Johnny Clegg is one reason not to give up on South Africa

I haven’t made a particular effort to hold on to the South African part of my identity since we became Israelis but, listening to Johnny Clegg and Savuka on Rdio, his music reminds me that there are reasons not to give up on South Africa despite its substantial challenges (xenophobia, poor leadership, corruption, crumbling infrastructure and crime to name a few).

In many ways this white, Jewish artist embodied the forgotten ideal of a Rainbow Nation long before South Africa became a democratic country in 1994. Hopefully South Africa’s leadership will remember why this is such an important ideal to realize, one day.

Image credit: “JohnnyClegg Huma” by psykedelic – http://www.flickr.com/photos/psykedelic61/1444677404/. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.