FutureChurch

Much of the fear Julius Malema has managed to inspire is not because of his vast intelligence or ability to provoke the masses into mindless violence; it's that he says the craziest things which would never be uttered by any responsible public figure of any depth in post-Apartheid South Africa. He contradicts himself, by the way, first by saying

"The reality is that the majority of white people, despite the practical assurances made by our democratic Constitution and government; continue to believe that black people are out to get them. They feel threatened, but there is no basis for their insecurity." Source: ANC Youth League website

and then by singing "Shoot the boer," which even if he doesn't mean it literally and is merely celebrating the history of the struggle movement (which I doubt), it gives insecure whities some basis for fear (which is why the ANC told him to stop singing it). You can't sing "Shoot the boer" and then say, "White people shouldn't believe that black people are out to get them."

One reason Malema seems to have power is the massive exposure our local media gives him. It's come to the point where they're not merely objectively reporting on Malema, they're actually encouraging the madness he encourages. And so we should ignore Julius, which is what the rest of this post is about, posted on many other South African blogs.

Julius Malema has exploded into political... prominence... by making himself hard to ignore. Inheriting a platform that drew attention to the accidental outrages he tripped into, he quickly learned to stoke outrage and roar back at any responses he provoked. For the media, trying to gauge the state of the nation's health from moment to moment, this makes him a much more attractive candidate than the business-as-usual official announcements of the ruling party proper. But Malema's sound and fury signify nothing, and his disproportionate voice in South Africa's public conversation is only hurting our ability to speak to one another, and to speak sense when we do. We think it's time to ignore Julius, and invite you to join us.

For the week of 7-14 April 2010, we undertake to talk about this country, its challenges, its promise, its news, and to ignore Julius while doing so. Join us in this initiative. If you blog, join the roll. If you Tweet, add the hashtag #ignoreJulius to your daily output. However you communicate, take a week off from Julius.

Here is the list of blogs that are participating in this initiative:

http://rwrant.co.za
http://zoem.co.za
http://www.thoughtleader.co.za/mariusredelinghuys
http://memyselfandkarin.wordpress.com/
http://robsramblings.co.za
http://antithesis.blognation.co.za/
http://singe.za.net/
http://blog.empyrean.co.za
http://www.pinkhairgirl.co.za
http://www.macgeek.co.za
http://www.futurechurch.co.za
http://www.cptawesome.co.za/
http://www.indigogirl.co.za/

Technorati Tags: activism Julius Malema politics South Africa

This article is a call by Sipho Hlongwane for bloggers to join in the protest against the tactics the ANC Youth League are employing to try and destroy the freedom of the press. The Twitter hashtag for this is #SpeakZA

Last week, shocking revelations concerning the activities of the ANC Youth League spokesperson Nyiko Floyd Shivambu came to the fore. According to a letter published in various news outlets, a complaint was laid by 19 political journalists with the Secretary General of the ANC, against Shivambu. This complaint letter detailed attempts by Shivambu to leak a dossier to certain journalists, purporting to expose the money laundering practices of Dumisani Lubisi, a journalist at the City Press. The letter also detailed the intimidation that followed when these journalists refused to publish these revelations.

We condemn in the strongest possible terms the reprisals against journalists by Shivambu. His actions constitute a blatant attack on media freedom and a grave infringement on Constitutional rights. It is a disturbing step towards dictatorial rule in South Africa. We call on the ANC and the ANC Youth League to distance themselves from the actions of Shivambu. The media have, time and again, been a vital democratic safeguard by exposing the actions of individuals who have abused their positions of power for personal and political gain.

The press have played a vital role in the liberation struggle, operating under difficult and often dangerous conditions to document some of the most crucial moments in the struggle against apartheid. It is therefore distressing to note that certain people within the ruling party are willing to maliciously target journalists by invading their privacy and threatening their colleagues in a bid to silence them in their legitimate work.

We also note the breathtaking hubris displayed by Shivambu and the ANC Youth League President Julius Malema in their response to the letter of complaint. Shivambu and Malema clearly have no respect for the media and the rights afforded to the media by the Constitution of South Africa. Such a response serves only to reinforce the position that the motive for leaking the so-called dossier was not a legitimate concern, but a insolent effort to intimidate and bully a journalist who had exposed embarrassing information about the Youth League President. We urge the ANC as a whole to reaffirm its commitment to media freedom and other Constitutional rights we enjoy as a country.

Technorati Tags: ANCYL freedom Julius Malema media South Africa SpeakZA

Isn't it interesting how some people claim to be colour-blind and not see race? Isn't it interesting how those people are white people?

"I don't believe in racial and ethnic labels," many Whites argue. "I'm an American.

- Changing Multiculturalism, p217

Something else white people love: claiming to be “colourblind”. Hint: doesn’t make you seem less racist. Makes you seem unobservant.

-Seen on StuffWhitePeopleLike.com

"I have never had to confront my race. I’m just me. White, purple, black, polka dotted. What’s the difference? Can’t we all just be colour blind?"

- StuffWhitePeopleLike.com

"It's strange to come to this country and see that all of the waiters are black. I think the white people here have an unconscious expectation to be served by black people."

- A foreign student speaking in race workshop I was at last week at UCT

I came to South Africa not realising I wasn't white. After have been seen as second-rate for such a long time, in spite of me resisting it, I feel like I'm going to leave this country a worse person that before I came.

- A Sri-Lankan UCT student, at the same race workshop. She is in her early 20's, and has never experienced Apartheid South Africa. What she has experienced is the Rainbow Nation.

"That's weird. Those street cleaners are white. Never seen that before."

- Me, to myself, when I first visited England (2000)

Technorati Tags: Apartheid Array South Africa Whiteness

This conference is going to be interesting, especially from the South African side, since I think many/most of the participants are white. Perhaps the concept of "post-colonial church" is a little too "out there" for most South Africans, where "post-Apartheid" is closer to home, but it's still a case where from the white side the idea is, "Apartheid is over and racism is no more - just get over it already." And from the black side it's, "White people haven't a clue what it was like, and what it continues to be like." And then there's everyone else (Coloured, Indian, Asian, etc) who aren't in the white-black polemic, and can easily be excluded from this debate (and this is an over-simplification, of course).

Technorati Tags: Amahoro Christian postcolonial postmodern South Africa

My friend Sean Tucker recently wrote that of the 32 people who started out with him in his 1st year class at Baptist Theological College only 3 of them are now Pastors in churches. That's 9% of the class! These aren't your ordinary Christians either - these are people who were so convinced of G-d's call on their life that they committed to studying theology and preparing for the pastorate. These aren't the "weddings and funeral" people, or the "attend church once a month" people, or the "attend church weekly" Christians, or even the more involved "we have leadership roles in the church" people. These are the most committed - those who are preparing for a lifetime of service within a church, because they feel called to this as their vocation - and only 9% are currently doing that as Pastors!

I find that shocking...and I'm not pointing fingers at Baptist College either.

Technorati Tags: Alpha Course Baptist Theological College Baptists Christianity Church post-apartheid post-christian South Africa