October 26 2006 at 04:07PM
By Ben Maclennan
The African National Congress orchestrated Thursday's taxi violence in Cape Town in a bid to disrupt a Democratic Alliance-led "save democracy" march, according to city mayor Helen Zille.
"The last-minute taxi strike organised on Wednesday was designed to keep (away) all of the thousands of our people who are coming here today," she told about 1000 cheering supporters outside the provincial legislature.
"The ANC and their henchmen did everything they could to prevent this march happening today, blocking roads, burning tyres, preventing buses, preventing taxis from coming in here today.
'She's getting paranoid... chasing shadows'
"We still found a way to come. This is how democracy will survive in South Africa."
Her claim was denied by ANC provincial secretary Mcebisi Skwatsha, who labelled the march a "major failure".
"The ANC rejects any insinuation that we are behind the possible disruption or that we were behind the taxi protest," he said.
He said the first thing he knew about Thursday's taxi problems was when an ANC staffer called him to say she would be late for work.
"She's (Zille) getting paranoid," he said.
"She's chasing shadows."
The "save democracy" marchers, who included supporters of the other six parties that make up Cape Town's multi-party government, were protesting against an ANC plan to change the way the city is governed, thereby stripping Zille of her executive powers.
The ANC is currently the opposition in the city, after failing to secure a majority in the local government polls in March.
Zille has labelled the move an undemocratic power grab, and says the city will take its fight to the Constitutional Court if necessary.
At the legislature, Zille handed a memorandum to a representative of local government MEC Richard Dyantyi, which called on the MEC to immediately withdraw the formal notice he has issued under the Municipal Structures Act of his intention to scrap the current executive mayor system.
"We are standing up for democracy in Cape Town despite every attempt to prevent us from doing so," Zille told the marchers, who carried posters including one hand-lettered sign saying: "We voted for Zille, not Dyantyi."
"We say the ANC must learn to lose an election... we will safeguard democracy in South Africa," she said.
DA leader Tony Leon and Freedom Front Plus leader Pieter Mulder - whose party is a member of the city coalition - also addressed the crowd.
A small group of ANC protesters joined the back of the crowd, carrying posters calling for the removal of the "Godzille monster".
One of them, ANC media official Lionel Adendorf, said he and two other protesters were pepper-sprayed by a man in a DA T-shirt, and had racial slurs hurled at them.
Earlier on Thursday, police fired rubber bullets to disperse taxi drivers who blockaded the N2 on the Cape Flats and tried to stage illegal marches to central Cape Town to protest what they claimed was harassment by law enforcement officials.
One Golden Arrow bus was burned and two hijacked, and the company reported other buses were stoned.
Provincial community safety spokesperson Makhaya Manie said mid-afternoon that calm had been restored in some areas, and that police were monitoring the situation in others.
He said there had been no official reports of injuries or damage to property, and no reports from police of arrests.
Community safety MEC Leonard Ramatlakane said in a statement that taxi operators should not think the road belonged to them.
"We will not allow that taxi operators become a law to themselves and run our city and province ungovernable," he said. - Sapa
Friday, October 27, 2006
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
posing
tourists disembark a huge bus, airconditioned with plush seating, at the foot of Company Gardens, the Slave Lodge. it is the first hot day in Cape Town, and drum beats pour out from the pathways of the old garden. the statue of Jan Smuts menaces, and i watch to see how many tourists will snap ignorant shots of this hero of conquest. across the way a man cranes his neck forward eagerly, snapping his camera at African children, posing for money, posing for food.
gunshots
There are gunshots going off
at the end of Morley Street.
It is dark outside and
the echoes are loud,
hollow and hard like
breaking ice, or metal.
Bas assures us it is a
car exhaust, revving and
popping ‘round the corner.
But we are quiet and nervous,
close the blinds and hide
behind the curtains.
at the end of Morley Street.
It is dark outside and
the echoes are loud,
hollow and hard like
breaking ice, or metal.
Bas assures us it is a
car exhaust, revving and
popping ‘round the corner.
But we are quiet and nervous,
close the blinds and hide
behind the curtains.
the hustle
Cape Town has a special vibe to it-- alive, like New York, which is what I think most connects the two places for me. Nothing about the real vibe of Cape Town is phony. Phonies don't last here. They find the reality, the duality of it, too in-your-face and leave to JoBurg, Australia or Europe.
I miss New York- the strength of the hustle. The rawness of the noises. The assault on the senses. But Cape Town has that too, the southern-hemisphere version. The colors brighter, streets dirtier, smells more volatile.
Long Street is full of hustle come midnight on a weekend. The toursits come in hordes, and the smell of exploitation is thick and uncomfortable. We pay 15 rand each and walk through the big, black-metal doors of Mama Africa towards the bar. Abakhaya, a boisterous marimba band from Khayelitsha, is mid-set and we take our seats along the red candle-lit bar. Coke bottles hang from the ceiling, casting reflective light-shadows across the walls. Andrew lights a cigarette and the strong smell of rich tobacco rises around us.
Suddenly the band is gone. The space between us and them has been filled with foreigners – German, Dutch, Korean – all come to Cape Town to dance away their white guilt, to revel in the magic of this exotic city. But not too much. Not really. (Not at all.)
We realize that the only black people in the place are serving food, music and sex. A young woman, quietly beautiful, sits just seats away from me at the far end of the bar. Her skin is soft and tight across her cheeks. Her lips are red with dark lipstick and her eyes smokey and warm. She is absent, mostly, except when the money makes her laugh, forces her to lift her drink to her lips and turn her face upwards towards his, lusty and flush with alcohol. I can't help but stare. His eyes are drooping, lids closing and I pray he will be too drunk by the end of the night to follow through. That hopefully she can just take the money and go back to her home in Crossroads or Langa or Gugulethu. That tonight she can hold her children to her breasts without the dirty reminder of white skin on hers, stealing life, conquering soul.
I miss New York- the strength of the hustle. The rawness of the noises. The assault on the senses. But Cape Town has that too, the southern-hemisphere version. The colors brighter, streets dirtier, smells more volatile.
Long Street is full of hustle come midnight on a weekend. The toursits come in hordes, and the smell of exploitation is thick and uncomfortable. We pay 15 rand each and walk through the big, black-metal doors of Mama Africa towards the bar. Abakhaya, a boisterous marimba band from Khayelitsha, is mid-set and we take our seats along the red candle-lit bar. Coke bottles hang from the ceiling, casting reflective light-shadows across the walls. Andrew lights a cigarette and the strong smell of rich tobacco rises around us.
Suddenly the band is gone. The space between us and them has been filled with foreigners – German, Dutch, Korean – all come to Cape Town to dance away their white guilt, to revel in the magic of this exotic city. But not too much. Not really. (Not at all.)
We realize that the only black people in the place are serving food, music and sex. A young woman, quietly beautiful, sits just seats away from me at the far end of the bar. Her skin is soft and tight across her cheeks. Her lips are red with dark lipstick and her eyes smokey and warm. She is absent, mostly, except when the money makes her laugh, forces her to lift her drink to her lips and turn her face upwards towards his, lusty and flush with alcohol. I can't help but stare. His eyes are drooping, lids closing and I pray he will be too drunk by the end of the night to follow through. That hopefully she can just take the money and go back to her home in Crossroads or Langa or Gugulethu. That tonight she can hold her children to her breasts without the dirty reminder of white skin on hers, stealing life, conquering soul.
la malegria de manu
i've been listening to a lot of Manu Chao recently... it's beautiful stuff, really. and to be listening the melody of the spanish language again is really magical. many of his songs are very political in nature, but that kind of utopian, idealistic political that we activists love to maintain. he's coined the word "malegria," which he describes as being 'a kind of sadness you can only fight with laughter. a painful happiness.' this is how we deal with life, isnt it? by laughing through the pain... by wiping away the tears, getting back up onto our feet, putting that smile back on and going out there to serve & to make the world a better place
solo voy con mi pena
sola va mi condena
correr es mi destino
para burlar la ley
perdido en el corazon
de la grande babylon
me dicen el clandestino
por no llevar papel
pa una ciudad del norte
yo me fui a trabajar
mi vida la deje
entre ceuta y gibraltar
soy una raya en el mar
fantasma en la ciudad
mi vida va prohibida
dice la autoridad
-Manu
solo voy con mi pena
sola va mi condena
correr es mi destino
para burlar la ley
perdido en el corazon
de la grande babylon
me dicen el clandestino
por no llevar papel
pa una ciudad del norte
yo me fui a trabajar
mi vida la deje
entre ceuta y gibraltar
soy una raya en el mar
fantasma en la ciudad
mi vida va prohibida
dice la autoridad
-Manu
Archbishop Tutu speaks of Biko
Here are some quotes from Archbishop Desmond Tutu at the 7th Steve Biko Memorial Lecutre, Sept 26, 2006 at Univ of Cape Town
"extraordinary greatness is measured by how much a person has served others"
"it was fun, painful fun, but fun" (referring to participation in the struggle against apartheid)
"black consciousness did not finish the work it set out to do"
"perhaps we did not realize how apartheid damaged us; that we have lost our sense of right and wrong"
"it seems as if we have perverted our freedom"
"now we have an obligation to obey the laws set out by our elected government"
...to respect ourselves...to respect others.
"the best memorial to Steve Biko would be a country where everyone respects themselves and has a positive self image and identity"
take seriously the cry of the coloured community!
take seriously the danger of ethnic strife and 'ethno-cracies'!
take seriously the problem of xenophobia!
and be sensitive towards issues of memorialisation.
"We, South Africans, are a scintillating success waiting to happen."
"extraordinary greatness is measured by how much a person has served others"
"it was fun, painful fun, but fun" (referring to participation in the struggle against apartheid)
"black consciousness did not finish the work it set out to do"
"perhaps we did not realize how apartheid damaged us; that we have lost our sense of right and wrong"
"it seems as if we have perverted our freedom"
"now we have an obligation to obey the laws set out by our elected government"
...to respect ourselves...to respect others.
"the best memorial to Steve Biko would be a country where everyone respects themselves and has a positive self image and identity"
take seriously the cry of the coloured community!
take seriously the danger of ethnic strife and 'ethno-cracies'!
take seriously the problem of xenophobia!
and be sensitive towards issues of memorialisation.
"We, South Africans, are a scintillating success waiting to happen."
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Margaret Atwood
found this on Katee's myspace page... a beautiful verse from a poem by Margaret Atwood. Just wanted to share it
I would like to be the air
that inhabits you for a moment
only. I would like to be that unnoticed
& that necessary.
From "Variation on the Word Sleep" by Margaret Atwood
... a very interesting way to think of one's self. either as a part of a relationship, or a part of the world as a whole, which is how i like to take it. to play a vital role, but with the utmost humility and purely for others. that is what to strive for.
I would like to be the air
that inhabits you for a moment
only. I would like to be that unnoticed
& that necessary.
From "Variation on the Word Sleep" by Margaret Atwood
... a very interesting way to think of one's self. either as a part of a relationship, or a part of the world as a whole, which is how i like to take it. to play a vital role, but with the utmost humility and purely for others. that is what to strive for.
Monday, October 02, 2006
The politics of reality
decided that this email i sent to aaron was worth other people reading as well....
so, yeah, i was reading this article in the newspaper today about ex MK and APLA combatants who are now illegal arms dealers in many of the townships, particularly in the Joburg area. craziness. they are selling AK 47s and stuff that were used during the struggle and are left over now. of course now they aren't being used for any political struggle, but instead for ppl who are starving and poor and decide to take up arms against society as criminals in order to survive. it's really nuts. south africa is a fascinating, and sometimes terrifying, country. there are so many issues in the air, and so many things that need to be solved and really analyzed in some very different and new way, because it is beyond obvious that the old ways of doing things are really not working. and that if we dont do something, the future will become a very, very scary thing. even with this guy who was elected head of the PAC (Pan African Congress) ... (Letlapa Mphalele). i totally understand what you're saying that the violence commited by the resistance was different than that committed by the apartheid gov't, and i agree, for sure. but then at the same time you have to realize that the people killed in these massacres (St James Church massacre and Heidelberg Tavern are the 2 that this guy famously ordered... and the church was an interfaith church, and the Tavern was in Obs, which is a very diverse community, just for some context) and think "ok, these people have families too. and they werent the apartheid gov't, they were civilians." so now the fact that he has been elected head of the PAC definitely creates resentment and anger within those ppeople who were affected by those attacks, thereby in some way continuing a kind of racism that says "right, white people killing black people is bad. but black people can kill white people and it's fine." which is definitely not a good message to send, no matter what the history of the country is, ya know?
ah! like i said, very complex. because then what is the solution, ya know? because preventing all of the anti-apartheid activists who took up arms against the govt (and sometimes, esp in the later years, therefore against white people) out of gov't could prevent some very smart, important figures from having a voice in the country. so how do you balance those issues? how do you take into consideration the political direciton of the country and the emotional and psychological realities of actual people at the same time? not easy. and i definitely cannot pretend to have any of the answers.
so, yeah, i was reading this article in the newspaper today about ex MK and APLA combatants who are now illegal arms dealers in many of the townships, particularly in the Joburg area. craziness. they are selling AK 47s and stuff that were used during the struggle and are left over now. of course now they aren't being used for any political struggle, but instead for ppl who are starving and poor and decide to take up arms against society as criminals in order to survive. it's really nuts. south africa is a fascinating, and sometimes terrifying, country. there are so many issues in the air, and so many things that need to be solved and really analyzed in some very different and new way, because it is beyond obvious that the old ways of doing things are really not working. and that if we dont do something, the future will become a very, very scary thing. even with this guy who was elected head of the PAC (Pan African Congress) ... (Letlapa Mphalele). i totally understand what you're saying that the violence commited by the resistance was different than that committed by the apartheid gov't, and i agree, for sure. but then at the same time you have to realize that the people killed in these massacres (St James Church massacre and Heidelberg Tavern are the 2 that this guy famously ordered... and the church was an interfaith church, and the Tavern was in Obs, which is a very diverse community, just for some context) and think "ok, these people have families too. and they werent the apartheid gov't, they were civilians." so now the fact that he has been elected head of the PAC definitely creates resentment and anger within those ppeople who were affected by those attacks, thereby in some way continuing a kind of racism that says "right, white people killing black people is bad. but black people can kill white people and it's fine." which is definitely not a good message to send, no matter what the history of the country is, ya know?
ah! like i said, very complex. because then what is the solution, ya know? because preventing all of the anti-apartheid activists who took up arms against the govt (and sometimes, esp in the later years, therefore against white people) out of gov't could prevent some very smart, important figures from having a voice in the country. so how do you balance those issues? how do you take into consideration the political direciton of the country and the emotional and psychological realities of actual people at the same time? not easy. and i definitely cannot pretend to have any of the answers.
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