Burning Rebellion: More, more, more. We want more.
On the stony steps of the amphitheatre at the Amazwi South African Museum of Literature, a small gathering witnessed a piercing shriek from deep within Mother Earth.
Forget what you’re watching on BBC, ENCA, or RT. Forget what you’re reading on the Green Revolution facebook pages. Forget what the Insta vegans are displaying. Forget Davey AttenB. Whoa, ok, too far. Don’t really!
But hell’s yes, the most comprehensive and stirring and real and honest “message” was heard today from the pared-down, no-props, no-waste production and creators of Burning Rebellion. Inspired by the #FridaysForFuture and #SchoolStrike4Climate movements, this work is a passionate ecological protest that pussyfoots around no one and nothing.
There is no Planet B. So what’s your Plan B?
This is no lecture. From them or me. I don’t do all the things. I’m nowhere near a perfect reducer, re-user, or recycler. I drive and leave a petrol footprint because there’s no public transport where I live and I’m not physically safe when leaving my own footprints. I’m guilty of buying bottles – tonic for my Gs, and every so often a coke thereafter. My cats’ and dogs’ food comes in huge plastic bags. So much of ours does too. Etc. etc. etc. The list can and does go on. On the plus side (I think) our household composts and we grow our own. Veggies, ja neh. I watch the meter and the geyser. Water saving is a biggie and I started making eco-bricks. No lie – it takes effort.
Is that the problem? A little effort on our part?
I wasn’t taking notes this evening because I was caught up in the performers’ power and presence. Spinning rhymes and dropping beats; I’d buy the album! So forgive the paraphrasing and go hear the verbatim.
They say: This is not a poem. This is not a song. This is a plea. This is a war cry.
They say: SOS from The Planet. SOS from the Sea. It’s not us versus them anymore. It’s you and me.
They say: All that is legal isn’t necessarily just. JUSTICE. It’s JUST US.
The four rebels, truth-seekers, activists – people – before us are un-costumed. Not naked, silly, but their clothes are from their own wardrobes. No hypocritical waste on the unnecessary. Not when factory fashion is one of the largest contributors to pollution. Not when consumerism is consuming our lives. And they don’t want us distracted with any flash, bang, zips or zooms. They want us to focus and to listen.
Capitalism will be the end of us, they say.
We don’t need more, we need to share more. It’s time to decentralise power, they say.
Neo-colonialism is emptying Africa of her natural resources, they say.
Every swipe, every espresso, darling, every new zingy bling thing, takes us a giant leap towards the end, they say.
The End. The nihilist in me takes up a fair amount of space and argues that the planet is better off without us. Shake yourself free, Gaia! But whilst a corner of me holds thumbs for human annihilation, I’d prefer if in the interim we didn’t decimate all of the natural world and all innocent creatures big and small. If our species is to stay, Burning Rebellion is the fire under our arses we all seriously need.
Burning Rebellion is on twice more: tomorrow 28 June @ 19.00 and 29 June @ 16.00. No need to book, it’s FREE, yippee.
Credits:
Cast: Lerato Sefoloshe, Sanelisiwe Yekani, Mlindeli Zondi and Jaques de Silva.
Director: Joni Barnard AKA Missy Phaya Fly
Company: Well Worn Theatre Company
Burning Rebellion forms part of the Well Worn Theatre Activism Season NAF 2019.