Posted on 01/05/2002 4:36:14 PM PST by backhoe
It's now just yet another African s**thole.
Cagey, I know it's a pain in the ___, but control-d will bookmark that ( or any other page you are on ) to your browser, and when FR's works again, you can go back & add it.
That's what I remember, too- I always believed that ( left alone and given time ) the government and businesses in South Africa would realize what a huge market the coloreds represented and see the self-defeating foolishness of holding them down as second-class citizens.
That's what the old "merchant" in me saw, anyway- you want your neighbor to do better in life because everybody eventually benefits from it.
I, too, find looking at Africa almost terminally depressing- there is so much potential, but it always seems to get short-circuited by the bad side of human nature....
They really WOULD have gotten rid of Apartheid, on their own, and by now ; IF they had been left alone. Instead, a pack of tribal Commies now govern South Africa, and Mugabe, of Zimbabwe , is one of THE worst tyrants, ever .
I believe you are right, and left alone by the meddlers, SA would have found a better solution than the current near-anarchy they have. It will only get worse, more's the pity.
FYI, I posted this a while back to show a tiny bit of the "goings-on behind the scenes"--
Cubans were also in South Africa ! Mandela embraced Castro and Khaddafi ( sp ? ) . These are things which most nonSouth Africans do NOT know anything about.
Please keep me on your Africa ping list.
and you can go there to find what I have indexed.... I do add items of interest when I see them.
I got your email, and can certainly understand your concerns. SA is a gorgeous country, rich in many resources, yet plagued with a current government far worse than its last one. I greatly fear for the future of all South Africans- it looks like a slide into chaos and anarchy to me, and I don't see what will stop it. Zimbabwe is the model, and precursor.
First it was Rhodesia then SA now America paying the price of silence.
Yes, South Africa IS a beautiful country; one rich in everything BUT it's government. The entire continent, is rapidly sliding backwards, and will once more, be called "THE DARK CONTINENT ". It just breaks my heart .
The ANC has gone so far into ancient tribalism, that they have even managed to manipulate some of the Zulus ( who have always been allied with the Afrikaners ! ) into turning away from their ancient stance ; now, brther fights brother. Divide an conquer, is their Communist taught method.
In all candor, it is NOT just a black / white problem; it is a black / black problem, as well. Ancient tribal blood fueds have been reinstituted. Blacks are in a MUCH worse situation , NOW, than they were previously.
Exactly. Eventually, everyone will be worse off the way things are going.
Great link, backhoe. I bookmarked it for further reference. I wouldn't mind being put on your ping list for this region, I've been interested ever since a S. African girl shattered my preconceived notions that the American media had given me of Mandela being another MLKjr. Ever since then, I've been finding out more of the ugly truth behind the ANC. The Cuban and Soviet fiasco in Angola is something else that I believe is obfuscated in the press. I didn't get any other perspective on Angola until I read some essays by the leader of UNICA.
Neighbor, I actually don't keep lists- I usually go thru current posts and grab a few names, or do a similar operation via self-search. I did start the AfricaWatch section of the bump list:
and you can go there to find what I have indexed.... I do add items of interest when I see them.
... but I am glad you have seen past the smoke-screen generated by the usual suspects in our media. They have tried to portray the situation in southern Africa as a clone of our own civil-rights struggles when in fact just the opposite was true. Africa is degenerating into chaos and anarchy under the guise of "liberation" and "one man, one vote." All while the media here turns a blind eye to what is really happening.
What I used to tell people was that while Apartheid was an onerous, offensive system, I would prefer being a black South African under Apartheid to being a person of any color under the old Soviet system- and I still believe those words to be true and correct. Given time, the old South African government would have worked out it's problems- but it was not allowed to do so.
Today, we are seeing the results of this folly in Zimbabwe- or rather, we see what tiny bits the web and small elements of talk radio cover.
The whole story of contemporary Africa is a sad tale of tribalism, class warfare, and massive corruption- and one the media here "won't even talk about" because it does not fit within their template of acceptable ideas.
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