The South African government’s cowardly response was to allow the shipment: according to government communication’s head Themba Moseka,

“We are not in a position to act unilaterally and interfere in a trade deal between two countries”.

(If there’s a club for useless, spineless leaders, Brown and Mbeki are certainly both in it).

Fortunately, the South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) is showing some solidarity, backbone and politics by refusing to unload or transport the cargo.

General secretary Randall Howard said:

“Satawu does not agree with the position of the South African government not to intervene with this shipment of weapons.

“Our members employed at Durban Container Terminal will not unload this cargo neither will any of our members in the truck driving sector move this cargo by road.”

Now that’s what trade unions are for!

The South African government’s cowardly response was to allow the shipment: according to government communication’s head Themba Moseka,

“We are not in a position to act unilaterally and interfere in a trade deal between two countries”.

(If there’s a club for useless, spineless leaders, Brown and Mbeki are certainly both in it).

Fortunately, the South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) is showing some solidarity, backbone and politics by refusing to unload or transport the cargo.

General secretary Randall Howard said:

“Satawu does not agree with the position of the South African government not to intervene with this shipment of weapons.

“Our members employed at Durban Container Terminal will not unload this cargo neither will any of our members in the truck driving sector move this cargo by road.”

Now that’s what trade unions are for!

The South African government’s cowardly response was to allow the shipment: according to government communication’s head Themba Moseka,

“We are not in a position to act unilaterally and interfere in a trade deal between two countries”.

(If there’s a club for useless, spineless leaders, Brown and Mbeki are certainly both in it).

Fortunately, the South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) is showing some solidarity, backbone and politics by refusing to unload or transport the cargo.

General secretary Randall Howard said:

“Satawu does not agree with the position of the South African government not to intervene with this shipment of weapons.

“Our members employed at Durban Container Terminal will not unload this cargo neither will any of our members in the truck driving sector move this cargo by road.”

Now that’s what trade unions are for!

The South African government’s cowardly response was to allow the shipment: according to government communication’s head Themba Moseka,

“We are not in a position to act unilaterally and interfere in a trade deal between two countries”.

(If there’s a club for useless, spineless leaders, Brown and Mbeki are certainly both in it).

Fortunately, the South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) is showing some solidarity, backbone and politics by refusing to unload or transport the cargo.

General secretary Randall Howard said:

“Satawu does not agree with the position of the South African government not to intervene with this shipment of weapons.

“Our members employed at Durban Container Terminal will not unload this cargo neither will any of our members in the truck driving sector move this cargo by road.”

Now that’s what trade unions are for!

I couldn’t agree more.

The White race is an historical construct that was designed to get poor Europeans to buy into the imperialist agenda of their elites. Before the creation of Whiteness, people used to identify by religion, language, and where they lived.

To end racism, we need to detribalise ourselves completely, stop identifying as White, and reject the privileges associated with Whiteness. Genealogy is interesting and identity is important – but we must abandon the fallacy that that there’s something about the blood that runs in our veins that makes us better than anyone else.

Being descended from Somerled or Ghengis Khan doesn’t make you special – it just means some one long ago was a top shagger.

In other words, moenie jouself wit hou nie.

Identity needs to be civic and cultural. The way to preserve cultures is to throw them open to all – not hide behind walls. Take Scotland for example: anyone who identifies strongly with Scotland, and is prepared to live on this rain-lashed, wind-swept hunk of frozen rock, can be Scottish. The same applies to Africa. Confused people like me can even be African Scots, or Scottish Africans.

So I am encouraged by stories like this one in the Sowetan:

A WHITE teenage boy is undergoing the traditional Xhosa rite of passage into manhood after following his best pal into the bush and his parents and traditional leaders have given it their blessings.

Not wanting to remain a boy while his friend became a man, Stanley Ahlschlager joined his mate of five years, Thandolwethu Nodwezana, at a camp just outside Berlin in the Eastern Cape.

There’s actually quite a lot of this sort of thing happening beneath the radar in South Africa, and its one of the most culturally interesting and relevant developments to come out of post-apartheid South Africa.

I personally know at least 10 White South Africans who have become sangomas (African shamans), and many more who use African herbs provided by inyangas.

I haven’t been to a Western doctor in around 15 years, and when in South Africa use African herbs to stay health. If I have any kind of religion or spirituality, its closer to African traditional religion – refracted through a Western prism – than anything else.

I listen to my ancestors. On which more later.

You don’t decide to become a sangoma – you get ‘sangoma sickness’ and don’t get better until you listen to your ancestors and start the thwasa initiation process. This takes years and is usually intense enough to deprogramme one of the last vestiges of Whiteness, and to discourage cultural tourists and wannabes.

A shaman is a walker between the worlds. By undergoing thwasa, White sangomas become cultural ambassadors between the White and Black worlds, and are able to translate traditional African beliefs into psychological and philosophical frameworks that people with a Western background can understand.

This is important, because South Africa (and most of the world) is still dominated by Whiteness, and the thought forms of Western cultural imperialism. The way we dress, the fact that we speak English, are all indicators of the extent to which our psyches have been colonised. Race traitors and White sangomas are part of a cultural revolution against this psychic imperialism.

With regard to White sangomas, some Black traditional leaders have explained that people with African ancestors are being born into White bodies. The concept of ‘ancestors’ is an interesting one too, as it doesn’t necessarily mean literal blood ancestors, but can be extended to mean something like ‘spirit guides’.

Transpose this into Western thought and an ancestor can be anyone who has gone before who has a special influence on your life – either through direct ‘spiritual’ influence, or intellectual tradition.

I like to see all those who have fought for freedom while still remaining human and grounded as my ancestors. They have a collective wisdom that I try to listen to.

Here is another African analogy that I like:

Each of us is the point of a spear. Our ancestors are the shaft, and the spear is so long it goes back to the beginning of time. If we get ourselves into alignment, that’s a lot of power we can direct.

Ndiyabonga, Makhosi.

I couldn’t agree more.

The White race is an historical construct that was designed to get poor Europeans to buy into the imperialist agenda of their elites. Before the creation of Whiteness, people used to identify by religion, language, and where they lived.

To end racism, we need to detribalise ourselves completely, stop identifying as White, and reject the privileges associated with Whiteness. Genealogy is interesting and identity is important – but we must abandon the fallacy that that there’s something about the blood that runs in our veins that makes us better than anyone else.

Being descended from Somerled or Ghengis Khan doesn’t make you special – it just means some one long ago was a top shagger.

In other words, moenie jouself wit hou nie.

Identity needs to be civic and cultural. The way to preserve cultures is to throw them open to all – not hide behind walls. Take Scotland for example: anyone who identifies strongly with Scotland, and is prepared to live on this rain-lashed, wind-swept hunk of frozen rock, can be Scottish. The same applies to Africa. Confused people like me can even be African Scots, or Scottish Africans.

So I am encouraged by stories like this one in the Sowetan:

A WHITE teenage boy is undergoing the traditional Xhosa rite of passage into manhood after following his best pal into the bush and his parents and traditional leaders have given it their blessings.

Not wanting to remain a boy while his friend became a man, Stanley Ahlschlager joined his mate of five years, Thandolwethu Nodwezana, at a camp just outside Berlin in the Eastern Cape.

There’s actually quite a lot of this sort of thing happening beneath the radar in South Africa, and its one of the most culturally interesting and relevant developments to come out of post-apartheid South Africa.

I personally know at least 10 White South Africans who have become sangomas (African shamans), and many more who use African herbs provided by inyangas.

I haven’t been to a Western doctor in around 15 years, and when in South Africa use African herbs to stay health. If I have any kind of religion or spirituality, its closer to African traditional religion – refracted through a Western prism – than anything else.

I listen to my ancestors. On which more later.

You don’t decide to become a sangoma – you get ‘sangoma sickness’ and don’t get better until you listen to your ancestors and start the thwasa initiation process. This takes years and is usually intense enough to deprogramme one of the last vestiges of Whiteness, and to discourage cultural tourists and wannabes.

A shaman is a walker between the worlds. By undergoing thwasa, White sangomas become cultural ambassadors between the White and Black worlds, and are able to translate traditional African beliefs into psychological and philosophical frameworks that people with a Western background can understand.

This is important, because South Africa (and most of the world) is still dominated by Whiteness, and the thought forms of Western cultural imperialism. The way we dress, the fact that we speak English, are all indicators of the extent to which our psyches have been colonised. Race traitors and White sangomas are part of a cultural revolution against this psychic imperialism.

With regard to White sangomas, some Black traditional leaders have explained that people with African ancestors are being born into White bodies. The concept of ‘ancestors’ is an interesting one too, as it doesn’t necessarily mean literal blood ancestors, but can be extended to mean something like ‘spirit guides’.

Transpose this into Western thought and an ancestor can be anyone who has gone before who has a special influence on your life – either through direct ‘spiritual’ influence, or intellectual tradition.

I like to see all those who have fought for freedom while still remaining human and grounded as my ancestors. They have a collective wisdom that I try to listen to.

Here is another African analogy that I like:

Each of us is the point of a spear. Our ancestors are the shaft, and the spear is so long it goes back to the beginning of time. If we get ourselves into alignment, that’s a lot of power we can direct.

Ndiyabonga, Makhosi.

Thabo – just back from a regional bosberaad in Lusaka – reaffirms the need for regional solidarity, assistance to Zimbabwe’s economy, and respect for the country’s sovereignty. He calls for lines of credit to be extended to Zimbabwe, and for us to work against boycotts and sanctions in the name of ‘regional solidarity’:

“The restoration of the country’s foreign exchange generating capacity through Balance of Payments support is crucial: however, the most urgent action that is needed to start this process is to establish lines of credit to enable Zimbabwe to import inputs for its productive sectors, particularly for agriculture and foreign currency generating sectors.

“SADC should do all it can to help Zimbabwe address the issue of sanctions, which is not only hurting the economy through failure to get BoP support and lines of credit, but also through reduced markets for its products. Sanctions also damage the image of Zimbabwe, causing a severe blow to her tourist sector.”

I don’t think it’s sanctions that are destroying Zimbabwe’s tourist sector, do you? I think maybe it’s the police state that has wrecked the economy.

The ‘respect for Zimbabwe’s sovereignty’ means, of course, that Mad Bob can do what he likes: Thabo’s given him the go ahead. Once again, Britain is to blame:

“[we have] unqualified respect for the sovereignty of Zimbabwe and the right of its people to determine their destiny. At no point will SADC and its member states act as a super-power that has the right to expropriate the people of Zimbabwe of their right to self-determination, as imperial Britain did.”

The only advice given to Zimbabwe is economic:

“Zimbabwe on her part must continue to implement robust policies to reduce the overvaluation of the exchange rate, to reduce the budget deficit and to control the growth of domestic credit and money supply which fuel inflation, and to reduce price distortions in the economy.”

Nothing about human rights, then.

Come on – where do Bob’s police get the bullets they use to shoot people? Zim has no arms industry. If you restore the ‘foreign exchange generating capacity’ they just buy more military equipment.

Seal the border. Don’t let any more weapons, petrol, foreign exchange or electricity into the country until the murdering bastard unbans the newspapers, stops beating up the opposition and unions, and allows them to organise freely for a democratic election.

Shut down the economy. Democratise the land invasions, and make sure people grow enough to feed themselves. AS in Iraq, there are portions of the Zimbabwe economy that are booming. But the people making money in Zimbabwe are corrupt opportunists.

Perhaps in acknowledgment of the fact that currently about one quarter of Zimbabwe’s population are living as impoverished refugees in South Africa, he points out the blindly obvious:

“The reality is that in a very real sense the problems of Zimbabwe are our problems…”

No shit, Thabo.

Thabo sees the writing on the wall and realises it won’t be long before his party is seen as the enemy of the people. But that’s what happens when a bourgeios nationalist party comes to power with the support of workers and peasants. After a while, the workers and peasants want to know when they’ll get there share, and have to be ruthlessly suppressed.

The problems in Zimbabwe, of course, are the fault of the media, because “they manufacture news and information and communicate complete fiction as the truth.”

Warming to his theme, Thabo says:

“The hostile allegation that our countries have recklessly turned their eyes away from the problems of Zimbabwe, because of the imperatives of solidarity, has always been nothing more than a product of propaganda.”

(Mbeki’s paranoia about a hostile media is unfounded: it is the media’s role in a democracy to critique power, not to be cheerleaders for government. Have a look at the kind of cartoons The Guardian, a broadly government-supporting paper, runs in the UK:

Criticism is normal, Thabo. Get used to it).

So: Mad Bob can continue as before, but we must work together to rebuild Zimbabwe’s economy.

Come on, South Africa – let’s get rid of this clown. In fact, let’s get rid of this entire class of corrupt, elitist politicians. If we ever want peace and prosperity, we need to finish what we started and free Azania from the control of a corrupt elite beholden to global capital.

Thabo – just back from a regional bosberaad in Lusaka – reaffirms the need for regional solidarity, assistance to Zimbabwe’s economy, and respect for the country’s sovereignty. He calls for lines of credit to be extended to Zimbabwe, and for us to work against boycotts and sanctions in the name of ‘regional solidarity’:

“The restoration of the country’s foreign exchange generating capacity through Balance of Payments support is crucial: however, the most urgent action that is needed to start this process is to establish lines of credit to enable Zimbabwe to import inputs for its productive sectors, particularly for agriculture and foreign currency generating sectors.

“SADC should do all it can to help Zimbabwe address the issue of sanctions, which is not only hurting the economy through failure to get BoP support and lines of credit, but also through reduced markets for its products. Sanctions also damage the image of Zimbabwe, causing a severe blow to her tourist sector.”

I don’t think it’s sanctions that are destroying Zimbabwe’s tourist sector, do you? I think maybe it’s the police state that has wrecked the economy.

The ‘respect for Zimbabwe’s sovereignty’ means, of course, that Mad Bob can do what he likes: Thabo’s given him the go ahead. Once again, Britain is to blame:

“[we have] unqualified respect for the sovereignty of Zimbabwe and the right of its people to determine their destiny. At no point will SADC and its member states act as a super-power that has the right to expropriate the people of Zimbabwe of their right to self-determination, as imperial Britain did.”

The only advice given to Zimbabwe is economic:

“Zimbabwe on her part must continue to implement robust policies to reduce the overvaluation of the exchange rate, to reduce the budget deficit and to control the growth of domestic credit and money supply which fuel inflation, and to reduce price distortions in the economy.”

Nothing about human rights, then.

Come on – where do Bob’s police get the bullets they use to shoot people? Zim has no arms industry. If you restore the ‘foreign exchange generating capacity’ they just buy more military equipment.

Seal the border. Don’t let any more weapons, petrol, foreign exchange or electricity into the country until the murdering bastard unbans the newspapers, stops beating up the opposition and unions, and allows them to organise freely for a democratic election.

Shut down the economy. Democratise the land invasions, and make sure people grow enough to feed themselves. AS in Iraq, there are portions of the Zimbabwe economy that are booming. But the people making money in Zimbabwe are corrupt opportunists.

Perhaps in acknowledgment of the fact that currently about one quarter of Zimbabwe’s population are living as impoverished refugees in South Africa, he points out the blindly obvious:

“The reality is that in a very real sense the problems of Zimbabwe are our problems…”

No shit, Thabo.

Thabo sees the writing on the wall and realises it won’t be long before his party is seen as the enemy of the people. But that’s what happens when a bourgeios nationalist party comes to power with the support of workers and peasants. After a while, the workers and peasants want to know when they’ll get there share, and have to be ruthlessly suppressed.

The problems in Zimbabwe, of course, are the fault of the media, because “they manufacture news and information and communicate complete fiction as the truth.”

Warming to his theme, Thabo says:

“The hostile allegation that our countries have recklessly turned their eyes away from the problems of Zimbabwe, because of the imperatives of solidarity, has always been nothing more than a product of propaganda.”

(Mbeki’s paranoia about a hostile media is unfounded: it is the media’s role in a democracy to critique power, not to be cheerleaders for government. Have a look at the kind of cartoons The Guardian, a broadly government-supporting paper, runs in the UK:

Criticism is normal, Thabo. Get used to it).

So: Mad Bob can continue as before, but we must work together to rebuild Zimbabwe’s economy.

Come on, South Africa – let’s get rid of this clown. In fact, let’s get rid of this entire class of corrupt, elitist politicians. If we ever want peace and prosperity, we need to finish what we started and free Azania from the control of a corrupt elite beholden to global capital.

No such luck. In the past week he fired his only decent cabinet minister, and blamed Britain for the crisis in Zimbabwe.

Back story for those who don’t follow South African politics:

Way back in the late 1990s, President Thabo Mbeki discovered a strange new invention called the internet. On the internet, he discovered many new and wonderous ideas, such as the one that HIV-Aids was created by the Illuminati to kill Black people, and that anti-retroviral drugs are a Western plot to enrich drug companies and murder even more Africans.

His loyal health minister, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang – also know as Dr Beetroot for her instance on beetroot as an Aids cure – parroted this line, while tens of thousands of South Africans were dying preventable deaths from HIV-Aids that the health department refused to treat. Here’s the Sunday Herald:

“Increasingly, health minister Tshabalala-Msimang has moved to the centre of the controversy. She has distributed to health officials throughout the country copies of a chapter of American author William Cooper’s book Behold A Pale Horse, which argues that President John Kennedy’s death, invasions from outer space and Aids are linked to a conspiracy by the Illuminati – a highly secretive organisation that has been in operation since the Middle Ages – and Jews to reduce the world population. 

Cooper further claims, in the excerpt distributed by the health minister, that the Illuminati introduced Aids to Africa in 1978 through the smallpox vaccine in an attempt to reduce Africa’s population. 

Cooper is also a regular attendant at Ku Klux Klan rallies in the United States, claiming on his own radio station that the Klan is “misunderstood” and that he simply supports the cult’s “Christian” ethos. Cooper has made a fortune from his books and by charging more than #10 a ticket for his well-attended lectures.” 

Now, I am open minded enough to read conspiracy theories too. I think that conspiracy theories are worth examining as a kind of modern mythology, as they tell us a lot about the cultures that create them. I’ve written about this before. The reason conspiracy theories thrive is because we know there are real conspiracies out there, and we know we can’t trust the politicians or the media to bring us truth.

But conspiracy theories are no basis for creating government policy. People die while Mbeki trawls the Internet looking for evidence of alien landings, and writes thoughtful nonsense on his own blog.

The Treatment Action Campaign fought a very long and hard struggle, and finally – a decade too late – things started to change. South Africa was blessed with a deputy health minister, Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, who understood the science of HIV-Aids, and did everything in her power to help. She began to turn South Africa’s HIV-Aids policy away from the genocidal nightmare it had been, and actually treat people.

So what did he do?

He fired her, ostensibly for going to an HIV-Aids conference in Spain without his permission, but rather more realistically for opposing his denialism.

The South African blogosphere, as well as the press, is filled with outrage. There is a good post here, for example, and you can sign a petition here.

Mbeki likes Aids deaths because it helps bring the 40% unemployment figures down. He’s be over the moon if all the poor people just died and left him in peace with t’internet.

Mbeki turned the whole debate around HIV-Aids into a neo-colonial one, focusing on the fact that Western drug companies were charging a mint for anti-retrovirals.

Opposing the profiteering of the drug companies was a good thing, as is encouraging people to use nutrition and herbal remedies when they help. I’ve written about this before, too.

But for goodness sake: anti-retrovirals are proven to save the lives of people living with HIV-Aids. Make them available. The progressive position is that we should use generics versions, produced either by other developing countries, such as Thailand, India or Brazil, or locally.

Is that so hard?

Also very much in the news is Dr Beetroot herself, the one who turned up at an international HIV-Aids conference with some garlic and olive oil as a miracle cure for Aids, embarassing the whole country. She is, according to news reports, a drunk. But she’s a Mbeki loyalist, so she stays.

Then there’s this: Britain, apparently, is to blame for the crisis in Zimbabwe:

South Africa has blamed Britain for the deepening crisis in Zimbabwe by accusing the UK of leading a campaign to “strangle” the beleaguered African state’s economy and saying it has a “death wish” against a negotiated settlement that might leave Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF in power. 

Jesus Christ.

Now, there’s no denying Britain’s historical culpability as former coloniser, and its ongoing attempts around the world at imperial aggrandisement. Britain needs to be put in its place and realise it is just a damp little island in the north Atlantic, and not a global superpower. It’s also disgusting that Britain sends Zimbabwean asylum seekers back.

But if anyone is responsible for the continuining crisis in Zimbabwe, it’s Thabo Mbeki. Zimbabwe is a landlocked country. They get their electricity from South Africa – on credit. If Thabo said “Bob, enough’s enough”, and put the lights out – that would be the end of the dictatorship.

Similarly, Zimbabwe imports its fuel, and much else besides. Mbeki could pull the plug at any time.

There is no chance of a ‘negotiated settlement’ with Bob Mugabe. The man is a tyrant, and a fascist. He needs to be isolated, as I pointed out in my handy DIY guide to getting rid of dictators.

In the news a while back was the story that De Klerk could be tried for apartheid era crimes. I agree, he should be. But Mbeki should be put on trial as well, for killing far more poeple than De Klerk ever did.

It’s called part 2 because I’ve written about this before.

On Saturday I wrote a piece critical of infantile rainbow nationism, and I got comments saying it was good I don’t live in South Africa. One of them echoes safety and security – ahem – minister Charles Nqakula’s call for people who are critical to leave the country:.

“The whingers can do one of two things. They can continue to whinge until they are blue in the face – they can be as negative as they want to – or they can simply leave this country.”

One was from Nic, pissed off that I dissed his ‘why SA rocks‘ affiliate programme (I was going to call it a ‘circle jerk’, Nic, but then I softened).

Another was from Steve the Zionist hack,who already hates me because I say nasty things about Israel.

The assumption they make is that I fled South Africa, and that I am casting stones from my dreary exile.

They are wrong.

When I lived in South Africa I was broke but happy. Now I’m decently paid, but stressed, and I have no free time. I preferred being broke and happy, but wish I didn’t have to choose. I’ve grown attached to the Internet and would miss it if I was back in South Africa.

I didn’t flee South Africa – I left very reluctantly, for love. My girlfriend was here. I didn’t want to come to the UK, and I was determined to hate it upon arrival. I arrived with my life savings – which lasted 6 weeks – on a working holiday visa, and took the first pub job I could get.

It has been important for me – on a lot of levels – to have some distance.

There’s plenty I don’t like about Britain – and regular readers will know I am as scathing about this country as I am about South Africa – but I’ve also been pleasantly surprised by a lot of things.

I particularly like Scotland, which is a wonderful country. People in Scotland – and especially Glasgow – speak their minds.

Ian wrote a brilliant response to my piece. If only he spent more time blogging and less time working, we’d all be better off. I agree with what he says. But it’s not my role.

I am a critic.

Although I realise there is a balance, for me it tipped over into the dark side about 18 months ago. I’m not sure what the tipping point was, but it might have had something to do with Zuma, and the mass political suicide of the Left. I got tired on not seeing any improvement.

It’s not that I don’t believe it’s possible for things to work out well. I just don’t think it’s likely anymore.

And I am entitled to that opinion – whether I express it in Glasgow or Cape Town.

Why is it I feel unwelcome in South Africa? Why does everyone think I don’t have a right to voice my opinion, because I live in Scotland? Is that what fought for, a country that doesn’t tolerate dissent? You’re as bad as the “America – love it or leave it” brigade. Fuck the lot of you.

I am a prickly character. I don’t suffer fools, and I am always the one raining on people’s parades, criticising things. But it’s the grit that makes the pearl, isn’t it?

Intelligent systems incorporate criticism and become stronger for it. Take capitalism, for instance: as much as I hate it, you’ve got to admire the way it can package your rebellion and sell it right back to you.

As some Russian revolutionary said: “Just when you’re about to hang the last capitalist, another will appear to sell you the rope”.

How true.

I have read through everything I have written on the subject, and I can honestly say I am not ‘whinging’. My critique, although angry, is fairly consistent, and I was as critical when I was living in South Africa: the ANC had a mandate in 1994 to redistribute wealth so that all South Africans could have a share. Instead of doing this, it made its own inner circle super-rich, and let the majority get poorer.

That sense of betrayal – and the material need – is probably the biggest cause of our crime wave.

We need a different kind of political leadership. We need one that at least tries to deliver to its citizens. To try and fail is forgivable, but the ANC has long since stopped pretending it’s about anything other than getting rich.

I mean, what really happened in 1994? Instead of white bosses in Pretoria, we got white bosses in Washington and London, and black boss boys in Pretoria telling us to shut up if we knew what was good for us.

Straight out of national apartheid and into global apartheid, and our government of heroes capitulated at the first step.

As much as it suits my critics to dismiss me as a privileged whiner in exile, shedding crocodile tears for the poor, this just allows them to avoid the issues I raise. I actually always offer concrete, constructive suggestions about what could be done to make things better. No one ever gets that far: they see the negativity, put their fingers in their ears and tell me to stay in Scotland. I would be really pleased if just one of my critics would engage with what I am saying instead of shouting me down.

There’s a big shadow looming to the north called Zimbabwe. It’s the shadow of not dealing with structural injustices, and it’s hanging over our precious rainbow nation. We can do things the hard way, like Zimbabwe, or we can listen to critics now, and do things the easy way.

We need to give people the land back. When South Africa first industrialised in the early part of last century, hut taxes forced people off the land and into the mines and factories.

Now, in post-industrial South Africa – thanks, ANC, for removing all those tariff barriers – the descendants of those people are surplus to requirements. The least we can do is facilitate their return to the land, so they can support themselves.

We also need a massive investment in skills, and in infrastructure. The neoliberals are wrong about this: leaving everything to the market will not be the magic bullet that saves South Africa, just as it wasn’t for Russia. A few people will get very rich while the country’s wealth is sold off to the new imperialists.

We need public spending. Investment. On a massive scale.

And we need people who are critical of the situation we find ourselves in, but are actively trying to change things. Take the Progressive ANC voters network, for example – we should all be spending a bit more time engaging with them, and less time stroking our egos on the Internet.

I joined the ANC in 1992, but didn’t stay a member because I felt betrayed. PAVN manages to evoke the spirit of the organisation in such a way that I almost want to come home. Pity they’re getting so much stick.

As Bullard says, the challenge for bloggers is to remain relevant, and write so that decision makers and leaders will check our blogs first thing in the morning.

So, Thabo, if you’re reading this, contact me offline.