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"We could learn a lot from crayons; some are sharp, some are pretty, some are dull, while others bright, some have weird names, but they have all learned to live together in the same box!"

Wednesday 2 November 2011

Julius

Been thinking lots about politics in SA following last weeks ANCYL march... To start, another disclaimer, I am not hugely political and don't really understand all aspects of SA politics. But here are a couple of thoughts...

Just before the municipal elections earlier this year one of the radio dj's said that SA's will still vote along racial lines. I was quite troubled by this statement. Is that true? Do we as SA vote along racial lines? Do us whiteys just vote DA and black people vote ANC, Indians minority front... Is that true? Do we rather vote for a similar racial group rather than a group whose policies we agree with?
How many of us even know what the different parties stand for?
Do i (do we) vote and just hope there wont be a two thirds majority that will upset our status quo?

Next thought... Julius...

He scares me! And I think most white people I speak to are scared of him. Partly because he can be so openly anti- white and because some of the things he says and advocates really challenge our pale status quo.
I also think some of the things he says are purely inflammatory and attention seeking.


But is that because i am white and if some of the things he says come to pass i will be out of a country?
I havent really heard black people criticising JuJu which makes me wonder... Is my objection to him purely on racial lines? I'd like to think its not because i get uncomfortable with far right wing rhetoric too...

In writing this i am really challenged though...
  1. i need to better understand my counties politics
  2. i need to really think and pray about who i vote for- they should be the best people for the job regardless of skin colour.

3 comments:

  1. I have no doubt that Malema is an opportunistic power grabbing politician who will say anything to bring himself fame and wealth, and who has very little integrity. I have almost zero respect for him.

    That said, he has a large following. He was recently named one of the most powerful people in Africa by Time magazine. People listen to him. And those people are almost all black and poor. Who has taken up their cause? Who has demanded that the poor share in the wealth of South Africa? Malema is taking up their cause (undoubtedly because it serves his aims too).

    That's why he wants to nationalize the mines. It's not so much a well-thought out economic plan for the long term, but a way to redistribute wealth to his support base. And while I don't agree with him about nationalization, I think he has a point. How long should we allow the drastic disparity between rich and poor to exist in SA? How long should we expect the poor to be satisfied with their lot?

    The recent Occupy movement is protesting against the greed of the 1%ers - to be a 1%er in South Africa you need to be earning R32,500/month or above (my own calculations - based on the 2009 tax year - are somewhere around R24,000/month; the other figure is from a study done by economists that FinWeek got hold of). But that's just the richest 1%; most of South Africa is desperately poor. What are we doing about it?

    And yet when any calls are made to redistribute wealth (like Desmond Tutu's plea recently that white South Africans should choose to give away some of their wealth) we react with righteous indignation. How dare they?!

    This is why I listen to Malema - having to wade through a lot of BS first.

    And yes, I do think most South Africans vote along racial lines. Most whites do, anyway.

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  2. Today Malema got suspended from the ANC. Hooray! Here's hoping the experience will do him good.

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  3. Speaking of politics, check out this article on Black Tuesday: http://dailymaverick.co.za/article/2011-11-23-black-tuesday-theres-more-where-that-came-from

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