Beyond the Face Change: Steve Biko’s Call for Dignity, Unity, and African Self-Belief
Beyond the Face Change: Steve Biko’s Call for Dignity, Unity, and African Self-Belief
On the birthday of Steve Biko, political analyst Prof. Metji Makgoba reminds us that Black Consciousness was never just a protest philosophy—it was, and remains, a project of human affirmation.
As he explained in an interview with Sputnik Africa, at its core lies a simple but radical idea: Black people must define themselves, trust their own capacity, and organize from a position of dignity rather than dependency.
Biko’s insistence that Black people are fully human, ordinary yet powerful, was meant to break the psychological grip of white supremacy and restore confidence in African agency.
Makgoba highlights how Biko’s thinking extends beyond South Africa’s borders. Black Consciousness, he argues, offers a foundation for Pan-African unity in a continent still fragmented by colonial legacies and external influence.
Language, religion, and ethnicity are secondary; what unites Africans is a shared history of dispossession and a shared future that must be shaped collectively. From this perspective, African unity is not sentimental—it is strategic, enabling Africans to engage the world on firmer, self-defined terms.
At the same time, Biko’s legacy quietly challenges us to look deeper than symbols of progress. Changing leaders or celebrating diversity means little if underlying structures remain intact. True transformation, Makgoba suggests, begins when people hold power accountable and refuse to mistake inclusion for justice.
Remembering Biko, then, is not an exercise in nostalgia—it is an invitation to think boldly, act collectively, and reclaim the unfinished work of freedom.
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