Seriously, there may be a way forward to advantage the next generation of South Africans. It occurred to me today, after reading a group e-mail from a group of white women looking for signatures and donations highlighting their cause. Without doubt, a worthy cause — femicide. But, in the general South African scheme of things, signed petitions are analogous to waving a feather at a charging elephant. The elephant analogy fits nicely here where the country is the china shop and parliament is an elephant.
Incidentally, once, I watched a video; the scene is a dirt road with thick bush on either side. Suddenly, a huge bull elephant emerges from the bush and makes a charge towards the camera. Then, a young boy, a teenager, is seen running towards the elephant and, waving his arms in the air, shouted “Stop!” (That’s what it sounded like). Immediately, the elephant screeched to a halt, flapping its ears and waving its trunk. Then, as quickly as it came, the elephant retreated into the bush.
It seemed that I may have digressed somewhat but, maybe I didn’t ….
The point that I wish to make is that satisfying as petitions, and marches, may be (to the marchers), the parliamentary elephant will not, in fact, stop.
There needs to be another way. For example, thinking outside of the box.
Think about the real inner minds of parliamentarians. What are their really private thoughts, should they be forced to consider the answer to a bankrupt country. Is it only a short-term aid to accept international funds from corrupt large companies, and so on. Sadly, I doubt that it is femicide.
Great leaders study in detail the defective minds of their enemies. What is the Achilles heel of the South African parliament?
Seriously, think about this (The true inner mind of each politician). Make notes, instead of petitions. Become diligent researchers. Share and compare, and debate, until each politician’s Achilles heel is revealed. Then, focus, and lever one’s demands on that, individually.
It is an appropriate phrase, a cliché; Rome was not built in a day ….
Do you agree?
I don't like to comment on situations I don't know much about but South Africa appears to be in a fragile state on the way to becoming another Zimbabwi. It's not a place for white, brown and oriental people from what news I see. Enough said.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if you meant that no place (country) is a place for anyone other than the indigenous people. I could give that a try.
DeleteStephanie; earlier, I used your quoted term 'femicide'. It being a general term, I may have used it too loosely. It was my intension to compare it to genocide which, in itself, is also a general term. But having said that, my interpretation was to describe the deliberate and complete killing of a particular ethnic group, and not to simplify, or belittle, the extraordinary brutality of the incidents to women.
ReplyDeleteThe difficult question that I am trying to understand is, are females being killed because they could be, for example, (a) witnesses to rape, or (b) woman living alone on prized landholdings, i.e., not to erase all women.
Femicide is to the best of my knowledge a new word relating to raping and killing women and children, of any race, so not connected to genocide. In spite of the uproar over the recent spate of women being killed, it has not abated and is still going on unchecked (In S.A.).
DeleteWhat is the matter that women are so hated in spite of the fact that no man can beget an heir without the female of the species?
I, humbly, stand corrected (I incorrectly linked the word with genocide).
DeleteOrigin: early 19th century: from Latin femina ‘woman’ + -cide, after homicide, originally in simple sense ‘the killing of a woman’.
Post script -- There may be an answer to the femicide problem in cyrogenic research. Male sperm cells would be chromosome-manipulated and stored in quantities sufficient for the efficient world population of only light-brown females.
ReplyDeleteA small colony of light-brown males would be sent to the moon for entertainment purposes.
This could become a science fiction storyline in one of John's novels, unless he is overtaken by Ms. Attwood.
I'd prefer to recreate the Amazon women of Greek mythology. They were warriors, probably fighting against femicide in ancient times.
ReplyDeleteMmm, with light-brown skin ?
DeleteWhy are you so persistent about skin colour?
ReplyDeleteFollowing days of psychological research, self-analysis, and many sleepless nights, I thought light-brown a satisfactory compromise ... blue being impossible.
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