White South African Given Refugee Status In Canada

Brandon Huntley, a 31 year old white South African has been granted refugee status by the Canadian immigration and refugee board according to a news report.

The board held that Huntley, who grew up in Cape Town, showed "clear and convincing proof of the state's (South Africa) inability or unwillingness to protect him ..." from blacks.

The panel chair, William Davis, went further to argue that Huntley's case illustrated the "inability or unwillingness" of the South African government to protect all white South Africans.

This bullsh*t ruling was made last Thursday.

Huntley first went to Canada on a work permit in 2004. The permit was for six months. In 2005 he returned to Canada and remained there until 2008 when he petitioned for refugee status.

He claims that in South Africa he was called a "settler" and a "white dog". He also says he was attacked 7 times by blacks.

This ruling is the first granted to a white South African in Canada and it makes a mockery of the socio-political conditions that define post-postapartheid South Africa.

Sixteen years ago when we transitioned to a post-apartheid state Huntley was just 15 years old. Subtract the 4 or so years that he spent in Canada and his post-apartheid experience is a grand total of 11 years.

What absolute rubbish his case represents. His claim is dubious at best and yet it has strangely found reason in Canada.

It goes without saying that there are many whites in South Africa who will envy the status given to Huntley. I also expect that just as many, hopefully more, will also rubbish his claim to victimhood.

That Huntley and others like him across the racial divide may feel unsafe in South Africa has a lot more to do with crime than it has to do with the hatred that blacks have toward other races, or whites specifically.

Huntley's pathetic self-imposed victimhood is summed up when he says: "There's a hatred of what we did to them and it's all about the colour of your skin ..."

And the answer to that hatred you "did to them" is to fashion your whiteness as a victim of black racism?

This sh*t makes my head hurt something fierce.

Onward!

Story Credit

UPDATE: "SA Accepts White Refugee Ruling" (News24, September 1, 2009)

UPDATE: Refugee decision 'shocking' (News24, September 2, 2009)

Given the fallout over this ridiculous decision I expect the Canadian authorities will seek to revise the outcome, even deny the granting of refugee status.

And, I would like to see Huntley's face as he re-enters South Africa.

Can his South African citizenship be rescinded? Just a thought.

FINAL UPDATE: "Refugee ruling to be challenged" (News 24, September 3, 2009)

Seems I was right about the Canadian government's eventual unease about this stupid case.

Ramadan Mubarak

It is the holy month of Ramadan. Muslims who can, fast from just before sunrise to sunset as prescribed in the Holy Qur'an.

The Qur'an says simply in a chapter entitled The Cow [2:183]:

O ye who believe! Fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you, that ye may (learn) self-restraint,-

The picture above captures a woman praying in Jakarta, Indonesia, at the Istiqlal mosque on the first day of Ramadan (August 22, 2009 or Ramadan 1, 1430 in the Hijriah lunar calendar).

Peace and struggle.

Picture Credit

"The Idiocy of Sex Testing"

by Dave Zirin and Sherry Wolf
Dissident Voice
August 22nd, 2009

World-class South African athlete Caster Semenya, age 18, won the 800 meters in the International Association of Athletics Federations World Championships on August 19. But her victory was all the more remarkable in that she was forced to run amid a controversy that reveals the twisted way international track and field views gender.

The sports world has been buzzing for some time over the rumor that Semenya may be a man, or more specifically, not “entirely female.” According to the newspaper The Age, her “physique and powerful style have sparked speculation in recent months that she may not be entirely female.” From all accounts an arduous process of “gender testing” on Semenya has already begun. The idea that an 18-year-old who has just experienced the greatest athletic victory of her life is being subjecting to this very public humiliation is shameful to say the least.

Her own coach Michael Seme contributed to the disgrace when he said, “We understand that people will ask questions because she looks like a man. It’s a natural reaction and it’s only human to be curious. People probably have the right to ask such questions if they are in doubt. But I can give you the telephone numbers of her roommates in Berlin. They have already seen her naked in the showers and she has nothing to hide.”

The people with something to hide are the powers that be in track and field, as well as in international sport. As long as there have been womens’ sports, the characterization of the best female athletes as “looking like men” or “mannish” has consistently been used to degrade them. When Martina Navratilova dominated women’s tennis and proudly exposed her chiseled biceps years before Hollywood gave its imprimatur to gals with “guns,” players complained that she “must have a chromosome loose somewhere.”

Read the rest of the story here.

See also: Caster Semenya row: 'Who are white people to question the makeup of an African girl? It is racism'

Picture Credit

Malay Woman To Be Caned After Ramadan

Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, a 32 year old mother of two, was found guilty of drinking beer and sentenced to six strokes with a cane by a religious (sharia) court in Malaysia.

Her sentence is the first of its kind handed down to a woman in Malaysia.

The sentence was described last month and she was taken into custody last week only to be released soon thereafter.

It seems, according to a media report, that Shukarno has won some kind of a reprieve that in effect delays her caning until the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

A further reading of the reprieve suggests that perhaps all the media attention has made the Malaysian authorities re-think carrying out the sentence.

It is reasonable to expect that the authorities will leave the sentence intact but not carry out the actual punishment.

I say 'reasonable' knowing full well that the word is grossly misplaced here.

That Islam forbids alcohol is one thing, but caning a woman for drinking (whatever amount) is an absolutely ridiculous and inhumane sentence.

This case adds to a growing list of ridiculous rulings that have come out of the Sharia courts in Malaysia.

Just recently a whole lot of misplaced official noise was made about the use of the Arabic word Allah by Christian and other non-Muslims in Malaysia

The Malaysian authorities first sought to ban the use of the word by Christian publications but relented some with the position that it could be used in non-Muslim publications if it was made clear that the publication/article was for non-Muslims.

I took the position here that no-one owns the word Allah in any context and that Malaysia had no right, even and especially in terms of the Sharia, to prescribe its usage.

For the most part, Malaysia is considered to be a moderate Muslim country. I'm not even saying that this should direct anything in terms of caning a woman for drinking alcohol or banning non-Muslims from using the word Allah.

What I am saying is that moderate or not, caning a woman for whatever reason is a crude and outdated application of Islamic law.

Since Shukarno pleaded guilty is seems most reasonable that the Sharia court may have imposed a fine or some kind of community service which would have been more in keeping, or in balance, with the charge levelled against her.

I understand that Malaysia is a self-described Islamic state. No contestation there. But surely even such a state, one with modern ambitions and achievements no less, must recognize that caning has no place in Islam or an Islamic state in the year 2009.

Let's see how this plays out.

Onward!

Picture Credit

Undergraduates Versus The Sorta Vegetarian

When I finished my doctorate and landed my first teaching position a favourite professor of mine had a few choice words of advice for me.

We were sitting in his office and he looked at me and asked: "Will you be teaching undergraduate students?" I said yes and he went on to ask: "Are you still a vegetarian?" I said yes and he laughed.

"You will be eating meat off the hoof in about a month of teaching undergraduates", he said with a huge grin on his face.

When I got to Portland in the summer of 1997 I informed anyone who would listen that I was a vegetarian and had been one for more than three years.

I filled my fridge with the usual no-meat goodies and was on the lookout for good vegetarian places to eat while remaining determined to prove my professor wrong.

As the term progressed I came to understand some of what he meant. I mean it is not like I did not teach as an assistant in my graduate days but now was decidely different.

Undergraduates have a way of testing your being in ways that are mostly worked out by the time they become graduate students.

By the end of my first term my old professor's warning found me eating chicken this and that at places up and down Broadway and elsewhere in Portland.

I have wondered in the more than a decade since then if it was my experiences with undergrads that turned me 'bloody' again :)

Yesterday a group of students visited me in my office to discuss a course I am teaching.

I started talking about the course and its expectations when the youngest in the group said very loudly, "I don't know a thing about politics and I am mostly not interested."

I looked at the student with irritation. The kind of irritation that made me remember my professor's words and it also reminded me that I was kinda laying off meat again.

My blood was boiling. I remained calm and leaned back in my chair and described what was needed to complete an assignment.

At that point I wanted to tell them about the words of my professor. I did not. Instead I let it go and let them go not too long thereafter.

As I crossed the parking lot to where I parked my truck I thought that it was late and I needed to eat.

A really big juicy steak with fries like the kind you get at those cheesy family eateries in the US southwest would be nice I thought.

Aaaaah, but since I'm in South Africa's North West province I settled for the leftover three bean curry and rice I cooked the night before.

Maybe I am getting the hang of undergraduates after all. Or maybe I am just delusionally optimistic.

I hope Mooi will have a braai (barbeque) this weekend in Joburg where we are gathering to celebrate his anti-45th birthday.

Dunno, but it would be nice. Hope you listening Guru and please don't invite any undergraduates, pretty please :)

Onward!

Zuma Is Said To Oppose A Dialog On Race

In the past few days the African National Congress' Youth League (ANCYL) leader, Julius Malema (pictured), criticized the racial make-up of President Zuma's cabinet.

In particular, Malema pointed fingers at "minorities" who have been appointed to the National Treasury and the South African Reserve Bank.

Malema argued that Africans, not coloureds/whites/Indians, should be deployed into key economic posts so as to prove that Africans can run an economy.

As it stands now, according to Malema, Africans are relegated to posts that deal with South Africa's safety and security.

Julius Malema is a curious character. He is routinely criticized for being rash and for being a loudmouth. On many occasions, his intelligence has been questioned and his personal character called into question.

President Zuma has used Malema to climb up the presidential ladder. In the months preceding the sacking of former President Mbeki, Malema openly attacked Mbeki and called him names while stumping for a Zuma presidency.

In these contexts, it is hardly surprising that Zuma has not been more forceful in replying to Malema.

Instead, the president is reported to have said that Malema is young and still learning.

Huh?

Malema is in his late twenties, is he not? He is hardly some kid just off the suburbian block and he knows how to play race politics.

I think Zuma is dodged the issue(s) when he responded that:

"We have never looked at things in terms of race and ethnicity but, rather, in terms of people being South Africans, ... "

Nonsense.

Race is embedded in South African life at all levels and the notion that one can just wish it away with problematic notions of nonracialism is pie in the sky politics.

Ignoring Malema and refusing to open a dialog on postapartheid race relations and racism just makes the problem worse.

Malema is a jackass but he and others who think like him are hardly a small faction.

Inside of the ANC Malema is a known commodity and his prominence speaks to his influence and support.

Zuma should have been bold enough and daring enough to repudiate Malema's drivel with the contempt it deserves. And, he should have opened the public space for a constructive dialog on race and racism.

As it stands now, the troublesome notion that race can be diplomatically e-raced only makes matters worse.

Onward!

Obama Honours Tutu

"Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has dedicated his United States Presidential Medal of Freedom to all South Africans who fought for freedom and justice.

"I am standing out only because millions of my compatriots are carrying me on their shoulders," he said in a statement after receiving the award from US President Barack Obama at the White House on Wednesday.

The "extraordinary symbolism" of America's first African American president presenting the award to "a former South African township urchin", was humbling, he said." ...

I remain a great fan of the Arch! Congratulations.

Read the rest of the article here.

Onward!

Picture and story credit.

Of Saunas, Steamrooms, and Politics

Yesterday while sitting in the sauna of my new gym a fellow user started up a conversation about politics and corruption in South Africa.

He went on to tell me that the North West Province, where I work now, is perhaps the most corrupt of the nine provinces in South Africa.

His comments made me think about a similar conversation I recently had with a man in the steamroom of my then gym in Kimberley.

He started talking about politics and corruption and said that he thought the Northern Cape Province among the most, if not the most, corrupt proving in South Africa.

There is nothing unusual about these conversations. Wherever people meet the talk usually turns to corruption or crime.

These issues are a mainstay of postapartheid life and the impact is felt across race/class lines.

Than man in the sauna and the man in the steamroom, one white and the other black, both argued that South Africa needed a renewal of spirit and purpose.

We cannot continue to live like this was the common refrain.

I like these quick kinds of interactions. People seemingly put their guard down and our common humanity presses against the pretenses of modern life.

Saunas and steamrooms are great places to talk politics and to think about cleansing and renewal ;)

Onward!

Indonesian Elections Protest

This picture from the front page of the Mail & Guardian (August 6, 12:31pm) is a powerful statement I am sure you would agree.

The M&G caption reads: "Digging deep a supporter of defeated Indonesian presidential candidate Megawati Sukarnoputri buries himself in Jakarta on Thursday as part of a protest demanding a new election."

The Indonesian Elections Commission refused to allow a re-run of the presidential elections even though several candidates argued that the elections were not free and fair, according to the Jakarta Globe.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono won more than 60% of the vote and was, consequently, re-elected without run-off.

Megawati Sukarnoputri, the leader of the opposition party PDI-P, is contesting this outcome. She was Indonesia's first female president and was in office from July 23 through October 2004.

She is also the daughter of Indonesia's first president, Sukarno.

The PDI-P garnered 14% of the vote in the 2009 legislative election. This means that the PDI-P will have 95 seats in the People's Representative Council.

The PDI-P follows the official Indonesian national philosophy/ideology known as Pancasila.

Onward!

M&G Picture Credit
Sukarnoputri Picture Credit

Back On The Blog

I have relocated inside of South Africa and as of this writing the process of settling into a new place, a new job, and meeting new faces makes for an interesting and engaging time.

So I am due in class in about five minutes but the urge to write here brings this untimely update.

Though my class is focused on political philosophy of the classical era it will be interesting to see if I can coax students to link a few thoughts to Hillary Clinton's visit to our continent ... I may be stretching it here but hey it is worth a try.

This morning I was also reading Max Du Preez's article entitled "Non-racial country? Non-sense" (2009-08-05 09:23), and it reminded me of some of the discussion I attempted below.

I like Max Du Preez's writing for the most part. He never fails to pinch at the central nerve of what is going on in South Africa.

And, if anything is still going on then it has to be race and racism.

AnyHowze, this post serves as some contrived "I'm back again" notice and I hope you will stop by and holla from time to time nontheless.

Onward!

Ridwan