Amazon, the capitalist behemoth, takes its name from the narratives in Greek mythology of women warriors of the ancient world. Their name was later linked to the Amazon River which, as the story goes, was named after indigenous women in the region who were strong warriors, in the tradition of their Greek mythological forbears. The Amazon River itself is one of the longest and most powerful rivers in the world.
All of this is superbly ironic when considering that the Liesbeek Action Campaign is fighting that very same Amazon behemoth in Cape Town, South Africa, for the rights of a river (the Liesbeek) and alongside Khoe activists and organisations for the right to memory for Khoe people dispossessed by colonialism.
What is a behemoth? It is a beast from the biblical Book of Job, and is a form of the primeval chaos-monster created by God. We have certainly seen beastly behaviour by Amazon, who have secretly egged on the dismemberment of the Liesbeek Riverine Valley for their benefit, whilst never publicly owning up to their role in this expression of corporate power. Their behemoth partly-completed buildings now sit astride a butchered landscape that bleeds for its memory.
And the ironies continue. Goliath, as the Old Testament story goes, was a giant warrior of the Philistines killed by a sling and stone of an ordinary man, David. Judge Patricia Goliath of the Western Cape High Court has just made a ruling in support of the ordinary “Davids” of South Africa, in the form of an interdict to stop the destruction of a river and the desecration of the place of indigenous memories, until the case is thoroughly reviewed.
But Goliath in a South African context was also the name given to many enslaved people at the Cape - in the process, extinguishing their indigenous names and perhaps commenting on the size and strength of the person (whether ironically or otherwise) and the need of the ruling masters for physical labour for their farms and in their houses.
One Goliath descendant has shown the courage and intellect to challenge today’s philistines who rush around collecting crumbs from the table of the behemoth. She has boldly made a call to uphold the cultural rights of dispossessed people and for a fair and unbiased process to decide the future of this sacred floodplain.
Judge Goliath and the Amazon warrior women, in the context of today, have much in common. Because the narrative is changing - with hope for a better future.
We also received a letter of support from the Salt River Heritage Society which commended Judge Goliath’s decision as “recognition of the presence, relevance and importance of protecting the First Peoples rights and dignity.”
They went on to note that “This landmark decision restores the terrible injustices of colonial dispossession and oppression and will hopefully highlight the plight of those whose dignity and respect has been trampled upon for centuries and simultaneously induct those who unfairly judge those dispossessed into the true narrative of South Africa’s history. For this small step towards rectifying the truth we congratulate all those who have stood strong against the might of global corporations whose only concern is to create wealth for its shareholders.”
With your support, we will continue our campaign for the River Club and the entire Two Rivers Urban Park (TRUP) to be declared a heritage precinct for all South Africa.
As always, please help us fund our legal costs by contributing at our fundraising site.
Visit our website [LL3] and follow the Liesbeek Action Campaign on twitter: @LiesbeekAction.
Make the Liesbeek Matter!