Communism, as formulated by Germans Marx and Engels in their industrialised continent far from the African situation, is seminally Eurocentric. When the South African Communist Party was founded by white, middle class manufacturers and merchants, disproportionately Jewish, Soviet leaders felt blacks weren’t yet advanced enough for Communism. During the 1921 Rand Revolt, the communists were under the sway of working class Afrikaners, as hateful of their fellow black workers as they were of their capitalist bosses. Many of Marx’s radical ideas did not sit comfortably with the missionary school educated elite of the African National Congress.
Participating in the liberation struggle, white communists faced excommunication from their community. They kept their champagne tastes though, like Picasso, the richest communist in the world. But instead of appearing hypocritical, this often served to humanise them. Some would pay the highest price – assassination. But communist advice to the liberation movement was treated with suspicion. The entryism of white-skinned communists was one of the reasons Robert Sobukwe broke with the ANC to form the PAC.
Perhaps it is this sensitivity to its past that underlies the tenor of the rhetoric emanating from the current leader of the SACP.
What we are witnessing under SACP secretary general Blade Nzimande, minster of higher education, is a pitiful rerun of the Stalinist betrayal of communism – a desire for state thought control; paranoiac reactions to dissent; more secretiveness, security apparatus and policing; increasingly irrational analysis; and a dangerous leadership cult.
Strategic pacts that pervert the movement are nothing new. The most depraved was the Hitler – Stalin Pact. As news spread of the millions of Jews and Poles being exterminated, South African communists held their tongues, becoming known as “Communazis”. They then reversed their position when Hitler attacked the Soviet Union.
It was the same mentality in defence of its paymaster that led the SACP to praise imperial Soviet tanks as they crushed the pro-democracy movements of the 1950s.
Once upon a time, the SACP could be relied upon to stand up to government with a certain idealism, to give incisive critiques, as SACP deputy general secretary Jeremy Cronin used to do before he became deputy minister of transport, even if in most cases these were followed shortly afterwards by obsequious retractions.
These days the SACP in government has little choice but to dutifully vote for repressive legislation and even implement policy in the very face of striking workers. (E-tolling has now been quaintly reframed as a “serious strategic mistake”.)
Those in the unions – Cosatu and the SACP – who had serious misgivings when Zuma announced his cabinet in 2009, have been vindicated.
Old communists like Ben Turok slipped out of the National Assembly and did not vote for the secrecy Bill. Nzimande not only voted, but endorsed the legislation even in its early faulty form. He belittled critics of the Bill as engaged in nothing more than “titillating, white suburban politics”. Nzimande also favours a state-run media tribunal.
While Cosatu sensibly worried that such mechanisms will block the exposure of corruption among elites, Nzimande told the media: “If there is one serious threat to our democracy, it is [the] media” – not unemployment, not poverty, not corruption, not even global capitalism.
Recently, Nzimande called for an indefinite boycott of City Press. He has been railing against the paper since 2008.
As Cosatu’s Zwelinzima Vavi pointed out, such Communist Party heroes as Ruth First would be turning in their graves: “She would ask where her SACP is, and why it has not led a united working class in a struggle to change the direction we seem to be taking.”
Why? Because the SACP has been drifting ever closer to the elite political classes and further away from Cosatu and the actual workers. Nzimande should be reminded it was the trade unions led by Lech Walęsa in Poland that set in motion the ousting of Europe’s communist parties when they had lost their way.
Within months of being appointed minister, Nzimande’s department purchased a new R1.1-million BMW 7 series for his personal use, earning a rebuke from Cosatu. Living with the contradictions of wealth is one thing; living in ideological confusion is far more corrosive.
An enthusiastic participant in bourgeois democracy, the once mildly charming if bombastic academic with a singsong voice now harbours fantasies of reaching for the deputy presidency. Nzimande, like Julius Malema before him, has become a useful idiot in the succession battle of the ANC.
There he was, ecstatically bouncing about in the vanguard of The Spear circus, a re-elect Zuma (and please keep seats for us) rally if ever there was one. (One should always be extremely suspicious of state-directed protests.)
But it provided a moment of clarity: Nzimande for personal ambition had handed the party over to nationalists. In so doing, he has destroyed the redemptive potential of Communism.
It was significant that the ANC Youth League didn’t show up. Instead, it was the Young Communist League who leapt into the breach.
As the Goodman Gallery and City Press agreed to self-censorship, ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe (who is also SACP national chairperson) repeatedly announced, “Mission accomplished!” As the editor of the Mail & Guardian Nic Dawes, observed, all that was missing was the aircraft carrier.
But this was not enough for Blade Nzimande, the man meant to be the guardian of academic freedom. The completely defaced painting, now known as “The Smear”, bought by a German collector for R136 000, should not be allowed to leave the county, instead, it must be destroyed, he told the crowd.
Such implacability smacks of desecrating the corpse of your enemy. What a brave start to the expropriation of foreign assets!
As a communist, his outrage should have been directed at the artist for daring to reflect Lenin through Zuma.
For someone who endlessly complains about the “liberal” media, Nzimande has certainly thrust himself into its limelight at every turn, with all the seductive egotistical dangers that entails. (At one point he was receiving coverage second only to Jacob Zuma, leading to insidious rumours about his wife’s position on the SABC board. Phumelele Ntombela-Nzimande left her position with a R1.8-million retrenchment package.)
Known for tomes of often good analysis, though so turgid it seemed designed to bore its class enemies to death, the SACP however remains wedded to the idea of an all-powerful, one-party state. If the likes of Nzimande were in charge of it, it would be a sorry state indeed. He has embarked on a Stalinist campaign against progressive civil society – what the SACP dubs a ”liberal onslaught” or “ideological third force” of “anti-majoritarian liberalism”. Liberal critiques are facilely dismissed as racist attacks. Nzimande is as intolerant of dissension within the party as he is of it in broader society.
Cronin with some justification questions the funding of various NGOs and their lack of accountability. But then will the SACP open its books and reveal its party organisation funders?
Ruth First, as a journalist when secretary of the Young Communist League, kept embarrassing the authorities with exposés of slavery on the Bethal potato farms, migrant labour, slum conditions. Such social blight is not exactly a thing of the past. But the SACP can no longer criticise the failings of the neo-liberal, some might say neo-conservative government of which it is now part and parcel.
Instead, it directs its energies at symbols and propaganda wars. It has made itself ridiculous by describing Murray’s painting as pornography and pleading for better policing of the unenforceable age restriction. How did the SACP end up sounding like a prudish colonial ladies’ tea club?
The party may be getting more press than ever before, but the kind of rhetoric and concerns it busies itself with these days, has left some of us wondering, whatever happened to the Left?
In the battle for the soul of the ANC, the SACP has lost its own. It has been captured by the intrigues and political games of bourgeois democracy, the recycling of elites. Hence, the SACP’s deafening silence over the BEE-owned Aurora mine scandal eventually leading to a mealy-mouthed almost apologist mention of it; and Nzimande’s strident, diversionary tactic of lambasting the media and even stooping to play the populist race card (former Model C schools as ”islands for whites” etc).
The classic Marxist approach is to smash the bourgeois state. In truth, the current SACP baulks at the prospect of a real revolution, a sentiment they wholeheartedly share with liberals.
The SACP leadership claim they are contesting democratic space at all levels including cabinet. But it cannot avoid implementing policies designed to benefit the elite. The efficacy of this strategy (ever since Joe Slovo became minster of housing in 1994) has yet to prove itself. Meanwhile, the contradictions and self-delusion is patently obvious to everyone except the SACP leadership.
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The SACP will hold its 13th national congress next month.
Very thoughtful article, thank you.
It seems that Mr Mzimande has made himself somewhat adept and jumping from rock to rock in a stream. This is a great test of his powers of concentration as one mistake will see him swept away.
@ Brent: The original Commie Manifesto was nothing more than an angry piece of ejaculate written by a well-off bourgeois (Engels) and the leech who lived off his money (Marx).
Stating that “the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions” needs to occur without stating any actual solutions pretty much sums it up.
Why are you so surprised that it’s gotten worse?
The SACP was founded by Sydney Percival Bunting. He was expelled, partially for wanting a non-racist future, partly for opposing Moscow’s dictatorship and partly because of Malema-Zuma type internal intrigues and power-struggles. Amongst those who betrayed him was his friend and comrade Eddie Roux, who later wrote his political biography in atonement.
Clearly, nothing has changed
Totally agree with the latter part of the article, but at the same time, you flatter Nzimande by calling him a Stalinist. I don’t believe he has even a minimal understanding of Marxism-Leninism and I see no sign that he has even the negative courage of a Stalinist. He’s just an opportunist self-aggrandizing loudmouth who’s wrecked what could have been quite an effective left-wing lobby-group.
And comparing him to Julius Malema is very unfair to Malema.
I have for a long time suggested that media needs a scapegoat to elevate, make him into a pariah and paint him in a demeaning and paradoxical way. I think back on Juju and really he served this ”intellectually elites” very well. They frothed over article after article, ridiculing and making an absolute mockery out of him. Not only was he in most cases misrepresented, misquoted, his comments were so outsourced in bordered ridiculous. But as I have maintained, it was staged- managed by those who made millions out this very Juju. All those empty highlights, had all the anties and uncles running out of their chairs to buy those newspapers. Now who is next? Ok Brent, you are going to find it very difficult making a mockery out of Blade. In any case, I wonder if you know any communist, I mean not as an adversary but as a fellow-citizen. I wonder if you have had any conversations with any communist and ask them about their history, Most of what you write is a cut-n-paste. It carries very little weight and smacks of the ”rooi-gevaar” of yesterday. Now isnt that ironic? This latest elitist cacophany of empty and meaningless nothing is so over the top. Suggestion, read the history of Communism reflected by communists themselves. eg Brian Bunting and his parents, or maybe anybody else. Also, why dont you write about the capitalists and elitists and the huge injustices they perpetrate on this continent, Guess not, because you are as anti-communist and anti-black as they come.
@Lennon, communist thinking is dead and buried because the state owning the economy has been a failure. It hasn’t worked in China, Russia and Castro has admitted it hasn’t worked in Cuba. The state owned economy has led to wide spread corruption by the government officials along with slow growth. What Blade is doing is hanging on to the coat tails of the ANC to make himself relevant in SA. The SACP should field a candidate in the up coming election to let all fifty of their members vote in the party.
A very good read.
Intersting read.
Both SACP and Cosatu have handed themself and their followers over to the dictatorial ambitions of the ANC.
Only when these two “groups” would split from the ANC, together or individually, could credibility in their ideals have a change to be restored.
The ministerial post for Blade was just a softie to keep him in Zuma’s trail. The split authority between early education and higher education has resulted in both education minsiters having less authority as an individual. Leaving Mr Zuma in control: “divide and rule”. Blades reinstatement of teaching training colleges after 5 years of folding them seems to support the idea that he has little direction, just mopping up the mess. Angie’s “management” does not give too many promises either.
Our media mafia thrives on peddling hate to create divisions. This is how they constantly deflect from real issues – lack of land reform, festering racism, unequal education, socioeconomic disparity…
Even though Malema has been silenced, there are thousands waiting in the wings to take his place. Furthermore, Malema as been inadvertently been groomed to be a future president by our media.
Brent, like the rest of the rabid DA supporters are desperately seeking another Malema to distract us once again. However, they’re in for a nasty surprise if they think Blade is another “Juju”. Stirring up ROOI GEVAAR by using Blade’s Communist Party affiliations is just another old apartheid dirty trick in a society that does see communism as a threat. Blade is right about the City Press being a disgrace to journalism. In the absence of media self regulation, a boycott of the paper is our only recourse. Even with the deep pockets of it corporate owner, the days of City Press are numbered, that you can be certain of!
Sp why is calling the former Model C schools as ”islands for whites”, playing the “race card”? Heck, these racists are brazen enough to even declare a bastardized European language like Afrikaans, an “African” language in order to maintain a white majority in schools and universities. e.g. even two decades since our liberation, the Univ of Stellenbosch is 77% white in a Province that’s overwhelmingly black!!! So who’s playing the “race card”?
@ Sterling Ferguson: Quite right.
Somebody mentioned Aristotle today who apparently said that when everybody owns something, nobody is willing to maintain it. I’ve seen this in the office where one person leaves a pile of teaspoons in the sink and won’t own up to having used any of them. That mentality in government is obviously disastrous.
Hit the nail on the head there Brent. Blade is better off using his blade to cut his own wrist, the man is but a drama queen with no more substance. All his rethoric is old and outdated, he plays for time and money to his retirement.
Poor Tofolux, it is sad and heart breaking to see people like Tofolux struggle and try to come to terms with their failed believes.
As Evita Bezuidenhout pointed out many, many years ago: “We have something unique in South Africa – a Communist Party with plans for the future” or something to that effect.
@Harris: ” Heck, these racists are brazen enough to even declare a bastardized European language like Afrikaans”
Throwing around the term racist while using the strongest term you can possibly get away with on these comments sections to described another people’s language. That is Dave Harris for you.
Harris often complains about some of his posts never getting put up. One is left to wonder just what line he has crossed in those posts.
In fact, I’ve lost count of the number of times Dave Harris shoehorns in harsh descriptions of Afrikaans, even when it is completely irrelevant. How, exactly, is he any better than those people who disparage Xhosa, Zulu etc? He’s a brazen bigot.
@Dave Harris, your extremist views are as bad as the AWB on the other side of the spectrum. You sound like an angry delusional individual who struggle to deal with todays SA.
But please leave the unfounded statements it is not benefiting your rage. Afrikaans the bastard language is after Zulu the most spoken in SA. http://www.southafrica.info/about/people/population.htm
Also get your facts correct on the population of the Western Cape, and by the way look at the language spread.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Cape
Your extremist racist views discredit your arguments.
Very good analysis/critique Brent.
@Mike, if someone does not hold your view, it is a contested view. We are not in the same congregation singing the same songs so how can that possibly be extremist. Oh and by the way, you might be sad and I might be poor but hey not-my-masser, I certainly do not need your approval.
@Reducto
Facts are facts my friend. Afrikaans is what it is.
btw. Some of my best friends speak Afrikaans and they readily admit to to the root of where the language came from.
@mike venter
Still can’t explain why the Univ of Stellenbosch is 77% white in a province where whites are only 18% !!! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Cape
Why do you resort to playing the Victim Card instead of engaging in honest debate with Tofolux? Next you’re be screaming white genocide LOL
There is a vast difference between socialism and communism – a difference none of you seem to understand.
The only successful socialist states that I know of are Botswana and Afrikaner South Africa with its income generating parastatals. The ANC sold the lot under the very capitalist and non-communist mantra of “it is not the business of government to do business”.
If anyone else knows of another successful socialist statei.i.e. one that promotes the development of the poor to a middle class – let us know.
Enjoyed the read, Brent. Not sure what to make of some of the comments. I fear that a good couple are off their trolleys, not that they haven’t been considered suspect by most of us for ages.
One of the wisest analyses I have seen of the global phenomenon of communism, which has nothing at all to do with race. The ‘Dave Harris’ comments which follow must be among the stupidest – saying nothing at all about communism, just the usual boring ‘how I hate all white people’. Hilariously unintelligent.
SA has an interesting claim – one of the few modern nations where the ruling party is based on both totalitarian communism and racial nationalism – both totally bankrupt ideologies from the mid 20th century. SA is a bit like Poland in 1940 – occupied by both Nazis and Communists, and suffering the worst excesses of both groups of extremists.
“Because the SACP has been drifting ever closer to the elite political classes and further away from Cosatu and the actual workers. ” That’s the whole idea of communism – a tiny elite of thugs, criminals, gangsters and parastites in the elite political class, lording it over a massive underclass or lumpenproles – desperate, violent, undeducated, barabarians who keep that tiny elite in power. So Brent – it’s exactly as per the script of communism and the revolution – which is neither national nor democratic.
SACP boss needs to understand that we are leaving in a capitalist economy where Soutj Africa needs to compete in a global world. their policies must be aligned to the current trends that emerging as multinational corporations dictates the politicians as how the economy should be managed and be grown. by looking at things SACP is not as strong as ANC and COSATU. It just merely supports the tripartite alliance. Otherwise on its own its dead. SACP boss is investing his time and political career to Zuma without him it would be difficult to secure a cabinet post. He will get the same post for the second term but after that its finished. That is why he does not to relinquish the SG post. Is he fighting for the poor? What are their policies which are pure poor? what influence do they have on the present government?
People do not get too upset by our friend Dave’s comments.
Apart from being sometimes amusing in recalling the past at every street corner, he seems either:
1. the kind of person that lives with hatred about the past and indulging in it. SA simply has to wait for these kind of people to die out.
or:
2. he has been hired (and paid) by these capitalist and imperialist media moguls to drive up the response numbers….and doing a good job, I might say.
@ Harris
“In the absence of media self regulation, a boycott of the paper is our only recourse. ”
With respect, I am demanding a boycott of all press that do not support the NDR. The so-called Independent Group is worse than NASPERS. I call for a press monitoring administration — unless the press gets it house in order. Until then, I will get all the news I need from SABC.
@Venter, one must be very carefully when discussing why some groups do better then others. For example; why are the Jews are much more educated then the other whites? Why in Brazil the Asians are more educated then the whites or blacks in Brazil. There is a higher percentage of Asians going to the universities in Brazil then any group in Brazil. Why are the Ibos in Nigeria are much more educated then any group in that country? The Ibos will go into business in larger numbers then other groups of Africans. Many people think the answer lies in the effort various groups put in education and businesses.
@Brent, what is missing in your article about Blade is the communists have never won an election in the world. This group usually hang around the government by acting as an alliance and hoping chaos develop so they can take over the government. Once in power the communist will take away the rights of everyone and screw up the economy. Blade doesn’t believe in democracy he is only playing lip services to democracy.
@Harris: You ignore the fact that Afrikaans wasn’t developed by whites alone. But that is an inconvenient fact for you.
The fact is, you keep shoehorning disparaging Afrikaans, even when it is completely irrelevant to the topic at hand. You are a bigot, no better than those who disparage Xhosa, Zulu etc.
PS Harris, the “some of my best friends…” argument is really weak. How often do we hear bigots try avoid being labelled as such because “some of my best friends…”?
@Molotov,Chekov,Sakharov,Fokof,Thembani et al. you are really betraying yourselves. I am expecting more from you, cmon you have had priviledged education and as per Sterling’s argument, the intelligence capacity should be better than those of us who were schooled underneath a tree. Guys cmon now. @Sterling, are you serious abt “communists never winning an election in the world”. Really now its as bad as Liendie being misinformed about our very own country. Suggestion, you are able to educate yourself through google cos I see this cutting-n-pasting is overworked by some amongst us.
On a lighter historical/hysterical note:
Nazi students did their bookburning thing in Berlin in 1936.
Blade Nzimande did his bookburning thing at the University of Zululand library in 1976
@Harris, so you want the 30% blacks in WC who only speak 23% Xhosa to attend a University that is attended by people mostly or over 50% speaking Afrikaans? That’s demographics.
Does Stellenbosch stop blacks from enrolling there? Is that what you are saying?
What about UCT, UWP and Cape Peninsula U of Tech, what their demographics? How many other Universities in SA are the same?
Your argument as your other arguments again high-tail straight back to your racist believes and attitudes against whites.
Stick to the debate at hand sir.
@Tofolux, yes! I am serious about the communist have never won an election to take over a government in the world. In Russia this country descended into chaos and the government collapsed. Lenin once said with all of the power on the streets he just pick it up and took over Russia. In China the government fell apart because of the war with Japan and descended into chaos so, Mao and his boys took over the government with the aid of Stalin. In Cuba the people were fighting to get the hated Batista out of office and his government fell apart so, the communists led by Castro took over the government. Once in power the communists government will take away the rights of all citizen and screw up the economy, like Castro just admitted was a failure in Cuba.
The other myth about communist form of government is that they are a friend of labor unions. This is far from being true because once in power, the communists will banned all labor unions and setup fake unions. To stay in power the communists will setup an army of informers to watch each others to stop any opposition to their rule.
@tofolux
You say: “I have for a long time suggested that media needs a scapegoat to elevate, make him into a pariah and paint him in a demeaning and paradoxical way.”
But you scapegoat the media yourself! The irony is so patently clear and hilarious – you accuse the media of clinging to scapegoats while you, yourself scapegoat the media. You and Harris, that is -plus the minuscule number of other extremist fanatics out there.
To you lot the media is white and racist and responsible for all our ills. That’s called scapegoating my friend. It’s a symptom of paranoid splitting – black-and-white thinking i.e. adolescent and/or neurotic thinking.
There is nothing much wrong with Karl Marx’s analysis of the capitalist system as we nare now witnessing its unravelling.
However, Blade is a despicable specimen of a communist. There is nothing worse than these hypocrites who revel in the luxurious trappings of the capitalist bourgeois system-the fancy cars BMW X5 nogal , the 5-star hotels and partners who are wealthy businesswomen, cashing in big time.
i would much rather deal with a straight up-front business person /entrepreneur who openly states that he/she is out there to make money without pretending to be altrusitic or a philanthropist.
Why has Cronin become so obsequious ? To look after numero uno ?
@Max, firstly I am not your friend secondly, you must be able to take a counter-argument Max. Cmon, I do not sing from your hymnbook and when I pose the alternative then the right thing to do is argue for your position. This name calling and singling out reduces the argument to mud-slinging. And sure there are some who want to go there but clearly you need to unpack the views that Dave and myself hold. If you cannot, it means that you have lost your point of view. Its called contestation and this is a battle of ideas. So Max, why dont you battle me instead of the name calling. I am a youth but surely you can battle with the youth on some of your old ideas.
What I want to know is what these fat-cat communists are going to do about our corrupt fraudulent system of fractional reserve banking practised by this private banking cartel and which is the root cause of most if not all of our economic and socail miseries ?
When are going to have a decent publicly-owned bank of the deposit-taking kind established in this country that can compete with the private banks.? And when is it that the government will be allowed to borrow money interest-free directly from the Reserve Bank for its infrastructure projects instead of raising money through tax, govt. bonds or private bank loans ?
The SACP “communists” will label this ultra-leftist populism ,of course.Or they will probably say that the “balance of forces” that currently prevail or that the “objective material conditions” do not allow for such actions/policies to be taken now.
The usual pathetic excuses to do sweet FA about changing the rotten usurious banking system while they happily enjoy the fruits of capitalist elitism and the majority of the people struggle to survive and wreck the country through destructive rioting.
The next Juju is most likely to be Irwin Jim of Numsa.
These black Napoloens will keep appearing in Africa for as long as the French Revolution “Noble Savage” myth of JJ Rouseau, and the “noble peasant” myth of Marx, and the Racist Black American Pan Africanist myths combine to their toxic mix.
@Tofolux, I am also a youth and I am merely describing the qualities of thought that your viewpoint epitomises. It would be redundant for me to reiterate what many others here have said. You have made outlandish claims and I am trying to illuminate the style of thinking that very often leads people to such outlandishness and fanaticism. I am not asking you to sing from my hymnbook. I am calling for more complex and accurate nuanced thinking because your ideas smack of immature reactionary irrational neurotic thinking. That is my point. Namecalling is not what I am doing. The adjectives are not directed at you as insults, they simply describe the style of thinking you and Harris are displaying here, yet again.
You attacked the media for being fixated on scapegoats and I pointed out that you are doing precisely the same thing. You appear to be projecting your own scapegoat fixation. I say this because you often blame the media for all manner of ills. And so you are behaving in precisely the same way as the media you deplore. And that is a very ancient neurotic pattern of disavowal, splitting and attacking. It comes from one of the very oldest hymnbooks. It’s what racists do: they disavow bad aspects of their own selves, project those aspects onto a target group and then attack that group. They use the Other as a scapegoat for their own inner negative feelings just as you are doing with the media.
So I understand your counter-argument but I see that it is deeply flawed.
@Max, you do not hold the monopoly on ideas and you cannot dictate how I think. To suggest that I should be as sophisticated as you, is shying away from a simplicity. I also do not know where this thing comes from that a certain party sets the terms and conditions of engagement. There is no referee on the rules of engagement. Hence the illogical thought processes that goes with your conclusion suggest that you are not recognising or acknowledging the premise of the argument that I or Dave make. (Ps I am not Dave’s spokesperson but am using this as relevance only)Namecalling and attacking the person making the argument is simply shying away from putting your counter-proposal in order for it to be debated. I am talking about an alternative and you have no counter-alternative. I have a point and conclusion and you have no counter-point or conclusion. That is what I am talking about. What is evident is that you are unable to support your premise and resort to the age-old approach of attacking the messenger.
Also, youth(?) hmpfff. cmon now, how about some basic principles of honesty. Why is it so impossible for you and your ilk to subject yourselves to honesty when we engage?
@Beddy, speaking of the French Revolution, why the leaders of the French Revolution never condemned slavery?
Tofolux:
You have unwittingly proved Max’s point. Resoundingly.
You state; “you clearly resort to the age-old approach of attacking the messenger”.
Do you not see the dripping irony in that statement in your persistent scapegoating of the media?
You call for fairness and honesty in debate and deride attacking the messenger, and yet your opening salvo at Brent is vitrioloic ad hominem.
How can anyone take your views seriously in the face of such fundamental logical
flaws”?
It’s absolutely hilarious!
Hoisted once again by your own petard.
That’s All She’s Got! -
Throwing Toys Out The Cot
- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - -
It’s no use, Max
You can’t quell her attacks:
She’s lost the plot
Her reasoning is vrot
Perhaps she’s on pot
To talk such rot.
Sterling
Slavery was not the issue in Europe – class was the issue.
@Tofolux and Yaj: Capitalism isn’t failing.
Capitalism does not mandate a fractional reserve system.
Capitalism does not mandate a Greece or a USA (it’s slowly happening) government wastefully spending tomorrow’s money and indebting the future.
That is not capitalism.
Capitalism is what is somehow still coming up with some productivity improvements (driven by supply and demand forces) to provide the money that is wasted away by an ever-increasing bureaucratic big government of fat cats.
If you want a scapegoat, I suggest you investigate “big government” and corporatism.
Dave Harris says “Heck, these racists are brazen enough to even declare a bastardized European language like Afrikaans…”
Clearly an attempt to attack someone else on what they hold dear, by calling their language a “bastardized language.” I suspect their is a very mean spirit behind the person who gets satisfaction in making such statements.
By the way, I contend practically EVERY language in the world today is bastardized, Dave… that doesn’t make the language good or bad. Language just is.
Take for example the word “mother.”
From Middle English moder, from Old English mōdor, from Proto-Germanic *mōdēr (cf. East Frisian muur, Dutch moeder, German Mutter), from Proto-Indo-European *méh₂tēr (cf. Irish máthair, Tocharian A mācar, B mācer, Lithuanian mótė).
From Proto-Indo-European *méh₂tēr is also Ancient Greek: μήτηρ (mētēr), Sanskrit: मातृ (mā́tṛ), Persian: مادر (mādar) etc…
One of the articles, published in the Sunday Times, which horrified me the most was by one of our top female thinkers and businesswomen, praising North Africa for using “indigeneous” languages on their aeroplanes like Arabic and Swahili – not non-indigeneous languages like SA using English and Afrikaans.
The situations are EXACTLY the same – Arabic, like English, is a colonial language, and Swahili is an Arabic creole like Afrikaans is a Dutch creole.
And according to the linguist, Bickerton, Swahili and Afrikaans are the only 2 REAL creoles of Africa.