Freedom of Expression

'The Spear' and Freedom of Expression

I’m sure some of you have heard of ‘The Spear’ painting, the painting that has become the talk of the town (or I should say, talk of the country) in recent weeks here in South Africa. Brett Murray has just exhibited a new collection of his work, one in particular that has sparked a huge amount of controversy across the country. In ‘The Spear’ President Jacob Zuma has been depicted partially naked with his, erm, gentleman’s bits, on full show. Of course Murray didn’t actually paint Zuma from life but regardless, it is all people are talking about. Murray has been deemed a ‘racist’ for his work and is believed to have painted Zuma in a negative, derogative and destructive light. In some people’s eyes, Murray is discriminating against black people, perhaps against the Zulus by exposing the president this way. People are claiming that the reason behind the work is the artist’s way of highlighting Zuma as the egotistic, sexually dominant man that he believes him to be.

If you want my opinion, I think it’s all a load of bollocks. I mean come on, do people not have anything better to talk about and worry about? Personally, I think what Murray did was undeniably controversial and perhaps slightly precarious, but in my mind he should not be receiving the treatment that he is. Fine, take the wretched picture down but why bother wasting time, money and effort in court, all over what, at the end of the day is really simply a little artistic license gone wrong?

Who knows what Murray was thinking when he painted the picture; yes maybe he does dislike Zuma (as we know a lot of people do), but hey, the president is not exactly giving people a reason to think otherwise at times. It’s not exactly hot news that the president has been known to visit prostitutes, despite having 8 wives and 20 something children. It’s this the man who said that it was OK that he slept with a HIV positive prostitute because he could simply ‘take a shower’ afterwards to prevent him catching the disease? It’s no secret that the ANC are doing quite a botch job of running a country that could be magnificent.

Let’s face it, it’s not because Zuma is black and the painter is white. It is not racism. It is a controversial painting from a man who perhaps was undertaking protest art in some form. Why are people allowed verbally express their opinions on Zuma and criticise him in articles but when someone depicts these faults through art, it is suddenly a crime. What is more, if it was the other way around, believe me, there would not be such media coverage of the story; a black man or woman can say whatever the hell they want about white people in this country because the whites have ‘oppressed’ them for so long. I don’t mean to sound negative, but I feel that if  the same level of attention was given to the real problems this country faces (crime, education, poverty springs to mind), then South Africa would be coming along far better than it is.

Despite these negatives, 2 clear positives have come out of this whole debacle. Murray has received a huge amount of publicity which will ultimately boost his career (quite clever if you ask me) and Zuma’s willy looks big. It blatantly isn't that size in real life is it?

Maddy Savitt, The EXPEDITION Project volunteer 2012