The debate surrounding The Spear has, on occasion, been framed in terms of the concept of ‘dignity’, specifically that of the State President.
And to be sure, one should grant the persons who occupy that position of responsibility from time-to-time the dignity they deserve. One could also take the argument further by claiming that every citizen of the country should be accorded the dignity that is consistent with their humanity — no person, regardless of their position in society, is less entitled than any other as far as the dignity with which they should be treated is concerned.
By ‘dignity’ I mean broadly what may be described as a condition of ‘worthiness’ which is consonant with one’s self-esteem as a human, morally accountable being.
I believe that dignity in this sense is integral to our Constitution. From this it follows that there are many people in any society who — for different reasons, such as poverty and/or lack of education, or other forms of personal disempowerment — lack the self-esteem that usually accompanies a claim to dignity. It is specifically with such people, who are so easily forgotten by those in power, that I am concerned here.
That said, when one looks around, it is apparent how many South Africans have been relegated to the position of people who are not accorded the dignity they deserve on the basis of the Constitution.
Every time I drive to work, I see dozens of people (mainly men) congregating in small clusters all along the road, squatting, leaning against trees, some with equipment such as paint brushes or rollers, in the hope of being approached by one of the drivers-by for an ad-hoc day job.
Some seem hopeful, others not; in both cases they still have their dignity to the degree that they are offering their services to anyone who is prepared to employ them for the odd job.
But this dignity is fragile, if not already evaporated, judging by their bearing, because in our kind of economy no one can survive for long without an income, and the very fact that they are there, next to the road, that early in the morning, is testimony to their desperation.
But if one can still give these job-seekers the benefit of the doubt regarding their projection of a sense of dignity, there are the ones where one is in no doubt about the total absence of any sense of dignity.
These are the ones who stand, abjectly, next to the road, or in the middle between lanes, with a piece of cardboard on which their dismal jobless plight is scribbled, usually together with the obligatory “God [will] bless you [if you give me some money]“.
They make no pretence at having dignity, principally because the heartless society in which we live seems to be willing to accord someone dignity only in proportion to the degree of wealth and power that you project through your clothes, the car you drive, your eyewear, the cell phone you brandish, and so on.
But even where those South Africans are concerned who may appear, for all intents and purposes, to lack nothing that could possibly detract from their felt and projected dignity, appearances may deceive.
I am thinking particularly of a certain group of people, or employees — except that this term becomes problematical in the light of what I am about to write.
The group I have in mind are teachers, more particularly in the Eastern Cape, where the provincial education department’s treatment of especially those teachers appointed in temporary jobs has been monumentally inefficient, in fact, dismal.
This much is known in view of the attempts on the part of central government to resolve matters by intervening in the way the department has been run in the Eastern Cape. What is less known, is the effect of this mismanagement on the lives of individual teachers, some of whom I just happen to know through a close friend.
In the case of Ms. X, whom I shall not name for obvious reasons, the impact of the Eastern Cape department of education’s shortcomings has been nothing short of disastrous.
To say the least, her — and many of her colleagues — dignity as human beings has been seriously and demonstrably affected by the gap between their work-performance and their virtually non-existent remuneration by the department, despite recent, repeated promises that these temporary teachers would (at last) be paid.
Until about September last year Ms. X was paid in irregular fashion, not knowing when she could expect a salary. Since then, she has not been paid by the department at all, with the result that she and her husband have not been able to honour their financial commitments.
This includes having her car repaired after recent mechanical trouble — repairs they can ill afford at present because they have to pay for all their monthly expenses from her husband’s salary.
Needless to say, under these circumstances people frequently get into the position where they have no option but to use the opportunity — all too easily available at ATMs these days — of taking an ‘instant’ loan at the bank, which Ms. X was forced to do a few months ago.
The result? Because she is now indebted to the bank — for a sum easily repaid if the eepartment were to pay her the salary they owe her for several months conscientious work (she refuses to stay at home in protest, because she says her kids need her) — and cannot repay the loan under these circumstances, the bank has threatened legal proceedings against her.
This is no fault of her own, Ms. X is a young teacher who loves teaching; in fact, she is passionate about it, but has reached the point where she admits that she may have to leave the teaching profession to look for work elsewhere.
I don’t think it is an overstatement to say that Ms. X’s dignity as a human being has been seriously, and adversely, affected by the Eastern Cape department of education’s inability, or unwillingness, or both, to remunerate her as it is supposed to.
And she is not the only one in this position; at the school where she teaches, there are several more teachers in exactly the same position, and at other schools there are more.
What makes their situation so invidious, is the fact that they are not in positions of power, like high-profile politicians for example, where they could use their political clout to ‘restore their dignity’ if they felt that someone has infringed on it.
To be sure, there are many people in this country who are even more disempowered than the teachers I refer to here, such as those I mentioned earlier in this piece — the unemployed, unqualified people looking for work, and so on — but whatever the case may be, if it is dignity that is an issue in South Africa, one should start by taking a hard look at these people, with scant means of addressing their own unenviable situation, instead of those who have the means to restore their dignity when they believe that it has been encroached on.
What you still fail to understand, probably due to generations of apartheid indoctrination, is that the painting was not just its not just an affront to dignity of the office of the President but the entire African culture!
According to your bizarre logic, if a teacher not being paid on time or the plight of menial laborers justifies this kind of character assassination, then every President in the world deserves to be treated like President Zuma. Nowhere else in the world will the previously advantaged get away with such blatant media manipulation in the name of art. Furthermore no “academic” worth their salt would ever try to justify such negative stereotypes of black men!
Remember everywhere else in the world, its the private sector that creates jobs, but here in SA, the beneficiaries of apartheid, like Bert, places this responsibility squarely on the government, while they continue to enjoy the spoils of apartheid.
brilliant!!! Wish those in power would read and take action.
So many lives in this country are being compromised by working for government or believing in government promises.
I wonder whether they realise how difficult it is to sit on the sidelines, without the means to do anything constructive, and watch. After two power surges in our area this week, I could add pensioners into the category…using credit they can ill afford, to replace geysers, fridges and electrical wiring.
While nobody is likely to see their situation as dire by comparison, it highlights what is most wrong: attitude. Who can blame insurance companies for absolving themselves of the responsibility? But that Eskom and the municipalities should also treat people with real gripes with utterly no respect or dignity is their only transparency.
Bert, I do hope you told Mrs X that, as long as she makes a regular minimum payment (even R10), the bank cannot take her debt situation further. And none of us should overlook the really brave citizens who still give of their best when thwarted by the leaders they should be able to depend on. What price a white-drawn penis?
Bert – your words are worth a thousand paintings.
We are witnessing the spiral fallout of indignity: degeneracy, crime, corruption. At this crisis point we need leaders (public servants) who have the courage to admit to their responsibility for other people’s dignity. And we need to guard the freedoms of a society that is bold enough to hold them to it.
I see very many individuals and civic organisations trying selflessly to stem the tide, but without the evidence of will from those who are appointed to the job, fatigue will win.
Thank you Bert. A well presented and thought provoking article. In another article, Professor Simpson aka the Cybershrink, outlines the perception that we have been had. The people in positions of power, particularly the ANC, use the Spear dabacle as a decoy. They shift the spotlight away from the real, heartbreaking issues as you have outlined in your article, onto some frivilous and pathetic issue such as the President’s dignity. The ANC and Zuma worked it up into a fabricated frenzy with shrill abandon. Ninety nine percent of South Africans never even knew about the Spear until the ANC made all the fuss. And it would have remained equally obscure had they remained silent.
Yet they do not mention a word about their shocking ineptitude such as the inability to deliver textbooks to the school children in Limpopo who are being denied their constitutional right to an education and potential dignity in years to come. It takes a court order to compel the department of education to do their jobs. But the ANC places a far greater value on the public relations mileage they gain in prancing around the street and delivering silly speeches to up their populist ratings.
Thank you Bert for this article.
One can only accord dignity to one that is dignified, zuma does nor fall in this category, his behaviour has allways been disgracefull with no concern for the dignity of others, read Mbeki,the hiv woman he slept with and is now in exile, statements abomut the machine gun, having liasons with various women indicating no cultural dignity, etc,etc,.
the anc have drumed this up simply to gain support for zuma pre mangaung, these incompetents are not interested in good governance,only in keeping the puppet zuma in power
dave harris you again, please spaere us.
@Dave Harris: the dignity of Mr Zuma would not have been under discussion if he himself or his loyal lackies had said nothing about this painting. Noone would have known it was his image as it was a very poor portrait. If you are not spotless, do not invite a debate about your spots.
Other than that, the dignity (or self esteem) of many a white competent youth has been compromised by AA and BEE beyond reason where competency has been placed last on the list of selection criteria for jobs as well as for University entrees.
Many very talented youngsters and expereinced adults have left SA to the detriment of job creation and economic progress. It might take another generation for the SA economy to fully recouperate from this.
But then: all forms of collective freedom have their collective price.
Bert – the current SA political culture is based on the Fuhrerprinzip, the Dear Leader, and the cult of the Big Man. The political elite are at the heart of the culture, and totalitarianism undepins it all. The ordinary citizen is treated with the greatest contempt – uneducated, manipulated voting cattle or taxpayers to be squeezed by a parasitic elite. The dignity of this political class is defended by a few propagandists using racist propaganda cruder than Goebbels and lacking even his intellect – see a few examples here. The whole point of the entire charade is to destroy the dignity of the citizens – who are, I repeat – beneath contempt.
@ Dave Harris
“if a teacher not being paid on time or the plight of menial laborers justifies this kind of character assassination, then every President in the world deserves to be treated like Mr Zuma”
Dave is right.
Heads of State deserve RESPECT, even if there a some service delivery issues. That is why me and Dave would certainly have sided with the Conservative toffs who shuddered in outrage when Sid Vicious and the Sex Pistols screamed F*** THE QUEEN!
Agree your article is worth a few spears, another good read.
The ANC made the Spear an issue to make them look like the victims and then also offered the solution to it, cunning deceit that’s all. The ANC is shameless with no honour. Dignity means nothing to them.
a Village in Limpopo is without water for 8 years, but the cANCer will scream dignity and a man like Dave Harris will defend them. They depend on people like him with impressionable minds to hang onto their lips.
As for JZ the fagin, his fauxleb behaviour got him to this.
@Dave, you just can not post one remark without insults can you?
@Indeed
You still have the gall to speak of “dignity” while, as a beneficiary of apartheid you’re still enjoying its spoils, yet you label our government “Nazis” and the majority that voted for our current government as “uneducated, manipulated voting cattle”?? Can you not see how shameful, absurd and destructive your attitude is to the majority of South Africans?
@Bert, personally I think you are very mischievous. Allow me to put my counter. To argue for dignity for all as subscribed in the Constitution is non negotiable. ie Every person has that right. To argue for the right of dignity for any person eg the President according to the Constitution is non negotiable, But to link this to the debate of economics is a seperate debate surely. I say this simply because there are different factors which influences these debates and it cannot be constued that all these factors are omniscient in these two very seperate issues. Sure when one try to debate all rights in Constitution, the reality is that these rights are not absolute hence the application vs the material conditions. This also leads to the contestation in Judiciary today when one says that it is untransformed. This is evidenced in terms of the different interpretations of the law. So when one argues as we do, in our Developmental State, we talk about a frame of mind, a way of thinking. Hence the deep fracture in society which was so obvious in this very debate about the Spear and the dignity of Jacob Zuma. It was largely blacks who supported the Prez right to dignity and it was largely whites and elitist who argued against the President to enjoy that right. Sure the secondary premise of your argument is valid. But economics has its own rogues none of whom are ever targeted by any one of you. In all of these scenarios against ANC, there is only ever one player. Mischievious hey.
@Dave Harris:
How many knees do you have, dear boy?
1. Please demonstrate signs of apartheid indoctrination. Kindly identify the Afrikaner nationalism and the warnings against Die Swart Gevaar or Die Rooi Gevaar in Bert’s writing. If you cannot spot them, then the only apartheid indoctrination evident is in your own black heart, young grasshopper. Really, apartheid is not the be-all and end-all to everyone and to the majority of people in South Africa it’s nothing but a distant memory or something we learn about as part of our history.
2. As we’ve pointed out to you, African culture is not a homogeneous beast. There are countless African cultures. There isn’t a continent on the planet with a greater diversity than Africa – both in terms of genes and memes. If you want to claim that a naked Stalin parody offends African culture, you’d have to be more specific and identify which African culture you are talking about.
3. There are many art works that play on stereotypes, some of them play on African stereotypes and legends too – and they’re made by African artists however you want to define the term African.
Lastly, on topic: A study on how minimum wage and strenuous labour requirements contributed to our 25% unemployment may reveal plenty. Dave is right in that private sector growth (SMMEs) are the only known working solution. A bloated public sector is not.
@Indeed, instead of being an apologist for the previous govt, why not give your own input. You are delusional if you think that racists have fought for this non-racist constitution. Facts and proof provides enough evidence that is is because of your previous racist govt and its racist practises of 350 years that where we are today is because of that social engineering. If you and others think that 350yrs is going to be undone in less than 18yrs then surely one wonders from where you are drawing this knoweledge from. Also to link human beings with animals eg cattle is simply the crudest form of racist beliefs. So please I think a little introspection of your own beliefs are warranted.
@ Indeed: I wish I could say that SA is alone in this, but we’re not.
This crap is happening in the US, Canada and around Europe. The whole point of squeezing the middle class is to ensure that subsquent generations do not attain the same level of education as their forebears, thus rendering them malleable.
The UN’s Agenda 21 and the proposed worldwide carbon tax are excellent examples. As if that was not enough, they are now talking about policing international waters.
Until the middle class gets off the couch, they will be facing the same lack of dignity which Bert described above.
@Garg. I think you should do better to leave the debate on economics and unemployment alone. In fact, I would advise you not to go there, especially on unemployment.
Also, Goofman gallery, Haffejee et al have acknowledged that they have caused offence, why is it so difficult for you to acknowledge that you are wrong to have defended them and the artist. In fact, the grapevine says that the artist is also coming out and will apologise to the President, personally. Now Garg, where does that leave you and your ilk?
And….apartheid is NOT a distant memory, it exists even today eg the PAINTING and the supporters of the painting…
Apartheid lasted 40 years – the ANC is halfway there already – what have they achieved?
And in most French and British colonies European Colonisation lasted only 75 years – during which time all infrastructure, roads, hospitals and schools were built, and cures found for the diseases of both the people and the cattle.
Arab colonisation, however, started in the 9th century.
@Tofolux:
If you are offended, it means that freedom of speech is working. During apartheid, you would not have been offended, because you wouldn’t have known enough to be offended.
I never denied that the painting could be offensive to someone. I merely denied that offence is a good enough reason for limiting freedom of speech. The constitution that the proud freedom fighters fought for supports my view. The lawyers for Zuma and the ANC also support this view and warned Zuma that his case for respect is not very strong. Me and my ilk? Our view is reasonable and on firm foundations, thank you.
Haffajee and the Goodman removed pictures of the painting because of intimidation, not because of respect for culture. If your culture supports intimidation and limiting freedom of expression, where does that leave you and your ilk? Somewhere with a very low standard for culture? Are these not the same limitations that were imposed upon us during apartheid?
Still the elephant in the room is the painting ‘Better Poor than a Rich Puppet’ by Ayanda Mabulu. If the issue is indeed “insulting the dignity of the President”, and by extension that offends the entire ‘black culture’, then I fail to understand why that painting has not been mentioned, let alone discussed, by the people attacking Brett Murray’s work. To me both paintings seem to have a similar rationale and context.
The Spear issue reminds me of a similar controversy over a performance artwork by a Swedish artist, Makode Linde, known as the ‘Clitoridectomy Cake’. He sculpted a cake into the form of the torso, genitals and neck of a stereotypical African woman: blue-black skin, ‘tribal’ face painting, dreadlocks and neck-stretching rings. The inside of the cake is red. Linde’s own painted head formed the ‘head’ of the sculpture. He asked the Swedish Minister of Culture, Lena Liljeroth, a white woman, to perform a ‘clitoridectomy’ on the cake at a ‘party’. Each time Liljeroth cut the cake, Linde screamed, and the white audience ate the cake and laughed.
Many were quick to condemn the artwork as ‘racist’. There were calls for Liljeroth to resign, and the gallery received a bomb threat. One person commented “It made me feel less like I was looking at a work of art, and more like I was watching Sarah Baartman being sliced to pieces”.
The spokesperson for the National Afro-Swedish Assoc. condemned the art as being “a racist spectacle”. Cont….
@Garg, you misunderstand the area of contestation and yo, thats to be expected from those who do not understand democracy and its own areas of its own and NECESSARY space.
Cont..
Makode Linde is a Swede of African descent. His intention was to draw attention to the scourge of female genital mutilation and racism. He wanted to make the cake “more living” – less of an object, and to speak for the unheard and often overlooked black bodies of women and girls who are hurt and “consumed” for the pleasures of others.
His commented on the controversy: “There are some who are unable to get past the vision of what they believe to be the caricature of a black woman. They see the black face in “black face”. They see the image and miss that it is not serving as an object. It is a symbol. It speaks to the problem that is unrecognized and unseen by most. It is the role of the artist to provoke and push boundaries, and in the true spirit of art, many people don’t understand that”.
He could very well be speaking of The Spear.
@Garg Unzola
Its hard to argue with you, since you seem to have a blindspot as to how the majority feel about racism. You continue to insist that others must not be offended and have a litany of reasons why they should not.
Also, you continue to ignore that our private sector, the beneficiaries of apartheid who still control our economy, have no interest in creating decent jobs for blacks and have consistently failed in doing so, even while our economy was booming and expanding since 1994.
@Dave: Mentioning the ANC’s puppet, Zuma’s name in the same breath as culture is extremely insulting to culture.Then again, I also feel that culture is a set of backward mentality constraints that are self imposed through short sightedness. So yeah, dignity is earned. A hard working humble teacher deserves dignity to. As a supposed leader, yes, he is accountable for the sh1t that happens. If he hasn’t the balls for accountability, then he shouldn’t be there. He definitely should not be there. Lets see some real balls, let us see the ANC tackle real problems, not some easy scape goat artist…As can clearly be seen from this artist fiasco, Zuma has no balls… Excuse the pun …
Yes but Mr Zuma’s dignity is more important, nè Dave?
http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/2012/06/11/enough-is-enough-the-time-for-empty-promises-is-over
Where is the protest, the rage, the rally about the crime of the ANC not doing something about this? Quick to rally rent-a-crowd for a Spear but not for this,Dave?
Mr Zuma’s dignity is more important, nè Dave?
I get fed up watching every SABC News with their “Toutching Lives” which is all about people in undeveloped rural areas needing medical treatment – which in the old SOCIALIST SA would have been provided by the state.
This is a propaganda trick to soffen you up for National Health INSURANCE, American style – which, like E-tolling, will be administered by outsiders for 1/3 of the income and a slice of the profits for the BEE elite.
Which is LEGAL corruption!
Previously we had GOOD administrators in the hospitals who were civil servants and who collected from those who could pay – where is the profit share in that?
@Dave Harris: “…..that our private sector, the beneficiaries of apartheid who still control our economy…..”
How lucky are we that the ANC is not in control of the economy despite serius attempts to making life of the private sector difficult at times.
Just listen to the argments to close/reduce employment in the platinum mines by some 4000 jobs. Reason: years of double digit wage increases while platinum demand and price is falling.
@Dave” Also, you continue to ignore that our private sector, the beneficiaries of apartheid who still control our economy, have no interest in creating decent jobs for blacks and have consistently failed in doing so, even while our economy was booming and expanding since 19″
who else do you want to control the economy? the public sector?
Have no interest in creating decent jobs? Are you actually in SA or on the other hand have an iota of an idea how this works?
Your Spear amd goverment have in 18 years failed to educate the blacks in SA. Today most are not employable, and only good for trench digging. It would be good for you to get out every now and then and come visit rural SA.
Be a bit more specific in your failed generilisations on jobs as you mention above. Who was suppose to create work in bom time?
Your arguments and lunatic ravings are a joke Dave, time to wake up.
Forgive me for not feeling any sympathy for their self-manufactured plight. Firstly, SA teachers are generally scraped from the bottom of the tertiary barrel (reason #341 as to why my wife and I homeschool our children and take responsibility for their education). A ‘profession’ largely made up of needy, whiny over-grown school kids. Secondly, and most importantly, your teachers from the Eastern Province are no doubt ANC supporters, and remain so.
Let it be known that they ARE the problem, and their indignity is of their own making and by their own design. They VOTED for their miserable lot, and any suggestions to improve their dire situation (by voting for a more progressive, less hate-filled and productive political party) will be met with some scorn.
The lesson for the teachers and toy-toy prancers here is to stop placing their bets on the tatty old ANC nag that insists on leading the race by adding more weight to the other horses.
The New (unimproved) South African thinking seems to be diametrically opposite to what logical, normal thought processes are. If you can’t solve a problem, you burn, raze or destroy the point of your frustration. And when that inevitably doesn’t work out too well for you, you beg for sympathy. You’re also completely off track as to what the root causes of your collective issues are or you’re ignoring them, searching rather for a politically correct and acceptable punch-bag.
And THAT is why you can’t solve any problems.
This whole debate starts about the meaning of the painting “The Spear”. Artists have hidden meanings in paintings, especially in time of persecution, for all of history.
One of the most famous paintings so mis-interpreted is “The Last Supper” by Da Vinci.Google it and look for yourself. The figure on the right of Jesus is not John but the chief disciple, according to the Gnostic books, Mary Magdalene. Da Vinci told the Duke of Milan he had used a female model to portrait the youthfullness of John, but John is more likely the figure second from the left of the painting. He used a female figure because he was portraying a female.
There are only remnants of a meal on the table – because the meal is over and eaten.
The hands of Jesus and another disciple, who is not Judas, reaching out for the same bowl are empty of bread. The bread has already been given to Judas who has already left. There are 12 disciples – but one of them is Mary.
“So he took a piece of bread, dipped it, and gave it to Judas…Jesus said to him “Be quick about what you are doing!”…So Judas accepted the bread and WENT OUT AT ONCE” (John 13:26)
The “disciple that betrayed Christ’ was not Judas, who acted as instructed so that the scriptures should be fulfilled, but Peter who betrayed him 3 times.
But the worst betrayer was the Roman convert Paul who wrote “Wives submit to your husbands….slaves obey your masters” (Ephesians )
Which was the opposite of the message of Jesus Christ which was both anti-slavery and pro gender equality – in the Gnostic books excluded from the Bible by the Roman Church.
Don’t forget that the Arcangel Gabriel told the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) that the Koran was being dictated because ” the Marys had been insulted”.
Who are Mary Mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, Mary sister of Jesus, and Mary sister of Martha and Lazarus (who until the 19th century the Roman Papcy depicted as the same person as Mary Magdalene, who was depicted as a whore).
Which is why Da Vinci had to hide the message of “The Last Supper”
If Zuma and his family are hurt by the painting, then caring people should listen. I cannot understand the comparison of the teachers plight with that of Zuma. Wonder how her kids would feel if her picture was painted in the same way. It is very painful to see white people articulating how we should feel and at what degree.
Mr Oliver I wonder if u are assuming that Zuma deserved the painting because of the teachers plight. Surely that is not the way to building a nation.
Government should be accountable and the law provides remedies to restore all the citizens dignity.
@Dave Harris:
It’s really not hard to argue with me. All you need to do is apply logic.
I have never claimed that people should not be offended and I never prescribed to people how they should feel. Please show me where I insisted that others must not be offended. You will have far more success arguing with me if you look at what I actually said instead of what you think I said.
Our private sector does have interest in creating decent jobs for everyone. Where do you think growth comes from? Do you run a business? If not, then you really are not qualified to comment on job creation difficulties. Regardless, the difficulties are plain to see and South Africa has been warned about them time and again. But nobody listens because everyone likes to jump on the “blame apartheid” bandwagon. In reality, the failure of the ANC government to maintain Eskom slowed our economy more than anything.
On what do you base the assertion that our economy was booming and expanding since 1994? In actual fact, our economy took a major nosedive in 1994 and we only caught up to 1994 levels by all indications during the final stages of Mbeki’s last term. Of course at this stage Zuma’s protection racket fell for the old FIFA ploy, but fact remains we were in deeper poo than before 1994 until about 2000.
In short, get your facts straight, apply logic and you’ll have more success.
@Tofolux:
In any functional democracy, it is not the rule by the majority that is tantamount, but the right of minorities to dissent and differ from the majority.
Again, don’t take my word for it, read it for yourself:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consensus_democracy
Human dignity and the right to freedom of expression cannot be limited by consensus. These are inalienable rights and one cannot trump the other. If this is the case, then one or more of your premises are incorrect.
Regardless, democracy is a part of Greek culture. It’s not African at all, so why are you cherrypicking parts of Western culture that are convenient but choose to ignore parts that are not based on its incompatiblity with ‘African culture’?
This again shows how silly it is to claim that something must be prevented purely because it offends your culture. Culture is a fluid, dynamic thing and if it stops adapting, it dies.
@Garg, since when must a majority be held to ransom by a minority? You know Garg, when we are contesting a view, you have to concede points that you do not agree with. This is one of the fundamental and valuable lessons they teach us in the accepted norms and practises in the art of debating. Maybe I could pay for some lessons for you (?) just a thought….
@Tofolux:
Exactly. Just like, when we are contesting the depiction of someone in a painting, we also have to concede to depictions that we personally find offensive. Or that may not be in line with our cultures.
Still speaking of paintings …What about the ANC minister who has just bought a painting for R10,000 from McDonalds (while he was buying his fast food) – which he paid for with his ‘government credit card’ – because
1. ‘he didn’t know he wasn’t supposed to’ and
2. ‘he didn’t see why he shouldn’t have a painting on the entrance to his office, when every one else in parliament has got one’.
And we’re back in nursery school, folks!
The question is simple:
How does anyone like this land up in parliament in the first place, when he hasn’t the foggiest idea what the basic rudiments of the job entails, or how it is supposed to operate – and what he’s actually there for?
What makes him think that all that is required of him is to spend as much taxpayers’ money as he wants to buy stuff like fancy cars, clothes and paintings (and, of course, all the take-aways he needs to stuff himself with, from McDonalds)? .
ANC politicians are apparently chosen on the same basis of how one wins a popularity contest at nursery school.
Living in this country under this ANC government, is like living in a deluded and deranged nightmare.
Dave Harris: “What you still fail to understand, probably due to generations of apartheid indoctrination, is that the painting was not just its not just (sic) an affront to dignity of the office of the President but the entire African culture!”
What a wildly inaccurate unsubstantiated claim this is. It is hinted later in the Harris rant that there is a sense in which the artist has perpetuated a stereotype of black men. Harris has probably not been exposed to San rock art and traditional African fertility sculpture, both of which boldly celebrate the male sexual organs in artistic form, just as Western art is replete with representations of male genitalia.
Harras reminds me of the fanatic Biagio da Cesena – the fundamentalist conservative papal master of ceremonies who railed against Michelangelo’s celebration of the human nude in his Last Judgement in the Sistine chapel. He claimed that the nudes were an affront to the entire catholic culture! And I very much doubt that Harris is aware of just how brutally Biagio da Cesena’s dignity is stripped and attacked in the bottom right hand corner of the Last Judgement fresco. http://100swallows.wordpress.com/2009/02/08/the-last-judgment-by-michelangelo/
Dave Harris and Toffee are right. The so called “spear” is pure RACISM. And it is no good going on about Mabulu’s painting, which also depicted our president’s penis. That is because it is clearly ok for a black RASTA to paint a presidential penis! Dave and Tofolux, am I right?
How can an office (of state, or anything else) ‘deserve’ respect? A fool in high office, or a dishonest person in a top job, is still a fool or dishonest. Respect seems to be something an individual earns, not ‘deserves’.
In SA there is another problem, politically speaking. The President of SA is also a working politician – president of a political party and its elected leader. It is impossible for the man (or woman) to separate the two roles.
It is certainly arguable that a head of state ‘deserves’ respect because (s)he represents the whole country, not just one interest.
But why would the leader of a political party ‘deserve’ the respect of everybody?
Right, right and right again.
Thank you to (in no order or merit) Greg Unzola, mike venter, Lyndall Beddy, Guinessholic, cyberdog, MLH, bernpm, pap & wors, Indeed, Tony A, Mark and Max among many others, who are have the guts to spell it out the way it is – and to speak out against the idiocy, incompetency, profligacy, arrant corruption and fraud of what the ANC has degenerated into.
To add to Lyndall Beddy’c comment: “Apartheid lasted 40 years – the ANC is halfway there already – what have they achieved?
Let’s put it another way: It has taken eighteen years to put South Africa on the brink of a ‘failed state’.
Zuma-babwe, here we come.
I cannot believe the levels of incomprehension and/or (sometimes perhaps deliberate) misreading on the part of some of those who commented here. Anyone who cannot read this post as championing the rights and “dignity” of those who find themselves at varying levels of disempowerment, from the very poor to those who have – or are supposed to have – an income of sorts, is either excessively biased, or does not understand English. As for the agents provocateurs – for that is clearly what they are (Harris and Tofolux) – do you really think that anyone takes you seriously? You are so patently writing on behalf of, and in the service of, your masters.
@Maria:
Income is not a basic human right. The right to private property is.
In context, I think the human dignity clause refers to tortures and relocations that occurred under apartheid. The clause is meant to ensure that this doesn’t happen willy-nilly (and some transgressions don’t happen at all, which is why we don’t have a death penalty).
Calling for a guaranteed right to an income is on par with calling for a guaranteed level of human dignity, with the related contradictions. The only people who do have a right to guaranteed income in our constitution are people who have been incarcerated.
Also of interest, Chapter 36 highlights exactly how certain rights may be limited:
http://www.info.gov.za/documents/constitution/1996/96cons2.htm#36
The ‘least restrictive’ means is evidently part of why the office of the presidency has no legal rights in and of its nature as an entity.
More on the legal issues:
http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/trying-to-censor-the-internet-is-neither-legal-nor-rational/
And more on the best way to ensure human dignity:
http://www.fm.co.za/Article.aspx?id=174160
Coincidentally, the vilified Milton Friedman proposed negative income tax as a way to guarantee basic income. Some of its shortcomings are discussed here:
http://mises.org/daily/2406
Garg, I am merely supporting Bert’s argument, that in the SA economy, the powerful (with huge incomes, by the way) are defended at the drop of a hat as far as their supposed dignity goes, but those who live under circumstances where no income, or little income, puts them in a position where they lose their human dignity altogether, are not defended, or cared for. So, whether you talk about this lack of dignity in terms of income or private property (which the poor lack, anyway), it amounts to the same thing. If the SA government is really concerned about the dignity of SA citizens – of which I am not one – it would go out of its way to provide the circumstances where material conditions conducive to preserving human dignity would exist.
@Maria:
And you are dead right. The powerful – like Zuma – do have huge incomes because we do not feel that we get value for what we’re paying.
You are also absolutely correct in that the poor do not own their own property. The government does not want to hand over land – be it township land or farm land – because in many cases poor black people sell the land to seek oppurtinies elsewhere and this skews their equity targets. Lovely thing, this egalitarianism.
You are also right that the lack of faith and trust to afford the poor private property amounts to the same thing as depriving the poor of their human dignity while maintaining the dignity of those in power.
Coincidentally, the Free Market Foundation is trying to convince government to hand over land rights to the poor:
http://www.freemarketfoundation.com/ShowArticle.asp?ArticleType=Issue&ArticleId=2781
This would go a long way towards the material conditions conducive to preserving human dignity. Grants and guaranteed wages do not ensure dignity (quite the opposite).
South Africa’s option is not private property and free enterprise. It is the Chinese and EU ‘state capitalism’ model, which is supported by the AU old boys club of African dictators for obvious reasons.