Azanian Rebel E-book

It’s all about perspective, walking down this road, this rough, rocky road: Refugee Road. Rob is an inspiration to us all, he made his own choices and he’s still going strong! When you take on the beast, where do you find refuge? Through the bars of New York to the Bayous of the South, a refugee on the run. He could have been blown up in Angola, shooting back at enemy fire, or even dodging friendly fire on the so-called ‘Border’ of the South African apartheid war. Instead, he got locked into the Exile Zoo, joining his brother who fled South Africa six months before him. The thing about Exile Zoo is that all exiles have a common thread, an invisible and unyielding connection that somehow links them all, somewhere on a reciprocated plane where you acknowledge a homecoming. This network enables the brothers to interact with prominent exiled musicians, wise philosophers, and political thinkers, as well as with young hot-headed revolutionaries and lovers. They subsequently became involved with an organisation assisting young white South African men in avoiding their compulsory military service. This presented them with an invaluable opportunity to gain insight into the complex world of political intrigue and collusion. The brothers were forced to confront the realities of apartheid, which led to them being tailed by South African secret agents. They were threatened and beguiled, and found themselves in a situation that was too complex for them to navigate. The assassination of his older brother left Rob devastated and almost drowning in a sea of implacable emotions. In search of truth, rights and a deeper understanding of human consciousness, RobI returns to South Africa. He is still on the run from the military police and is forced to live a clandestine life, which is facilitated by the growing Rastafarian community across South Africa. This allows him to travel the country and always find accommodation, but it also means he is at odds with the law. When the confrontations became too much, he sought exile once more, this time relocating to the Netherlands. There, he connected with his childhood rebel friend, Deezo, of the renowned Durban band, The AK47’z, who had also been exiled in the Netherlands. Together, they represented South African culture, music and politics, playing at all the anti-apartheid gigs and demonstrations with other great African artists until finally apartheid fell.

In the post-apartheid era, the beat goes on, and it’s business as usual, however, it is unclear who is truly living the revolution. Was the rhetoric of the revolution merely that, or did it have real-world consequences? The stalwarts of the struggle, are now passing away, along with the ideals that they fought for. Meanwhile, the Bornfrees are drunk on a sense of arrival, embracing a false freedom, while the Azanian people are being sold out and souled out.

Hear the Azanian Rebel shout, “Africa unite!”