I can’t imagine being apolitical. I abhor injustice and admire those who gave up normal lives to fight for my rights. I feel it is my duty as a citizen to protect these ideals.
It is my right to have an opinion. I do not want to forget our past, I want to celebrate and learn from it. I love my country but I’m not blind to the harsh realities of hatred, resentment and economic disparity. I do not believe that ignoring these is the answer.
And that’s why I cannot support the new South African Neutral initiative. According to their facebook page: “South African Neutral is an a-political, non-corporate, non-profit initiative for all South Africans. Let’s stop taking sides, stop the hate and work together to keep this country awesome. Enough fighting. Enough anger. Enough hatred. Enough division. We are one country.”
Noble sentiments, but idealistic to the point of stupidity. Just wishing something will not make it so. There are divisions, there is hatred. Blocking it out and thinking that apartheid is long-gone so we must all be hunky-dory, lovey-dovey with each other is morally simplistic.
It’s rather selfish too, basically saying “debate is too painful and bothersome, so I’m going to carry on with my life, ignore the difficult issues and hope for the best”.
Here’s my guilty secret — I really wish I could do that. I wish I did not worry every time I see a human right being violated. I wish I could turn the other way every time I drive past shacks on the N2. I wish I had a socio-political conscience that only extends as far as recycling. I’d be a lot happier.
So, despite my reservations and misgivings, I understand why some people would join such an initiative. I just don’t agree with it.
Our country has too much to work through before we can all play happy families. I am not going to tell my friend from Khayelitsha, “Hey dude, the past is the past. Let’s just get on with being united,” when, despite a similar education and skills, he spends hours in a taxi getting to work and I drive a Yaris. I can tell you now that neither of us is “neutral”.
It’s through discourse and the expression of different opinions that true consensus and understanding is reached — not the idealistic notion of putting everything aside. If you stand for nothing, you’ll fall for anything.
Thank you for exposing this ridiculous idea. As Ayn Rand forcefully said:
‘The opposite of moral neutrality is not a blind, arbitrary, self-righteous condemnation of any idea, action or person that does not fit one’s mood, one’s memorized slogans or one’s snap judgment of the moment. Indiscriminate tolerance and indiscriminate condemnation are not two opposites: they are two variants of the same evasion. To declare that “everybody is white” or “everybody is black” or “everybody is neither white nor black, but gray,” is not a moral judgment, but an escape from the responsibility of moral judgment.’
You know, I used to care, too. I had an entire blog dedicated solely to how much I cared about what happened in SA. And then, because I cared, I would get upset. And I would get upset because other people didn’t care as much as me. And I would rant, and I would read the rants of others, and their self-riteous crap, and it would make me depressed. And then I simply decided, enough. I don’t care anymore. And am now South Africa Neutral. It might be stupid, and I may be selfish, but I have peace, at last. It’s not about standing for nothing. It’s about focusing on the positive, and focusing on me. At least our constitution allows for that much.
Amanda – I understand your position but I think the initiative, as I understand it, is all about creating a non-radical centre that isolates the fringe lunatics like Malema and Terre’Blanche. In that way the real debates can happen constructively at a lower political temperature. Its not a head-burying exercise at all but a mature, liberated response to our situation.
At present people feel as though they need to take a side which is divisive and dangerous. This initiative shows that there is a 3rd side, a side that is open to both black and white people that are actually closer to eachother in mindset than they are to either of these cringe fringes.
This 3rd neutral option probably needs to be apolitical in our current environment but will hopefully grow political wings eventually and become the dominant area of politics in this country. It should attract all South Africans that want to work hard and make progress and take our country to the next level. This will leave race politics and liberation politics behind where it belongs. There is no political party yet to fill that space but if we start thinking that way via initiatives like SA Neutral, it will have support when it emerges as it must.
I think you definately didnt get the point of sa neutral , holding onto everything from the past – guilt, hate , fear is not gonna get us anywhere our only hope is to move on or else we are always gonna be a target for ppl like malema IT’S TIME WE STOP PLAYING THE RACE CARD!
The word neutral means non-alignment with, supporting, or favoring either side in a dispute, it suggests not belonging to a side or sides…sides which in our case, polarise. Radicals who want to polarise us. It does not suggest no opinion, no hard work and it is not the intention of the initiative to be apathetic, dispassionate or uncaring. On the contrary. It is a voice for the ‘normal’ south african, of all hues (neutral), who is stuck in the ‘middle’. Idealistic, perhaps, but then let’s hope we can have some ideals left in this precarious world of ours!
Thanks for the consideration and debate, it’s most welcome
South African Neutral does not mean ‘apathetic’. It is about all South Africans – those who are opposed to far left and right – to standing as one to put a stop to all the sniping. It is all about a firm love for SA and a belief that there is so much greatness in our country.
South African Neutral does not mean ‘apathetic’. It is about all South Africans – those who are opposed to far left and right – standing as one to put a stop to all the sniping. It is all about a firm love for SA and a belief that there is so much greatness in our country.
So, then, get in the taxi with him and spend hours a day in discourse, expressing your different opinions.
Or give him your Yaris. It’s quite simple really.
Amanda, I believe that you have completely missed the point of Neutral. Being neutral to political retributive agendas and self-enrichment movements has nothing to do with the compassion that every human feels when another is in need. I don’t want to speak for the whole SANeutral page but my feelings are that we have to address injustices from the past but get our words to action. It’s useless blaming one-another for what went wrong before or after 1994 and to keep blaming the systems for the current injustices and wrong doings that are committed on a daily basis.
It’s no longer a colour issue but socio-economical.(for some it still is about colour) Clinging to old allegiances purely out of loyalty and therefore forsaking your own principals, is a very destructive and dangerous situation to have.
What I understand to be SANeutral is to understand that we are all the same irrespective of colour creed or political affiliation and to build a community from that premise. Once we can truly leave our racist feelings and preconceptions regarding each other at the door, then and only then will true dialogue be achieved. This is what SANeutral is promoting.
We have a rising black middle class and a declining white upper class. I am fully convinced that this is thanks to further education. Only by arming ourselves with education and knowledge will we be able to uplift ourselves and others.
Er, I think when they say ‘neutral’ they mean ‘neither Julius nor Eugene’.
And with any luck, debates will then be free from neo-nazis and tenderpreneurs, which can only be a good thing.
It would seem that whoever conjured up the name South African Neutral, did so in moment of passionate creativity and misguided frustration. I have a sneaking suspicion that some young advertising brain has been at it, the kind that does think about what exactly a word can mean but merely thinks that it sounds, um, ‘cool’. And then proceeds to see what they can do with a ‘cool’ logo. The content and thinking is therefore based on nothing but a ‘cool’ idea that probably birthed itself in a bored creative department. How very sad.
Malema, ET, are those the only two options we have to be neutral on? I realize it’s current agenda but if our manic depressive society will stop moving from one extreme to the next we should be a little better off.
Affect your own world. Stop moaning about politics and look into your own community for where you can affect change. Be a positive thought leader among your peer group.
Put the energy you are putting into moaning into changing your business to positively affect your communities. Give time where it rewards.
I am neutral on politics because I choose for my life to be unaffected by politics. However, when mining in the winelands threatens my clients, I am not neutral. I make a difference where I can. I do not, however, get into battles which are not mine, especially if all I do is moan about it.
Be responsible for your decisions, your choices. Let your life speak for your neutrality where it counts and let your passion inspire others to affect the world positively where it counts for them.
I am so over the Rottweiler mentality that it makes me neutral on a big society perspective.
Those who are making a difference in politics, I salute you. Not words, but action. Your actions reflect your choices and bravo!
Crisis creates change. Choose your crisis carefully.
Evidence points to the fact that the only way to get over a regime like Apartheid is to just forge about it. The political term is “Shunte-Null”, German for zero-hour. Essentially, society agrees that from this day forth we shall not rehash the past and instead focus on progress alone. It worked in Germany after the Berlin Wall came down and Spain after their fascist regime crumbled.
Other initiatives, like the SA TRC, have proven to just rehash old hatred and cement the race lines. As is seen by the largely ineffective BEE policy in South Africa, instead of being South African we are “white”, “black”, “coloured”, “indian” or “chinese”. This both reminds us everyday and creates a situation where there is a difference because of our skin colour.
I believe the successful countries of this world are HUGELY patriotic, look at America. A recent trip there for me explain it all, they are very nice and will invite you into their home but say one word against America and they get hugely angry (I know its a generalisation). By comparison, South Africans by and enlarge continuously complain about the country both domestically and internationally.
This facebook group does not create the environment I believe will solve our problems. However, rehashing and harping on about the past does not do so either. Focusing on self-development and taking control of your own lives is the way forward
@Nikki how very cynical. I joined SA Neutral, not because I don’t care about anything (and I think the fact that these people have created a group to promote a passionate love for our country clearly indicates that they are not apathetic) but because I wanted to align myself with a group who are finished resisting. It’s not about denial, it’s about acceptance. And hey, it may be naive and idealistic, but at least it’s positive.
I agree wholeheartedly with this blog post.
There is no neutrality in politics. Pick a side.
Wow Nikki. How about giving some credit where it’s due.
So you don’t agree with the word, but the sentiment is amazing.
None of these “initiatives” mean diddly.
A guy or girl starts a FB fan page and invents a new slogan which is popular for a few nanoseconds.
In the end everyone reverts to type.
I think we’re arguing semantics here.
Perhaps “Neutral” is the wrong word but we can’t criticise the intention based on the title.
To my mind, the SAN initiative is simply asking that we find the middle ground, the halfway mark between the extreme points of view that divide us in order to diffuse the tension and get on with building this nation.
The SANeutrals has the following as part of its mission statement: “No more pointing fingers. No more fighting. We are ONE country.”
It’s idealistic to be sure but is it stupid? Not really. And it’s not about pushing aside debate or being selfish. I think the idea here is to work towards finding solutions, to encourage discussion instead of rhetoric, conversation instead of vitriol. In fact, we already have a word for this philosophy: Ubuntu.
Will it be successful? Well, that depends on if it can live off the Facebook page. And that’s an entirely different discussion.
@Alasdair
I found your comment spot-on! Those who want to be neutral should go to Switzerland or some egalatarian Utopia , where we all sing hymns around camp fires! Avatar perhaps!
It is in the robustness of frank engagement and fire of debate that enduring ideas and solutions are found…
Hi Amanda – after reading this article I tried to find you on Facebook – no go. I agree with Grant Walliser’s remarks above on South African Neutral. But they cannot possibly be a-political. The term a-political, in the context of their manifesto/mission statement, IS still political.
And I don’t think any organisation of this nature can be neutral. They just disagree with the way politics is being done in SA – which, automatically, is not a neutral stance.
I presume you paid for the Yaris yourself. If you have trouble driving past shacks on the N2 in your Yaris, you might like to learn from, say, (picking a name randomly from upwards of 50 000 candidates)Mr Paul Mashatile.
He, and one hundred percent of his government friends, drive past the shacks in R2 million vehicles paid for by the shack dwellers themselves.
Hey Amanda,
I’ve been out of the loop for a while and hadn’t heard of SA Neutral. Thanks for informing me about it because it sounds like it’s exactly what we most need here in SA. I think it’ll help someone in Kayelitsha far more than Malema would or Terre’Blanche ever would have!
Think of it as avenue for non-violent, considered protest and debate against the evils and ills that remain and new ones that are cropping up.
How about joining up to make your point about the effects of the transport issue on various South Africans? If you don’t choose to sell your soul or Yaris, at least you’d have a platform. But remember that if you really cared, you’d do something to help the chap with whom you empathise, so drive out of your way twice a day and give him a lift? Or just go to management and ask them to give your next salary increase to him. Or despite his similar education, does he not carry the same job responibilities?
@Gareth_Newman, I disagree with Stunde-Null you describe in Germany and Spain. Germany reached Ground Zero 1945, with all its major cities destroyed and the Guilt of Holocaust to live with.
The West Germans created the “Wirtschaftswunder” in order to forget and not think and became a mini USA. Guilt caught up with that nation during the students revolt of 1968. Questions arose about the past that had been buried, and ripped through society. Eventually gave birth to Green-party.
East Germans had to endure Fascism for 40 more years and then freed themselves from living the lie from within. After the wall came down there was further vital discussion within Germany, some felt ad nauseam who said, lets bury the past. But it doesnt work to bury the head in the sand, forget the past.
And in Spain, the civil war genocide was a taboo until very recently, yet victims demanded to know truth about their neighbours. They could and would not simply FORGET about injustice and ‘simply’ get on with their lives. All evidence suggests that the healing process involves going through the pain of accepting responsibility beforehand.
TRC was a healing process that hurt.
So the evidence is contrary to what you suggest.
“Focusing on self-development and taking control of your own lives is the way forward”, but preferably by someone who has the ability to reflect upon himself and his/her actions than by some unreflecting Patriot, who just comes with emotive knee jerk reactions.
One can “pick a side” in politics when politics no longer becomes a business but rather a mechanism of governance. Remember those famous old words: “Ask not what your country can do for you, but rather what you can do for your country”. Most of us are political oppurtunists. When Man United wins we love em, when they lose we jump ship.
The Neutrals actualy belong to the anti-Malema movement. They came up as angry people due to Malema. To argue otherwise is a lie.
The power to change lies with the ANC and it’s supporters. The whites have shown their hand (largely), adapted to the NuSAns (New unimproved South Africans) way of thinking and become tax-paying, law abiding, productive members of society. What ELSE are they supposed to do? When are remaining, brain-drained South Africans going to ask their black brethren to forgive them, move on, appreciate their efforts and start appreciating the effort they’ve put in to saving the country and up lifting those the ANC have left behind? White guilt makes the likes of Amanda (en kie) write this sort of angst, and hand-wringing, patronising rubbish. Black Saffers need to buck up,l accept the hand of friendship, peace and reconciliation that has been extended to them the past 16 years, and violently slapped away at every turn. It’s time the people that have the power pony up the forgiveness, so that all may live in peace in SA. Until then, these words are empty rhetoric, continuing the misplaced feelings of guilt that are counter-productive to meaningful progress. The burden of responsibility now lies with the ANC to make amends. Whites declared their intent, and their collective guilt and desire for forgiveness with the YES vote at the referendum under De Klerk.
But this is why I left the pit. The hatred was palpable, and I could never see a day in my or my children’s life where black South Africans would move on.
“By comparison, South Africans by and enlarge continuously complain about the country both domestically and internationally.”
I don’t believe that’s true Gareth. I currently live in London and while I may moan about South Africa, one person must even try and tell me that it’s a bad place and I’ll fight them to the death. Ok, that’s a bit harsh but I am fiercely patriotic, being away from home stirs that passion more than anything.
Amanda, I agree with you in part, we cannot just be apathetic. I do think however that this neutral campagin is more about setting all things aside (race, ET, Julius etc etc) and try to have that world cup winning feeling (that delicious feeling of giddy pride and elation at being South African) all the time.
So then why not call the whole thing I Love RSA. It’s a lot more direct in its meaning. Surely.
People are being a bit quick to condemn an initiative that may have potential. Why kill it before it starts? If young people who feel the need to say something ‘different’ are to do anything, best they do it their way. How will it help to tell them they have it wrong already?
The first thing is for them to find out if there is anything possible here. A few meetings will soon show if there is any meeting of the minds – in the direction of actually doing something.
Julius Malema knows how to talk to ‘the youth’ but he will not be the only one. Why leave him and the AWB and their followers alone on stage?
I ignore Malema and laugh at whatever he says. i hate the AWB. the idea that your maid is like family (but the family dog is treated with more respect) makes me LOL.etc.
here’s something that has me concerned:
This morning while making coffee. Two, white men were chatting not far from where i was. with a sudden rise of volume in their voices, one uttered the statement “We are headed str8 for civil” and inbetween that mentioned “machetes”. i did not comment coz my spoken English is worse than a garden boy’s. l8r, in less than 10min, walking down the passage, the same 2 dudes whisper “machetes, i tell you…” just as i walk past them.
this means nothing! but it does make me think. could they still have that “white tendency” that Malema was talking about? i thought i’d share!
whatever their intentions were, they got my attention…thought i’d share. the death of terreblanche has become a catalyst in getting these kinds of things out in the air…
Ayn Rand? When did she become the socio-economic benchmark? Do me a favour, Alan Greenspan was heavily influenced by her thinking and as a result is now accused of fuelling the credit bubble which I am sure I don’t have to remind you directly caused a global recession.
Please if you are going to psuedo-intellectually argue the etymology of the name behind this group quote someone who actually holds merit.
I joined SA Neutral so that I could engage with them. All these Facebook groups indicate a desire to engage with South African identity in a way that is quite interesting. Civic nationalism has always been something that white South Africans in particular have responded to (the rainbow nation was effectively a white concept, and never gained traction in other groups). The name is absolutely awful – jeez guys, hire a communication strategist! – but I understand their motivations.
@Candice: Ayn Rand, in her writing, was a proponent of laissez-faire capitalism, which essentially allows things to happen without intervention. However, this approach to the economy allowed some very bad results to occur, the most notable being the Great Depression of 1929-1939.
Since that massive failure, Keynesian economics have dominated and prevented massive business failures such as Obama’s recent bailout packages designed to save major American companies from bankruptcies. What a lot of people, who criticised the bailouts, don’t understand is that if you allow major companies to go under, a domino effect can kick in. As more and more major companies fail, they take the whole economy down and you have another Great Depression which takes over a decade to recover from.
WWII ended the Great Depression.
Being South African Neutral is to stick one’s head in the sand and pretend all the problems don’t exist. Ignoring them doesn’t cause them to go away. Having read their manifesto, it seems their greatest motivation in life is to go back to living a shallow life dominated by material desires and remain unaffected by all the chaos swirling around them.