Sour Grapes - The Fruit Of Ignorance

Apartheid Is Dead, Long Live Apartheid!

2012-02-18T08:13:00.000-08:00

I am angered by the attitude of some people in this country. It seems that one can't even enter into a rational debate with people of other races here without it descending into a war of words, where prejudices and stereotyping come to the fore. (You are correct in assuming that this is going to be a rant. If you disagree with me on this topic, it is your democratic right to do so. However, I then urge you to also exercise your other democratic right to not read it, while I exercise my right to express myself freely.) Why am I angry? Because it amazes me how many black people still live under the assumption that because I am white and have a car and a house that I am somehow "rich" and that I have "stolen" something from them in order to get it.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I have had a job for 20 years (which I didn't get or keep simply because of my race, and had to pass certain educational requirements to apply for). I have paid for everything I own today, without toyi-toying and rioting and destroying other people's property - or demanding to get these things from the government for free. My mother paid for my schooling out of her hard-earned pay from two jobs, albeit at a reduced rate. When I failed grade 11, I didn't riot, toyi-toyi or burn down the school, or accuse anyone of unfair practice, or threaten the headmaster with a knife - I accepted the fact that I hadn't learned hard enough and went back to repeat the year successfully. I paid for all my post Matric courses myself, and passed them because I knew I had to pay for them myself and didn't have money to waste. The house I live in is 110 years old, and was paid for by my mother, again via her hard earned money - and yes, I will inherit it one day. The car I drive is an ordinary Mazda 323 Sting - a 2001 model I might add, which I bought and paid for second-hand and is no more a "rich man's car" than the five or six other "pre-owned" bangers I drove previously. I have no criminal record, and have always been a passionate advocate for human rights and equality for all people. I give to charities and I work for the betterment of what is still laughably called South African "democracy".

And yet somehow, I am being made to unwillingly bear the guilt and shame of previous generations, for wrongs done by people long dead to other people also long dead. Hence the real source of my frustrations and anger at this point. Quite frankly, I am sick of it.

A big thorn in my side is the current state of this country, as belied and covered over by our President in his rosy speech which would have the world and blissfully stupid - let alone the blissfully ignorant - believe that all is well and somehow miraculously will be well before he rehashes the same speech for next year, and people play silly but cute little games counting how many times he clears his throat, says "pov-ah-tea", or gives us the middle finger while pushing up his glasses.

All is not well in South Africa. Not in the least. There are 6000 - that's right - SIX THOUSAND cases of police brutality being investigated, in which police have been accused of wrongful arrest, violence, murder, theft, and other wrongdoings. If that is the police, then I wonder what the true reflection is of the TRUE crime statistics is without being doctored by the government propaganda machine. And yes, if the POI were already in place I am sure I wouldn't even be made aware that there were 6 cases of police brutality under investigation, never mind 6000.

There are political marauders at work in this country. They don't care for the betterment of the common citizen of this country, for financing their education - for MANAGING their education and preventing all these services from collapsing on themselves - so they prefer to just fall back on that old staple of the despot and the corruptocrat - redistribute the wealth. The wealth as it appears is today much less than it was ten years ago. Yes, there is investment and yes, there is building going on around us - but the holes in the bucket that hold the wealth are bigger than they were ten years ago. Billions of our country's tax budget are unaccounted for at the end of each year. Corruption and mismanagement are bleeding our country dry.

Take the land, take the mines, take the farms, is the solution of one very vocal camp these days. Give them to the people. "The People". What people? The dude sitting on the street corner selling veggies? Or the homeless drunk lying passed out in the street? Sure, why not? No, not the fellow driving the BMW, not the black diamond - because then it's not giving to the poor. Ja, s'right - give it to the guy living in a shack with ten kids and three mistresses even though he is under 30? So what if he has a list of criminal charges against him longer than my arm? Cool. The one with no education? The one who would never in a million years be able to drive a tractor, let alone manage a farm or a mine, or know what end of a screwdriver to hold? Yes, that one. And at the end of the day, you have no mine, just a hole in the ground; no farm, just a patch of veggies around a mud-hut - and no economy, and no growth - and then of course, the only people you could blame is the government - only they tell you, aaikona - it was the Apartheid government's fault, even though they vanished from the political landscape a long time ago.

To the proponents of land invasions and the nationalization of mines and farmers, all the "rich farmers" whose farms and homes were appropriated (STOLEN) by the government of Zim-bob-we over the past 30-odd years, all left the country with loads of wealth (which belong to "the people" and retreated to their other rich plantations elsewhere in Europe. They are still blamed for all the ills and complaints of "the people", even though they are too obtuse to put one and one together to realise that colonial rule ended more than 30 years ago and any problems they now have are the fault of Moo-gabe and his pretend government - and their own for keeping him there.

The reality is that most of the "white farmers" they speak of crossed the border into SA with little more than the clothes on their backs, and lived in their cars for months while looking for whatever work they could find. The lucky ones stayed with relatives. Many lost everything they had and had to start all over, having been forced to leave their possessions, furnishings, priceless heirlooms and properties behind. They were also prevented from crossing the border with more than R100,00 on their person - a trifling sum, even in those days. Still, whenever the truth is pointed out to these antagonists (and historical revisionists), they "aren't interested in dwelling on the past" - except when it suits them of course - and in a way that suits them.

Asking them how they would feel if the government came knocking on their door, telling them the house they owned and had paid for now belonged to the former street-sweeper standing behind them, greedily eyeing the silverware, was no longer theirs, that they were being evicted - and what's more, they would not be compensated for the loss - results in the response: "I'm not interested in discussing 'what-if's'!

Of course not - because they couldn't care a tuppence about those who might face these issues in South Africa in the not too distant future - and because they might also stand in line for the redistribution of belongings of others taken away because of their race - and given to them solely on account of theirs. Convenient.

Proponents of the racist hatred in Zim-bob-we against white citizens of that country like to use that country of a shining example of what happens when they can get their way. Sure, we know Zim-bob-we. We know it is run by a two-bit tin-hat dictator that can't even win an election without committing election fraud, and not without a degree of intimidation and propaganda - and laws which ban freedom of the Press - sadly enough, a path South Africa is taking also. This too might please them.

According to the linked article from the group on Facebook linked above, Zimbabwe has supposedly overtaken the BRICS countries. No, there is no punchline. Really? With WHAT economy? Last I heard, you still need a wheelbarrow to carry your Zim-dollars to the corner shop to buy a loaf of bread. Oh wait, are they still using the million Zim-dollar note?

How much of that government's propaganda is actually based on some semblance of fact? Zimbabwe is at present a basket case. Their citizens "migrate" illegally through our country's porous (non-existent) borders and flock to Johannesburg where they make more by begging at busy intersections than some Zimbabwean civil servants earn in salaries.

Still, unbelievably, these people insist on nationalizing the farms (and mines). They want South African farms nationalized, and they want the remaining farmers to "just give away" ownership in their farms - which incidentally are legitimate and successful businesses. I can tell you what I would say if someone told me to "give away" part ownership in my business - I would tell them to go f*** themselves. And I would be well within my rights to do so too.

A few years back, the government foolishly decided to impose ownership quotas and this thinly disguised racist policy called "BEE" on businesses - even foreign owned businesses. Quite a few foreign enterprises closed their doors and went back to South America or Europe rather than fall for that nonsense. Nowadays any white-owned local companies have to have BEE (passenger partners) in order to be awarded government contracts. Companies have to adhere to racial policies, quotas on white, colored, black and asian employees. I pity my colored friends too, because when the NP was in power, they were "too black" for the work market - and now they are "too white".

Most jobs in the market are ear-marked BEE, meaning that white people - especially high school graduates - stand little chance of finding work - meaning there are a lot more white people begging at traffic lights than before, and living in tin shacks outside cities. The universities are an utter shambles. Once they were the best in the southern hemisphere - now they are dictated to by communist student bodies who demand to study for free, and who riot and destroy facilities and disrupt learning for other students who are actually there to learn. Further, the universities are inundated with these charity cases who swarm there every year at registration time - and are admitted solely because of their race - and while deserving high school leavers with triple A's are left out unable to study further. Further, what about the two applicants who were trampled to death in the rush to register this January? This in itself disgusts me.

Why are there not larger faculties? Why are there no new educational facilities? Why is money instead being wasted on fictitious arms-deals (full of fraudulent dealings) for foreign hardware when we have (or had) or own home-grown arms industry? More white people are nowadays sitting without work and opening their own small businesses than before, and mostly they do not last or succeed. Many families opt to leave the country, tired of the combination of economic decline and corruption and the crime epidemic the government continues to deny. Who can blame them?

It seems that in gaining power, the "majority" has not only won freedom and control - but have not solved their initial problems. No, no - instead, they have simply replaced one minority in control with another minority - and spread misery all over the country in a manner which transcends race, class and economic status. This is, in my opinion, why Europe had already developed the wheel, agriculture, construction, politics, technology, poetry, writing, art, exploration, and an understanding of economics - when Africa was still living in the stone age, stealing cattle, and wondering what a horse tasted like.

Perhaps this is why I have such a hard time understanding the folks with the big mouths cursing white people like me and our society and our norms and culture. Funny enough, they are all wearing suits, or the latest styles in jeans, shoes and jewellery, studying at a college, tech or varsity, driving a car or using a taxi or bus or train, living in a house or apartment, working in an office in a sky-scraper and earning money, sitting in a church and praying to a god invented by Europeans, eating food in fancy restaurants or even a Mc Donalds, or drinking a pepsi, popping HIV meds, watching their TV soapies, reading their newspapers or the comics (reading at all for that matter), voting, and exercising their freedom of speech or expression, or equality - all things invented in Europe, or by us nasty horrible oppressive racist white people. Yes, I can see why they hate us so much. Perhaps it's because everything they use in their daily lives is made by people they see as "the enemy", and the only things I can think of as being truly "ethnic" South African today are the vuvuzela and the word "eish" (and the vuvuzela is made from plastic, invented - ah, forget it).

In nationalizing the farms, naturally they think this will magically solve the crisis of food shortages, poverty will miraculously dissipate and suddenly everyone living in a shack (with or without a DSTV dish on the roof - yes, I've seen them) will be rolling in money and sporting Nike tackies. This whole scheme sounds more and more like the Soviet collective farming failures of the 1920's and 30's that caused the deaths of millions due to starvation. Make the farmers give the farm workers shares in the farm, they say. Since the farm belongs to the owner, isn't it surely up to the owner to decide? And as for the farms taken by the state - the state will certainly never give the workers a share in ownership - instead they will white-wash it with commie-speak, saying "the farm belongs to the people"... Nevertheless, nationalize the farms, they say. Okay - then the economy will implode, farms will cease to exist and "the people" they claim to be so concerned about, will starve. And yes, it will all be the fault of the white folks too.

What will motivate farm workers to produce more food if all they earn for producing food is a salary or a percentage? You can't look at one single government-run facility in the country without finding corruption and mismanagement, incompetence and nepotism and gods know what else - NOT A SINGLE ONE - even Telkom is a disaster and about to implode due to its monopolization of the communications market, the rail network is practically non-existent and the roads are crumbling due to neglect. SA Airways is always in the red and the government is now even resorting to silencing the Press to cover up how full of corruption and scandal it is. Eskom is so fucked up they supply half of southern Africa (even the countries that abuse human rights) with cheap, cut-rate electricity generated by our ailing network which has not been maintained or upgraded since 1994 - and have the cheek to threaten South Africans who pay high power rates for sub-standard services with rolling black-outs because we dare to use "too much" electricity??? WTF?? Dude - the post office in my area doesn't even have a post box any more. Everything works on "African time" - which means anything from "just now" to "now now" to "eish, I don't know" to "maybe never". As it is, forensic accounting is a frustration when people try to point fingers or uncover a crime, because employees either don't know what they are doing, or are too concerned about what other people are doing, or "eish - you want me to do what?" What will make nationalised farms any different?

You want to place blame for poverty in SA today - more than 15 years since the end of the Apartheid regime?? If that's the case, then look at the President and his super-rich highly paid cronies in government. Look at the para-statal organizations like Eskom and Telkom crumbling and failing - and still paying their employees undeserved bonuses. Look at the fat cats in municipal management, wasting money on frivolous tripe and earning huge salaries for little return. Place the blame at their feet.

Criminals roam the streets because the government lets them out on clemency, bail and parole despite having serious charges and previous convictions for serious crimes. A "life sentence" today is a mere 25 years, when it should mean till they stop breathing. The prisons are too small and nobody seems to have realized in the past 20 years that there is a bigger national population, more criminals and so there is a need for bigger or more prisons. Just being held awaiting trial or for minor and petty crimes means sharing a single cell with 40 people and a potential death sentence, which is hardly fair.

Despite the stunning wastage of tax-money on star-scraping salaries and political events nobody really needs - or in assisting other African governments to stay in power despite elections that are fraught with suspicious activities and despite their poor record in human rights, there is never enough money for necessities here at home. People appear in court on charges of serious crimes committed while on parole or bail for other crimes. Two high profile prisoners convicted of fraud and corruption have retreated to hospital beds on pretexts of illness rather than sit in a cell for their crimes, with one playing 18 holes of golf to celebrate his "miraculous" recovery after being pardoned on medical grounds. I call bullshit on that one, by the way, as will anyone with a brain. Prisoners escape due to neglect and corruption in the Prison Service and police. And somehow we are meant to believe that this position is improving without any obvious efforts from government beyond the Chief of Police (also since made to quietly disappear following a fraud or mismanagement scandal) changing his title to "General" and telling his officers to "shoot to kill"?

The ANC government promises jobs and economic growth. They promise free houses to the poor - and yet the fabled RDP scheme has been fraught with fraud and corruption since its inception 20 years ago. Just this week a scandal in Kirkwood showed a stack of incomplete RDP houses now occupied not by the poor residents of a nearby shanty town - but by livestock. The ANC promises an end to poverty - but instead of spending more on education and career development training or health services, or saving the imploding public health system - they blow billions annually on utter crap - such as the centenary celebrations of the ANC, and on other frivolous nonsense in ANC-run provinces and municipalities around the country. How many poor people could they have clothed, fed, housed, educated or healed with that money? But every year, taxes will increase, while service delivery decreases. This country and its situation is becoming more and more Orwellian by the week. Anyone who claims this government is doing a good job or earning it's stay has either got their heads planted firmly up their own asses, or lives in la-la land.

Will these people still blame "colonialism" and "apartheid" for the problems in this country in 40 years time? Some folks like to blame colonialism for all the ills of their world - and yes, while there were many inhumane and unfair practices committed in those days by paternalistic and often elitist and racist authorities who were managed from across the seas and faraway - but what good does it do to blame local people with no ties to that, centuries later? The dead are still dead, and long gone. You can't reach them now, no matter who you hurt and what you do. It's no use punishing John Murphy today because Sam Harris was nasty your uncle in 1946. To do so is not only unfair and mean-spirited and counter-acts nation-building - it's just stupid.

Was the colonial era all as bad as they say? At the time, depending on who you were, perhaps. But what about its consequences and after-effects today? Ask yourself as a black South African where would you be today if it weren't for the colonial system 300-200 years ago? Would you be wearing a fancy suit or designer dress, or a grass skirt or loin cloth? Would you be driving a fancy new car and living in a city, talking on a cell-phone, sitting in a board room meeting? Or would you be one of ten wives traded as a child as property to a man you didn't even love in exchange for a herd of cows given by him to your father, and raising his herd of children in silent obedience, spreading your legs for him every other night because he says so?

They then climb up on their flimsy little soap boxes to say the "apartheid government should have spent more on educating black people". Well, I agree, they should have - but so should the present one. Meanwhile all through the late 1970's and 1980's I grew up watching repetitive TV news footage of schools and libraries burned to the ground. Yes, I know - they didn't like being educated in Afrikaans. Shame. I had to learn Afrikaans right through my school career too, and it wasn't my first language either - and no, I never threw bricks or petrol bombs or burned down the school or the library because of it.

Who cares what language they wanted to be educated in? As long as they could get an education - it's what the education is USED FOR that counts, not so? Without an education you can't get a job, build a career, buy a house, raise a family, pay for their education and health care and see to their needs. Well, at least, that's what I thought - here in South Africa you can. Here you just hop up and down a bit, make some noise like a crying, whining brat child and demand the government drop some food in your outstretched hand (after they take it out of someone else's mouth).

They obviously didn't want to learn, get educated and work or build careers - they wanted to riot, kill and destroy - and take everything that other people worked and paid for - because, well, the whole bloody world owes them a living, doesn't it? Some will argue that their revolution in this country was necessary for change and the advancement of human rights, and well it may be - I am a human rights activist after all - but what is NOT necessary NOW is this continued expectation for me and others to stand back and be bypassed, sidelined and overlooked (and labelled racists and human rights abusers - and even regarded inferior) because of our race - that is simply not fair - nor is it part of the promise of the so-called "new South Africa" - nor is it any better than the racist foundations of the past. I reject any assertions that it is or will be with utter contempt.

So they play the (long expired in my book) race card - I'm white, so I'm biased. I'm white, so I'm a racist. I'm white, so I supported (and always will support) Apartheid. Yadda, yadda, yadda. I'm white, so I am a violator of human rights, a "squatter" on "their" land - and I owe them the world. Oh, really? I delight in giving these racist, pretentious, under-educated idiots the middle finger!

I didn't make myself white any more than anyone else chose to be asian, colored or black, yellow, pink, brown or purple with green spots. It's just pure luck that I am who and what I am today. Hating or resenting other people for who and what they are is just childish and silly - which is why racism never made any sense to me, which is why I would question it - and growing up in a fairly racist society, I think you can appreciate I got into some trouble for it. However:

The time for me apologizing for being white and for the crimes and human rights abuses committed by people who died before I was even able to vote, are LONG fucking over! Ironically most of the people complaining about how black people USED to be treated are no older than I - and were probably still in diapers back in 1994 - and yet they continue spewing this utter tripe as if they were somehow personally affected by it, and as though they were actually there. They were schooled to a degree, they sport university qualifications and use fancy words (albeit ironically flawed with grammatical and spelling errors) while looking down at me as a white person with my lowly Matric education, which was earned back in 1991 - and without the government having to lower educational standards just so that more of the presently advantaged could actually scrape over the bar by the skins of their teeth and claim to be educated as we were.

I didn't make Apartheid. I didn't vote the NP government into power. I didn't pay taxes to the apartheid government. Apartheid ended in 1989, and the government ended in 1993. At that time I was at high school - and thereafter a virtual prisoner of the same government as a draftee soldier against my will, facing prison if I declined. When I started working, I didn't even start earning enough to pay tax until 1996. I couldn't find another job because suddenly I was "too white" and even though I was more capable and more intelligent than my competitors, I was unemployable. I watched people with no education and no intellect to speak of being promoted past me and landing fat jobs and contracts simply because of their race, while I was held back on account of mine.

I think my track record as a human rights activist bears me out - I have always spoken out against human rights violations and abuses, including racism, and will continue to do so - but to justify racist practices by referring to racist acts in the past is just inexcusable!

Surprisingly, despite all this, I am still friendly with people of all races, and actually like many people of other races a good deal more than many of my own - and I find the accusation that I am a "racist" (especially just because of my own race) insulting, ignorant and woefully uninformed. In fact, I wonder if the idiots making such claims can even appreciate the irony of their labelling me thus?

According to the Apartheid era laws, I was a "criminal" because of my sexual orientation and gender identity. I would today be considered a "criminal" (and incorrectly and ignorantly dismissed as a "satanist") because I happen to be a practising Pagan - and despite all these things, I am - because of my race - being accused of being "a supporter of Apartheid"? Spot the irony.

I'm so sorry for all the injustices done in the past BY OTHER PEOPLE - but I completely fail to see what I personally have to do with it? What does the past and blaming people who had no part in it have to do with how things are now?

How can you heap blame on people alive today who had NOTHING to do with what was done in 1960 or 1976? You want to appropriate (steal) land or property from people who bought it fairly and legally long after apartheid stopped being a legitimate excuse to murder and rob people? And suddenly you tar ALL white people as racist, black-hating murderers who should all be punished for all the things that happened in the time of your parents, grandparents and great-grandparents right back into obscurity? That makes you no better than the racist bastards who built apartheid in the first place. Nevertheless, it seems that for now, in South Africa, Apartheid is dead - long live Apartheid.

Let's See How Long This Post Stays Up

2012-02-06T01:27:00.000-08:00

I saw a post on Facebook, wherein the poster asked what a political party's position was on legalizing the drug trade in South Africa. The poster was of the opinion that legalizing the trade would make things better and more controllable.

In my opinion, the only thing that legalizing this trade in human dignity, suffering and lost lives will help is that the government would be able to claim its share in tax proceeds from the profit made by these obscene monsters masquerading in human form. Something which, in my opinion, could explain why law enforcement agencies struggle so to clamp down on this dangerous and illegal trade in the first place - corruption.

Speaking as someone who has lost close friends to the drug trade, I feel abusers should be treated like victims, not criminals - they should be hospitalized or institutionalized and rehabilitated as far as possible. The traffickers and manufacturers and those who benefit financially from the trade should be dealt with in MUCH HARSHER TERMS by the justice system - in such a way as to make the risks of being caught unacceptable to them. Making a problem like this legal will not help the situation. People will still fall victim to this trade, lives will still be ruined, people will still die. To kill this plant, you need to strike at the root.

Then we get to political parties and supporters. Most people will support a political party because they agree with the principles it stands for. Most people will support a party because it stands for freedom, justice, democratic and capitalist ideals and equal human rights values - or the opposite of course. Yes, naturally you do find parties like that - and idiots who will actually support them, either because their parents did and they are too lazy to think for themselves - or because there are people they don't like very much who they feel would look better under their boots.

I happened upon a debate about the recent poster advertizing campaign by the DA in which a white man and a black woman are shown embracing each other naked. Some people apparently still think like they did back in the 1980's, the way PW Botha and his predecessors taught them to, and have completely failed to evolve in the interceding 30-year period - and cannot think past their racist and nationalist programming.

I say this with conviction, because one guy commented: "I reside in Bothasig and have been talking to quite a few people re this very issue. Most are disgusted to say the least. I WAS a DA supporter ... but, I have to back down now from voting DA from now on, this is totally out of line and not what we voted for. Even in nature animals don't mix and match. I think that many white folk are going to look elsewhere come next elections etc."

This man's comment is just vitriolic. "Not what he voted for?" What did he vote DA for then? Did he misread the terms & conditions? What does he understand by "Open & equal opportunity society"? Where is there a clause about racial segregation in the DA manifesto or PR campaigns? Did I miss something? He shouldn't blame the DA for his inability to distinguish the DA from the FF+ or some other little neo-Nazi left-over from the NP days. If he voted DA, then racial equality and freedom to love who you want to is EXACTLY what he voted for.

This fella strikes me as the kind who would rather be more comfortable at an AWB gathering, standing under those quaint little flags with propeller motifs than voting for a political party that supports equal treatment for all people. In fact, such people impress me as the sort who like equality just as long as it is only for themselves and people they like to associate with. Hmm. Funny kind of "equality" that is. Very Republican. Very right-wing and very Conservative. What also impresses me about people like that is their insistence that they are not racists. Strange.

Moving on to the last item on my list of weekly rants, is the DA's handling of the Occupy movement in the Western Cape: apparently the Democratic Alliance (hitherto my political party of choice in SA) denied the Occupy movement permission to gather peacefully in Cape Town.

I am a person who lives fairly out of the way in my country, South Africa. I live in Port Elizabeth (a place described by 5FM DJ Gareth Cliffe as "the armpit of South Africa") and have to admit that very often, nothing much happens here. No protests, no marches, no major disturbances. it seems nobody here likes to rock the boat - or to stand out or even be noticed, probably because of the laid back coastal lifestyle and because it would require far too much effort. In fact, we only had our very first Pink Community Pride last year - the first - ever. If you take into account that it's been twenty years after democracy came onto the stage in South Africa, you will probably wonder what took so long. After all, armpit or not, PE is the country's fourth largest city. Like I said, laid back. And often apathetic. Not even the Christianist haters have managed to pull together a protest about anything between abortion and marriage equality. So I shudder to think about calling a protest about anything to do with human rights in this town - mainly because I think I would be there alone, or at the head of a tiny crowd which would be outnumbered by a handful of bored photographers, newspaper reporters - and curious onlookers waiting to see what would have happened to them if they had been part of it.

Like the Occupy movement itself, I would also like to know WHY? A peaceful protest is surely something that any police department should be able to cope with? After all, the SAPS has clearly demonstrated its ability to deal with the violent sort of protest which happens every other day around the country, with people being arrested, shot and brutalized left and right - with some of them actually being part of the protest. So why? It boggles my mind. Its about as reasonable as refusing the Dalai Lama entry to South Africa - because then that red phone on the President's desk would start ringing off the hook with calls from Beijing. Who, I wonder, would be on the other end of the line in this case?

The notoriously apathetic-to-human-rights-when-it-suits-them ANC government granted permission to Occupy to hold a peaceful protest in Johannesburg - whereas the Democratic Alliance denied the movement the same courtesy in their own territory - the Republic of the Western Cape.

On the DA's Facebook group wall, a supporter of Occupy asked a pertinent question: "If you had to look at the Agenda of Occupy, we have at heart a number of issues the DA wishes to combat too? Why not work with the people?" I have not seen an official response to this question yet, and to be honest, I'm not holding my breath. I doubt many politicians have ever won elections by answering serious and pertinent questions directly and honestly and in a way which makes sense.

Someone else replied: "...40 protestors are hardly 'the people'". Interesting point. So we are at a point where numbers define what is right and wrong? A democratic vote is decided by a vote - i.e. by weight of numbers, yes - but the ideals, values and principles of a democracy are not - and least of all are the defining issues within an "open opportunity society".

Occupy supporters claim that around two thousand people were prevented from reaching the Common by police, that "even bus drivers" were "pulled from their vehicles" and arrested. It is claimed that while some say the protest only consisted of "40 people" and the numbers are being obscured (as they are in the USA along with the facts surrounding the Occupy movement and the protests being forcefully broken up there) - because only 42 of the people who made it as far as the Common were arrested, some claiming that police brutality was evident. This is disturbingly similar to reports of what has happened to the Occupy movement in the USA.

What is concerning to me is the lack of support given to the newsworthiness of these issues and especially to incidents of this type. Why do we have to dig and search for information about this stuff when we have a fully functional and developed news reporting network, newspapers, magazines, radio and TV stations - and all of them with news websites on the internet? The issues stood for by the Occupy movement directly affect everybody. Does the Media think we aren't interested? Is the Press already being censored? Has it been all along? What gives?

Friends of mine in the USA have given me eye-witness accounts of peaceful Occupy protests being gassed and violently broken up by armed riot police squads. The Press has under-reported the numbers of people in attendance - and attempts to post videos or pictures have almost always resulted in these being removed. (You wondered about the new "Stop Internet Piracy" laws recently signed into effect, didn't you? You know, the ones giving the US government carte-blanche to legally police the internet - freedom of expression and information be damned? Well now you know.) If the largest supposed 'democracy' on the planet can openly and wilfully destroy the Constitutional rights of its own citizens, and manipulate public perception and opinion through the legislated abuse of media control - and get away with it - then what hope do we have of inspiring a global public outcry in our own little third-world corner, where people vote X because they fear the government will come burn down their houses if they don't? Would anyone who tries to do so be squashed like a bug and made to look like the bad guy by whatever mechanisms of the state wield power over the perception of the masses? Duh-duh-dun-dun.

In the end though, even 40 people are still entitled under the SA Constitution to the freedom of expression, the freedom of association and the freedom to gather and to protest peacefully - all rights which they were denied - and by a political party which claims to uphold all of these rights and freedoms. I shudder to think of the mechanism and motives behind such a blatantly (dare I say it) conservative move. (*Gasp*) And I certainly don't like it. In fact, if any of this is true, I am tempted to withdraw my vote come the next election as well - because if it is, then there really are no more parties left in the political arena in this country worth bothering with - and the "new South Africa" is a lost cause and a sinking ship.

Taking away people's Constitutional or Human rights works just like genocide and murder. It doesn't stop being wrong or start being right just because of the number of people it is inflicted upon being greater or lesser, or because of who they are, or because of what they believe.

Traditional Hatred

2012-01-15T23:56:00.000-08:00

What an interesting holiday season this has been! Three weeks went by so fast that I once again find myself writing the first article for the new year! I hope you all had a wonderful time, and whether or not the silly season held any special or even religious significance for you, I hope it was peaceful and filled with love and the company of not just family and friends - but people you really wanted to spend time with, and hopefully, enjoyed their company.

The other day, I posted something on my Facebook wall which was not activism or human rights related, and something amazing happened. "OMG" I posted, "This TexasPete hotter hot sauce on my calamari is frickin' awesome!! :D". One of my friends from Cape Town replied - "OMG you posted a normal status update!"

Yes, I have been taking it easy lately - and let me tell you, I needed it. Being free from having so many social commitments for a change is really wonderful. But fear not, just because I've been quiet in public, doesn't mean you won't be hearing from me any more! I have my fingers stuck in several juicy looking pies at the moment, and my social conscience - like that of any good Aquarian, simply will not let me lie still and quiet for very long!

Speaking of that sort of thing, several things have caught my attention over the past few weeks:

Radio pastor under fire for gay remarks Just about a week ago, a pastor with a regular slot on the Afrikaans radio station RSG - Radio Sonder Grense (Radio Without Borders) publicly belittled gay people and made them out to be "evil". Faced with numerous complaints from listeners, "RSG station manager Magdaleen Kruger said that although she received a number of complaints via e-mail, it was no more than the amount the station normally receives."

I'm not sure what is more concerning - the fact that the radio station apparently doesn't give a toss and hasn't fired his ass yet - or the fact that the radio station is used to receiving that many complaints.

Moving on, Erroll Naidoo - infamous hater of gay people, democratic values and equality, and head of the Family Policy Institute in Cape Town, is starting the year off with a bang - spearheading his "Protect The Family - Stop TopTV Porn!" campaign.

“Defend the poor and fatherless" He bellows, finger aloft, "Do justice to the afflicted and needy, deliver the poor and needy; free them from the hands of the wicked.” Psalm 82:3-4.Christian citizens are called by God to resist the devil wherever he seeks to destroy lives, steal human dignity or suppress the cause of righteous..." blah, blah, fishpaste.

What the hell is "pro-family" anyway? As far as I know, love makes a family, not necessarily blood, not necessarily sex. What is his point? Oh well, at least he has realized he's not getting anywhere in his efforts to destroy the legal equality and human rights of the Pink Community. But instead, he's working to undermine other democratic rights first, so that would make later efforts to topple the Constitution easier. After all, when you no longer have any rights to get facts in the Media, or any rights to watch or listen to material of your choosing, it's a good breeding ground for restricted thinking and social engineering. "Do justice" this man quotes - and he works to do injustice instead, claiming to do the opposite.

I decided to write a letter to TopTV.

"Dear Top TV,

While I do not personally care for porn, I feel it is in the interests of viewer choice, supply and demand and the constitutional right to freedom of expression of citizens of this country, and your paying customers, to get what they want.

The soft porn industry is a legitimate and legal enterprise which pays taxes to the government - and as such, any other legitimate industry or enterprise - such as yourselves - should be allowed to make use of such material without being hamstrung by social conservatives who do more harm than good with their finger-waggling and tongue-clicking.

After all, nobody is forcing them to purchase your services or to watch porn, and so therefore they really have no point.

Of course, I realise that you will put appropriate safeguards in place so that parents can prevent their children from watching sexually explicit material, just as any general service provider "should" (and often doesn't) put any safeguards in place to prevent the children such conservatives allegedly are concerned about, from watching material glorifying gratuitous violence - or worse, episodes of Robot Chicken.

These repetitive attempts at intimidation simply falls within the religious extremist Christianist agenda to dictate to the rest of the world what they may or may not do, think, hear, watch or enjoy in their own time, in their own privacy and at their own cost without harming anyone else around them. I for one am sick of this patriarchal attitude and institutionalized intimidation, which is intended to force everyone around them to think, feel, and act according to the principles, mores and values of one small extremist group - especially in a country in which such freedoms - including the freedom to disagree with them - are enshrined in the Constitution and law of the land.

Therefore, I vehemently oppose all attempts by any religious groups and vociferous individuals to curtail the freedom of expression in South Africa!

You have my support!"

(Please feel free to copy and send to Top TV if you wish to stand up for freedom of expression in South Africa: acidrais@toptv.co.za and cc: mconnor@toptv.co.za)

Staying with religious bigotry, hypocrisy and delusions of godhood, the Catholic Pope has once again defined gay, intersex and transsexual people as the biggest threat to "traditional" marriage, social order and "Christian civilization". First, I didn't realize that Christianity constituted a civilization, especially since it has made a habit over the past few millennia of behaving so badly and characteristically UN-civilized. Second, what is "traditional" marriage anyway? Back in the old days, before Christianity came sauntering onto the stage just after tea-time, gay people used to get married and hand-fasted as well. "Traditional"? Really?

Then, closer to home, a friend of mine posted his dismay on Facebook about an encounter with Christian, arrogance, elitism and bigotry in a supermarket. He and his husband went shopping at the local Spar. They had had a long day and were pretty tired. Any way, while walking through one of the isles his hubby picked something up off the shelf, he turned the bottle in his hands, read what the label said and smiled. In that moment, with that smile, he couldn't resist it, and had to kiss him right there and then......so he did. "This is something very odd for me to do as Don and I NEVER do PDA when there might be kids around as we feel it is unfair to force parents to explain what the kids just saw. It was a very quick kiss and it felt right." Two women behind them started discussing this, and one woman said to the other, "Don't hate the sinner, hate the sin".

"This is something I have heard before and I am a little confused." Said my friend. "Which sin do we have to hate ? Is it HATE or BIGOTRY ?"

I suppose the primary thing that bugs me about this is the concern for children. The religious appear to be obsessed with children. If they aren't priests or reverends raping or molesting or abusing children, then they are out there spreading conservative opinion and fighting to remove all things diverse, depictions of love between people - especially sex, and even expressions of affection between people of the same sex - from the Media and in public spaces - because it might confuse or harm "the children". This whole "the children" thing is starting to sound like the other fundamentalist Christian catch-phrase "the family". Oh, I know families exist, and I know children exist too. They aren't figments of my imagination, but I know that the reality of both is nothing at all like what the conservatives envision - or would try to sell to us, or which could ever exist outside of a religious cult or an isolated compound - or their imagination.

At the same time, these people simply do not understand the irony and folly in their failure to address depictions of gratuitous violence and hatred in the same arenas. By their example, it is perfectly okay for a six year old to watch movies and TV shows containing violence, blood and gore, hatred, suffering, wanton destruction, cruelty and religious indoctrination - but watching a robbery, or watching a sick relative die in a static cue at a deplorable government clinic - or seeing two men or two women kissing or holding hands instead of killing each other - that's bad? I don't think so. I think they think that way, because it happens to fit their agenda.

Nevertheless, ask a Christianist what they about it, and they will of course agree, "yes, it's bad - but seeing gay people hold hands or kiss is worse." Huh?

And Naidoo goes on campaigning against something which cannot be described as violent or inciting violence. The Pope goes on demonizing ordinary folks who just want the freedom to be themselves, and to marry who they love, and the dull conservative refugees from the ladies sewing circle continue to walk behind people, clicking their tongues, waggling their fingers, and judging them.

Explaining love is easy. Explaining why you hate love - that's not.

Crime & Contemplation

2011-12-12T05:04:00.000-08:00

Crime & punishment. This concept is also known as criminal justice and deals with how fairness, legality and morality affect law and order. The term criminal justice can sometimes refer to the industry that surrounds crime and punishment. Some of the many careers in the field are covered on this criminal justice degree site, along with information on educational requirements for those working in this field. I am more concerned with the idea of criminal justice as a social issue. People seem to think that it is socially acceptable that punishment should fit the crime. All too often we find ourselves asking - does it?

This past week I have been contemplating crime... that is, the concept of crime & punishment. People seem to think that punishment and the concept of consequence provides a framework of limitations which go beyond just saying "don't". Punishment implies the "or else..." and waves a nobbly finger in the air. I sometimes wonder which part of the anatomy suggests that consequences be damned and that justice and safety are discount items...

Some are so quick to demand the death penalty for a certain sort of crime, often without seriously considering the application, implications and consequences of all of the above. Right at the top of my list of concerns is the death penalty - which many people view as a necessity - which they also claim is some form of deterrent - a "magic bullet" if you will, against crime. Hang or fry a few people, and pretty soon, would-be criminals will be too frightened to get caught to risk it... or so the theory goes. But we all know that reality is completely different, don't we? Especially here in sunny South Africa.

Firstly, in my humble opinion, we have a justice system that is so inept, corrupt and flawed that it would be more appropriate to rename it the Department of Injustice. Case dockets disappear, crucial evidence mysteriously vanishes (along with the occasional witness), and police officials themselves very often switch sides and occasionally find out what the world looks like from the other side of those bars... Often now, we hear about people having been victimised and wrongfully arrested by police - and sometimes even imprisoned wrongfully - and we all know how nice it is in South African prisons - and to say nothing of the period spent awaiting trial... which in itself can be a sentence, and for some, a death sentence.

Then there is the complete lack of segregation among prisoners. Now hold on a minute, I said segregation - and I never said anything about races here. I'm talking about separating the novices from the hardened career cases.What I'm getting at is this: You have convict A and convict B. Convict A is a hardened career criminal who started out with robbery, drug dealing, auto-theft, house-breaking, and recently graduated to aggravated assault and armed robbery and will probably graduate to rape and murder the next time he gets out on parole (and sadly, this does happen). Convict B is 22 years old, and is a first offender for what is laughably called "white-collar crime", doing a 2 year stretch for - shall we say, creative accounting? Is it appropriate to place convict B in a cell with 20 other convicts very similar to convict A? How long do you think convict B will last? Five minutes?

Or are you optimistic enough to think that at the end of his 2 years, convict B will have whipped all his cell-mates into shape and have them all reading or even studying in their oodles of free time? Or will the reality shock you when you see convict B at the end of his term - emaciated, HIV positive, and a shivering mess? I always believed that the punishment should fit the crime, folks - and I'm sorry but people shouldn't go to jail for minor or less serious offences - to die, or to suffer a living death for it. If people are sent to jail then that should be the extent of it - they should not be further abused or even raped by fellow inmates and damaged still further.

There is the additional feature that names jails as education centers for criminals. Criminals go in inexperienced novices - and if they come out at all, they come out more experienced, because they have learned from the more hardened criminals how to be better at what they do. Of course, the ideal would be to separate not just the different categories of convict, but rather to keep them in small groups of similar cases, so that none of these things happen.

Ironic, I think, if you consider that when the new dispensation took office in 1994, South Africa had just as many woes regarding overcrowding in our prisons... and up to this day, nearly 20 years later, the government has not built any new facilities to house prisoners. Yet there is always more tax money to blow into the air to celebrate non-events such as the centenary of the ANC... funny, I would think that money would be better spent on the foundering RDP housing scheme - and I do mean scheme, don't I? I often wonder how that gets paid for, and by whom? And why? After all, nobody ever gave my family - or any of my friends families - a house for nothing just because of the color of our skins... No sir - they all had to work for that, and pay 15 or 25 years on that thing called a home loan... and they still do. Still, the RDP houses have a reputation for being poorly built, and even for sometimes falling down, that one can easily feel sorry for those poor people - even after the keys are handed over to them.

Kids in school can and do terrorize their teachers (and even some parents) because according to the law, they can no longer receive a good thrashing when they actually need it. Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting parents hang, draw and quarter unruly kids and that teachers actually keel-haul nasty little brats who richly deserve it - but a solid tap on the ass at the appropriate time provided my generation with crucial life-experience. We knew that if we did X, then Y would be the consequence - so as a rule, we very seldom did X. And if we ever did, and got Y'd - well, after the brief pain, humiliation and the warm after-glow faded, we laughed about it with our buddies, and showed off the red spot proudly. But more importantly - we grew up knowing that what we did in life, be it good or bad - but especially in terms of breaking the law - could have unpleasant consequences. As a result, we knew our limits. At least, most of us did.

Now kids can disrespect their parents and teachers, refuse to obey them or the rules - and basically do as they like - without any real consequences. Oh, they can be expelled, I hear some say. Really? In many cases, the parents involve the Dept of Education or the school - and lo and behold, poor little Johnny whose rights have been impugned, is back in class come Monday morning, intimidating the teacher, bullying his classmates and disrupting class. Don't think it is safe to discipline your own child either - I've heard of a few cases where children laid charges of child abuse and assault against their parents for caring enough about them to discipline them. Yes, they can do that. And for many career criminals, childhood is where it starts.

If the average human can today expect a lifespan of 80-plus years, how in any way, shape or form is 25 years to be seriously considered a "life sentence" for murder?

In my book, the ONLY appropriate sentence for murder is life imprisonment - which means until the fucker stops breathing and no longer has a pulse. Period. Seeing some countries - including THIS one - doling out 15 and 25 year sentences for the taking of another life - often violently and hatefully - and calling it "justice" sickens me and I find it offensive.

How does rehabilitation apply? The victim(s) are still dead. They don't get out on parole for good behavior, or because they've studied in prison, or found a god or two, or started caring for birds in their cells - or whatever BS they use to wangle their ways out of accepting the consequences of their actions.

I don't agree with the death penalty. As long as there is a risk of corruption and tainted evidence (and let's face it, in South Africa that is a DISTINCT possibility) an innocent person could go to jail - and as long as they are still alive, there is a possibility that the truth may yet come to light. Killing someone for killing someone else isn't justice, it's vengeance - and in the wrong hands, a death sentence is a weapon of fear and intimidation - imagine who an unjust government would execute - look at Iran, look at the old South Africa?

Some of my human rights activist associates have had a lot to say about this subject, and even a lot to say about my stance on it - needless to say, they disagree with me. They feel that a murderer or rapist can be rehabilitated and fully reintegrated into society, to live a valuable and productive life among other people who (generally speaking) don't make a habit of actually killing or raping anyone (or at the very least, don't actually get caught for it).

Human rights apply to murderers too in the sense that yes, we respect our own human rights - so we would make hypocrites of ourselves by advocating the state-acted murder of others - even if they are murderers - BUT remember that these people are themselves murderers and have already killed and deprived someone of their own human rights - and many are repeat offenders - and so it is clearly a danger to allow them to live freely among general society.

I am not talking about cases where people kill accidentally or in self defense etc... I am talking about out-and-out murder and rape. I personally have less than no time for a rapist, and faced with seeing a known rapist drowning, would happily look away. And I don't particularly care too much for the happiness and productive potential or how much of a positive contribution to society such people can supposedly make. They killed other people, they raped and destroyed someone's spirit and ruined their lives to the point where they feel they may as well be dead - they cannot be trusted to not do it again, no matter how sorry they are now.

Imagine your friend, lover, husband, mother is brutally raped and killed - and the killer gets a 15 year state-paid holiday at the tax-payer's expense - and then he still applies for parole after 6 years "good behavior" - and despite his poor behaviour OUTSIDE prison (which is the ONLY thing which should count), he gets it. Prison is there to keep murderers off the streets and to keep the rest of us safe.

Forgive and forget some say. Perhaps they are the lucky ones whose lives have not been touched by these criminals, people whose children have not died in drive-by gang wars, or abducted by drug dealers and human traffickers. Or killed in hate-crimes. How do you forgive murder? Does the victim get a chance to decide? What about all the serial murderers roaming our streets currently, who are out on parole RIGHT NOW, and just killing or raping again. I know it happens. We all know it happens nearly every day - repeat offenders are arrested for new crimes while out on parole or bail for other crimes. What is more important - giving a dangerous criminal their freedom to kill or rape again, or protecting the human rights of the public from THEM?

Our society has become so desensitized to it that we seldom remark about it or even read beyond the headlines any more. We are used to the violence and death. The only time we really give a toss, is when these events touch our lives personally and intimately.

I have no pity or sympathy for murderers and rapists. None. They deserve life sentences by their actions and by what they did to their victims. As far as I'm concerned, they gave up the human right to freedom and being part of society when they killed or raped. And my friends in the human rights advocacy field can criticize me for it if they like, but I think that expecting people to respect the "right" of murderers to be released onto the streets to harm more innocent people, is just lunacy. It's absurd.

You can bet dollars to doughnuts their three year old daughter will not be the one that vanishes from the sand-pit in their back yard, nor will it be them getting pulled off the street into a sex-for-drugs ring. As far as I'm concerned, housing these fiends in a secure facility, seeing to their needs for food, exercise and not killing them is respect enough for their human rights.

I see no need to coddle them, nor to twist the need to keep them from harming other people into some kind of violation of human rights.

I was even given examples to show how "successful" the reintegration of murderers and rapists can be - in the form of Rwanda. I have to say that Rwanda is/was a case of genocide and "civil" war - not domestic murderers killing and raping people WITHOUT the active support of the state or military force. How can one equate crimes committed in the fight for and against apartheid (and a genocidal war in the case of Rwanda) with run-of-the-mill murder and rape which are acts in a class of their own, not purely motivated out of those specific conditions - and in the case of South Africa, simply a symptom of the criminal problem we have here?

Murderers and rapists are by definition anti-social, for the very reason that they cannot be trusted around other human beings precisely for the reason that they are murderers and rapists and may very likely kill or rape again. Just saying how "sorry" they are is not good enough - or are these people suggesting that someone who has killed or raped is above lying to get out of jail? I don't care how sorry they are for killing or raping someone - or how sorry they got caught - society is better off without people like that walking around among us like wolves in sheeps clothing.

I am a human rights activist - and I strongly advocate for the adherence to equal human and civil rights for ALL people - EXCEPT however, where the application of all such rights to one group of people who persist in violating the same rights of others, endangers the very lives of others.

What these people are suggesting is a system by which there is NO punishment for capital crimes, no reason for people to fear or regret or pay for the consequences of serious actions such as murder or rape, and that everything will be just fine for them after a stay in a state rehabilitation facility, and they can come out again as a fully equal member of society who may not be treated like the dangerous criminals and human rights violators they are because it violates their human rights. Sorry, can't and won't agree.

Of course, here in SA they seem to be applying this system, because there are so many dangerous repeat offending criminals on the streets as we speak - out on bail, or parole, who claim to regret their actions, but nevertheless keep on doing it anyway. Shame, I feel so sorry for them, don't you? After all, who cares about the innocent people these monsters rape or murder? The criminals are the REAL victims here, they've been let down by the system.. and we wouldn't want to deprive them of any human rights, least of all the freedom to continue harming others!

There Is In Prejudice, No Fairness, Nor Equality

2011-12-04T23:09:00.001-08:00

We are all losing a little bit of our equality and freedom, a little bit at a time. All of us, in every social grouping, whatever the basis for discrimination or differentiation, are affected. We all belong to a race group, a gender, a sexual orientation, a personal expression, and have our own religious beliefs. How long before all of us are equal only in our disenfranchisement, powerlessness and despair?

Given the looming Secrecy Bill which is, I am certain, designed to cushion the State and ruling party from ongoing Media criticism and scandals resulting from numerous and plentiful allegations and revelations of corruption, fraud, mismanagement and gross incompetence, it seems "some" newspaper Editors enjoy indulging in a little secrecy of their own.

The Sunday Tribune based in Durban on the South-East coast of South Africa has taken it upon itself to not only defame a whole religious community, but to ignore their protests and objections to such defamation and stereotyping as well.

A few months ago, the furore around the so-called "satanic" killing of a man in a cemetery by a woman and her boyfriend in the town of Welkom boiled over into a frenzy of "satanic panic" articles written by sensation-seeking journalists who used coincidental occult connotations and accusations of "satanism" and "witchcraft" to good effect in lining the bottom of their reader's bird cages. The accused, a teenage girl - who was subsequently convicted of the murder based on evidence linking her to the deed, and not her religious associations - was inappropriately and repeatedly labelled "the Welkom Witch" - much to the dismay and ire of real practising Witches and Pagans in general.

As could be clearly seen when evidence was led in court, and from the text of the guilty verdict - there is nothing linking this person to actual Paganism or the actual practice of witchcraft - in fact, newspaper reports indicated that this girl was found to have severe mental and psychological issues which indicated she enjoyed "experimenting" and would most likely be a repeat offender. She was convicted for her crimes, which is something I can agree with. What I cannot agree with, is the use of the term "Witch" to describe such a murderer. It associates the act of murder, and the acting out of cruelty and violence with real Witches, and this in fact is totally inappropriate and woefully inaccurate.

One would not expect the Media to entertain the use of labels such as "the Welkom Jew" or "the Welkom Christian" - so why is it perfectly acceptable to call the killer "the Welkom Witch" and then to react with complete surprise and disbelief when actual Witches object? Really dude?

Paganism as a religious entity was legalized and formalized at the dawn of our new democracy in South Africa, after many years of persecution, secrecy and mystery under the oppressive racist and Christianist White Christian Apartheid regime. The fact that some practitioners of Pagan religion or spiritual paths in witchcraft and use the name "Witch" to describe themselves was fairly well documented at the time. It took numerous depositions by Pagan leaders and representatives before Parliament in the early 1990's to get Pagan worship - and the practice of the religion of witchcraft recognized and legalised in South Africa.

As a matter of interest, back in 2007 the passing of an anti-witchcraft Bill - seriously pushed by the ACDP, among others - was narrowly avoided. This Bill would have made a large portion of the expression of Pagan religious beliefs in public or private a crime punishable by law. This goes to show the lengths to which opponents of religious freedom will go in this country, to ensure the continued dominance of their own religion.

Considering national law and the SA Constitution, it is not illegal - nor a crime in and of itself - to be either a practising Pagan - or even to be a Satanist or Luciferian. Crime is still crime though, and where people commit heinous acts, they are to face the full might of the law - no matter what their motive was, be it religious or not. But how fair is it to blame the crimes of a person not even associated with a specific religion on that specific religion? Especially when the Media tries and convicts the person accused on unsubstantiated claims of "satanism" and "witchcraft" and plays on and profits from the religious hysteria that follows?

Charne van Heerden is no Witch, she is in fact not even a Pagan. The court found no concrete evidence to even back up the use of the word "satanism" in the case - but I suppose that word gets applied to anyone these days, whom certain religious groups disapprove of, such as gay people - and of course, anyone from any other religion apart from Christianity.

Despite this legality, and the intended (and under-promoted) equality and non-discrimination clauses in the Constitution of South Africa (and in Act No4 of 2000, the Promulgation of Equality Act), there still exists much prejudice and stigma to being out and open about one's religious affiliations if you are Pagan.

Pagans and Pagan culture and religious beliefs are regularly demonized and insulted by other religious groups, and especially by religious fundamentalist Christians - and often not simply in their own religious spaces - but in broad public daylight. This hostility is not simply limited to a little public hate speech, but also to frequent intimidation and victimization of Pagans and non-Christians in the workplace, in schools, and in the business arena.

In some workplace environments, non-Christian employees are shunned, intimidated or badgered to convert. Christian prayer-groups operate openly, and Pagans are publicly embarrassingly and insultingly "prayed for". At the very least, Pagans are often encouraged to keep their religious beliefs, practices and affiliations secret for fear of this intimidation and harassment - while Christian practitioners are clearly given an advantage.

The same can be said for Schools - and particularly in areas where there are no alternatives (due to travel distance) but local Christian schools. Some Pagan children are sent to attend Christian schools, and despite the fact that they privately laugh up their sleeves at the irony of it all, they are nevertheless forced by circumstances to keep their mouths shut. Even in public schools, there is very often a prevailing atmosphere of "everybody is or should be a Christian - and that includes YOU". Imagine the furore that would erupt should a Pagan-centred school open its doors, briefly. Yes, I can see where the equality clauses in our Constitution are so clearly adhered to.

Then there is the business sector, where it appears religious communities like to indulge in slitting each others throats. Christian extremists (aka Christianists) have "Christian business forums" where people list their businesses in order to get the support of the Christian community - or to indicate that they are part of the fold, and it is up to "real Christians" to support only them. Consequently, pressure can be applied to any member business that engages with other communities of whom the body does not dogmatically approve of. However, when Pagans attempt to form a business collective, these businesses suddenly find themselves marked for protests, victimization and sometimes even eviction.

New Pagan-centered businesses opening in shopping complexes often come under the scrutiny of local fundy pastors and their flocks - sometimes even including visits to "inspect" the premises, the stock and the intent of the owner - as if we require approval from other religious groups to conduct business in the same way they do!

Why would Pagans open business to supply Pagan services or goods? Well, to make money, earn a living, and spread a little Pagan culture, duh. No, this will simply not do - we can't have that in a shopping center - children might see it and Christians might be tempted to buy their books, soap, candles and incense here instead! Oh dear.

One day, when you have the time, count how many Pagan shops you know of inside a local shopping mall. Know of any? The closest one I can think of is in Knysna - 300km away from here - and PE is a pretty big city with definitely more than ten shopping malls, with practically one in every suburb. Yes, there is one Pagan business selling Pagan wares that I know of in PE - and it's in a private residence in Richmond Hill. I'm not sure exactly why they don't set up in Walmer Park or Greenacres, but I do know how much trouble the shop in Knysna had - after they were refused space in numerous malls in the Garden Route area. And yet in almost every mall in town, there is at least one Christian bookshop or Christian-themed shop - and in almost every other shop - especially music and book stores, there is a section devoted to "Religious" - which is just fine, so long as your religion happens to be Christianity.

Then we have the human rights groups who allow themselves to get side-tracked from their core-business by religious frivolities. Instituting Christian prayer and preaching in a civil/human rights group? Why? If you start bringing religion into civil rights work, pretty soon it becomes about religion and not civil rights work... I don't agree with it.

Some people seem to forget that not everyone is a Christian, and they seem to think that those who aren't, "should" be. They don't seem to care that involving one religion in a group makes others who aren't part of that religion, uncomfortable and to feel excluded. They sometimes also say that others are free to bring their own religion into the group as well - but then this would make others uncomfortable also - and in the end the whole thing would become uncomfortable for everybody - AND the group would be distracted from its actual purpose - HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISM. Not so?

It is only logical to keep things in such a group secular - meaning absent of any particular religious influence or procedure. So I ask again, what does Christianity and "god" - or any god - have to do with how a group is run and the business of fighting for human rights and equality as people?" The very same can be said for the law of the land - and the SA Constitution.

This all highlights just how skewed our sense of fairness and equality and non-discrimination is in South Africa. It says quite loudly and clearly that all religions in South Africa are equal - but some religions are more equal than others. Oh, and ours is more equal than yours, so sod off. Weh-weh-weh.

The issue brought up by the Sunday Tribune articles is the unfair and inaccurate depiction of real Witches as dangerous and violent killers with mental disorders and anti-social behavior - and the fact that this serves to sell their newspapers - while also bolstering the negative stereotype which sees so many innocent people murdered each year in South Africa.

I suppose it is a moot point to mention that those doing the killing very often do it out of superstition, ignorance - and mostly CHRISTIAN religious zeal, but I will mention it anyway. As in the Burning Times in ages past, where lonely old women and men were randomly accused, mis-tried and murdered by the Church (be it Catholic or otherwise), today villagers in remote regions are accusing innocent people - typically elderly women living alone, of "witchcraft" - based on no evidence whatsoever, other than their suspicions - and summarily killing them.

Notably, this is done without the involvement of the law, or any reports of follow-ups in the press. We may read a headline about a person murdered in a rural area - rather conveniently accused of "witchcraft" - but we never read about the killers being arrested, identified or even tried or convicted for these abhorrent kangaroo-court and jungle justice style murders. Often these articles will also feature the words "witch" or "witchcraft" to describe the victims, even though no evidence is presented to substantiate any of the suspicions of the killers - and the stereotype that "witches" are dangerous, hostile and that their killings are justifiable, forms a message that is difficult to dismiss - unless one is patently stupid or agrees with it.

The Sunday Tribune received complaints about this association and mis-use of the word "witch" in the van Heerden case, and a complaint was logged with the Press Ombudsman to this effect. The response of the Ombudsman? “Unfortunately this office will not entertain your complaint.” Joe Thloloe. Very nice attitude, that.

This is not a new thing it seems, as the PO appears to have a long-standing indifference to complaints against the defamation of the Pagan community in the media. In email correspondence between one complainant, a Ms Martin - the email in which the Press Ombudsman responds "

"Dear Ms Martin,

Unfortunately this office will not entertain your complaint.

May I refer you to a 2009 decision by this office, upheld by the chairperson of the Press Appeals Panel, Judge Zulman? For clarity I will:

Over a considerable period, Mr Leff has complained against a number of publications – among them Die Burger,The Witness, Vaal decision, you may request the chairperson Weekly, IOL, Dispatch Online - alleging that they defamed “self-styled witches”. The latest complaint is against Die Burger for an article by Marlene of the Press Appeals Panel, Judge Ralph Neethling on March 25, 2009 headlined Kat dalk in heksedaad bedwelm. Zulman, to review it.

This complaint follows the pattern of all the others. The articles he submitted to this office, from titles across the country, are from the web and not from actual newspapers. We can fairly infer that Mr Leff trawls the web looking for South African newspaper references to witches and uses his “hits” as bases for his complaints."

Reference is made to a report on complaints about similar offending articles in South African papers made by Damon Leff of the SA Pagan Rights Alliance (SAPRA) and a report on the issue by the Press Ombudsman dating from 2009. Comments in this piece by the office of the PO infer that in essence "it is just fine to ignore these complaints, because they are all about the same thing anyway". It says that it is fine to ignore a complainant, because these people are always complaining about the same old silly thing, and that we're really not interested enough to investigate anyway. Besides, references on the web to online articles also published by a newspaper in that same newspaper, somehow "don't count".

Here in South Africa, just as in the rest of Africa, we have Traditional Healers which are a firmly rooted part of Black culture - and the name "witch-doctor" unwisely applied by missionaries in the past, still appears to have stuck. As a scathing example of the mis-applied label and woefully inaccurate stereotype (as well as the potential for harm), another article provides clarity:

"Interviewed after his church service yesterday, the leader of the Sword and Spirit Ministries alleged that it was a known fact that witches were hired to perform certain rituals at cultural events which, however, he did not specify. "All I am saying is I do not want my money to pay witches in the name of culture," said Thwala."

These so-called "witches" do not identify as actual Witches because they aren't Witches! They are TRADITIONAL HEALERS. They also have absolutely no association or affiliation with Pagan religion, religious bodies, or culture - and in fact they often object to such association being made.

"According to the Press Ombudsman, any notion that actual Witches should wish to appeal against the defamatory stereotyping of witches in the South African media is ridiculous and can never merit anything but contemptuous scorn."

But of course - didn't you know that there is no such thing as ordinary, law abiding, good natured witches? That's right, the Sunday Tribune is clearly a "family newspaper"...can't have "satanism" promoted and made to look like an acceptable lifestyle choice now, can we? Praise the Lord, pass the collection plate - and for God sakes, will somebody please think of the children? Facepalm, as they say online these days.

It seems that the Editor of the Sunday Tribune and the Press Ombudsman do not realize the role the media plays in forming public perception - or that they do not care. I don't know which is worse - this fact, or the question surrounding the Press Ombudsman's supposed impartiality, fairness and integrity. Hmm.

This past week, a number of very well written letters of objection and complaint about this matter were sent to the Sunday Tribune and the Press Ombudsman by members of the Pagan community. No response was received from either, and not one of these letters was placed in this Sunday's Tribune. Silence, as they say, is also an answer.

Given all of the above, I think it's ironic and disturbing that the Sunday Tribune seems to care so much about "Black Tuesday" and the Secrecy Bill silencing the SA Media - splashed all over their Facebook page - while at the same time the Sunday Tribune indulges in silencing the community of practising Witches by refusing to print our letters of objection, and defaming us in their articles about convicted criminals who have nothing to do with the Wicca, Paganism or any actual religious practice related to Pagan Witchcraft!

Surely this hypocrisy and double standards have no place in a free democratic society - or in the principles and ethos of those who claim to cherish such freedoms?

We Are Big Brother

2011-11-28T02:17:00.001-08:00

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? - this a Latin proverb meaning "who will guard the guardians?" or "who will watch the watchdogs?"

Correct me if I'm wrong - but in a democracy, that is the job for the People, the Citizenry, the Electorate, or the body politic. That's us. We do. Or don't - depending on what little laws or obstacles those elected to power roll in the way to obstruct our view of what they are up to, post-fact. Or of course, unless they are lucky enough to have an electorate too apathetic to give a rats ass what they do in our name, be that for us - or to us.

The Secrecy Bill is a big obstacle rolled into our path - their biggest yet. It eclipses other measures designed to cripple the human and civil rights of the ordinary citizen - such as the RICA and FICA acts - which strip us of the right to own and operate mobile communications and conduct financial transactions without these activities being reported to the state. Thus we can no longer SMS, talk or post anything online without the state being able to trace who said it, and we cannot transfer funds or operate bank accounts without the state knowing who did it, and with whom. This new law will now prevent us from knowing what the state is up to, and from reading any expose's of corrupt or dishonourable dealings by the state. Thus, personal communications and information - both in and out - are now controlled by the state.

I sometimes forget what an authoritarian state we live in today, but things like the Secrecy Bill serve to remind me that we still live in a racist state, where the only thing that has really changed is the guard - and the black-white polarity has switched. Jobs are still being reserved for people of specific race groups, wealth has been redistributed along racial lines, and the poor still are getting poorer, and the rich are becoming and remaining obscenely so.

The ANC government and its diseased organs continue to waste billions of Rands in taxpayers money on parties and other wanton amusements, while poor people struggle to find food or shelter from the cold and rain. Viewed through the eyes of starving street kids - more often their own people - this is nothing short of obscene. Oh, did I mention the President is getting a new jet to fly him around the world in?

The Police "service" today is corrupt and apathetic towards victims of crime - especially hate crime - and more resembles the apartheid era para-military machine than the restructured body that emerged in the 1990's and died a quick death. Accusations regularly emerge in the press of wrongful arrest, disappeared evidence and hate crimes against minority groups, racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, human rights violations - often allegedly committed BY police personnel themselves.

As it is, ordinary citizens already have to jump through flaming hoops and over blazing barrels like Donkey-Kong to get a firearms license - while criminals far out-gun the cops, having access to caches of stolen weapons and military hardware, without any regard for these laws. Crime syndicates blow up ATMs with explosives stolen from mine stores, knock over cash-in-transit vehicles - children and women are held captive in isolated areas by organised drug and sex-rings. Foreign nationals saunter across our porous "borders" and under the guise of "refugee status" set up forced prostitution rings using narcotics as a hook to reel in their slave-workers - and all this goes on openly, year after year - while our merry government does sweet bugger-all about it.

There is no point in allowing foreign nationals into the country - even as refugees, if they cannot be helped to find legitimate jobs to sustain themselves. If they turn to crime and cause untold harm to others, they forfeit their claim to refugee status, so deport them - and for goodness sake, if they are deported, KEEP THEM OUT!

Something that has really pissed me off over the past few weeks is the exorcism killing of a 9 year old girl by church members in Humansdorp, not an hour's drive from here. This supposedly transpired with the permission of the girls parents. Apparently those who participated were not even mandated to do so by the crazy fundy church involved - but the man who ran the show is supposed to be a self-appointed "pastor" with a bent on demon-possession, and without any involvement of the church. Yeah right. Convenient. As it is, we all know anybody can just call themselves "Pastor so-and-so" and people are expected to show them respect, obedience and courtesies for it. At least here in SA it seems to be some kind of convention. Great place to start a scam, that, innit? We Souf Efrikins and our ingrained shame of "Haai, what would the Dominee say?" Imagine the possibilities.

The poor child probably had a treatable behaviour disorder, something which parents (who actually have brains in their heads) should refer to a child-shrink. Instead they tortured her to death in the name of their Lord. This sounds like something from the dark ages, where millions were murdered in the name of blind, fanatical religion - and people today conveniently forget that these people all died in the name of the same god they worship today. And to add insult to injury, these monsters were granted bail last week - for killing an innocent child - with the proviso - "as long as they don't do anymore exorcisms"... WTF??

This folks, is conclusive proof which shows that to some people, "prayer" means physical violence - and crime committed in the name of Christ is not taken seriously. Christianity? No thanks, they can keep it.

But I have digressed a considerable leap, folks. So here we are, back at the Secrecy Bill, looking at a possible example of why the ANC pushed so hard for the Secrecy Bill to go through? Bad publicity costs votes, doesn't it? After all, if the government and those figureheads who sit at the fancy table on shiny chairs in shiny suits are made to look bad - or to account for their sins against the People, then the People are less likely to vote for the same people again, are they?

With virtually a new government or ruling party scandal hitting the headlines on a weekly basis - and with the leading Opposition party making significantly bigger strides in each election - the answer to this pressing problem is to silence the press and starve the information machine which works against them. Did they plan this out in detail? You bet they did. Do you think they factored the foreign reaction and impact on the economy? Of course.

Zimbabwe hasn't had a free Press in decades... did the rest of the world do anything about it? No? So what do we expect to happen to SA's government for killing Press freedom? More of the same? It has been said before, many times, that SA will go the way of Zim-Bob-we - and they are proving it so. After all - if the Western countries decided to act against SA for this, there's always China - the Eastern power that has demonstrated its economic might, and total disregard for human rights. And we have so much in common with China these days, don't we?

Today's article in the Mail & Guardian is another case in point. The SA Communist Party, one of the three bodies in the tri-partite alliance with the ANC - and therefore one third of its power base - has taken up where Juilus Malema left off:

""We reject the attempts to entrust the security of the national democratic revolution with the commercial and capitalist private media and elevate editorial supremacy above that of the people represented by their elected representatives," said acting provincial secretary Jacob Mamabolo." --- and, get this: "Mamabolo said the party believed that once the Bill became law, it would "consolidate and defend" the national democratic revolution."

Yes folks, because commies are staunch supporters of democracy, and always have been *tongue-in-cheek*. This dude obviously doesn't know WTF he's flapping his lips about.

Also, over the weekend in another article about the Secrecy Bill: "The Protection of State Information Bill will not be amended to provide for a public interest defence when it passes through the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) sources familiar with internal African National Congress debate on the Bill said this week."

Robert Mugabe would be proud of the way the ANC govt is handling this appalling affair.

And then, despite all this news flying around on the Media (while it still can) and in public conversation, you still find the IDIOT who says "I have never voted, and never will - I simply am not interested in politics" - and who will then expect his friends to applaud him for it. Now some of my friends number among this group, and I'm sorry, but dude, if the shoe fits - wear it.

Refusing to vote at all is the coward's way out - pretending to be above the consequences of the political process, when really nobody is immune to what results from it. Refusing to participate simply hands power to those who do participate, and disempowers those who don't - and puts their fates at their mercy. In short, if you don't vote or participate = you are giving control over your lives to those who do. It means you don't even put up a fight to defend your rights.

People who don't vote at all give away control of their own lives to others who do, regardless of the outcome. Sure the vote may not always go their way, but at least they try.

I think people who use the excuse that they feel that they are not represented by the options, are bluffing themselves. The fact is, whatever options there are will either affect them positively or negatively, so they should take a stand and pick one.

It boils down to this - your indecision and incapacity to act like a competent adult and exercise your right to vote impacts negatively on my rights as a citizen. Your failure is resulting in the continued erosion and loss of my civil and human rights. Your cowardice and apathy are objectionable and offensive to me. If you really mean it every time you gripe and moan about "the system" - then how about getting off your apathetic ass and voting in a smart, significant way at the next election - to effect a regime change?

If Big Brother is watching us, and you do nothing, it is your fault. As far as I'm concerned - if you continue to sit there, apathetic, avoiding responsibility - you have no right to complain.

Last, but not least, of the recent alterations to the ANC's page on Wikipedia "Party spokesperson Keith Khoza said: "It's conduct that it not consistent with a civilised society. How does that assist any cause or anybody to tamper with information?"

Wikipedia allows any internet user to edit or change their pages.

"Interfering with information undermines the very need of [information providers]," Khoza said."

Hahahaha - hello pot, this is the kettle calling!

Is Democracy In South Africa Dead?

2011-11-22T12:01:00.001-08:00

"█████ ██ █ ████everything ███ █████ is█████ ████ ████ fine ████ ███ █ █████ love,█████ ██████ ███ your █████ ████ government #BlackTuesday" - This is a message that has been doing the rounds today on the web, and on Facebook. The topic of conversation? The controversial "Protection Of Information Bill, aka the "POI" Bill. It was today passed, after being railroaded through Parliament.

"Railroading" referring to the practice of ignoring due process, flouting procedure, disregarding all public protest - and forging ahead to in essence, force a piece of legislature through the law-making process and down the throats of the people who employ them - us.

Of the same topic, Wilmot James, DA federal chairman, tweeted: "the ANC took 83 years to build its reputation, 17 years to enjoy it & one day to destroy it. #WeMissYouMandela".

‎News24 today reported: "All 264 ANC MPs have been ordered to the National Assembly to approve the information bill and there is a clear warning - vote along party lines or face the consequences."

What a nice party we have in government, ordering their minions to vote along party lines. Well, I suppose that's why they are called minions? If anything, this indicates precisely how much the ANC wanted this bill to pass - and what is in the offing now that it HAS passed? What can we expect - a total blackout of any government/ANC scandals in the line of what has happened in the past - corruption, mismanagement, nepotism, fraud, abuse of power and resources?

If this was allowed to pass today in Parliament, despite all the provisions in the Constitution which oppose it - then the people of South Africa need to ask themselves: "is democracy in South Africa dead"?

Once again my country, South Africa is the laughing stock of the free world - an outright embarrassment - for turning back on its tracks to forsake hard-won democracy for fascism and dictatorial totalitarian rule. This is the country once described as "a miracle" for embracing democratic rule and not tearing itself apart in the dangerous days of the early 1990's. Is this really the same country? Is this really the same ANC that fought so hard for all the ideals it is now tossing aside in the interests of pursuing absolute power? You DO know what they say about absolute power, don't you?

Has South Africa just demonstrated that it is on the path to despotism, corruption and self destruction - like 99% of all other post-colonial African states which it has such close ties to?

I feel that by this act, the ANC has shown its true colors - that it is anti-freedom, anti-good governance, and anti-democracy. "State secrets"? WHAT state secrets? Are we at war with anyone? Or is it just all the corruption and fraud its members get nailed for that the ANC wants to cover up? You tell me.

Before this bill, up to this day, every major fraud case involving a member of parliament or the ruling party that resulted in the uncovering of serious misconduct or corruption saw the light of day in the media. If this Bill had been in place back in the day, we would today still be in the dark about the Arms Deal corruption. And you can bet your bottom dollar that all the people jailed for corruption since, would still have been in their offices.

Remember the Scorpions? They were the elite police anti-corruption unit, busting high-flying fraudsters and crime syndicates with a high success rate. And what happened? Parliament closed them down, crushed them flat - because far too much attention was being paid to their own activities, and too much of their own dirty laundry was getting fresh air in public - forcing their prosecution. Even their successors - the Hawks - wings were clipped to protect the MP's from the attention of the law the rest of us commoners are expected to live by. This Bill is only the next logical step: Don't stamp out corruption in government - just prevent it from coming out. Sweet.

SA GLAAD is a founding signatory to the Right2Know Campaign. We endorse their statements against this heinous Bill. We have to stand with freedom and democratic values. My colleague, Cobus Fourie on the Board of SA GLAAD, had the following to say:

"The Securocrats behind the Protection of State Information Bill (Secrecy Bill) paradoxically aren't secretive about their baseless paranoia. Recent sideways swipes at the collection of dissenting civil society organisations merely prove this paranoia. An insinuation was made by the Minister of State Security, Siyabonga Cwele, that the dissenting civil society and others are merely the proxies of international spies.

'In Wall Street the 99% is protesting because they are ignored while in South Africa it is the 1% protesting because they want to impose their will on the 99%.' - Dennis Dlomo, advisor to State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele, to Jeremy Maggs on eTV yesterday.

"The security apparatus was creative enough to manufacture a whole new offence: that of information peddling. It has been met with utter disbelief. According to the Secrecy Bill 'information peddling' is the act of deliberate propagation of false information. One thinks of the infamous Browse Mole report and other absurd actions of the security cluster in the past. Fiction, speculation and gossiping, it seems, is effectively outlawed. Very paranoid and very creative" - Cobus Fourie, SA GLAAD.

And of course labelling information which may well be quite true and which may merit attention from legal bodies and public interest as "false" simply because it is classified as "sensitive". Shame - poor shy and retiring 'information'.

"The DA called the consultation process a "farce" saying the ANC had only consulted in five of the eight provinces under its control. Consultations were still going ahead the night before the Bill went to Parliament. In Mangaung, 100 residents turned up for the hearing but the ANC MP who was meant to conduct the hearing failed to appear. Instead, fliers about the Bill were handed out, a choir entertained the crowd and then food was served." - Mail & Guardian.

So the "consultations" never ever even happened as far as the average citizen is concerned. It was just forced through regardless. And in time it will be tarred over as the government acting in the best interests of "national security" on behalf of the voters who put them in office and who kept them there up till now.

And add to that the ANC crony who I watched on TV saying in parliament today that those making the "fuss" against the bill are simply proving their point that they haven't read it. I think that speaks for itself. The ANC clearly wishes to paint those protesting this violation of their constitutional rights as "ignorant" - and intimates that we just don't understand complicated things like lawmaking and parliamentary procedure, and these things should therefore be left in the very capable hands of those hijacking the governmental process for their own gain.

If the supporters of liberty, democracy and equality stand idly by and allow this to bill to continue into law, then we might as well just kiss our democracy and civil rights and freedom goodbye now.

What people need to understand is this: This is more than just posturing and parading for a live TV audience. It is also more than just an info bill. It's a test of strength. If the the ruling party can ignore public pressure and shamelessly hammer this through Parliament by sheer force, then what will ever prevent them from pressing through other draconian bills which will also violate articles of the Constitution afterwards at will?

Watch. Things will move very quickly now - before the bill can be overturned. And then it will all be hushed up, wallpapered over and painted any color you like, as long as it's the color they tell you to like. Big Brother is in the house now.

I think they already have all these thoughts in mind. "Cadre deployment" in the judiciary was carefully planned if one looks back at the controversial appointment of a homophobic judge (Mogoeng) as chief justice now, doesn't it? All that talk about the ANC chipping away at the underpinnings of the Constitution seems a self-fulfilling prophecy now.

If they win this battle, as unconstitutional as it is - and the Opposition cannot stop it - then they may feel that they cannot be stopped in future, and probably with good reason. What will be next? Open censorship? Direct persecution of minority groups and political rivals? Detention without trial? Will political rivals and prominent social consciousness figures start to vanish in the night again as they did in the "bad old days" under Apartheid, never to be seen again? Remember the journo that was abducted by the police a year ago from a media office in Johannesburg from a protest meeting about this very Bill? Are the bad old days truly here again?

The SA Human Rights Commission and Public Protector both commendably spoke out against today's vote and the bill. Considering everything, this made barely a blip on the radar - and with the SAHRC being suitably toothless (despite 4 years of paper-shuffling, that homophobe, Jon Qwelane is STILL SA's ambassador to "kill the gays" Uganda - right where the ANC placed him and keeps him) not much will happen. Perhaps their leaders will shortly be "redeployed" elsewhere, where they can do no harm to the grand plan in motion. "Phut" goes our democracy.

Frankly, in order for democracy to survive, there HAS to be be freedom of the press. Without it, everything else fails and what you have left is no longer a democracy.

Ironic, isn't it? That we've been warning about this sort of thing coming for the past 4 years now. The irony isn't even gratifying - because the same people we warned back then won't even connect the dots or remember that they didn't listen. Who's sorry now? We all are. That's who.

Passing On The Torch

2011-11-21T02:45:00.001-08:00

It is very close to the end of another year, and the time has come again for me to reflect on the past, to take stock - and to chart a new course for my future in human rights activism. You may recall I started out as an activist for the human rights of the Pink Community, specifically with the SA Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (SA GLAAD) - an organization I am still serving on - and have since also become more involved with other causes attached to the cause of human rights. Among these was a group called ECGLA.

Having been with the Eastern Cape Gay & Lesbian Association (ECGLA) since March 2009 until 2 weeks ago, I saw many changes in the organization and in the Committee. From the original 7 members who met every week at the Italian Job pub, until today - where the group has an extensive network of associates and affiliate organizations, and are even helping other community-based organizations take their first shaky steps.

I started my run with ECGLA in the position of "Advocacy and Mainstreaming" in March 2009, followed by election to Vice President in June. In the first crisis faced by ECGLA when ties between us and Leandie Buys were severed under less than amicable circumstances, I led ECGLA into an uncertain future as its newly elected President. In 2010, it was jointly decided by the Committee that the post of President should be altered to that of Director, in keeping with the trend followed by other non-profit organizations we had contact with.

ECGLA grew from strength to strength, forming relationships with a host of other Pink Community organizations, and even general social bodies, which have all helped it grow to where it is now. Through the last three years, we discovered what worked, and what didn't. At times we were groping in the dark while working towards specific goals. With ECGLA, I tasted both failure and success, with satisfactory events and also those not so satisfactory, facing problems such as apathy, disinterest and under-attendance from our own community.

Some of the highlights of my term in office with ECGLA which stand out for me include ECGLA's association with the PCRD, PE Bears, Lifeline PE, and Eloquor Knights, when ECGLA received NPO status, opened a bank account - and of course, the first two sponsorships from MAGI. The outreach program which has helped both the poor as well as LGBTI persons, numerous successful social events and presentations, the film festival and music trivia evening - and I will never forget our famous attempt to donate blood at The Bridge SANBS donation point! For me though, the NMB Pride of 2011, just about sums it all up! Success upon success - and for the benefit of the Pink Community.

From the very beginning, one of the goals of ECGLA was the formation of a Pride committee and the hosting of an annual Pride event in Port Elizabeth - a dream which remained on paper until this year - when instead of 100 people attending, almost 5000 people graced the very first Pride event in our Metro! I am immensely proud of the ECGLA, and of all the Committee members for the part each played in making this possible.

Each of us on the Committee sacrificed - time, effort, talent - and even personal resources such as finances, venues, goods and other contributions to our common cause of equality and human rights for all. At times we and our predecessors opened our homes and even businesses to the presence of ECGLA, and to me all of this is a testimonial to their commitment to the community of which we are a part.

Since 2009, ECGLA has worked for the benefit of the Pink Community in the fields of counseling, outreach, community work, advocacy, health and well-being - and I am very proud to have been associated with the group through all of this, as its Director.

This is the end of yet another year, time to reflect on the past - to evaluate my part in it, and also to consider the future. I was the last remaining of the original members of the ECGLA Committee, and for some while felt that it was time for me to take my leave of the ECGLA and the NMB Pride Committee and to move on.

I no longer felt that I could continue to give all my attention to the ECGLA, as I have numerous interests vested in different community organizations. It has to be said that though I have played the role of Director these past three years, I am far more an activist than an administrator. In retrospect, though I never joined the ECGLA committee to become its leader, I have absolutely no regrets about the time and effort I invested in it. I just needed to cut back on my diverse activities in order to regain my focus as an activist for human rights.

I was saddened by this decision, and it may seem to some to have been rather sudden - but I have been mulling over this for several months already. Part of the reason I held back was due to timing - I did not wish to leave ECGLA in the lurch in the middle of critical arrangements, or during critical periods where I could still provide a sense of stability and direction, and my departure could have precipitated failure and the potential collapse of the organization. I think that this was the right time for me to step down as Director of ECGLA, and to end my involvement in the group on a high note.

I feel that at this point, ECGLA is a strong organization now, with support from the community, and its name has now been made and held high with Pride, and ECGLA now has the attention of other Pink Community associations and community bodies. There is a strong Committee, and things are truly happening. It is time for me to pass on the torch.

Of course, I realize that I am just one who has contributed to the success of the ECGLA and our achievements over the past three years, and I can in no way accept credit by myself for these achievements. I feel it has all been a team effort, and I would like very much to publicly express my heartfelt thanks and appreciation to each and every one of you for your cooperation, friendship and contribution towards the achievement of our group success. I wish my successor, David Hessey - in the new position of Chairperson, and ECGLA - all the very best for the future.

What does the future hold for me? Those of you who know me, know that the cause of equality, freedom and democracy lies very close to my heart - and not just for the Pink Community, but for ALL. To this end, I am charting a new course for my activism career, through some lonely and isolated waters. But hey, life is an adventure, and I intend to enjoy the ride.

Lessons In Love

2011-11-14T01:27:00.001-08:00

I love you...

The words are cheap and easily said these days, aren't they?

I love you...

They can buy you happiness, trust, romance, company, wealth - anything your heart desires - if you use them well. Depending on your skill, and the extent of your desire, there is practically no limit on what you can achieve in this way.

I love you...

The words are probably the most twisted, abused and misapplied words in the universe today - or any other day.

I love you...

Some people say the words and mean them, others speak them while ignorant of their meaning or significance - and others simply lie.

I love you...

Looking behind the words and the various ways in which they are applied to numerous different situations and circumstances by people to suit their own needs and desires can provide one a rather chilling and dark ride into the lesser publicised rooms in the human psyche.

I love you...

Just saying these words can end a war - or start one. These three little words are so important, yet so worn out and hackneyed from casual overuse that their import is so often reduced to the point of trivia - and yet, they still very literally mean the difference between nothing and everything.

I love you...

Some people say it while they smile and stab the person they say it to - some say it to the one holding the knife.

I love you...

Too often I have said that to people holding a blade buried in either my back or my chest. Turning the other cheek usually only gets that slapped as well. Nothing more.

I love you...

Seeing the motives behind why some people make this statement - the dis-honest and selfish reasons behind it all - can very well make a person believe in monsters again after all.

Mirror, Mirror

2011-11-08T04:01:00.000-08:00

As a non-Christian, I have never understood the need some people have to indoctrinate others, or to try and force their own views on them. When this sort of thing takes place during a time of grieving and mourning, such as at a funeral, it just makes it even worse.

I have to wonder what they think, the people who arrange funerals and memorial services. Cheerful subject, I know - but do they assume that everyone who would come there is by default a Christian? I think they do. I think they just sweep aside all considerations of diversity, and figure that well, if anyone doesn't like it, then they don't have to be there. Too bad if they knew the deceased, or cared about them.

When people attend a memorial service for a dearly departed friend or family member, one would expect it to be about the person whom they have lost, not so? Their history, their achievements - and perhaps little nuances about their daily lives with those who remain. I find it extremely annoying and totally inappropriate for the occasion to be effectively hijacked and turned into an opportunity to pound people on the head with holy books and doctrine about how people should live their lives in order to be "perfect", like the deceased - who now resides in "heaven" and smiles beatifically down on the rest of us "sinners", or saying "I told you so".

I attended several funerals this year, of close friends and relatives - and while none of these were conducted in a church, but in the format of a private memorial service - each one was laced with Christian platitudes and sermons. The question I need to ask is: Why?

It's not as if the event was held in a regular church on a Sunday, or during a scheduled Sunday service. Nor were those in attendance part of the ordinary congregations of the deceased's church - in fact, one of the deceased was a friend of mine who was an agnostic with atheistic and even Pagan tendencies - and yet a local minister was called in by the family to perform a very religious ceremony, which created the impression that the dead person had been a good Christian, when nothing could be further from the truth.

Is the memorial service then, to honor the memory of the deceased, or is it there to honor the image of the deceased as they wanted them to be?

It seems to me that the memorial service is not for the deceased, but is like religion, chicken soup for the soul, which is there for the sake of those left behind. It is a bouquet of flowers for the dead, a bundle of sentiments that should have been given to the deceased while still alive. Is it not then simply hubris and sentiment heaped upon those who are dead and can no longer be affected by perception?

I'm not sure where the saying comes from anymore, but I remember it goes: "Change is for the living". No matter how we twist the facts or color the truth about the deeds or life of the dead, we cannot make it true, or undo that which was done. What is done is done.

A ministor or pastor gets drafted by relatives to officiate at the memorial service, gets a brief run-down about the life of the deceased, and then has to talk about someone they have probably never met, and about whom they know only a little about. I suspect then, that the sermon part is then made a little longer in order to compensate for this glaring gap in the program? The gathering is then treated to a half hour of blah, blah, the wages of sin is death, waffle, waffle, no-one comes to the father but by me, blah, blah, fish-paste. And if you get a very bland, traditional Methodist minister for the service, who goes through the same sermon three times to make his point - you're in trouble.

Yes, I can appreciate that a Christian person would want the appropriate burial rights - but as far as I am concerned, these do not include lecturing and preaching at those gathered to pay their last respects and to mourn their passing. It makes about as much sense as forcing people to all close their eyes while someone says grace at a working dinner.

Think about it. Uncle Buck or Cousin Amy bites it, and people come from all over the place to attend their memorial service. It's not held at a church, but in a chapel at a funeral home.

The people who attend are as diverse as they come, not just members of the church Uncle Buck or Cousin Amy went to, but people who worked with them, played bridge with them, were friends with them, or who are distantly related to them. Some are Christians, yes, but some are not.

One could even wonder why a funeral home would have a chapel with a cross as a permanent fixture beside the lectern at the front of it? Hmm? Surely a funeral home should cater to everyone - because you know, like - everybody dies, right? This is simple enough to do, by keeping an interfaith chapel without any permanent symbolism. Or do they restrict memorial services solely to Christians? I haven't asked them about that yet, but I might.

People should, in my humble opinion, ask themselves why they attend a memorial service. Is it to honor the memory of that person? Is it because they have suffered a loss - and, while grieving, feel the need to express their sorrow or support to others who share that grief? Or is it just another excuse to enforce a religious viewpoint on anyone who attends the event?

Is it an occasion specially intended for the memory of the departed - or has the idea of a memorial simply degraded to the point where it has lost its meaning and become a pointless ritual marking the significance of a human life viewed within the frame of hollow religious tradition?

When I attend a memorial service of a friend or relative, I don't expect to be brow-bashed by religion and dogma, or bored by platitudes about "eternal life" when they are so obviously dead, or insulted by the assumption that I am Christian "like everybody else is, or should be", and that "us" Christians are such wonderful, "saved" people who are better than anyone else who is not. Therefore, when this sort of thing happens, I do not appreciate it.

Ordinarily, I do not attend Christian religious events or services. Of course, I don't have to attend my friend's funeral or memorial service - nobody is forcing me to - it is something I want to do out of a sense of family honor, or loyalty to that friend - and so, putting up with the religious rhetorical nonsense is the part I have to compromise on. However, I think it is exceedingly thoughtless and selfish of those making the arrangements to exclude those who would take offense to being expected to attend a memorial which is little more than a religious occasion - representing a religion of which they are not part - and who make use of the opportunity to take cheap shots at non-Christians who do attend.

Challenges of Life

2011-11-01T02:32:00.000-07:00

I believe where it is SAFE to do so, transgender people should be out and proud. And where it isn't safe, they should be proud if not out - and they should still work for equality, dignity and human rights so that they - and the generations that are to come - one day can be out. Nobody cares about people they don't know about, folks. When people don't remind folks that they really do exist, the haters, purists and bigots like to believe and pretend that they don't.

Many people say that being transgender or transsexual does not define them as a person, and I agree that being transgender, or transsexual is only one small part of who I am - but we trans folk don't get discriminated against specifically for being Christian, or Muslim, or goth or a Twilight fan - we face discrimination for being trans.

If you're post op, successful and alive, a veteran of the transition and loads of prejudice, there is so much you can do for those who come after you - by such people pretending not to exist, the new generation loses so much and has less access to mentors, and people who can stand up and guide them or work for the good of the whole.

So many young trans people make so many mistakes and become victims of bad advice and exploitive medical "experts" and "gatekeepers" in the veritable industry that has grown around our existence - its really sad there aren't more of us out there to take control of the direction of our development and identity.

The issue I have with the trans community as a whole is the bitchiness. We compare each other, we act like a bunch of cats in a fight. We shun the members of our community who don't pass, or who aren't "beautiful enough" - or who are "too beautiful". We squabble over theories and facetious constructs like "true transsexuals" (TTS) and HBS which are really smoke and mirrors and an affront to who we are and want to be.

What happens to our experiences when we fade out and pretend to be heteronormative, cisgender ghosts? Some say that those who are in transition should be put in charge of such centers themselves instead of those who have already transitioned? They don't have our knowledge or experience - they are still learning. They don't know enough to call bullshit on junk-science and pure conjecture masquerading as medicine and "treatment". Very often, they can't think past that next bottle of HRT or that next bit of painful surgery to be bothered with politics and advocacy.

That is exactly what is wrong with the trans community. We're in this all for ourselves. I want to transition. Who will help ME? I want... Me, me, me.

And then, at the end of the day, when larger collectives of LGB I etc "forget" trans issues, we whine that we were left out - but as a "community" we forget conveniently that we are doing the same thing to each other, and to ourselves. Sad.

‎"There is no "Trans-Community"" I've heard that said before. Most typically by the haters and deniers among us - those who fall for the lie of "Harry Benjamin Syndrome" - a slap to the face of the pioneer himself - and the "TTS" nightmare which is an insult to transsexual people. Transsexual people who hate themselves for being transsexual 0 and who would turn on their brothers and sisters for their own shame and guilt. They disgust me. No community eh? Yes, more's the pity. Just a conglomerate of people who are targeted by bigots and haters for pretty much the same reasons - their own fear and ignorance and prejudice. And they have quite a lot in common with each other too, similar feelings, similar needs, similar problems - seems to me the only way we aren't a community is through a refusal by some to not recognize it. Seems to me what we feel, need and have in common is what makes a community.

Whenever I see a trans advocate playing some prominent role in Pink Community advocacy, they are acting alone, without a group - or at least without a group of other TRANS people behind them... Most typically they are supported not by their own kind - at least not openly - but quite vocally by the L,G,B elements. Why is that?

If you have a lack of a trans-identity, why did you feel the need so strongly to transition? Why not just live out the shame and guilt you feel for being you and crawl into a hole and pull it in after you? Eh?

I don't deny anyone the right to define themselves as anything they choose - I am not in authority to do so. But I will still argue my view and debate things which I see as illogical or destructive. What these people forget is this - if we deny our own existence to the world, the world will continue believing that we don't exist, or we are so few in number as to be "unimportant" and not deserving of equality or civil rights - and worse, that we don't have the RIGHT to exist. And then they will work to make it true.

How many trans people are there? How many have transitioned since 1952? Anybody know? Hmm. Interesting how right wing groups make claims that being trans is a "new" thing, and that trans people die young because they have no morals, are promiscuous blah, blah, blah - and without trans-veterans to stand up and show they are alive, productive contributing members of society, with 30 year partnerships, good jobs and excellent brag-rights - who would believe otherwise?

For all intents and purposes, those who transitioned 40 years ago and vanished into obscurity and anonymity - no matter how successfully - might as well be dead as far as the rest of us are concerned - because they do not provide useful examples to prove to these people how wrong they are. In short, they are soldiers who have deserted us, watching from the sidelines.

Some like to deny they were ever male or female before, they try to bluff themselves and the world into believing they were always their post-op selves - and are now "far better" than "those freaks". Really? Now THAT is something you can and should feel ashamed for.

My point is - I had the operation, and therefore I am and always will be a transsexual woman. I can't suddenly rewrite history, delete any and all trace or memory of everything that was before the event. Also, seeing no shame in who and what I am, why should I want to? I am proud of all I am and have accomplished, in both gender roles.

To use an analogy, I was once a born-again Christian and now I am a Pagan. I don't go around denying I was ever a Christian or pretending I never went to church or never sang in the band. But I will explain my feelings on the matter and my experiences to anyone who asks, thereby opening the minds of others, even educating them.

Regardless of the history, or the records, or the outward appearance, or the labels applied - I have always been me, and always will be. That is the part that is true and nobody can redefine that, or take that away from me. I would like to see some gg or other heteronormative person today do the same and cope as I have. Consider that a challenge ;)

Dismantling Fear

2011-10-23T02:44:00.000-07:00

Many transsexual people I have encountered over time have chosen to introduce themselves to friends or aquaintances as being more than "just" transsexuals. Instead of just being honest about having been biologically male or female, and having changed that, they invent stories about having been born intersex - presumably because in their minds, the audience will somehow view them more sympathetically that way than if they were just honest to begin with.

Obviously I am not referring to those who were really born intersex, but to those who appear to be ashamed of being associated with transsexuality, or of the route they had to follow in life to get where they are now. It should go without saying that this doesn't sit well with me.

Some lesbian acquaintances of mine sat down this weekend and tried to make a list of local lesbians who are famous for sport or as performers, actors etc. They did this because they were looking for South Africans they could be proud of and identify with as role models. Naturally the list was quite short, and nearly every name that was suggested was not a South African at all.

For me this highlights a problem we have in South Africa - not just among lesbians, but the gay men too - and especially among the trans folk. Despite the apparent protections of our Constitution, people are still too closeted and ashamed/scared to be known - especially professional people. Lawyers, doctors, actors, physiotherapists etc.

I'm not. I am who I am - and fuck you if you don't like it. I've been out for 12 years and I'm still here, never been fired, never been killed. Perhaps people do not discriminate against me because I will not take it lying down, or perhaps it's because I get on so well with everyone around me - who knows? But it's sad really, that one has to be perpetually ready for a fight in order to discourage others from fighting you, but there it is.

There is something almost exhilarating about exceeding some people's limits without even trying. It's sad - and also sometimes rather funny to find some people literally step back about 3 feet when they are told I am a transsexual woman - and then act as if they think I can somehow "infect" them with something just by being in the same room. It's quite funny to watch them run.

All this just demonstrates how small people are, like a plane trying to take off on a runway that is suddenly much shorter than they thought it was, and they crash and burn at its unexpected end.

You get over the feelings of rejection after a while, and it stops hurting and you go numb - and eventually you start to see the funny side of it all. I'm sure many gay people also know that feeling, although I doubt many people deal with the feelings of hurt, anger and rejection in the same way I do.

Often a person who is trans, or gay, or picked on for being different to the mob, doesn't understand the reasons why other people fear them or hate them or reject them. And often, these people will react with aggression and hostility as a kind of defense mechanism. This also sometimes makes things worse for the individual - and the group - because then the haters have been given a reason to carry on rejecting and persecuting the victim - because Sam/Samantha is not very nice to be around, Marcie/Mark won't play with us anymore, or is being bitchy and "typical of THOSE people". This also shuts down lines of open and honest communication, preventing any exchange of information or learning between us.

And it isn't laws that end discrimination - it's education. Education and enlightenment changes people's minds about preconceived ideas, prejudices and dismantles fear and hatred - and that is what does it.

People should understand that when others ask them questions about their orientation, sexuality or gender - or in fact anything personal - it's not always out of hostility, but could also be out of genuine curiosity. It's an ideal opportunity to educate them and open their minds. It's amazing to see the light of understanding ignite in the eyes of someone who now understands much better what you are - and has new respect for who you are.

My job is to teach people the facts about these things, about gender identity and sexual orientation - that we are people, just like them; that we have feelings, needs and emotions just like them - and that we can hurt them just as easily as they hurt us. Life is a two way street - and sometimes there are collisions.

I'm a woman who got here via the transsexual route. That means some things in this body were removed - my brain wasn't one of them - and neither was my heart. If that stands in the way of us being friends, or more - then it's their loss, not mine.

Kicking The Crutch

2011-10-16T23:47:00.000-07:00

The world around us is filled with people who are selfish, cocky and arrogant about their own religious beliefs. I say not these things because I resent the pride others take in their religion, but because the pride some of them take in their choice of beliefs boils over into a hatred of the religious choices of others who choose differently to them, and into persecution of those who dare to do so.

When one looks at religions around the world today, few are so judgmental and hostile to the faiths of others as Christianity - a faith supposedly founded upon the teachings of love, peace and tolerance of a Jewish man. A man whose actual existence is unverified by archaeology and history, and whose legacy has become not the peace, love and tolerance he is claimed to have taught to his gnostic followers - but the pain and suffering caused by those who follow the doctrine of intolerance, persecution and paranoia that is the hallmark of modern Christianity, both orthodox and mainstream.

It would seem to me that "Christianity" today is "Christian" in name only. It has become a litany of hatred, rallying of the faithful troops, a gathering of the armies of followers wanting to hear not messages of love and family-hood - but messages of us v/s them, separation and punishment for those who do not believe as they do, and the demonization and destruction of anyone outside the faith.

A minister friend of mine has been for some time telling me how people have been lodging complaints about his inclusive and tolerance sermons to his supervisor. In fact, quite a few of these people have also left this moderate mainstream church to join the more radical evangelical churches in town, precisely because they don't want to hear about Christ's love for all people - but because they want to hear how they are to form part of "Christ's army of the end times", dealing out death and punishment to all who oppose them. I found it quite surprising that it was not the old fogies and crotchety grandfolks who were complaining, or leaving - but those in my age group and younger. Somehow I find that disappointing and rather foreboding.

A lot of the Christians I know today cannot handle the truth, or the facts. They are blind to it. They need the lie that has been fed to them since leaving the womb, they cling desperately, white-knuckled, to the crutch which has been jammed under their arm to prop them up in this world, while gravity tugs at them, swaying them, threatening to topple them off their fragile support. They cannot cope without it, without that thing in their lives - a program telling them how to think or feel or act towards people or situations or objects which defy, challenge, frustrate or circumvent their rules.

The truth? That the religion they cling to, the system by which they view the world around them, and judge the people in it - and work to destroy them - is as much a human-made construct as every single other. That their religion is built upon an amalgam of bits and pieces copied and stolen from other older faiths, and stitched together to make up their so-called doctrine and dogma which they today call "inerrant", despite the fact that the rock which they have used to build the foundations of their church, consists entirely of the rubble of the older religions and cultures destroyed, assimilated and obliterated by them. That for two thousand years, they and their parents, grandparents and ancestors have lied to each successive generation, and continue to do so.

Many Christians today cannot tolerate diversity or equality. They claim to cherish democracy and democratic values because they supposedly guarantee freedom of religion - but at the very same time, they despise any other religious divergence away from their own spiritual path. They seek to deny others the right to the same equality and freedom of religion granted to them, simply because these others dare to choose differently to them. And of course, they are so

absolutely obsessed with the Christian evangelical concept and entirely human construct of "sin" - that, and being "right" all the time.

Consequently, they are known to employ underhanded tactics to undermine the democratic rights of other minority groups, utilizing the democratic system itself to do so. A casual glance at the upsurge in hatred against the Pink Community in the USA should be enough to demonstrate this - with opinion polls, statistics, medical and scientific studies and pseudo-scientific claims all forming part of propaganda and campaigns and counter-campaigns against the human and civil rights of people who are supposed to be treated equally to them. And of course, all this oppression and persecution is being labeled "just", "righteous", "fair", and even "godly" by the so-called "Christian" right.

Looking closer, you will see that similar groups have been active in South Africa also, although they are based upon, and even funded and supported by the American groups - they face many more obstacles to being more openly hateful and vindictive here. The chief obstacle to them is the Constitution, which is why they have been taking to assist whatever move on the part of our (at least) 1/3 Communist government, by supporting whatever moves it makes to undermine democracy and the Constitution which grants everyone equal protection under law.

Noteworthy of their behavior is the shit-storm in the media every time they are taken on about some matter in which they violate the law or the Constitutiton by discriminating against someone, or whenever they campaign against some group or event on the grounds of their own personal beliefs - but fail to care a damn about the extreme hypocrisy of this. It amazes me the small-mindedness, ignorance and pettiness we are dealing with.

They refuse to allow their children to watch or read Harry Potter, or use the abbreviation "Xmas" for "Christmas" because "it's evil" - but they will cheerfully push for the return of the death penalty, relaxation of gun-laws and decorate the Xmas tree every December, burn the Yule log, give gifts, and spin yarns to their children about Santa Claus and the reindeer, despite the Pagan roots to all these items. Even the date - and Santa's hat - is taken from the Roman festival of Saturnalia.

Come "Easter", they talk about Christ's crucifiction and ressurection, not even knowing that the whole idea was not new then either, but copied from at least two older Pagan religions, which each featured a son of a god or goddess, who died and was raised from the dead - and that both Easter Bunny, and Easter egg are associated with the goddess Ishtar, and that the festival is still Ostara to Pagans today. Hot-cross buns are also no more "Christian" than anything else in the religion, it seems.

Despite the well-documented representation of Johnathan and David's relationship in their bibles, they refuse to accept their gay relatives or people around them because it's "an abomination", but they will happily kick people when they are down, enjoy shellfish and have "WWJD" tattooed on their butts - while doing the complete polar opposite to everything Christ supposedly stood for.

They believe in a Trinity, and use the bastardized version of a Pagan triquetra to symbolize it (three interlinked circles), despite their own doctrine which creates three gods and then conveniently tries to bluff the world into thinking they are somehow one god at the same time - as opposed to Paganism which recognizes all gods and goddesses as different facets of the same source. For some reason, they see this as reason to kill people. Lol.

They also don't seem to mind going to church on a SUNday, despite it being the day named by sun-worshipers, MONday for the Moon, or the fact that every other day of the week is named after a Pagan god or goddess. Saturn is named after the Roman god Saturn, and Thursday (or Thor's Day) is my favorite. Some of the months of the year are named after Roman gods, March for Mars (god of war and the army) June for Juno - and some are also named after Roman emperors deified after death - July (Julius), August (Augustus) etc. Cute, eh?

They read about "angel guides", consult psychics, learn reiki and crystal magick - while criticizing diviners and tarot readers and astrology, demonizing and persecuting witches for practicing the Craft and harming none, while simultaneously eating fancy cooking with herbs and spices, spraying on perfume, burning candles or incense for meditation, or bathing in soothing oils and potions - and don't see the hypocrisy. Wow.

They criticize Paganism, but celebrate anniversaries, birthdays, and other annual commemorations, despite the fact that this is a Pagan tradition - an observance which original Christianity recognized and caused them to denounce. How many "Christians" today have taken the trouble to read up on the REAL founder of "Christianity"? Know who that was? Paul? Peter? Nope... The Roman Emperor Constantine. Christian? Not by a long stretch, my friends.

Yes, early Christians were persecuted in Rome - but they returned the favor, and have been doing so ever since. As in an apparent unending circle of violence, Christians have been persecuting the other for 1800 years, while being deluded by their blind faith in their leaders that this is the right thing to do. Is there an end in sight?

Despite the well-documented history of King Solomon as a sorcerer and mystic, they dare to presume to persecute anyone who identifies with anything remotely Pagan - which they summarily portray and dismiss as "satanism" and "devil worship". Today Pagans are still tarred and feathered by "Christians" as all that is evil, have a long and blood-stained history of persecution by them, and still have a long way to go before true "democratic" equality is realized.

Go into a CNA and look for the "religious" section and see if you can find anything at all in there but "Christian" bibles and material written by Solly Ozrovitch or books with Angus Buchan and his silly hat on the cover. Nothing Muslim, Jewish, or Pagan. Ask the manager or counter clerk where to find Pagan material, they will answer "sorry, we don't stock that" - that is, after you explain to them what Pagan means.

Go into a jewelry store and ask to see pentacles, triquetras, or ankhs and they will give you a blank expression. After showing them a picture - or drawing them one - they will pull out a tray bedecked with an array of crucifixes and crosses, with maybe a single Star of David - or if they are really liberal, a Buddhist pendant - and ask if you see anything you like.

Know of a single Pagan goods store in a mall in Port Elizabeth? No? Perhaps that's because there aren't any, right? Yes, there are a very few here, run from people's homes - because they encounter such resistance from mall managers who don't want to rent space to non-Christian businesses. Surely this sort of nonsense falls under anti-discrimination laws?

How would Christians like it if Pagans were to picket their businesses or churches because of the evil they practice, or the hatred they ferment within? Oh, the shoe would be on the other foot then, wouldn't it?

Right at the end of it all, what really pisses me off about "Christians", is the self-righteous arrogance which reminds me of the archaic "divine right of kings". It says "I can and will because I have the power"... the blind, hateful and spiteful arrogance in which they act towards fellow human beings, and neighbors - and it makes some uncontactable, unreachable deity the excuse for their actions, and the justification for their cruelty and menace to society.

Alternatives to just following the blind litany of the "Christian" doctrine have surfaced gradually since the end of the generational genocide called the "Holy Inquisition" in the nineteenth century. This tells me that all the Christian Church achieved by this holocaust - aside from enriching itself and cementing its power over the fearful masses - was to inspire a departure from its greedy and paranoiac existence - a slow, gradual exodus from mindless servitude and fear and dependence - to the free thinking, tolerant independence of the old ways. It seems ironic to me that in tightening its grasp in the Dark Ages, the Church as a world power, simply sowed the seeds of its own destruction - as so many of their offspring have turned their backs on the lies, deceit and decay, myself included - and looked elsewhere for what they need.

It is an undeniable fact that over the past 20 centuries, "Christianity" has soaked its hands in the blood of those it didn't agree with, or oppressed, or didn't like - and painted it all as "their fault". "They" dared to step out of line, "they" dared to be different, "they" dared to defy "god". But who is it that was being disagreed with? God? Or the Christian Church?

Will Somebody Please Think Of The Children?

2011-10-09T00:42:00.000-07:00

I regularly meet a friend of mine, who is a Christian reverend, for drinks at a local coffee shop. We enjoy casual chats about religion, persecution and human needs and frailties. He mentioned to me that there is no ONE Christianity, but many, and that today there are more than 200 different formally identified "mainstream" denominations - or "churches" around the world. Ironically, each one considers itself to be the ONE TRUE Christianity, or at least, the face of it.

I often find myself wondering what the true face of this religion is, behind the mask it presents to the world and to its adoring somnolent followers.

I watched a National Geographic documentary a few nights ago on the Ku Klu Klan, old and new - and the scary, unsettling thing that stands out is that these people actually believe they are "Christians", doing "god's work" by hating people, and in some cases, killing them for who they are - be it blacks, Latinos, gays, or Jews. They brag about it, and at one point even arguing how they would not allow sub-sects of the KKK using the swastika to participate in their own rituals and ceremonies and protests because of the Nazi symbol BECAUSE they view themselves as "Christian." WTF? Quite simply, I can't understand how they can reconcile being "Christian" - or Christ-like with anything they stand for?

Another thing that is obvious to me now (regardless of what cross they march under or which one they burn) is how alike the KKK is to the far-right Christian fundamentalist hate-groups otherwise, who (while not actually lynching anyone that we know about) in that both distort facts and make extensive use of very, very similar pseudo-science, propaganda and religious rhetoric to convince people to join up with them in their cause for racial "purity" and domination over others.

The other even more disturbing fact is how low the average IQ must be of people who actually fall for their pitches - or are people in the West so used to being led unquestioningly that they are no longer capable of verifying facts or questioning and thinking independently? I am reminded of the term coined by the author of 1984, George Orwell, when he introduced the concept of "groupthink". Also, don't you think it odd that you cannot find copies of the movie anymore? I do. Perhaps they know most of the youth today either don't read, or spend their lives with their noses in fantasy novels - or skip reading in favor of movies and playstation. Hmm.

Most people today claiming to be Christians while condemning other people refer to old testament scriptures - which identifies them not as Christians - but as Leviticans - or "super-Semites". I have written on this subject before. The whole thing is such a mess, is it any wonder so many are turning their backs on it all for greener pastures? I have hardly never run into anyone in the Pagan community frowning down at me, pointing a finger and shouting "thou shalt not...!" and then taking a swipe at me with a big heavy book. No wonder those Christians who actually know what a Pagan is, or a Wiccan, consider Pagans to be immoral or a "threat" to everything they hold dear - their hatred of others.

Everybody seems to have a need to feel better about themselves, don't they - and what better way than to cling to a doctrine that "proves" how right they are, while enabling them to look down on other people?

Earlier in the week, I read yet another letter in the Herald by another nameless someone who took issue with the gay couple who got married in this city, making the by now obligatory hostile remarks from a patently stupid and religious fundamentalist position - that of ignorance and remarkable shortsightedness.

"GOD is not mocked" Said Christian, Central, Port Elizabeth. "Read what happened in Sodom and Gomorrah in the Bible. Gay marriage is an abomination. God says so!"

Oh? Really? Hark at this idiot - he/she/it doesn't even know that Sodom and Gomorrah were stories about INHOSPITALITY, not about gay people. If the average Christian today is this ignorant - and about their own religion - - and the lives of others they choose to persecute on the basis of this shaky knowledge - no wonder the world is such a mean and cruel place to live in - and no wonder so many Christians encounter hostility to their blind faith in what is seen more as an oppressive regime than a peaceful religion.

I have to wonder how anyone can take bible stories like that literally? I mean, most of these suckers will double and triple-check any kind of law being passed by the government for errors, comment on grammar and spelling and then lay out in point-form chapter and verse how this law will affect their daily lives, their spiritual practices, etc - and yet they will swallow something like this without question (because they are told "god wrote it"), believe what they are told to believe, without knowing who really wrote it, why, when, where, under what circumstances, and in which language, what the translations have changed in its meaning, and how others have changed it, or the original cultural connotations... And these people are allowed to drive cars, own guns and raise and educate children?

Abomination? A friend commented to me about the topic of the biblical term "abomination" - versus the modern MISunderstanding - which shows something clearly very different to the one being used as nails to crucify our human rights on the cross of their religious unity.

"Also the term Abomination has a different meaning now. The word used to become the English word "abomination" meant more in lines of being ritually unclean. That whole section of the bible describes the ritual laws for clergy, and the section about men laying with men as with women refers to sexual sacrifices which were common at the time. It meant that for a priest to have sex with a man as a ritual sacrifice to God was an abomination. It was improper and unclean. It is similar to how there are rules on what priests where, what foods are eaten or offered, marking the body, etc. The whole section is all in relation to things which were common in religious rituals and were laws on how they relate to rituals and offerings to YHWH."

Hence why eating prawns and getting "MOM" tattooed on your ass is an "abomination" - but hey that never stopped these same assholes from stuffing their faces with shellfish and getting tattooed while bashing gay people. Bigots and hypocrites make me sick.

I wrote a little letter to the Herald about this matter, although typically, they chose to fan the flames of hate rather than to publish it, because we all know how hate sells copies, and criticizing Herald policies on anonymity doesn't win any popularity.

"I find it interesting how many fine upstanding "moral citizens" have been posting their intolerance and hatred of gay people in SMSes and letters in the Herald - without noticing the irony and paradox in this. It could assumed from their attitude that being "moral" and a "good Christian" means being a bigot and a persecutor of others - and that hate is a "family value". One could almost believe that these people speak for their god - or at least, that they believe they do.

Clearly these "Christians" are so proud of their religion (or their version of it) because they are relentlessly judging and condemning other people while acting as if they are perfect by comparison - when in reality they are no better than those they judge, if half that good. Why then are they so shy to sign their names to their little hate notes? Are they afraid to be recognized for their perfection and righteousness?

Cowards - stabbing from the shadows. That's right - I am not afraid to sign my name to my posts and letters - and that's more than can be said for them. One would think that with all the political intrigue, natural disasters and human suffering in the world, they would find something newsworthy to whine about instead of victimizing people on the basis of their own improvable and flimsy beliefs. Instead of making the world around them a darker, more negative place, they should be working to make it better for everyone by shining the light of love, inclusion and sharing that their Christ died for. Bigots! Hypocrites! Impostors!"

They obviously don't have enough going on in their own boring privileged little lives that they have to look for attention in the papers by making the lives of other people, who have enough problems already, more difficult.

Moving on, last week I saw an article from the US that told how a homophobic Pastor had his henchmen assault his gay son and his boyfriend while evicting them from their church during a service. Not surprisingly, the same pastor and his church got busted the very same week for committing fraud. Karma is a bitch, they say - but I think she is rather sweet.

I'm so fed up with hearing and seeing how much "Christians" hate us. There are many who hate us to the point where they prove so obviously that either their whole religion is nothing but a lie - or their claim to be "Christians" - is.

The week only got more interesting as it wore on: The Tutu vs SA Govt debacle really livened things up and opened some people's eyes to the inner workings of the machine a little.

"We will pray as we prayed for the downfall of the apartheid government. We will pray for the downfall of a government that misrepresents us," - You tell 'em, Arch. Loved how the government protested that it was STILL processing the visa and that SA is an independent country that doesn't run to the hotline to China to make its decisions. Uhuh. Right. All together now: "How the hell can we belieeeeeeve you... how the hell can we belieeeeeve you..." I loved the comment I saw in a paper on Friday that went: "Can't wait to hear the Government articulate "Ja baas" over the phone in Chinese..." But I digress yet again...

The advocacy lines seem to be abuzz all over on the topic of teen suicide and school bullying and homophobia lately - both here and abroad.

This article gives a little insight on the US issue. Anderson Cooper: "At the funeral, perhaps the priest summed it up best, when he said, "Imagine that of all things, that by the time we're 14, we are now expected to fully know our sexual orientation, verbalize it and defend it to anyone who gets in our face. How demanding our world has become. How relentlessly impatient we are."

One of the commentors on this article posted "I live in west Texas, and if someone is known to be gay or gay-advocate, he/she is forbidden on school property for fear that he/she might 'turn' one of the kids. How can councillors manage situations like that? If I were to discuss ways to 'get over being bullied for being gay', I would be considered as trying to groom him for my 'use'."

How can anyone - especially in charge of a SCHOOL - where you would expect the staff to possess a modicum of IQ - believe something so feeble and patently false with all the knowledge out there to show it is a load of horse manure? this problem is not limited to the USA though, as even here we are not immune to the tragedy of unnecessary bullying in schools.

Locally, things are looking up - there is a new group aiming to work against homophobia and transphobia in schools, although there was some concern about the religious angle among fundamentalist and conservative teachers and parents who would no doubt get all bent out of shape about their favorite sport being curtailed.

Of course some will argue that this hate is part of their religious values - which they seem pretty insistent about - but it should be pointed out to them that religion has no place in an institute of education - and neither does racism, sexism, hatred, bullying, or violence. It's seriously sick. What part of "equal before the law" has to be spelt out or illustrated in pictures for them? If you want to learn how to add, study history, geography, or how to run a business, or prepare to study at college or university, then you go to school. If you want to learn about Jesus or Allah - or how to persecute your schoolmates - then go to your church, mosque or temple in your own time.

I don't care what religion advocates hatred and persecution of others - but if it makes a 14 year old kid so miserable that they choose to take their own life out of desperation - then it is a load of rubbish.

The conservatives and homophobic haters advocate that homosexuality or transgender is a "suicidal lifestyle" - and they have been going out of their way to make it true - by making life so tough, and so difficult, and so miserable for the LGBTI youth, that death appears to be the lesser of the two evils - a choice in enduring the hatred and persecution and taking the exit route. In short, they claim that being different to them is suicidal - and they set out to make it so - and to blame it all on the victims - and then they still have the arrogance and beastliness to justify or defend the guilty by preventing and obstructing counter-measures?

Some have said 'beware of upsetting conservative religious parents and school administrators' - the problem is that just as in making omelets, you cannot prevent homophobic or transphobic bullying in schools without upsetting conservative religious parents who believe it is their religion to do so. Confrontation is inevitable. To stop the bullying and the death of innocents, something has to be done. Come what may.

The SA Constitution guarantees freedom from intimidation, persecution and oppression - and therefore regardless of their intolerance of whatever programs that need to be instituted in schools to prevent such oppression or persecution, you need to apply the Constitution to everything you do in such a program.

If schools prefer to promote conditions conducive to bullying and homophobic bullying, then the Constitution needs to be applied in such a way as to ensure that such elements are removed from the school because they endanger the lives of children. I find it ironic that conservatives are often the very first to cry "will someone please think of the children?" - except of course when it is gay or trans children who are adversely affected. Hypocrites! If they want children to be indoctrinated with religious values that encourage bullying and persecution, then it needs to be made clear that schools are not the arena for that - but they are still free to get all the hate they want in their churches.

Kids facing homophobic or transphobic bullying: SURVIVAL is the best form of justice and revenge - survival and success. Outlast, outplay and outlive them. They may hate you for it, they may punish you for it - but in the end, they WILL respect you for it, and you WILL overcome.

You have to love yourself. Not just ACCEPT, but LOVE... in the end, you are all you have. Self-hate and resentment of yourself for being who and what you are will only make you weaker and make things easier for those who hate you or work to make life harder for you. LOVE yourself. Someone has to. Sure, some people will hate you for who and what you are - but they're not perfect either. If they're hoping I will commit suicide if they bully me hard enough, they're in for a helluva long wait, and a much bigger fight than they expected... I walked a long way in this life hating myself - so take a page out of my book, okiday?

A reminder - information resources for the Pink Community. Know your enemies, know their strategies, know their weapons and their weaknesses - and know how to beat them.

It Makes Sense, Doesn't It?

2011-10-03T00:58:00.000-07:00

If you look at all the weird and wonderful new Bills being tabled in South Africa these days - there is little doubt in my mind that the Constitution and the freedoms contained within it - are clearly under assault. And those of us whose civil rights and equality are protected by those very clauses in the Constitution which are under assault, somehow seem unaware that we fill the sights and scopes on the weapons being directed against us by those who would chip away at our equality.

The new encroachment on personal liberties and freedoms called the "Dangerous Weapons Bill" is the latest. Primarily it bans the carrying of any item, even a household item, in public, for any reason. Thus, even an 80 year old grandmother carrying pepper spray to deter rapists and muggers while out for a walk would be breaking the law - and will not be allowed to use "deterring crime" as a defense in court - and could face up to 3 years in jail. It invalidates clauses which grant citizens the right to self defense, as well as the right to freedoms of expression.

Pagans are also directly affected by this new law, because it prevents them from using any religious accouterments in their rituals, if held in public spaces, such as in a park for example. Pagans do not have church buildings or temples, and often live in apartments with no access to a garden where they can include nature in their rituals. I wonder if they even care to know that the ritual sword and athame is not actually supposed to touch or cut anything? That this in itself negates its use as a weapon?

If they ban athames, swords and wands from being used in Pagan rites in public spaces - and people from carrying pepper-spray for self-defense, then will they also ban christian bibles from being carried in public? After all, the bible is often used as a weapon of intimidation in public spaces. Sound fair? Or is the whole idea a load of rubbish?

Oh, sorry - you're asking "what's a Pagan?" Hmm. That proves my point I think. Pagans need to stop being so quiet, avoiding drama by pretending that they don't exist - because, as the Pink Community already found out - if you pretend hard enough that you don't exist, the people at the top will try very hard to prove you right.

I look at this ploy in the light of the other recent innovation of turning the weapons application process into a nightmare of paperwork and drama and find it ironic how the government seems intent on stripping the law-abiding component of its ability to defend itself against the very criminal element it is unable to protect us against. It makes me think - are they really unable... or are they actually just unwilling?

If they want to argue that "dangerous" items shouldn't be carried in public, perhaps they are arguing that "most" people are not trustworthy or responsible enough to be allowed in public with them? After all, some people can make a weapon out of almost anything. A half-brick in a sock is a pretty good start.

I think it's insane - if a person wants to harm someone, they will do it - with or without a weapon of any kind. The issue then should not be with what someone carries, but on what they do with it. I think South Africa needs to have a law like they do in the US, which is a clause in the Constitution that guarantees the right to bear arms - but not the right to use them against innocent people who are not actually attacking them.

A friend of mine who is particularly witty commented that "if they ban swords, then they going to have to ban the pen as well... cos everyone knows the pen is mightier than the sword". Of course, I had to reply with "That's where the Secrecy Bill comes in ;)"

We always have to hear how much more tax they need for the essential services they are supposed to provide - and yet we also hear about all the missing money, ponzi schemes, extravagant and wasteful parties, fancy cars and houses and wrist watches certain officials wear. How about the family holidays MP's go on at state expense, taking their kids or spouses on trips overseas at our expense, fantastic "performance incentives" that get paid to officials at parastatals like Eishkom - despite the power crisis SA is in - due to their incompetence and failure to update and maintain the power grid?

SA is still sending aid to Uganda in the form of free or cheap electricity. Yes, that's a disgrace - assisting a government that tramples on the human rights of its own citizens - but I suppose home is where the heart is. And how about the new one? 'White tax'. That's right - a new generation of South Africans is going to be introduced to the bite of racist taxing - that'll teach them to be born White, and naturally rich. How about that ridiculous new state medical scheme that will do nothing for the people it is supposed to help - the poor?

But it will sink medical aid companies, private hospitals (which are currently the only decent, clean and moderately safe hospitals in the country) and increase the load on ordinary tax paying citizens who dare to earn above the poverty line.

Before money started disappearing from the state coffers for all this rubbish and wastefulness, roads were built, maintained and upgraded from those funds - and we didn't have toll road companies extorting money from tax payers and road users. Cars didn't disappear into pot holes, and trains carried freight on rail instead of trucks that destroy the highways. Now trains stand rusting in shunting yards, while the few that run are brought to a grinding halt when cable theft strikes - and despite SA not having any copper mines, our biggest export remains copper. Weird.

Sooner or later the smart alecs in government will get their way - people who like democracy, freedom, the right to earn money through legal means - and to keep it without being killed for it, who dislike corruption and rampant nepotism and institutionalized racism, will take their money, ingenuity, know-how and head off to greener pastures - leaving this country exactly like the rest of Africa - depleted, decaying, impoverished - and not just in terms of finances.

Politicians - stop wasting our tax money on this shit - making up silly facetious new laws when you are proving how completely inept you are at enforcing the laws we already do have!

But wait... there's more:

Last week Erroll Naidoo cheesed me off again with one of his 'newsletters', in which he brags about what a great humanitarian and all-round good person he is. He states: ‎"The feminist, hippy and homosexual movements all conspired to radically redefine the family unit." and "There are mountains of evidence proving that the Biblically defined family is the bedrock of society."

Hark at him - these very words show why this man and his little band of religious fundamentalist thugs, while goose-stepping over human rights like strident and fanatical fascists, are irrelevant, obscure, obsolete.

‎"Anti-family activists are working diligently to make all manner of sexual deviant behaviour socially acceptable, with very little resistance from the Church." - he says. I ask WHEN are Christians going to stand up to this insufferable little boy waving his finger at the masses in the school-yard and talking down to them, guilt-tripping them and shaming them for living in peace with others and for following the example of the Christ - in whose name he claims to speak - and in hatred - and tell him to STFU, YOU DON"T SPEAK FOR ME?

‎"As a result of past successes, activists are now lobbying to normalise paedophilia." - This is what he calls legal campaigning to equalize the age for same sex relations with heterosexual relations. Suddenly, gay people engaging in sex from the same age as straight teens is "pedophilia". Riiiight. It never ceases to amaze me how these people manage to beat plough-shares into swords to distort and misrepresent facts to suit them.

As Errol keeps on pointing out with his favorite quotation: "Evil triumphs when good people do nothing." - WHEN will good Christian people rise up and put this upstart reactionary bully back in his place - preferably somewhere where he will no longer slander their religion, embarrass those of good conscience who identify with it, or work and conspire to undermine human rights, freedom and democracy in their name?

All of this he does while he disseminates calls to fight the sex industry under the ironic title of "Make Your Voice Heard & Fight Human Slavery!" Hello pot, this is the kettle calling.

He signs off his newsletter with "Battling on the frontlines for the advancement of Christian values in society" (Yes, I can hear the trump-trump-trump of their boots already). "Despite the many challenges facing you and me, I am convinced there are many opportunities to transform society. That is why I am grateful to God and to you for making it possible for me to fulfil my calling." (By sitting on your ass as a Christian and letting this man hijack your religion and act out of hatred in YOUR name, of course).

Don't worry, I'm calm. I'm pointing out the need for people to stop acting like blind and stupid sheep and letting people like Naidoo wage physical and spiritual warfare on others and using their authority to do it. Note how he refers to human rights activists as "anti-family activists". WTF?? People who want to be treated equally under law, marry, adopt, or raise children together are "anti-family activists"? Where is the intelligence in an argument like that?

Interesting to note that the current census now being conducted still doesn't include any options for religious annotations - meaning that Naidoo will be able to go on claiming that, despite having Christians, atheists, agnostics, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Rastafarians, African traditional faiths, Catholics, Pagans, Wiccans, Muslims, Jehovahs' Witnesses, and Mormons in South Africa - we somehow live in a "Christian country". I would love to see the smile wiped off his smug chops when he realizes that we do not. Of course, our government being overcrowded with lay pastors, religious fundamentalist fanatics and honorary preachers, I wonder if they will ever allow it?

I saw an article about the increase in Trans assaults and murders in Washington DC - the capital city of the USA. It seems that anti-trans violence is on the increase there. It gets better? Really? Not without a fight. If you want to be treated equally one day, or for the next generation to be treated equally, then it starts with US. As long as there are loopholes in laws that allow discrimination, people will get the message that it's okay to destroy the lives of other people. End discrimination NOW.

Incidentally, Thursday was yet another day on which the world was supposed to end, the "Rapture" was supposed to hit, and us dirty rotten non-Christians and non-heteronormative deviant scum were supposed to be "cast into a lake of fire from which the smoke of our torment would rise forever and ever"... Nope, never happened - again. Duh.

Just goes to show - some people will believe anything.

NMB Pride Is Our Heritage Day!

2011-09-26T03:22:00.001-07:00

This past Saturday saw a first for my home town. Almost 20 years into our new democracy, Port Elizabeth still had not had a Pride parade or Pride event, in fact it was sometimes a pit-stop for travelers on their way from somewhere else, to Pride events being held - well, somewhere else. All that changed last Saturday, when the very first Nelson Mandela Bay Pride was held - and I was so very proud!

I was proud that so many people made the effort to turn up, not just from NMB, but from all over the country, and even from elsewhere too. I was proud that there was no drama - there were no protests, no fights, no rude signs, no conflict - just a carnival spirit of family, fun and celebration.

I am proud of being who and what I am - and proud to say that in my own small way, I was involved. As part of the organization that backed and organized NMB Pride, the Eastern Cape Gay & Lesbian Association (ECGLA), and the associated NMB Pride Committee for 2011, it was so awesome to see the outcome, and it was so wonderful that it all worked out so well for all concerned. Looking back at the preparations, I have to say it was quite a ride.

This was our first one ever, and although many had attended other Prides around the country - and even around the world, and although we had organized smaller events in the past - NOTHING prepared us for the sheer volume of work, arrangements, complications and pressure involved in starting this all from scratch.

Initially we planned a small parade, with a party planned at St George's Park - but our event clashed with other arrangements at the park, so we decided on Parliament Street instead. We planned on the conservative side, expecting about 100 people in the parade, with maybe 1000 in total at the street party - and what a surprise we had!

The event was an amazing success, and there were many pleasant surprises all round, with over 700 people participating in the parade alone - and with 2000 joining us at the bright, colorful carnival in Parliament Street! It was truly wonderful and rewarding to experience so many smiling, happy people of all ages, colors, sexes, races, cultures and orientations together in one place!

I don't really have words to describe it, so I'm hoping the pictures included in this article will help convey how amazing this was for us all. Everywhere I saw shiny happy people, dressed in all sorts of wonderful gear, smiling, laughing, arm-in-arm, holding hands, singing along to the bands, celebrating our togetherness, our diversity. This was heritage day in South Africa - and what better way for us to celebrate OUR heritage? There were people of all the colors in the Rainbow Flag there - as well as some that were there to show their love and support for their friends, partners and relatives, and to celebrate with them. There was a local Christian group handing out supportive material, and carrying a banner in the parade that proclaimed "Would Jesus discriminate?". Fantastic! Even the hobos were dancing in the street!

Many people expressed to us their joy at attending their first Pride event in their hometown, and their pride at seeing the turnout at this first NMB Pride festival. This made it extra special as a first event!

A big thank you to the NMB Metro, the NMB Tourism Office, the friendly folks from the SAPS who kept an eye on things, our Red Cross friends and the safety officer for being on standby in case of accidents, the traffic officers who secured the route for our parade and performed the road closures, and the clubs, restaurants and other venues that held fringe events and after-parties and which were also open during the event in Parliament Street, as well as along the parade route in Stanley Street.

Thanks to everyone behind the scenes who held down the fort - our fearless Marshalls, our cleaning staff who ensured that we left Parliament Street the way it was, the photographers who saw the entire event through a camera, and the DJ's and stage managers.

Thanks also to our bold, beautiful and brave participants in the Prince & Princess contests around the Eastern Cape and the King & Queen of NMB Pride final, our wonderful and talented performers who practised themselves hoarse, our fantastic event MC's, and our special guests from "Huge" SA Gay Flag in Cape Town.

Also, a word of thanks to the newspapers, magazines and TV and radio stations that gave us coverage for the event, as well as to all the businesses who sponsored prizes as well as the use of their venues for NBM Pride!

Thank you also to ECGLA's supporting organizations - the PCRD, MAGI Fund and HIVOS for your patience, support and encouragement - and our affiliate bodies, Masipume, PFLAG, Without Prejudice, PE Bears, PE Lesbians, Eloquor Knights, SA Leather Men. Thanks also to Rev Ken for hosting the "Born This Way" NMB Pride service Sunday morning.

Last but not least, thanks to the members of the NMB Pride Committee, for their work as volunteers, their energy, suggestions, brain-storming, enthusiasm, talent, selflessness and committment to making the first NMB Pride a resounding success! And to everyone, everywhere who came to NMB Pride 2011, thank you for coming, thank you for sharing the weekend with us! Kudos to you all!

Keep your eyes open for news of NMB Pride 2012!

Facebook Outted Me

2011-09-20T00:44:00.000-07:00

Facebook outted me, not for being being gay or transsexual, but for being associated with Pagan, occult and other alternative communities on Facebook.

Be warned - Pagans, drag queens, transgender people, gays living in countries where they face violence and murder, non-mainstream religious groups - anyone not using their legal names in order to interact safely online without fear of exposure or persecution - Facebook has appointed itself in charge of moral policing and is gunning for you.

Lots of folks anonymous profiles are being disabled by Facebook admins - because they are not using their legal names. It seems even Pagans are falling victim to this modern form of persecution which appears designed to either force persecuted minority groups out of FB, or to force us out into the open in order to face direct persecution.

There are a great many people who feel the need to interact under a nom de plume online. Contrary to first conclusions, most certainly do not have ulterior motives including child baiting or acts of terrorism in mind. Nor is it a new thing. Since the start of the internet, people have had user names or handles that gave them a measure of privacy on forums and other social media - and yet their actions are mostly within the law. In any event, few realize that they can be tracked or identified by their IP address or ISP identifications - that is bad enough as it is - but it is most likely only governments which can obtain such information, or very smart hackers. However, this move by Facebook is a direct assault on several freedoms enshrined not only in South Africa's Constitution, but America's as well.

"Facebook is a community where people use their real identities. We require everyone to provide their real first and last names and real birthday so you always know who you're connecting with.

Your name can’t include:

- Symbols, numbers, unusual capitalization, or punctuation

- Characters from multiple languages

- Professional or religious titles

Other things to keep in mind:

- Nicknames can be used as your first or middle name if they're a variation of your real first, middle, or last name (like Bob instead of Robert)

- You can always list an alternative name on your account: https://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=131728300237162

- Only one person's name should be listed on the account – profiles are for individual use only

- Pretending to be anything or anyone is not allowed

If you’re worried about your privacy, you can restrict who can find you in searches from the “Connecting on Facebook” page. To get to this page, click on the Privacy Settings link in the Account menu at the top of every Facebook page."

So apparently "Captain Jack Sparrow" wouldn't be welcome on Facebook, nor "Lieutenant Dan Choi" and neither would "C3-P0" or "the Pope". Cute.

The "alternate name" setting referred to above only gives the option of displaying both names on the same page - making it that much easier to connect my profiles and activities in different communities. Yes, please.

If one looks at their policy, strictly speaking - then anyone who is at risk of persecution should not be a member of Facebook - and Facebook would only cater for privileged social groups.

Gay people in Uganda for example dare not interact openly online on Facebook for fear of being targeted for intimidation, violence and death - would Facebook ban their profiles as "fake" too? Or would they simply "out" them on FB under their legal names as they did to me?

What is next? No more avatars? Will they demand a photo mug-shot style as well to be used as a profile picture? Do they seriously expect people to participate in online communities under their legal names with the likelihood that they will suffer harm for it? Apparently what is clear from this is their ultimatum - interact under your legal name, whatever the consequences - or don't interact at all. I suppose you could also say it is implied that if you need protection or anonymity to conduct personal business on Facebook, then you shouldn't be there - and more to the point, neither should communities of people who need anonymity because they fear persecution or prejudice or wish to interact without it.

What about transgender people who are busy transitioning and interact on Facebook without having obtained legal documentation in their new gender? Will Jane Smith be disabled because someone reports her for not using her legal name "John"? Will Facebook block them or out them? What about drag artists? Will Facebook prevent them from participating under their stage names? What about practitioners of religions which are persecuted in certain areas of the world?

This is either a very poorly conceived policy, or a very deliberate one.

In the meantime, there are now hundreds of posts as well as emails and other Facebook communication all over certain Facebook groups, and personal messaging between myself and others, which now bear my legal name - and which have now tied me to my private activities in various alternative communities.

While I have done nothing illegal, I still have the right to privacy - and this has been denied me. The policy of Facebook policy might WANT Facebook to be a place where people communicate under their legal names - but the reality - like the rest of the entire interweb - is something entirely different.

I have not deleted my second profile because of all the work connected to it, spanning several years - and the groups and Facebook friends to which I am added that would all be lost if I were to do so. I have had to close and limit access to my profile information, and remove everything from it that tied me to those communities. I now have to act like a paranoiac because of this ridiculous and unreasonable policy.

Facebook's appeal process does not allow any communications when appealing, and so I was unable to add any notes when I sent them a copy of my identity document, as requested, as proof that I was a real person operating that profile. I did so in good faith that my profile would be restored under the name it had originally. Instead, my legal name was entered into it, and locked so that it could not be altered again by me.

At any rate, this doesn't change the fact that I have been exposed - deliberately and willingly. Rest assured, if there were a viable alternative to Facebook, I would have closed my account and left.

This exposure has now revealed to persons within the communities in question, who might be regarded as hostile to me, my location and daily activities. People in my other social groups, my employer, colleagues and anyone who does a Facebook search for my legal name will now also find this profile and associated information.

It is a fundamental right for me to conduct business or to interact with privacy and under a pseudonym - and Facebook has denied me this. The damage is already done - I cannot recover my privacy and anonymity - it is now lost. I am bitterly and deeply aggrieved by this.

Speaking as a victim of this sort of betrayal and foulplay, I think this policy of FB is intended to force subcultures, alternative lifestyles and persecuted minorities either out of FB, or into the open where they can be targeted. It is abhorrent, and as an American company I believe it is acting contrary to the American constitution.

We need a broader international coalition of Pagans and alternative cultures and human rights activists to take this up with Facebook. If they will not listen to appeals from users, perhaps they will listen to an injunction from the US Supreme Court? Any takers on that?

This is all part of the "Big Brother's watching you" crap - because certain events around the world have featured people participating in violent protests like the riots in the UK communicating via FB to coordinate their strikes - and so they obviously have been taken to task by certain governments in order to prevent people from doing so under fake names so they can catch them. You can kiss democracy, freedom of expression and other liberties goodbye if this keeps up.

This measure and action discriminates against and endangers the privacy and and even the lives of LGBTI people, Pagans, Wiccans and participants in other alternative subcultures, and in fact anyone who feels reluctant to express themselves under their legal names for fear of reprisals and persecution.

Support this event: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=110655799042539

What about those of us speaking out against this Facebook policy? Will Facebook delete this event and block those participating in it, or speaking out against their abuse of power? Will they continue to act like Big Brother?

Let's see.

We Make Hate Great

2011-09-11T01:43:00.000-07:00

Tolerance. Equality. Individual freedom. The right to self-expression. These are the things that make democracy great. These are the things that make life worth living.

And yet many people who claim to support these ideals, really do not. While they claim to, they see equality as something they are deserving of, while simultaneously they view anyone they do not personally approve of trying to gain equality with them as an attack on their own superior and privileged social positions. They distort facts and ideologies to serve their elitist and supremacist ideals, and hijack democracy in order to preserve a social order where words like "love" and concepts like "good" and "evil", and even terms like "family" and "marriage" become tools to exclude fellow human beings from equal, decent and humane treatment - and as weapons to destroy them.

The true ideals of democracy is not simply "mob rule" as some allege today. The underlying cause of the establishment of democracy as a system of government that led to the golden age of ancient Greece, was inequality.

People sometimes tend to forget that.

The same can be said of the ancient Roman republic - the Etruscan kings were deposed and replaced by a senate (which lasted until the time of the emperors). Through the centuries, people have always sought for some form of equal opportunity society, where all are equal before the law, where one class of people do not have autonomy to do what they will with the rights of the masses. Through the centuries, there have been a variety of experiments with different forms of government, and quite honestly, most of them are drenched in blood, and written in the ink of the hard lessons failure has to offer to the unwise, the impatient and the foolish.

To me it is equally abhorrent when people who participate in democratic government and who claim to have the best interests of "all" people at heart while they work tirelessly and without conscience to deprive a significant portion of any population of equality, dignity and right to exist in peace unmolested in the name of democracy - and employing the democratic system in achieving the goal of perpetually preserving specific groups of people with an "other" to hate, abuse and persecute in the interests of selfishness, unity and a hunger for power.

We need to ask ourselves why some people don't agree with equality for all people, and why anyone would oppose such lofty ideals? Why do they condemn the struggle for recognition by certain groups of people, while simultaneously claiming the same rights for themselves?

It seems reasonable to believe that someone who does not have full rights under law will not work to undermine their own rights - and so therefore those working to undermine the civil rights of the oppressed certainly consider themselves above other people and are working to prevent equality at all costs.

Why do they feel the need to paint those seeking equal rights under the law with the brush of "radical liberal", "unpatriotic anti-social", "anti-family", with the tar of "homo-fascist" or "homosexual terrorist"? When has a gay man walked into a homophobic church and blown it up? When has a gang of transsexual women straight-bashed a bigot for complaining about them using the restroom? Why do they choose to equate our need to be equal to them under law as "hijacking" legal process, or democratic values? Why do they seek to cheapen not only our ideals, but to devalue our lives as well, and to work to deride and continually undermine our right to exist alongside them?

How, when religion is separated from the mechanics of state, can some try to justify withholding the legal use of a word common to language and not unique to their religion - coupled with the legal union it describes?

Why, when science and medicine prove our worth, do they employ lies and propaganda to try and bluff people into hating? Why, when religions are built on foundations of tolerance, love and peace, do they twist the structure of the message into a liturgy of hatred, persecution and war?

Is it vanity? Pride? Arrogance? - Jealousy? Fear?

How can there be equality when the law favors one above the other, and the law suits one group people, while disadvantaging another, and is intended to keep it perpetually so? How can it be called "fair" when a person's worthiness to be treated with compassion and justice is dictated by who he loves, by what is between her legs, or by what pronoun they choose to be called by? How can it be considered "right" and "good" when people who claim those words as part of their set of values employ those values in campaigns of hatred, oppression and violence against others?

How, when logic and reason show there is no harm or threat inherent in treating others with respect and dignity as themselves, do people still partake in breaking down everything for which the principles of a free, equal-opportunity democratic society stands?

Why, when people who mis-lead such groups against equality for others, and vent so much bile, hate and ignorance in public forums, do they impart only the message that they are filled with hate, bile and ignorance - and that they have completely missed the point of their religious studies? Why, I ask, do people continue to hear them? Why do they continue to listen, and to partake, and to support them?

Can they not see how they are being used as pawns in applying inaccurate stereotypes, junk-science and prejudice for the purposes of creating inequality, blaming scapegoats, and perpetuating injustice?

Is it because they don't know any better, or because they aren't interested in knowing any better? Is it because they either can't or won't think for themselves? Or is it because they agree with these messages of exclusion, support the ideology of separation, and cherish the philosophy that they are somehow "better" than anyone else - and somehow deserve to be more equal than them?

And yet, all they do is to empower hate, uplift elitist values and enshrine oppression in the name of democracy, justice and love. Isn't it sickening?

You have to admire the kind of mind that can pull that off. You have to pity the kind of people who don't see it. You have to worry for those of us who do.

Yes, Wiccan

2011-09-07T00:35:00.000-07:00

I drive a Mazda, but I still know what a Mercedes Benz looks like. I have had Beetles, a Kombi, a Renault, a Toyota and a Golf as well. I realize they are all cars, and I at least have an idea of what makes each of them different from the other, and about the thing that makes them go. I also know that cars make traveling from one place easier and better. It doesn't mean I have to hate the other makes, or refuse to drive in whatever car my neighbor drives.

What I'm trying to put across in my own rather quizzical way, is religion. Yes, that. You may wonder what cars have to do with religion - but let me clear it up for you: I have been finding out the hard way how ignorant some people are about religions other than their own. Let's take Christianity as a prime example. Almost everyone in South Africa knows what Christianity is about, more or less - even non-Christians. Hindus know what is under the hood of Christianity, Pagans know how many gears it has, and Muslims even how many cylinders and how many liters. How can they not, living in a country where we are still bombarded with "Christian" messaging in media, entertainment and culture every single day? But answer any average Christian who asks you what your religion is with "I'm a Pagan" or "I'm a Wiccan", and they will astonish you with their ignorance.

"What's that?"

And then follows the Great Explanation. And then while explaining it, I am made to feel like a missionary, trying to prove the worth of my beliefs and experiences, as if I am like them, trying to convince them to believe with me. I'm not. I have my own opinions about things religious, and have no desire to convince John and Jane Smith to toss away their crutches to follow me into the forest.

In my experience, Christians are not encouraged to know details of other faiths and religions. They are indoctrinated from an early age to believe that Jews only believe Christianity half-way, Muslims are long-lost cousins who missed the boat, and anyone else who isn't a Christian, is somehow "trapped" in some form of satanism, albeit some milder than others.

They have no idea about the significance of Pagan symbology, and condemn all Pagan signs as being "signs of satanic worship". They rip into Paganism and Pagan holy days and festivals without even being aware that their ENTIRE religion is built upon a foundation of Pagan traditions, holy days, rituals, symbology and imagery.

For those who doubt this, please read this related article on the matter.

Most Christians have no cooking clue about Paganism and what are and aren't Pagan beliefs. They spread the ignorance by contending that Pagans are "satanists", that they "sacrifice" cats in the neighborhood, and that the old lady living alone in the village is a witch and is to blame for last week's crop failure, or so-and-so's illness, or Jane's failure to bear children. The teach intolerance in that some still adhere to the intolerant views that led to the Holy Inquisition, referred to by Wiccans as "the Burning Times". Incidentally, a LOT of people were murdered by Christianity in those days, not just those accused of being witches or devil worshipers, but many others - including members of the Pink Community. And all this cruelty and death and suffering for wealth, power, control and to stamp out diversity, individuality and freedom.

I have to say that looking at this institutionalized blind ignorance, where believers are discouraged from learning about other faiths, or questioning their own, the criticism leveled at non-Christians comes across as arrogant. Well, that's just my opinion - but holding up a book written and edited by people ver the last 2000 years ago and arguing that this is all you need to know and worry about - and that - all that other stuff outside is of the devil - is just plain stupid. Not nearly as stupid as people who willingly fall for it, and encourage others to as well.

Despite the multitude of lemmings who will follow, and even lead their race to the edge of the abyss, who will joyfully roll boulders into the way of other people, point fingers at them, and even persecute - there are still a great number of Christians who are tolerant of other people's beliefs, views and of their right to live alongside them in peace and equality. One has to appreciate these non-judgmental folks for it, even if we question how they somehow did not succumb to the anti-diversity and restrictive doctrine of all Christian denominations (and even the Catholic ones).

What I find interesting, is that since I entered the Pagan and Wiccan communities, I have encountered many, many who tell of their experiences among Christians, and oddly enough most of them grew up as Christians, as I did - but who turned their backs on the religion because of all the intolerance, cruelty and oppressive nature of the beast.

I found an article today about the persecution of LGBTI people in history, and much of it is clearly shown to be grounded firmly in Christian practice and doctrine. It's a very interesting read on the history of European Christian persecution of gay and transgender people - as well as the detestable oppression brought by missionary Christians wherever they spread to, in the name of so-called "Christian civilization". Disagree with me? Well, just ask the Maya - oh wait, you can't - they're all dead. Convenient.

If we look at the mentality of certain religious leaders in the Christian community today, not much has really changed in the past 500 years, has it? Just the world around it has.

Some will claim that all religions in SA are now equal, post 1996. Is that so? While Pagans might not be legally persecuted anymore, many people simply accused of being witches (whether they are or not) are murdered each year in South Africa's rural areas each year. Just a month ago, a Christian fundamentalist cashier at a Cape Town supermarket had a religious experience and ran screaming when she saw a pentacle necklace on a customer - and the story made international news. Jewelry stores throughout the country do not know what an ankh or a pentacle is, let alone stock them - yet they all have loads of crosses, crucifixes and stars of David in stock. Shopping centers prevent Pagan and esoteric stores from renting space in their buildings. Fanatics picket and harass Pagan shops, and intimidate the staff and owners - and sometimes customers browsing in few tiny under-stocked esoteric book sections in larger book stores. Some towns only have Christian schools, or schools where the religion is worked into the curriculum - what of the Pagan children who live there? Why does the government census not include Paganism/Wicca under the religious section? Why does the spell-checker on my PC not recognize the word Wiccan?

What gives some people the arrogance to think they have the right point fingers at me, demonize me as a transgender woman, as a lesbian, as an agnostic, or as a Wiccan, and to intimidate me and to force me to abandon my opinions, and my beliefs in favor of theirs? And how dare they interpret my resistance to their efforts as "persecution" of their religion?

As I have stated so many times before, I do not criticize or condemn the beliefs of others, or their right to believe whatever they choose, or to live their lives however they choose, provided they do no harm to others - but I most certainly oppose people who will work towards the detriment and destruction of other people because of their beliefs.

Consequently, I stand against the spiritual warfare committed against individuality, human rights and freedoms, liberty, equality and democracy - regardless of where those attacks come, be it Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Shinto, or Pagan - or anywhere else.

Everybody is human, and therefore everybody needs human rights and equality. If there is no equality, then someone is on top of the wheel, and someone at the bottom - and wheels are known to turn.

I should think everyone would prefer being equal.

Bollocks And Bellyaching

2011-08-30T06:49:00.001-07:00

This afternoon I saw an article posted by a transsexual sister activist about the failings of the alliance of the Pink Community. The article was very melodramatic, bordering on the hysterical. In fact, I feel it was nothing short of a load of bollocks and bellyaching.

GLB and I components of the Pink Community were labeled "captors" and "oppressors". And the remarks made on Facebook by the same activist as well as some others who agree with her were disappointing and rather disparaging - although she did take some fire for it.

There are too many comments in this thread for me to cover them all, but let me just state from the point of view of a civil rights activist, that to shun our allies and to withdraw from the broader movement is nothing less than folly and a tactical error.

Civil rights issues run on numbers - and as a minority within a minority, we are a little short on those. If there are people who feel there are shortcomings in assistance, commitment or delivery on the part of general GLBTI organizations to the T community (and yes, I know there are), then instead of whining about it and pulling out, "we" (that is, YOU all) should rather get involved in these organizations, and do it yourselves.

Before you judge me as being sarcastic, allow me to point out that I am post-op and I am the director of one GLBTI organization, as well as on the board of another. Somehow, all those GLBI people whom these two groups deal with - and with whom I come in contact, manage to see past my transsexuality, and we get the job done together.

If you want change in the world, you have to become that change.

As for the criticism of the transgender umbrella, the only thing I have to say about that is - live and let live. As we go through our discovery of human gender and sexuality it is becoming increasingly clear that there is no gender binary, just a range of gender expression.

With current research showing that only 5% of human population is exclusively homosexual and another 5% exclusively heterosexual - meaning everybody else is either ambiguous, bisexual or asexual, it has to be asked how anyone can still think that way.

It is easy for those of us who have had the luxury of surgery to sit back and be armchair critics - what about those without the means to pursue surgery? How DARE we criticize them for making peace with their bodies midway through their transition? HOW DARE we act like the very same bigots who make our lives a living hell every chance we get?

When we begin to dip our fingers in bigotry, prejudice and elitism - where do we draw the line?

Look at the bigger picture from the outside for a moment. How many of the feminist community thinks of a transsexual as a "real" woman? Often I encounter feminist women who regard transsexual females as fake, not real women, or a threat to womanhood. And they take pains to exclude us, believe me. What about the cis-gay lesbians who refuse to be associated with trans-lesbians?

There are many, many GLB and I people out there who oppose oppression of the transgender community. (And yes, transgender INCLUDES transsexuals as a group - look it up on wikipedia.)

My brothers and sisters - painting the entire GLBI movement as a failure, as "captors" and "oppressors" is not only bad for us, it's insulting, divisive, counter-productive - and it's a load of bollocks as well.

From the outside, bigots who hate all of us and wish us all dead, regardless of what letter we hang round our necks, are watching one group which they think are scum, discriminating against another group they also call scum. Fighting in a burning house never made sense to me. I hope it no longer makes sense to you.

We should not fall into the same trap of thinking we are somehow better or more special than others. Yes there are flaws in the GLBTI alliance. Fix them - don't make it worse.

Cardboard Armor & Quicksand

2011-08-22T12:47:00.000-07:00

I have little patience for religious fundamentalist bigots who jump up and wave their fingers, condemning me and those like me for who we are - and using flimsy and baseless religious rhetoric as a foundation for their hatred and prejudice. You're running into battle wearing cardboard armor and waving plastic swords! Go back to school and ask for a refund!

Prejudice kills. Don't you know that? Is your religion, whatever that is, fueled by hatred? Or is hatred your religion? It's not mine. Get over yourselves.

I address religious fundamentalists - that doesn't mean any specific religion... but since you bring it up - I'm a little peeved at people who make nasty remarks, thinking they can use religious beliefs as a soap box to stand on, and as a hammer to hit people with.

I'm very well aware that not all people of any particular religion feel the same way about anything, but once again, my comments are not directed at an entire group - just the fundamentalists. You aren't a fundamentalist, are you?

Let me just ask you, since when has hatred ever made sense? Whatever happened to "treat other people how you want to be treated" and "love others as you love yourself"? How about "Judge not, lest ye be judged"? Hypocritical bunch of finger-pointers. I find it laughable and obvious when the rules which they apply to us somehow just don't apply to them.

Be that as it may, too often the religiously intolerant set about destroying other people's self-esteem, dignity and lives by using their own beliefs as a sledge hammer to brutalize and to smash out their foundations - and then of course things start to get a little ugly, because at that point they open up their belief systems to scrutiny and attack - and just as any other religion or belief system, it cannot hold up against an assault of science, logic and reason - which cannot but fail to prove a religion.

I say this because if there was any single religion or belief system in existence which COULD prove itself as a FACT, beyond any doubt, then there would be absolutely no debate or question about the supremacy of that religion, nor any competition from another. And today there are a multitude of not only separate religions in the world, but each religion is itself divided into sects and cults of their own - each claiming to be the ONE true faith, and all others to be false. I think the conclusion here is pretty self-evident.

In this respect, my point would be that not one single religion today can claim with any legitimacy that it is "true", "factual" or "correct" - and truly expect to be taken seriously by a skeptical or questioning mind. Therefore any individual or group using religion as a tool or justification to destroy lives, is attempting to build its house on quicksand, so how can it expect to win any serious debate on such issues?

Of course, the most typical reaction when this is pointed out, or when people being victimized and brutalized by religious zealots stand up against their attackers - is that the persecutors suddenly paint themselves as the victims in astonishing and breathtaking displays of victim-blaming.

I respect people's beliefs, whatever they may be. The way I see it, what they believe is their business, not mine - the trouble is that too often they make it their business to know what it is I believe, or to try and force me believe what they believe. How often do we see the anti-equality pundits chipping away at democratic underpinnings, using irrational fear of diversity and beliefs differing from theirs as a "threat" to civilization, democratic values, and their "way of life"?

Perhaps there is something wrong with me for holding the view that all people should be treated equal before the law - even bigots and religious fundamentalists - and if people would just respect each other first, and then the fact that nobody believes EXACTLY the same thing - the world would be a lot more peaceful, and a better place for all of us to live in.

EC Mirror Casts Poor Reflection

2011-08-18T02:21:00.000-07:00

Some of you know that my city, Port Elizabeth, will be hosting its first ever Pride event this year - an event which I am proud to say I am involved in, be it in my own small way. ECGLA, an organization I am part of, stands behind the Nelson Mandela Bay Pride - which will take place on the 24th of September - with one or two smaller events on the side during the month leading up to the main event.

I have to say that so far I have been pleasantly surprised to note that there have been no negative encounters, nasty letters in the press, and no hate mail specific to the Pride event. In fact, we were even surprised and excited to learn how positive the public appears to be about Pride. Of course, there always has to be one bad apple in the basket, doesn't there?

Today I was forwarded an email reply to a request sent out to newspapers in our area to publicize an event which forms part of the run-up to Pride.

On Wed, Aug 17, 2011 at 11:18 AM, Ec Mirror Admin wrote:

"As far as I understand it, Pride is an organization which promotes and sympathises with the cause of Homosexuals. However, practising homosexuals are acting directly acting against God’s Holy Word as laid down in the Bible. So although we are not judging practising homosexuals, (God is the only judge of all our actions) we wish to try and live in accordance with God’s principles.

Therefore we will not be promoting this kind of function at all.

Please do not send us anything to do with Pride.

The Hope Clinic is a completely different issue, however, and we have tried our best to promote this for you because we feel the Hope Clinic does a huge amount of good work in the community. Congratulations on the Hope Clinic and we wish you all the best.

Thank You

The Publisher

EC Mirror"

After reading this letter, I wrote what I felt to be an appropriate response.

Dear EC Mirror,

Your response to a request for publicity of an event in NMB Pride has reference.

Pride is an event which promotes tolerance, equality and celebrates the human and civil rights of people who have suffered and still suffer daily prejudice and persecution - both in general society, as well as in their family and school and work situations - resulting from a lack of education and human rights values.

The NMB Pride is an event geared towards raising awareness of our existance as a community and our human rights shortcomings, while also building good will between the Pink Community and the rest of the Metro by means of peaceful social interaction while raising funds for local charities and generating tourism income for local businesses.

These goals are made all the more difficult by individuals who eagerly apply prejudice and discrimination without any apparent thought or justifiable reason, and by contradiction, simply encourage animosity - which is counterproductive and hampers nation-building.

Shouldn't the "EC Mirror", as a public newspaper, be concerning itself with publishing news and items of public interest in the Eastern Cape - instead of policing or censoring these? How do personal religious values have any relevance to reporting on events in the real world? Is the EC Mirror a church newsletter, or a real newspaper?

The Pink Community is part of the public too - and as tax-paying and contributing citizens of South Africa and residents of the Eastern Cape, we do not appreciate being discriminated against or having our dignity and equal worth as human beings impugned. Are you aware that unfair discrimination is illegal? Have you ever heard of the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act, No. 4 of 2000?

If this is the attitude of your publication, your publication has been poorly named - because then the "EC Mirror" does not give a true reflection of events in the Eastern Cape, but rather only a cherry-picked, cracked and distorted view excluding the reality that we live here too - and that we might also be interested in being informed of social events in our area which concern us.

By your criticism and refusal to publicize the item forwarded to you, your claim to "not judge" is proven to be a blatant lie - add to that the very fact that your email was unnecessary. Why reply with offensive remarks when you could just have ignored the Pride email - or kept it to a request to not be sent future material about the NMB Pride? Surely that would have sufficed?

By your own words and uncharitability, you mark yourself as a poor example for professional journalism - and in my opinion, your hypocrisy and piety are an embarrassment to people of your faith who do good for others and try to make the world a better place, instead of breaking down those who do.

Your statement regarding Hope Clinic is nothing less than an insult - for you imply that one form of community service by the Pink Community is "good work" while community service which benefits our own community is not - based simply on who we are and who we choose to help, in relation to your prejudice. It is my understanding that you were quite willing to promote our efforts to support Hope Clinic in the past - considering that the Hope Clinic is where it is today primarily because of the efforts of those who helped build and support it, and got it off the ground - who are members of the Pink Community - you demonstrate a very skewed view indeed.

In closing, your remarks demonstrate to me clear opposition to the human rights values enshrined in the SA Constitution, as well as a lack of compassion, ubuntu, common decency and good manners. Consequently, we will no longer consider the services of EC Mirror, as a free community newspaper, sufficient, appropriate or befitting our worthy cause - and therefore we as NMB Pride and ECGLA formally disassociate ourselves from you.

Christina Engela

Eastern Cape Gay & Lesbian Association: Director

System Failure

2011-08-17T00:23:00.000-07:00

I think any system of government where human or civil rights depends wholly on the public opinion of the moment, is fundamentally flawed.

Where did that come from? Well, it goes back to before we had the present Constitution in South Africa, when as a teenager I was threatened with being labeled a criminal because being gay was illegal in this country then. That's right, I was threatened with jail because I dared to consider that I might not be your average heterosexual cisgender boy. And in those days, even being transgender was a very grey area in legal terms. Being caught in a raid dressed in womens clothing as a biological male was a risky business. It was "fine" to be a cross-dresser or drag queen busted at a gay club during a raid - but you better still have been wearing male underwear - or you would be thrown in jail for "impersonating a female". LOL. Go figure.

Society in the old South Africa used to persecute anyone with a pink tint to them, the armed forces experimented on gay service people and in some cases, tortured them. Churches blamed all manner of ills on us, more than some of them still do, and people would be victimized for who they were - losing their jobs, their homes, their dignity and even their lives. People today often talk about the Apartheid days, focusing exclusively on the struggle for racial equality, as if our persecution and exclusion from society never happened. These days, I hear very few speak about the struggle for our equality. Perhaps that's because it's not yet truly over?

Sometimes I actually hear people long for the old days when "everything still worked properly", when there was supposedly less government corruption - and well, there may have been - but not many people today will claim that the government intrudes as much into the private lives of its citizens as in those days. The simple truth of the matter is, we lived in a fascist state, and a theocracy. It was for all intents and purposes, a throwback from the Second World War - an Aryan state, where politics and social status were not only dictated by race, but also by language, religion, sexuality and gender. Anyone who longs for those days has got to be sick.

The solution, to my mind, is to build a new country, a new nation - where all these lines of division have disappeared. That is the foundation of the New South Africa - at least I thought it was?

Over the past few years - since I entered the field of human rights activism, I have seen people first opposing the extension of human rights and equality to me and people like me in the early 1990's, and then lamenting the rights we do have today, and then conspire and labor to deprive me of my equality before the law and my very human rights. It was a battle in the past to attain the rights we have now in South Africa, in many ways a "struggle", to use the popular South African revolutionary term - and it seems this struggle will continue for many years to come - in order to hold on to those rights. It seems to me that if we ever stop fighting for our rights, to protect them, if we relax and think everything is okay - we will be in for a nasty shock.

Our country's government continues to act unilatterally, and without seeing a need to heed the will of the people, to consider the Constitution - or to explain its actions to us - and even desires to conspire to hide its activities from us. Our government still has a very weak and poor grasp of the concept of democracy - a system which it feels is working just fine, just as long as the wind continues to blow in their favor. And yet this same government which is given its power and authority by the constitution which extends civil equality and human rights protections to me and those like me in this country, continues to show economic and political support to countries which wage open war against the same ideals which allow us to be treated as equals within their borders. People with open hatred for people like me continue to be appointed in high profile offices by no less than the President himself, and to be paid salaries from tax monies paid for by people like me. That's quite an insult, isn't it?

An advanced human rights friendly Constitution is fine and well - but what good is it if it is not put into practice? The government says it cherishes the principles in the SA Constitution, and yet acts in a manner which cannot be reconciled with that very Constitution.

I would love to hear the explanation for that one.

In America, it seems that human rights and equality continue to blow in the wind, being passed into law in various states, but perpetually under threat of being repealed depending on the weight of public opinion. Many in South Africa, most typically religious fundamentalists who share ties through so-called "church planting" and also share the same views with those human rights detractors who would even like the death penalty applied to two people of the same gender who engage in romantic relations. I know for certain they wish they could do the same here - a fact which is reflected in the utterances and efforts of those who would like nothing better than to rip out the paragraphs which grant civil rights to people like me from the SA Constitution. I have to wonder how some people think, I really do. I cannot understand how people who enjoy equality and full civil rights can presume to judge that other people, for no logical rhyme or reason, are not deserving of the same rights as they.

Equality should be embedded in the nation's Constitution, and not put up for debate every five minutes when some conservative half-wits get their knickers in a knot over X, Y or Z being allowed the same privileges as themselves.

I would go so far as to say that even if ONE person in a country is not afforded the same civil and human rights as others under the law of the land - then there is no equality. Either everyone is equal before the law - or there is no equality. Even a scientist will tell you that *wink*.

With continued debate in countries like the USA, where different states have different laws governing human rights for specific groups, such as the Pink Community, I believe the human rights of every individual - regardless of any identifying characteristic (gender, identity, sexual orientation, religion, culture etc) should be passed into federal law or the US Constitution - instead of having different laws in each state, and individual states being able to repeal these laws every time enough money or noise is raised around the issue by conservatives. Human rights are human rights and not some ticket to be used every time elections come round.

Right wing human rights abusers have done their level best to sabotage human rights by attempting to pass DOMA into federal law - why does "someone" in the USA not launch a campaign to get the human rights, fair and equal treatment for all entrenched in the US Constitution instead? Why not pass a new Ammendment?

The new darling of the Teabaggers, Michele Bachmann, actually makes Sarah Palin look almost intelligent. I shudder to think of the USA under her, should she win the election - it will be another Bush administration - an unmitigated disaster for human rights and equality. If she wins at all it will be because a) she is white (playing on the politics of race being negatively applied around Obama) and b) female (let's give the girls a chance - who cares if she's an anti-choice, anti-feminist, hang-the-gays teabagger?). As a human rights activist, I find her remarks against Pink rights and women's rights nauseating. People like that give Christians, and Americans a bad name.

The failure of modern "democracies" in this respect harks back to the feudal system, where people were born into class systems, slavery and castes - where "nobles" ruled by the right of their birth and nobody born of lower classes could expect any upward mobility. How is this in any way different to a society which discriminates against people simply because of who they are?

I have little time for people who operate under the assumption that they are somehow more deserving, or better than others, especially me.

Debating human rights is fine, it helps people to actually think for a change - but putting the equality of some people with what is considered the norm up for a vote every other day - is both contrary to human rights ethics and ethos - undemocratic, and insulting. All people SHOULD be considered equal before the law in order for a country to be considered truly democratic. And any country that does so while claiming to be democratic and to have the interests of ALL its people at heart is, quite simply, full of it.

Bread And Circuses

2011-08-09T10:40:00.000-07:00

Last week I had the pleasure of having to get up really early for work, at around 4am, when all the respectable birds were still asleep. It was while having breakfast a little later that I heard something faint in the night, a kind of singing chant in the distance that reminded me of a Muslim call to prayer. I really had to strain my hearing to pick it up, as the very light wind at that time of morning affected it, and it faded in and out. It seemed to me that it might very well be that, from one of the mosques in the old part of town somewhere. I began to wonder if I was imagining it, but no, there it was, for a whole 2 or 3 minutes. It brought a smile to my face as I wondered why I had never heard it before.

I heard it the next morning too, while having breakfast, confirming to me that I had not imagined it. At the end of the week, I received an email notice that some people in my area (Richmond Hill) were angry about the "disturbance" coming from North End so early in the morning and were drawing up a petition about it. I was stunned. Could people really be so small and anal about such things? Apparently so.

First, North End is several kilometers away from Richmond Hill - and second, if you are asleep in Richmond Hill at 4am you certainly will not be woken up by that. We are not talking about a racket or a din here, not by any means. And it's not as if it continues until daybreak, or for longer than a few minutes. In short, you basically have to be awake to hear it, so what is the problem? On the other hand, there is really no pleasing some people, is there? I have to wonder about the potential double-standards being applied here by this individual. He lives in Richmond Hill, which as all the locals know, has a Christian church virtually on every corner, and so come every Sunday morning, the sound of bells ringing hardly raises an eyebrow. Which makes my point - why does this fellow not launch a petition to silence those as well?

Or is it a case of "I am a Christian - I can hear church bells ringing from where I live"? Is that perhaps what is bothering him? Does hearing a Muslim call to prayer from your breakfast table make me a Muslim? No? Does it wake me up when I'm trying to sleep? No? See my puzzlement? Live and let live, fella. I don't see any need to complain unless you live right next door, and unless the house next to you suddenly sprouted a minaret without checking with you and your neighbors first.

Cleaning ladies around the country are protesting on Women's Day because they are being paid a minimum wage of less than 2000 zar. Yes, it is shocking, I agree. I couldn't imagine surviving on that kind of money per month. No wonder they call it "peanuts". Of course, when you consider that people who do work that requires more mental and educational skill earn around 4000 per month, how do you justify it? Ah, now it gets tricky, because nobody wants to do dirty work, do they? Pay them a little more and they might actually stop moaning for a while and smile for a change.The only problem is it's never enough, is it? With all the crippling strikes we've seen in the past six months alone, it's amazing the economy hasn't failed yet. The one strange thing about this little item that makes me mutter "only in South Africa" is the main motivation for an increase appears to be that some of these women need to support up to nine children on their small wages. Right. Whose fault is that? Did anyone force them to have nine kids? Is that the employers fault? Aren't there plentiful supplies of condoms and other contraceptive agents available in our "condomwise" country? Doesn't our wise all-knowing government encourage children to get pregnant in order to get the 250 zar per child per month grant to avoid working? What gives, folks, and where do you draw the line?

Women's Day is a nice, touching gesture, isn't it? Sure, everyone could use another day off - but does it really mean anything to women? Is it a reminder that things need to be done in this country to create equity between the sexes socially, economically and politically, or is it just an opportunity to flood the news with images of women partying at public events toasted by prominent government figures talking about doing it? I tend to agree with the women who stayed away from these events - saying that they feel it won't help them in the least. They need action, not talk. The government has been talking for years, and still they are no better off.

Women and children are lumped together under with the disabled folks in one big government ministry, as if being young or female is also a social disadvantage. I don't know... is it? I think this "patriarchal culture" I heard about on the news tonight again, needs a swift kick up the caboose - a reminder to hubby dearest that respect has to be earned, not just given on say-so - and that if he wants to sleep peacefully at night he needs to remember that peaceful sleep is a condition of fair and equal treatment of the other. It's time there was an end to the incompetence and corruption leading to rape and hate-crime cases being postponed repeatedly and delayed for up to three years and court documents and dockets conveniently disappearing while the rights of people - of all sexualities and genders - are trampled.

Yes, most companies are employing more females, even in roles traditionally occupied by males - but not because they are better workers, but because on average, they pay us less. Sad but true. Equity? Really? Equal pay for equal work, I say. Now that's equality. What does the equipment between your legs have to do with the quality or quantity of work a person can deliver? Unless we are speaking about the sex industry, I can't see how it matters half a damn. Can you? Fix that before bragging about how women have been advanced every single Women's Day, okay? It's getting repetitive.

The Emperors of Rome feared the power of the common citizen, and they feared they would be toppled by uprisings or other political forces fueled by dissatisfaction with their rule. They placated the mob by providing distractions - wars, campaigns - but more importantly, entertainment. They laid on expensive games in the arena, lavish events - and this entertainment saved their rule on many occasions. Free bread and circuses lulled and sussed the noisy infants upon whom the ruling classes depended back to their somnambulant existence. I can't help but wonder at the similarity between this ancient principle and current events such as Women's Day, Freedom Day, Youth Day. Make a few of the right noises, and the crying baby goes back to sleep and all is right with the world for a while again.

The next thing on my list of peeves is our friend Juliaas. Yesterday was supposed to be "D-Day for Juju" - at least, according to the ANC and all the papers too - and what happened? Nothing. N - O - thing. "Postponed indefinitely" they said on the news last night.

This past few days, the ANC made a big thing about Malema being brought to book for his loose-canon activities, running his mouth off and generally acting as if he was an actual government figure etc, before senior party leadership yesterday - and in the evening news a spokesperson said it was "postponed, perhaps indefinitely" supposedly in the interests of party unity. Right.

Of course, he's won. How else could this blatant and obvious capitulation be interpreted? Friend Zuma doesn't dare go against him - because he realizes that if he does, Juliaas could just start his very own little political party - and all the crazy, ignorant and racist youth supporting the ANC would follow him, making it even more obvious that the ruling party is an apartment block being carved up and sold ala sectional title to the highest bidder. Check mate.

The simple truth is that the senior party members cannot go against him or be seen to put him in his place, because they will risk disunity in the party, or a complete breakaway of the youth league and his supporters from the main body of the ANC and the tripartite alliance. The COPE breakaway in 2009 was a costly lesson to the ruling party, one they clearly do not wish to repeat. It might seem to them after all, to be an even bigger embarrassment to the ANC than hurling racist abuse at a journalist in front of TV cameras.

It seems that Juliaas has pretty much won this battle - he's defied calls by reasonable people to have him removed as leader of the ANC Youth League for several years now. Despite every shenanigan this chap gets up to, no matter how embarrassing, no matter how insensitive, he still weathers the storms he creates - and in his post as youth leader too. What's to stop his rise to leadership of the ANC, and even the presidency? And then clinging to power for 30 years? We know how it works on our continent by now, don't we? Barnacles clinging to the hull of the ship, stealing streamlining and energy from its progress through the oceans of common sense. He is after all, Bob Mugabe's understudy, isn't he? His overtly fanatic, communist and racist followers have already cried they will stop at nothing to see that he is allowed to continue sowing chaos and discord wherever he goes, making idiotic, irresponsible and divisive comments about nationalizing mines and farms and banks. It seems they actually believe they will be better off for it if it happens. Poor fools.

Enjoy the last days of democracy in SA folks. Communism and socialism are on their way, barring a miracle or two. Before long, things like "there's no such thing as transgender or gay in Sepedi" may become slogans, then policy.

Eish.

Never Say Never

2011-07-25T06:23:00.000-07:00

Couple of things that happened this week bug me. Unfortunately, I am currently hip-deep in work, and so haven't been able to write an article till now. However, when something bugs me long enough, my thoughts tend to stew over them for a while, until I just have to get it all down and post it.

Anyone notice how closely the govt's new demand on the mining companies to hand out shares to local communities in their areas (and failure to comply will lead to asset seizures), resembles nationalization?

Business is business. At least, I always thought it was. The mining companies lease or own the land, and they keep to government prescriptions on how to mine safely etc etc. Being told to just hand over part ownership of their operation to "the people" is neither fair, nor part of a free-market system, nor a democracy. Nor is just issuing an ultimatum to comply "or else". This is more in line with communist-fascist or socialist ideology.

Didn't Julius Malema make loads of noise about nationalizing mines in SA a while back? Didn't the ANC say "categorically" that it would "never happen"? Well what would you call this, other than the same thing spelled differently? It's classic redistribution of existing wealth instead of generating new wealth. What will happen when there is no more existing wealth left to redistribute? Will they then look at the private sector, properties, homes, cars, bank accounts? It happened in every other former colony in Africa, give or take one or two "civil" wars. Hmm. It's no secret - I'm not a big fan of the current administration.

Instead of providing services and effecting job and wealth-creation to the people, the ANC now seems intent forcing private companies to give away part of their company ownership to do it instead. As if current lessons that should be learned are going unnoticed. Then again, they probably are. I'm also referring to so-called "land restitution". Farms are being bought off non-white farmers, and given or sold to landless black folks by the government. While this may seem like an incredibly noble thing, what happens is that the new owners have no clue how to farm, manage the intricate business that is agriculture, and pretty soon, a productive farm becomes a white elephant that produces nothing at all - hence why our country is for the first time in a century or more, importing food it was until recently able to grow for itself. So much for learning - but then, given the shocking state of our so-called education department, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised.

Then there is the shocking racist policy of affirmative action or "BEE" still in effect in this country - which awards jobs to people of one race while depriving people of another simply based on racial characteristics. How is this any better than South Africa per-1994? Oh wait, I know - because the formerly disadvantaged are now the currently advantaged, that's why. Some justice that is - punishing subsequent generations of kids finishing school who were never around to inflict injustice upon those in power, who are now neither disadvantaged, nor poor - unlike the majority of their own group which still somehow languishes in abject poverty and gripes and grumbles in the shacks and poorly-built RDP housing. Everywhere the hot topic is "transformation" and "right-sizing", with some government departments imploding because of corruption and incompetence to comply with BEE. But that's not racism, no.

How about High Commissioner Qwelane - ordered 2 months ago to make apology to the Pink Community by the Equality Court? Has he paid his fine? Has he apologized for his hate speech? Has he been removed from his post by the SA government who claims to cherish the constitution and the constitutional protections for the group he offended and threatened - and who face violence in the country in which he represents South Africa? No, the whole works are being held up again by legal maneuvers. You should fire that man, Mr Zuma - his occupancy in the office of High Commissioner is an affront to every South African citizen who cherishes the Constitution and the principles of a free and open equal opportunity society - and who pay tax for his salary - and yours.

How about Juliaaaas and his "Homegate" scandal? I don't know about you, but this whole ruckus surrounding his 16 million rand house under construction and his implication in accusations of pay-offs in return for awarding tenders just smacks of the same odor as the Arms Scandal. And how about his complaining about the "fat cats" living off the cream of the land while the poor languish in abject poverty - and still support him in his quest for power and even more riches? Oh, the irony.

Think it will affect his chances of becoming the next prez of South Africa? President Malema? Many would also say that would "never happen", but then again they said the same thing about Zuma becoming president back in 2006. It just goes to show that some things will "never happen" - until they do.