Ke Nako!

His first worldwide shout of Ke Nako! was on June 11, 2010, and has been and will be repeated unceasingly during commercial breaks of every game until the World Cup is over. At first, I was a little creeped out by it, but now, I feel the urge to repeat at the same tone and pitch as the young boy in the commercial.

The full slogan for South Africa 2010 is Ke Nako. Celebrate Africa's Humanity. This is a very fitting slogan, subtle yet direct and urgent. Ke nako translates into "It's time".

The world's gaze will be set on South Africa, and more importantly the African continent. The cradle of all humanity is having a coming out party, hoping to inspire the Western world to sympathize and understand its situation.

I will not try to delve too deep into the political circumstances that inhibit the African nations, as this is post regarding World Cup slogans. However there is no denying the disparity in standards of living between classes and in comparison to our own.



In my opinion, this year's slogan has much more depth to it than Germany's Die Welt zu Gast bei Freunden. Needless to say, the slogans both reflect the country's political context.

I would leave you with the official World Cup song "Waving Flag" by K'Naan, everyone else has played it for the last 6 months. Furthermore, it reminds me more of the call for unity in the wake of the Haitian earthquake.

Thus, I leave you with Shakira.