I just know I shouldn't do this but I can't resist and Don't Believe A Word I Write has "gently" reminded me to write something so here is my opinion on the Million Man March - or shall I say my opinion on aspects of the march.
A million men - in South Africa you are going to find a million men to march for anything other than increased wages, housing or lost public holidays? Not likely eh?
A well-intentioned Desmond Dube, spurred on by the murder of Lucky Dube, no relative, and the rape and shooting of his (Desmond's) neighbours 9 year-old daughter, and various other everyday crime occurrences (everyday for us South Africans that is) decided that he had to do something about it. He thought he would fashion a march of a million men just like in the USA to make a statement about how we have had enough of the crime in this country.
Wow, and they all gathered in Pretoria today (some thousands) and handed over their memorandum or whatever to the government.
Weeelll, according to News24 the turnout was disappointing, and, naturally Thabo Mbeki did not appear. Now, I hate to sound like a Negative Nellie, but Folks, what in Hasoos' name did you expect?
Most South Africans understand that you can march till your shoes have no soles but the chances of crime being dealt a blow by our government as a result of your protests - not happening people!
In order to fight crime we would have to change our National psyche I think. More of us would have to have respect for each other. We would have to be law-abiding in every aspect of our lives. D'ya geddit? We would not speed along the freeway only slowing down at the cameras. We would never buy goods from the pavement hawker that are half the price of the supermarket's stock (eww how old is most of that shit anyway?). Our neighbours wouldn't buy electronic equipment that fell off the back of a truck (it's probably their colleagues' that was stolen last week). No, we would not pad our insurance claims and get the panel beater to factor in our excess. We would exercise self-discipline and we would allow our schools to discipline our children (no they don't have to beat the little buggers, just discipline them and expel them if they won't shape up). We would discipline our children at home too and we would stop buying them everything they believe they need to keep up with their peers. We would pick up our rubbish and fight back every chance we have.
Our politicians would be honest, unbribable and accountable. Our policemen would be numerous, tough, fair, and trustworthy. We would appear in court as witnesses and lay charges when asked to by the Police and not decide that it's not worth spending the day in court.
And we would definitely have a Million People's March. Please, Desmond, next time remember, we are an equal opportunity nation of victims.
So, I've had my rant, but having said all that I've said, I still believe that with a Government as indifferent to the daily abuses of the average South African as ours is - we have a long way to go sisters.
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13 comments:
NOW WITH IMPORVED SPELLING AND GRAMMAR!
You're right, of course. People in glass houses and all that.
The average man... er... person on the street is just too apathetic to not appear a little hypocritical with these sort of events.
Welcome 6000 and yes to an extent the average person is just too apathetic to go to one of these marches, but also I think we are punch drunk to an extent from all the stress of living with crime, grime, dishonest politicos etc.
I'm taking it you weren't at the march then? Why do they hold it on a Tuesday so nobody who works can actually make it?!
Good point Tamara, I live in Cape Town so couldn't attend, but I doubt that my company would allow us the time off to attend. The trouble is that I think the march would make us all feel better and as if we are doing something about crime, but will it change the attitude or actions of our government?
I was listening to 702 yesterday on the way to work and John Robbie mentioned that he, in essence, did not support the march, because marching should be about creating awareness..and I think we can all agree that we are fully aware that crime is devastating. Otherwise it's pointless. And I tend to agree. I don't march - I find it a useless expression of dissatisfaction for me. I do accept that for many it is the only way in which they feel they are able to make some sort of difference; not to feel useless and apathetic.
DBAWIW I agree with you on the pointlessness of joining a march which in no way heightens awareness of the problem. Added to the fact of our being aware of the problem is the sense of impotency I believe we all feel in a country where we are serving what feels like a life sentence jailed behind bars and electric fences whilst the bad guys roam free.
awesomely written, i agree totally! in fact, i wrote a post about this a while ago.
Angel thank you so much for the compliment on my writing. I am a recent visitor to your blog so missed your earlier post on the subject of crime/violence etc. I'll visit your archives for sure.
Goals were set too high. Million men. Pffft. Maybe if there were free beer yes.
Wow! Hi Jeans! I have been lurking at your site for a year or so now - I followed the link from Trash'd. I'm so chuffed! Now about the free beer - I'm not so sure that they wouldn't have attracted a fair number of women too with that deal (umm especially if it was Peroni or Windhoek Export). But really - if they had arranged a Million Women March - I guess there would have been a lot more of us there even without a booze bribe.
Disregarding what the organisers are saying about it being a success and raising awareness, the fact of the matter is there were more people at the recent James Blunt concert, than there were in Pretoria for the march.
Ouch.
Ouch indeed - James Blunt!
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