"The world is watching"

I've been watching, with a measure of horror, the unfolding events in Iran. Twitter is amazing at keeping one informed, with up to the minute tweets from Iranians at the site of various protests. YouTube has several video clips of protests. The Big Picture is a site of photos collected from all over the world, which has several pages of photos from Iran, some posted at great risk to the photographer.

Several things have struck me as I've contemplated these events:

1. The world really is a small place. Here I sit at the tip of Africa, watching and listening to and reading about events taking place on another continent, AS THEY HAPPEN. In many respects, I feel the same level of shock & horror as I felt when I was watching the events of 9/11. Back in 2001, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. The axis of the world tilted for me that day. This past week or so has left me with a similar impression.
2. I'm used to seeing protesters who are black. That's a product of living in South Africa. These protesters are not. I'm not the protesting type - I sign petitions, I write letters. I don't protest. I try to keep at arm's length at all times, because protests in SA traditionally become violent and I'm too scared of getting hurt. But there are people just like me, on the Iranian streets, willing to get shot at, be killed, exposed to tear gas, arrested, beaten up or otherwise putting themselves at risk. There's a photo of a blonde woman wearing a face mask to avoid identification - a very pretty blonde, if I say so myself. It doesn't fit my stereotype of a typical protester.
3. Does anyone really know the truth about the election? Ballot boxes were reportedly burnt. If they hadn't been, would the outcome have been any different? Will any good come from holding another election? Will any good come from trying to suppress the protests? Is the idea of democracy the West holds to necessarily the ONLY way to govern effectively? Is it not possible that the Supreme Leader is correct in wanting to just get on with life? Is it right that Ahmadinjad (spelling?) is in power if ballot boxes were burnt? No matter what is said, who can believe the speaker? Both sides are so wound up about this election, so emotional about it, that it's hard for them not to exaggerate. Exaggerations ultimately lead to lies, and lies can't be believed. Who can judge where and when a fact is merely exaggerated, and when it's become a lie?
4. It is already going to be tough to pull Iran back from civil war. If civil war does erupt, what does that mean for the rest of the world, if anything?

The world is watching, but then, the world watched as Rwanda self-destructed. It watched as Zimbabwe was destroyed. It watches as Tibetans continue to be stripped of their culture and faith. It watched as Apartheid in SA stripped people of their dignity and worth. What does it matter that the world watches (as Obama recently reminded the Supreme Leader)? It doesn't look like anyone is going to do anything about it, so what does it matter that we're watching? I continue to watch, with a mixture of morbid fascination and increasing cynicism. Is it merely voyeurism, or a penchant for violence buried deep in each of us? How does it change us, this watching business? Does it inure us, or mobilise us?

Who will you vote for?

There are about 40 parties currently registered with the IEC for the elections in 2 weeks' time. The Mail & Guardian has put together a voter prediction site. There are about 10 or 15 questions you have to answer (all of them MCQ), after which the site tells you which party's policies you are most similar to, but only from the most well-known parties (about 10, I think).

I was pleased to see that the party they think I should vote for is the one I have voted for in the past. That at least tells me that I've been voting for the party most closely aligned to my own sentiments. I was interested to see them suggest another party though, that I hadn't considered, which was an equally good choice based on the few questions I had answered.

Ring the bell for change

I love watching the news. I could watch news all day. I don't read the paper, or listen to the radio much, but I do love the news. Having said that, I don't often get to watch, and when I do, I'm frequently disappointed by the SABC's version of the news. (I'm really starting to appreciate Al Jazeera, and the BBC news is always worth watching.)

I love hearing stories about what's going on in the world around me - from other countries to my local area. What I don't enjoy is seeing the same old thing coming up time and time again. For example, I'm really tired of hearing about the 2010 World Cup preparations. I am tiring of hearing about the recession we're about to go into, and I am definitely OVER hearing about how rubbish the ANC politicians are.

Our general elections aren't far away now (next month). As a result, all and sundry are trying to convince the public that they are the party to vote for, but the promises are all the same, and we all know that they're empty promises. No politician ever means what he/ she says. If they did, if it were possible to keep the promises they make, then this world would already be a very different place to live in, because those who were elected to power last time around (or the time before that, or the time before that) would have already made good on those promises.

The latest example of failure to deliver is that the government has refused a visa to the Dalai Lama to SA to attend a conference for Nobel peace laureates, to discuss how the 2010 World Cup (and soccer in general) can be used to promote tolerance, and to fight racism and xenophobia. Effectively, they have banned him from SA, indefinitely. As a result, the conference has been indefinitely postponed.

Now why, I ask you, would a government who should truly understand the fight for freedom, refuse to permit an international icon of peace, an international icon of the fight for human rights & in a similar league to our venerated ex-president Nelson Mandela, to a conference? Many people are speculating that it's because the ANC are in bed with the Chinese, who kicked up a huge fuss when our South African Nobel peace laureates extended the invitation to him. My opinion is that it's obvious to anyone with eyes to see that the ANC is no longer really interested in human rights. Now all they are interested in is power - getting it, having it, keeping it. SA's relationship with China is more important to the ANC than the human rights of either its people or the Tibetans.

Quite frankly, I find this disgraceful and despicable, but not at all surprising. The fact that the ANC is only interested in furthering its own aims, and no longer appears interested in the human rights it struggled so desperately for, for so many years, is old news. We know this. We're bored of hearing this. Move on.

The only good that might come of this, is, I hope, that more people will wake up and choose to vote for another party. While I'm not interested in listening to political debates (a negative campaign is boring to all concerned), I am very interested in seeing the outcome of this general election. I hope and pray that the ANC does not get its majority, and I hope and pray that COPE doesn't choose to sign an agreement with the ANC.

I hope and pray that this election will be a truly democratic affair in which the best party for South African wins - even if that's not the one I vote for - and I really hope and pray that that party is not the ANC. I'm tired of their empty promises, bored of their rhetoric, disgusted by their corruption. Time for change! Let's ring that bell and get some REAL news for a change.