Racism, Retribution and Forgiveness

It’s exciting to see young people becoming mobilised and active in society. However, are the reasons behind this type of activism well informed?

Today, the SRC of Rhodes University along with SASCO, ANCYL, DA, YCL, NEHAWU and DASO organised a protest against racism. This was in light of Professor Jonathan Jansen’s, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Free State, decision to allow the Reitz 4 to continue their education at UFS. According to the SRC at Rhodes University, this protest was against such a decision by Prof. Jansen.

Those who were involved in the protest, I can only hope, took the time to research the matter clearly. I am in no way for any sort of racist action. However, I do not believe one should blindly follow the other without determining the facts and making a well informed decision.

If I did agree with the protest’s aims I would have been more than willing to give up my lunch time meal of a Cornish pie and chips. However, this was not the case.
Vice-Chancellor Jansen’s decision is solely based on the ideals of forgiveness and reconciliation. The charges of the Reitz 4 have not been dropped. Their case is on-going with the UFS, the Human Rights Commission and the Directorate of Special Prosecutions. By allowing these perpetrators to continue their tertiary education is an act of transformation and an attempt to emulate the actions of the men who built the country we live in today. Archbishop Desmond Tutu pointed out in a letter to Vice-Chancellor Jansen that Nelson Mandela is a man much admired today because of his ability to forgive rather than his ability to execute revenge.

A case many years ago that we cannot forget is that of Amy Biehl. An American woman who’s work is greatly respected and marvelled at the world over. Unfortunately she was brutally murdered in 1993 as an act of ‘political mob violence’. Her parents participated in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s hearing and publicly forgave these men.

Therefore, I must ask members of the student body to remember such men and women and why we revere them. It is forgiveness, rather than retribution, that will serve us well in the long term.

Ahem, Stop Standing On My Toes

Insults. Political correctness. Insultingly politically correct. Insulting the politically correct. Correcting the politically insulting. Insulting the political.

I have often wondered why my mother would clip me about the ears for impropriety. Whether I was at school singing aloud Tenacious D’s Gay Eskimo song at the age of ten, or on the dojo floor urging a team mate to tear off the testicles of an opponent at the age of 17, either way you look at it, my attention to social fiber is not very good.

It saddens me that society, with all the charm found in its ignorance, still does not like being politically incorrect. The act of political correctness only encourages one to remain a dope-fuelled government addict, sniveling when someone describes racism as dead and being white as a guilty sin. The fascinating thing remains that those who are politically incorrect don’t tend to reverse this role, they take their criticism generally quite well and continue to be as loud and rude about the subject of abortion as before.

The fact is, and always will be, that to be politically incorrect is to be a challenger of what people should be thinking about a given topic. You say abortions are necessary for the victims of rape, I say they are needed for the floozy’s in High School. Either way an abortion is the answer, but why do the reasons need to be the same? For a shining example of true political incorrectness, one need only gloss the likes of www.hayibo.com to know that there are people out there who just don’t give a crap anymore about what others tell them.

Could you Bring the Bill Please?

Over the last couple of days the African National Congress have been accused of overspending by R318 million. A number of newspaper sites have covered this story and have chosen to provide an angle of the story from the Democratic Alliance’s point of view. This bias in perspective can be seen on all the major news websites such as IOL, Mail and Guardian, iAfrica.com, TimesLive and News24.com. This is because the article about the DA’s accusations is the same article throughout the sites. The story has been taken from SAPA and used by all the news sites; this has, therefore, presented the reader of these sites with little perspective and insight into the story. What one can determine is that SAPA have maintained a biased view. There are no quotes from ANC representatives whereas the DA features prominently throughout the article.

IOL.co.za, however, provided an article that provided in depth analysis into government spending over recent months. Instead of listing the number of cars each minister has just acquired, there is discussion about state owned enterprises and bail outs involving the South African National Broadcaster and South African Airways. I prefer this angle more as it allows the reader to see beyond the R318 million that has gone to petty things such as government cars. This article provides one with a more balanced and all round approach to where the tax payers’ money is going.

The Hand Of A Woman

One Scoop, or Two?

The District 9 Naughtiness

Oh those pesky big-wig producers and their evil little racist friends! Whatever will they do next?

For those who have been living in complete isolation over the past few months, and when asked about this movie it would appear a lot of you have, our local cinema’s have been graced with a film called District 9. The premise is remarkably allegoristic, turning apartheid on its head by literally telling the story of how real aliens are received by us humans when forced to land on Earth for an as yet undisclosed reason (sequel anyone?). Oh, and it all takes place in South Africa (well, Johannesburg).

This time around the cinema critics actually took to the film on a million to one long-shot, with praise coming in from all corners of the globe with its bravery and originality. Everyone it would seem, except for those at racialicious.com.

Need I point out that this written in response to their post on just how racist district 9 was.

Yes, District 9 portrays the oppressed in an unflattering light. Yes, the only Nigerians in the film are trying to eat everything before (or after) killing it first. Yes, the oppressors are all white. And yes, it was all written and directed by an ignorant American called Niel Blomkamp.

What?

It wasn’t?

Neil Blomkamp is South African?

Get outta here!

Yup, much to the chagrin of racialicious.com, Neil Blomkamp was born and raised in South Africa, ahem, during apartheid before his family moved to Canada. Granted, his domestic touch may be influenced by foreign media, but what racialicious fail to realize is that District 9 is actually so stereotyped and out-therem (deliberately, I have read the interviews with writer/director Neil Blomkamp at empiremagazine.com) with the whole racist plot that it’s anti-racist? Understand Mother-Grandie? Also what the individual who wrote the whole article failed to realize is that the whole practice of Muthi (the eating of parts of another to gain their strength) is actually incredibly common in South Africa. I live in Durban, where there is an entire muthi market selling the limbs and innards of every living thing. So telling me that because of this aspect of the film the film-makers are racist, I would encourage whosoever writes such articles to do their research first. For fucks sakes! You can legally claim medical aid for seeing a witch doctor in South Africa!

All that I ask of these people, and unfortunately blog writers are particularly to blame, is to do your research first before making claims about countries and policies you actually know nothing about. It is our job as journalists to provide, when asked, an informed opinion. Not one that is made because you are insulted, but one which has been made because the facts you have acquired point to something else. In this instance, the writers at racialicious.com chose to believe, without justification, that elements of the film were racist whereas they were, for South Africans, a seriously hard hit home as to the problems we are facing everyday with prejudice.

The Good, The Bad and The Media

One of our fatal flaws as human beings is how attracted we are to bad news. It is most troubling to see that we as a species do not take an interest in what is good in our world and celebrate it. I would, as an anti-journalism journalist, like to point out that a great deal of our fascination with the shocking and horrific events that take place in our society can be blamed on the media.
The media have an awful habit of reducing the focus on stories about triumph and success, whilst maximising the gloomier aspects of our world. One such example that I have found that the media have treated poorly on every account, is that of Caster Semenya. The media have put all their energy into the debate over whether she is a woman or not; whereas there has been little focus on her achievements at the World Athletics Championships that took place in August. After our dismal performance at last years Olympics, one would think that the media would make more of a hype about how our athletes did in Berlin last month. But of course due to our desire to feed on the misfortunes of others, journalists have spent the last couple of weeks questioning the gender of an athlete.
Not to mention these questions around Semenya's gender have been as subtle as Michael Jackson's plastic surgery. This poor woman is a human being. All that she has done was win a race in record time for her country and as the public we have celebrated her success by attacking her looks and gender.
This poor performance from the media saddens me. What society are we living in when we value hardships and downplay success?