Say hello to Big Brother!
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talkpoliticsI just came back from a protest downtown in Johannesburg. Yep, we also have our share of protests down here, but this one is a bit different from the OWS.
See, South Africans are particularly sensitive on the subject of freedom of speech, corruption and whistle-blowing. After all, they've lived under apartheid for generations. And just when you thought we'd be having democracy, and everything would be all right after '94, comes this.
Pre-story:
In the face of the imminent passing of the Protection of State Information Bill in parliament this afternoon, South Africans took to social networks to voice their frustration at the potential law, which opponents have promised will be the start of the end of a free media in South Africa. The bill, commonly referred to as the “Secrecy Bill,” is sponsored by the ANC majority parliament and thus expected to easily be passed, the first step to it becoming law.
Securocrats' paranoia threatens democracy
Aside from being a grievous insult to the thousands of ordinary South Africans who have voiced their protest to this bill, the accusation that these communities are being funded by foreign spies tells us everything we need to know about the ministry's concerns. Such an absurd claim reveals the paranoia that runs thick and deep in South Africa's state security apparatus.
The story breaks:
South Africa passes secrets bill, media furious
South African MPs have overwhelmingly approved a controversial media bill despite widespread criticism of it. Nobel Peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu called it "insulting" and warned it could be used to outlaw "whistle-blowing and investigative journalism".
You didn't expect something like this to happen in a country that had apartheid until 1990 and which imprisoned people for speaking out in favor of equal rights? Did you? You know, there's a nice song by Margaret Singana, which she sings in the legendary Shaka Zulu movie. It goes like this: "We are growing, growing higher and higher". But to rephrase that song,
We are sliding
Sliding from higher and higher
We are sliding
Sliding from higher and higher
Ayeyeyeyeye, ye
Aye, ayo, oh
The outrage has been huge. Yep, the general sense is that we're sliding down a path from where there could be a very difficult return, if any. The whole story goes way back, of course. President Zuma (yep, that one) had already found himself in the middle of yet another scandal a week or so ago, when his spokesman lead a shameful charge against the Mail & Guardian, forcing the newspaper to change the contents of an article which they were going to publish exposing how the speaker told outright lies during a taped hearing into corruption related to a scandalous arms deal. But instead of finding some excuse for the whole fiasco, his position was that the publication of taped evidence should be against the law (?!?), so the newspaper was breaking the law. He didn't even bother to offer anything resembling defense against the allegations of corruption against him. He just counter-attacked.
And this is exactly what the protesting against this act is about. The ANC, the party which has dominated SA politics ever since Mandela, has viciously resisted even the slightest hint of adding a "public interest" clause to this bill, which means that in the future any further evidence of corruption and lies (like in the spokesman's case) can now be classified, and then instead of the corrupt person being held accountable, the journalists would go to jail and/or be fined for simply exposing corruption that the government is trying to conceal!
If Zuma and his cronies were serious about their promises that they want to fight corruption, they wouldn't be pressing so hard to pass a bill that ultimately helps them hide evidence of corruption. Another example. A couple years ago the minister of Intelligence was implicated in fraud involving travel allowances. Surprise-surprise: not a single one of ANC's MP's have been charged or even fined about that. And hello - he's the guy who actually drafted the initial bill! WTF!?
And the sad thing is, nope, you can't just blame it on "some shitty Africans having their shitty shit in their shitty African country that's so full of shit" - no; given the similar policies that are either now being promoted or are already in place in some of the presumably "democratic" societies around the world, there's a clear and well noticeable pattern that's been sweeping throughout the West and the First World. You wonder what I'm talking about, eh? Well for example, in reality a similar bill already exists in the US. Sure, it mandates that information cannot be classified merely for the sake of stopping embarrassment. But meanwhile it also gives provisions for the declassification of information and stipulates that publishing leaked information doesn't declassify it and is therefore punishable by law. Also, we all remember the outcry against Wikileaks. They did everything possible to smear Assange as some kind of heathen demon who's there to destroy democracy and the world as we know it, thus successfully diverting the attention from the actual things he was exposing. Hillary Clinton even called him a terrorist (maybe he should get waterboarded as well?) How nice!
All that said, I can only speak about South Africa. There's no doubt, this country is sliding down a dangerous slope. Not saying it'll ever become anything like Zimbabwe, but the fact is, I'm finding more difficulties in defending it in any way whatsoever any more. When I moved here a few years ago from my home in the Netherlands, I was walking back on the steps of my father and my ancestors - he had been forced by circumstances to flee the country for the sake of his own safety and that of his family. That happened in the last years of apartheid - he had to run away because he was being under fire as he had become part of the underground resistance, using his position as a reputed white construction supervisor to travel to neighboring countries and smuggle arms for ANC. When I grew up and had a brain of my own, I decided to return here, to the very place it had all started for my family, believing that I'd help this country to become better, and to achieve Mandela's dream. Idealism was high back then. At a very difficult time when many whites were fleeing SA for all corners of the world, complaining that it was bound to go down the gutter, I did the exact opposite, and believed that no - there was hope. And you know what my dad told me as I was leaving home? "It took a generation to defeat white supremacy, if it'll take another one to defeat black totalitarianism, you better be ready to go for it!" And so I've been. My first principle has always been that, maybe it won't hurt them to hear one or two different opinions especially from inside their own party, and that's what I've been trying to do at ANCYL for years.
So maybe I could say a word or two on this whole Secrecy Bill shit. My opinion, as a white Afrikaner dude who grew up with the first-hand stories about apartheid, is that the ANC government is actually worse for its own people in many ways than the apartheid one was. Those bastards were at least honest about their crap: you knew pretty sure that if you were black, you were gonna be fucked - it was the official government policy and they were pretty clear about it. Now with the ANC though, they're keeping their own people back for their own selfish gains, using them as tools in all possible ways while promising them the stars and the Moon, and then blaming the "legacy of apartheid" for their people's misfortunes and their own ineptitude and corruption, while their people remain poor and uneducated exactly due to the corrupt, selfish ANC government in power - but they continue to knee-jerk vote for the same fuckers, being so scared of the alternative. And that's a tragedy. But if you thought that'd be any reason to give up, you'd be dead wrong. The Struggle has never really ended. It only changes form and means. And it shall continue. Amandla awethu!
See, South Africans are particularly sensitive on the subject of freedom of speech, corruption and whistle-blowing. After all, they've lived under apartheid for generations. And just when you thought we'd be having democracy, and everything would be all right after '94, comes this.
Pre-story:
In the face of the imminent passing of the Protection of State Information Bill in parliament this afternoon, South Africans took to social networks to voice their frustration at the potential law, which opponents have promised will be the start of the end of a free media in South Africa. The bill, commonly referred to as the “Secrecy Bill,” is sponsored by the ANC majority parliament and thus expected to easily be passed, the first step to it becoming law.
Securocrats' paranoia threatens democracy
Aside from being a grievous insult to the thousands of ordinary South Africans who have voiced their protest to this bill, the accusation that these communities are being funded by foreign spies tells us everything we need to know about the ministry's concerns. Such an absurd claim reveals the paranoia that runs thick and deep in South Africa's state security apparatus.
The story breaks:
South Africa passes secrets bill, media furious
South African MPs have overwhelmingly approved a controversial media bill despite widespread criticism of it. Nobel Peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu called it "insulting" and warned it could be used to outlaw "whistle-blowing and investigative journalism".
You didn't expect something like this to happen in a country that had apartheid until 1990 and which imprisoned people for speaking out in favor of equal rights? Did you? You know, there's a nice song by Margaret Singana, which she sings in the legendary Shaka Zulu movie. It goes like this: "We are growing, growing higher and higher". But to rephrase that song,
We are sliding
Sliding from higher and higher
We are sliding
Sliding from higher and higher
Ayeyeyeyeye, ye
Aye, ayo, oh
The outrage has been huge. Yep, the general sense is that we're sliding down a path from where there could be a very difficult return, if any. The whole story goes way back, of course. President Zuma (yep, that one) had already found himself in the middle of yet another scandal a week or so ago, when his spokesman lead a shameful charge against the Mail & Guardian, forcing the newspaper to change the contents of an article which they were going to publish exposing how the speaker told outright lies during a taped hearing into corruption related to a scandalous arms deal. But instead of finding some excuse for the whole fiasco, his position was that the publication of taped evidence should be against the law (?!?), so the newspaper was breaking the law. He didn't even bother to offer anything resembling defense against the allegations of corruption against him. He just counter-attacked.
And this is exactly what the protesting against this act is about. The ANC, the party which has dominated SA politics ever since Mandela, has viciously resisted even the slightest hint of adding a "public interest" clause to this bill, which means that in the future any further evidence of corruption and lies (like in the spokesman's case) can now be classified, and then instead of the corrupt person being held accountable, the journalists would go to jail and/or be fined for simply exposing corruption that the government is trying to conceal!
If Zuma and his cronies were serious about their promises that they want to fight corruption, they wouldn't be pressing so hard to pass a bill that ultimately helps them hide evidence of corruption. Another example. A couple years ago the minister of Intelligence was implicated in fraud involving travel allowances. Surprise-surprise: not a single one of ANC's MP's have been charged or even fined about that. And hello - he's the guy who actually drafted the initial bill! WTF!?
And the sad thing is, nope, you can't just blame it on "some shitty Africans having their shitty shit in their shitty African country that's so full of shit" - no; given the similar policies that are either now being promoted or are already in place in some of the presumably "democratic" societies around the world, there's a clear and well noticeable pattern that's been sweeping throughout the West and the First World. You wonder what I'm talking about, eh? Well for example, in reality a similar bill already exists in the US. Sure, it mandates that information cannot be classified merely for the sake of stopping embarrassment. But meanwhile it also gives provisions for the declassification of information and stipulates that publishing leaked information doesn't declassify it and is therefore punishable by law. Also, we all remember the outcry against Wikileaks. They did everything possible to smear Assange as some kind of heathen demon who's there to destroy democracy and the world as we know it, thus successfully diverting the attention from the actual things he was exposing. Hillary Clinton even called him a terrorist (maybe he should get waterboarded as well?) How nice!
All that said, I can only speak about South Africa. There's no doubt, this country is sliding down a dangerous slope. Not saying it'll ever become anything like Zimbabwe, but the fact is, I'm finding more difficulties in defending it in any way whatsoever any more. When I moved here a few years ago from my home in the Netherlands, I was walking back on the steps of my father and my ancestors - he had been forced by circumstances to flee the country for the sake of his own safety and that of his family. That happened in the last years of apartheid - he had to run away because he was being under fire as he had become part of the underground resistance, using his position as a reputed white construction supervisor to travel to neighboring countries and smuggle arms for ANC. When I grew up and had a brain of my own, I decided to return here, to the very place it had all started for my family, believing that I'd help this country to become better, and to achieve Mandela's dream. Idealism was high back then. At a very difficult time when many whites were fleeing SA for all corners of the world, complaining that it was bound to go down the gutter, I did the exact opposite, and believed that no - there was hope. And you know what my dad told me as I was leaving home? "It took a generation to defeat white supremacy, if it'll take another one to defeat black totalitarianism, you better be ready to go for it!" And so I've been. My first principle has always been that, maybe it won't hurt them to hear one or two different opinions especially from inside their own party, and that's what I've been trying to do at ANCYL for years.
So maybe I could say a word or two on this whole Secrecy Bill shit. My opinion, as a white Afrikaner dude who grew up with the first-hand stories about apartheid, is that the ANC government is actually worse for its own people in many ways than the apartheid one was. Those bastards were at least honest about their crap: you knew pretty sure that if you were black, you were gonna be fucked - it was the official government policy and they were pretty clear about it. Now with the ANC though, they're keeping their own people back for their own selfish gains, using them as tools in all possible ways while promising them the stars and the Moon, and then blaming the "legacy of apartheid" for their people's misfortunes and their own ineptitude and corruption, while their people remain poor and uneducated exactly due to the corrupt, selfish ANC government in power - but they continue to knee-jerk vote for the same fuckers, being so scared of the alternative. And that's a tragedy. But if you thought that'd be any reason to give up, you'd be dead wrong. The Struggle has never really ended. It only changes form and means. And it shall continue. Amandla awethu!
Next up: Ministry of Truth...
Date: 23/11/11 14:38 (UTC)Re: Next up: Ministry of Truth...
Date: 23/11/11 14:39 (UTC)Re: Next up: Ministry of Truth...
Date: 23/11/11 16:30 (UTC)http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/04/south-africa-rhino-poaching-record-high
http://bushwarriors.wordpress.com/2011/06/01/more-ties-to-organized-crime-and-corruption-crop-up-in-rhino-poaching-crisis/
I want to continue to be able to report about this.
Re: Next up: Ministry of Truth...
Date: 23/11/11 18:31 (UTC)Re: Next up: Ministry of Truth...
From:Re: Next up: Ministry of Truth...
Date: 23/11/11 20:14 (UTC)Re: Next up: Ministry of Truth...
From:Re: Next up: Ministry of Truth...
From:Re: Next up: Ministry of Truth...
Date: 23/11/11 17:36 (UTC)Re: Next up: Ministry of Truth...
Date: 23/11/11 17:45 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 23/11/11 14:40 (UTC)President Johnson...
Date: 23/11/11 17:06 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 23/11/11 14:47 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 23/11/11 15:00 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 23/11/11 15:40 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 23/11/11 16:07 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 23/11/11 20:16 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 23/11/11 15:52 (UTC)Unfortunately there's no one to save us from ourselves this time. I mean the world did a pretty fine job in suffocating the apartheid regime, which contributed to its faster downfall. Now we're left to our own devices. And that's the real test of our democracy.
(no subject)
Date: 23/11/11 16:14 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 23/11/11 16:36 (UTC)Of course he's now suspended for 5 years from ANCYL, but there's no illusion that this would somehow remove him from the scene.
(no subject)
Date: 23/11/11 16:40 (UTC)(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
Date: 23/11/11 15:52 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 23/11/11 15:55 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 23/11/11 16:03 (UTC)There was a protest here at the city parliament too. We called it Black Tuesday.
Rev. Tutu is the moral compass of the nation. His position is rather telling. He speaks what the people think. At least him they cannot silence. And if they refuse to listen to him they are in trouble. Yes it was just one battle that they won.
(no subject)
Date: 23/11/11 16:24 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 23/11/11 17:28 (UTC)(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
Date: 23/11/11 16:45 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 23/11/11 17:21 (UTC)(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
Date: 23/11/11 16:49 (UTC)Meet the new boss.
Date: 23/11/11 17:03 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 23/11/11 18:29 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 23/11/11 18:37 (UTC)talking pointsslogans!(no subject)
Date: 23/11/11 18:46 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 23/11/11 18:56 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 23/11/11 22:54 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 23/11/11 19:54 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 24/11/11 09:43 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 24/11/11 10:12 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 24/11/11 15:09 (UTC)If you're lucky you'll get through this and even more obstacles to liberty.