Before I go into this I should make you aware of what is corporate and what is individual. Corporations consist of collectives. Individuals stand alone, or are collectives not under corporate law.
You may think of yourself as an individual, but you are also a corporation. How did you become a corporation? You see, this goes back to the 18th Century, with the establishment of the Birth Register. A device where the Regis (the king) ordered all his subjects' births to be "registered". The king thought of his subjects as "belonging" to him, to do with as he pleased, so he established laws, regulations and systems that kept them so.
This originated with admiralty law, where a captain of a ship was, and is, the final law in matters pertaining to his ship. Shipping is an ancient industry, and was the first to establish regulations by which its relationship with its customers, its crew and foreign countries were "regulated". This was necessary to ensure the safe passage of ship, crew and cargo across the seas.
The kings saw opportunity here and so they "adopted" admiralty law in their lands. The kings soon discovered, as the world modernised, that they too should be regulated under an international law, and so they established the United Nations, based on admiralty law. This required countries to be registered as corporations in order for admiralty law to prevail over nations.
Our country is registered as a corporation, and you, by having your birth registered in the Birth Register are subject to the law of the South African Corporation, and are also registered as a "corporation", i.e under the judicial administration of the corporation of South Africa. In reality, you therefore have 2 identities. One is the person who you are and the second is your corporate identity.
As a corporation, you have a mountain of laws and regulations with which you must comply or you are outcast from the corporate society.
Why I am writing this article, is simply to make you aware of how our individual rights, and the rights we attain by our corporate identity are significantly different.
This is particularly relevant to Africans, and us South Africans. Have you noticed how ID has become so important. You cannot participate in the corporate world unless you have ID. You cannot bank, you cannot receive parcels at the Post Office, you cannot use a cellphone, you cannot get internet access, you cannot be a member of a Close Corporation or a shareholder of a company, you cannot travel beyond the corporate boundaries of your country, unless you are a corporate who is able to provide and ID.
Traditional African rites saw the birth of a child in a different way to way the westerners saw the birth of a child. Westerners were eager to see their child's birth registered, and complying with corporate law, whereas traditional Africans saw their child's birth as a communal event under the leadership of their chief. There was no register. The child simply was, and was under the protection and nurturing of the parents, the family, the community and the chief.
The child was not corporate property (outside the community) but communal property. The meaning attached to the two are significantly different.
If we are to understand each others' cultures and the meaning of freedom, in South Africa, we should understand, and come to terms with this important historical and cultural difference in our history.
Community is particularly strong amongst black South Africans, but particularly weak amongst westernised South Africans. Whereas, corporate values are strong amongst westernised South Africans, and not easily understood by Africans.
Having two identities (corporate and individual) is what most westernised people struggle with. We are raised as corporate beings but we also have our individual identities, the person we actually are that is not corporate, and does not always agree with the laws and regulations. Whereas, Africans find it difficult to come to terms with westerners ideas about corporatism of communities.
When you are born, whether you are westernised or African, you have certain inalienable rights. You have the right to be who you really are. You have the right to the support and love of your family and community. You have the right to express yourself and create art, music and dance, within this encompassed support and love. You have the right to observe the world and to give whatever meaning you wish to give to it. You have the right to restoration of self and that which is around you; to unimpeded travels of discovery. You have the right to exercise those gifts that you have; to sustain yourself and your community, to defend yourself, and to procreate, and to preservation of your values, your life, your family and kin.
Can you see how corporate rights and individual rights will conflict with each other in South Africa?
In fact, it is creating a revolution on this planet. Why should those corporations accumulate wealth at the expense of the individual? I know the counter-arguments, but this will not satisfy the poor, who have individual rights that are being denied, who grow by numbers every day.
An understanding of our corporate rights vs our individual rights, is what is growing on this planet and our continent. Just thought you should know this so you understand what is going on. You may have to choose whether you are a corporation or an individual one day.
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