h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

i never knew all that was going on in south africa. it's terrible...

Hey now, I did not mean to depress you! Stay in touch, I will also tell about the good things going on here. I just want people to know about us. We have problems, yes, and we could really do with some help. It seems like people in other countries don't know what's going on here, or they don't care ... the people on the continent are getting paranoid. If you want to help us, all that you need to do is to care. Be a good friend to your friends, take good care of yourself, appreciate the infinite value of life, be the kind of person we need more of in the world. If everybody just did that, there'd be no problems.

that is so idealistic, it just might work!!! and i don't know about being depressed, but it definitely makes me wish there was something more that i could do... almost makes me want to consider a career in politics.

almost...

DON'T go into politics! If you want to help, there is something. I think the internet will improve standards of living worldwide. If people communicate more, they'll understand each other better, learn from each other, be better able to work together. The biggest challenge for Africa is getting on the internet. At the moment we are very isolated from the rest of the world. If we can link up with more prosperous countries, getting information and assistance, solving our problems will be much easier. So: my suggestion is, find out things about Africa over the internet, and encourage your friends to do the same. If people become interested in Africa, they'll want information about Africa, and that will be a stimilus for better communications FROM Africa, which will demand better communication networks IN Africa, which will benefit Africans. How about that for a plan?

Hi there!I was born 47 years ago in Jos,Nigeria and to me Africa has always been about real people even though I haven't been back there for 40 years(with a young family finances seem to be always against it).I still remember that each and every African that I met or knew were people to me.They were and are generous,kind,understanding,loving and intelligent just like any other people of the world.The trouble is that when they are seen on the television or reported in newspapers it is because there is a drought,famine,war or disease affecting millions.They are always somehow represented as being helpless and dependant on us.This is unfair and dehumanising in a way that means that we never see them as real people who if the circumstances were different would be living as well as those of us in the richer nations.I am so impressed at how South Africans have dealt with the abolition of apartheid and have not allowed bitterness to overwhelm them.If we in the west want to help those who live in Africa we must persuade our governments to give up on all third world(what a detestable phrase)debt not just the interest on those debts.Debt in Africa is visited on all future generations unless we wipe the slate clean and give the African peoples a chance to live and work on a level playing field.

hey, guys. i get extra credit in my english class if i bring in information on south africa. i was thinking about asking for personal accounts of people who live in the area... could you help me???

Sure! What is it you would like to know?

wow.

Lets collect together all the nice people and make some good stuff happen. Please count me in.

Love jen

let's see... what would i like to know?

*sound of notebook pages turning*

i need to know about the political, economic, social, and cultural aspects of South Africa. i was thinking maybe just a personal account of what life is like...

and, if it's not too much trouble, a little background info on how life was in S africa in the 1950's. we're reading a book that takes place in that time period. so therefore my teacher wants us to understand the time period and the conditions and such.

any and all information is greatly appreciated.

I hope you really meant what you said, because ready or not, here it comes! It may seem long, but I promise you, you will not get information of this scope presented this compactly anywhere else.

First you must realise South Africa is no less complex than any other country. Every city, every town, every isolated farmhouse has its own "situation", there is no single "situation" for the country as a whole. So just keep in mind that what you will get from me comes from a single, subjective viewpoint.

Even so I'll try and give you a balance of different viewpoints, as seen from my own.

You cannot understand my situation without understanding my history. Everything that is happening now started ages ago. Now, this history is not textbook history, and please don't quote me! This is the way I remember it from the stories I've been told since I was a tiny kid, and it is an oversimplication, things are thrown together or put in the wrong order - but of this I assure you: in spirit it is true, and my intention is to give you a "taste" of the situation, the subjectivity of it, what it "feels" like.

My history is the history of my country. I am an Afrikaner, a "Boer". The Afrikaners are descended from protestant Dutch, German and French settlers who fled Europe due to religious persecution. Up to the nineteenth century the settlers called themselves Dutch, but then started to become aware that they were developing their own, unique identity. The language we speak, Afrikaans, had at that stage begun to differ very much from Dutch. It was influenced by the indigenous African languages, as well as those from the Malay slaves imported from the Dutch East Indies. The released slaves later formed a distinctive community, a mixture of European, African and Asian blood and culture, and they were called the Coloureds. Afrikaans was born in this community, but soon it was embraced by the "elite" whites as well, who wanted to emphasize that they were no longer Europeans - so they called their language Afrikaans and made it official. Within a very short period of time, starting at the end of the nineteenth Century, Afrikaans established itself in the form of many, many books, stories, poems, songs... a new language, a new culture and a new identity.

From the start of the colonisation of South Africa the settlers came in conflict with the Africans. After all, the Europeans were trying to geth their foot into the door; they were trying to make a space for themselves in a country that was already settled by the native peoples. So they shot in private, and made deals in public. They did not have to do much, because mere contact was enough to wipe out a sizeable portion of the indigenous South Africans. The Hottentots had no resistance to the Pox virus carried by the settlers. The disease more than decimated them. Today they only remain as a vestige in the genetic mix of the Cape Coloureds. The other races were somewhat luckier - they were genetically more resistant, and the time of contact with the whites came later on.

The great conflict between white and black started in the middle of the nineteenth century. Three great events took place at that time. First, a great bunch of "Boers" who didn't like the way the Dutch were running things moved northward out of the Cape Colony. This was called "The Great Trek". Families left their houses and farms, packed their belongings into ox wagons, and headed off into the unknown, into the wild interior of the continent, in search of a land where they could live without being bothered. It is incredible what an amount of adversity they were willing to face for the hope of not being bothered! Second, the English decided they wanted to settle here, too. They started on the coast to the east and north of the Cape Colony. Third (this actually happened first, historically), Shaka Zulu started his reign in what is now Natal. There are interesting similarities between him and Julius Ceasar - particularly his death. During his life Shaka was a brilliant strategist, an aggressive imperialist. He devised new methods of training, new weapons, new fighting techniques. His impis were sent out in all directions. Shaka's armies ravaged the countryside. Many non-Zulu black communities were wiped out or had to flee for their lives. Shaka's empire spread, but large parts of the country were empty, because all the inhabitants had fled in fear of Shaka's impis.

In fact the period of Zulu imperialism was not limited to Shaka, there were such movings and shakings before and after him, but the total effect was twofold: first, the Boers encountered vast swathes of empty land all along their Trek, where they settled. Second, both the Boers and the English finally bumped up against the Zulus. With very bloody and tragic consequences for all sides.

Both the Boers and the English finally established peace with the Zulus, and reached agreements about borders. The Boers then declared a number of republics, chiefly the Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State. Black people living within the borders of these republics were starting to recover from the Zulu Empire, but the whites largely ignored them, utilising them for labor but not allowing them to partake in politics. The Boer Republics were after all the "children" of the Boers, the much hoped for Promised Lands where they could live free from interference to pursue their ideals. The Cape was somewhat more liberal, though, allowing the Coloureds a measure of political participation.

Then diamonds and gold were discovered. The English became more interested. They had their settlement along the coast, mainly what is now the Eastern Cape and Kwazulu-Natal, but the precious stuff was all inland in the republics. So they told themselves, what the hey, we know what to do with it better than these bearded barbarians do, we'll just swindle them and it will be best for everybody. But the Boers weren't duped so easily, so there were these wars between them and the English. The last one was from the end of the Nineteenth to the beginning of the Twentieth Cetury. During this war the English put Boer women and children into concentration camps, where twenty six thousand of them died. (They also put Blacks into camps, and even more of THEM died, but the Boers still did not look beyond their own concerns.) This deed was most grievously shocking to the Boers. We said: "Never shall this happen again." Never again... If we only knew. The Boers were battered, bruised, beaten, and they had no choice but to accept the British yoke, but underneath, their hearts were burning with desire to get back their freedom. So South Africa was born as a British Colony; the Cape Colony, the Boer Republics and the republic of Natal were joined. The Brits surpressed indigenous cultures, including the Afrikaans language, and did everything they could to make those under their rule feel like properly submissive subjects. The Apartheid system owes much to the theories of British superiority; the Ultimate Human Being was, of course, the English Aristocrat, and beneath Him there was the hierarchy of lower human beings. Black Africans of course were on the bottom rung. They were capable of nothing more than rudimentary understanding and feeling; they were fit only to serve, and the only way to make them obey was by threats and violence, as only severe abuse managed to penetrate through their dull awareness. So said the theories, and so all believed. The Colony soon became the Union of South Africa, but in all of this the original inhabitants still never came even close to having a say about what was being done to them.

With the victory of the National Party in 1948, Apartheid with a capital A started. The victory was a victory for the Boer, the Afrikaner. It meant casting off the British yoke. It meant self-determination for us. And "us" was all we were thinking of. So long had freedom been nothing more than a distant dream. Now it was ours! We had our land where we could live free from interference at last! Never again shall we suffer under the claws of foreign opressors! Never again... So we started grabbing and gathering and made plans and deals and established measures to protect what we could. And that is the background, that brings us to the fifties.

The Boers were now the Leaders of the Country. In the same year as Israel was created in Palestine, was the white Israel created in Africa. Here we were the chosen people of God, the bringers of His Law to the Dark Continent. We laid down the Law, alright. By the ordinance of the Group Areas Act, non-whites had to bugger off out of the cities and who cares where they live, WE never had anyone to baby us, we took care of ourselves, let them shift for themselves! Mixed marriages were outlawed - had to make sure we stay pure! The Afrikaners had to be promoted - English people in prominent positions were fired and Afrikaners appointed. Correction- supporters of the Nat Party were appointed. This cultural enthusiasm soon took on an ominous colour. Soon it was not enough even to be an Afrikaner - you also had to toe the party-line precisely. Even the slightest tint of dissent and you were out. We exercised our omnipotence with great magnanimity. We set aside a few pieces of land, comfortably far away from our cities and places of activity, and THERE we graciously allowed the non-whites to live and to do what we told them to. That was when the "Struggle" started.

Compulsory military service for whites was at first only three months, later increased to nine.

But if you were a white Boer kid growing up in the 'fifties, you would not have known about the struggle and the bloodshed yet to come. You would have experienced a childhood of comfortable but frugal circumstances. I probed my dad for his memories. He remembers that the country was still recovering from the Second World War back then. Prosperity was slowly returning. Life was relaxed and peaceful. Back when Apartheid just started out, black and white still had a fairly good relationship. Blacks did live in and around the cities. The "townships", where most blacks lived, were poor and there was some crime (though NOTHING compared to now) but there was also culture and a love of life. The European and African ways of life met and blended into a rich mix: sports, music, theatre, art. It was a glimpse of a golden age, just glimmering briefly before being extinguished.

But the world of the Boers of the 'fifties was a self-obsessed world. The Afrikaner had to establish himself as a political and cultural force, Afrikaner concerns ruled. A lot of it has been constructive. Our culture did indeed flourish and did produce beautiful flowers. Famous authors whose works were influential in the 'fifties were N.P. van Wyk Louw, D. J. Opperman, Peter Blum and Boerneef. People only starting out included André P. Brink (author of "A Dry White Season"), Etienne Le Roux and Anna M. Louw. Their work is still influential today. English-speaking South Africans also benefited from the cultural bloom - the poet Roy Campbell is one example. Culture and reading was a very important part of my father and many other children's upbringing, as was an education in the history of the Afrikaner.

Ironically, the authors privileged by the Nats' cultural policies often where staunch critics of the Nats. Afrikaans writers tended to be liberal and humane, and took every opportunity to expose the evils of Apartheid. Eventually the Nats imposed strict censorship, and books by many of the most famous authors were banned - which of course made them even more popular.

The fifties was also a time of visual art. Walter Battiss was influential, as was Alexis Preller, while Zakkie Eloff and Bettie Cilliers-Barnard started out. My father was interested in art at an early age, as was I.

Afrikaners also conquered the world of business. Anton Rupert is the best known example- he made a killing by selling tobacco.

Gary Player, the great golf champion, won his first tournament in the 'fifties. He is probably the most famous sportsman to ever come from this country. The first full-length Afrikaans feature film, "Daar doer in die Bosveld", was released in 1950. Jamie Uys also made the movies "Beautiful People", "Funny People", and "The Gods must be Crazy" 1&2. The last two might be available overseas, if you can find them, they give a funny and romantically naïve view of life down here, sorta like the "Crocodile Dundee" of Africa.

But South Africa of the 'fifties was also strongly influenced by what happened elsewhere. Here are some cars people drove: Ford, Chrysler, Chevrolet, Dodge, Volkswagen, DKW, Auto-Union, Mercedes, Vauxhall. People listened to Elvis and Sinatra over the radio (no TV until the 'seventies), there were ducktails hanging around the rougher neighborhoods, people gawped at Sputnik racing across the night sky,
and everybody smoked lots of American and English cigarettes as nobody yet suspected they might get cancer.

One thing about the Boers - "Boer" means "farmer" and initially all of us lived on farms - that was the result of the "Great Trek". At the end of the nineteenth century we started forming cities, but even today many of us still live on farms. The farm life is an important component of "Boer" culture. This life starts with our childhoods, where on farms we can roam around the wild countryside, explore and discover things. The farm labourers are traditionally all Blacks, and the new dispensation in the country causes particular problems for farmers. But anyways, on farm there is usually quite intimate contact between white and black, the farmers tend to treat their workers with respect, often helping them settle disputes, helping with social problems, even building schools and churches for black families of the surroundings. Black and white children often play together on farms and learn each other's language. But farms have their dark side, too. There are tyrannical farmers who torment and exploit their workers. Generally in today's world the wage earned by farm labourers cannot be called adequate, but in the past, when black rural communities were more stable and the economy stronger, it gave them a source of income that went beyond their material needs.

You know after the 'fifties the pawpaw really hit the fan. There's so much I can tell you, but because this post is ten times too long already I'll put it in a second one.

Part Two. I want to get to the present, so I can tell you what life is like today, but first I need to present more history. Remember that Apartheid was implemented from 1948 onwards, with registration of races on ID documents and passports, the Group Areas Act, the Mixed Marriages Act, "Bantu" education, Black Homelands, and Forced Removals, and so on and so on. Everything had to be seperate: schools, churches shops, movie theatres, holiday resorts and beaches, restrooms ... they could have replaced all the different laws with one: "Black and White shall never and nowhere gather together or associate as equals or for a mutual purpose". And of course, Blacks had never had the right to vote, and from the bunch of laws just mentioned I guess you can safely assume that the Nats did not suddenly decide to give it to them.

All of what happened proves this theorem: those in power are indeed blinded by their power, and in turn they somehow manage to blind their followers as well. For we supported them! Apartheid ended with my schooldays, but in high school I still supported it, and wanted it back after it was over! Today many still long for those days! Are we that blind? How could we ever have been that blind? Did we really think it was real, it made sense, it could last?

In the sixties the illusion started to show cracks. There were three assasinations: in America, JFK and Martin Luther King, and over here, Hendrik Verwoerd, the father of Grand Apartheid. In Sharpeville the police shot and killed a large number of people protesting against pass laws. Now things were getting nasty. The Blacks were supposed to go along with the plan, humbly and demurely. They were not supposed to make trouble, this was not supposed to happen, didn't they know that we only wanted what was best for them? All over Africa wars of independence were raging, and the Nats were getting afraid. Never ones to underreact, they proclaimed a State of Emergency, they banned the political parties they saw as threats and chucked lots of people in jail. South Africa was declared a republic. Umkhonto we Sizwe was founded - the armed branch of the struggle. From now on protest was no longer peaceful.

Sabotage, intimidation, threats, terror, bombings, shootings, "necklace" burnings, raids, arrests, torture, executions, assasinations. It's not necessary to dwell on the details - use your imagination, and know that in reality it was much worse. But "we" never took notice of it. It always happened somewhere else - we were safely seperated from each other, the right hand honestly didn't know what the left hand was up to. Of course, there were signs... But our esteemed leaders, always concerned for our peace of mind, left no stone unturned in assuring us: don't panic, everything is fine, we are in control of the situation. The rumours we heard were lies, exaggerations, set-up jobs. Protests against Apartheid were the dastardly subversive work of traitors and communists, people who want to grab the country from the protecting hands of us Boers to ravage it. We would never let that happen. Never again...

But there were signs ... to hell with signs, it was screaming in our faces!!! We, with our ideals of freedom and independence, could we not see, could we not imagine that other people would like to enjoy that very same freedom and independence as well? We, who resented being treated with paternalistic condescenscion, was it such a hard calculation that other people might resent that attitude coming from us? We, who have cried so many tears about the women and children who died in the British camps, was it so frightfully difficult to figure out that there was something wrong with gathering up people by the masses and shoving them into places where they don't want to be, where they don't have the resources that they need, and to keep them there by force? Come on, it was not that hard to figure out ... was it??? The blind leading the blind ...

We did get away with it for a long time. But then sanctions were imposed on us. We were isolated. And then people started to grumble. Shooting protestors, torturing people, denying their basic humanity, that was fine... but we need those American products and those dollars, and goodness knows, our sport teams cannot even compete overseas any more! Hell, all we can watch on TV are soaps and sitcoms that are several years old! This cannot be endured. Apartheid Must Go...

And here we are now. When the collapse happened, it was like the tumbling of a house of cards, because that's what it was. One moment nobody even knew what Mandela looked like cause he was locked away where the daylight don't even come, the next moment, hey look, he's strolling out, he's giving speeches, he's ruling the country. And he turned out to be quite a decent chap. A worthy ruler; if his attitude was only slightly different things could have been a lot, lot worse for all of us.

So what is the "situation" like now? Well, Apartheid is gone, long live Apartheid! Sure, the problems that happily fed and grew and multiplied for centuries are still with us. The ANC is in power, but it seems as if they learned a few things from the prior rulers. Such as, don't tolerate dissension. Such as, enrich yourself and take care of your own. Such as, promote your own people aggressively regardless of merits. Forgive me if I sound cynical, but it is a certainty that the system was not thoroughly killed, and when the new participants took up their places in it, a little bit of the old spirit rubbed off on them. And the situation of the average Black person has not improved much. The positions of power are still few, and when those with the means have scrambled to fill it, there's nothing left for the masses. So, there is now a Black elite, people who have comfortable jobs, earn ample salaries, send their children to good schools, and do what they can to secure themselves and their kin. Can they be blamed? Who would not do exactly the same? Black empowerment has to start SOMEWHERE. In Pietersburg, affluent Blacks lead lifestyles much like those of the whites, there is much interaction between black and white, racial relations are good. We work together and we relax together. We go to movies together, we go to restaurants together, and swimming pools, and gymnasiums ... petty Apartheid is gone. We drive the same models of car, we have the same hi-fi's and TV's, we watch black and white acting together in integrated soaps and sitcoms. Affluence, leisure-land, a comfortable materialistic lifestyle.

The current aim of government is to "redress the imbalances of the past". A nice long name for "egg dance". Can you keep everybody happy? You have to advance black people into positions of power. But those positions are securely filled by whites. You have a school, the principal is white, he's been there fifteen years and he wants to stay there twenty more. You have a business, the partners and associates and bosses and what have you are all white, they understand the business, they're not ready to retire now. You have an industry, the people who run it have a detailed understanding of the processes, they built this understanding by studying for five years and by working for twenty more. Now you pluck these people from their positions. They are not going to be happy about it. What does an ex-principal do when his career is cut short by twenty years? What happens to an industry when the people who know how to run it leave? Well, I tell you what happens. You get a load of disgruntled semi-old people who suddenly have nothing to do and become a burden on society rather than contributing to it. You get a lot of people appointed in jobs they don't know how to do, having no experience in it. You get businesses that go bankrupt, industries that grind to a halt, schools that stop teaching children and turn into holiday resorts. So you can't just pluck white people out of their jobs, plug in black ones, and expect everything to go on as always. But leave the whites where they are, and what exactly are you doing to "redress the imbalances of the past"? And can you suddenly create new businesses, new industries, to accomodate everybody who now wants a job, who's been led to believe that there's now a place in the system for him or her?

The fact is, there is still a huge mass of poor black people. And how else, unless you can suddenly create millions of new jobs and somewhere find the resources to pay for all of them? And they are getting impatient. Where's the life of prosperity they've been promised? And at the same time whites are losing their jobs. Jobs that they can do, that they have been doing WELL for years or decades, jobs that were their security, their hopes for the future. So now add to the ever-large group of poor blacks the growing group of poor whites. A poor person, irrespective his color, is a burden on the system. And that is the situation in which most people find themselves living right now. White people have either lost their jobs or fear losing their jobs; apart from the very small minority of affluent blacks, black people still don't have good prospects for being anything other than poor. The economy of the country is under great strain. While on the positive side there are new businesses and industries sprining up, there are people taking advantage of new opportunities, we are also losing many of our established industries and businesses. It is risky, unstable, unpredictable. The government, in its fervour to assure fair wages and labour practices, make it impossible for many businesses to break even, and so they go bankrupt, and everybody lose their jobs. To be blunt, many of the laws frighten off investment. If you have a business, you want that business to be profitable - if you lose money, it folds; it is not a charity, even a charity needs to get money from SOMEWHERE. So our economy is stagnant, nobody has the guts to try something, there are too many things that can go wrong.

Times are tough. There are many beggars, many homeless people, and nowadays many of them are white. Many white people live a life of ignoring what's coming, not caring about the future, leading lives of "eat and drink, for tomorrow we die". In cities the young kids romp and rave and drink and use drugs and spread AIDS; others study hard, intending to go overseas and put this country behind them as soon as possible. Many people, white but mostly black (why? Because there are more poor blacks than poor whites) turn to lives of crime. In South Africa there is a lot of vehicle-hijacking; it is a highly organised crime. There's also hijacking of money being transported to banks; there are break-ins and robberies. There's also a lot of murder, and suicide, rape, beatings and assaults. There's a lot of corruption. There are pilots who buy their licences and fake their exams. There are cops who help powerful criminals to escape. There are secret deals, people receive money for projects and keep it for themselves, great loads of stuff that must be done don't get done. There aren't enough schools for all the kids, and the ones that exist don't work. There aren't enough policemen to enforce the law. There aren't enough courts, lawyers and judges to deal with the criminals that are caught. There aren't enough jails. Convicted murderers and rapists are let go because there is no place to keep them. There aren't enough hospitals and doctors and medicine to treat all the sick people - not even counting the AIDS victims. There aren't enough houses, we can't supply the houses that do exist with water, electricity and waste removal services, the road system is deteriorating. All in all there is a seeming backslide of life quality in all communities, feeling of defeat and weariness and pessimism. Expectations are not met. People are disappointed.

Next post - always look on the bright side of life!

Part Two. I want to get to the present, so I can tell you what life is like today, but first I need to present more history. Remember that Apartheid was implemented from 1948 onwards, with registration of races on ID documents and passports, the Group Areas Act, the Mixed Marriages Act, "Bantu" education, Black Homelands, and Forced Removals, and so on and so on. Everything had to be seperate: schools, churches shops, movie theatres, holiday resorts and beaches, restrooms ... they could have replaced all the different laws with one: "Black and White shall never and nowhere gather together or associate as equals or for a mutual purpose". And of course, Blacks had never had the right to vote, and from the bunch of laws just mentioned I guess you can safely assume that the Nats did not suddenly decide to give it to them.

All of what happened proves this theorem: those in power are indeed blinded by their power, and in turn they somehow manage to blind their followers as well. For we supported them! Apartheid ended with my schooldays, but in high school I still supported it, and wanted it back after it was over! Today many still long for those days! Are we that blind? How could we ever have been that blind? Did we really think it was real, it made sense, it could last?

In the sixties the illusion started to show cracks. There were three assasinations: in America, JFK and Martin Luther King, and over here, Hendrik Verwoerd, the father of Grand Apartheid. In Sharpeville the police shot and killed a large number of people protesting against pass laws. Now things were getting nasty. The Blacks were supposed to go along with the plan, humbly and demurely. They were not supposed to make trouble, this was not supposed to happen, didn't they know that we only wanted what was best for them? All over Africa wars of independence were raging, and the Nats were getting afraid. Never ones to underreact, they proclaimed a State of Emergency, they banned the political parties they saw as threats and chucked lots of people in jail. South Africa was declared a republic. Umkhonto we Sizwe was founded - the armed branch of the struggle. From now on protest was no longer peaceful.

Sabotage, intimidation, threats, terror, bombings, shootings, "necklace" burnings, raids, arrests, torture, executions, assasinations. It's not necessary to dwell on the details - use your imagination, and know that in reality it was much worse. But "we" never took notice of it. It always happened somewhere else - we were safely seperated from each other, the right hand honestly didn't know what the left hand was up to. Of course, there were signs... But our esteemed leaders, always concerned for our peace of mind, left no stone unturned in assuring us: don't panic, everything is fine, we are in control of the situation. The rumours we heard were lies, exaggerations, set-up jobs. Protests against Apartheid were the dastardly subversive work of traitors and communists, people who want to grab the country from the protecting hands of us Boers to ravage it. We would never let that happen. Never again...

But there were signs ... to hell with signs, it was screaming in our faces!!! We, with our ideals of freedom and independence, could we not see, could we not imagine that other people would like to enjoy that very same freedom and independence as well? We, who resented being treated with paternalistic condescenscion, was it such a hard calculation that other people might resent that attitude coming from us? We, who have cried so many tears about the women and children who died in the British camps, was it so frightfully difficult to figure out that there was something wrong with gathering up people by the masses and shoving them into places where they don't want to be, where they don't have the resources that they need, and to keep them there by force? Come on, it was not that hard to figure out ... was it??? The blind leading the blind ...

We did get away with it for a long time. But then sanctions were imposed on us. We were isolated. And then people started to grumble. Shooting protestors, torturing people, denying their basic humanity, that was fine... but we need those American products and those dollars, and goodness knows, our sport teams cannot even compete overseas any more! Hell, all we can watch on TV are soaps and sitcoms that are several years old! This cannot be endured. Apartheid Must Go...

And here we are now. When the collapse happened, it was like the tumbling of a house of cards, because that's what it was. One moment nobody even knew what Mandela looked like cause he was locked away where the daylight don't even come, the next moment, hey look, he's strolling out, he's giving speeches, he's ruling the country. And he turned out to be quite a decent chap. A worthy ruler; if his attitude was only slightly different things could have been a lot, lot worse for all of us.

So what is the "situation" like now? Well, Apartheid is gone, long live Apartheid! Sure, the problems that happily fed and grew and multiplied for centuries are still with us. The ANC is in power, but it seems as if they learned a few things from the prior rulers. Such as, don't tolerate dissension. Such as, enrich yourself and take care of your own. Such as, promote your own people aggressively regardless of merits. Forgive me if I sound cynical, but it is a certainty that the system was not thoroughly killed, and when the new participants took up their places in it, a little bit of the old spirit rubbed off on them. And the situation of the average Black person has not improved much. The positions of power are still few, and when those with the means have scrambled to fill it, there's nothing left for the masses. So, there is now a Black elite, people who have comfortable jobs, earn ample salaries, send their children to good schools, and do what they can to secure themselves and their kin. Can they be blamed? Who would not do exactly the same? Black empowerment has to start SOMEWHERE. In Pietersburg, affluent Blacks lead lifestyles much like those of the whites, there is much interaction between black and white, racial relations are good. We work together and we relax together. We go to movies together, we go to restaurants together, and swimming pools, and gymnasiums ... petty Apartheid is gone. We drive the same models of car, we have the same hi-fi's and TV's, we watch black and white acting together in integrated soaps and sitcoms. Affluence, leisure-land, a comfortable materialistic lifestyle.

The current aim of government is to "redress the imbalances of the past". A nice long name for "egg dance". Can you keep everybody happy? You have to advance black people into positions of power. But those positions are securely filled by whites. You have a school, the principal is white, he's been there fifteen years and he wants to stay there twenty more. You have a business, the partners and associates and bosses and what have you are all white, they understand the business, they're not ready to retire now. You have an industry, the people who run it have a detailed understanding of the processes, they built this understanding by studying for five years and by working for twenty more. Now you pluck these people from their positions. They are not going to be happy about it. What does an ex-principal do when his career is cut short by twenty years? What happens to an industry when the people who know how to run it leave? Well, I tell you what happens. You get a load of disgruntled semi-old people who suddenly have nothing to do and become a burden on society rather than contributing to it. You get a lot of people appointed in jobs they don't know how to do, having no experience in it. You get businesses that go bankrupt, industries that grind to a halt, schools that stop teaching children and turn into holiday resorts. So you can't just pluck white people out of their jobs, plug in black ones, and expect everything to go on as always. But leave the whites where they are, and what exactly are you doing to "redress the imbalances of the past"? And can you suddenly create new businesses, new industries, to accomodate everybody who now wants a job, who's been led to believe that there's now a place in the system for him or her?

The fact is, there is still a huge mass of poor black people. And how else, unless you can suddenly create millions of new jobs and somewhere find the resources to pay for all of them? And they are getting impatient. Where's the life of prosperity they've been promised? And at the same time whites are losing their jobs. Jobs that they can do, that they have been doing WELL for years or decades, jobs that were their security, their hopes for the future. So now add to the ever-large group of poor blacks the growing group of poor whites. A poor person, irrespective his color, is a burden on the system. And that is the situation in which most people find themselves living right now. White people have either lost their jobs or fear losing their jobs; apart from the very small minority of affluent blacks, black people still don't have good prospects for being anything other than poor. The economy of the country is under great strain. While on the positive side there are new businesses and industries sprining up, there are people taking advantage of new opportunities, we are also losing many of our established industries and businesses. It is risky, unstable, unpredictable. The government, in its fervour to assure fair wages and labour practices, make it impossible for many businesses to break even, and so they go bankrupt, and everybody lose their jobs. To be blunt, many of the laws frighten off investment. If you have a business, you want that business to be profitable - if you lose money, it folds; it is not a charity, even a charity needs to get money from SOMEWHERE. So our economy is stagnant, nobody has the guts to try something, there are too many things that can go wrong.

Times are tough. There are many beggars, many homeless people, and nowadays many of them are white. Many white people live a life of ignoring what's coming, not caring about the future, leading lives of "eat and drink, for tomorrow we die". In cities the young kids romp and rave and drink and use drugs and spread AIDS; others study hard, intending to go overseas and put this country behind them as soon as possible. Many people, white but mostly black (why? Because there are more poor blacks than poor whites) turn to lives of crime. In South Africa there is a lot of vehicle-hijacking; it is a highly organised crime. There's also hijacking of money being transported to banks; there are break-ins and robberies. There's also a lot of murder, and suicide, rape, beatings and assaults. There's a lot of corruption. There are pilots who buy their licences and fake their exams. There are cops who help powerful criminals to escape. There are secret deals, people receive money for projects and keep it for themselves, great loads of stuff that must be done don't get done. There aren't enough schools for all the kids, and the ones that exist don't work. There aren't enough policemen to enforce the law. There aren't enough courts, lawyers and judges to deal with the criminals that are caught. There aren't enough jails. Convicted murderers and rapists are let go because there is no place to keep them. There aren't enough hospitals and doctors and medicine to treat all the sick people - not even counting the AIDS victims. There aren't enough houses, we can't supply the houses that do exist with water, electricity and waste removal services, the road system is deteriorating. All in all there is a seeming backslide of life quality in all communities, feeling of defeat and weariness and pessimism. Expectations are not met. People are disappointed.

Next post - always look on the bright side of life!

Sorry about the double posting - computer cut me off while sending the message, and I did not know if it was sent or not so I sent it again

In this post I want to talk about the positives. The previous one will give you an idea of the general atmosphere over here - it is true, many blacks and whites have "given up", are depressed and worried. Things look bad. But things are never ALL bad. Amidst the problems we go on with our lives. And indeed, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and those who persevere will be rewarded, and those who spout platitudes will finally get jobs as script writers for American soap operas.

What does "ordinary life" look like here? Well, my own life: I am "unemployed" but I make some money by painting, by selling trees, and by doing odd writing jobs. I still live with my parents, which is the cheapest accomodation I can find, and as I don't intend to marry soon the arrangement is not particularly embarassing. I have my computer which I use for graphic art and the Internet, where I do bits of research and writing, most of it right here on h2g2. My daily routine is basically get up at around 11:00 a.m., eat, water my plants and plant new seedlings, go to my desk and draw/paint, go to the gym three times a week at 5:00 p.m. or so, come home, take a bath, eat and connect to cyberspace, where I stay until 2:00 a.m. or so the next day. I listen to music while I draw or paint: American and English serious rock music (no "bubblegum" pop), classical music, especially Beethoven. I usually watch a movie once a week. I watch very little T.V. Every now and then I go out and hike in a nature reserve with a friend; I sometimes get visits or go visit friends. Sundays I usually go to church, I have many acquantances in church but my own religious views are somewhat eccentric; anyways I don't actually shove them up people's noses, so I manage to get along.

My life is not really that "ordinary". What many people do is work their butts off more or less all the time, and in those small periods they have to themselves, party their brains out. At least that's the impression I get. Long ago I decided that lifestyle was not for me and I stay as far away from it as I can. But there are many who follow more balanced lifestyles. Many people, black and white, are interested in sports, and participate in it as a hobby. Favourite sports: among the Afrikaners, rugby; among the English, cricket; among Blacks, soccer.

"Culture" is important in the Afrikaner and Black communities. This finds expression as books, music, paintings and crafts, theatrical and dance productions, television and radio programmes. This gives me a reason for optimism. There is more communication going on between the different groups now than ever before. All the sides are telling their stories, saying, "hey, look at this!" This happens chiefly through culture. And in this way, at last, we are coming to understand each other. For all our differences, black and white in this country still have a lot in common. We can take our history - it is a shared history. It needn't divide us. We can go forward from here.

A lot of what I consider "culture" is in the form of very heated, emotional discussions in newspapers. People state their views, attack and defend each other, and all the while new angles are introduced, new input, new perspectives. These involve people from all communities. Some of these discussions went on to inspire theatrical productions. It is our way of trying to come to terms with what happened here, and what still has to happen.

Because our economy is unstable and unpredictable, many people are self-employed, entrepeneurs. They come up with their own plans and work at implementing them; think of new ways of making money, new services and products that they can offer, new ways of contributing to society and the economy. This is a very positive development, and again, there are blacks as well as white people taking this option. Some of them have become exceptionally successful businesspeople. It is a spirit of adventurousness, of innovation, and it can take the country far. We will need this spirit if we want to tackle the future head-on.

Our current president, Thabo Mbeki, has a vision that he calls the "African Renaissance". It is a very positive vision; it calls for a recognition of the positive traditional values of African culture, and the taking of those values to new heights. The chief African value is called "ubuntu", and this roughly means humanity, charity towards other people, working together towards a mutual goal, being concerned about other people's needs. I find this a positive value, it stands in contrast to the every-man-for-himself value system very prevalent in the West. There is also something called "African time"; some people consider it laziness and incompetence, but in fact this is a recognition of the transcendent timelessness of existence; basically, there is no reason why people should always be in such an insane hurry. We need tome to relax, to think, to come to terms with things, to just "be".

And viewed from a broad perspective, we can overcome our current problems. It would be foolish to think we can make everybody happy and make everything right quickly. The thing is, if things get better, it will still happen slowly. For the whites, it is as if the carpet has been whipped out from beneath their feet; for the blacks, it is a whole new competitive world. But humans are adaptable. Humans are tough. Life itself is amazingly resilient and versatile. The system we have now is based on a much more sensible base than the previous one. It will be easier to fine-tune. People who before would not even look at each other are now talking. This gives hope. And even with the problems we have, life is not that bad. People work and are paid, they buy things they like, they relax when they can, they date, they get married, they have children, they have the freedom to do what they can and to say what they want. Even the poorest of the poor find some comfort - here people do try to take care of each other, they don't leave helpless people to the dogs. In South Africa, as in any other country, life is merely life. Sometimes good, sometimes bad; sometimes beautiful, sometimes ugly. That's just the way it is.

*gapes at the wealth of information beyond her wildest dreams*

WOW!!!!! this will get me extra credit for sure! and wow, it's perfect! exactly what i wanted.

just for my records and such, do you mind if i use this for a classroom discussion? and if you wouldn't mind, could i have your name so that i can tell everyone that you're a friend of mine?

also, i am CONSIDERING possibly writing an essay (or possibly a novel if i can fins enough participants) on people who live in different cultures... would you mind terribly if i used some of this information? if i do use it, i'll make sure to cite your name, and i'll let you know when i do it.

and once again, THANK YOU SO MUCH for the information!!!!!

I am very glad to have been of help.

My real name is Willem Sternberg van der Merwe. A truly daunting Boer name, dontcha think?

Sure, you can use my pieces for discussions, you can use the information for an essay or a novel - just always realise that what I gave you was my subjective impression, not textbook stuff, some of the details might be wrong, but I was sincere about everything I said, in its essence it is true enough. If you want confirmation of facts, or extra details, just ask and I'll make sure about them.

By the way, what book is it that you're studying?

Take care!
Willem

well, to be quite honest, i don't know the name of the book. my teacher hasn't bothered to tell us. i THINK it might be the bean trees by barbara kingsolver, but i'm not sure, having never read the book.

and thank you SO much...

melissa

It's really a pleasure! Stay in touch!

The Blessings of Love, Peace, Harmony and Eternal Ecstasy Be Upon You, O Easily Amused One.

Willem

i promise i will, will! hahaha. i really am easily amused. anyway...

may your life be happy and procreative!!!

melissa

hey, just wanted to let you know that i read most of your.... narrative to my english class and i got a lot of applause. my teacher liked it so much that she had me come in and read it to her third period class as well. so thank you so much for helping me to make my english teacher love me!!!!!

if there's anything i can do for you, let me know. i am forever indebted...

Well, I've told you a lot about my society, so how about telling me something about yours! I take it you're American, but I don't know which part; which school are you in, and what are things like there?