Residents claim dumping site last cleared in December
By Joseph Chirume
21 July 2017 Rubbish piling up on Mokgatho Street, NU10, Motherwell. On the right is Buyelwa Tetani’s house. Photo: Joseph Chirume
Residents in Motherwell in Port Elizabeth have been living next
to piles of uncollected rubbish for the past six months they say. The
mounds of garbage on Mokgatho Street, NU10, have started to encroach on
people’s yards. The residents are now threatening to march to the
municipal offices.
Buyelwa Tetani, who lives next to the mounting garbage, said: “This
is an illegal dumping site and people from other areas come to dump
their rubbish here. The place was last cleared by the municipality in
December. I reported it on several occasions with no success.”
Tetani said dead dogs and animal skins were among the things dumped.
“We also have a problem with people who create fires at this place.
The smoke always makes us cough. We no longer hang out our washed
clothes because of the smoke … There is a bad smell all over this
place,” said Tetani.
The 59-year-old grandmother said maggots bred in the rubbish and the
dump attracted rats and scavenging dogs. She said she was also afraid
the fires would burn her home down.
“If I had money, I would hire a truck to fetch all this rubbish.
Unfortunately I am unemployed, so I cannot afford it,” she said.
Another resident, who did not wish to be named, said, “We have seen
municipal trucks cleaning other dumping sites here in Motherwell. Why
are they not doing the same with this place?”
The resident said they would embark on protest action if it was not cleared soon.
Spokesperson for Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality Kupido Baron asked
for the exact street address so that he could “pass the information to
our waste management department for action”.
Subsequently, he said he
was awaiting a response.
Published originally on
GroundUp
.
A protest in support of Raymond Suttner released from detention in 1988 by apartheid authorities. Robert Botha/Times Media Group
In the liberation struggle against apartheid a small number of white people joined the battle to overthrow the South African regime. One of them, academic Raymond Suttner, was first arrested in 1975 and tortured with electric shocks because he refused to supply information to the police. He then served eight years in prison because of his underground activities for the African National Congress and South African Communist Party.
After his release in 1983 he was forced - after two years - to go underground to evade arrest, but was re-detained in 1986 under repeatedly renewed states of emergency for 27 months – 18 of these in solitary confinement.
First published in 2001, Suttner’s prison memoir “Inside Apartheid’s Prison”, has been made available again, now with a completely new introduction. The Conversation Africa’s Charles Leonard spoke to Suttner.
Why did you write the book?
I was hesitant to write it because there is a culture of modesty that is inculcated in cadres. I used to think it was “not done” to write about myself. I also thought that my experience was a “parking ticket” compared with the sentences of Nelson Mandela and others. But I came to feel that I have a story to tell.
Nevertheless I hope that resources will be found so that more stories are told, not only of prison but the many unknown people who pursued resistance in different ways in a range of relatively unknown places.
You were imprisoned and on house arrest for over 11 years. It was based on choices you made. Would you make the same choices today?
Yes. I did what I believed was right at the time and even if things are not turning out so well at the moment that does not invalidate those choices. I saw the liberation struggle as having a sacred quality and considered it an honour to be part of it.
I was very influenced by the great Afrikaner Communist Bram Fischer. He had nothing to gain personally and could have been a judge, the president of the country or anything else. Instead he chose a life of danger and later life imprisonment. I was inspired by that example, amongst others, to do what I could.
When one embarks on revolutionary activities there are no guarantees of success. I was not sure that I would come out alive. I did what I believed was right and would make the same choices again.
So those choices were worth it?
Definitely. This was not a business venture where one could answer such a question through balancing profits and losses. For me joining the struggle, as a white, gave me the opportunity to start my life afresh by joining my fortunes with those who were oppressed. It gave me the chance to link myself with the majority of South Africans.
That was a more authentic way of living my life than whatever successes I may have achieved, had I simply focused on professional success. Most importantly I see this choice – to join the liberation struggle – as giving me the opportunity to humanise myself as a white South African in apartheid South Africa.
Do you still feel the damage after all these years in prison?
Yes. I have post-traumatic stress. I am not sure that it will ever be eliminated or that I always recognise its appearance. Many of us live with scars from that period.
I have not always acknowledged or understood that I have been damaged but it is directly related to my having fibromyalgia (a disorder characterised by widespread musculoskeletal pain accompanied by fatigue, sleep, memory and mood issues), according to the specialist who diagnosed it. She cautioned me about returning to my prison experiences, in this book, fearing the possibility of it setting off physically painful symptoms. That didn’t happen as far as I am aware and returning to the scene of trauma may be part of healing, according to some.
Why did you break with the ANC over 10 years ago?
I had not been happy with many aspects of Thabo Mbeki‘s presidency but that did not mean I should align myself with his successor Jacob Zuma. Zuma’s candidacy was promoted not only by ANC people but especially the South African Communist Party (SACP) and trade union federation Cosatu’s leaderships, presenting him as having qualities that were not valid. In particular the claim that Zuma was a man of the people with sympathy for the poor and downtrodden was untrue.
It was already known that he was linked with corrupt activities before he was elected as ANC president in 2007. But what was decisive for me was Zuma’s 2006 rape trial. There was something very cruel in the way the complainant, known as “Khwezi”, was treated, in the mode of defence that Zuma chose. I found that unacceptable.
Is it not lonely outside the ANC?
Raymond Suttner in 2001, when ‘Inside Apartheid’s Prison’ was first published. Raymond Preston/Times Media Group
I miss the comradeship that I understood to bind me to people with whom I had shared dangers, joys and sorrows. When you are together in difficult times it creates a special bond. I did not conceive of that being broken.
But when you break away in a time of decadence, what is it that one misses? I cannot resume relationships on the same basis as those which I previously counted as comradeship. Our paths diverged. I went out into the cold and some with whom I used to be very close chose to link themselves with a project that has meant corruption, violence and destroying everything that was once valued in the liberation tradition.
These former comrades have all been accomplices in Nkandla (Zuma’s private rural home which was upgraded at a cost to the country of R246-million to taxpayers), the social grants scandal and many other features of this period which have seen some individuals benefit unlawfully and at the expense of the poor. I do not say that every person I know has been improperly enriched. But all those who have been in the ANC/SACP/Cosatu leadership have endorsed, indeed even provided elaborate defences of some of the worst features of the Zuma period.
In the new introduction to the book I use the word “betrayal” and I choose it to refer to these people, many of whom were once brave, who turned their backs on those from whom they came or whose cause they once adopted as their own.
Yes, it’s lonely. But that loneliness cannot be remedied by resuming bonds
with people who have taken fundamentally different paths. I now build relationships with others from whom I am learning and growing.
Though popular culture might suggest otherwise, cyberbullying isn’t just a white problem. tommaso79/shutterstock.com
Over the past two decades, cyberbullying has become a major focus for parents, educators and researchers. Stopbullying.gov lists several effects of cyberbullying, including depression, anxiety and decreased academic achievement.
Judging from popular culture, the narratives surrounding cyberbullying tend to have at least one of two themes. One, cyberbullying is a mob-like phenomenon: Television shows such as “American Crime” depict a group of teens preying on a vulnerable individual by using social media and text messaging. Second, the face associated with cyberbullying is often a white one. Both in the aforementioned “American Crime,” for example, and in the television movie “Cyberbu//y,” the victim is white.
Without discounting youth bullied by groups of their peers or young white men and women who have been cyberbullied, there’s a missing piece of this equation. As a researcher of technology usage and racial inequality, I am interested in the racial differences in cyberbullying.
In Cyberbu//y, 17-year-old Taylor Hillridge is pushed to the point of attempting suicide when she’s harassed by her classmates online. ABC Family
Why study racial differences?
Studies from the Pew Research Center have shown that African-American youth own smartphones at higher rates and use them more frequently than youth of other backgrounds. My own research has shown that young African-Americans have more positive views toward technology than other segments of the population.
Their frequency of use and willingness to engage with new technologies suggest that black youth may frequently find themselves in contexts that can lead to cyberbullying – both as victims and perpetrators.
Cyberbullying as intimate partner violence
One of those contexts is in digital communication within a current or past relationship. Although much media attention has been paid to the mob characteristics of cyberbullying, there’s ample opportunity for cyberbullying in one-to-one situations. In these scenarios, cyberbullying is a form of intimate partner violence, which the CDC describes as physical, sexual or psychological harm by a current or former partner or spouse.
I focused on the 361 teens in that study who replied “yes” to the question: “Have you ever dated, hooked up with or otherwise had a romantic relationship with another person?”
These teens were then asked a series of yes or no questions about their experiences with cellphones in intimate relationships. Nine questions were about their partners attempting to control or harass them through cellphones. These questions measure cyberbullying victimization. Six questions were about how the respondents themselves attempted to control or harass their partners. These questions measured offensive cyberbullying.
My analysis showed that African-American youth as a group responded “yes” to questions about cyberbullying victimization and perpetration more than other groups.
More in-depth analysis shows that common criminological and sociological explanations do not explain the racial differences.
For example, one common theory is that students who have unpleasant experiences (what are often called “strains”) are more likely to lash out and bully others. The Pew survey asked questions about unpleasant experiences online such as seeing people post events they weren’t invited to or feeling pressure to post things online that make you look good to others. However, African-American teens are more likely to be perpetrators and victims of cyberbullying – even when they report similar amounts of strain.
The difference in reported cyberbullying is also not a result of social class. Middle-class black teens are more likely to be perpetrators and victims when compared to their white middle-class peers.
Why are there racial differences in cyberbullying?
Given the relatively small sample size (361 teens), it would be unwise to jump to any major conclusions. Moreover, we don’t have sufficient data on Asian-American students, so African-American youth can only be compared to white and Hispanic youth. With these caveats, the results still warrant further explanation.
The CDC does not list race as a risk factor in bullying in general, and academic research has been inconclusive as to whether African-Americans are more likely to bully (or be bullied) than their white peers.
This suggests that the relationship between cyberbullying and race is not powered by a disproportional desire to bully per se, but instead by the interest and ease in using technology for social ends.
The high rates of cyberbullying among black youth are likely to be tied to a general cultural orientation toward using cellphones to navigate the ups and downs of a relationship. Black youth, because of their agility online, simply find technology more amenable to reaching their goals; they’re more likely to turn to technology when choosing to bully their romantic partners.
This unique adoption of technology appears in other aspects of life. The phenomenon of “Black Twitter” and its ability to influence the national dialogue is a prime example. My own research has identified several digital practices that distinguish African-Americans from other racial groups. For example, African-Americans are more likely to use social networking sites to make new professional contacts than other racial groups.
This explanation for greater rates of cyberbullying among African-American teens conforms most closely to the data. It also suggests positive recommendations. If black youth are simply more active in the digital environment, the answer for parents and educators may not lie in banning or restricting cellphone use. The answer instead may be to find ways to harness this interest and channel it in more fruitful directions.
By Zoe Postman
20 July 2017 Members of the City’s Anti-Land Invasion Unit demolish homes in Imizamo Yethu. Photo: Ashraf Hendricks
Violence erupted in Imizamo Yethu informal settlement in Hout
Bay on Thursday when the City of Cape Town’s Anti-Land Invasion Unit
demolished shacks.
At the centre of the conflict is the issue of reblocking. The City
and some residents want to reblock Imizamo Yethu so as to lessen the
impact of fires, such as the devastating one of 11 March. But for
reblocking to happen many shacks that have been erected since the fire
have to be demolished. See Why did Hout Bay explode?
Despite ongoing negotiations between the City and community
representatives, a mutually beneficial solution could not be agreed
before the Anti-Land Invasion Unit was given the go-ahead to demolish
the shacks.
Violence erupted when a group of young boys started throwing rocks at
police officers. The officers retaliated with stun grenades and
teargas. One of the boys told GroundUp that he wanted the City to
provide them with materials and allow them to rebuild their shacks in
peace.
The home of Kenny Tokwe, a community leader in Imizamo Yethu, was
burnt down. Tokwe supports reblocking. He said it will help develop the
community. Tokwe said that people who oppose reblocking came to his
house while he was not there, but his children were. When they could not
find him, they decided to burn down the house. He said his children are
safe, and one of them managed to save his music equipment before the
house was burnt. Tokwe has lodged a complaint of arson with the police.
ENCA has reported that another house was also burnt down.
Yolande Hendler from The South African Alliance of Shack Dwellers
International (SA SDI) explained that reblocking (called super-blocking
by the City) aims to create pathways and roads for better service
provision. It would allow emergency vehicles to respond when a fire
breaks out. The City of Cape Town committed over R90 million to
reblocking Imizamo Yethu after the March fire, but the community has
been split over how this is to be carried out. For example, community
Leader Pamela Sofika, who has also been a resident of Imizamo Yethu for
two decades, accuses the City of making little effort to speak to people
on the ground. A woman takes cover in a doorway as police and protesters confront each other. Photo: Ashraf Hendricks
In April, Mayor Patricia De Lille announced
that the City had been given the go-ahead for reblocking by the whole
community. But Sofika disagrees, claiming that those present at the
meeting held by De Lille were opposed to the idea. Sofika said that she
owned a three-roomed shack where she resided with her son and daughter.
After the fire, she kept rebuilding her shack when she could afford the
materials. One of her concerns is that reblocking will provide everyone
with a much smaller shack when she stayed in a relatively spacious one
prior to the fire. “It is already degrading enough to live in a shack.
Now I must be further degraded by staying in a 3x3 metre [squared]
shack”, she said.
Noluthando, a 33-year-old resident who was affected by the fire,
said: “My heart is bleeding, I have nowhere else to go”, as she watched
the Anti-Land Invasion Unit demolish her shack. She said that she was
still in the process of rebuilding her shack and now she cannot afford
to live somewhere else.
Zara Nicholson, spokesperson for the mayor, said that police and
other law-enforcement removed “52 illegally erected and unoccupied
structures in accordance with an interdict and as per the agreement
reached with the community leadership on Monday evening”. She said this
was to progress with reblocking, and “installation of services for the
fire-affected beneficiaries.”
She condemned the “ensuing violence as it will go against the spirit of this negotiated process”. Protesters burn rubble. Photo: Ashraf Hendricks
Published originally on
GroundUp
.
Plato, Confucius and Aristotle. Ancient Greek philosophy is widely taught in American universities, but classes in Chinese philosophy are few and far between. Public domain
Part of what U.S. diplomats and informed citizens need to know is the basic historical background to contemporary China. However, as a scholar of Chinese philosophy, I believe it’s at least as important to understand how China thinks.
Unfortunately, very few universities in the United States teach traditional Chinese philosophies such as Confucianism or Daoism. Why not? And why should we care?
Why study Chinese philosophy?
There are at least three reasons that the lack of Chinese philosophy instruction in U.S. universities is problematic.
Like the Buddha, Jesus and Socrates, Confucius has been variously interpreted – sometimes idolized and other times demonized. At the beginning of the 20th century, some Chinese modernizers claimed that Confucianism was authoritarian and dogmatic at its core. Other thinkers have suggested that Confucianism provides a meritocratic alternative that is arguably superior to Western liberal democracy.
Thinking about these issues is important in understanding China’s present and future: How will the next generation of Chinese diplomats, party officials and presidents (not to mention ordinary voters) learn about Confucius and his role in China as a political thinker?
Second, Chinese philosophy has much to offer simply as philosophy. The late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia expressed a common misconception about Chinese philosophy, dismissing it as the “mystical aphorisms of the fortune cookie.” In reality, Chinese philosophy is rich in persuasive argumentation and careful analysis.
For example, Georgetown professor Erin Cline has shown how Confucian ethics can provide a deeper understanding of ethical issues regarding the family and can even inform policy recommendations. Confucians emphasize both the role of parents in nurturing children and the responsibility of government to create environments in which families can flourish. Cline demonstrates that practical initiatives like the Nurse-Family Partnership help to realize both goals.
Chinese philosophers like Confucius have much to teach us. So why are they being ignored in many American universities? Bridget Coila, CC BY-SA
The third reason that it’s important to add Chinese philosophy to the curriculum has to do with the need for cultural diversity. As two philosophers recently pointed out in a Los Angeles Times op-ed:
…academic philosophy in the United States has a diversity problem. …Among U.S. citizens and permanent residents receiving philosophy Ph.D.‘s in this country, 86 percent are non-Hispanic white.
Both my own experience and that of many of my colleagues suggest that part of the reason for this is that students of color are confronted with a curriculum that appears to be a temple to the achievements of white men. We need to expand the philosophical curriculum to include not only Chinese philosophy, but also the other less commonly taught philosophies, including Africana, feminist, indigenous American, Islamic, Latin American and South Asian philosophies.
Just how bad is the situation?
Most philosophy departments seem unwilling to admit there’s philosophy outside of the European tradition that’s worth studying.
Parmenides (center) and Heraclitus (right) are relatively obscure Greek philosophers, but their disagreement on the changing nature of the universe is still widely taught in the U.S. Raphael via Steven Zuker, CC BY-NC-SA
In contrast, every one of the top 50 schools has at least one regular member of the philosophy department who can lecture competently on Parmenides, a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher. His only surviving work is a poem filled with cryptic utterances like: “for not to be said and not to be thought / is it that it is not.” Is this really more profound than the sum total of Chinese philosophy?
I was recently part of a panel at a major academic conference that was specifically advertised as an opportunity for nonspecialists to learn about Chinese philosophy. While other sessions at the conference had packed rooms, we lectured to an audience of fewer than a dozen people.
Empty room at the start of an American Philosophical Association panel on Chinese philosophy on Jan. 6, 2016. Bryan W. Van Norden, CC BY-SA
In contrast, at Chinese universities, both Western and traditional Chinese philosophy are routinely taught. China is also heavily investing in higher education, while the Trump administration hopes to slash funding for education. I expect that China understands the U.S. better than we understand it.
What does the future hold?
At the beginning of this article, I cited some reasons that China is increasingly important on the world stage. Here’s one more: China is currently starting upon one of the most ambitious building projects in all of human history, the One Belt, One Road initiative. A modern version of the ancient Silk Road, it will expand and solidify Chinese economic and political power across all of Eurasia.
Can the U.S. really afford not to understand this country? As Confucius said,
“Do not worry that others fail to understand you; worry that you fail to understand others.”
This draws on material previously published in this article from May 18, 2016.
Yes, it’s lonely. But that loneliness cannot be remedied by resuming bonds 
This explanation for greater rates of cyberbullying among African-American teens conforms most closely to the data. It also suggests positive recommendations. If black youth are simply more active in the digital environment, the answer for parents and educators may not lie in banning or restricting cellphone use. The answer instead may be to find ways to harness this interest and channel it in more fruitful directions.
This draws on material previously published in