Winter Soldier

Apologies all, for not blogging very regularly!

A few posts ago I mentioned that I was heading to an event called "Winter Soldier" orgainsed by the Iraq Veterans Against the War. I didn't really know what I was in for: someone handed me a flyer for it, I thought it sounded interesting, so I went.

The term Winter Soldier comes from a 1776 quote by Thomas Paine:
"These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman."

The pamphlet describes the event as "True stories from the men and women who fought the "war on terrorism."" Apparently Winter Soldier events were started after the Vietnam war, organised by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War.

A panel of soldiers sit in front of an audience, and tell stories about why they are against the war. Some of the stories are harrowing: killing of civilians, racism, brutality, graphic accounts of violent deaths. Some are less so: complaints about problems with war veterans medical aid, complaints about military culture, complaints about army recruitment methods and how and when reserves are called up.

War is a horrible thing. And there is an special horror to a war like this: fought in urban areas, populated by ordinary citizens. Where the people who are tying to kill you look just like the people you are trying to protect. Where the cars that explode to kill Iraqi civillians and American soldiers look just like the cars that little old ladies drive to town. Where the trucks that terrorists drive look just like the trucks that farmers use to drive their produce to market.

The testifying soldiers were mostly young men, trained to fight, trained to kill. In an environment where every day their lives were in danger from an enemy that was everywhere and nowhere at the same time. With few clear goals beyond getting back home alive. And with ever-relaxing rules of engagement. Witnessing so much death. Of Iraqi people and of their fellow soldiers.

So at Winter Soldier some of these guys testify to torturing people, killing civillians needlessly, wrecking people's homes. Battle their way through stories of watching people die. Speaking about the fashbacks they still have.

I thought about the event for a bit afterwards. I think that one thing we have to remember is that they are part of an anti-war organisation, so the events are co-ordinated and the speakers speak with that agenda. I am definately not pro-war, that is not what I am saying. But I think it means that it gives a bit of a skewed picture of the war as only being about racist young men brutalizing innocent Iraqi citizens. Which is no more true than the pro-war spin that has honourable young soldiers protecting the poor Iraqi victims from the evil terrorists and playing soccer with grateful Iraqi children.

The truth, I think, is somewhere in the middle. But one thing an event like this definately shows us is that people just like us can do terrible things. People just like us can torture people, can kill innocent people, can become numb to what they are doing. These guys and girls who testified, they were young people. Just ordinary young people. Most joined the military because they thought they could do some good in the world. Makes you think...

House cleaning

I'm doing some blog house keeping - taking down links to blogs that haven't been updated in an age.

These are the ones I am taking down:

• Fingo Village Revolutionaries
• Collected shreds of AIPS wisdom
• Communist University
• Daily Dispatch blogs
• Sna's Corner
• Claire the Bear

Sorry to my friends who are being axed! I axe you reluctantly, only because you have not blogged in ages!

Communist University was a very interesting blog, pity it seems to be inactive.

Swinging like its 1945

I was in the middle of a blog post about the Iraq was and the Winter Soldier campaign when I had to leave it to go to my East Coast Swing dance class.

And it was too much fun not to write about - so for now, the Iraq was post is postponed. Watch this space!

East Coast Swing is a dance style with similar moves to the jitterbug and the jive. It's one one the swing styles danced in the USA in the 20's through 40's. Jazzy, lots of turning, bouncy. But the East Coast Swing is a bit more laid back than the serious serious Lindy Hop high speed stuff.

And I've just taken my 4th class! And who would have guessed, but it is an EPIC amount of fun. I am not sporty AT ALL, and I really can't dance (at weddings I'm the one sitting at the table hoping it will all end soon!).
But this, this is something else! It is *SO* much fun.

We have also been learning the basic Charleston and next week we are going to learn some moves to jazz the Charleston up.

I never ever thought I would enjoy it so much, I went reluctantly thinking it would be something interesting to do. And I'm loving it :)

So yes, I say to you all - if you get the chance, learn to swing! I'm going to need people to dance with when I am back home in SA!
And just in case you think its not African enough for you, I just tried the Charleston to Johnny Clegg's "Cruel, Crazy And Beautiful World." Brilliant!
Yup, Jika Majika, here I come!
Or maybe, better, "So you think you can dance?" ;)

Checking in

I haven't posted much here for a couple of weeks because I've been trying to be a hard working student. Also because I've been blogging on ONCtoday every now and then, and in studious mode I can't justify the time spent doing two sets of blog entries!

I'm waiting for my computer to run a task right now, so here I am, checking into my blog.

I'm going to a "Winter Soldier" talk tonight, where Iraq war vets telling their stories. Its funny how the term "war veterans" has a completely different connotation in America than in South Africa. In the US war vets are heros. On Tuesday it was Veteran's Day in the USA - a public holiday with children going to perform music concerts for war vets and "Thank you to our veterans" signs on the busses.

Anyway, this talk tonight is organised by a group called "Iraq Veterans Against the War," so it should be interesting.

I'm just finishing off reading "In a Differrent Time" by Peter Harris and I think it may be turning me into a pacifist. I went through a stage of "THE TRC?!?! WHAT WERE WE THINKING?? THESE PEOPLE SHOULD BE IN JAIL!!!!! AT LEAST!!" But then I contemplated it some more... I was a bit distubed by my desire for vengence! It made me realise how wicked my own heart could be! Which moved me to the other side... I'n not really sure what I think of all of this now, but I'm leaning towards pacifism :)

US elections

I went down to the polls yesterday, to check out some American's voting. There was nothing much to see really. Except a local state candidate handing out flyers (Frank Calabrese - Fresh face, fresh ideas for Illinois!).

And Lincoln, in the picture above, doing his bit for Obama. I chatted to him a bit about why Lincoln would have voted for Obama.

The political campaigns in the the US are amazing. The campaigns have databases of... everyone. They go door to door in the year or so before exams, thousands and thousands of volunteers from around the country. The College Democrats at the University of Illinois (where I am at the moment) have spent Saturdays this whole year driving hours to a neibouring state to go knock on doors and chat to people about voting for Obama. They are sent out with information of who is living at different houses, and their political leanings. And they specifically target swing voters - people who aren't strongly Democrat or Republican already.

Imagine that.

I went to a talk by Naomi Klein the other day and she said that in the USA they spend to such tme and energy on elections that there is hardly any time for politics.

Pay for Peace

The city of New York is running what they call the "Pay for Peace Gun Buy Back programme". Their aim is to get guns off the streets, so they offer $200 in exchange for guns, no questions asked.

People can hand in their guns for $100 at police stations any time, but this buy back programme is being run through churches. Pastors claim that people are a lot more likely to hand in a gun at a church than a police station. Which makes sense - I'm sure people involved in criminal activities don't want to go anywhere near a police station.

"Drop off your gun in exchange for a $200 bank card Saturday from 11a.m. to 5 p.m. at: Sts. Peter and Paul Church, 71 S. Third St.; All Saints Church, 115 Throop Ave., St. Barbara Church, 138 Bleecker St. and Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompei Church, 225 Seigel St."

I tried to see how many guns had been collected so far, and the numbers vary in different news reports. Looks like it is well over a thousand though.

I wonder if something like this would work in South Africa?




(Pic from here, info from here and various other sources.)

Negative campaigining

I haven't watched tooo much TV here, but last night I caught an Obama campaign ad.

At one point in the last presidential debate, McCain responded to Obama by saying "I am no George Bush." I suppose meaning that he can't be blamed for the mistakes of the Bush administration (I'm not sure, I didn't catch that part of the debate.)

So the ad I saw last night started off with that quote from McCain, that he isn't George Bush... then the ad pointed out all of the similarities between McCain and Bush, and how McCain voted with Bush and so forth.

In other words, the Obama campaign was making the point "actually, McCain is just like Bush. Don't vote for him."

Which wasn't great, but okay.

McCain has been accused of 100% of this kind of negative campaigning. I read about one McCain campaign ad which slated Obama for approving sex-education for preschool children. Which does sound a bit disturbing, and apparently the ad made it out to be very disturbing.
What the ad didn't say was that the sex-education was completely appropriate for young kids. It was "don't talk to strangers" and "tell your parents if anybody tries to touch you" kind of stuff.

All over the news at the moment is that Palin spent government money taking her husband and kids with her on some work conference, or something like that. The way I gather it, it was funded by discretionary money so it wasn't completely out of line. But still not great.

This type of campaigning where you desperately dig up dirt on your opponent is so unappealing. Of course real corruption needs to be weeded out and if politicians have serious character issues the public would want to know about them. But they really take it to another level here. I hope we never descend to this.

Dear America

To: theUSA@america.com
CC: smootherpebble.readers@international.org
From: smootherpebble@madeupemail.org.za

Dear America

I have just been listening to one of your political commentary shows, about voter registration problems in your elections. It sounds like the Republicans have been accused of purging thousands and thousands of people off voter rolls, largely from demographic groups that traditionally vote Democrat.

Now the way I understand it is that the two main issues are:
1) People who have irregularities in their voter registration details are being taken off the rolls (for example, if in one place I am registered as "Robert Smith" and somewhere else I am "Bob Smith").
2) People need to produce a photo ID to vote.

Perhaps there are more issues, if so I invite you to explain them to me.

Issue (1) seems pretty sensible to me - surely it should be the responsibility of the voter to ensure his/her information is correct? Would you have electoral officials contact all of these people to confirm their details? Or is there some sort of systematic problem with voter registration that means that conflicting information about a person is probable?

Issue (2) is a problem you really have created for yourselves America, I am afraid to say.
(For non-American's reading this letter, let me explain. Americans do not have identification books or identification numbers. What about social security numbers? No no, a social security number is just your number associated to the USA social security system - a government programme for old age pensions, disability grants and that sort of thing. It is not compulsory for US citizens to be part of the social security programme, so not all US citizens have social security numbers. And even if you are a part of the programme, and do have a social security number, it is not a photo ID and is relatively open to forgery and so forth.)

I am told that you have concerns about having national identity numbers and national photo ID books for all citizens. It could be the beginning of the slippery slope to big-brother style government control.
Okay then, thats fine, but you have to make some sort of sensible plan to work around your lack of ID numbers and national photo IDs.

I understand that at the moment you are required to produce your driver's license to vote. The show I watched complained that this denies many people the opportunity to vote. That seems ridiculous. Surely you make a plan for non-drivers? Or perhaps the show was just trying to push a point. They are claiming that this is strategic, because communities with many non-drivers (African American communities for example) are also traditionally Democrat strongholds. So Republicans are strategically denying people without drivers licenses the right to vote.

This sounds a bit conspiracy theory to me, but okay. If you cannot vote without a drivers licence, that would really need to be sorted out. That would be an incredibly silly situation. My gut says that it probably isn't true though, it was probably just the pro-Democrat peoople on the show being melodramatic. Which could well be the case with elections in two weeks.

In conclusion, let me encourage you with the workd of Trevor Manuel, South Africa's finance minister" "Democracy is a social compact between the government and the citizens." It only works if we all do our part. And your part is to make sure that you are properly registered to vote.

If you are not sure, try going to Can I Vote? to see if you are properly registered (you can also find handy information like election day polling booth hours). Or contact some sort of local government official in your area to find out. I'm not sure quite how things work in your country, but surely there must be some sort of electoral commision people you can find out from.

If you are not registered, oh dear, too late. Sorry, you forfeited your right to participate in the great Obama/Palin showdown. But its okay, in four years you will have another chance.

It is true that you are a pretty huge nation and that voting on that sort of scale must be epically difficult to coreograph. But come on guys, you (literally) invented democracy.

Thank you for the Chips Ahoy.

Warm regards,
A Smoother Pebble

Ag shame man

This really is one of the funniest things I have seen in ages:

Nhlanhla Nene (Chairman of the Portfolio Committee on Finance) was doing an SABC 2 interview this morning. During the course of the interview, his chair broke. Check it out.

The poor man. But too funny. Watch his expression as he tries not to fall...

ONC Today

I've started contributing on Obakeng's blog, ONC Today.

If you are interested in current affairs and some commentary, if you want to add your own two cents or just see whats being said, go take a look. I've been following his blog for a while, and it's a good read!

Notes on America

Notes on America

Note 1:
The cars here are all big. You never see a Corsa, Corsa Lite, Kia, City Golf, Mazda Midge. Just big cars, even the old skadonk cars are big. And automatics, rather than manuals.

Note 2:
The houses here in Urbana all have central heating. Which is great because even when its so freezing your nose hurts you can still be sitting at a pretty 25 degrees C inside. So you just bundle yourself up in ten thousand layers when you run between buildings. Fantastic.

Not so fantastic though, it the actual central heating itself. Apparently there are several ways of centrally heating a house. One way is to have almost mini-panel-heaters in all of the skirting boards. Or a boiler in the basement that pipes hot oil around your house. Probably the least expensive way is through natural gas heating. That's what I have.

I'm not sure how it all works, but what I experience is this: there is a temperature dial on my wall, which I can set to a desired temperature. Then a cuthunky machine blows hot air through vents around my flat, warming the flat. It the temperature drops later, the cuthunky machine kicks into gear again and blows more hot air.

Whats the problem with that? Well, there are three:

1) Lying in bed having blasts of warm dusty dry air blowing over you is horrible.

2) The cuthunky machine waking up at 3am to heat the house means that I wake up at 3am too.

3) Much like aircon in a car, there is no point in heating your house if the windows are open. So the windows need to be shut. In fact, some of the windows in my flat are even taped shut. My supervisor tells me that when they bought their house here, the windows hadn't been opened in years and years. This might not be a problem for normal people, but one of my few epic irrational fears is suffocating while I sleep. So I always have a window open when I sleep, even if it is in an adjacent room.
I compromised here: I am leaving a window in my lounge open by about a millimetre. I lay in bed last night and wondered if enough oxygen could diffuse through that tiny crack through the house, to prevent suffocation.
I don't know, but I'm trying to to dwell on it.

Senator Government

I just so happen to be in the US of A at the moment. I got back to my apartment the other day half-way through the last US presidential debate. It's a great tradition actually, I wish we would start. Maybe if JZ ever takes up Zille's challenge.

Ok, the US presidential debates. They are show downs between the Republican presidential candidate, this year John McCain, and the Democrat presidential candidate, this year Barack Obama. There is someone chairing the debate, who will ask questions or raise various topics.

Apparently they are usually quite stiff. I'm told the candidates spend the days before the debate preparing, so they anticipate most of the questions and have prepared responses. (Kind of like Miss World Q&A sessions!) So its usually less a debate than the two candidates taking turns at many mini-speeches.

This was the last debate for this election though, and there actually was some interaction between the candidates - interrupting each other a bit sometimes, or responding to each other. Interesting that Obama calls McCain "John" and McCain calls Obama "Senator Obama." McCain was responding to something Obama said at some point. He wanted to say "Senator Obama, government is..." but in his rush he said "Senator Govermnent..." which I thought was pretty funny, but I'll say more about that later.

Obama is eloquent. Calm. When he disagrees with McCain he smiles to himself. Sometimes shakes his head. If you watched the debate with no idea what was going on at the polls, you would probably have guessed that Obama was in the lead. McCain isn't as smooth as Obama, not at all. And also, his demeanour was that of the underdog - having to make his points quite strongly.

Unfortunately I missed the part of the debate where "things got personal" - apparently McCain accused Obama and his campaign of labelling him a racist. Obama also accused McCain of negative campaigning.

What was very interesting is that they spent a lot of time speaking to "Joe." McCain started it, I think, unless I missed it before I started watching. In the context of economic policy, McCain started to adress the TV screen (rather than Obama or the chair) and speak to "Joe" about how Obama's tax reforms were going to hurt Joe's small business. I though Joe was a stereotypical American, I thought McCain was just making the point that "American citizens, I am talking to you, these tax reforms will hurt you." Then Obama did the same thing, addressed the TV screen and tried to justify his tax policy to Joe. I thought he was just picking up on McCain's address-the-public method. And they both continued to address Joe for quite a while, coming back to him in other discussions: "Joe, this health plan will leave you with less freedom to choose your own health care provider" and so forth.

Only today did I find out that Joe is actually a real live person. Joe Wurzelbacher**. He is someone Obama met a few days before the debate, while he was campaigning in Joe's neighbourhood. Joe asked Obama about his tax plan, because he was worried that it would hurt a small plumbing business he was thinking of buying. So Obama listened to him and explained his tax plan to him. When the (ubiquitous) media asked Joe about Obama's response he said that it scared him, because Obama had spoken about "spreading the wealth around." Says Joe, "That’s not the American Dream."

Anyway, I suppose the Republicans siezed on that and oh boy it was all over the debate. Joe Wurzelbacher's moment of fame.

Aside from that, they discussed tax, a bit about foreign policy, energy concerns, health care, education. Obama was more reconcilaitory in a sense, he would sometimes find places where he agreed with McCain. McCain was a bit more the agressor. But both of them pointed out what they saw as flaws in each others plans, or inaccuracies. I think the difference between their two approaches was really for two main reasons - firstly, Obama really is the leader at the moment. He wasn't the one who had to prove something in this debate, McCain was. Secondly - something I heard a commentator say after the debate, which was very interesting - Obama is actually quite far left in the democrat camp. He has some quite radical views, not shared by all of his party. So one of Obama's goals in this debate was to appeal to moderates - people who might think he is a bit radical for them. Apparently a lot of Hillary Clinton supporters fall into this category. So he had to come across as the kind of president Joe (ahem!) average all-american American would want to vote for.

I don't know much about American politics (or politics in general really) but is seems to me that the main difference between Obama and McCain's policies can be summed up in this:
Obama (Senator Government) believes in Government as the answer. More taxes, centralised control, government health plans, more government control in the schools, government "spreading the wealth around" (Joe W's concern), and so on.
McCain believes in small government, and people as the answer. More money in the hands of private people, giving people their own choice in where to send their kids to school, what health care plans they want, less centralised control and so on.

Which is why the "Senator Government" slip up made me smile. Funnily enough, I'm with McCain on this. I'm all for small government. If I was American, I might well vote McCain. The republicans have made some pretty disastrous moves over the past while, but ideologically I think I am more aligned with them than with the more power-to-the-government democrats.

Although I would way rather sit next to Obama at a dinner party.







* Picture from here.
** Actually his real name, check it out.

Remember this advert?

From YouTube, here.

I was just looking around YouTube and I came across this old ad - remember it? From SABC 1. I remember watching it for the first time and feeling that something was odd about it, but being unable to put my finger on it. Until the scene where a lady in a car looks at the main actor walking past and locks her car door. And then I realised what was going on!

If you are not from South Africa and need a bit of an explanation:

Mzansi means South, so South Afrika would be Mzansi Afrika, Mzansi for short. The ad ends with "Take another look at Mzansi." Take another look at South Africa.

The "another look" the ad is taking is just reversing the roles of the races. So in the ad its a white guy waking up in a township (poor, traditionally black, neighbourhood), walking to catch public transport. Passing black tourists on "Township Tours," smiling at the antics of white streetkids. Passing middle class black neighbourhoods where black children are cared for by white domestic workers. Being hassled by a suspicious black shop owner who mistakes him for a criminal, because all white people look the same...

Its clever because its unnerving. It exposes the part of us that watches it thinking "something is wrong here."

And its also clever because it brings the truth home in an almost sneaky way. That leads you to look at a person of another race and think - that could be me. I could be in the same situation as he is in. We're not so different.

It reminds me of the Chris Rice song, Face of Christ.

....

See you had no choice which day you would be born
Or the color of your skin, or what planet you’d be on
Would your mind be strong, would your eyes be blue or brown
Whether daddy would be rich, or if momma stuck around at all

....

How did I find myself in a better place
I can’t look down on the frown on the other guy’s face
‘Cause when I stoop down low, look him square in the eye
I get a funny feeling, I just might be dealing
With the face of Christ

....

L-space

I was going to write a blog entry on the US presidential debate last night (perhaps I will later). But it has all been overshadowed by my morning do far.

I need to get a book out of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) library. So I, you know, went to the library.

I take the bus to work in the mornings and it passes the library, so I hopped off the bus early and walked to the library. The library system here is strange, so I don't even bother trying to find the book straight away. I go to the counter and tell them what book I want and ask where to go for it.

So the first lady tells me that the book I want is not in the library I am in, which is the Undergraduate Library. It is in the Main Stacks. The Main Stacks? Go down the underground tunnel, and you will find it. Oh, okay. I find the tunnel, go down the stuffy hot tunnel, and into the basement of a new building. Climb the stairs, first floor: no books. There is, however, a sign that says "Second floor: Information." So I go to the second floor.

On the second floor there are still no books. There is an information desk. But no one at the information desk. Nonetheless, I hover there for a while, hoping someone may come. No one.

So I go to the circulation desk. There is no one at the desk, but someone at the back. I wait. And wait. And wait. Eventually a lady comes and says "We only open at 8:30. Thats why the lights are off." (The lights were mostly off, yes, I hadn't really noticed!). It was about 8:20. So I say, "Oh okay, thanks, could I just ask you a quick question?" I just wanted to ask where the books were actually located. So I could go look for my book. She ignores me.

So I went and tried to read the newspaper at a table in the dark. 8:30 arrives, the lights go on, and somebody goes to man the information desk. I avoid the curt circulation lady and go to the information desk. "Hello. I don't really understand how your library works. Where would I go to find this book?"

The information lady explains to me that the books are in fact in the back. Behind the circulation desk. You need to get your card scanned to go in. Actually she says that usually people just pre-book books and the librarian finds them in the actual book-place in the library and you just pick them up from circulation. But apparently the actual books section is something to behold. So she reckons I should go back there, just to see. Okay!

She gives me directions to the book I want... Go straight, then left through the fire door, then up... goodness.

Apparently this is the biggest reference library after Harvard and Yale.

I go to the back, and give my card to a lady behind another desk to scan. She sorts out my details because I am new, and gives me a locker key. A locker key? Yes, you can't take any bags into the book section of the library. Just paper, pens, that sort of thing.

Oookay. That is taking library security to another level. So I go to put my backpack into the locker. And it doesn't fit.

By this stage I am over all of it, so I go back to the card scanning lady and just suggest that I come back later without my backpack. Sounds like a plan.

So I leave.

What a morning! At least I am now a registered user of the largest library after Harvard and Yale!

Stay on the ground: Meandering thoughts

I was in East London last week and one of the joys of being in East London is that I we get the Daily Dispatch (a local paper) every day. So I've been following the Lekota Party Split news through the Daily Dispatch, rather than my usual iol.co.za and mg.co.za.

So the local Easten Cape (EC) news is all about the EC role in the split. E Cape role in ANC split tells us that is was in a secret meeting in East London that Lekota was tasked to make his divorce announcement. And there are apparently other EC leaders backing the split: “There are going to be a number of announcements. This thing has been thoroughly planned. We have taken this thing very seriously,” said Mululeki George. And he advises "Stay on the ground, you will hear for yourself.”

It seems to me that is the only way to really figure out what is going on - keeping our ears to the ground. Because for all of the M&G columns and Times articles, the real issue is not so much what academics are predicting or what Julius Malema has to say about all of this. The issue is what people are thinking, what people are saying, and what people are going to do. Not the important people, the ones with titles or in high level committees. Just people. ANC members, ANC voters. Potential new-ANC-party voters. Because it is these just-people people that would make up the "groundswell" of support that a party split would need.

But back to the Eastern Cape. The next thing we hear from the ever proud Daily Dispatch is ANC revolt starts with EC walk-out. Here we read that 18 of the 20 ANC branches in the Amahlathi ANC sub-region walked out of their regional ANC meeting, supposedly in support of the split. The possible numbers of defecting branches from the Amathole region around East London are shown in the map above.

Which all sounds quite serious. And quite chaotic too. Although it really is difficult to tell what this means quite yet. Are these levels of dissent seen in other areas of South Africa too? Will these walk outs actually result in whole branches moving over to a proposed new party? Or will the ANC manage to round up the flock? The EC ANC provincial chairperson Stone Sizani has offered an amnesty to dissidents, if they come back to the party in the next week. Let your grievances be dealt with within the party, he says.

Well, if so many people are seriously considering walking out of the ANC, I can only assume that the "deal with your grievences in the party" route has already been tried and failed. ANC members are a remarkably loyal bunch, so it seems to me that the decision to leave the ANC would not be taken lightly. “Maybe [a new party] can do better than the ANC because it has failed,” said Smuts Ngonyama's niece here. Are lots of people saying this sort of thing? In which case, the threat to the ANC doesn't come so much from Lekota or George as much as the citizens of South Africa, their voters. In fact it looks like in George's home town they are pretty disappointed with him anyway.

But a large scale movement like this needs to be organised. Dissatisfied people can be dissatisfied forever without actually changing anything - what is needed is for someone to stand up and say "alright, enough is enough, we are taking action." And I suppose that that is what Lekota and his people have done. And if they have read the situation right, they could catch this wave of people's anger and dissaffection and turn it into something.

Which is a powerful position to be in. For good or for bad. My hope and prayer is that this national convention Lekota is calling for will produce some really good leadership, solid people and some clear purposes for this new party. So they won't be simply a bunch of people united by the fact that they all have issues with the ANC. But rather that they share some common ideals and a common vision. And perhaps if they can pull it off well - oh and wouldn't this be lovely - they could come out of it on reasonable terms with the ANC.

On the other hand, perhaps the ANC leadership will sit down, soberly asess the situation, and decide to take some strong reconcilliatory steps towards addressing it. That would be a great outcome too, I think. If one or two of your members are vocally disagreeing with you and threatening to leave, perhaps they could be traitors, or bitter for personal reasons, or have ulterior motives. When great chunks of your organisation start leaving, isn't it time to consider that the problem might be with your organisation, and not with the dissidents?

In the mean time we hear news of Lekota and his people holding meetings to garner support in the Western Cape, in the Eastern Cape. And Matashe holding meetings to encourage people not to leave the ANC.

Well, interesting times. We will see what happens.

Personally I think that the one enormous good that has come out of this is that it has really got people talking. Old people, young people, across the racial and political spectrum. Over dinners and on street corners, on blogs and forums. Thats fantastic. I saw a girl today wearing a T-shirt saying "I am democracy." What a great T-shirt. We are democracy.

Laura's mysteries of international travel

1) Why is it that American tourists seem to be inexorably drawn to wooden giraffes?

2) Why do overseas flights make my nose bleed?

3) Why can I understand all manner of accents, but all manner of accented people seem to battle with mine? (Perhaps I just speak badly?)

4) Why does Gate 6 at OR Tambo International open on to a passage? Surely the couple of hundred passengers waiting for their flight can't all mill around in the passage?

For my birthday

I am going to be away from home for my birthday in November, so I have been thinking about it now. People often ask me what I would like for my birthday, so this year:

For my birthday I would like to have tea with Julius Malema.

Imagine how fabulous that would be! Julius, please explain to me why you think Lekota's party will "right-wing"? Do you really mean to *eliminate* people? Did you get into trouble with your party for those comments? What does the head of the ANCYL do every day?

Fabulous.

So? Surely someone out there has a friend of a friend who is friends with Julius Malema? Tell him I'll pay :)

Five Questions: Your responses

Thank you to my blog friend contributors:
Aquilogy
VampyreJourno
Me
John

1) What is an appropriate amount of money to tip a car guard? Does this amount change according to time of day, location, and weather?
Car guards - I'm happy to tip a car guard between R2 and R5, depending on service levels. If a car guard is nowhere to be seen when I park, and then emerges suddenly, insisting that my car is safe, he/she has been watching the whole time, I won't tip. A car guard who is polite but not overbearing gets R2, R3. A car guard in a shopping centre parking lot gets about R5, particularly if he holds a brolly over my head in the rain or offers to help unpack my trolley.
A minimum of R5 will be okay, they don't really guard your car you know, they just take your money.
I normally tip car guards about R2 unless its really miserable outside. As Aquilogy says, I suspect they do not actually guard my car. But hey.
I generally tip car guards depending on a combination of their ability and the circumstances. On a busy day, they get more, and if they are helpful or friendly (or at least attempt to be - I don't need someone to show me how to reverse out, but it shows enthusiasm), they get more too. Starting at R1 for crusty service, no other cars around, and me in a bad mood up to about R7 for the reverse.

2) What is an appropriate amount of money to tip a waitron? What is the smallest amount you can tip in good conscience, when your bill is very small? And what is the biggest tip you would give? What would motivate you to tip a waitron more or less?
Waitrons - a funny aside, Dearly Beloved and I recently ate at a restaurant where they call the waiters "service ambassadors". Ugh! I always tip 10% at least, unless service is shockingly bad. I'll tip up to 30% if service is excellent, which in my book is when a waiter/ress is polite, friendly, not overbearing, and is willing to make conversation (I'm notorious for chatting to anyone and everyone, and can't stand it when people are rude in response).
10% of the bill, right? i wouldn't I don't usually tip( I should be ashamed of myself)
I usually give 10% unless the bill is small - the minimum I usually give is R5 which I sometimes up to R10 if I am having one of those days when I worry about waitrons feeding their families.
I generally give 10%, rounded up to the nearest R10. Unless it's for something small (like a coke), where I'll give a flat R5 for a good establishment and R2 for a run-down place.

3) What is the appropriate amount of money to tip a petrol attendant? Is it different if they also check oil and water, clean your windscreen or pump your types?
Petrol attendant - funny that we don't tip petrol attendants 10% like we do with waiters. I guess that's the pereceived class economy at work, isn't it? Anyway, petrol attendants get between R5 and R20 from me, depends on how much is done, and also what the weather is like.
PEOPLE ACTUALLY TIP PETROL ATTENDANTS, I don't know any body who does, but then again I'm from Soweto.
I didn't know people were supposed to tip petrol attendants either, until I saw a friend do it and I was like "You are supposed to tip petrol attendants?!?" Now I normally tip R5 but up it to R10 or so if they are doing other stuff like oil and water. R20, wow VampyreJourno, thats impressive!!
I typically don't tip petrol attendants. As far as I understand it, they make "commission", so I just make sure that I fill a tank as much as possible. That being said, I'm open to correction on this - if I found out that they got less cash, I'd tip more.

4) Are you supposed to tip taxi drivers? And if so, what is an appropriate amount? Not a minibus taxi, a car taxi - the kind you might take to or from an airport.
Taxi drivers - I don't think you need to tip, but if you get great service, nothing less than an R10 note sounds right.
I haven't been in a car taxi but if they are as rude as minibus taxi drivers are, i wouldn't pay them a cent!
I really don't know if you are supposed to tip taxi drivers. I just kindof look embarassed when they drop me off, and take my bags. The last taxi I was in, the driver was Zimbabwean and we had a long chat about how hard things are for them. So I tipped him R10 and worried if I should have given more. (He was a pretty friendly guy, except he did make me a bit carsick careening through the Cape Town back roads).
Not a clue - never had to use a taxi.

5) And finally: porters. what is an appropriate amount to tip a porter? At an airport or a hotel.
Porters - between R5 and R10 I think, but I have never stayed in a hotel with a proper porter.
ummmm.....what's a porter?
Porters are those guys who help you with your bags. Again, I have no idea what to tip them. The only time I was in a hotel with an actual hotel porter I just lookd blankly at him till he went away, because it didn't occur to me that I should tip him till after.
The last airport porter that whisked my bags away before I could say no... well I had just got back from America and I asked him what his name was and it was Sizwe and that made me so bizzarely happy and he was probably the only black person I had spoken to in months... and I just wanted to hug him and say "I'M HOME!" (Yes, I know, I know, I'm weird). But instead I just gave him what was left of my dollars (about $20). I am such a sucker, I totally regretted it later.
Again, not a clue.

Five Questions

I was recently accused of not blogging regularly. So here, I blog! I always find it slightly disturding to realise that people I know actually sometimes read this blog. Hi there!

Today I will avoid commenting on the interesting times we live in. Except to say that the propoganda on Isidingo always makes me smile! Did anyone else catch the "merits of the ANC divorce" conversation between Frank and Rajesh? The question, Rajesh quipped, is who is going to get the car and the house and custody of Julius Malema :)

But today my blog post is five questions I pose to you, beloved reader. These are questions I am often faced with in life, and I am often not sure what the apropriate answers are. So I await your advice!


Five Questions

1) What is an appropriate amount of money to tip a car guard? Does this amount change according to time of day, location, and weather?

2) What is an appropriate amount of money to tip a waitron? What is the smallest amount you can tip in good conscience, when your bill is very small? And what is the biggest tip you would give? What would motivate you to tip a waitron more or less?

3) What is the appropriate amount of money to tip a petrol attendant? Is it different if they also check oil and water, clean your windscreen or pump your types?

4) Are you supposed to tip taxi drivers? And if so, what is an appropriate amount? Not a minibus taxi, a car taxi - the kind you might take to or from an airport.

5) And finally: porters. what is an appropriate amount to tip a porter? At an airport or a hotel.


I look forward to your responses, long or short!

A chronology of events

A chronology of events:
(I will finish it later! Incomplete at present)

June 2005 - Rumors of political conspiracy against Zuma.
14 June 2005 - Thabo Mbeki fires Jacob Zuma as deputy president of the country.
29 June 2005 - Zuma makes his first appearance in court, charged with two counts of corruption. There were more than a thousand supporters outside the courthouse. Zuma says that he his pleased that his day in court has finally arrived.
31 June 2005 - Zuma's trial was due to start, but postponed for four months.
2 November 2005 - The night on which Zuma was accused of raping a lady.
12 November 2005 - Zuma handed the NPA's provisional indictment against him, at the Durban magistrate's court. The court proceedings were much more low key, with less supporter chaos, than the June court proceeding.
10 September 2008 - At ANCYL anniversary function, Julius Malema tells us: "We will crush you and it doesn't matter who you are - even if you're in the national executive committee of the ANC. Zuma is going to Pretoria. Zuma will be the face of the ANC election campaign, so be careful when you deal with Zuma because you are dealing with a president-in-waiting. We expect Zuma to march with us to the Union Buildings and (President Thabo Mbeki) knows that there's a new person coming in."
11 Spetember 2008 - Approximately 500 people attend a night vigil for Zuma, opposite the courthouse where his case will be ruled on the following day.
12 September 2008 - Zuma wins court application, Judge Chris Nicholson rules that the NPA's decision to prosecute Zuma on fraud and corruption charges was invalid because the state did not consult Zuma before it prosecuted him. The judge also implicates the presidency in a conspiracy against Zuma.
12 September 2008 - An informal caucus of NEC members meets on the courthouse steps and decide to remove Mbeki.
13 September 2008 - Thabo Mbeki told to resign by ANC NEC.
14 September 2008 - Thabo Mbeki hands in his resignation.