There are worthwhile efforts around organising Economically around Black Conscious Pan African sub cultures.

We have moved around Think tanks, Talk tanks and now there are tried and tested examples of DO tanks and as the three happen simultaneously; our critique should also happen simultaneously as we grow and improve our actions and coherence.

Even if some of it is right out in the open for the enemy to analyse and find ways to sabotage and destroy.

The Buy Black NBSCB or National Black Solidarity Consumer Boycott led by the Way of Life Kilombo and Ps Xola Skosana is a starting point as it organises and exposes all the strengths and weaknesses of our attempts.
It heeds the long standing call for a boycott on white owned businesses and a deliberate effort at patronising only black shops and services.

The easiest way to successfully do so and the 1st hurdle we may come across is that there has to BE black owned businesses created; as we hope to increase the demand for these products and services. As in, there has to be black people creating(producing) and selling the top 10 products and services we use on a daily.

We cannot tell our sisters and brothers to buy black if there is nothing Black to buy!

Some of the solutions are being and have been attempted. We cannot and should not ignore DJ Sbu’s (Sbusiso Leope) attempt at creating Nzo (bread), Toilet paper and other daily essentials. This was a great attempt to cover the daily needs and basic necessities of Afrikans, rich and poor alike.
So is the attempt at an Energy Drink (Mo Faya) following international celebrity patterns of product development and the success of other competitors like Dragon Energy who have grabbed a large share of sales without normal or general marketing and sales techniques, and from that we can acknowledge and respects Sbu’s selling of Mo Faya in the street by himself. He is observing and applying strategy and techniques that work for other brands that may not be typical, but are successful.

Another thriving example is that of how the Vuka Darkie Life Style Market, The Soweto Arts and Crafts Fair and other smaller or less visible markets are functioning and surviving.
By creating a space that facilitates the demand for deliberately Black Conscious Pan African Producers and Consumers to come together to create SocioPoliticoCultural links on an Economic level. Where we are not only speaking African, Dressing African, Eating African but putting our money and power behind all of that. Walking the Talk.

This tries to show how to solve the 1st problem, the lack of Black products and services.

But then the 1st trap and struggle of trying to build a Black Economy is experienced; for example, some products and services can only serve the people it reaches, and the people it reaches are constricted to the shops’ location. So for me in Limpopo to buy MoFaya or wanting to go to The Vuka Darkie LifeStyle Market at Ko’Spotong is close to impossible as I cannot find MoFaya in the shops here and there aren’t any “markets in Limpopo” due to the unavailability of products, services and consumers for a Black Conscious Pan African Economy … And thus the secondary challenges like Sales and Distribution are experienced; so without the necessary capital (by both Producers and Poor Black Consumers) to create and maintain an economy the Double Trap of building a Black Economy is exposed.

Buying products from Black owned business – while important – is NOT the same as investing in Black owned businesses, to Create and Expand Black Owned Businesses.
There is a great shortage of Capital to create companies that sell the things we need on a daily basis and a shortage of Capital to grow the ones that already exist.

Therefore; we need to be here:
Invest –> Produce –> Distribute ->Consume and
Invest –> Produce –> Distribute -> Consume
..as a group.

Meaning we can do like the Indians do and come together 4+ at a time.
Or we can do like we are used to doing and bring together 4+ excuses at a time.

But yet again some of the solutions are being successfully attempted both by MoFaya and Vuka Darkie Lifestyle Market, for example the Vuka Darkie Online Store delivers Mama Kea products anywhere in the country (South Africa).

So really? How do we Establish, Maintain and Expand a Black Economy towards complete Economic Political Social and Mental Liberation of Afrika and Afrikans?
Because Whites can stay in their billion dollar Steyn estates away from our Markets and Energy drinks and still be our Landlords and Bankers. Soweto Theatre can be sold into a PnP Hypermarket tomorrow and a Black Economy can be destroyed.

With fear of being accused of sounding like a broken record. We need our Land! All real attempts can be disrupted if we don’t own the land we conduct all of our business on.

But until such a revolutionary moment arises,

The 1st thing we need to realise is; even though money facilitates the economic system and therefore nearly all aspects of our lives, Money is NOT the economy. Money is not the Economic System.

A system refers to how people ‘choose’ to organise their thoughts and behaviours…. For example blacks can decide today to occupy all white owned farms and take over them like they did in Zimbabwe and we can have a Black Economy overnight…

Therefore an economic system then refers to the systematic distribution and organised utilisation of Money. Economies exist prior to the establishment money.
So the success of a Black Economic System is dependent on how Blacks, Africans ‘choose’ to relate to each other. How we choose to spend our money. How we organise our goals and ambitions, wants and desires. The nature of the relationship between Africans,… because the most powerful weapon in the hands of white supremacy is a black mind that believes in black inferiority.

A perfect example is right where you are reading this, Vuka Darkie Mag. This publication, under the leadership of Khulani Skhosana is run with no money, budget and very little infrastructure; but with a team and partners who have dedication, commom respect and importantly complementing skill sets; skills different from our own and each other but necessary for the common goal and cause.

This model is attempted with our sister publication Vanguard Mag.

And the fast, organic and functional pragmatic growth of Vuka Darkie magazine is testament.

This is the most important ingredient to a Black Economy.
Black people who are willing to come together to create products and services that fit the wants and needs of Black people. Black People who are willing to trust the quality and work effort of other blacks and deliberately buy black owned products and services while avoiding those of our historic and current oppressors and exploiters; and also bourgeoisie blacks who are willing to shred their white masks and invest in the Young Gifted and Black Conscious sisters and brothers who are willing to show creativity, leadership and hard work to not only liberate themselves from Economic and other bondage, but to be deliberately Black Conscious and Pan African in their work, any kind of work, that is geared toward Black Love, Black Power and Black Self Determination.

Until blacks love themselves and each other, until we believe in ourselves and each other and until we trust ourselves and each other enough to pull our collective efforts together even with no realistic prospects of personal payment or gain, then and only then will we be able not only to take back our land but to run our affairs successfully and respectfully, as a powerful and wealthy people and nation.

Ask yourself; Will we team up to make babies but not team up to give these babies the economic conditions in which to grow and thrive?

We are the ones we have been waiting For.

By
Bird Kganakga
Twitter @PopeJohnBirdiii
Facebook : Thomas Black