Showing posts with label ANC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ANC. Show all posts

Thursday, November 30, 2023

Biased US media


As long as the strong continue to oppress and tyrannize the weak and vulnerable there is a role for militants/guerillas.

For how else can the victimized win/regain their freedom from those with superior arms?

Remember, it was militants, also dubbed terrorists by the well-armed oppressors and their powerful supporters, who brought the fight and eventually justice in the United Kingdom (the IRA), South Africa (the ANC) etc.

Freedom fighters should never lose their humanity in their struggle though, and that is what HAMAS, under the leadership of Mohammed Deif, did on October 7th, when they invaded sections of Israel, killed, maimed, and kidnapped innocent women and children, instead of those who had their heels on their necks.

I had no idea the so-called free press in the USA which influences so much of the world, was so biased until they started to report on this bloody tragedy. For if you had just come from Mars, you could be excused if you thought this latest flare-up in that region happened in a vacuum. For, the main media houses seemed to be in competition among themselves to determine who could sound more like the official spokespeople of the Israeli government! As to News Nation, which was only launched in 2020 as a cable news station, they in my book, have the most unhinged reportage on the Gaza affair.

In the USA, where press freedom is supposedly held up as being sacred, suddenly all criticism of the Israeli government’s actions which led to the inexcusable actions by HAMAS, are condemned by the traditional media organizations as either anti-Semitic, taken out of context or simply censored.

This despite the fact that the Israeli government comprised of Likud and other far-right malevolent parties and led by Netanyahu since 2022, is extremely unpopular and has been facing massive resistance at home.

For it is not all Israelis inside and outside of the Zionist state who support the oppression and the campaign by settlers operating under the protection of the Israeli Defense Force, to murder and terrorize Palestinians to steal their land, as is the regular practice in the West Bank.

So, while HAMAS has to be condemned for the brutal attack on civilians on October 7th which left some 1200 civilians dead and more than 240 taken hostages, the vicious retaliation on all civilians in Gaza by the Israeli army which killed almost 7000 children in 40 days is beyond the pale.

Interestingly, in the US, most of the voices that condemn Putin for his brutal attacks on civilians in Ukraine saw little wrong with what could only be described as the start of a genocidal campaign against innocent Palestinians in Gaza.

In this latest campaign, the Israeli government has not only relentlessly bombed over a million civilians, destroyed their homes, all possessions, even bombing hospitals carelessly but also, later deprived those who managed to survive, of food, water, and electricity.

 This is simply beyond evil.

 “When war is declared, truth is the first casualty' declared by Samuel Johnson and what we were told by most of the mainstream media in the USA,  is the most blatant evidence of this I have ever seen.

You know, the US and Israel had long boasted about Israel being the only democracy in the Middle East but what the world is now getting full evidence of is that what really exists there, is a vicious apartheid system.

As I write, there is a temporary respite from the bombing as some Israeli hostages are being released as well as Palestinian ‘prisoners.’

This exposes is the truth behind the popular perception that Gaza is the largest prison in the world. For we now understand the trivial grounds they had been using to create prisoners there. For prominent among these ‘prisoners’ are women and children who were detained and locked up indefinitely without due process, for ‘crimes’ as trivial as tweeting or throwing stones at Israeli soldiers guarding settlers who stole their lands after killing and maiming their parents and relatives!

According to well-respected Dr. Gabor Mate in an interview with Piers Morgan,  ‘a poll in 2005, found that the most traumatized children in the world were to be found in Gaza.’ 

That was long before the unconscionable bombing in Gaza since October 2023, he emphasized.

Dr. Mate is a child of Holocaust victims and is one of the many Israelis worldwide, who are vocal and passionately opposed to the continuing vicious treatment of Palestinians by the Israelis.

The US media tells us how traumatized Israelis are, and the Israeli government insists that this pause in the bombing is only temporary and they will resume the campaign shortly.

The world cannot sit by and allow that country with the backing of the powerful USA, to continue this vicious and unconscionable campaign against women and children in Gaza. (Thank goodness they fired Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahuy who flippantly suggested using nuclear weapons on the Palestinians!)

For murder, destruction, land grab, and brutality can only lead to the creation of more HAMAS.’

Dare I remind them that it was Einstein who declared that ‘the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”!


Link; https://youtu.be/CMtMFg4LTho. 


 


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Monday, March 20, 2023

The strike that fizzled

 Today, March 20th was the day when South Africa should have been closed by a national strike called by the EFF (Economic Freedom Party) which is supposed to be the 3rd largest party in the country. 

Hanging out at Table Top Mountain 

This is as far up the mountain as we could go

The national strike was called to pressure the ANC government led by Cyril Ramaphosa, to resign. 

Since Mandela resigned as president of the African National Congress and Prime Minister of the country, the party has been riddled with charges of corruption, cronyism and mismanagement.

In fact, just yesterday a man who was investigating corruption was assassinated along with his son, in  Johannesburg.

I would therefore have thought that the strike would attract a lot of support, but what do I know about South African politics?

Maybe it did in other provinces but although we spent the day In Town, having been warned not to make any plans, things appear fairly normal and I did not see any visible signs of political action. 

This informal settlement is home to some 30,000 black South Africans.

This however could be because Cape Town is controlled by the Democratic Alliance which is the second largest parry in the nation and maybe they told their people not to support it.




Asian slaves were mostly Muslims and were settled in Bo-Kaap. The different color homes identify the part of Asia they came from.

We did see slightly less vehicular traffic and some businesses were closed but most workers were out. This is because, I suspect, if they want to keep their jobs, with 18% unemployment, they can’t join any strike!

Of course these considerations don’t affect the wealthy and the business owners. Tomorrow is a public holiday (human rights day!) and they just took a very long holiday.

Curious, I asked an employee at a supermarket if she would be working tomorrow and she said yes. When I enquired if she would be getting extra pay to work on the holiday, she said no. 

This is a country where the gap between the rich and poor rivals Haiti, from what I am seeing and learning.

For here, blacks still live in terrible conditions in informal settlements and on the streets, Asians in better areas and the whites in total opulence ! SMH.

A beautiful Zulu hat

Anyway as it was anticipated that the strike would be effective, we were warned not to stray too far from home. So we hung around the city.

Since we never got the opportunity to go to nearby Table Top Mountain and take the cable car to the peak, we decided to do it. Because of the heavy cloud cover however, the cable car station was closed but we got a good view of the city from where we went.



Sections of the mountain 


Section of the business destrict near convention center. Some of the developments are on dumped up land.

I have found South Africans to be among the most careful and polite drivers but we did see an accident downtown today and a lot of police at the scene.



One of the many stately churches downtown. Apartheid had the full support of most Christians.


A reasonably quiet day today for us but I got to see a lot more of downtown and even learnt about the upcoming ganja convention😊.



Other memories



This huge conference center was constructed after apartheid was abolished and is constantly in use by international organizations. It has also attracted numerous 5 star hotels.






The lobby of the fabulous Sky hotel opposite Conference Center. The robot welcomes you as you enter.
Just passing through!😊