raak. Antropologies gesproke is menslike bestaan wel in die woorde van Martin Heidegger ’n syn tot sterflikheid.

4.4 Be-jaarde jare: die blaar-broos, bruin-rooi van die vlees

Die herfs kom onvermydelik, so ook veroudering en die dood. Ek het hierdie besef van eindigheid en aardse broosheid binne die eksistensiële worsteling met die vraag van onsterflikheid in die volgende gedig probeer verwoord:

Bolandherfs: Blaar-broos / Val liggies grondwaarts / Vir oulaas / Troetel oumens vrees / aards-mooi / in bruin-rooi van die vlees / word lig genoeg vir die wees / van onsterflik gees?

Sterflikheid kan mens sien en empiries waarneem. Van onsterflikheid kan jy droom, daaroor bespiegel, met metafore soos ’n “vaderhuis met baie wonings” daaroor wonder, of selfs antisiperend bely: Ek glo in ’n “ewige lewe” en die opstanding van die “vlees”. Tog ontglip die werklikheid van ’n “onsterflike siel” alle vorme van konseptualisering. Nogtans soek skrywers en digters na beelde en simbole om aan hierdie gevoel van bedreigende eindigheid te ontsnap en aftakelende werklikheid te verwoord.

4.5 Walging: soos ’n wurm binne-in ’n vrot appel?

In L’Être et le Néante (1943) (Being and Nothingness 1968), worstel Jean-Paul Sartre met die besef van die walgende niksheid van bestaan. Verganklikheid lê opgekrul in die ontiese kern van menswees. Daarom lê die werklikheid van verganklikheid en sterflikheid opgekrul soos ’n wurm wat liggaamlikheid soos ’n vrot appel van binne af opvreet. “Nothingness lies coiled in the heart of being − like a worm.” (Sartre in Goodreads 2021). Die rede hiervoor is dat menslike bestaan geworpenheid is. Om te bestaan beteken dan ’n spartelende besef dat mens in die werklikheid (syn) geworpe is soos ’n stuk modder wat spat tot absolute nietigheid. Die dood vernietig alles sodat net ’n siniese glimlag in die oomblik oorbly met diep in jou binneste: walging (nausea).

4.6 Soos ’n geskroeide vlieg – tollend na benede?

Vir Eugène Marais is sy sielsworsteling met die paradoks van verganklikheid/sterflikheid en onverganklikheid/ewigheid binne die eksistensiële werklikheid van elke dag se soeke na sin: “soos ’n geskroeide vlieg wat tevergeefs om sy spil van pyn wentel” (Van der Merwe 2015:108).

Marais moes nie net veg teen substans-afhanklikheid nie, maar ook teen ’n vernietigende depressie wat alle vorme van sinervaring eksistensieel verlam het. Hy sluit aan by die volgende gedig deur Coventry Patmore: “Like a scorch’d fly, that spins in vain / Upon the axis of its pain / Then takes its doom, to limp and crawl / Blind and forgot, from fall to fall” (Van der Merwe 2015:108). Dit is duidelik dat Marais besef die soetste wyn eintlik galbitter is. Volgens aantekeninge in sy notaboek, is hy met hierdie vernietigende sinisme deur die Persiese digter Omar Khajjam beïnvloed: “Come, fill the Cup, and in the fire of Spring / Your winter-garment of repentance fling” (Van der Merwe 2015:109).

4.7 Maar net die gespartel van ’n lam vlieg: “piti-piti-“ en “ti-ti” en “piti-piti” – kaplaks?

In War and Peace (1978:1091) beskryf Tolstoy hoe die sterwende Prins Andrei in ’n halwe beswyming worstel met die werklikheid van lewe en die proses van sterwe. “At the same time he felt as though a strange, ethereal edifice of delicate needles or splinters was rising over his face” (Tolstoy 1978:1090). Die hoor van die vlieg se piti-piti- en ti-ti en piti-piti, en die dowwe geplof, laat hom sweef tussen werklikheid en ’n soort van hallusinasie oor iets vreemds wat besig is om met hom te gebeur – hy is besig om te sterf! Skielik word sy gedagtegang weer helder sodat denke en gevoel weer opborrel na die oppervlak van heldere besinning en buitengewone klaarheid. En dan besef hy: Tussen die besef van verganklikheid en die soeke na onsterflikheid is daar die eksistensiële méér van die liefde.

“Yes – love” (he reflected again, quite lucidly). “But not that love which loves for something, to gain something or because of something, but the love I knew for the first time when, dying, I saw my enemy and yet loved him. I experienced the love, which is the very essence of the soul, the love which requires no object. And I feel that blessing feeling now too” (Tolstoy 1978:1090–1).

En in sy bewuswording van hierdie “spiritualiteit van die liefde” besef prins Andrei dat, om te kan liefhê, mens die bewussyn benodig van ’n transendente, goddelike bron van liefde. “Human love may turn to hatred but divine love cannot change. Nothing, not even death, can destroy it. It is the very nature of the soul” (Tolstoy 1978:1090−1). 

4.8 Die woedende weerloosheid van “verweerskrif”?

In haar digbundel Verweerskrif verwoord Antjie Krog (2006a) haar weerstand teen die aftakelende effek van die ouderdom. Die konsep “ouma” is vir haar net “mollig” en “bollig” en eintlik ’n neerhalende aanklag teen die waardigheid van vrouwees (bashing). In die Engelse weergawe, Body Bereft (2006b), verbind sy haar weersin en weerstand teen veroudering met die intense behoefte om verbind te bly met liggaamlikheid as enigste konneksie met die aardse bestaan. Ten spyte van tekens van verweer en aftakeling, is daar die diepe pleidooi dat haar liggaam haar nie in die steek sal laat nie. Veroudering moet nie maar net sommer die menslike “ek” laat inplof nie. “I am not I, without my body only through my body can I in-habit this earth. my soul is my body entire. my body embodies what I am.” (Krog, sunday 22 june, 3/7, 2006b).

Figuur 2. Links. Buiteblad van die bundel Verweerskrif (Krog Verweerskrif se buiteblad 2021). Die figuur toon die totale liggaamlike verslaentheid en weerloosheid van ouderdom en fisieke degenerasie. Daar was noodwendig kritiek op die uitbeelding van ’n naakte verrimpelde liggaam.¹⁰ Botha (2012:362), met behulp van ’n aanhaling van Elsen (1963:63), verduidelik die betekenis van die buitebladkeuse as volg: “When an artist [...] softens the grimace of pain, the shapelessness of age, the hideousness of perversion, when he arranges nature – veiling, disguising, tempering it to please the ignorant public – then he is creating ugliness because he fears the truth.” (Verweerskrif-voorblad: Umuzi, 2011).

Figuur 3. Middel. “Vanitas” deur Gregor Erhart, Augsburg, ongeveer 1500 (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Wenen). Dit was vir my ’n verbasende ontdekking om hierdie uitbeelding deur Erhart te sien; veral die manier waarop die beeldhouwerk veroudering in kontras met die jeugdige vroulike figuur voorstel. Die uitbeelding van die verrimpelde vroulike figuur en die ooreenkoms met die buiteblad van Verweerskrif is eintlik merkwaardig (Erhart 2021).

(Afbeelding verkry op Web Gallery of Art: https://www.wga.hu/html_m/e/erhart/gregor/vanitas.html; openbare domein en beskikbaar vir gratis gebruik vir opvoedkundige doeleindes: https://www.wga.hu/support/mobile/catalog.html; 27 November 2021 geraadpleeg)

Figuur 4. Regs. Uitbeelding van die verlies, aftakeling en grense van bejaardheid. Die beeldegroep deur die beeldhouer Gustav Vigiland vertolk eksistensiële weerloosheid, onsekerheid, verwarring en broosheid. Wat staar ons as bejaardes in die gesig? Wat wag in die toekoms? Net broosheid en die uiteindelike dood? (Vigiland Park, Oslo Noorweë 2021).

(Foto: Andy van Wildplaces vir DeviantArt: https://www.deviantart.com/wildplaces/art/Vigeland-Park-sculpture-1-Oslo-Norway-827915332; verklein; 6 Desember 2021 geraadpleeg)

Krog spreek die duidelike behoefte uit om in kontak te bly met liggaamlikheid en wel op só ’n manier dat die waardigheid van die menslike ek behoue bly; asook ’n kosmiese verband met aardsheid wat sinvol is, maar ook behou kan word. Op ’n eiesoortige manier spreek die digter permanensiehartstog uit. Al drie afbeeldings hierbo bevestig die feit dat liggaamlike aftakeling ’n mens konfronteer met die feit dat niemand opgewasse is teen veroudering, sterwe en dood nie. Wesenlik is mens magteloos teenoor die disintegrasie van veroudering en die uiteindelike bewussyn van sterwe en dood. Tog stel die verrimpelde liggaam van die vrou (figuur 2) indirek die vraag: Maar is dit dan al? Is ek dan net só en uitgelewer aan die sleg van liggaamlike vernedering en disintegrasie?

Is lyding en verganklikheid en aftakeling net sleg?

Hierop antwoord Tolstoy (1978:1000): “If it were not for suffering, man ... would not know himself.”

5. Die hunkering na beliggaamde skoonheid binne die sielestryd van stoflike melankolie

In sy dissektering van die menslike liggaam, en bestudering van anatomie, besef Leonardo da Vinci dat daar onder die perfekte vorm van liggaamlikheid ’n sisteem van spiere en bene skuil wat slyteer en agteruitgaan. Vandaar sy ontbloting van die aakligheid van die ouderdom en die ineensakking van gebeente soos in die geval van borskasinsakking (pectus excavatum). Die belangstelling in liggaamlikheid word dan ’n tegniese en meganiese prosedure van disseksie – post mortem sonder enige in memoriam van liefdevolle waardering.

5.1 Die post mortem van bejaardheid/verganklikheid: anatomiese disseksie en die gevaar van prosopagnosia

Binne die mediese wetenskap is kadawerdisseksie ’n standaardprosedure. Die ontleding en bestudering van die menslike anatomie gee die mediese wetenskap toegang tot die verstaan van biologiese prosesse, fisiologiese funksionering en chemies-hormonale samestellings wat optimale gesondheid bevorder en maak dit ook moontlik om siektetoestande beter te verstaan.

In die boek When Breath Becomes Air (Paul Kanalithi 2017) word daar gewys op die mediese verleentheid wanneer jy na ’n kadawer kyk en besef dat, met die saag in jou hand, jy netnou soos ’n slagter die brein gaan oopsaag. In opleiding is die mediese advies dan ook om net een deeglike waarneming van die gesig te maak en dan die lyk met ’n laken te bedek. Die gevaar is egter dat die medikus respek vir die menswaardigheid van die afgestorwene verloor. Hierdie verlies aan sensitiwiteit en die onvermoë om die gesig en oog van die kadawer letterlik en figuurlik “in die oë te kyk”, word prosopagnosia genoem. “Prosopagnosia is a neurological disorder wherein one loses the ability to see faces” (Kanalithi 2017:46). In ’n sekere sin word die afgestorwe mens tot ’n objek van disseksie gedegradeer en “ontsiel”. Maar is dit dan nie ’n mens waarmee jy werk nie? “Even working on the dead, with their faces covered, their names a mystery, you find that their humanity pops up at you” (Kanalathi 2017:47).

In die volgende afbeeldinge kom duidelik na vore hoedat ’n disseksie van liggaamlikheid aan die een kant die wonder van die menslike fisiologie bloot lê, maar tegelykertyd ook die slytasie van biologiese funksionering en die agteruitgang wat die menslike bestaan vorentoe laat inbuig (pectus excavatum) en dan uiteindelik grafwaarts laat afbuig.

Figuur 5. Links. Leonardo da Vinci se disseksietekeninge (ongeveer 1510). Die skets toon aan hoe die borsbeen weens veroudering na binne in die borskas insak, ’n toestand genoem pectus excavatum (sien Da Vinci 2021a).

(Afbeelding in die openbare domein, verklein en verkry van Wikimedia: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Leonardo_da_Vinci_-_Superficial_anatomy_of_the_shoulder_and_neck_(recto)_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg; gebruik ingevolge die Wikimedia Commons-lisensieooreenkoms: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Licensing#Material_in_the_public_domain; 6 Desember 2021 geraadpleeg)

Figuur 6. Regs. Skets van bejaarde man (ongeveer 1488). Da Vinci het dikwels gesigte geteken wat tekens toon van vervorming en veroudering. Die uitdrukking in die oë toon die emosie van moedeloosheid sonder ’n toekomsvisie. In sy weergawe van veral ouer mense se gesigte skuil daar ’n half-spottende karikatuuragtige uitbeelding (Da Vinci 2021b).

(Da Vinci, L. 2021b. Head of an old man. Afbeelding in die openbare domein, verkry en verklein van Wikimedia: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Leonardo_da_Vinci_-_Head_of_an_Old_Man_-_WGA12792.jpg ingevolge die Wikimedia Commons-lisensieooreenkoms: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Licensing#Material_in_the_public_domain; 6 Desember 2021 geraadpleeg)

Dit is duidelik dat, alhoewel Da Vinci se tekeninge van gesigte en die menslike liggaam wel insig toon in die perfeksie en skoonheid van lyflikheid, hy meer daarop ingestel is om die onderwerp te stroop van pretensie en misterie. Hy objektiveer liggaamlikheid en fokus dus meer op die analitiese disseksie van menslike meganika en anatomiese detail as op die misterie van menswees. Michelangelo daarenteen soek in skoonheid ’n soort van “siel” wat worstel met die misterie van transendensie.

5.2 Die misterie van liggaamlike skoonheid

’n Mens sou die stelling kon maak dat Michelangelo Buonarroti, deur middel van sy skilderkuns en beeldhouwerk, die liggaamlike skoonheid, die vleeslike of beliggaamde realiteit van die menslike “siel”, herontdek het – ’n misterie versteek en geheim gehou binne die estetika van liggaamlikheid en die perfeksie van vorm en harmonie (Ceysson en Bresc-Bautier 2006:702). Kennis van perfekte, anatomiese verhoudings ontsluit harmonie en produseer skoonheid wat die suggestie van transendensie kommunikeer. “… founded not on external mathematical standards, but on intrinsic nature as conceived by God. For the human body, an image of the divine, contained a small part of divinity and hence of beauty” (Ceysson en Bresc-Bautier 2006:702).

Sy kuns lê ook die ervaring van liggaamlike broosheid wat tydens die lewensfase van veroudering intree, bloot. Sy verstaan van estetika word dan ook ten diepste geslyp deur ’n metafisiese sug na “onsterflikheid” wat nie die vorm van liggaamlike skoonheid sal prysgee nie. Dit is duidelik te sien in die vier beelde wat hy gemaak het vir die Medici-kapel in die kerk van San Lorenzo in Florence. Op die deksels van die sarkofae is daar naakte figure wat die slopende werking van die tyd en ontmaskering van verganklikheid uitbeeld: Oggendskemer, Aand, Nag en Dag.¹¹Hierdie worsteling met verganklikheid en tydelikheid laat hom uiteindelik beland in die spirituele maalkolk van estetiese perfeksie aangevreet deur magtelose melankolie. Oor hierdie figure in die San Lorenzo-kapel merk die samestellers in ’n Florence-uitgawe oor die werke van Michelangelo en sy lewe (Giuisti Di Becocci Nova LVX:69) soos volg op: “A tragic and melancholy feeling is expressed in the allegory of the subjects; the sluggish flow of life, and death which comes inexorably to cut short the life of man.”

In sy latere lewe, en met ’n verskerpte bewussyn van die naderende dood, verskuif Michelangelo se belangstelling in die naakte, perfekte liggaam as uitbeelding van wat ’n mens se siel is (die adel van permanensiehartstog met die sug na vrede, harmonie en onverganklikheid) na die broosheid van menswees sonder detail, spierkrag, perfekte vorm en vitaliteit. Hierdie verskuiwing kom duidelik na vore in sy Milaanpiëta, ook genoem die Rondaninipiëta, waar die half vormlose, verstyfde, verstokte en lewelose liggaam van Christus met ingedoke genitalieë sonder vitaliteit die afgestompte doodsheid van die dood vertolk. Die kunswerk is onafgewerk in teenstelling met die Vatikaanpiëta. “The pathetic image of Mary carrying the lifeless body of her son, to which, in mystical fervour, Michelangelo has given his own features, does away with all speculations about Beauty” (Ceysson en Bresc-Bautier 2006:632).

Daar word beweer dat veral die dood van Vittoria Colonna in 1547 Michelangelo diep geruk het. Dit het onder andere bygedra tot die uitbeelding van hartseer in die Florencepiëta waar Michelangelo in die vermomming van Josef van Arimatea self die begrafnis van die verganklike liggaam van Christus meemaak.

Figuur 7. Links. Deposisie − die Kruisafneming. Florencepiëta (Michelangelo 2021a) (ook genoem die Bandinipiëta) met die verslapte liggaam van Christus binne die domein van die dood. Die linkerbeen en -arm is deur Michelangelo self vermink, waarskynlik as gevolg van frustrasie.

(Michelangelo. 2021a. The deposition – The Florentine Pietà; afbeelding verkry van WikiArt: https://www.wikiart.org/en/michelangelo/pieta; gebruik ingevolge die WikiArt-lisensieooreenkoms wat hergebruik vir opvoedkundige doeleindes toelaat: https://www.wikiart.org/en/terms-of-use; 8 Desember 2021 geraadpleeg)

Figuur 8. Regs. Rondaninipiëta. Die laaste onvoltooide werk. Die beelde getuig van diepe besinning oor die misterie van die naderende dood en die sug na die méér van die verlossing van die mens van die beperktheid van eindigheid en verganklikheid. (Hy sterf 18 Februarie 1564.)

(Michelangelo. 2021b. Afbeelding: The Rondanini Pietá, verkry van Wikimedia, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Michelangelo_piet%C3%A0_rondanini.jpg, verklein en gebruik ingevolge die Wikimedia Commons-lisiensieooreenkoms: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Reusing_content_outside_Wikimedia/technical; 6 Desember 2021 geraadpleeg)

Die Florencepiëta is eintlik letterlik en figuurlik ’n kenteken van Michelangelo se stryd tussen perfeksie en die eksistensiële werklikheid van defek, fout en bederf. Daar was probleme met die been van Christus terwyl die marmer kort-kort defekte bloot gelê het wat hy nie kon voorsien het toe die marmerblok uitgekap is nie. Die volgende aanhaling vat die problematiek van skoonheid binne die beperktheid van ’n defek (simbool van menslike onvolmaaktheid) kernagtig saam:

Whether for flaws in the marble or for dissatisfaction with what he had achieved, in 1555 Michelangelo lost patience and mutilated the still unfinished Pietà. The marble group was laboriously pieced back together by a collaborator, Tiberio Calcagni, who finished the Mary Magdalene figure, and then sold to a Roman collector, Francesco Bandini (Verdon 2021:1).

Die Rondaninipiëta moet verstaan word binne ’n lewensproses waar Michelangelo se perspektief op skoonheid stadig verdof en oorweldig word deur ’n soort droefheid en melankolie oor die prysgee van gespierde liggaamlikheid. Uiteindelik moet laasgenoemde plek maak vir die verstokking van ouderdom en verstardheid van sterflikheid – die nietigheid van verganklikheid en besef van tevergeefsheid. “Michelangelo loved art and looked upon it as part of his very being, even when, in his last years, his religious faith led him to consider it one of the vanities of life” (Giuisti Di Becocci Nova LVX:102).

In een van sy Sonnette (Giuisti Di Becocci Nova LVX:102), opgedra aan Giorgi Vasari, ontboesem hy sy innerlike stryd en ’n soort van sielsmelankolie. Hy word oorweldig deur die besef van sy naderende dood en ook die tydelikheid en verganklikheid van al sy skilder- en beeldhouwerk. Hy is nie meer kunstenaar en beeldhouer nie, maar nietige behouering van ’n onverganklike skoonheid: Goddelike liefde. “Once light and gay, when I draw close to death? / Of one I know the certainty, the other threatens me / Painting no more, nor sculpture will there be / To calm the soul turned to that Divine Love / Which opened arms upon the cross to revive us.”

Michelangelo het begin besef dat, alhoewel die perfekte menslike liggaam en die vorm van skoonheid die uiteindelike droom is van die kunstenaar wat hy/sy wil skep met behulp van ’n kwas of beitel, bly die méér van ’n metafisiese en spirituele versugting onbeantwoord. Hierdie versugting word dikwels gesimboliseer deur die menslike hart as draer van ’n goddelike geheim. Hierdie aksent in beeldhouwerke kom veral na vore in die Renaissancedenke oor die “versiering” van die graf (transi-kuns).

5.3 Transi-kuns, religiositeit en die “gewig van die menslike hart”

Gedurende die einde van die veertiende eeu ontstaan, veral in Frankryk en Duitsland, die sogenaamde grafkuns/grafversiering. Die kernvraagstuk was dan die vraag oor die realiteit van sterwe en dood en hoe om dit voor te stel in terme van die oorgang van dood na onsterflikheid. Hierdie belangstelling is genoem transi-kuns, naamlik ondersoek na die posisie van die rustende lyk; die naakte liggaam gestroop van die lewegewende vlees. Die fokus was op die sogenaamde stigmata van die dood (Ceysson en Bresc-Bautier 2006:703). Die doel was om die menslike verganklikheid as realiteit uit te beeld. Terselfdertyd wou dit die verwering van verganklikheid binne ’n sug na onverganklikheid uitbeeld. ’n Lyk is daarom nie beskou as bloot verrottende vlees nie. Daar skuil méér in verganklikheid as bloot die empiriese faktisiteit van ’n lyk, uitgelewer aan stoflikheid.

The physical body is the same in terrestrial and eternal life, it is the living body. It experiences a moment of transition, death, which transforms it into a transi. This transient figure also has its divine value, that which the sculpture disclosed in anatomy (Ceysson en Bresc-Bautier 2006:703).

In die grafversiering deur Ligier Richier (Le Transi de René de Chalon) word ’n halfgestroopte geraamte voorgestel terwyl die ontbindende lyk die hart van die gestorwene vasgryp en uitreik na die moontlikheid van ’n metafisiese ruimte van onverganklikheid; die hart gesien as kontakpunt in alle vorme van ontmoeting. “The heart is the connecting point, the meeting place between any two persons. The kind of deep intimacy we crave with God and with others can be experienced only from the heart” (Eldredge 2003:48).

Figuur 9. Grafversiering, Ligier Richier (1500−1567). Richier se werk Le Transi de René de Chalon in die kerk van Saint-Étienne in Bar-le-Duc. “Made in Sorcy stone and standing at 1m74cm, it depicts the corpse of Rene de Chalon, Prince of Orange (who died on the 15th of July 1544) in the form of a flayed corpse clutching its own heart”.

(Richier, L. 2021. Le transi de René de Chalon. Afbeelding in die openbare domein, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ligier_Richier#/media/File:Le_Transi_de_Ren%C3%A9_de_Chalon_(Ligier_Richier).jpg; verklein en gebruik ingevolge die Wikipedia-lisensieooreenkoms: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain; 6 Desember 2021 geraadpleeg)

6. Op pad na onverganklikheid: “mooi” gedemonstreer via die etos van mortaliteit

Dat die mens méér is as ’n sak vol bene, kom onder andere in die Egiptiese tradisie van mummifikasie, en die geloof in ’n vorm van lewe na die dood, op ’n heel pregnante manier na vore. In die sogenaamde Boek van die Dood word verskillende tekste aangaande die proses van mummifikasie as voorbereiding vir ’n bestaan na die dood saamgevat (Carelli 2011:86−7). Dit beskryf die aard van die dood en die doderyk en het waarskynlik finale beslag gekry in die 16de eeu voor Christus. Dit is in die graftombes geplaas wat dan moes help om die gestorwene na ’n nadoodse bestaan te begelei (Cunningham 2021). In hierdie voorbereiding vir die doderyk speel die hart (ib) as simbool van personifikasie en wysheid, en die sentrum van emosies en herinnering, ’n deurslaggewende rol.¹²

’n Belangrike figuur in die mummifikasieproses en die voorbereiding vir die doderyk is die halfgod Anoebis. Hy word voorgestel as ’n soort jakkals of hond wat die taak het om die hart van die gestorwene te weeg. Daar is ’n skaal in sy hand. Aan die een kant van die skaal is daar die skaalhouer met ’n ligte veer (die veer van die godin Maat wat orde, waarheid en geregtigheid simboliseer). In die ander houer word die hart van die gestorwene geplaas. As dit lig genoeg is gaan die afgestorwene die ruimte van die lig binne. Dit is dan ’n teken dat die gestorwene aan die nood van die naaste aandag gegee het. As dit te swaar is weens die selfsugtigheid van selfverryking, ten koste van die naaste, sonder om aan die naaste se behoefte aan klere en kos en beskerming aandag te gegee het, gaan die afgestorwene die duisternis binne (Carelli 2011:86−7).

Figuur 10. Anoebis met die skaal van geregtigheid en waarheid. Aan die een kant die hart van die afgestorwene (links) en aan die ander kant ’n veer (Anubis 2021).

(Afbeelding in die openbare domein deur BD Hunefer op Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anubis#/media/File:BD_Hunefer_cropped_1.jpg; gebruik ingevolge die Wikipedia-lisensieooreenkoms: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain; 8 Desember 2021 geraadpleeg)

Uit die voorafgaande is dit duidelik dat die skoonheid van die dood en die graf te make het met die vraag na die hoe van menslike lewe vóór die dood en die gesindheid van die menslike hart wat ’n wyse van bestaan vertolk. Die metafisiese misterie van méér, en die hunkering na ’n vorm van onverganklikheid en onsterflikheid wat die beperking van tydelikheid, liggaamlike degenerasie en ’n aftakelende veroudering oorstyg, staan nie los van die aardse lewe nie. Dit is dan die styl van lewe en hoe die naaste hanteer word wat ’n spirituele estetika van dood en graf bepaal. Hierdie beginsel is vervat in Matteus 25:34−46 waar daarop gewys word dat die kern van spirituele en teologiese estetika gekoppel is aan die etos van lewe: “Ek was honger en julle het vir my iets gegee om te eet” (Mat. 25:35). Hiermee word beide die mooi van die lewe, en die mooi van die dood, aan die estetika van die naasteliefde gekoppel. Die sorg vir die nood van die naaste word sodoende gekoppel aan dit wat “die misterie van die onverganklikheid van die vlees” genoem kan word. ’n Spiritualiteit van onverganklikheid en ’n estetika van die onsterflikheid van die vlees word sodoende gestruktureer deur wat mens kan noem mortaliteit, gedemonstreer in moraliteit.

6.1 Die doderyk net stank vir dank?

Die koppeling tussen dood en graf en moraliteit word treffend beskryf in Fyodor Dostojefski se The Gambler/Bobok/A Nasty Story (1966). In die kortverhaal Bobok (dit verwys na die half onverstaanbare klank wat geuiter word deur ’n half ontbinde lyk in ’n begraafplaas waar almal gewoonlik swyg) moet Ivan Ivanovich aanhoor dat die dooies in die begraafplaas ook kan gesels. Die onderwerp waaroor daar in die doderyk gedebatteer word, is die graad van stank. Tog stink alle dooies nie ewe sleg nie want hoe jy geleef het vóór die dood bepaal die mate van stank ná die dood. Dit is die enigste vorm van dank vir min stank in die doderyk!

Terwyl die dooies dan ’n stankkompetisie hou en stry oor wie die meeste stink, kom die verklaring: “… the stink we get here is, so to speak, a moral stink – he-he!” (Dostojefski 1966:178). Want die mate waarin ’n mens lief gehad het toe jy geleef het, bepaal die graad en aard van hoe jou siel in die doderyk stink. Dit is daarom dan ook die rede waarom een van die bure wat eers in April daar ingetrek het, skielik ’n dringende versugting uitspreek: “I wish I could live a bit longer!” (Dostojefski 1966:171).

6.2 Maar kan ’n siel in elk geval “stink”?

Die woord vir siel (nēphēsj) in die Ou Testament verwys juis na die kwaliteit van ’n mens se lewe, jou lewenstyl en gesindheid. Daarom dat Genesis 2:7, waar die skepping van Adam (rooigrond, nietige stofdeeltjie) beskryf word, siel kwalitatief (nie substantief of kwantitatief) in terme van ’n relasionele dinamika verstaan. Die kwaliteit van die menslike siel word dan genormeer deur die opdrag van die Skepper om die aarde op te pas en sy gebooie te gehoorsaam: Adam het ’n lewende wese geword. “Nephesh does not say what a person has, but who the person is who receives life” (Anderson 2003:30).

Letterlik verwys nēphēsj na die beweging van wind of die snak na asem. So het God dan in die mens lewensasem geblaas “… sodat die mens ’n lewende wese geword het” (Gen. 2:7). In Filippense 2:5 word die ekwivalent vir nēphēsj met “gesindheid” (phronēsis) aangedui. Volgens Goetzman (1976:616) dui phronēsis op daardie gesindheid soos bepaal deur wysheid (sapientia). Phronēsis moet verstaan word saam met die Ou Testamentiese woorde ḥakom en bîn wat dui op ’n manier van leef en wandel en omgang met God; ’n manier van leef wat God se ḥēsēd (genade, barmhartigheid, ontferming) binne die lewensverhoudinge van elke dag sigbaar vertolk. Wanneer die gelowige nie God se ḥēsēd (genade en barmhartigheid) in menseverhoudinge demonstreer nie, begin die lewe self te stink as gevolg van haat, liefdeloosheid, wraak, onvergewensgesindheid, brutale selfsug, ongeregtigheid en mensonterende vorme van diskriminasie.

“Soul is not a thing, but a quality or a dimension of experiencing life and ourselves. It has to do with depth, values, relatedness, heart and personal substance” (Moore 1992:5).

Ek kom nou by die kern- spirituele vraag: Maar wat is die teologiese en religieuse dryfkrag in ’n estetiese spiritualiteit van méér (désir métaphysique) wat die dood se verskrikking “sinvol” kan nihileer maar ook transponeer tot die “mooi” van hoop?

7. Die ontkiemende misterie van saad: Christelike opstandingsverwagting

7.1 Soos ’n ryp olyf

Dat die lewe méér is as geworpenheid (Sartre) en die liggaam, ook die sogenaamde lewelose lyk, nie maar net ’n ontbindende massa vlees is nie, word goed saamgevat deur Marcus Aurelius (Romeinse keiser 161−180 n.C.). Die dood en graf beskryf hy as ’n rusplek binne die skoot van die natuur. Die mens word waarlik deel van die kosmos “… just as a ripened olive might drop, praising the earth that nourished it and grateful to the tree that gave it growth” (Holiday en Hanselman 2016:26). Hierin sluit Aurelius aan by die Stoïsynse lewensbeskouing en die siening van Cicero (Rawson 1975:242−3), dat die natuur ’n behouer is van skoonheid en dus nie bloot na degenerasie en verrotting verwys nie. Die ganse kosmos is oordek met ’n majestueuse grootsheid, bestuur deur ’n beginsel van “goddelike rede”, of dan in meer Semitiese terminologie, met die “teenwoordigheid van ’n lewende God.”

7.2 Die Goddelike ingryping in stof met net ’n woord (dābār/דָּבָר)

Volgens Psalm 90:3 staan sterwe en dood onder die ingryping van God se trou en sy leweskeppende woord (Hebreeus dābār/דָּבָר‎). Dābār verwys dan na ’n kreatiewe en estetiese krag wat beheer uitoefen ook oor die stof: Dit is God wat tot in die wese van stof spreek en sê: “Word weer stof” – keer terug na die stof! Hierdie soort van imperatief moet nie “kousaal-oorsaaklik” gelees word nie, maar “pastoraal”. Dit beteken dat God se dáár-wees in sterwe geborgenheid bied sodat beide die lewende en die sterwende ’n appèl kan maak op Goddelike troos. Daarom dat Psalm 90:12 geloof in God wil gebruik, nie om die dood te manipuleer nie, maar om na die lewe weer om te draai, terug te keer ten einde wysheid te bekom sodat die mens sinvol kan leef en die lewe weer begin “mooi” maak. Die appèl op ontferming/barmhartigheid/ḥēsēd mond dan uit in die estetika van lewe en die moraliteit van liefde as deug:¹³ “Skenk ons elke dag u liefde in oorvloed, dat ons ons lewe lank mag juig en bly wees” (Psalm 90:14).

Dieselfde pastorale beginsel geld in Psalm 103. Bewus van God se barmhartigheid, genade, lankmoedigheid en liefde (Ps. 103:8); die feit dat God weet dat ons stof is (Ps. 103:14) en dat sy liefde onverganklik is (Ps. 103:17), weet die digter ook dat God selfs in die doderyk teenwoordig is (Ps. 139:8). God se dābār/דָּבָר kan selfs loskoop uit die mag van die dood (Ps. 49:16).

7.3 Die estetika van uitkoggel: Wê dood!

Vanuit ’n Nuwe Testamentiese perspektief, en in die lig van Christus se sterwe en opstanding, is dit selfs moontlik om die estetika van ’n lied te gebruik om die dood uit te koggel: “Dood, waar is jou oorwinning? Dood, waar is jou angel?” (1 Kor. 15:55). Hierdie oorwinningsperspektief het niks te make met ’n goedkoop theologia glorae nie, maar ontstaan vanuit ’n eskatologiese perspektief: In Christus is die verskrikking van die dood alreeds oorwin selfs al worstel die sterwende mens nog met doodsangs. “Dit beteken dat die waarheid aangaande die dood na sy eintlike betekenis ’n eskatologiese waarheid is wat wag op die onthulling daarvan” (Durand 2019:229) – hoop as die onthulling van die “alreeds” van die vervulling.

7.4 Die eskatologiese perspektief: verwond (stigmata van lyding) maar steeds verwonderd (luike na die ewigheid)

Ek dink dat die beste metafoor om sterwe en dood vanuit ’n eskatologiese en Christologiese perspektief te verstaan die metafoor van ontkiemende saad is (die estetika van ’n hermeneutiek van belofte-in-vervulling wat wag op uiteindelike onthulling).

Alreeds in Johannes 12:24 word die beginsel van lewe as die gebrokenheid en sterwe van saad gestel: “As ’n koringkorrel nie in die grond val en sterwe nie, bly hy net een; maar as hy sterwe lewer hy baie vrug op”. Hierdie beginsel van sterwe as oopbreek, en dood as oestyd van ryp saad, word dan ook in 1 Korintiërs 15:36−8;42−5 gebruik om die estetika van ’n opgewekte, “geestelike liggaam” (πνευματικόν/pneumatikon) (vers 44) te beskryf. Die punt is: Die mens besit nie onsterflikheid nie. Ook nie ’n “onsterflike siel” nie. ’n “Geringe saad” word gesaai, wat dan in heerlikheid (doksa) opgewek word. Die verganklike liggaam moet met die onverganklike beklee word en die sterflike liggaam met die onsterflike (vers 53). Die estetika van sterwe en die dood, die “mooi” van die dood, setel in ’n Goddelike proses van “bekleding”; die sterfkamer word ’n aantrekkamer. Dit is wat met die metafisiese begeerte (désir métaphysique) van méér, teologies en eskatologies bedoel word.

’n Gewone saadkorrel word gesaai (σπείρεις) (1 Kor. 15:37) in swakheid (ἀσθενείᾳ/astheneia), maar nog nie in die toekomstige vorm of aard of eskatologiese gestalte of uiteindelike vorm daarvan nie (die liggaam σῶμα/sōma wat dit sal word nie – γενησόμενον/genēsomenon). Tog behou dit sy eiesoortige identiteit as koring. Die koring-heid van die koring is nie uitgewis nie. Die saad is in ’n natuurlike vorm – “natuurlike liggaam” (ψυχικόν/psychikon) (vers 44). Dit is God wat die gestalte daaraan gee soos God bepaal (vers 38). Daarom die opwekking in heerlikheid (δόξῃ/doxē) en in krag (δυνάμει/dynamei).

Die hermeneutiese vraag is hoe die paradoks psigiese liggaam (psychikon) (sterflikheid) – geestelike liggaam (pneumatikon) (onsterflikheid) verstaan moet word.

Die hermeneutiese sleutel setel in die konsepte krag (dinamiese toestand) en heerlikheid (doksologiese toestand). Die misterie van sterwe en dood word vervat in die konsep pneumatiese liggaam. Hier skop die eskatologiese taal van ’n opstandingsgeloof (theologia resurrectionis) in: Moenie stof reduseer tot blote niksheid nie. Die liggaam is nie net verrotte vleis nie, maar potensiaal: ontkiemende saad. Moet ook nie spekuleer oor die opstandingsliggaam nie. Sterwe en dood is in doksologie omhul, en dus vir menslike waarneming onvoorstelbaar en nie-sigbaar. Die lewe ná die dood is ’n misterie en geheim en nie oop vir menslike en rasionele, kognitiewe spekulasie nie. Draai liewer om, en gaan leef in vreugde en in dankbaarheid; gaan leef die Wet en die Bergrede, en raak betrokke by die swakhede (ἀσθενείᾳ/astheneia) van menswees.

Astheneia dui op alle vorme van aardse lyding, pyn, onreg en siekte. En dit is juis via die astheneia dat Paulus se kruisteologie (theologia crucis) tot ’n herdefinisie van Goddelikheid kom. In 1 Korintiërs 1:25 herdefinieer Paulus Goddelike krag − nie as fisieke, gewelddadige of outokratiese of selfs imperialistiese krag (die krag van die Persiese en Griekse en Romeinse gode) nie, maar as die weerlose patos (erbarming) van ’n mee-lydende God: die swakheid van God wat groter is as die krag van mense (ἀσθενὲς/asthenes τοῦ/tou Θεοῦ/Theou).

7.5 Maar net doodskamer en lykshuis of sakrament van ’n huweliksfees?

Op ’n heel eiesoortige manier gee Dostojefski spirituele geloofstaal aan hierdie doksologiese misterie maar ook aan die eskatologie van goddelike estetika: Die grafkamer word dan ’n bruilofskamer.

In The Brothers Karamazov kom die priester Aljosha die dodekamer binne waar die lyk van die afgestorwe priester Zossima in staatsie lê. Aljosha is uiters ontsteld en buig in sy trane langs die baar neer. Maar dan hoor hy hoe die ander priester by die koppenent voorlees uit Johannes 2:1: “En (’n verbindings-kai) op die derde dag was daar ’n bruilof in Kana in Galilea.” Skielik verander die dodekamer in ’n bruilofs- en feeskamer. Dan sien Aljosha hoe die afgestorwe Zossima sit aan die tafel van die Lam van God. Aljosha se siel word geroer, net asof hy spiritueel “opstaan” en ’n buitengewone ekstase beleef.

Aljosha gazed at the coffin for half a minute, at the covered, motionless stretched-out dead man in it, with the icon on his chest … The silence of the earth seemed to merge into the silence of the heavens, the mystery of the earth came in contact with the mystery of the stars … Alyosha stood, gazed, and suddenly he threw himself down flat on the earth … It was as though the threads from all those innumerable worlds of God met all at once in his soul … Someone visited my soul in that hour … Three days later he left the monastery in accordance with the words of his late elder, who had bidden him “sojourn the world” (Dostojefski 1958:426−7).

Op hierdie wyse word die aarde weer belangrik (hoe ek gaan leef in liefde). Maar dan word die verliese en die pyn van lyding in die mundane tekens, stigmata van die lyding van Christus asook ikoniese merke van die astheneia(swakheid) van God.

7.6 Stigmata van lyding en verganklikheid: bloot skerwe van pyn?

Figuur 11. Liggaam van die dooie Christus in die graftombe deur Hans Holbein die Jongere (1520−2) (Kunsmuseum Basel). Die skildery is ’n lewensgroot voorstelling van die uitgestrekte en onnatuurlik maer liggaam van Christus met tekens van sy lyding onder die tirannie van Romeinse imperialisme. Die liggaam is wel dood, en tog ook nie. Daar is iets méér, maar wat? Daar is wel die tekens, stigmata wat na die méér, die promissio (belofte) van die evangelie verwys: Hy sal wel op die derde dag opstaan, met die stigmata en al! (Holbein 2021).

(Afbeelding deur John Rowlands van Holbein se Body of the dead Christ geneem en aangepas van Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Body_of_the_Dead_Christ_in_the_Tomb#/media/File:The_Body_of_the_Dead_Christ_in_the_Tomb,_and_a_detail,_by_Hans_Holbein_the_Younger.jpg; gebruik ingevolge Wikipedia-bepalings vir afbeeldings in die openbare domein: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain; 5 November 2021 geraadpleeg)

Figuur 12. Links. “Dood, waar is jou oorwinning?” Uitbeelding van die doksologiese oorwinningslied van Paulus as gevolg van sy siening van die dood as ontkiemende saad, gehul in die misterie van ’n onverganklikheidsverwagting. Die hand in die vorm van ’n geraamte (links) stoot die dood veragtend na agter terwyl die regterhand (die regterhand in die Ou Testament as simbool van aksie en vitaliteit) na vore uitgestrek is – transenderend (désir métaphysique). Die ontkiemende saad van liggaamlikheid stap die misterie van halm-vorm binne – neerhalend maar óók reikhalsend (skildery deur D.J. Louw. Sol Justitia Kapel, Fakulteit Teologie, Stellenbosch).

Figuur 13. Regs. Michelangelo se muurskildery van die Laaste Oordeel agter die altaar in die Sistynse kapel (Michelangelo 2021c).

Die uitbeelding van die figuur, met net die vel van ’n afgestorwene, verwys na die martelaar St Bartholoméüs wat om die lewe gebring is deurdat sy vel van sy lewende liggaam afgestroop is. Hier verskyn hy in sy verheerlikte nuwe liggaam. Dit roep die metafoor van bekleding na vore, naamlik dat opwekking van die vlees soos die uittrek van die ou afgeleefde liggaam, met al die stigmata daaraan, en die aantrek van die nuwe pneumatiese, verheerlikte liggaam is. Uittrek en aantrek dan as kragtige en magtige daad van God wat Skepper maar ook Herskepper bly oor alle kosmiese en organismiese vorme van lewe. In die een hand hou die figuur die ou afgestroopte vel reg bokant die afgrond van Hades om dit te laat val. Michelangelo het daardie uitgetrekte en afgestroopte vel van sy eie gesig voorsien, “… ’n tragiese masker, verteken deur ’n grimas van pyn” (Schoeman 2009:582). So beteken die eskatologiese perspektief op sterwe, dood en graf dat die verwonde lewe met al sy onvolkomenhede soos ’n ou vel afgewerp word sodat Michelangelo se “siel” “… hernuwe en herbore te voorskyn tree in heerlikheid nes die ander siele wat hy hier op die muur van die kapel uitgebeeld het. Maar nóg nie, daarop moet hy wag, en intussen laat hy sy portret hier agter, hierdie tragiese masker wat onseker bo die afgrond hang, aan die voete van die Regter wie se hand so ondubbelsinnig opgehef is” (Schoeman 2009:582).

(Afbeelding in die openbare domein op Wikipedia, Last judgment by Michelangelo Buonarroti: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Judgment_(Michelangelo)#/media/File:Michelangelo,_Giudizio_Universale_03.jpg; gebruik ingevolge die Wikipedia-lisensieooreenkoms: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Licensing#Material_in_the_public_domain; 5 November 2021 geraadpleeg)

Met hierdie uitbeelding van die stigmata van die lydende, gekruisigde Christus stel Holbein die spirituele vraag van ’n dood-en-graf-estetika: Is dit net stoflike vlees, of vlees gehul in die misterie van ’n Goddelike potensiaal – opstandingsverwagting verpak in die omhullende letsels van menslike lyding?

Vir my is dit belangrik om dan die Holbeinskets te kontrasteer met ’n opstandingsperspektief (sien figuur 12 en 13).

8. Gevolgtrekking

Dood en graf is nie net verskriklik en angswekkend nie. Eksistensieel gesproke pas aftakeling van die liggaam en prosesse van veroudering by die realisme van menslike bestaan. Tog is die liggaam vanuit ’n eskatologiese perspektief méér as net stof. ’n Eskatologiese perspektief verander die tydsbewussyn. Daar is die alrééds van die afgeleefde, verwonde lewe onder die vervulde beloftes van Christus se kruisdood en opstanding; daar is die nóú van worsteling in angs en pyn oor die verlies van veroudering, sterwe en dood; daar is die nóg-nie van opstandingshoop as onthulling van die vervulling maar bewaar in die misterie van ontkiemende vlees ‒ die pneumatiese liggaam. Désir métaphysique dui vanuit ’n eskatologiese en doksologiese perspektief op die estetika van veroudering, sterwe en dood asook op die geloofsvisie van ’n “geestelike liggaam” (πνευματικόν/pneumatikon).

Die mens besit nie ’n onsterflike siel nie. Die geheim van die menslike siel, soos vergestalt in die wysheid van die hart (sapientia), en die hoe van gesindheid/habitus (phronēsis), dra soos ’n kiembeginsel in die gesaaide saad (verganklikheid) die belofte van onverganklikheid.

Onsterflikheid is nie oop vir allerhande kognitiewe spekulasies oor die lewe hierna nie. Onsterflikheid is ’n Goddelike saak wat reeds gedra word deur die astheneia van ’n mee-lydende God wat by magte is om te sorg dat die proses van bekleding, die sterwensproses, steeds die weerstand en verwonding van ’n verstyfde lyk “mooi” kan beklee. Goddelike bekleding is die teologiese misterie binne-in die doodsheid van die dood; ’n vorm van “onsterflikheid” verhul in die dinamika van die opstandingshoop. Dit is hierdie estetika wat jou dan, ten spyte van angs vir die dood, energie verskaf om terug te draai en om dan deur naasteliefde en die diakonaat van goeie dade die hemel terug te bring na die aarde. Vandaar die opmerking van Michel de Montaigne: “… he who should teach men to die would at the same time teach them to live” (in Kalamithi 2017:119).

Die “geestelike liggaam” (πνευματικόν/pneumatikon) is dan as kiembeginsel verhul in die brose saad van ’n natuurlike liggaam (ψυχικόν/psychikon) en moet daarom binne die estetika van doksa hanteer word; ook in die proses van rou en begrawe. Die “lyk” moet liefs nie verbrand word nie, maar as saad weggebêre word in die skoot van die aarde om in sy stoflikheid ryp te word vir die heerlike skoonheid van ’n opstandingsliggaam. Sterwe is nie die kaplaks van ’n verskroeide vlieg deur ’n kersvlam nie. Dit is die ontvangs van ’n bruilofskleed (nie doodskleed nie), bestem vir die fees, die nagmaal (eucharistie) van die Lam van God. Sterwe en dood en graf is inderdaad mooi, doksologies en eskatologies mooi!

Bibliografie 

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Eindnotas

¹ Die navorsing is ’n hermeneutiese studie met behulp van gepaste en geselekteerde literatuur. Ten einde die vraagstuk van veroudering, sterwe en die dood sistemies te benader, word ’n metode van interaktiewe standpuntstellings uit die filosofie, digkuns, beeldhouwerk en skilderkuns gebruik. Daar word, wat die kuns betref, op die Renaissance gefokus. Kritiese analises en filosofiese beredenerings word gebruik om teologiese teorievorming met betrekking tot sterwe, die dood en die graf só te belig dat, in plaas van op bloot etiese perspektiewe te konsentreer, daar gepoog word om ’n spirituele, eskatologiese en doksologiese perspektief op die vraagstuk van verganklikheid/onsterflikheid te ontwikkel.

² Sokrates definieer dood as die dualistiese skeiding tussen liggaam en siel.

This definition goes unchallenged by his interlocutors, as does its dualistic assumption that body and soul are two distinct entities. The Greek word psuchē is only roughly approximate to our word ‘soul’; the Greeks thought of psuchē as what makes something alive, and Aristotle talks about non-human animals and even plants as having souls in this sense. Granted that death is a soul/body separation, Socrates sets forth a number of reasons why philosophers are prepared for such an event. First, the true philosopher despises bodily pleasures such as food, drink, and sex, so he more than anyone else wants to free himself from his body (64d−65a). Additionally, since the bodily senses are inaccurate and deceptive, the philosopher’s search for knowledge is most successful when the soul is ‘most by itself’ (Conolly 2021).

³ Sien die volgende omskrywing: “The soul is pre-existent as well as immortal. Its natural home is the world of Ideas, where at first it existed, without a body, in the pure blissful contemplation of Ideas. But because it has affinities with the world of sense, it sinks down into a body” (Stace 1960:217).

⁴ “The classical notion of the aesthetic quality of beauty (harmony and pleasurable experience) was described, for example, by Plato in several of his dialogues (Philebus, Ion, Hippias Major and Symposium). In the Republic, Plato maintained that ugliness (understood as a lack of harmony) was the opposite of the goodness of the soul” (Eco 2007:30).

⁵ Die kunstenaar sien altyd iets méér as wat die oog van die algemene waarnemer raaksien. “Of course, all art is to some extent an illusion. It transforms experience in order to satisfy some need of the imagination” (Clark 1974:191).

⁶ Oor hierdie wesenlike vraag merk Tolstoy (1978:2013) soos volg op: “If one could know what will happen after death, then no one of us would be afraid of death.”

⁷ “Remember that aesthetic refers to heightened sensory awareness. It is the opposite of anaesthetic – that is, a dulling or loss of consciousness – not the opposite of ugly” (Stone 2003:34).

⁸ ARIA. 20−25: “Ey! wie schmeckt der Coffe süsse / Lieblicher als tausend Küsse / Milder als Muscatenwein / Coffe, Coffe muß ich haben / Und wenn jemand mich will laben / Ach so schenckt mir Coffe ein.” Sien Duits, XIV. Über den Caffe. CANTATA. Bach 2022. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schweigt_stille,_plaudert_nicht,_BWV_211.

⁹ Sien die Duitse aria:

“Ei! Wie schmeckt der Kaffee süße” (ai, hoe lekker soet smaak die koffie tog – vry vertaal). Resitatief is daar dan die aria: “Wenn du mir nicht den Kaffee läßt”. Lieschen se pa, Schlendrian, dreig om haar maaltye, klere en alle ander klein plesiertjies weg te vat. Lieschen wek dan die indruk dat dit haar min skeel. Haar pa dreig haar selfs om te weier dat sy kan trou as sy nie die koffiedrinkery staak nie en sodoende breek met die sondige bedryf. Skielik is Lieschen hartseer. In ’n aria bedank sy dan haar vader om vir haar ’n “vryer” te vind en beloof om haar koffiedrinkery te staak. Terwyl Schlendrian dan weg is om vir haar ’n kêrel te gaan soek, laat sy die aap uit die mou. As dan enige aansoeker om haar hand haar sal toelaat om koffie te drink, sal sy met daardie een trou. Teen die einde sing al die karakters saam dat om koffie te drink, natuurlik en normaal is (ryk en lekker!). (Trio: Die Katze läßt das Mausen nicht!). (Bach Wikipedia 2022).

¹⁰ Vir ’n bespreking van die buiteblad en die verband met die ervaring van veroudering, sien Nel (2008:51−68). Oor kritiese reaksies, sien die volgende moontlike verklaring (Nel 2008:58): “’n Tweede moontlikheid berus bloot op estetiese norme, naamlik die aanname dat die ouer vroulike liggaam esteties devalueer, en dus beroof is van estetiese en erotiese begeerlikheid. Vrees vir aftakeling en ouderdom waarvan geen mens kan ontkom nie, gepaardgaande met ’n moontlike ontkenningsmeganisme, is waarskynlik ook ’n voor-die-hand-liggende verklaring vir die weerstand teen die getuienis van oudword op die buiteblad”.

¹¹ So byvoorbeeld stel die treurende vrou Nag voor en Dag word voorgestel deur ’n bebaarde man wat omdraai om die besoeker oor sy skouer aan te kyk, “… met ’n gesig waarin nouliks meer as ’n aanduiding van oogholtes en neus nog uit die klip gevorm is” (Schoeman 2009:507−8).

¹² “In Egyptian religion, the heart was the key to the afterlife. It was conceived as surviving death in the Netherworld, where it gave evidence for, or against, its possessor. It was thought that the heart was examined by Anubis and the deities during the weighing of the heart ceremony. If the heart weighed more than the feather of Maat, it was immediately consumed by the monster Ammit” (Carelli 2011:85−6).

¹³ Dostojefski (1958:78) maak die stelling in The Brothers Karamazov dat sonder die besef van onsterflikheid en ewigheid, daar geen rede is om moreel in die lewe op te tree nie: “There is no virtue if there’s no immortality”.

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Abstract

In the publication Body Bereft (2006b), Antjie Krog uncovers her battle with ageing, the degeneration of the body and the dehumanizing awareness that she is no longer in control of her body within the very demeaning awareness of mortality, dying and death. The overwhelming realization of dying and death imprints scars of woundedness in the very essence of one’s “soul” due to an acute realization of vulnerability and limitation. Being frail and growing old cause inflictions to our capacity to find meaning in life. The following intriguing question surfaces: But is the degeneration of the body merely about the dust of death and, therefore, a horrifying, fearsome and ugly prospective? To approach dying and death from a more meta-physical perspective (désir métaphysique), i.e., from a spiritual angle, opens up new options regarding an aesthetics of dying and death. In this sense, dying and death can also become an aesthetic yearning: Come o beautiful death! (J.S. Bach cantata). Taking into consideration that a human being does not possess an “immortal soul”, how can the option of a Christian and eschatological view on dying and death contribute to what can be called a doxology on the mortality of the grave? In the New Testament there is reference to the link between hope of resurrection and the condition of a “pneumatic body”. A very interesting perspective on an aesthetics of dying and death is offered by Dostoyevsky in his interpretation of John 2:1. His description of the death chamber of the old priest Zossima as a wedding chamber could be viewed as a hermeneutical key to a spiritual reframing of the ugliness of dying and death. Bodily degeneration could be reframed as the preparation for immortality. Thus, the importance of a doxology on dying and death due to the spiritual facticity that the “natural body” that is sown, is a prefiguration of the expected spiritual body (πνευματικόν/pneumatikon). Thus, the following anthropological proposition: Our being human is fundamentally shaped by a yearning for transcendence (homo transcendentalis) and the ontic tension between mortality and immortality. The theological argument is developed that despite bodily decay, dying and death should be approached from an eschatological perspective of wonderment ‒ a corpse as “germinable seed”. The notion that the perfect form and harmonious features of a naked human body already encapsulate the mystery of soulfulness and a metaphysical yearning for immortality, was magnificently captured and depicted by Michelangelo in his sculptures and fresco on the Last Judgment in the Sistine chapel.

Keywords: ageing; homo transcendentalis; beauty of dying and death; bodily degeneration; pneumatic body; spiritual aesthetics of dying, death and grave; theology of resurrection

Lees die volledige artikel in Afrikaans

Verwondering ondanks verwonding. Tussen aftakeling (verganklikheid) en ontkieming (onverganklikheid) ‒ oor die spirituele estetika van ’n “pneumatiese liggaam” binne die knyptang van veroudering, sterwe, graf en dood

Featured image: Superficial anatomy of the shoulder and neck (recto) by Leonardo da Vinci; public domain; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Leonardo_da_Vinci_-_Superficial_anatomy_of_the_shoulder_and_neck_(recto)_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg; used in accordance with the Wikimedia Commons licence agreement: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Licensing#Material_in_the_public_domain.

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Toe ’n jong man die skrywer Leon van Nierop 25 jaar gelede uit die bloute nader om sy “besondere lewensverhaal” te skryf, was die skrywer aanvanklik huiwerig. Totdat die man geheime begin openbaar het wat ’n nuwe dimensie aan dié storie gee.

Perskor-uitgewers het destyds dadelik vir Van Nierop opdrag gegee om die unieke en dikwels ongelooflike verhaal neer te pen. Daar was ’n groot debat oor wat in- en uitgelaat moes word, en sekere mense was so geskok dat hulle die roman summier verbrand het, net om later te erken dat hulle ’n fout gemaak het deur bloot op grond van die titel en wat hulle vermoed het in die roman is, so oorhaastig op te tree. Hulle het later van die oorspronklike roman se grootste ondersteuners geword!

Die gevolg van Tristan se dikwels verbysterende verhaal was drie topverkoper-romans: Die Plesierengel (1998, Perskor), daarna Plesierengel in ’n meer moderne en realistiese styl, om te weerspieël wat werklik gebeur het met inligting en gebeure wat te veelbesproke was vir die eerste roman, Plesierengel (Tafelberg 2015) en daarna, op aanbeveling van Penguin Random House, ’n voorloper of prequel van die verhaal, met die titel Katelknaap, in Engels vertaal as Toyboy (2017).

Die boeke, veral die eerste, het ’n klein sensasie veroorsaak omdat daar soveel verrassingselemente in was, en dit nie suiwer blatante erotiese literatuur was nie, en nog minder ’n hygroman. Die karakter, ’n prostituut, Tristan Hansen, en die rede waarom hy hierdie rigting gekies en ingeslaan het, het mense dikwels sprakeloos gehad. Dit het die finale vonk by die skrywers se kruitvat gebring om dit as verhaal nog verder te voer.

Ruan Wessels (regs) en regisseur Lihan Pretorius tydens repetisies (Foto: Wessel Jacobs)

In 2021 het die bekroonde teatervervaardiger Johan van der Merwe, die regisseur Lihan Pretorius en die akteur Ruan Wessels vir Van Nierop genader en dié uitdaging aan hom gestel: Vertel die verhaal weer ’n keer, maar dié slag as ’n eenmansverhoogstuk waarin die teks konsentreer op meer as net die tragiek van die karakter en sy lot – ook op unieke insidente, sy verhoudings en besoeke aan vroue wat nog nie tevore in die romans vertel is nie. Nie alle besoeke aan vroue was seksueel van aard nie. Om die waarheid te sê, wat daar gebeur het, het werklik gedemonstreer wie en wat Tristan Hansen is en hoe hy prostitusie met vroue benader het.

Van Nierop het ingestem en na ’n uitdagende skryfproses ’n teks aan die vervaardigers voorgelê. Dit het hulle so opgewonde, selfs begeesterd gemaak, dat hulle summier besluit het om dit op te voer. Hierdie produksie is die vrug van daardie ontmoeting tussen die vier – ’n volledige deurpraat van die teks en produksie in Hazyview.

Die drama is op die waarheid gebaseer (name ia wel verander, Tristan Hansen s’n ook), en is sodanig aangepas dat dit nie bloot ’n erotiese vertelling met ’n aaneenskakeling van sekstonele word nie, maar ’n ondersoek na eensaamheid, weerloosheid, desperaatheid, behoeftes en die reuse- en onverwagse wendings wat Tristan Hansen se verhaal geneem het. Dit lewer ook sosiale kommentaar op veral die Afrikaner se benadering tot seks.

Nadat die eerste roman geskryf is, het Hansen dit deurgegaan (die skrywer moes lang dele vertaal omdat Tristan Hansen nie eintlik Afrikaans magtig was nie) en herskryf om ware insidente getrou te weerspieël, wat toe aangepas en verwerk is. Hansen het uiteindelik erken dat, soos in die eerste roman vertel, dit grootliks sý verhaal was en dat dit vertel moes word. Maar nie alles is openbaar gemaak nie.

Die gevolg: drie romans en nou ’n verhoogproduksie. Die skokelement is in Hansen se innerlike landskap en sy emosionele ervarings geleë – nie noodwendig die eksplisiete nie, alhoewel daar wel erotiese tonele is.

Al bevat die stuk naaktheid en sommige van die insidente vanselfsprekend oor seks handel, is die oorgrote meerderheid gebeure nie-seksueel van aard en handel oor verwerping, minderwaardigheid, eksploitasie, emosionele verwaarlosing en veral onderdrukking, wanpersepsies en veroordeling. Hierdie stuk is ’n eerlike ondersoek na wat werklik met Hansen gebeur het en hoekom dit gebeur het.

Ruan Wessels tydens repetisies in aksie as Tristan Hansen, terwyl regisseur Lihan Pretorius toekyk (Foto: Wessel Jacobs)

The post Persverklaring: Leon van Nierop se <i>Plesierengel</i> nou op die verhoog in Centurion appeared first on LitNet.

Who knew a Marilyn Monroe movie could kill you? When Oom Frik of Oom Frik’s Fantastiques dies during a vintage movie screening in Ladismith, Tannie Maria and her policeman boyfriend Henk are on the scene.

Ja, the old thrift-shop owner had a heart condition, but was there more to his demise? It’s rumoured that among Frik’s junk are valuable treasures, and the grumpy, paranoid old guy frequently altered his will.

When a second body turns up, there’s a clue: a letter addressed to Tannie Maria asking for advice – and a milk tart recipe. Fifty-plus agony aunt Maria and feisty young journalist Jessie conduct their own treasure hunt and murder investigation. The police are looking for the perpetrator too, but the amateur detectives have unique skills, and Tannie Maria’s food is a powerful incentive to get people to talk.

Maria and Jessie step into deep danger, but all is not doom and gloom. Spring has arrived in the Karoo, and Henk and Maria discuss moving in together, even though his home is full of his late wife’s stuff. Maria knows food has a way of filling the dark spaces, for better or for worse. Perhaps, once the Klein Karoo crime-buster’s work is done, she might follow her own advice and try a healing recipe.

Click here for more information about this publication.

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