This Manifesto is a document which is of utmost relevance to the current plight of a majority of South Africa’s youth. This Rainbow nation is now confronted with a perfect storm of cataclysmic proportions, in the form of economic and social insecurity. This dilemma has very disastrous consequences, ethically as well as practically. The cost of continued exclusion of a whole Generation of youth from the economic wealth and abundance of a country far from destitute is simply the inevitable demise of the South African project.
The Youth of Southern Africa Network is first and foremost a-political, and the ideology of the YOSN is one of civic-republicanism, democratic enterprise and innovation, the immediate privatization of Universities and the future privatization of Schools, thereby refusing to align itself with the archaic ideological binaries of the cold-war and post-cold war era. These redundancies have led to Universities being turned into ideological factories, geared towards manufacturing minds, in order to turn them into products, as opposed to free agents. This legacy of commodification and late capitalism is what we the Youth have inherited, not designed, and thus it is up to us to renounce the old way of viewing human progress, and to create a new era of self-determination, and define “human progress” for ourselves, and most importantly future inhabitants.
The YOSN seeks to not be distracted by identity politics, the politics of religion, gender, culture or the hyper-racialization of South African society and propagandist media built to mislead and divide. The YOSN is guided by the virtues of civic republicanism, meaningful work, peace, security, freedom from institutionalism and bureaucracy, the inherent worth and potential of the human being, Universal Basic Income, Social Security, Decentralization, Free Health care, Democracy by the people, not political parties and of human co-operation sincerity. We do not invoke any form of exceptionalism other than human exceptionalism, and the spiritual power of autonomy.
This soon to be historic document seeks to highlight the existential responsibility for the alienated Youth of South and Southern Africa to challenge systems which no longer help to advance the cause of the present and future inhabitants of this region. The epidemic of insecurity and precarity now threatens to affect the entire Youth, including the traditionally privileged White demographic. The crisis of precarity is nothing unique to South or Southern Africa alone, as inequality, corruption and other inopportune and perfidious features of Neo-liberal capitalism have created increasing Youth unemployment on a global scale.
There is the potential threat that humanity will not be able to sustain itself for much longer if there is no hope or guarantee of material opportunities for the current young generation which would be sufficient enough to allow for the basic needs of every young person to be met. Without any real investment into the development of future generations, economic progress will be a thing of the past, and so will humanity. The Youth of South Africa, and of the world at large are now forced, willingly or reluctantly to confront a common enemy, being Global Neo-liberal institutional-ism and not automation. There is no group better equipped to deal with the challenges and opportunities of the fourth industrial revolution than a united Youth. Automation and artificial intelligence is inevitable, but poverty, plutocracy, the myth of meritocracy as well as growing unemployment need not be.
The plight of the youth is not over-population, and this should be seen as Malthusian propaganda by the older plutocrat class. The problem is the malady of flawed public policies, growing inequality, greed, failing institutionalism, corruption and a general disregard for co-operation in favor of monopoly, and it is these monopolistic and oligarchic instincts which the Youth will seek to dismantle and annihilate once and for all, because they are the embodiment of human charlatanism and error.
Power to the Network, and Power to the future inhabitants of this continent, and of the world at large.
The Contrarian Aquarian Platform 