An optimistic view of the possibilities to create a society that values human dignity above all else.
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Privilege, wealth and ...
I have unimaginable privileges, too vast to enumerate. But it is not this acknowledgement from which I draw pleasure, contrary to what small-brained modern society would suggest, pleasure is derived from sharing these privileges. It is in the sharing that we recognise our wealth and our poverty; only in selfless exchange can your riches temper my poverty and my riches fill the hole of your poverty. I am not describing a lowly economic system, I am celebrating the lofty magic of friendship.
Monday, February 25, 2013
A Knock At My Door
The clearest indicator of a failing regime is its escalating violence towards its citizens. The 1980’s saw the most intense, violent clampdown by the South African government on any opposition to their racist apartheid policies. The number of internal security laws mushroomed giving the police and army carte blanche to trample all over the lives of ordinary citizens and violate human rights with impunity, as if apartheid was not sufficient violation of the human rights of the majority of South Africans. Anyone showing any resistance was classified a terrorist and was treated as such. The government declared a state of emergency in 1986 with predictable morbid results - large numbers of black South Africans were violently assaulted, tortured and detained without trial, if they were lucky; the unlucky ones simply disappeared down unused mineshafts or were killed and buried in government-run death farms like Vlakplaas. Victims’ families told stories of hearing a knock on the door of their house followed by a rush of terror. Just as we see today in many parts of the world, the ones labeling others “terrorist” are most often the greatest terrorists of all.
Less than an hour earlier I’d been sitting at my desk writing in my journal about the day’s events – “attended a Mechanics study session,” “worked through Physics,” “got help with my computer project.” I end the entry with “I’m very worried about exams.”
But, of course, I didn’t die. They trashed the apartment, went through my letters, journal, photos, all my personal belongings. They appeared confused. They spoke among themselves, got on their radios, flipped through a mug-shot book looking up at me periodically. They had the wrong person.
Looking back, I was angry about the whole incident. Angry that the police could dish out such terror, terror that fractured something within me. Angry at the indignity. I hate the way I screamed and the way I shook. I hate the fact that my eyes filled with tears. I wish I had been bolder, more brave. That I had said something strong and challenging rather than stutter and whimper like I did. But I was afraid. I was filled with fear … just like the men who stood there threatening my life, just like the men and women who had sent them.
Watch the 1 minute video of Still Standing
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Hopeful justice
If someone takes from
you, repay this act not with revenge or acts of retrieval; rather repay it by
giving more to them. Or give something to another person. In this way, you have
righted the wrong. You will not right the wrong done to you, but you have
balanced the forces of good and bad in the universe.
www.aeballakisten.com
www.aeballakisten.com
Words
Hands touch the flesh ...
but words touch the spirit ...
Touch is powerful and beautiful,
but it passes.
The power and beauty of words
never cease.
but words touch the spirit ...
Touch is powerful and beautiful,
but it passes.
The power and beauty of words
never cease.
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