I've written a post called "The Danger of Hope". It's a relatively long piece, so for those of you with less time on your hands I've summarized my arguments there into this "short" synopsis. An executive summary if you will. The link to the full article is below. Enjoy:
It's been an eventful six months. Riots in the UK, revolutions in the Arab countries, violent protests locally, councillors houses being stoned with their families inside, Malema's trust fund being exposed and of course one Mark Esterhuysen being fired from Radio 702 for a politically incorrect news report.
Signs of unrest in the minds of people if ever I saw them. People are slowly losing faith in the system and it's ability to deliver a better life for them. People are fast losing hope, and as we've seen in the Arab states and in the UK this can be a dangerous thing.
I think Mr Esterhuysen's (@MarkEsterhuysen) comments the other morning are signs of some very big and very real tensions bubbling under within our society. I won't repeat what he said on here, buy if you want to read his views follow him on twitter and follow the link to his blog. Obviously there is more to him than what I'm about to say, but taking liberties with my opinions, what I got from him was "enough with government's non-delivery, now is the time for non-pacifist anarchy."
To an extent I agree with this, but for the most part I think it's misguided, I think it's naive and it just smells of undercooked thinking. Sure, we need a change, but what happens after we overthrow the government? Add to that, whom are we directing our "non-pacifist" actions at?
The difference between fighting for freedom from racial oppression and fighting for freedom from economic oppression require two very different approaches. One hat does not fit all. Sure, the threat of violence got the apartheid government and the entitled whites of the day to back down because they knew their privilege was unfairly given. Dr Mathedimusa who lives in Sandton on the other hand won't take so kindly to the masses rising up and looting his property. He will fight back.
What then? A class war? Who wins there? No-one. It really is as simple as that. I really hope that the likes of Mr Esterhuysen who've given themselves a rare public platform use it in an intelligent manner which serves the country as a whole.
I hope that their loss of faith in society doesn't lead them along the ANCYL-esque path of prodding an angry bear. Taunting the masses into a false uprising - thinking they're uplifting themselves when actually it's all for the ideals and bank balances of a handful of individuals.
For the sake of this country, I pray that their coming words and actions are thought out, tactful and of a constructive nature. Not the type that will result in people bringing axes and cleavers to an open-heart surgery.
Link to the main article: http://ngwanamosadi.blogspot.com/2011/09/danger-of-hope.html
No comments:
Post a Comment