Guerrilla History - Cultural Revolution in Swaziland w/ Ruehl Muller & Bafanabakhe Sacolo of the Communist Party of Swaziland (AR&D Ep. 8)

Episode Date: May 16, 2025

In this exceptional episode of Guerrilla History, we continue our series African Revolutions and Decolonization by bringing back guest host Ruehl Muller, senior lecturer/associate professor at the Institute of Creativity and Innovation at Xiamen University in China (who has been in contact with the CPS for quite some time) and guest Bafanabakhe Sacolo of the Communist Party of Swaziland (both of whom were with us in our previous AR&D episode Struggle Against Africa's Last Absolute Monarchy).  This time, we discuss the construction of a culture to uphold the monarchy in Swaziland, the importance of cultural revolution in fighting against the monarchy, and the CPS's efforts on this front.  A massive and important conversation, you'll definitely want to share this with comrades!   Also subscribe to our Substack (free!) to keep up to date with what we are doing.  With so many episodes coming in this series (and beyond), you won't want to miss anything, so get the updates straight to your inbox.  guerrillahistory.substack.com   Bafanabakhe Sacolo is National Organizing Secretary of the Communist Party of Swaziland.  You can keep up to date with the CPS by following them on Facebook, on Twitter, or by checking out their website.   Ruehl Muller is senior lecturer/associate professor at the Institute of Creativity and Innovation at Xiamen University in China, and the editor of the fantastic Building a People’s Art: Selected Works of Trường Chinh and Tố Hữu (buy a physical copy or download the free PDF from Iskra Books). Help support the show by signing up to our patreon, where you also will get bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/guerrillahistory 

You don't remember den, Ben, boo? The same thing happened in Algeria, in Africa. They didn't have anything but a rank. The French had all these highly mechanized instruments of warfare, but they put some guerrilla action on. Hello and welcome to guerrilla history. The podcast that acts as a reconnaissance report of global proletarian history and aims to use the lessons of history to analyze the present.

I'm one of your co-hosts, Henry Huckimacki, unfortunately not joined this time by my usual co-host, Professor Adnan Hussein, historian and director of the School of Religion at Queen's University in Ontario, Canada. I am going to be joined by a guest host again today, so listeners do stay tuned for who that is, as well as who our excellent guest is. but before I introduce them and the topic of this episode,

I'd like to remind you listeners that you can help support the show and allow us to continue making episodes like this by going to patreon.com forward slash guerrilla history. That's G-U-E-R-R-I-L-A history. And you can keep up to date with everything that we're producing both individually, at none and myself, as well as collectively, by following us on social media. We're on Twitter at Gorilla underscore Pod.

That's G-U-E-R-R-I-L-L-A underscore pod. We're on Instagram, gorilla underscore history, and we also have the free newsletter, which we will periodically send directly to your inbox so you don't have to rely on a social media algorithm giving you our material to know what's going on. You can find that at gorilla history.com. And again, Gorilla with two R's. With that being said, we have an excellent guest host and guests today. And it's the same guest host and guests that we had in the previous episode of African Revolutions and Decolonization. So this is listeners. a continuation of our series on African revolutions and decolonization. You'll remember that our previous episode of this series was on the struggle in Swaziland against Africa's last absolute monarchy. And we're fortunate to be joined by guest host, Ruhl Mueller, as well as guest Bufonabake So, each of you, I'm going to have you remind the listeners of who you are

if they weren't listening to that previous episode. And if you haven't listened to that previous episode listeners, I highly recommend that you do because that discussion is going to feed directly into today's discussion on cultural revolution in Swaziland. So, Ruhl, can you remind the listeners of who you are? Thank you. Thank you for having me again. Unfortunately, this time around, I'm quite sick. So if you hear funny noises, it's just me coughing and sneezing to my staff. Yeah, I'm Rolf originally from South Africa, now living in a lot of.

and working, I guess, in China with the Institute of Creativity and Innovation at Schumman University, where I focus on visual communication. So this in particular is a little bit more up my alley than usual. So I will try my best to involve myself as much as possible, but I think for the most part, I'm going to try to be a listener as much as possible, but we will see how it goes. Absolutely. And I should also mention and do some advertising on rules behalf that he was the editor of Building of People's Art, which is out from Iskra Books. And as a reminder, and that, by the way, is a Vietnamese revolutionary art book with a lot of really tremendous images as well as cultural theory essays that are in it. It's a really terrific work. I highly recommend that if you don't pick up the physical copy, download the free PDF at iscrabbooks.org. We're also joined, as I said, by Bufanabake Sokolo, who is with the Communist Party of Swazilandis National Organizing Secretary. Hello, Bafanabake, can you remind the listeners of who you are, and I hope that you're doing well today.

Hello, hello, Comrade Henry, and greetings to Comrade Rue and listeners. I am Sakoto Bafanake, the National Organizing Secretary of the Communist Party of Swazin. and I'm from Swazin, which is a tiny country, the southern part of Africa. But I currently live in exile because of the prosecution that we meet on daily places with the absolute monarchy that exists in our country. But thanks for having me once again, Comrade Handry. Absolutely. And we talked about the struggle in Swaziland against the monarchy in the previous episode, as I already said.

So listeners, if you haven't heard that yet, pause this episode. back and listen to that and then come back to this episode and listen because we're going to be talking about a very specific point of the struggle against the monarchy today, which as I mentioned is attempts at cultural revolution within Swaziland. We did touch on this a little bit in the previous episode, but I want to take a step back from where we left off last time and open with a kind of broad question, which I think will foster some interesting discussion, which is what is the importance of culture on mass consciousness? But Fana Bakke, I don't know if you have any thoughts on that,

but of course culture does have some very definite impacts on mass consciousness, and I'm curious of how you and the Communist Party of Swazilin analyze that impact. Thanks, Comrade Tendri, and thanks for that question. Today we are on the question of all the issue of the cultural, revolution itself. And also the culture component on the world's cultural revolution plays the component part. And also, if you can interpret or look at the world today and may be dated back even or send your respect, you can find that the world or the working class in the entire world has been exploited or has lived in exploitation for the longest time. And also we've seen

changes that have developed in society because we can see also when we go back and look at the history of our society or of the world itself. And when we look back, we can tell or we can see that there are changes that are occurring throughout all those periods or those decades and centuries that have existed before us. And we can even see in our day life today and experiences that the world is in constant change. But also how social defining itself or how society is defined itself also changes with a particular society that exists at that moment in time. So it also has to do with the consciousness of the people that exist at that moment in time. If I can make an example, if you can look back maybe to the countries

during that were under the control of the Roman Empire, of how the people had their daily activities, how they taught the arts that they did their day-to-day interactions and even their mode of production at that moment in time, was of a definite character. We can define it with many traits or historical traits that have been proven to exist within those societies. Likewise, even today, if you can look at how people interact with each other in any country or in any defined society, there are those habits that are there in society or those norms that are there in society, which are mostly dominated by a ruling class in society or are the ideas mostly of that ruling class in society, the one that oppresses the other class,

which is the working class and also the majority in society. So when we speak of the issue of culture and the habits and traditions that are there in society, influenced by the habits that are day in society. A country like Swazzozant itself, with an absolute monarch, I think you did mention in your introduction that it's the last absolute monarch in Africa or in the world. And also, if you look at it today and look at how the people behave their cultures and everything that are there, all those cultures can be associated with that existence of the monarch itself, how they produce, how they do art, how they see.

seeing, how they dance, and how they do most of the things that they do on their daily basis, it is because of their consciousness or it is because of the ideas that are propagated on daily places into their minds. So it's something that exists in our society because of the ideas that are dominant in our society. So the issue of culture itself, the culture that is practiced in any defined society at a moment in time or also in the world because their traits that are there, if you connect the defying societies that are there in the entire world, there is that culture that exists in society because of the dominancy or because of the tendencies of capitalism and also some backward tendencies that have been there of also monarchies or feudalism

that has been there in previous society, which are still hard to uproot. But also, with the constant change, you can see that, constant changing also to those cultures, most of them, which have been bequered for the longest time and have put our people, especially in Swazan, into deep poverty and repression, but not only limited to Swazan, but also the working class entirely. And in fact, globally have been existing in those cultures that promote bequatness, that doesn't promote a high status of everyone in society. So it promotes class divisions,

it promotes individualism, opportunism, all those things that we see in our world today. And also which brings products, which are not good to the existence of the society itself, including nature itself, that is within the society, because we cannot only speak of humans, but also nature itself, because the relationship between nature and humans

defines each other's existence in society. So it is important also that we never neglect the issue of also the nature around us. It's not only about the fight about the strategy for humanity, humanity only, but it also about the world itself, the earth itself, and its nature to make sure that it is the one that is sustainable and also that faces, or that receives justice with whatever traditions and cultures that are there or that defines the world at any moment in time. So it's something that I can share currently, but thanks for that, Comrade Henry.

I'm sure that rule will have things to say on this as well, but I also just want to add in that thinking about who is responsible for cultural production and who is responsible for determining what is consumed is always a very, interesting and important question and one that we explored a little bit in a recent episode that we had so listeners I'm already at this point in the episode recommending other episodes which we've put out we had one that was on media and hegemonic narratives relatively recently with Greg Shupak and Stuart Davis really interesting conversation and while we did talk about news media quite a bit we also had entertainment media which we discussed and thinking about

who's responsible for cultural production and how that culture is then transmitted through society and then taken into mass consciousness is a really important thing. That's why when we have examples of attempts to build socialist societies like the Soviet Union, there is a huge focus on producing cultural works that are representative of the oppressed class, previously oppressed class, the proletarian class. So thinking about even in the early revolution, phase, there was this huge push in the Soviet Union towards producing propaganda art, so in the form of posters, in the form of murals, that were important in terms of raising mass consciousness in that way. And once the revolution had been consolidated in the Soviet Union, there was a huge push which persisted through the entire existence of the Soviet period to expand and develop the film industry within the Soviet Union.

And many of the highest regarded filmmakers of all time were Soviet filmmakers. Why is that? Well, it's because that there was an investment into the film industry by the Soviet state in order to produce cultural works that are representative of a class that otherwise doesn't have narratives told from its perspective and in its interest. And in addition to that, we also have these unique narratives that are being told which aren't being produced. in the hegemonic capitalist core because that narrative is produced by the capitalists in the core. And so they're not going to be representative of the broader society's lived experiences and motivations. Rule, I don't know if I said anything that you can play off of that might not have even been coherent,

but I just figured I'd throw that out there and see what happens. think everything that everyone has said is pretty much spot on. The one thing for me that I've always found interesting and try to explore is the biological component of culture. Because it is such a natural in the biological sense component of human behavior. I really like the theory of someone called Randall Collins. He developed a theory called interaction rituals. I'll try to explain it. Forgive me if I bastardize it completely, but I'll do my vest. But basically, he puts forward this idea of rituals, right? But for, in this sense, a ritual is basically just defined as any practice that involves, you know,

two or more people assembled in the same place with, like, within boundaries to outsiders. So that it gives the participants a, basically a sense of who he's taking, part and who is excluded. So like this podcast at the moment, we're talking to each other. We can see each other. So we know that this conversation exists between us. At some point, it will be, you will put it together, you'll cut some stuff up, you'll make any sound, hopefully a whole lot better, and then it will be released to listeners. But at this present moment, it's the three of us. This is a ritual that's basically taking place. Another element of the ritual is that there is a shared focus, right,

where the attention of everyone is centered like on a common spectacle, right? And we all understand that our shared focus is on this spectacle. So there's a spectacle, but we all know that we are all focused. on the spectacle. It's not just like a one-off for one person. And yeah, then there's what, and what happens basically is through these ritual experiences, rituals can basically culminate in successful or unsuccessful results. When a ritual is successful, participants will usually feel a sense of, there's no real word for it, I guess, but we could try and call it solidarity.

I like to think about it as almost like this primordial matrix that that encompasses a connection, really, between everyone. And it's something that various cultures like latch onto, communism is probably the most lucid version, like lucid interpretation, not interpretation, visualization of this matrix. But you can see it in other things. even in religions like Buddhism, there's aspects of Buddhism where you can see it in philosophies, like African philosophy, Ubuntu, would be a good example where you can see this almost subconscious shared matrix.

And that makes sense, remember, because as humans, we be social creatures. We need to rely on each other in order to survive. But basically, so a successful ritual, creates this sense of solidarity, for lack of a better word, it couples the behavior within the ritual. So it might synchronize our, or basically our nervous systems, to the point of generating some sort of like emotional entrainment. I think Randall Collins uses the word emotional energy,

but it's basically like a collective effervescence that feels, that you feel where almost like your individualism is momentarily switched off and you understand your role as the greater, your role in the greater community, if that makes sense. Just please stop me if you think stop making sense. I just want to point out that not only am I sick, but it's midnight here in China. So my brain has already turned to tofu, but I'll keep going. And then another outcome is that the focus, generally. it can create almost, how would you call it?

I suppose it would sacred symbols is the thing that you focus on almost becomes sanctified in a way. I think I like to try and give an example would be if you go to a sports event, right? how something as small as numbers on a jersey can become symbolic and suddenly hold emotional power, or even religion, how a Christian cross, you know, or if we want to take it in the other direction, a swastika, just a useless symbol, can suddenly hold so much power

because these symbols become sacred for lack of a better word. And that's where it kind of then starts feeding itself back. And these sacred symbols, you know, are then, then start feeding back into this whole pattern. And then lastly, which I think is probably the most important one biologically for us, is that it strengthens this notion that those who violate the sacredness of these symbols should be denounced or punished. And these symbols then basically prevent gray areas from being. established and where you either with us or you're against us and there's no middle

ground and it's through the creation of these symbols that this basically takes place and I think that this process is what we call culture these symbols and the creation of these symbols through this ritual process is what we call culture I mean we can we'll probably get on it but just to give an example in in the suzzi context with with these rituals as well you will generally find that if a ritual is not regularly like repeated the the effect that it has begins draining so when you when you go to a sports match and your team wins you know you're happy you're very excited when you go to church and you feel the lord or whatnot you you you've got it

But then after a while, it starts, it starts draining. These rituals aren't permanent. So they have to be continuously repeated. And one of the ways that this works is that I'm trying to think of something that's not going to get everyone into trouble. I try to think of an example that's not going to get everyone into trouble. It is worth mentioning listeners, just to keep in mind that this, you know, while we're having this free-flowing conversation, This is in light of this being a very serious situation in Swazilin. So when Ruhl is saying that he's going to try to not get us in trouble, he means that in a literal sense.

So it's worth just bearing that in mind that we are being somewhat cognizant of what we're saying. So, yes, exactly. Thank you. Thank you for clarifying that. Okay. So in the sense of Swaziland, and we'll probably develop this a little bit more, but just to help pad out my explanation here. What

generally happens in these rituals is that the emotion that you go into the ritual with is what gets amplified. If you go into it feeling good, you're going to feel ecstatic. If you go into it feeling shit, you're going to feel absolutely depressed at the end. It's a lot like

alcohol, really. It just amplifies whatever you're feeling at the moment. So in the sense of Swazila, where the culture is very much focused on preserving the monarchy, the monarchy takes the central place in all these rituals. The monarchy is the sacred symbol and has to keep maintaining itself as a sacred symbol, which is where you start hearing terms like personality cult

and that, I've always liked the term personality cult, but as of late it, it gets kind of abused. So I think we need to find a new term for it. But for lack of a better term at the moment, let's just run with personality cults. But where basically the symbols that exist in Swazi society now are almost entirely focused on the monarchy. And because these symbols drain, the monarchy has to keep putting them out there to keep the emotion flowing. Because it's that emotion that give strength to supporting the monarchy. So what happens is interesting things start happening when these rituals take a turn or something goes wrong.

A while ago, so I think we will, there's obviously a lot of Swazi culture that we'll need to explain, but there is something called the Umchanga Festival, which is like the readdance. We'll probably go into more detail later. but basically where Swazi girls are shipped from all around the country to take part in essentially a dance for the king, who is, again, the spectacle. And Mkang is quite interesting because it's almost the whole country that has to show up to watch the king.

It doesn't get more visually symbolic than that, where everyone has to show up to dance and watch the single individual. And I think in 2015, one of the trucks transporting some of the girls, it crashed and a whole bunch of girls were killed. And these are young girls, teenagers. A whole bunch of girls were killed. And this was something quite interesting because remember, entering the ritual, you have, it amplifies your emotion. so that there's always this obligation to try keep everyone slightly happy so that the ritual can then amplify this mood.

And obviously having a bunch of probably underage girls wiped out in a horrific truck accident, put a damper on the mood. So there was a whole big thing from the government to re-contextualize the situation. And suddenly TV and radio and newspapers were like reframing these girls as angels and fallen heroes. And I think even one of the national newspapers just used the words martyrs for them.

So it's a tragic loss of life. But the way that they were framed was way over the top. And there was a state funeral and everything. There was suddenly this whole effort to reframe this tragedy in a positive way to maintain the positivity of this ritual.

And I think it's this self-serving cycle of rituals that we call culture. And I think that that's hopefully a decent visualization of how it works in the Swazi context. But I'm sure we'll have a whole lot more going forward. Yeah, I want to take a step back just for one second to make kind of a throwaway point. And then I'm going to turn it back to Bufanavake to get us into the next point. You mentioned that there's these kind of symbols, or I would almost say icons, and I mean in the religious sense, that these cultural things are elevated to. And you mentioned sporting events, and as longtime listeners are, I'm sure, aware, both Adnan and I are both football crazy. And when you mentioned how there's these symbols that are related to our team and how we would associate that.

that item with our identity in some ways. Turkish football is a great example. And specifically, there is the 1996 Turkish Cup. Now, I know listeners are probably just thinking this is a super esoteric and random point, but there is a point to it. The cup was between Fenerbache and Galatasaray, which are the two biggest teams in Turkey, and they absolutely hate each other,

absolutely hate each other and Turkish football is yeah remarkably fervent in their love for the sport now in this cup

Galatasaray which at the time was managed by Grav Sounes won the match and at the end of the match he ran in and they were playing at Fennerbache's stadium

and both teams are in Istanbul I should mention he runs onto the pitch with a giant Galatasherai flag and plants it right in the middle of the pitch which then of course as we said this

these symbols the stadium being a central one within the identity of a fan and these fans really associate the team with themselves they of course riot and it was a very

very dangerous situation but it's just illustrative of the point that these random things like a blade of grass in the middle of a football pitch can spark a riot if there's something associated with the enemy, which then desecrates this thing that we associate with ourselves. And then just another kind of more funny example. This is, I don't remember the exact year, 2015, 2017. There's a team in Turkish football who the fans were not so happy with the owner who they thought had betrayed them, the fans.

the owner of the club whom they supported. On the final day of the season, the team needed to win in order to avoid relegation. They didn't win. They lost. And so at the final game of the season, they end up getting relegated. So what do the fans do?

They light the stadium on fire. Now, that may seem extreme, but it is quite interesting that, you know, you could almost see a metaphor there in terms of the owner has taken the team away from us. They've taken a part of us away from us. The stadium for a long time was also part of us, you know, this body that constitutes the club. And so when the team has become something that has been taken away from us, this no longer belongs to us.

And therefore, we can light it on fire and burn it down. In any case, I'm going to get away from football for a bit because I know many of our listeners don't care, but just some things that ran into my head. But we are talking, you started to get ruled to the point of how the monarchy creates a culture for its own ends. And so, Bufanabaki, I'm going to turn to you now. Can you talk a little bit about this culture, which the monarchy perpetuates within society and what the aims of the perpetuation of that culture are?

So can you talk about some of the things that they do and what the goals of perpetuating that culture within society is. Thanks, Comrade Henry, and thanks to Comrade Drew for that biological component to culture itself. I think it makes a lot of sense with the ongoing culture or cultural practices that in existence in our country. Because with the existence of the monarchy itself, there are ideas in society that have propagated or that exist that say within a family,

a special type of family within our society, there should be one man of a special blood between two tribes or different tribes. There have many requirements that one should need to become there, but there should be one man with a special blood who becomes. comes the king to succeed his father, another one over another one. The current one is King Mzwati, Makose TV, and Jami Nipini Pinni is the name, which is the dominant surname in our society. And because of the, it's the name of, it's the surname of the monarch itself.

So it's the ruling, it's the ruling ed, so their surname also dominates. So within the Jamini dynasty or the Jamiini family, there is one special family where one man is made to be a king where we saw in 1986 he was 18 years by then being made a king then which means when he is defined as the king it means everyone who is inside the country every citizen of the country who calls himself a Swazi should be a subject should be a subject to that reigning king at that moment in time, which at this moment in time is king in Sohati. And also with the developments that are there, with having a parliament that is there in our country,

or a modern way of governing the country, but it's a dual system. They use a dual system where there is a traditional system and also the modern system or the right Roman and Taishu, it's called like that. or Tingunga system, it's where Tingunga system fall into place. But it says the traditional system of the country has more power than anything that is there, which makes the king supreme and above everything that is there, the law department, everything that is, in fact, after the 2021 unrest, he was in seclusion for some time. We never had him speak except for those he sent to those channels to try and bribe.

and also to watch the Masses of Swazant to refrain from those uprising episodes that were currently taking place at that time. But there was a speech on YouTube that is even there right now where he says everything that is in the country is for the king and everyone that is inside the country belongs to the king. And all those that are speaking for change

are people who are smoking Marwa Joanna and they are drunk of it. It's just what you literally said, but the video is still there in YouTube, which gives him that supreme power to make such a policy decision. And also, it's someone called a detector. It detects on anything that is inside the country. So that's the supreme power that he has. It means that he's the one, in fact, with the family, they have to enjoy that lavish lifestyle in the expense of the people,

because the land that is there in our country, anything that is there, it's a business or whatever, that is inside the country, belongs to the king. And for its existence, inside the country, has to show loyalty or be a subject to the king. Even those petty butchardses and butchers that are existing in our country, For them to exist in their business shares, the king normally has about 40 to 60% of any business establishment that takes place inside our account. So it's how he defines himself.

He has a share in everything that is there, but he's someone or him and his family, they are not traced to be involved in production of any form, but there are people that are there living in those. rare residents having those calls and that type which I started driving

a very expensive car just in a few years back he bought I think a fleet of around Levin Rose Royce for also his wife because he has a number of wives but I was also

I was trying to elaborate or to point out how supreme he is but then what does it mean to the people that exist in Swazzozant, in particular, their relation with the king or with each other in our society. So it says because the king has to trust them as much as it's a small country, but he's someone who's very lazy, who stays in those royal residents and he likes traveling to other countries to buy those luxurious. But I think if people can also, listeners can also go through his pictures, they can see.

those jewelleries that he wears that they are very, very expensive and also the car drives and whatever place he is, he is found to be at those expensive places. But it means that because the country, as much as it's small, it has different people living in different communities. So there should be an establishment of chiefs or people like who serves as a prefect from different surnames, I may say, in different locations, but most of those surnames are the Gaminis, which also are an extension of the monarch, because they are all in those societies

to make sure that they make all those people that are in that defined society, that they upheld or they conformed to the norms or to the traditions or to the ideas of the monarch. I think it's what Comrade Drew was saying, when it says, when you are speaking on the piratical component of culture itself, that if there is someone who acts against that certain culture or that Satan symbol, then there must be some form of punishment that is applied to that person so that everyone bends or practices or whatever that society defines at that moment in time.

So he has those chiefs that are in different locations inside the country. They are called chiefdoms because they are headed by chiefs. So they are kingdoms, then they are chiefs, which are chieftoms. But in society it's almost, I think, it's a direct translation from English itself because they are called Boshif or Dikulu. It's a native name, Dikulu, which means there are big people in society. Dikul is someone big, it means that. So they are there in society to make sure that all those people

conform to the orders or to the rules of the existing monarchy at that moment in time and also for you to qualify to be a chief, you also have to be submitted to the king, even if it has to do with bloodlines and everything, but it must be the king that approved that yes, it can

be the chief of that particular society because you undergo some particular training, you stay in the royal residence, there are those places, traditional places that are for they are insufficient to train those people or how to and how to extend the rules of the traditional system

or of the monarchical system that exists in our country to the people in different societies, especially in the rural areas where they are dominant. There are municipalities in those open areas, but there are very few open areas in the country and also much of the population, about 70% of it, lives down in the rural areas.

But what are the, the rules that are day. It says no one has an access to land. The all land belongs to the king, even if you can go through the internet and go get it and check about the land. It sells, is the Swazi nation land. The land that exists, there is the rent-china

system, the ones on least, there is the land-china system, the one that or there is the list, there is the Taki Tid and also the Swazi national land. it means that the king is the one who can think for everyone that exists in that country about the land. It is held

by the king in the trust of the nation, which means the people of those land cannot think or are not capable enough to think on how to produce or on how to lose the land. But it is only the king with that supreme power or with

that thinking capacity. Imagine a society defined like that. To think of how to use that land. So the chiefs are the prefects or the people who are the eye of the king to know how the land is utilized. So for one to get access to a land

and the land is not granted to women, it is only granted to men, which also is a patriarchal part of our society, which makes our women to be very, in fact, women in Switzerland, to be very submissive because they have a reproductive role in society. they pay children so and also that reproductive role needs them to produce food and everything

for survival of herself and a child if the father is not there but then they don't have that access to land so it means women cannot produce in this they have no legal right to access them this is only men that access them so it sells women it makes women to be more subversive to men because they want to have that piece of land. But for you to have that land, you have to go and have, and you have to marry a man so that you can get that access into them. So it makes our women so submissive. I think I'll come into that.

I think also complete rules, speak of UNFSA. I think it's one of the key features that are the that makes those cultures and traditions of the monarchy that exists in our society. most of them they rallied around women because they know the submissiveness of the women and also the position that they put women into in our society to be rallied around and be carried around tracks to be paraded to the whole world that indeed the people of the sons and are subjects of the king but I was in the point of the production itself of a society

is defined by the productive forces or the production, productive materials later day. But in the case of the productive materials which includes the land and everything in it belongs to the king.

So for one to access land has to pay a cow mostly it's a but now it has changed most of them because of capitalism and stuff. So everyone has to use

most, in fact people are changing into using money because also Kake has lost value with With capitalism at play, yeah, I may feel like that. KK has those bills, but if you pay those fines to those chiefs, or in fact, imagine if there are 100 chief zones around Swazard, that exists today.

If there's one person who pays two cows to get access into the land, it means there are over 200 people in a day that have, in fact, there are over 200 KKL that have been collected in a day. and all that clearly is to show loyalty to the king and also it is a property of the king even if it is within those chiefs that are there, but it is a proper party of the king. There is a moment where such things are taken to the king, but also the corruptness of the chiefs themselves who are there, they also use them for their personal gains and also benefits.

But also, it is not the end of any team party. It says when you are in that society, you have to follow the rules of that particular chiefdom, which are the rules of the monarch itself, that each and every time when there is a need for the chief to build a house or to have a car, to have food, to have alcohol, it doesn't work any way. It is the people who have the responsibility to take care of that person. So there is a culture or a tradition called Gushcheca, which it means, So it's something that happens on daily places where people go. If there needs a gate, there will be people that will be called around that society or

that area to go and build the cage for that person and build the house for that person. If there are those that can't go to those activities because they are at work, so they have to pay those farms because they are getting paid. So they have to pay fines that are taken to the chiefs and to the king. So the extension of the monarchy or the monarchies, It finds its roots to exist into society and also to continue to repeat those traditions and cultures, those symbols that are repeated in society. It is through those shifts to reach that population of around 1.2 million and maybe that small portion of the people who live in the open areas and also that part of the monarch itself because it's a big family that lives in the expense of the people. So for the minority to survive on daily places, it is because of the threat and the production of the people that are there in communities.

But other things that are there that are of critical value that we must notice that is used to use our people as a tool of operation is that even if the people of the president, in fact, those that are involved in work and other activities that are there. in society. In fact, I want to bring the component of education itself in our country, that even the education that is there in our society is quite such that the people of Southern should not know about the reality of the world itself. Why they should be going to school to know is to learn how to write, how to speak to your boss and how to place loyalty to the king and all those traditions that are there, such that there are specific curriculums in schools,

most in primary and secondary schools, where there are cultural causes that are day in the society, and even there are cultural songs that a student should be able, or the praises of the king, I would say that. I was doing grade six by then, a primary way, you have to pass grade six to grade seven as one of the causes that are there in grade six, but knowing how to recite the praises of the king,

I think you can see if he is in public. There are those people who are there that sings on daily places, the praises of the king, so that everyone can worship and see him as that someone who's supreme. So the education itself is such that it is quite, and it's not up to the standard of today's society because the people of Swazan should be defined by the monarchy should be defined by being subjects

and not by having a knowledge and also having a or bringing development in society. But then coming to the cultures that are there that are practices in our society and in association to the things of just the issue of umchanga itself where women around September, Oka September,

go to parade in front of the king and also has friends that he called, especially his darlings at the moment in time, which is Taiwan, and also some friends from anywhere else in the world, people that are friends with the monarch, where they come to sit, especially men, to sit and watch young women, preferably teens, especially, in fact, they specify that for one to attend that event must be a virgin, so that they may be paraded in front of the whole congregation and also with the moments that we live in right now.

It is being also televised in televisions and in other channels so that the world can see how supreme the king is and also how we use this culture and tradition to mobilize the masses of people into such cultural events where he portrays them as people that can be taken up and down at any moment in time because of his supremeness that exists in our society. But also with the backwardness of the education that is there in our society, even the production that is there in our society is the one that is backward

because number one, the society is not organized. It is in isolation of each other, individualism, it's what capitalism, It's what feudalism emphasized. And also the king being an individual himself who exists as someone who's supreme. I think it also promotes some sort of individualism. It's what in society we, in fact, amongst ourselves as the working class, is what the ideas of the ruling class are. It's to have people to be disorganized so that you can be able to exploit them in that exploitation.

because they have learned that the collection or the solitary or the mobilization of the working class together to steal their expertise and everything that they experience, it brings that collective action. I think you've met also that spark when you made that example on a football pitch that just a small spark that can be there in society. If you can look at a football stadium, you can see that they are organized. people in different sides, one for the other team and one for the other team, where there are people organized, there is likely that something like that can happen. So in our country in Sweden, I was in the point that the people are organized intentionally to make sure that they remain subject to the king.

The education that is given to them is one that is backward so that it doesn't bring them to sit down and think on how to be innovative and how to advance society. But also it keeps them in cacons on how to be a loyal subject to the chief or to the king who is there at that moment in time. And also, when it comes also to the art, to the songs that are there in our society, because also the culture that is there in our society, the songs I mean, and also the arts that is their society, it is promoted by. the freedom of the people to think, to think freely, to have those ideas, those free ideas.

But because of the change of the ideas of the ruling class that have changed our people, our people are not even free to compose songs because of how they interpret society. For a successful artist to exist in our country, it's either it has to wear or she has to wear a long skin or those traditional itas or to produce songs that uplift or that praises the king. So for you to be that artist that is recognized by the ruling government

or by the ruling king and also for you to get those gigs where you perform and get money and all those gigs or in fact those events that are day in our society, they have to have a chief or a representative of the king to make sure that all those activities that take place in that society are meant to propagate and also to uplift, in fact, to

glorify the king and make him that sacred emblem to glorify or to worship the monarch as a divine structure that exists, that should exist in our society. So even the art that is there in our society, the songs that are there in our society. In fact, there's no generation that has been free in our country to produce its own art, its own innovations, its own writings and everything and all those things that you can list ever since the establishment of the Germany dynasty in our society, because for centuries, our people has been forced, for fully be made to repeat the rituals, the traditions, the habits that glorifies or that calls the monarch as that secret or that sacred emblem or symbol in our society.

And lastly, there is that event called Inguala. It happens around December to Tanawari where it is called the prayer of the nation or the traditional prayer of the nation where everyone who is around. the country should be in that, but it doesn't happen as planned with the ongoing resistance of the people of Swazan, but it is said everyone, a man or a woman, a child or whosoever that is there now in the society, even the Taiwanese and also the imperatives that are day in our country, they have to attend that event because there are those bequered witchcraft tendencies or rituals that the monarchy still practices to show that

or to symbolize itself as something that is immortal, something that is untouchable. And even the attas that he wears that particular event in time, a moment in time are of different nature. He wears loinskin from lions so that he looks like a lion because his traditional name is called a lion or Inguyenama in society, which means is the lion. and he also rules with his mother, which is the queen mother,

who is also called an elephant or in Govrati, it's an elephant in English. So in that tradition, there are people, young men and everyone, where witchcraft is practiced in fact on daylight, such that even the media is allowed to take some parts of the event itself, but there are those secret events that the media is not supposed to take where even the king himself, he finds themselves practicing, what is it called? It's something when one sleeps, have sex with a cow. There's a tradition, it happens every year.

There are special cows, even if you can read even those literatures that are written, written by the regime itself, where they explain those cultures. as you can see, that there is the involvement of a cow and all those sacred trees and everything, where there is also witchcraft and also what Comrade Drew also explained about the issue of 2015 where there was a truck. In fact, they were using truck to collect women around the societies. In fact, they were not even dignified to be given a pass or a cumb or a text or something like that. but they are carried through around the country with those tracks that they use for construction.

It's called a tip in our country. I'm not sure what they call it in other countries, but there are those tracks that is used for scent to carry sand corner. It was that same track that fell, that caught an accident with those young women. And in fact, the number that was published of those women that died, young women that died in that year was reduced to a specific number because it was a number of women that died and also that get injured. But with what the media and also because it stayed controlled and everything. So a few numbers were confirmed injured and those who died in that event.

But it is also taken as a ritual that those people died for the king. They died as heroes because what Comrade Drew said when you spoke. of the biological component of the culture is in fact the death of all those women was taken as people who were loyal to the king and who should be glorified by everyone in society to die in a cause of worshipping and of being subjects to the king so I think I will end there at the moment but I was trying to illustrate those cultures that are there are many cultures that are there that exist even within the chiefs within by the are those major cultures that are there.

And primarily, most of them, they use women because of their subnissiveness in society. And also that they are not also included in the capitalist model of production that is in our society, effect that they are used for labor in the textile industries owned by Taiwan mostly. But most of them are unemployed and they are desperate to take trips to be out of the rural communities. are involved in production because they are the one who plow the fields. They are the one that give birth to children and also teach children how to speak, how to learn, and all those things because of the patriarchal society. So women also become of a primary target.

That's why also the king has a fleet of wives also to symbolize also that and also to make sure that he maximizes the parasitic monarchical family, and to make sure that he leaves that legacy of people who don't work, but who wake up and wait for the working class of soldiers and to put the foot on the table for them, to put money for them to have those Luxareas flights, and to be on those beautiful large and yachts and beautiful cars and where those Laxareas do run.

But I think I was to bring that component of the existing cultures and also traditions in our country. Just on the point of women and education as well to an extent, I think that that's a really nice point to talk a little bit about how Swazi culture seems as if it's this preservation of ancient tradition, but is actually to a certain extent very much a modern creation. Like you mentioned, with Gwyniama and Duvukhaki, with the king represented as the lion

and the queen mother as the elephant. Historically, in ancient Swaziland, if we can call it ancient. But historically, society was very matriarchal rather than patriarchal. The patriarchy came with colonization. initially the king guess ruled by decree absolute power but it was the responsibility of his mother to keep him in check

which meant she essentially could overrule him so the power rested with her but with the influx of colonialists and especially the discussions with government. The colonial government didn't respect her as much as they respected the king. They came with patriarchal ideas and this diminished her power. And now to the day, to this day, is quite visible in Swaziland. So you will see most buildings in Swaziland have to have the image of the king and the queen mother on the war. But the king is always positioned a little bit

higher than the queen visually positioned on the wall higher than the queen mother, which is a bit strange. You would think that they would stand side by side, but it is deliberately a few centimetre meters higher. And I think this is where there's this almost, if we can call it, creation of culture, of tradition, of a fake tradition, not really a fake tradition, but a remodeling of tradition started happening in Swaziland because one of the results of colonization, I think we touched on it in our previous chat, was that Swaziland was very much a case of benevolent neglect under the British, when it was a

protector where they didn't care too much because for them they just saw Swaziland as a labor resource. Their greater project was the mines in South Africa, and they just needed men for those mines, and those men came from Swaziland. So there was no real need to colonize Swaziland, to modernize it,

to spend too much time and resource, you know, enlightening the natives. In fact, they, you could say that they actively didn't want to enlighten anyone. They wanted to keep things

backwards because that helped them keep up this uneducated labor source that was easily exploitable, which was the encouragement of a lot of backwards ideas. Remember, when the British came into Swazilat, they came in with the idea that any modernist or progressive thinking that developed was a result of them, and any backwards thinking was a result of the Swazas. So even if progressive tendencies started emerging from the Swazis, the British would automatically lay a claim to that. And what they would do is then try and push Swazis back into their own culture, which was just backwardness, if that makes any sense.

So everything that was backwards was ascribed to the Africans, everything that was progressive was ascribed to the Europeans, despite whether or not it emerged natural. from the Africans. It was just clang, laid claim as European thinking, and they're told to, you know, just trying to dissuade them from that. I don't know if that makes sense, but hopefully. And that's where, it's a little bit fetishist, but, and that's where there's this idea of how the Europeans saw Africa and African traditions started becoming African traditions. if that makes sense. It's quite nice and quite visual in a lot of the old ephemera of the time

under the colonial regime. So the things like stamps where European understanding of symbols such as the shield representing defense or a house representing governance was used

but they basically took things took the Swazi examples and then re-reused them but in very much in a Western context so they took Swazi imagery and removed the inherent semiotic value that was attached to that Swazi imagery

and basically just haphazardly applied it to European conventions around the meaning of those symbols if that makes sense the other thing just to jump back to education was, one must remember at the time, that education was basically almost completely controlled by the missionaries. And as we, we know, there's no, there's no point going into it because I assume that everyone listening knows this, but the information resource, or

lack of a better word, of Africa, has always been carried out through spectacle rather than written text through stories, through oral narratives, through performances. That is how communication has carried through generations in Africa, not through textual, textual mediums. And what missionaries did was obviously enforced a textual understanding of the world. And not just a textual understanding of the world, but one heavily biased towards religion. a theocratic I suppose you could call

a seocratic enforcement of communication how much religion actually rubbed off on the Swazis is not for me to say but what it did was it positioned

them, it positioned in this textual realm of communication but one that was already heavily biased towards a theocratic, I suppose. I think theocratic is the best one.

A deocratic style. And Swaz's adopted ideas that were never really thought of as literal as being literal. I suppose you can think about this yourself in any religious setting where we understand

a lot of metaphors, a lot of ideas meaning something, but we don't take it literally unless it's there's this heavy theocratic push that this is the truth and what used to be analogies

especially in the sense of you know mootie which is like made in black magic medicine you know and the Sangha ormas and in youngers I suppose the English equivalent is witch doctors

and these things that were never really literally believed they existed but they were more cultural than they were solidified as fact. This textual analysis from the mission

is inadvertently ironically helped strengthen this this firm belief in the paranormal as something that is factual, which is where a lot of the monologue his power comes from. And a lot of Swazis to this day, you know,

believe that he can go invisible. You can control the weather. He can, do almost everything. He's a god, essentially a god. This diification. But it wasn't only the colonialists that created, for like the better word, the culture. But King's Oboosa, who was before the current king, he was quite clever in the sense where when taking power, we spoke a little bit about this the last time, he basically initiated a coup. Really, even though he had power, he had a coup, really, where he gave himself complete power.

And quite interesting, I think a decade before he assumed that this complete power, he brought back the Mklanga dots. So that had already basically drifted out of Swazi culture. Swazis had already started seeing this practice as being, you know, a waste of time, a little bit backwards. And it had naturally died this tradition, and he revived it, obviously as a means to, like we spoke about in the beginning, to create rituals where he can then serve as the central focus to establish himself as this figure. And this is kind of where this rebranding of Swaziland came from, where traditional elements were. bastardized or basically completely made up to create a something that looks African and looks old and looks ancient but is very much just a a weapon I mean I

mean just even it's quite funny we we've all of us have have not once said the actual name of Swazilat which is officially is fatini and that That's intentional, of course, that we have not said that. Yeah, yeah, we've all been running with Swazilat. And I think the name Eswatini is a very nice way to understand this rebranding. So Eswati is obviously just the Saswaki for Swazilat. Right? It's just the Swaziland.

But Swaziland is the colonial name. It's the European name for the land of the Swazis. You know, Swaziland's actual name, if we go by the original constitution, and I can be corrected here, is I think Kanguane, I think that's the original name. In fact, I think that was the name that the apartheid government gave for the Swazi Bantusta that they created in the region. That was always what it was originally known as. So this idea of renaming Swaziland as Eswatini to return to its roots already is a shan because that's not its roots. Its roots are not the name Swaziland. And you can kind of see this, the manifestation of this.

And it's actually something that some people might have noticed in our previous chat where I keep calling Swaziland a colonial project despite there being no real European interest in Swaziland. You know, Israel is obviously quite easy to see. Morocco is easy to see. But Swaziland, where is the

foreign occupier? The reason why I refer to Swaziland as a colonial project is because the systems that were set up in place by the colonial regimes never left. They were just

rebranded using effectively false traditional imagery and so obviously my area of interest is visuals visual communication so I like to look at this through the the visuals and I mean you can see it in a lot I think anyone even listening to this you can probably just Google it yourself look at examples like the the logo for the University of Portelaire or even the emblem of the Royal police force, the Royal Swazi Police forks. You will notice that, yeah, they all feature the shield and traditional imagery, you know, the

lion and the elephants and all the traditional imagery that you expect. But they always framed our European imagery. So the Swazi shield is always framed by the European shield. It never stands on its own. even in the, what do you call it, the coat of arms, the Swazi shield is pasted on a European shield. And I think it's such a lovely visual example of this,

how the European framework, sorry, the colonial framework has maintained. But Swazi imagery has just been pasted over there. completely losing many of the semiotics that originally exist, where even notions like a crown, you know, compared to what was originally. So Swazi kings never wore crowns. Crowns were never a visual thing. They would have feathers in their head to show a different semi-aughty things.

But that was as close to the concept of a crown as it got. But how these things have now been merged, where European colonial visuals have now been merged with what were traditional Swazi visuals, creating a whole new visual culture, one that's basically centered on European visuals, rebranded using Swazi imagery with the monarchy as the central focus in almost every aspect. Just to add in, you know, it's tempting to have, because there is typically such a demonization of African culture that there's almost a counter fetishism, for lack of a better word, and because you used it earlier rule, that develops in people that want to be anti-colonial when they think about African culture in the abstract. act. So they'll think of African culture and think, well, of course, it's not colonial culture, therefore it must be good. You know, they're at least moving back towards their roots. But of course, when we're talking about culture, we always have to keep in mind that there is a class character or a political purpose to the creation of that culture. And as Rule pointed out, particularly towards the end of his last answer, much of the culture that has been constructed in Swazzo, You know, technically Svetini, according to their new constitution, but Swaziland is not the

traditional culture. It is a almost, you could say, a faux traditional culture or a veneer of traditionalism. This is something that we didn't have the opportunity to talk too deeply about in our episodes on the Congo, but we easily could have spent more time talking to about Mobutu's period of authenticity or zyrianation, where, of course, going back, listeners, and hopefully you know this part of the history, at least, after decolonization of the Congo, Lumumba had a very small period in time where he was the prime minister, and then a series of coups were carried out that eventually Mobutu ends up in power coming up through the military. and Mobutu then after coming up into the independent Democratic Republic of the Congo

goes about this process of authenticity where he goes and changes all of the colonial names to African names he changes the dress the state of dress of government officials to African dress. He changes the traditions of the way that business is carried out to be more representative of African traditions. And the listeners, you can't see this, but I'm putting air quotes around all of these because this was in large part. Now, of course, in some of these cases, that was the original name of those cities prior to colonization. But many of these practices were again a veneer of traditionalism. With the purpose of creating a feeling amongst the people that they were creating a system for themselves that was

independent of the colonial past. The colonial past, which, you know, was very, very recent. Everybody had personal experiences with. So by constructing this, in some way, anti-colonial veneer, by shedding off all vestiges of the colonial period and constructing a new veneer of traditionalism, African culture, he was then able to bring a lot of people in who actually weren't all that pro-Mabutu at the beginning when they saw this period of time. But if you look at the structures that were actually being set up

in the DR Congo at the time named Zaire, those were neo-colonial structures. Mobutu was absolutely a friend, and in some cases a puppet of the West. He did the bidding of the West, greatly enriching himself, of course, but he, for decades, was playing by the whims of his neo-colonial masters in the West. The structures that were set up were very much representative, not of traditional African structures, but of the colonial structures. But behind this veneer of authenticity, it often wasn't acknowledged that the structures that were being set up were mirrors of colonial structures

and not of Congolese structures. Now again, we didn't talk all that much about that in the episodes about the Congo, but there you have something that is very akin to what we're seeing in Swaziland in the past several decades of this construction of a neo-traditionalism. It's It's not the traditional culture in many cases. It's the construction of a neo-traditionalism that is imposed to prop up the regime, the monarchic regime. Now, I'm going to ask another question, but Bofanabake, if you have anything that you want to say on that, feel free to also add in to what I just said and what Rule had just said while you're also addressing the next question. I want to turn our focus to cultural revolution.

So, as I mentioned, the focus of this episode is Cultural Revolution, and I'm cognizant of the fact that we're well over an hour into the conversation. We have not yet talked about Cultural Revolution. So here we go. Can you talk a little bit about the way in which the Communist Party of Swaziland is theorizing cultural revolution, particularly within the specific context of Swaziland, and also the necessity of carrying out a process of cultural revolution in order to affect political change within Swaziland.

Thanks, comrade, Henry. Just to add on what Comrade Rood said about even the issues of the pictures of the king and the queen, which are almost because with different countries, with the head of states that are there currently you usually find in offices and in shops you find those pictures of the king or of the queen and in the university

or wherever the pictures are but one thing that maybe accru is that even if you could go to a bank, maybe let me say the first national bank I think it's I think Comrade Ruhna knows FNP

as a bank. If you will enter that place with a hat on your head, then you will be forced to remove that head because you have to show respect that there is a picture of the king in that room or in that office. Then also if the king is about to go by your street or wherever he goes by. So the army forces everyone who's around that place to kneel when the king is passing and also to remove heads because the king is passing by. So there are those traditions or there are those norms that are there in society that proves how pecoate our society is and how the people of Sourdesland are made to be tools of

exploitation, as you've said, in complete true. When you speak about the colonial project, as Swazen as one of the colonial project, and also the influence of the education that was there given by missionaries, who were also on their own mission of also having laborers, a little-educated laborers to be able to outtake the task that today in the industrialization or in the mining that was taking place by then and also the industries that came into play. But the formation of the communist party itself, I think,

it is also a response to that it is a resistance of the people of Southern. against such a society or against such beque cultures. I think it is a new class of an upliftment of the consciousness of the people of Swazan itself and also the entire working class where we see communist movement dominating or being established all over the world. It chose a level of consciousness and a response to the material conditions or to the practical conditions that needs practical solutions that are there in our country. The issue of bequatness, I think Comrade Hendry also mentioned about,

I think it was Mobutu, who also Africanized also the dress code of state official or government officials in that country. But I think another point that was of critical value about the dress court and also what people were of Africa. It doesn't mean that when we say we want to bring African things or when Africans want to have their things back, in fact, as a resistance against colonialism, having one to having their traditions and culture as back,

it doesn't mean that we should be stuck in that backward society as in the context of Swazzozstan, because in Swazzozant, wearing it only skin, it shows that you are a truth in fact it is people are made to believe that you are indeed a true who doesn't get rid

of his traditions of his cultures even though even though the world is progressing but it is not something as in fact the communist part of and I think also speaks of it says even though we can have

we can repair colonialism and have our own ideas and our own cultures and tradition, our own ideology, our own politics, our own economic lifestyle, but it should be defined by development and progress, science and knowledge, I think. It's one of the critical components, I think, answering to the question you've asked about the context of the communist spiral of society, about the issue of society and also the existing society in our country. And also what we've noted is the issue of poverty that exists in our society, which is characterized in many sectors, especially when you speak of the rural areas,

as I've said, they live in Bequot society. There is poor infrastructure, poor health, poor education. And also, the agricultural practices are not those ones that are developed to the standard of the world or to the standard to meet the demands of their daily life activities. And also with the development of global warming that has affected or that has impact on the agriculture production of the world itself and agriculture, which is one of the critical pillar in any society, because it's where humans get food, medicine, clothes, and all those things that we extract from agriculture itself. But if the production of a defined society

or of sources and itself is one that is required or whether people are not even motivated to be involved in production itself because of the purchase that they get on daily basis, it's not a purchase that motivates them or that sustains their daily living. And thus, the regime is always there to collect money in Texas and in all those forms that I listed before, which push the people into extreme poverty itself.

And also, in fact, the characters of capitalism that also exist in our world, country, we will find that a peasant grows, in fact, raised correctly, in fact, they may say a cow for, maybe for 10 years, and in that 10 years, if he sells that cow, we will sell it for a very low price, and also whoever buys that cow, or the one who owns a butcher, or whosoever that would buy a cow, for economic purposes, I may say, we'll find that he makes three times or four times of the profit in a week or in

a few days. Which makes the productivity itself of the people in the rural areas because of the cultures that are there, because of the mode of production, which is I think Comritant mentioned it I think twice about the consciousness of

the people in that particular society. When there are pectoral tendencies in society so even the production of that society, the interaction, the tradition, The everyday life experiences of any society defined by equateness will have those elements of also poverty, which is one key feature that is there in our country, especially in the rural areas. And also even if you go to the open areas or in the open or poor areas where the people that,

the organization, I think, because there are this strategic commissions that the communist part of Switzerland has, where we have identified different sectors of people where they are organized in society, which includes the Uten students, the urban poor, the workers, the women, and also the peasants. But also the open poor who are forced by those poor conditions that they live in in those rural areas, which is a creation that is meant deliberately

to source out labor power, I think with the missionary education that we introduced or that Comrade Drew spoke about where the people who have to afford to move to the semi-open areas or to the open areas where they don't also have access to them because then that is more expensive for one from the rural areas to afford.

So they have to accommodate themselves in those poor houses and checks so that they are in a process to wait for jobs or in search for jobs or for other reasons that are there because it is also characterized by high rate of crimes, high rate of prostitution, high disease rates because of those conditions that are day. I think the industrial side of Swazzoan, which is Matapa, I think is one of the hotspot of HIV in our country. I think in the latest episode, I think I mentioned that Swazen was one of the leading countries, not one of what's the leading. Imagine that small

nation, that small country in the southern part of Africa, known only, in fact, it's history, because there is no history of the people of Sweden, as I've said, none of the generations of Sweden have been free after the establishment of the Jamin dynasty in our country. But it is also characterized by a high prevalence of HIV that has been there in our country, killing many of our people.

So there are also those problems which also include crime, which is one of those things that happens on daily places, which becomes norms when they are done on daily basis, especially in those ape and poor societies. And we have women on the other side, as I've said, which are very, very submissive because of their conditions that they exist in. They don't have access to land. They can't produce even that. a small scale land or the subsistence farming for them to produce something to eat or to sell. Even if, in fact, there is a law with the Swaziz traditional marriage, which says everything that is within that household, I think when Comrade Rue was speaking of matriarchy and patriarch and also after patriarchate, I think it also is something that existed in many countries.

I think, sensual respect, imagine that in Swazzo, it even exists in the 21st. where it says the man has control of everything that is inside this household, that even the wife herself is like an eldest child to the man, such that anything that is here that is within that household, if she wants to sell a chicken or she wants to sell some maize or anything that she has, she wants to serve, she cannot sell it without the approval of a man with Supreme. that which also has that institution of a family, which plays a critical road where culture is learned

and the traditions are learned of how children are brought up or a groomed into society, made boys obviously in a patriarchal mentality. Those are ideas that are they in society. Women are submissive to the men. So those are the things that are there in our country, such that women themselves, they are tools of often use

they are sexual tools they are treated as sexual tools of men's life the Omchang itself because the king there is not only the king but they amongst his regiments because they are those things that are called Emabutful I think they are most common with Shaga

probably comrades who can have that he's Emma Boutful so the most loyal the most loyal ones to the kings which are young men mostly but they are old men that are there now that go to pledge loyalty to the king they leave everything that I have

from their homes and whatever they have and go to stay in one of in fact it's one of the traditional places but it's not as as lazzar as and as the royal residence but in fact it is made it's perfect such that it is

made of classes of stage they don't wear other clothes rather than loin skin places without electricity and it is culture that they have to fetch water from the river, even how dirty that river must be, but it shows that we are a true warrior, a loyal servant of the king.

So there are those people that are there. So even though there is another interesting cultural event that is there, it happens around, in fact, February March, where it is called Bukkan, I think Marula, you know, the food, I think listeners can know, fruit as Marula. It's one of the brews that are made in our country by women where they make alcohol out of that fruit. It's a famous fruit that is there, where women are called all over the country to go into one of the rare raisin. In fact, too, it happens twice. Even this year,

the development that happened was there was a holiday that the king pronounced where it's a whole weekend of a drinking spree and women are there to parade or to bring those fruit beers to men and to whoever was there, and everyone has to come and to drink freely. And even people from all over the world, they come and drink. In fact, those that mostly are those that are friends with the king. So even in those cultures, they said the attendance of women in that culture, in fact, it is also used for men that are there that have been real to the king to get an opportunity to be impaired or to have that sexual interoperable.

course with women such that there was a video there was a viral video with allowing with allowing media to take some shots of those events where there was a young man who said he is disappointed with the event the ongoing event because he has in far yet found a woman to to to to sleep with so that's how women are in in our society characterized by the ideas of the society that we given or the society that the Damien dynasty has established in our society. But I think as the role of the communist part, or in any revolution, it is important that the cultural norms or the cultural revolution takes place to make sure that even if the Communist Party can win power or can assist the people of society to win power

changed the ruling regime, which is the Gaminidinas in our country. But it also changes the thinking or the mindset of the people of Swazan to how to define society to remove or to uproot all those bequart tendencies that have been, in fact, has been identifying people of our country as for centuries or for decades ever since the establishment of the Jermin dynasty was. they have been characterized as subjects and all those things and also not to see themselves or not to have that proper education to see people, to see themselves as people who can bring that innovation that is currently taking place in the world, people that can bring solutions

to the illnesses that are there in our country, rather than to think that there is a court that is responsible for whatever situation that is there or there is rich half that is there in society that causes all those social issues that are there in our society, or that the king is the one who is responsible for changing that society that is there in our society. And also the politics of our country itself, I think it's one of the critical things that the communist part of the president is looking at, or ever since it's a foundation, when you speak of the issue of leadership in society, how is leadership elected in our society? Yes, in almost every society

that kings and emperors have existed but society has changed from that from feudalism probably to capitalism which is a development towards which is an advancement to society in fact even capitalism is characterized that but when you look at the wealth now and how when you look at China

and other countries later than in the world and how they do things. When there is asthma disease, they solve it. When there's flats, they solve them. When there are monsoons and typhoons, they think of how best can we build better buildings to withstand all those environmental conditions. When there's issues of hunger and all those things,

how to resolve those problems? But the people of Southern are meant to think that they don't have that capacity because of the ideas and also of the leadership structures that are there in society that elect lazy people who are not able to work, but they expect other people to work and also limiting them to have that freedom to drink and to express and to associate with each other freely

and share those ideas that they have. So it is one of the critical components that the Communist Party must do in Suazan, not only in Swazin, but in the entire working class movement, globally to make sure that what we propagate or what we bring in and what we educate in society or to whoever to whatever our message is three is to change how people think and how the social production in our society is and to remove that component of exploitation that defines our society because even in capitalism that's the problem

is the exploitation of people and they are given false ideas to exist in their minds so that they may think that the problems that exist or that are better than in society are because of some supernatural things that are there in society

or because of failure of the people or the working class itself to bend or to conform to the norms or to the ideas that capitalism or feudalism promotes as I think we've mentioned about the issue of capitalism in our kind because even the education system

corporal punishment is still there in our account and if you can look at the basis of corporal punishment and how violence was instilled within the African continent itself how violence came into existence it was because of exploitation even today in our account there is that corporal punishment that exists where even if you are late for school imagine some At this moment in time, in fact, there is a, with those that have, in rural areas that have care keys, so there are different days in a week where they have to take their cake into into deep tents for ticks and everything. So you find that even, even before going to school, children have to start by going into

the deep tank, taking their cake into the deep tank and coming late into school. But even the teachers that are there, at that moment in time, when that student comes late into class, they will beat him and give that corporal punishment or that violence that changes their minds and make someone to admit or to conform into the life of a laborer or of being a slave, of being used, of being a tool that anyone can use. In fact, what we get after Cheshire is almost a complete product of what the society has been building for a long time. So the education itself has to change in our country. If not the thinking of our people is not, in fact,

if not the thinking of our people is uplifted to another level of thinking, which in fact includes to see that their monarchy that exists in our society, it's one of an explorative structures that must be abolished. And also I think with many African countries, there has been that trend of true. trying to preserve the issue of the monarchy and claiming that it is part of the traditions of the African people or it brings unity and a source of inspiration for African communities.

But I think with the existence of feudalism and monarchies in any way, in any place in the world, it has bring, exploitation, suffering, and many socialities that exist in our country. So I think one of the components that the Communist Party's he speaks of, when he speaks of the cultural revolution or revolutionizing the cultures that are day or the ideas that are day or approaching those backward ideas that have been instilled in our people for the longest time. Imagine the country has been ruled by decree for 53 years now. I think just recently April 2025, which has been 52 years since the country

has been ruled by a decree. No one makes a decision. No one has a decision. No one has a opinion except for the king and everyone who is inside that country or who lives or anything that is in that country belongs to the king, a school, a car or everything that is there belongs to Wanwen. But another thing that is there is the art and the production of things that are there. I think with the intervention of Comrade rule, I think with the project we have been doing with him with which speaks to cultural revolution on 25 December, Because on December's, the Communist Party, ever since this foundation, when people are on Christmas and all those holidays, we are usually on our summer schools,

where it's part of, it's a cultural revolution itself where there are those cultures in our society which says Christmas and, in fact, December 25 is for Christmas and for families. But the communist party at that moment in time is at school, a political school, which changes the thinking of ourselves, of the cadets, of the organization itself, but not only to it, but also, it also changes the, it is meant to change the thinking capacity of the people of Southern itself. But it was declared on, in fact, summer school 2025, that upcoming, in fact, it was announced in 2020, 24 December, that from 2025 December going forward, it will be a cultural day

for the Communist Party of Swazin, where we speak of art, where we promote our members and anyone in society who wants to share that piece of art, that piece of work. Because the history of the people of Swazan should be the history of the Stratis of the people of Swazin.

I think you cannot, with many revolutions that have taken place. There have been arts, especially which we approach to in South Africa. If you can speak of the Ujoumasekia, the Miriam Makeba and many other artists were revolutionary, in fact, the revolution itself that was taking, or the strategies of the working class, that was taking place at that moment in time,

came up with songs that were new cultures that defined our own society in our own way as free people, because the ideological part, it has to do with free thinking. So I think as the ideological work or the ideology component of the work of the Communist Party, is to do that, to change the thinking of the people of our country, to change the thinking of the people or the cadets of the organization, of the members of the organization itself,

because I think we will be laying to ourselves and to the revolution and to the people of citizens, if you can think that the ideas and the tendencies of the Pekwad system are something that can change in overnight or in a week or in two days. But we know that we are fighting those structures, is to uproot, even as cadres or as members of the communist part itself, to uproot all those tendencies that the Pequah Society has been instilling in us. But also, as another form of that, I think, thanks to Comrade Drew,

he also assisted with that teacher that he was educational in that summer school where he made a picture of another component to him, because he's good in visual art, I think, as he said, where it was one simple that we used as illustration in those classes or those sessions that we have of part of the cultural revolution or the change that we want to bring in ourselves before the revolution, during the revolution and after a revolution because whatever the working class of society or the Communist Party

can work towards in the future is not free from the ideas of capitalism or of external influence from external forces. I think we have seen the growth of communism in most countries in the world, but we've seen most communist movements in other countries losing that power or that sort of reality that they had amongst themselves. I think the World Wars that happened, the Second World War, most especially, I think it's one of the things that symbolizes that because of the influence of imperialism in our society, I think also that we want to make sure that we inculcate those new cultures

or we promote that free thing in fact as part of their ideological work within our members, within the community of our country, but also abolishing all those pequate tendencies of the cultures that are there in our country, such that even before that Inguala ceremony takes place in the country. So there are those people called demand or those of the waters which go to some place in Mozambique to collect a certain amount of water which is believed to be given up by some spirits in the sea

and some go up to the Lumara province in South Africa in a special river to collect some water to be believed to have some supernatural powers and some will go to anywhere else in the world to build all those herbs and everything. And they also go around the communities where they collect money, clothes, any form of personal belonging with everyone.

When you see them, you have to give them your clothes or something with those clothes. I use a period to be used in witchcraft because they collect that DNA of that person because it has touched the skin and everything. So they that belief, good thing, that, close have that significance in those Pequat rituals. So even those people who goes around those communities, collecting all those things,

you find that as part of the program of the Communist Party to repair all those cultures, we will find that the communities, in different communities, you will find that they were beaten up or chased away by the people. But what the regime did right now, it has deployed soldiers to do that way, such that when they come into the community, they carry guns on their hips. They have guns so that if there's something that, if they encounter some resistance from the people,

they will use those guns to repel that. But also, I was trying to illustrate that these are the things or these are the cultures that the Communist Party of the president is promoting as part of the cultural revolution, changing the consciousness of the people, are uplifting of the way that they think because their upliftment, in fact, communists are regarded as the most advanced in society.

But being most advanced, leaving the members of the party if the leaders are most advanced or they think in a working class ideology, because I think that's the key feature of communities, is a working class ideology, to identify ourselves of who are we in society, and also to see all the,

those things that are a program in our society and further to change them. But then if that's what we want to promote or the Communist Party is in a process of promoting, the ideological parts, the people of Southern should identify them, how they should identify themselves as objects of the monarchy or as people in society in a collective form that can overthrow the monarchy and establish a new society that will be defined by progress and also by science, innovation, and all those things, and also by freedom, and also the arts that we produce as an organization or that we promote our members to promote that art

that speaks to the strategies of our people, that speaks of the future that we want to see, that speaks to the aspirations of the working class, and also that speaks to the strategies that we face on daily places as a working class of our country, as a working class of our world, and how we can change that, and how they affect us on daily basis, rather than to be an artist that writes a song to praise the king

or that writes a song to praise the monarchy or the cultures of the monarchy themselves. I think there was another component that Comrade Rue had brought into me that he gave me an assignment to research on, which was the issue of caving that is there. And I was also saying because there is art that is there now as can be fine art can be soft out where there are cavings that, in fact, before the one that were left by the sands and the co-ecos, but also there is caving that is also taking place in our can. But you will find that the only place that those people that are practicing caving

that they can go and sell or that can, in fact, showcase their talent is through these cultural events where you have to cave a king, a lion, or you have to cave a queen or an elephant, you have to show a king doing one, two, three, you have to do all those cavings through wood and also some play that exists in our country. All that art that is there in our country is almost useless because it has to serve the interest of the ruling class, which is the king themselves. If they are drawers in the countries that say even where they draw in the walls,

in the streets, in wherever place where they have to draw, they have to draw the life of the ruling regime, which is the monarchy. They have to show, in fact, the relations that the king has made with Taiwan, which is currently, in fact, colonizing our country. They have to draw the king with the king of England, or the king or the queen of England, Elizabeth,

when he made Swazant that shame independence. It's what they think, is what they are meant to think, even if you open a radio station at any moment in time. In every five or ten or thirty minutes, there will be the advert that says, Swazant is the kingdom, respects the king. You open the television,

there is this song that they play before the news starts, that even podcasts forward, if Comrade Henry will make this point, Even before that Indodacta Bissom, it has to do with the king, with the monarch. Even the national anthem of the kind itself, it says, bless the king and the queen and those who hold authority of the Kant. It doesn't mention anyone or the people of Swazan themselves. Even those dominant teams in football, there is a royal Swazan police,

which is a team made by the police force in the country. There is the young buffaloes, which is a royal institution itself, which is owned by the king, the army of the king. There is the green member, which are the waters that work in prison. Everything that defines our society to collates around the king. So the existence of the Communist Party or, in fact, for us to win or to achieve our freedom, the first step is to approach all those ideas that are there in our society. And it replaced it with the working class ideology, which promotes,

collectivism and also people to think freely and have those discussions, the pace and engagement on how to change society, on how to bring art into society, on how our strategies are affecting us on daily basis and to bring solutions to those strategies as to oppose to being worshippers of the king and also to be laborers of the capitalist society that is also of an existence in our society.

I think as part of the programs of the Communist Party, and as we acquire more skills and more capacity, I think it's one of the major focus, because we understand that without changing the thinking of the people of our country, not only with the political landscape that is there in our country, but also with the norms and the traditions, and also the aspirations and the interrelations

between cadets or comrades of the Communist Party, the interrelations between people in a particular community, between the leaders of the community party with the people of local leaders or people in communities, in working areas or in any workplace in the society. Without changing that interaction, how we view each other, which is mostly the ideological part? I think it's in fact our aspect, in fact the future that we

want to see may not be possible, but it is important that at this moment in time, the communist party was able to notify and to see that and to give that great work in changing and also to bring that culture, which is a cultural revolution, changing the cultures that are day in our society and replacing them with those, in fact, progressive cultures and cultures that, in fact, promote development, science and knowledge. I think it can be that's that I can bring with the Kayserat revolution. Now, Rule is going to have the final question for this conversation. Of course, we could go much longer, but I am cognizant of the fact that it's about 2 a.m.

rule's time, and it's getting close to 9 my time. And Bufanabaki, I think it must be about 8 your time. I think you're an hour behind me. In any case, so with that in mind, I will let Rul ask the final question. But Bufanabaki did bring up an interesting point. Listeners in Swaziland, if you are listening to this episode and you did get an advertisement at the beginning that you must, you know, behave yourself and praise the king, I would be very interested to know that. So do, you know, tweet me at Huck 1995 or get in touch with me some way and let me know if that is the case. So to all of you listeners in Swazaland, I would love to hear if that's the case.

and it would be extremely ironic. But Ruel, I'm going to turn it over to you for the final big question of this conversation. So we've spoken about cultural revolution and the necessity for a cultural front in any struggle. But my question, and this is obviously an open question, is how do we actually envision a socialist Swazi art? And I mean this in the most literal sense.

how, in your mind's eye, do you picture socialist Swazi art looking, the actual physical artifact? And it's a pretty complicated question. Because Swaziland, in its current form, it doesn't really abide by, you know, the established methodologies for the creation and production of socialist art. I'll give you an example. So if we use the Soviet model, the nationally informed socialistic content, how would that look in the Swazi context? Because if we look at the methodology of national informed socialistic content, that works on, you know, Lenin's assertion that the national culture is always out of the bourgeoisie. But what that means is that in a typical manifestation of society and whatnot, it's the bourgeoisie who are the art producers,

because they are the only ones, you know, who have the time available for cultivation or the wealth available for the resources that art making requires. So art making is pretty much concentrated within the bourgeoisie. This is what we call high art, you know, high art as opposed to compared to low art, the primitive art made by the peasants. So high art is a result of the bourgeoisie class. But in Swaziland, this class, which is obviously the monarchy, don't produce anything. There's no art production happening in that regard. it's yeah it's a very illiterate bourgeoisie class so and this is is quite fascinating in

itself you know this is obviously a result of embodying all these regressive cultural traits that they that they put forward you know their power depends on the the maintaining of these regressive cultural aspects but they have come to embody these regressive cultural aspects themselves. So in this regard, things like highbrow art is not produced. And when we talk about, obviously, the culture that Swazilad has is indeed a, this combined product of the monarchy to stay in power and also British imperialism, you know, who basically supported the more backward aspects of traditional Swazi culture.

But what this means is that, first off, if we talk about culture, as you know, the visual aesthetic of nation, then this culture is already fabricated and almost commodified. Well, what we should remember is that the British colonialists who essentially started the recreation of Swazi culture, they were very worried about growing socialist movements in the neighboring countries, you know, in South Africa, Mozambique, Rhodesia. and this was mainly a result of worries that unions would nationalize the minds and nationalize the resources. So the aspects of the culture that they encouraged were essentially the anti-communist, the anti-socialist aspects. Those were the aspects of culture that were kept, whereas everything else was discarded. compared to other instances where, you know, the formula of national informed socialist content can work wherein the socialist content basically illustrates itself or makes itself known through almost as a metaphor,

and that metaphor being the national manifestation. So in like South Africa, for example, it could latch on to indigenous philosophies like Ubuntu. A much more tangible example in Mozambique. Their actual socialist art came from Macondo wood carvings, which were a traditional practice where they were wood carvings made from blackwood. and they basically looked like these little huddled masses of people but they visualized like communities

and the strength and unity and the interconnectedness and these kinds of things gelled really well with socialist principles and socialist teachings so they could be used in this metaphorical sense but in the case of Swaziland it was almost pre-thought out

that there is no metaphor to latch onto to espouse socialist principles. So I'm not entirely sure how that model, you know, can work in the Swazi context. And if you look at like the Maoist and Vietnamese takes on it, where there was this idea that artists, you know, should return to the masses because it's the masses that create the work, you know, go back to the peasantry and that's where you will learn to create art. In Swaziland, the art is only produced by the peasantry.

It never left the peasantry. There are no artists to go back and learn from the peasants because the art production is almost entirely concentrated amongst the peasants. The monarchy bourgeoisie class don't produce art. So what we can call art now, and I'm using that term a bit loosely, what we actually mean is like artisanal crafts, essentially commodities, are produced by the arguably the lowest class. Generally, it's mostly women, and they're all of what we would call the peasant class.

So there's no need to return because that's where it is. And I mean, the art that I'm talking about now is commodities essentially. It's things like wooden carvings, you know, the beadwork. There's a lot of glass blowing. But it's stuff that is only really sold to tourists. It's just a market. It's just art to be marketed. Which is, yeah, so if we had to try and, you know, implement a formula of socialist content, national form,

we'd basically just be trying to embed socialism into, market commodities which how would that work how does that manifest you know what culture is there to return to to pull from

when so much effort from imperialism all the way to this modern monarchy that has worked so hard to basically destroy any element that could be used

in the aid of socialist principles. So, yeah, that is the question. I don't have an answer for it, but it's one of the reasons why I find these talks and everything so fascinating. And yeah, I hope going forward, not only can we find some sort of resolution to this, this question, but that more ideas can emerge about just the simple act of envisioning what a socialist Swazi art would look like, because that's essentially where.

the start is, you know, as it stands, it's almost impossible to just imagine what it looks like, let alone, you know, the powerful trajectory to get there. So yeah, it's fascinating stuff. And it's, for me, it's a very profound, sad, but overall interesting area of research. Yeah, absolutely. So with that being, said with that kind of unanswerable question to the listeners being asked. I'll turn it over to Bufanabake. Comrade,

if you have any closing thoughts and then also to let the listeners know where they can find more information about the Communist Party of Swaziland. Thanks, Comrade Hendren, and thanks to Comrade Drew. It's been a fantastic session, but also

to the practical solutions to our country and also to that question that Comrade Rue has also asked about the existing cultural production in our country. I think also as the closing, I will also speak of the socialist, I think also Comrade Rue spoke of it. The socialist mode of production, I think, is what the communist party is advocating for in a country that is defined by Pequartness, the dust absolute monarch in Switzerland where people live in extreme poverty and probably because of its small size

and also of lack of that economic interest from imperialism and all those external forces but also it's a kind where we have seen one of the worst form of exploitation which is a few that is in existing which is what the world has lived a long, in fact, has, in fact, have went through a long time in most of the countries that exist in the world, but we find that there's still exist in, in that society and also

it is upon the work of the communist part and also a work upon in such platforms and that and in such podcast where ideas and also Stratis and the history of our people is also shared. But everyone in the world can also have those opinions and also know what is happening with the people of Strasn and also have those opinions and also pledge that solidarity to the people of Strasdand, which are in the strike against the monarchy and also against imperialism. But also I think as the closing, the Communist Party, I think it can be found on Facebook where it's the community party of Strasent. And also we have a Twitter page, which is CP, underscore Swazden. Then also we have a website, which is CPSSwa.org. I'm not sure of those. I think we've been having some challenges with each party.

I'm thinking that in a few months' time, I think it's something that would be. But the website is still there. It has documents and activities of the communist party of Swazzozzi. And also we are looking forward for us, for the listeners and everyone who will be following the page to see those cultural revolution episodes and clips and writings that will be posted in our page and also in all our media pages where people can find us and also in our country in the near future because the ultimate goal is to change what our society has been. what the monarchy has made our people to be,

and also what imperialism has made our people to be. I think that will be that, and thanks for every me, and thanks to the listeners for taking their time and to following this channel. And also, I think it has been very fruitful for everyone. I think I've lent it myself, too. Thank you so much. Absolutely.

It was a pleasure, Comrade Bufanabake, and I will just make this note now so that I don't forget later. Of course, if any of this conversation is useful to the Communist Party of Swaziland, you have free reign to do whatever you want with this conversation. You can chop it up. You can use bits of it. You can use the entire thing in its entirety within the party's various platforms. So whatever is most useful to you, you have the control to do so with it. Now, rule is not somebody who uses social media listeners. So if you want to get a hold of rule, Rule, you pretty much have to either go through Iskra Books, which is Rules publisher, which, of course, I'm on the editorial board of as well, or you can just get a hold of me and I can direct things to Rule on your behalf. But Rule, I would like you to give a better account of what Building a People's Art is than I did at the introduction of this episode. Do tell the listeners what that book is about. And then also, Rule has multiple very interesting book

projects in the works right now that are coming through Iskra, I don't know if you want to tease any of them. You don't have to give all of the information, but I am extremely excited about some of the projects that you've got going on. Thank you for being my unpaid personal agents. I'm very appreciative. Yeah, I really suck at selling myself. building a people's art focuses on a lot of what we spoke about today

and basically the Vietnamese model of what we can call a cultural revolution with a particular focus on this idea of Vietnameseing Vietnamifying Vietnamization however you want to say it

but essentially discovering that which is Vietnamese and the method methodology of doing this, of negating until you find what actually is. And it's, yeah, it's a collection of texts by some really incredible art theorists of the time. I try and introduce it as best as I can, but the texts really speak for themselves. And thanks to a wonderful collaboration with Witness collections. There is a whole body of some really intensely beautiful art in the book as well.

So check if cultural revolution is something that you find interesting, check it out. The other ongoing projects, one, which is the one I think Henry is excited about, I can't speak about because I've had this time. I'm excited about all of them. All of them are very interesting. but if if things work out and if everything goes to plan it will also be focused on Africa and be pretty much a a first of some much needed materials that the world hasn't had access to since ever really and then the the last project which is is kind of on an on again

off again, which is probably the fun one, is a cookbook, also with an emphasis on Vietnam. But perhaps I shouldn't tease that one too much because there's no real guarantee that the project will pull through because we have to employ a lot of resources from artists and photographers and obviously all done on a volunteer basis. So that one's always on again or again. Very interesting projects. And as Rule said, one of the projects is looking at a revolutionary project within Africa, which of course there is not nearly enough information on revolutionary projects in Africa more generally,

but there's very, very little available on this one. But I'm not going to say any more than that because, again, there are NDAs and things like that, which are being signed. But the cookbook I am also extremely excited about. And again, I don't want to say too much about it because, as we said, at Iskra, we're all volunteers and all of the projects that we do are all volunteers. So anything can happen at any time. But I do know a fair amount about that project, the cookbook project.

And as somebody who has an addiction to buying and cooking from cookbooks, the listeners have no idea how many cookbooks I have. It's something I inherited from my grandfather. who has close to a thousand cookbooks. We always joke that if the structural supports of his house ever gave out, the top floor wouldn't come crumbling down because the stacks of cookbooks in the basement would hold it up. And that's only very slightly exaggerating.

In any case, I am your target audience for that one rule. So I am hoping that it comes through. So listeners, again, Vietnam cookbook. Of course, it's an ISCRA book, so it's going to be revolutionary and content. Stay tuned, iscrabbooks.org. And just remember that in addition to our print copies, we also offer all of our books as freely available PDFs. Again, iscribooks.org.

As for me, listeners, and I guess I should also mention that my usual co-host, Professor Adnan Hussein, was not able to make it today, but you can find him on Twitter at Adnan-A-Husain. As for me, you can find me on Twitter at Huck 1995, and again, if you're listening to this in Swaziland and you got that notice from the government that you have to praise the king, do let me know. You can get a hold of me through Twitter or other methods. I'm not that hard to get a hold of, but Huck 1995 on Twitter. And you can also keep up to date with everything that Adnan and I are doing individually and collectively by following the show on various social media platforms. We're on Twitter at Gorilla underscore Pod.

That's G-U-E-R-R-I-L-A underscore pod. Instagram, Gorilla underscore History. We have our newsletter, which goes directly to your email inbox. Don't worry, it's only once or twice a month. It's not like we're bombarding you with things. But you can get that at GorillaHistory.com. Again, Gorilla with two R's. And lastly, if you appreciate the work that we do

and you would like to help us continue to make episodes like this, go to patreon.com forward slash. Gorilla History, again, G-U-E-E-R-R-I-L-A history. And until next time, listeners, Solidarity. I'm going to be able to be.