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A spy who helped to end apartheid
- imwillofficial 5y agoI hope there is somebody as brave as she was in the current government of South Africa. The plight of Dutch farmers there getting murdered en mass is a sad state of affairs.
- joelbluminator 5y agoHow bad is it for them really? I read some stories but it seems the vast majority want to continue living in South Africa.
- vmception 5y agoTypically people think they are a citizen of their countries even long after the writing was on the wall
- jmopp 5y agoThe crime is bad in South Africa, yes, but it's not the worst in the world. Same with the corruption. One good thing South Africa has going for it is that the media and judiciary are stil independent, and criticising the government is seen as a public duty. South Africa also has a higher GDP per capita than Ukraine. Yes, it is one of the most unequal countries in the world, but the rather cynical consequence of that is that if you're in the middle class, your life is on par with that of a middle-class American.
- postsantum 5y agoThe country has the highest rape rate in the world and Cape Town is the murder capital of the world
- nsomaru 5y agoUnfortunately the level of inequality plays a role here. If you’re happy rolling in affluent areas the “real” level of risk you’re exposed to is much lower.
- joelbluminator 5y agoI doubt you can completely insulate yourself from the environment though. Criminals at some point start targeting the rich with all kinds of methods, "protection" payments (extortion) etc. Or what do you do if someone points a gun to your head to rob your car? Are you expected to drive everywhere with body guards?
- wesleywt 5y agoWhere in SA do you live? I am Cape Town. None of this happens.
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- nsomaru 5y agoDurban, it’s chilled. Recent riots don’t count :P
- sgt 5y agoWhere is this? I mean.. crime exists for sure, but I doubt most people even in JHB are that paranoid. If you just keep out of dodgy areas, you're pretty safe. SA still feels super chill and safe compared to say Brazil or Mexico.
- joelbluminator 5y agoMurder rate is higher than in Brazil actually and much higher than in Mexico https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/murder-rate-by-country https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/murder-ra....
- Synaesthesia 5y agoI want to continue living here but it is quite scary sometimes, we have a lot of crime. But mostly we live quite normally, I think it would remind you of the USA in a lot of ways.
- lcvw 5y agoAccording to Wikipedia 54-74 white farmers have been killed in South Africa in the past 5 years. Compared to the annual murder rate of 20,000 per year that seems negligible. How is this comparable to apartheid at all? Also I would hardly call 10 people being killed a year en mass. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_farm_attacks?wprov=sfti1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_farm_attacks?wpr...
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- hansvm 5y agoThe linked article quotes 54-74 white farmer murders _annually_. Even at two white farmers per farm in South Africa that implies a murder rate at least 2x above the national average with large enough total counts to be significant. I'd also wager a guess that most South African farmers are not white (they own 70% of farm land mass, but with no real evidence I'd imagine the farms are on average much larger than what was left for the locals), which would push that 2x stat much higher. Edit: On the other hand, I do think it would be interesting to compare the rate to farms of similar sizes and different races, should that data exist somewhere. With murder rates 2-~20x above average I wouldn't be totally surprised if the common factor were just extra wealth or something.
- thatjamesdude 5y ago>I'd also wager a guess that most South African farmers are not white Given the demographics, not an unfair guess, albeit a lazy one. No, not even close. Land reform is a controversial topic in my country so I'm just going to TL;DR the past 5 decades and provide some links[0][1] that you are going to have to be very sceptical about (given the controversial nature of the debate). - We have one of, if not the, highest wealth gaps in the world as a direct result of Apartheid - Unsurprisingly, land ownership is rare - Ergo, most of the land is owned by the wealthy class, who are the white minority. - I am not offering an opinion on the racial aspect here, violent crime affects all South Africans equally [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_reform_in_South_Africa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_reform_in_South_Africa [1]: https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201802/landauditreport13feb2018.pdf https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201802/...
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- wesleywt 5y agoThis is right wing propaganda. I am South African if you want to know.
- postsantum 5y agoIf Zimbabwe's Land Seizure Era was happening right now, it would have be called nazi propaganda too
- Synaesthesia 5y agoThat's not true, because it wasn't called that when it happened. There was global outrage in fact.
- postsantum 5y agoMy comment is about what would happen today, in the very different political and ideological climate. The word decolonization would be dropped quite a few times
- Synaesthesia 5y agoNote that Zimbabwe is still under US/Western sanctions which started quite a while ago. Well I hope it would correctly be called the cynical capture of farms by a few connected elites and not a real redistribution of wealth.
- wesleywt 5y agoYour comment makes no sense. There is no white genocide. It is propaganda from the right wing. I don't know what else to tell you. Other than stop being a ring winger?
- postsantum 5y agoEver considered the possibility of other commenters not being from USA and not participating in your bipolar discourse?
- ehPReth 5y agoHow does one get on this list? Asking for a friend… ok, fine, asking for me
- ehPReth 5y agoimagining someone coming to kill me would just be so amazing, such a relief…
- vmception 5y agoWould you light candles and leave flowers in a trail to the bathtub? Make an occasion out of it
- tommica 5y agoYou should talk to someone, they might be able to help you to look at your life from another perspective
- mrslave 5y agoAgree. OP needs counselling ASAP. This is not his first comment like this. First, call whatever free service exists in your country (hopefully) or even one friend (try to pick only one). Just pick someone and tell them you need their help. Then make and keep an appointment with a professional.
- perihelions 5y agoBased off their post history, the free 24/7 service is this one, "In Canada, please call 1.833.456.4566 (24/7) or send a text to 45645 (4pm to midnight ET)." https://www.crisisservicescanada.ca/en/ https://www.crisisservicescanada.ca/en/
- nsomaru 5y agoAn interview with her husband, Peter Dobson who was a "computer analyst" at the time in Joburg: https://disa.ukzn.ac.za/sites/default/files/pdf_files/sedec89.pdf https://disa.ukzn.ac.za/sites/default/files/pdf_files/sedec8... (pg. 21) (this is an ANC publication from 1989) It deals with American and Japanese tacit support of the regime (despite US sanctions on "computer technology" being sold to the ZA government) and the types of (IBM) systems running at the time.
- Synaesthesia 5y agoCool magazine, are there more issues there?
- hkt 5y agoIt would appear the filename format is "se{three letter month code}{two digit year}.pdf" so there are indeed other issues: https://disa.ukzn.ac.za/sites/default/files/pdf_files/sejan90.pdf https://disa.ukzn.ac.za/sites/default/files/pdf_files/sejan9... for instance. Publication appears to have been monthly.
- Synaesthesia 5y agoThanks
- pythonic_hell 5y agoYou can also try finding more through the Collections site on the university website. https://disa.ukzn.ac.za/Collection https://disa.ukzn.ac.za/Collection
- klausjensen 5y agoIf you're ever in Johannesburg, please set aside time to visit the Apartheid museum. It's a very moving experience, not least because it's so recent...
- slim 5y agoTrained by USSR as part of their foreign policy of helping independence movements around the world.
- hedberg10 5y agoWAS MCCARTHY RIGHT ABOUT THE LEFT? By Nicholas von Hoffman April 14, 1996 https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:n8iPc5ZPAAYJ:https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1996/04/14/was-mccarthy-right-about-the-left/a0dc6726-e2fd-4a31-bcdd-5f352acbf5de/+&cd=2&hl=de&ct=clnk&gl=de https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:n8iPc5...
- Synaesthesia 5y agoThis piece alleges "communist infiltration" and "domestic communism" like that was a thing in the US at the time. c'mon man https://prospect.org/power/exhuming-mccarthy/ https://prospect.org/power/exhuming-mccarthy/
- hedberg10 5y agoIt was. People aren't taught about the Venona Papers. I wonder why that is.
- Synaesthesia 5y agoThat's interesting, and yes there was significant infiltration, by a handful of dedicated underground spies. But the idea that there was widespread communist sympathies or subversion needing some kind of crackdown, there's no evidence for that. Quoting from the article above: >As anyone who is reasonably familiar with the history of the period must know, the premise for most of the McCarthy rehabilitation literature is a sort of blanket historical amnesia. To credit the revisionist argument, you must believe that mid-century liberalism denied the threat of domestic and global communism and took no stand against it. But this was scarcely the case. Not only mainstream liberals, but also most left-liberals and social democrats adopted a staunchly anticommunist stance from the middle 1940s onward. The model here, of course, is Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., whose seminal work The Vital Center identified the dangers of communism and castigated the muddle-headed thinking of those on the left who thought it either possible or advisable to cooperate with communists even while disagreeing with their larger objectives. But Schlesinger was scarcely alone. The social democrat Walter Reuther employed stern and even draconian measures to purge communists from the CIO in the 1940s. And even the perennial Socialist Party presidential candidate Norman Thomas supported efforts to ban communists from teaching positions on the grounds that they had surrendered their right to academic freedom through subservience to Moscow.
- bsksi 5y agoAnd now look at how peaceful and prosperous South Africa is!
- Synaesthesia 5y agoIt was much worse in the late 80's/early 90's, and we didn't go down an even worse route then.
- joelbluminator 5y agoTo be fair no one is saying that SA is peaceful and prosperous. For example Google News is showing me now "Vigilante killings" when I type South Africa, there are a lot of stories about the violence and corruption going on there. A few months earlier there were stories about the water supply collapsing. I think it's common knowledge that SA is dysfunctional. Yes this is a moral conundrum, the Apartheid should have ended but the situation didn't really get better for many people in SA. It's a bit like the U.S withdrawal from Afghanistan maybe; it should have happened but no it's probably not gonna improve things for the average Joe there.
- animal531 5y agoIt will take (a lot of) time. After apartheid the new ANC ruling party took over, but it is rife with corruption and as a result most state owned entities are being (or have already been) run into the ground. The leadership have enriched themselves, whereas the poorest segment of the population remain as poor as they were 30 years ago. Tribalism is still playing a large factor in the country and there are no visible great leaders ahead. All the politicians are still playing the let's blame apartheid card to score points with the people on the ground, but they have very little actual plans in place to make things better. The upper class taxpayer base is emigrating and unemployment is growing, which is driving crime and general unrest. Add in the corruption and government is struggling to finance anything worthwhile, so as a result they have to keep inventing new taxation, which again drives emigration.
- PicassoCTs 5y ago