Monday, October 31, 2011

Lindiwe Mazibuko --- colour blind disciple of social justice

This beautiful, personable lady was interviewed by Leanne Manas on eTV this morning, 31 Oct 2011, on her success in securing leadership of the Democratic Alliance in Parliament.

Understandably she was heartily congratulated on her success, which congratulations she graciously accepted.

She was also propositioned, in countless different ways, on the issues of race, ethnicity and skin colour. That is where South Africa is to-day, after some 17 years since apartheid was deposed as government culture. Its not about her vision as leader in Parliament of the Opposition, but about her ethnicity??

As repeatedly pointed out in blog posts the national psyche of South Africa is infused with race, ethnicity and skin colour. It is a preoccupation and obsession that is eating away at the national psyche like a cancer, destroying progress towards nation building.

Because the colour “black” was posted as the central criteria for a human being to qualify for redress from apartheid disadvantage, under our Affirmative Action and other transformational models, there is now an inarticulate proposition in the subconscious mind of the nation that “Black good, White bad, Coloured/Indian/Chinese not too good”. This is the exact converse of what was at the heart of apartheid culture. 17 years after apartheid it is assumed that every Black person is disadvantaged in relation to every White person, even if such Black person is a billionaire. This has ensured that a "connected" Black elite is amassing fabulous wealth whilst the majority remain stuck in apartheid style poverty. 

The obsession has been evidenced by continual incidents of a subsisting racist culture in the corridors of power. Notable examples are Mike Stofile bitterly complaining that there was no place for Blacks in SARU after being beaten in a democratic election for the presidency of the South Africa Rugby Union by Oregan Hoskins, a Coloured. "I've been saying for four years now there is no place for black people in SA rugby and this is the final nail for black people in this country” Stofile lamented. As a Coloured Organ Hoskins had no right to oppose a Black.

Later there was the Jimmy Manyi saga, in which our chief government spokesman was shown on tape holding to the considered view that “there were too many Coloureds in the Western Cape … and that they should migrate to other provinces”. Cabinet then had to backtrack on a Bill that it had signed off on, which was designed to force Coloured migration from the Western Cape as employers would be forced to dump them in the workplace.

Despite such back tracking, the Department of Correctional Services has just been exposed for implementing a policy to give effect to the Jimmy Manyi racist doctrine. Manyi had also insulted Indians by postulating that they were “over-represented” at management level on account of their “economic influence”.

Just last week, none other than Julius Malema, flag waving populist leader of the ANC youth League, condescended to apologize for referring to Indians as “coolies”, a derogatory term. His apology sufficed. No other sanction, let alone condemnation, accrued. However he has declined to apologize for referring the Whites as "criminals" and “thieves”. Not so as regards Darren Scott, ace media sports anchor who was fired for calling a Black colleague a “kaffir”, also a derogatory term. The difference in the Malema and Scott incidents is that Scott is White and Malema is Black. As a Black person, Malema is “more equal” than Scott on our new “animal farm”, and his racist comments therefore more tolerable and unremarkable.

Leanne Manas did her job as a media journo. She put it to Lindiwe that there was a veritable deluge of comment from various Black spokespersons that she was simply not perceived as Black or Black enough! She put it in a dozen different ways, including the allegation that Lindiwe was a “coconut”, i.e., black/brown on the outside but with a “white” mentality. A long indictment from the "thinking like a black" camp was put to her. 

To her immense credit our good lady, Lindiwe Mazibuko, disregarded the accusations and declined to dignify them with any kind of  response. With the ease and grace of a person of immense emotional intelligence she simply declined to be dragged down into the pernicious quagmire of this obscene discourse and stuck to what matters in present day South Africa, i.e., the now dire needs of our people. Not once did she mention the word “black”, despite the very pointed nature of the questions put. It never appeared, for a nano second, that she would be distracted by this nonsense. Instead she spoke to the needs of our people and how she imagined that she and her party would be able to address those needs. To her, it is all about failed delivery, human misery and what needs to be done. It is all about hope for the future.

All right thinking citizens of South Africa, in particular, must salute this young lady. Not only is she educated, personable and skilled, she also has that most precious commodity, understanding. She understands that in a constitutional democracy race, ethnicity, skin colour are irrelevant. What is relevant is social justice. She understands, in particular, that you do not take the blindfold off Lady Justice and ask her to see differences in the race and ethnicity of human beings. She knows that to do so guarantees deterioration to systemic discrimination, victimization and other forms of injustice, such as xenophobia, as we have experienced in South Africa at horrendous levels.

Lindiwe Mazibuko, we salute you. You are a new brand of leader. You are refusing to turn South Africa into an “animal farm” in which some are “more equal than others”. You have understanding; understanding of the realities, understanding of human rights; understanding of social justice. You share this understanding with your illustrious colleagues Helen Zille and Patrica de Lille. It in this brand of leadership that provides hope for the future of this incredible country.

It is the hope that Martin Luther King Jr adverted to in his “I Have a Dream” speech and Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela imagined in his “Never Again” speech.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Justice --- must inform thinking

Justice (or fairness) is a word that is bandied about at all levels and is often used with great passion. We all imagine that, when we use the word “justice”, we mean what we say and say what we mean. It is also behind what we believe is right and what we think is wrong. It is fundamental because everyone will agree that, without it, life is intolerable. We don’t have to think about it … instinctively we all know that it is something we all must have … as human beings.
But do we know what justice is? Most people, when asked “what is justice?” will have trouble defining it, even though it is absolutely fundamental to human relations. I base this on actual experience in addressing human groups.
Despite this, people will enthusiastically, aggressively and even violently take a stance on what is wrong, or right, fair or unfair. We see this daily in Face Book discussions for instance, whether its about the killing of Muammar Gaddafi, the so called “land reform” in Zimbabwe, the treatment of Gays and Lesbians, the Israel/Palestinian conflict and a plethora of  other local and international affairs.
It is very frustrating to read the discussions, because they usually end the way they start, with each side still locked into the self righteous position they started with, after sometimes bitter "point scoring", regardless of what the opponent advances. The reason why parties to a debate stay locked in their positions is usually because the paradigm thinking, driving their stance, is steeped in religion, culture and/or political persuasion. Politics, culture and religion are boxes in which people find and keep themselves --- often with pride and great passion.
So we really need something that takes all of us out of our respective boxes, if any progress is to be made. These boxes can’t all be right … all of the time. After all, which box you find yourself in is usually a matter of pure chance, over which we have no control. You do not choose to be born Black. You will become a Moslem only because of where and to whom you were born. So too as regards whether you are an American or a Tswana, or Ndebele or Shona. It is all dependent on pure chance. And yet, we lock ourselves into the box in which we find ourselves in, espouse its gospel and imagine that we are right! Wow! How very silly we are. Really!
The religious box is perhaps the most perniciousReligion is handed down from generation to generation almost exclusively by parents to their children. These children embrace the religion on account of parental influence and the environment they find themselves in. None of this occurs on account of any substantive cognitive process. And yet, generation after generation accepts unconditionally that their religion is "right" to the extent regrettably of being prepared to victimize, even kill, others in its defense and/or propagation. It is the most obscene/grotesque reality that more human beings have been killed and maimed in the name of religion than for any other cause.  It is obscene and grotesque because all major religions preach peace and love of humanity. 
What we need is something that is divested of our own box; something that applies regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, colour or creed.
Lady Justice
 Might I introduce you to this lady. She is beautiful; as beautiful as we all imagine justice to be. So feel free to ascribe her the beauty that you ascribe justice. She is called Lady Justice. 
What you will notice is that she has a sword in one hand. This is because, at a certain point, justice demands that there be punishment, sometimes very severe punishment. No one disagrees on this.
You will also notice that, in her other hand, she holds a set of scales.  This is where she weighs up the dispute. When we argue with each other we are insisting on what should go into these scales. Lady Justice puts us, and our arguments, in  the scales --- and proceeds to resolve the dispute by making sure that they are in a balance – neither having more than the other. Whatever else we may disagree on, we all agree that justice only occurs if, in the end, neither has more than the other. So that is why she has the scales; to ensure this balance.
Most importantly however, we see that Lady Justice is blindfolded! She was not always blindfolded. In her original version, as the Greek Lady, Thermis, she was not blindfolded.
Originally, at the time of the Greek goddess Thermis, and her daughter Dike, there was no connection between the notion of justice and that of fairness. Justice was a matter of fate, providence or in terms of the will of the gods. So untimely death, illness (even wealth and poverty) or other misfortune was seen as God’s will, fate, providence, or just being cursed.
 However conflict and human misery, experienced over centuries, proved, beyond all doubt, that she needed to be blindfolded, otherwise there would be still no justice.  Over many centuries man came to the realization that, in order for Lady Justice to do her job properly, she needed to be blind to the racial, cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, social, political and other differences of those appearing before her.
Unless she was blind to difference there would never be justice. This realization is encapsulated in the 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration Of Human Rights, which absolutely outlaws distinctions based on status. Such differences are irrelevant to the sacred business of weighing up the disputants and their claims in her scales. Lady Justice does not see the box that you are in. 
All are equal before her. All are equal before her. All are equal before her.
The fact that you are a senior politician, or even a President, does not make your defense to a claim by a humble peasant any stronger. The fact that you are a Ndebele does not make you right and your Shona adversary wrong. The fact that you are ZANU-PF does not mean that your policy is more fair or just than that of the MDC. These “boxes” are simply irrelevant to the issue of justice, or fairness, or right and wrong.
In the result we must all agree with Malcolm X that --“I'm for truth, no matter who tells it. I'm for justice, no matter who it's for or against”.             
 “Justice and power must be brought together, so that whatever is just may be powerful, and whatever is powerful may be just". Blaise Pascal (French Mathematician, Philosopher and Physicist, 1623 – 1662”
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”. Martin Luther King (Baptist Minister)1929 - 1968
“In matters of truth and justice, there is no difference between large and small problems, for issues concerning the treatment of people are all the same”         Albert Einstein (Physicist)1879–18 April 1955
All of these statements need to be studied very carefully, considered and embraced, unconditionally . When you do, you need to first take yourself out of the box that you are in. The fact that you are Conservative or a Democrat, ZANU-PF or MDC,  Christian or a Moslem, Jew or Palestinian, Ndebele or a Shona, Black or a White .. etc ... are simply irrelevant.
You need to see your opponent, through clear eyes, simply as your equal, because Lady Justice does not see any difference between you.
Then you need to ask yourself the question. Do you love him/her as you love yourself … and/or … are you treating him/her as you would want to be treated.
 It is that simple. Really!
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