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White is not a colour on the rainbow (UCT student protestors tell white students they're being tolerated ... for now)


mistermoose

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I've never been someone who feels even the slightest tinge of discrimination based on race or gender, either received or perceived.

 

Over the last few years, this has quickly escalated into the environment we find ourselves in today, where we have active profiling at work when interviewing candidates, where I'm turned away when applying to roles I'm qualified for because of my race, and where students at UCT can stand up in 2016 and tell white students that they're lucky to be tolerated by black people, and where a WITS group of students called for a white student to be killed to garner support for the 'movement'. 

 

It's incredibly sad to be living this as a daily reality on all major media. Of course, on the ground, when working with people or meeting friends or enjoying the outdoors, all of this goes away and normal life continues. Until the next headline hits, and videos like this come to light:

 

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/general/181668-the-message-to-white-students-in-south-africa.html

 

 

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For most of us here though this is part of a larger body of underlying reasons why we're leaving.

 

I myself do wish there was a way to bring sense to such mindless lunacy that cuts off its nose to spite its face, but rationality is increasingly disliked, envy and hatred are cherished, and this is really no longer our fight.

 

 

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One of my biggest reasons for making this move again. I will never allow my kids to have to apologise or stand back for being created in a certain skin colour. Wish that some of those students can come here and see how multi culturalism is suppose to look like and work here is Aus.

 

Thanks for posting this, incase I have a bad day ahead of me here, I'll just watch this video again.

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I have almost stopped even watching the news, it disgusts me that in this day and age this is even allowed to happen. Who the hell do these people think they are, telling people to join or face death etc. So much for the ANC de"mock"cracy. Can't the parties elect a spokesperson and then talk through the issues instead of burning, threatening, looting etc? Oh wait, it's the way it's done. :(

 

What about those who have ploughed their lifesavings into a kids education only to have it hijacked by thugs.

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6 hours ago, WayneAndMel said:

For most of us here though this is part of a larger body of underlying reasons why we're leaving.

 

I myself do wish there was a way to bring sense to such mindless lunacy that cuts off its nose to spite its face, but rationality is increasingly disliked, envy and hatred are cherished, and this is really no longer our fight.

 

 

Well said, I couldn't agree more.

 

My mom's friend yelled at her in a restaurant recently saying my husband and I are part of the problem in SA (because we left), "hulle is land veraaiers, en dis mense soos hulle wat maak dat die land sy gat sien." Should we have stayed, so there is herd immunity to the violence? So we share the burden of who shall be victimised next? What good comes from us hiding in our homes, what could we do to make it better, stick around for votes every election? Pay tax money for NOTHING? be thankful every morning we are still alive?

 

No thanks.

 

It has stopped being our fight a while ago, the country is in the grip of some evil madness and I see no hope. Sorry for any believers in the rainbow nation if this offends you, its just my opinion.

Edited by Mel-B
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@Mel-B, at which point do we stop being "land veraaiers"?  Would this tannie say the same thing to the hoards of white farmers that left Zimbabwe?  What makes them any different to us leaving SA for a better future?

 

In my mind each and every white South African stems from "land veraaiers".  The only reason we're here in the first place is because our forefathers decided to up and leave their country of origin for whichever reason.

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@Mel-B,

 

Sorry to hear that girl, my heart goes out to your nan.

 

So by that very definition every person who ever left every other country to settle in SA are traitors? Technically so are all the Nguni, , Shona, North and Central African tribes that swept down from other African places to sweep into South Africa, see here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bantu_expansion

 

Every ethnicity bar the San are therefore traitors. I can see in my minds eye that tannie shifting uncomfortably in her chair. Now take that up one level to Juli-Ass who claims "whites" are colonisers? How is that different from the other tribes that invaded/settled/colonised SA? None, nil nada but there is nary a squeak on this topic because it means all the racist prattle is moot and all the wind is driven from these windbags lungs. It's like the genocide committed by Shaka, show me one SA school history book that calls it genocide and I will eat my hat. It's called the M'fecane and the D'fecane, but never genocide.

 

I must say though I am happy to have this tannie call me a traitor, I will just smile n wave, like the penguins! :) Some people left for better opportunities, some for other reasons. Keep the faith.

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@Mel-B I believe the land veraaiers accusations are because deep down others also realise they can't change the direction things are going in SA and we make a wonderfully convenient target of shifted blame. Easier to blame two rational people with promise than try confront an irresponsible and seething mass of resentment and spite that uses fancy terms like 'white privilege' and 'white monopoly capital' repeated ad nauseaum to dusguise their own racism. 

 

@ChrisH It's interesting to mention Zimbabwe emigrants who came to SA. I'm part of a rare stamp collectors society focusing on Rhodesia and the vast majority of them are obviously ex-Zimbabweans.

 

When I told them I was emigrating I expected a bad reaction. Instead they almost all said they'd seen a lot of what they'd seen in Zimbabwe in their time now happening in SA. They then told me I'm doing the right thing and if they're weren't as old as they were they would too.

 

Although SA won't necessarily follow Zimbabwes path in step with as it did they said they are bracing themselves for what is to come. 

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4 hours ago, Mel-B said:

 

 

My mom's friend yelled at her in a restaurant recently saying my husband and I are part of the problem in SA (because we left), "hulle is land veraaiers, en dis mense soos hulle wat maak dat die land sy gat sien." 

What a classy lady! Mel, smile and wave to those fools (even if you force that smile on your face initially). Your mum would be wise to reconsider that friendship too. 

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I feel so sad for my mom - that our personal life should now affect her friendship - ITS IRRATIONAL - but they won't be having lunch again. And what makes it worst is that my mom misses us terribly and was vulnerable and wanted to talk about it. :(

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And after all these years I still have people ask me why I left!  Let us say that I am happy to tell them "for greener pastures"

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When I lived in SA the news used to irritate me so much that it got to the stage where I stopped watching it. I don't have much patience with stupid.

 

And why on earth would anyone be classed as a traitor for wanting to have a better life. What business is it to anyone! With friends like that who needs enemies. Good riddance I say.

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@WayneAndMel it is very true, i left zim 13years ago to come and study here because it was better than continuing studies back home. my leaving my home country was not because we had money but i did it for my future. i felt i had better chances here than back home. its very true that what is happening in South Africa is almost similar to what happened in zim and our fear was S.A is headed in the same direction. the hatred needs to stop. children are fighting battles that are not even theirs. hey are the ones that are supposed to be showing the adults what unity is. there has to be a bigger force behind the scenes. we cannot wait to stay in a country where multiculturalism is celebrated....

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I was in a meeting once, in NZ, where a discussion was started about how many generations it takes to be regarded as a local? The general feeling was 3. I burst out laughing, when they wanted to know why, I told them that I was a 9th generation South African, and yet, I was still not regarded as a local, but an interloper  :D  They were amazed! :rolleyes:

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16 hours ago, Theshi said:

@WayneAndMel it is very true, i left zim 13years ago to come and study here because it was better than continuing studies back home. my leaving my home country was not because we had money but i did it for my future. i felt i had better chances here than back home. its very true that what is happening in South Africa is almost similar to what happened in zim and our fear was S.A is headed in the same direction. the hatred needs to stop. children are fighting battles that are not even theirs. hey are the ones that are supposed to be showing the adults what unity is. there has to be a bigger force behind the scenes. we cannot wait to stay in a country where multiculturalism is celebrated....

I was stunned at the multiculturalism in Melbourne. Where anything and everything is good. People really and truly accept each other in all shapes sizes and colours. I LOVE IT.

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On 6 October 2016 at 3:18 AM, mistermoose said:

I've never been someone who feels even the slightest tinge of discrimination based on race or gender, either received or perceived...

...

..It's incredibly sad to be living this as a daily reality on all major media. Of course, on the ground, when working with people or meeting friends or enjoying the outdoors, all of this goes away and normal life continues. Until the next headline hits, ...

 

 

It's just nuts!  I can't believe what I'm reading in the news these days ... and as you said above, it's just like that isn't it, despite all this chaos, most people of all colours just get on with it.  

As South Africans we have no issue with using the description of black and white, because that's what it is if you need to 'explain', in fact bantu south africans have no qualms in proudly stating that they are black.  No amount of flowering up descriptions is going to deny that if that is the reality.  

Despite our not having mixed much growing up, our circles later grew to include all people, and our kids have grown up with friends and teachers across colours and ethnicity's.  Ironically it was here in Australia, that we had to first explain what 'racism' was to our son, at age 11, because of unfortunate playground antics.  The boy (50% Aboriginal) that was shouting 'racist' to our son, did so after he was queried about his South African origins and asked to clarify whether people were poor in Africa - to which he said 'there are lots of people that live in places the same as here, but there are also lots of poorer people, more poorer blacks that lived in shacks than whites..'  well he was cut short around there :/  ...enter this other little boy, who appears to shout 'racist' at all who cross his path no matter their colour - our son was so hurt and confused at being accused of someone who distinguishes by race, when all he has ever been taught is to distinguish by merit.  Fortunately it was all sorted out, though we were advised that it is politically incorrect/insensitive to use descriptions like white or black as a reference here as it causes great offence.

Still, it's sad.  I think colour/culture division is in fact being fuelled the world over :( 

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@Melg

 

Don't get so upset about it... at the end of the day its all about money. 

 

Is the same here... the Aborigines cry foul, get a government payout, then the elders blow it on booze. Heaven forbid, you want to come into their community, build a school and educate their kids!  

 

At the end of the day, the blacks don't hate whites. The whites don't hate blacks. Apartheid happened because the whites predicted South Africa in 2016, over 60 years ago. The only way to justify Apartheid was to say the blacks were idiots who deserved no better.

 

The blacks just want to be the ones who have been screwed over and deserving of a handout. They just don't want to be poor, but they can't see a quick way out of poverty without lots of handouts. But the white kids do fine without asking for handouts. That weakens the black kids demands for handouts... and makes them angry.

 

On both sides of the racial divide... people have just been doing what they think they need to do to get ahead... 

 

Sometimes you have to think like a politician... If enough people are asking to nationalise the mines (and thus cripple the economy). Then you can't dismiss them as idiots. You need to come to a compromise. As much as you think they are idiots for wanting to nationalise everything, they think you are an idiot because you don't.

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1 hour ago, monsta said:

Is the same here... the Aborigines cry foul, get a government payout, then the elders blow it on booze. Heaven forbid, you want to come into their community, build a school and educate their kids! 

 

@monsta

 

I live in Waterloo, adjacent to Redfern, which has the highest concentration of inner-city Indigenous Australians in NSW. These are our friends and neighbors. Life is tough, many are facing very hard and difficult socioeconomic circumstances, but the community comes together. We support a local Church in the area that is doing all it can to meet the needs of the community - providing transport to the kids, having after care facilities and creating safe environments for them to break the cycle of systemic poverty and provide much needed resources and support, so despite your vilifying comments, there are people offering help, and it's being graciously received.

 

Cheers

 

Matt

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Hey @AFreshStart

 

I know... there will be exceptions; but alcohol addiction is a huge problem in the aborigine communities. And yes, you are not wrong... people respond to how they are treated. If those students at WITS and UCT had a community of people around them that was genuinely trying to help them get ahead, perhaps they they wouldn't be protesting and threatening whites... 

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Our son has told us that he thinks it is racist to refer to people by their skin colour so now we rather refer to people based on their ethnicity or some other descriptor (our region is very multicultural).

 

@monsta, not picking on you or anything but we were taught during cultural sensitivity training at work (Queensland Government) to use the term Aboriginal people and not aborigine as it is considered offensive (they are people and not fauna).

Edited by Caz
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@monsta - lol:D nah!  not upset.  was just surprising and ironic that only here in Aus, this 11th year of my son's life, that the term 'racist' had to actually be explained to him.  
My older daughter was exposed to it back in South Africa already, fortunately amongst her loved classmates of all ethnicities and colour - and thanks to their teacher they were such an amazing close class that it became a silly teasing thing - ah but such is the blessing of a Waldorf school (had to punt that, can't help myself, wish we could afford for our kids to finish all their schooling in Steiner :wub:)
And I hear you @Caz, sensitivity is important.  I guess we just need to find the balance in it.  In a meeting DH had with the school principal over our playground situation, he (the principal) also reiterated that '...it is offensive to use the term 'black' and we should rather say an African, or an Aboriginal, etc', hmm..?  and as DH responded 'well we, and our son, have always referred to the person as Fizile, or Armani, or Pretty, or whatever name we know them by'                - ya know what i'm sayin ;)  -- lol:D --it was pretty funny for it's truth we thought :D and this is really as it is for most all of us :wub:

It is a really sad and unfortunate hole that these native communities are in - per what you've all said above.  South Africa has its own dynamics for its own different reasons.  An Australian friend summed it up so well, that helped in being able to relate to the frustration of the constantly crying foul to this or that aid - imagine your father was mistreated due to race, those scars are imprinted on the children, and often then on their children - throw abusive substances into the mix and the scars are amplified by the victim, or the illusions/delusions of them are felt in the later generation, and thus imprinted on offspring, etc.  It would take generations! for that scar to heal over.  

We cannot imagine where we have not had this experience, but perhaps some of us can relate in experiences of a different nature?   Nonetheless, it is a reality that cannot be denied.  It will always be felt that the wrongs need to be right-ed - govts of the past, as in AU, have thrown monetary compensation at the communities in this effort, but which have only further degraded the culture they were hoping to rescue/repair - creating a sense of entitlement that is no longer within reason :(    I suppose we can only bring it back to our own individuality and do our own best, as @AFreshStart's community is doing - so individual helps individual, and community helps community - and hope to evolve a change that is better for the All 

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