Sorry guys- hijacking the thread a bit (athough its relevant by comparison with the NZ situation).
Sorry guys- hijacking the thread a bit (athough its relevant by comparison with the NZ situation).
Seriously? You want logic in politics?
Which part of "irate voters" didn't you get?
TBH if I was a black person and I had seen my family left destitute due to damn nasty practices by a previous government, I would probably be on the frontline chucking stones if the past was not addressed to give us as much of a chance as the whites had before. I get it.
There has to be preferential opportunituies afforded to the previously disadvantaged to build the black middle class, and make SA stronger economically. Money must be spent on electrical and sewage and schooling and roads where there was none before because the slum townships were "unofficial" and "not permanent" (Tui anybody?) and they were all expected to be "repatriated" back to their designated "homelands". Already as it is, there is massive unrest about "lack of service delivery" - riots breaking out, etc. Its a timebomb.
Fact is that SA whites can expect to fend for themselves for a decade or three (maybe longer, maybe forever a la Zimbabwe) while that happens. End of. If they choose to hang around while they and their kids dont get the same opptunities as the black one. I can see arguments from both sides right now. I chose not to hang around. Luckily my previously advantage background allowed me the skills to be marketable internationally.
So what is your point?
It is a race based team so under the UN human rights agreement it should be stopped, whether it is the best team or not, and whether a white only team was good or not it would never get off the ground as it would be labeled racist.
Again not that i care as i like to see a good game of rugby no matter who's playing.
All this talk of we, us, them just divides all of us up even further and should stop. yes there are dickheads on both sides of the camp but most of us just get along with life and not really care what some stupid radicals (on either side) are ranting about today.
The problem is these wankers get air time.
The poor coloureds- they have strong Afrikaner roots (being direct descendants from the San peoples and the Dutch from the earliest settlers at the Cape in the 1600's). at teh time, they were being gradually squeezed off their lands towards Cape Town by stronger bigger Nguni black tribes moving southwardly from the Equator, and were in conflict with them. Then the Dutch settlers arrived and intermarried etc, and started expanding northwards, shooting it out with the Nguni tribes as the moved inland.
But the Apartheid government didn't give them "white" status (despite them having such strong roots). They had always regarded themselves as being Afrikaans, this being their language, etc. But due to their skin colour, they got it in the neck from the Apartheid government.
Now the ANC is in, their policies related to all "previously disadvantaged" people, including Indians and Coloureds, although it appears that it is a bit grudgingly. At least in rugby, the ANC has stated that it wants to see more "ethnic" blacks in top positions in the adminstrations and teams. So the Coloureds just cant seem to win.
The Coloureds have shown open resistance to ethnic black rule, trusting them (and their perceived corruption) even less than the liberal whites. Cape Town and surrounds is the one province out of 9 where the opposition parties govern.
This all seems a bit stupid, since there are no really clear lines between the races, since coloureds, blacks, and Indians (and whites to a lesser extent) had been intermarrying and blurring most distinctions over the centuries anyway. Hell, even some dark Italians, Greeks and Portuguese were regarded by Cape Coloureds by the Apartheid government. As I say, there is no absolute scientific test that can clearly demarcate one group from the other.
The thing is, these issues are faced and have been faced by most countries at some stage or other. Most groups/countries/races - call them what you will, have at times been the oppressed and at other times were the oppressor. The sad truth about people is that usually the strongest group win and get to write their version of history about it. It may not be just or fair but I suspect it's human nature. No wonder we all disagree, just look at all the possible causes for disagreement:
1/ firstly you have to decide whether or not there has actually been an injustice done. Your opinion will depend greatly on all sorts of things, like your upbringing, your beliefs of what's right and wrong, whether you are directly connected to the events....and a shed load of other influences. And of course, can we apply our 21st century values to people who thought very differently to us.
2/ Assuming you can agree that something wrong was done, the next question is should you seek to redress that injustice now? As for the first question, there's a million and one differing opinions, ranging from "it happened years ago so let's forget it and move on", to "the injustices are still affecting people now so let's sort them out"
3/ Once again, assuming you can reach any agreement on that, then what do you actually do about it? Is there a time after which injustices can be written off, or are they always relevant? And how do you seek to redress the balance towards one group, without taking from another? Is it right that people who weren't born when these problems happened, have to pay for them - or on the other side of the coin, have to live with the consequences of past wrongs.
As this thread shows, everyone has a different take on the whole issue. There are always some extremists at each end of the scale, but most people will fall somewhere between the two.
At least those people actively involved on all sides in the whole Maori / Pakeha / Treaty debate are saying their piece, for their own cause without violence, and whilst many of them may talk twaddle a lot of the time, at least they're having a go.
I for one, wouldn't claim to know the answers. All I can say is that as I get older, I realise that some of the things that I once thought were black and white (and I'm not talking skin colour here), turn out to be not that simple!
Feel free to tell me I'm talking crap, it's just my opinion![]()
They haven't "phucked" it... They're just redressing past injustices![]()
In Zimbabwe they are just redressing these issues more thoroughly with the aid of famine, tyres, petrol and rubber hoses.
And yes, R-soul, I can see how New Zealand would be the promised land. With the opinions you hold there will be career opportunities aplenty. Especiall with the govt. Nothing like toeing the Party line, a?
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.
Incidentally Rob Mugabe and Tame Iti are both proponents of Maoism (China's version of Stalinism). Mugabe has massive support from China and Iti spent time in China as a member of the Communist Party during the cultural revolution.
Both lovely people no doubt.
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.
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