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| Adapt and die - South Africa's new motto [boodskap #101639] |
Ma, 28 Februarie 2005 10:48  |
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From: http://www.praag.co.za/rubriek137.htm
Adapt and die - South Africa's new motto
___________________________________________________________
Dan Roodt
During the time of National Party reforms in the seventies and
eighties, the cliché "adapt or die" used to do the rounds. Nowadays,
given the highest murder rate in the world, this should be modified
slightly to read, "adapt and die". For the endemic social violence in
South Africa is probably incurable.
Optimists think that violent crime can be solved through better
policing, more efficient courts and more secure prisons. Even assuming
that such improvements were possible under conditions of hard-core
affirmative action, it must be admitted that criminal justice treats
the symptom and not the cause of social violence. The Department of
Correctional Services, for one, has lost 496 out of 500 former Deputy
Directors since 1994, representing most of the intellectual capital in
the department. Newcomers may learn their job properly, or they may
not, but they have to be flown to overseas countries to find out how
prisons work as most of those previously involved in managing our
prisons are no longer there.
South Africa used to have a problem of political violence. It was not
as bad as elsewhere in Africa, but for some reason elicited hysterical
international condemnation. However, actors in political violence are
mostly driven by some sort of creed or belief system. Whether such a
person is a communist, an anarchist, a neo-Nazi or an ethnic or
religious guerilla fighter, he is usually amenable to persuasion or
compromise. Even a group of Muslim suicide bombers might declare peace
if they were given a territory in which to set up an Islamic
theocracy, governed only by themselves and not subject to any outside
influence.
In the same way, South Africa's so-called liberation movements who
were at one time fanatically convinced of the need for violent and
bloody revolution, laid down arms and bombs upon being told that F.W.
de Klerk would surrender power unconditionally. Solving political
violence is often intractable, but not impossible.
Not so social violence. Endemic crime, the breakdown of the social
fabric, a sense of drift regarding norms of good conduct, point to a
far deeper problem. The freedom fighter or urban terrorist is
ultimately rational, despite a value system that normal society might
find idiosyncratic.
But what is "normal society"? It is only the sum-total of behaviours
prevalent in any given society at any given time. The Aztecs,
infamously, practised daily human sacrifice to appease their sun god.
It might revolt many of us today, but to them it was entirely normal.
South Africa currently sacrifices about 87 humans per day to violent
crime, or 32 000 per year. Those are only the ones who actually die.
Scores of others are injured, maimed, traumatised, robbed, raped,
burgled and so on.
In any suburb today an entire history of murders, hijackings, and
other violent events can be written, if only the locals were
narcissistic enough to consider their own history worth recording for
posterity. On the other hand, social violence lacks the charm and
grandeur of political violence as it is usually not committed in the
interest of some glamorous cause like national liberation or world
revolution but simply to acquire some hapless person's BMW or rape his
wife because she happened to be inside.
However, some time ago a Johannesburg newspaper engaged in chronicling
some local history in the suburbs of Westdene and Lakefield in Benoni.
Nearly every resident had a story to tell, an entire litany of mayhem.
Mr. John Gee miraculously survived a shot through the eye, but now
feels traumatised. His wife says, "One lives in fear in one's own
home. One does not sleep. One prays for protection, yet only more
fears come."
But who are the authors of South Africa's social violence? Even asking
this question presents one with a sense of discomfort, because most
violent criminals in South Africa are young black men between the ages
of 16 and 36. As one surgeon who had stitched together at least three
child rape victims, two of whom were infants, said recently, "Probably
white men commit such acts too; it is just that no-one in South Africa
has come across such a case."
Of course, it would be preposterous to say that all young black men
are prone to violence. Judging from our daily experiences in
crime-torn South Africa, however, a sub-section of that population,
large enough to cause more havoc than even a well-equipped guerilla
army of a few thousand men, has taken up practices such as heists,
hold-ups, murders, sexual violence exacted upon women and children,
and so on.
Explanations for such deviancy are manifold. The ubiquitous answer of
it being due to apartheid might have been satisfying if other African
societies never subject to group areas and a homeland system did not
display similar traits. The Congo, Liberia, Sierra Leone come to mind.
There is a whole nature/nurture debate around black violence, except
that no adherent of the "nature" side would publicly admit to being
one, for fear of being branded a racist. Even though mainstream
American cancer research has conclusively shown that black men have
higher levels of testosterone than their white counterparts, few would
hazard the notion that this might be linked to their greater
propensity for violent crime.
America has a gargantuan prison population of two million, over half
of which consists of African-Americans. This is despite their minority
status in the USA, comprising only 12% of an overall population
amounting to 290 million. South Africa could neither afford nor
succeed, given the dire state of our criminal justice system, in
jailing a similar number of black male offenders. Currently, only 10%
of murderers in South Africa get arrested and only 6% are convicted.
Any murderer therefore has a 94% chance of getting away with it.
If by some miracle all serious criminals in the country had to be
caught and imprisoned, the prison population would surely treble or
quadruple from the present 200 000, which is already high by world
standards. Not only is such an improvement inconceivable under current
conditions, but it would also be politically unpopular with the ruling
ANC who would be incarcerating large numbers of young black males who
are mostly its own supporters at the polls. Few whites, if any, commit
violent crime and there are only 3 900 of them in prison, mostly for
white-collar offences such as fraud or insider trading on the stock
exchange.
All that remains in the world's most violent society, is precisely to
adapt and die. Twice as many South Africans of all races now die of
murder than of road accidents - even though the road accident rate is
also the highest in the world, surpassing that of Turkey. Crime
extends to trade in driver's licences, so that a large number of
drivers use so-called "bought licences", hardly a contribution to road
safety.
There are some people naive enough to think that "something can be
done about crime" in South Africa, mostly opposition politicians who
dream about diverting funds from arms procurement to policing, but
this would be futile. There are already three times as many private
security personnel as state-employed policemen, and even they do not
succeed in containing what has become Africa's only peacetime killing
field.
"I killed them because they were white." These famous words were
spoken last year by William Kekana, who participated in one of the
most horrendous incidents in which the entire family of Mr. Clifford
Rawstorne was wiped out, consisting of his fiancée, baby, as well as
his own mother. Even this massacre of an entire family would not have
made headlines, were it not for the fact that one year-old Kayla was
executed on her very first birthday with a shot in the head. Needless
to say, the two adult women were first raped before being killed. Both
William Kekana and his accomplice, Charles Fido Baloyi, fell into the
high-risk group of young black (and Coloured) males who commit almost
all violent crime in the country.
South Africa actually has a Minister of Safety and Security, which to
some might seem like an example of absurd humour. His Excellency Mr.
Charles Nqakula, whose official résumé proudly states that he was once
"a waiter and wine steward", has immortalised himself by
euphemistically stating that there was no real crime problem in South
Africa, except that it was "a little on the high side".
All in all, South Africa has got remarkably used to its new-found
status as the crime capital of the world. The high-rise districts of
Hillbrow and Berea in Johannesburg have been officially designated by
Interpol as having the highest murder rate in the world, that is, 600
people per 100 000 population members per annum. Consider for a moment
that such a figure represents 12 times the rate found in inner-city
ghettoes in the United States, often seen as no-go zones by many
Americans.
One British immigrant to South Africa who has survived three car
hijackings, refuses to emigrate, stating that he is now accustomed to
having Kalachnikovs pointed at him from point-blank range. Everyone
knows a relative or friend who has been killed or at least subjected
to some form of violent crime, and no South African can remotely
imagine a society where people do not live behind razor wire,
electrified fences, high walls, burglar bars and similar decorative
props.
Outsiders might find our lifestyle bizarre, but many pundits in South
Africa consider our society to be much more "normal" now than at any
time in the past, which was tarnished by ethnic separation albeit
without the present large-scale violence. At the height of segregation
and apartheid under Hendrik Verwoerd, South Africa was almost as
peaceful as Switzerland but she was immoral. Today we are the
apotheosis of racial morality and political correctness, yet as
violent as the Congo or Liberia. Surprisingly, however, our economy
continues to function amid the carnage. No economist has ever studied
this as far as I know, but not only is crime our biggest industry -
bigger than gold-mining or manufacturing - it also stimulates
consumption as stolen goods are replaced; it is a boon to the
insurance and security industries and ultimately makes surgeons and
undertakers rich. The government earns billions of rands in
Value-Added Tax on stolent goods being replaced with new ones. So
crime pays.
News about killings or shoot-outs no longer elicits the slightest
surprise. It is part of our daily existence, and one assumes the
lethal risks attending to something as simple as going shopping or
driving to work. My wife, for example, has twice been to the local
shopping centre where in the one instance a shoot-out was taking place
in the parking area so that she had to hide between the cars with our
18 month-old son in her arms; in the second case an armed robbery had
just taken place with the robbers casually strolling by with their
guns and their loot.
Everyone knows someone who has been killed, raped or maimed. Just this
week, the wife of a friend and former literary editor of Die Burger,
François Smith, was stabbed to death with a screwdriver in their home
in Wellington, near Cape Town. Her murderer was a 16-year-old squatter
camp resident whose race was omitted by the press but presumably few,
if any whites, reside in his particular squatter camp which is
dedicated to black Africans. Lisbé Smuts-Smith was a well-known
academic and head of the Afrikaans literature department at the
University of Cape Town. Just two weeks ago, another UCT academic,
mathematician Brian Hahn, was attacked by a former student, dr.
Maleafisha Steve Tladi (35). Hahn died in hospital a week later, while
Tladi was released on bail of R500 (about $80).
Two years ago Louw Rabie, a brilliant albeit reclusive geologist and
brother of author Jan Rabie, was beaten to death with a fence pole by
two Coloured men to whom he had lent some money a week earlier. Police
in the small Cape town of Montagu readily caught his murderers because
they happened to have drinking money during the week, taken from his
home. He was 80 years old, but in good health. He is reputed to have
been one of the most brilliant geologists and intellectuals this
country has ever produced, writing copiously throughout his life but
disdaining publication and public esteem. Africans with their oral
tradition are fond of saying that "when an old person dies, a library
burns down". What strikes me about the relentless killings of educated
whites, is that the criminals are indeed "burning down the libraries"
of this country and physically exterminating the intellectual class,
much like Pol Pot did in Cambodia. The media are celebrating youth,
dance, colour, being black and exuberant - as opposed to the quiet
studiousness of middle-aged and elderly whites, the bearers of
knowledge and understanding. Are these learned whites who are being
killed in exuberant, paradisiacal outbreaks of violence simply the
remnants of a civilisation that is being eradicated in the name of
decolonisation? No government spokesman has ever condemned such
killings; so we may assume that the present regime is completely
indifferent to them, where such killings do not enjoy their tacit
support.
Around our local school in the past week there have been two car
hijackings, as well as one murder. It is not really considered to be
an exceptionally violent area. Most of this is not even reported in
the press, because there really is not enough space and ordinary crime
is no longer newsworthy. It needs some further sadistic element to
make the front page, such as babies getting killed or raped, or
elderly farmers being tortured to death. Farming in South Africa is
now arguably the most dangerous profession in the world with more than
1600 farmers murdered since 1994, often in macabre and dehumanising
ways.
To the outside world, white South Africans are congenitally evil. If
our murderers and rapists had been white and their victims black,
Europe or the United States would long ago have sent an expeditionary
force to put a stop to it. At present, news of white suffering in
South Africa inspires the occasional yawn in Western capitals. This is
why a recent article in The Despatch, detailing the rape of a dog by
three black men, gave me some hope that a chord will be struck
somewhere in the coolly indifferent breasts of our fellow-Westerners.
Even if the lives of Louw Rabie, Brian Hahn, Lisbé Smuts-Smith, Kayla
Rawstorne and tens of thousands of others are of no value to them,
perhaps they will take pity on the mongrel bitch in Grahamstown that
was recently raped by three black men. Or perhaps two black men, as
the third one protested his innocence upon being dragged out of the
shack by screaming, "I came here to relieve myself. These two were
raping the dog when I arrived!" Cruelty to humans, especially white
humans, is today a normal feature of our society, just like human
sacrifice used to be in the culture of the Aztecs. Cruelty to animals,
or non-consensual sex with dogs, may still evoke some sympathy, not
only locally, but also internationally. I therefore feel sorry for
Masganda - the name of the dog concerned - who was rescued with a
bleeding vagina and in need of veterinary attention, but perhaps this
lowly creature of uncertain lineage could become a martyr for our
cause in alerting opinion-makers and political leaders of our plight.
Cycling has become a popular sport in South Africa. However, its
practitioners regularly get shot at by gangs of black youths in the
street, so that many of them carry guns and knives for self-defence on
their bicycles. Members of the Johannesburg mountain-bike club were
outraged a while ago when two cyclists, Scott and Lloyd Griffith, were
charged with murder after an armed battle with their four black
assailants, one of whom succumbed to his wounds.
Most of the time, however, whites are helpless victims of crime. The
government has recently passed a new gun law which makes it difficult,
if not impossible, to own a fire-arm. They have also abolished rural
commandos of military reservists entrusted with crime-prevention in
the country, without any police units replacing them. Occasionally the
newspapers carry stories of crime victims successfully defending
themselves against attacks, offering armed resistance. As a result of
the new gun law, this will soon end and we shall simply be able to
hide or flee from our assailants. Defending oneself against a
marauding robber or rapist might be a manifestation of racism, and is
therefore frowned upon as being a kind of "right-wing" response.
Being robbed of one's vehicle or household belongings is now
considered quite normal, and often people ascribe escaping with their
lives to their own astuteness, such as being friendly to the robber,
helping him load the effects into a vehicle, not looking him in the
face so as not to recognise him afterwards, et cetera. A friend of
mine in Kempton Park kept up a reasonable conversation with the
thieves emptying his house, tied up as he was with a gun pointed at
him. He survived, although his elderly mother was badly roughed up and
had to be hospitalised. In other instances, of course, people are not
so lucky and they become just another murder statistic. Then they
simply adapt and die.
*
The first draft of this article was submitted to the British
Spectator, who turned it down about a year ago. I have now updated it
with references to more recent incidents. Probably no mainstream
newspaper in South Africa will publish it, because it refers to the
race and gender of violent criminals, which is taboo here as elsewhere
in the Western world. As George Orwell said, however, "during times of
universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act".
In the interest of drawing attention to the anarchy that exists in
South Africa, the author qualifies his copyright on this article and
invites everyone to post it on his or her website, copy it and mail it
to friends and mailing lists, translate it into other languages and to
distribute it far and wide. The only condition is that no element must
be changed or censored.
A PDF-version of the article which can be printed out, photocopied and
distributed otherwise than on the internet, is available for download
on the home page of www.praag.org.
Dan Roodt is an Afrikaner author and activist.
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| Re: Adapt and die - South Africa's new motto [boodskap #101673 is 'n antwoord op boodskap #101639] |
Do, 03 Maart 2005 07:10  |
Annette
Boodskappe: 11114
Geregistreer: Augustus 2003
Karma: 1
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Dan Roodt hou maar net daarvan om stroomop te wees. In die 80's was hy 'n
groot teenstander van die regering toe.
Net na die 1994 verkiesig, toe beleef hy 'n 180 grade ommekeer in sy
siening.
Enige eenogige siening kan tog nie geloofbaar wees nie.
Geen mens of regering is net sleg of net goed nie.
Voorheen kon DR niks goeds sien in die vorige regering nie, en dit is nou
dieselfde met hom en die huidige regering.
Wonder of die snaar al ooit 'n bosbaadjie aangehad het, of met 'n wapen op
iemand geskiet het in opdrag van 'n ander.
Hy is alte veel oorloggerig.
Eienaardig dat hy hom nie skaar by een van die BoereAfrikaner groepe, ET se
volgelinge, of selfs om in Orania te gaan bly nie. Hy wil sy eie groep
volgelinge hê.
--
Groetnis
Annette
"Peter H.M. Brooks" skryf in boodskap news:d065tk$fut$2@ctb-nnrp2.saix.net...
> spitfire wrote:
>> This says everything I could never find the words to say. But why if
>> politics and protest is such a glorified act in South Africa, is there
>> no social movement to deal with these issues? Surely there is *someone*
>> ith some guts, or insanity at least?
>>
>> G. Bartels wrote:
>>
>>> Dan Roodt is an Afrikaner author and activist.
>>
> Presumably Mr Roodt as an 'activist' is busy dealing with all the issues
> he raises.
>
> It's a peculiar word for him to choose being more usually appropriated
> by pinkos to describe those of whom they approve who enjoy attending
> demos and waxing indignant to their friends with the party line on the
> issue de jour.
>
>
>
> --
> "Perhaps I intended you to say so, but I meant self-command. You had,
> somehow or other, broken bounds yesterday, and run away from your own
> management; but to-day you are got back again--and as I cannot be always
> with you, it is best to believe your temper under your own command
> rather than mine." -- Emma, Jane Austen
> * TagZilla 0.057 * http://tagzilla.mozdev.org
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| Re: Adapt and die - South Africa's new motto [boodskap #102076 is 'n antwoord op boodskap #101673] |
Ma, 28 Maart 2005 23:23 |
Plato
Boodskappe: 630
Geregistreer: Julie 2004
Karma: 0
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Annette, miskien begryp jy nie dat alle Afrikaners nie Orania, AWB (en
nog wat) ondersteuners hoef te wees om te sien die land is in diep
water nie. Is ek korrek in my aanname dat jy nie met DR saamstem nie?
Is dit hoekom jy sulke stront hier staan en kwyt raak?
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| Re: Adapt and die - South Africa's new motto [boodskap #102081 is 'n antwoord op boodskap #102076] |
Di, 29 Maart 2005 06:45 |
Annette
Boodskappe: 11114
Geregistreer: Augustus 2003
Karma: 1
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Hoe kan ek reageer op iets wat jy nie die moeite doen om te meld waarop jy
reageer nie?
Net die feit dat jy 'n veralgemening namens my wil maak, en nog boonop nie
oor die vermoë besit om jou sterk uit te druk sonder om te vloek nie,
beteken dit dat ek heelwaarskynlik beter Afrikaners ( let wel nie net blanke
Afrikaans sprekendes) verstaan as jy, en dat ek, ten spyte van my
eenvoudige naam teenoor jou wysgerige naam, heelwaarskynlik beter as jy
besef dat ons land in 'n veel, oneindig veel, groter gemors sou gewees het
as ons op die ou weë ( dis nou die politiek en korrupsie en bankrotskap voor
1990) voortgegaan het.
Daantjie Rooi kan miskien vir jou 'n profeet wees, ek sien hom slegs as 'n
gewoontedwarstrekker. Net soos wat hy grondige redes in sy beswaar gehad het
teen die ou regering, net so het hy grondige redes in sy beswaar teen die
huidige regering. Die probleem met DR is dat hy nou 'n utopia wil skep tot
voordeel van 'n paar, en ter uitsluiting van 'n menigte - wat nogal glad nie
verskil met die regering waarteen hy voorheen beswaar gemaak het nie.
Hoekom staan en huil oor Afrikaanse skole, as hulle basies niks doen om
Afrikaans in alle skole so te bevorder, sodat die kinders self kan besluit
dit is 'n mooi taal, wat niks met politiek te doen het nie, en wat hulle
self graag sal wil kan praat.
Sal ook nie veel help as mense soos jy gebruik moet word om Afrikaans te
bevorder nie - ons wil mense hê wat goed Afrikaans kan praat. Inderwaarheid
wel ter tale is, en wat oor die nodige intelligensie beskik om te weet dat
om vloekwoorde op 'n openbare forum te gebruik, is 'n meer swakker refleksie
op die vloeker as die een wat hy probeer slegsê.
Natuurlik dink ek dit is net doodnormaal om te wonder hoekom die
BoereAfrikaners, hulle nie eers gaan vakansie hou in Orania, bakermat van
die verkrampte blanke Afrikaans-sprekende, nie.
Ek weet ook natuurlik hoekom nie - DR hou nie van 'n ander hoofseun nie, en
nog minder die BoereAfrikaners en hul veelvuldige menige faksies met presies
dieselfde oogmerke en bekrompe uitkyk op die lewe - elkeen wil maar koning
van sy eie mishoop wees, en dus is hulle in beginsel nie bereid om onder die
leiding van 'n ander hoofseun te bly op 'n plekkie in die middel van niks
nie.
--
Groetnis
Annette
"Plato" wrote in message
news:1112052220.887616.185520@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com.. .
> Annette, miskien begryp jy nie dat alle Afrikaners nie Orania, AWB (en
> nog wat) ondersteuners hoef te wees om te sien die land is in diep
> water nie. Is ek korrek in my aanname dat jy nie met DR saamstem nie?
> Is dit hoekom jy sulke stront hier staan en kwyt raak?
>
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| Re: Adapt and die - South Africa's new motto [boodskap #102091 is 'n antwoord op boodskap #102081] |
Di, 29 Maart 2005 20:58 |
Plato
Boodskappe: 630
Geregistreer: Julie 2004
Karma: 0
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Ag Annette as ek enigsins geglo het het dat 'n vrou die beskermer van
'n kultuur kon wees sou jy moontlik meer simpatie van my gekry het maar
die waarheid is dat julle die eerstes is wat die grens oorsteek en
alles bedonner. Ek vloek want die tyd vir mooi praat is verby. Jy en
jou soort is so verstoord dat julle nie meer die bome van die woud kan
onderskei nie. Jy kom so vroom liberaal voor sonder om te kyk wat jou
liberalisme nou werklik in die wêreld van ons vermag het.
Kom ons loer bietjie deur so paar voorbeelde:
- Zimbabwe
- Kommunisme
- Janet Jackson se boob epsiode om absurd te wees. (Jy hou mos daarvan)
Die lys is eindeloos en om alles te kroon het jy en jou soort meer kak
op aarde veroorsaak as wat julle die moed gaan hê om voor omverskoning
te vra. Europa wys dit dalk nog nie maar die doodsteek is klaar gegee
met die lot kultuur vreemdes wat soontoe stroom met jou goedkeuring.
Ek is gatvol vir mense soos jy se anhoudende gekef oor hoe goed dinge
gaan. Jy het jou wens, maar slaap maar gerus Annette met die wete dat
SA Zim nie sal of kan vermy nie. Die eksperiment is gedoem van die
begin af.
Leef maar in jou ou verbeelding so lank jy wil. Realiteit sal jou
eendag in die nie te vêr toekoms nog in die gat kom byt!
En terloops, ek gee nie om wat jy van my dink nie.
Fok jou en almal wat so deur die kak is soos jy!
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