More good news - the slide into the cesspit continues
I haven't blogged in my usual manner for a while, mainly because I decided to take a hiatus from confronting the all-too-real issues that drag down one's mental health on a daily basis in SA. But after a month or so of "looking on the bright side", the build-up of worrisome developments has again reached the point where I need to pour it out onto these pages, in the interests of my own mental health, that is.
SPOILER WARNING: those of you who prefer to pretend to yourselves that things are just dandy and that no news is good news, STOP RIGHT NOW. (Although maybe a peek at the very next paragraph may help you to decide if the shoe fits or not...)
South Africans, whatever else they may be, are above all, denialists. The vast majority of the white population denied apartheid, preferring to benefit from it while looking the other way. Just as the majority of those who are left here spend their days denying that things are as bad as they seem (while hiding behind their barred windows, electric fences, private security companies and refusing to venture south of Parktown, while cheating on their taxes and happily taking advantage of the perks of living in SA, like unlimited access to pirated DVDs).
Once again it's mostly white people playing the denial game. I seldom meet a black person who denies that things are really bad and getting worse. There's a charming young waitress at one of the Mugg and Beans, whose name is Faith - she's young and pretty, bright and ambitious (she wants to write a novel before she turns 30). But when my friend Roy asked her if she is a faithful person, she replied "Yes, we have to have faith everyday in this country. I have to have faith that I am not going to be hijacked or raped on my way home from work every day".
She's 22 years old. Nice place to grow up in hey?
One of the weirdest news items this week is this, which would be laughable if it didn't expose just how similar the ANC is to the Nats when it comes to fascist tendencies....
The chairman of the country's parliamentary sports committee - Butana Komphela - has recommended that should not enough black players be picked for the upcoming rugby world cup, the Springboks' passports will be confiscated. It's not even worth commenting on the obvious non sequitur involved in punishing players for being picked (sorry, logic? this is South Africa, bru, are you on acid?) It's so good to know that the people who are now running this little hotdog stand we live in share absolutely none of the despicable characteristics of the previous regime.
Democracy? Eish, what's that - oh yes, it's that Eurocentric liberal concept that really has no place in Africa.
As one French commentator responded: "You have a country that could be a world leader; instead you have one which is almost on its knees."
(Note to any denialists who are still reading: this wasn't a whining ex-South African with an axe to grind, this is how we appear to the average person in the rest of the world)
And speaking of democracy - our president has publicly stated that anyone who moans about crime in this country is a "despicable racist". Yes, that's a direct quote! The BBC was the target of his latest outburst of denialism and racist verbiage, when one of the most respected conflict reporters in the world pointed out that, statistically, it is more dangerous to live in South Africa than Iraq.
Hmm, can't let the truth be left to speak for itself - let's see what we have in our bag of tricks - oh yes, the race card - haven't played that one in a while.
(See, Mr Frenchman, you're probably also just a racist for making that comment above - if you're not insane like we are, you are a racist, mon ami. Don't worry, once you get the logic it will be easy to play the "being South African" game!)
But perhaps the most striking and sickening evidence of the ANC being the fascist Nats with black skins is their complete refusal to take any form of meaningful action on the Zimbabawe issue - because comrade Bob is their old struggle buddy, right. How in all good conscience can the ANC tolerate exactly the kind violent repression that our previous government used, without realising that they are condoning exactly what thousands of people died to get rid of - and whose deaths helped to put them in power? As they say, nothing corrupts like power - and we do so love our corruption here, don't we. Not to mention power.
And then to end a really good month, it has officially been estimated that there will be around 160 000 violent crimes committed this year in South Africa. Note the word "officially" - that means this figure is an underestimate. Oh and it doesn't count the 36,000 murders that will be committed, btw.
Phew, thank god none of us live in reality, hey?
SPOILER WARNING: those of you who prefer to pretend to yourselves that things are just dandy and that no news is good news, STOP RIGHT NOW. (Although maybe a peek at the very next paragraph may help you to decide if the shoe fits or not...)
South Africans, whatever else they may be, are above all, denialists. The vast majority of the white population denied apartheid, preferring to benefit from it while looking the other way. Just as the majority of those who are left here spend their days denying that things are as bad as they seem (while hiding behind their barred windows, electric fences, private security companies and refusing to venture south of Parktown, while cheating on their taxes and happily taking advantage of the perks of living in SA, like unlimited access to pirated DVDs).
Once again it's mostly white people playing the denial game. I seldom meet a black person who denies that things are really bad and getting worse. There's a charming young waitress at one of the Mugg and Beans, whose name is Faith - she's young and pretty, bright and ambitious (she wants to write a novel before she turns 30). But when my friend Roy asked her if she is a faithful person, she replied "Yes, we have to have faith everyday in this country. I have to have faith that I am not going to be hijacked or raped on my way home from work every day".
She's 22 years old. Nice place to grow up in hey?
One of the weirdest news items this week is this, which would be laughable if it didn't expose just how similar the ANC is to the Nats when it comes to fascist tendencies....
The chairman of the country's parliamentary sports committee - Butana Komphela - has recommended that should not enough black players be picked for the upcoming rugby world cup, the Springboks' passports will be confiscated. It's not even worth commenting on the obvious non sequitur involved in punishing players for being picked (sorry, logic? this is South Africa, bru, are you on acid?) It's so good to know that the people who are now running this little hotdog stand we live in share absolutely none of the despicable characteristics of the previous regime.
Democracy? Eish, what's that - oh yes, it's that Eurocentric liberal concept that really has no place in Africa.
As one French commentator responded: "You have a country that could be a world leader; instead you have one which is almost on its knees."
(Note to any denialists who are still reading: this wasn't a whining ex-South African with an axe to grind, this is how we appear to the average person in the rest of the world)
And speaking of democracy - our president has publicly stated that anyone who moans about crime in this country is a "despicable racist". Yes, that's a direct quote! The BBC was the target of his latest outburst of denialism and racist verbiage, when one of the most respected conflict reporters in the world pointed out that, statistically, it is more dangerous to live in South Africa than Iraq.
Hmm, can't let the truth be left to speak for itself - let's see what we have in our bag of tricks - oh yes, the race card - haven't played that one in a while.
(See, Mr Frenchman, you're probably also just a racist for making that comment above - if you're not insane like we are, you are a racist, mon ami. Don't worry, once you get the logic it will be easy to play the "being South African" game!)
But perhaps the most striking and sickening evidence of the ANC being the fascist Nats with black skins is their complete refusal to take any form of meaningful action on the Zimbabawe issue - because comrade Bob is their old struggle buddy, right. How in all good conscience can the ANC tolerate exactly the kind violent repression that our previous government used, without realising that they are condoning exactly what thousands of people died to get rid of - and whose deaths helped to put them in power? As they say, nothing corrupts like power - and we do so love our corruption here, don't we. Not to mention power.
And then to end a really good month, it has officially been estimated that there will be around 160 000 violent crimes committed this year in South Africa. Note the word "officially" - that means this figure is an underestimate. Oh and it doesn't count the 36,000 murders that will be committed, btw.
Phew, thank god none of us live in reality, hey?
Labels: ANC, crime, denialism, hypocrisy, racism, south africa, Thabo Mbeki, Zimbabwe
posted by Zapruder | 08:37
4 Comments:
I don't know how much of a denialist I am. I mean, its not like I pretend that the brown stuff isn't hitting the air distributor. It's just that I meet people like your waitress everyday and I wonder if that isn't a source of hope? I look at all that can be done and all the talent I see around me, and I want to be involved. Sure things are bad, sure things can and probably will get worse. But this is who I am. I have lived overseas. I don't make much sense there. i am reluctant to redefine myself according to a different society. So I stay, and i work, and I do wonderful creative things with wonderful creative people. And like Faith, I have faith that i won't be killed. I have faith that the work I do makes a difference, and most of all, i have faith in people like Faith and that their voices will make themselves heard when the time comes. But looking north I must admit sometimes I wonder if that will ever happen....
Actually you're one of the few people I know who's taking a realistic view i.e. acknowledging the "brown stuff" and not just trotting out cliches like "there is bad stuff everywhere / the grass isn't greener".
You realise that things will probably get worse and that we have a huge problem facing us. You try and keep your ear to the ground instead of dedicating yourself to the fine art of not knowing, which is what a frightening number of people are doing - like not reading newspapers cos they don't WANT to know what is really happening - which is ultimately simply just fear and denial.
I also find myself very uplifted by all the Faiths in this place - and that if we/they/the economy/social fabric can survive the next 10 years, the future is good. We're jsut teetering so precariously close to the brink, and it is being left to civil society to sort it all out, cos the govt calls people like Faith a "despicable racist" and are all furiously lining their own pockets with the money meant for saving the country.
The time for Faith's voice to be heard is RIGHT NOW - and the powers that be are simply not listening - cos they just don't care and will beat down anyone who disagrees with them.
I will apologise up front, this is going to make you angry and irritable, but it is how I feel, and it is my response to how you feel...
How about the Starfish principle, change a single person, make an impact on one persons way of thinking, change one persons beliefs in the morality /immorality of crime /rape/ intolerance/ hate, change one persons ideas on right and wrong, on hope and despair and the world will change for that one person.
As a nation we have lost our ability to believe in the sanctity of the single human life, we have forgotten the homeless and uneducated masses have the same value as the graduates and professionals. We need to learn to value life before anything can possibly change.
It a big problem. One person changing one person at a time through random acts of kindness and then "playing it forward" seems the only way to deal with such a mammoth mess.
Perhaps your frog can be frozen as effectively as he is boiled, a gradual reduction in the temperature, a reduction in the the passion for bad news that is our national sport, not rugby.... , a reduction in the passion to tell only the sad things, never the good, perhaps that will sooth the blisters on the poor amphibians feet.
How about, rather than hiding behind the bars and gates and alarms that you all see to need (I survive daily without any of these, blissfully happy and secure in my survival because my immediate world, while not being fenced and barred and boomed, is the city equivalent of my village. I am known and liked, I am involved in small ways with small people who I would not consider friends. I will not let the Nats win by sitting in fear sipping my coffee and feeling afraid.
Too many people, on both sides, died and were maimed or damaged in the secret places in their heads for me to treat my freedom as such a worthless commodity. It is something I fought for and I am going to use it and if I die in the process, at least I never missed a thing!
Focus on Faith, what was available to her 20 year ago, focus on our children who are growing up colour blind, focus on the fact that for every twenty bugger-ups the baby government makes, they begin to get something right. Slowly, mind, it is a mammoth remember, hard to manoeuvre....
Life is a gift, not all gifts are perfumed satin covered pillows of comfort. Some are a challenge. I for one feel up to the challenge of healing one tiny tiny patch of my country.
Thanks Anonymous - you might be surprised to find that I agree with you - except on small things like our national sport being a passion for bad news - it's more like our national sport is pretending that things are fine.
I think the only difference between your outlook and mine is that while I really do think that I try to act with kindness and respect to individuals I encounter, in the belief (which I share with you) that we can still make a difference to the lives we can immediately touch, I've kind of lost faith that the mammoth can be turned when the majority of people don't seem to think the mammoth is going in the wrong direction in the first place.
If I was hearing more of "this is ENOUGH, let's all do something", and less of "oh stop being negative, this isn't so bad, I'm proudly South African [wave the flag]" then I think I would have more faith.
Great post - thanks again - and you seem to know me, so who are you?
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