Sour Grapes - The Fruit Of Ignorance

SRA Propaganda IS A Harmful Religious Practice!

2013-04-26T13:18:00.000-07:00

Dear IOL,

I just read this article by you today: "Sin, sedition and Satanism in South Africa"

http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/sin-sedition-and-satanism-in-south-africa-1.417775#.UXqvBqLTxbq (Yes, I know the article is from 2008, but I was just made aware of it. Also, the policeman interviewed is the present head of the reformed SAPS Occult Related Crimes unit - so his views should provide a VERY clear picture of what sort of prejudice and bias this man has. The journalist first points out that there are different forms of Satanism, and makes references to the Church of Satan – but the lengthy quotes from Lamprecht and an evangelicalist drug rehabilitation “expert” speaking out of his field of expertise, tends to off-set this suggestion, making up the bulk of the article, and turning it from an objective piece into a Christian evangelizing soap-box.)

I am sorry to say, this whole article is a perfect example of biased, hysterical SRA propaganda. If is so full of sheer and utter rubbish attributed to Lamprecht and Krige and put out by your paper, that I am beside myself with anger. In fact, there is so much tripe in there about a religion and its adherents who are STILL (clearly only in theory) protected by law in this country from lies and misrepresentations such as this, being presented as "fact" that I'm not even sure where to begin.

Lamprecht and Krige's statements amount to nothing more than a load of slanderous Christo-fascist propaganda dressed in the alleged "expertise" of religious bigotry dressed up as a police "expert" on Satanism and "harmful religious practices" and as a supposed academic - when both are clearly no more than Christian evangelists who would quite naturally, be biased and even hateful, as is clearly the case here.

While Lamprecht makes extensive mention of his own personal beliefs regarding his Christian position on a religion he is clearly maligning and slandering, Lamprecht is also referred to as "Dr" - and I have to say that even if he is "Dr" in some academic field - perhaps even religious studies (which I doubt), his studies are bound to be Christian in nature and so consequently he will know jack about occult religion, EXCEPT through a biased and judgemental Christian perspective - that of prejudice and complete ignorance of the subject. He demonstrates this bias clearly when he says, in a quote in the article:

"Lamprecht said although Satanism is not a crime, it is a belief system that leads to crime."

So what's the difference? He is stating - as if it were somehow a PROVABLE fact, that there is no difference between belonging to Satanism as a religion, and belonging to the mafia (or any other criminal organization) - where it is expected of a person who is a Satanist to be a criminal, and that therefore, being a criminal is inevitable and inseparable from that association. This is both hate speech and incitement to hate (in terms of Act No 4 of 2000, Promulgation of Equality Act).

Furthermore, the rest of his statements are prejudicial towards other religions and made clearly out of a biased religious perspective - his own, and by means of this, he attacks the validity and right to exist unhindered by legal harassment of religions and belief systems he disapproves of. Lamprecht - superintendent or academic Dr or not, he is abusing his appointed position as a public servant as a vantage point to promote his own religion's intolerant values or biases towards these. This is not only unacceptable, unprofessional and unethical - it is also ILLEGAL in terms of the Constitution and the above mentioned Act.

Pagans, Satanists and others who identify with occult religion in South Africa are frequently slandered and maligned in inaccurate and fantastic"news" material and statements issued by unethical tabloid newspapers, Christian "academics" and the SAPS - especially now since they have re-activated their UNconstitutional "Occult Crimes Unit", which views all non-Christians with hostility, contempt and suspicion.

Consequently, all occult and even sometimes non-occult belief systems are conflated with "Satanism" - and the kind of "Satanism" they are conflated with has no basis in fact, but is a creation of sensationalist and hysterical media reporting as well as religious intolerance, paranoia and ignorance.

Refer to this article for clarification:

http://www.paganrightsalliance.org/satanism-is-a-media-creation/

I note that Lamprecht and Krige provide not a single shred of evidence or so much as a reference to back up these claims. Their statements are just repeated as if they are authorities in their own right. It is just assumed that because they are a policeman or a "Doctor" of something unrelated to occult religious studies, their statements will be taken as factual - even if they are not, and regardless of whether their fields of qualification match the fields they are muck-raking in.

Often, SRA pedlars have NO qualifications, or are not qualified in the fields they claim to be experts in - but because they carry "PHD" after their names, people just assume they do and know what they are talking about.

People who promote propaganda like this rely on their position and authority to enforce their propaganda as "the truth". I scoff at Lamprecht's introduction as "an expert in harmful occult practices". What is his qualification in, that it makes him an expert in a religion he obviously knows nothing about and clearly detests despite his ignorance?

When I addressed accusations about people's sexual orientations and gender identity based upon the statements of so-called "experts" such as Paul Cameron etc, the term "junk-science" described the pseudo-scientific clap-trap used by those people to try to justify their prejudice and hatred of those they worked to destroy - typically because of religious intolerance. In the case of the current, previous (and also any future) hysterias about "Satanist" conspiracies, SRA propaganda and self-proclaimed "experts" leading the attack on civil rights and freedoms, are the 'junk-science' of this battle. And 'junk-science" fits it exactly right.

For nearly half a year now, the SAPS has refused to engage with a legitimate, registered and recognized representative body (SA Pagan Rights Alliance) on the formal objection document sent to the SAPS about the reformation of their ORC unit. This refusal to engage with a religious minority group too is illegal in terms of the Constitution - but what has happened about that? Nothing. And yet they block a legitimate complaint by a registered Pagan community representative body about their (apparently justified) fears regarding persecution (silencing a legitimate complaint is ALSO persecution, Mr Lamprecht!).

As a matter of correction, IOL and Jacques Breytenbach, "sedition" isn't a crime in South Africa. It is a legal concept used by oppressive and fascist regimes. Are we turning into an oppressive fascist regime? It seems that way, because while drek like the contents of this article gets posted as if it is done to do the community a service, Lulu Xingwana stands addressing Parliament this week blaming gender-based violence on "Satanism" - and not one single opposition party - not even the mighty human rights and Constitution-defending DA stands up to object or to correct her. I think for this, the DA should hang its head in shame. What is at stake here is the defense of the constitutional freedom of religion, under attack by a creeping and sinister religious fundamentalism in organs of state - a state which is supposed to be secular by nature of the constitution.

Krige meanwhile, relies on flimsy and academically unsound Satanic Ritual Abuse (SRA) concepts to assert that music by Eminem turns people into Satanists or anarchists in the classic pattern of the 1980's "Satanic Panic" hysteria (more junk-science). Then he even goes so far as to drop a clanger that exposes exactly the sort of "expert" he is on Satanist religion: "According to Krige, the Satanist movement started in 1967 with the Rolling Stones and the Beatles" - when every serious academic source - AND also authorities on modern Satanism within Satanism recognize that modern Satanism began in 1966 with the foundation of the Church of Satan in San Francisco by Anton LaVey! The Beatles experimented with Eastern religions, and had sweet blow-all to do with the beginnings of Satanism. What is your doctorate in, "Dr" Krige - dentistry?

The rest of his so-called "expert" commentary is nothing more than a horse-and-pony show, trying to connect religious Satanism and violence as if he even knows what he is talking about. A person attacks another person, allegedly cuts out his heart and then it is described as an "offering to the devil" - not a sign of mental illness. The tall tale about the little boy in Vryburg as part of "four Satanic sacrifices" is a clear case of the symptomatic ignorance of so called "experts" on occult practices - the (at times deliberate) conflation of African religious practices with Satanism - which is a separate entity altogether. Krige's contribution to the article is nothing less than a meaningless, inaccurate rant in which all he does is evangelize - and reveals that he is obviously out of his field.

On top of that, Dr Krige and his Extreme Freedom Foundation are little more than a one man show - and yet this unknown evangelizing drug rehabilitation-focused non-profit organization with virtually no internet footprint or media profile, together with Krige, are presented by the journalist as though they were actually some kind of expert organization on occult RELIGION and that his qualification is in a similar related field. The Extreme Freedom Foundation site header reads: "Christian Drug Rehabilitation & Treatment Centre - South Africa", settling the debate on whether Krige or his organization are a proper rehabilitation center, or just a means for him to indulge in indoctrination and proselytizing Christianity.

The truth of the matter is that it is a thinly-disguised Christian "Warfare Ministry" conducting an off-topic assault on the Constitutional right to freedom of religion, instead of dealing with issues related to drug abuse. Krige's field is clearly Christian evangelism, and NOT knowledge of occult religions, and he should stick to things he might know something about, like riding his bike, preaching his gospel, or perhaps getting people off drugs without pushing his religion on them. Tough challenge.

THIS MISREPRESENTATION of this man as an "expert" on any topic other than Christian evangelism and drug counselling by your paper is SHODDY JOURNALISM!

I suggest Messrs Breytenbach, Lamprecht and Krige take a long, hard look at the following articles at the link below:

http://www.penton.co.za/satanic-panic-sources-and-resources/

Further, your site (and your Facebook page) do not allow posting of comments on articles - the media should ALWAYS accept criticism, and corrections - and should not prevent people from engaging them in public ON their articles, if any, which offend. To do so infringes on the right to freedom of speech, to defend oneself against accusations or false statements, and indicates that you will publish whatever you like, regardless of who you will offend, and that you will not enter into debate challenging your methods and reporting ethics. I think that speaks for itself.

Seeing utter TRASH like this Christo-fascist propaganda rubbish appearing in public news as if it is somehow credible or newsworthy just makes me livid.

If Mr Lamprecht is really concerned about preventing "harmful religious practices" he should start with the person who wrote this article, pay Dr Krige a visit, escort them into a cell, sit down with them, and throw away the key.

Bridging The Great Divide

2013-03-13T09:17:00.000-07:00

The Constitution forms the supreme law of South Africa. It is a secular law which stands to prevent the persecution of people on the basis of race, ethnicity, language, gender, sexual orientation - and also religious freedom. Of course, most of the time you need to belong to a minority group of some kind to confirm that the law and the letter are being carried out in real life as they are on paper. In South Africa I can attest to the fact that the gap between the paper law and the real life application of these laws - which once seemed to be narrowing, is now just as wide - if not wider than ever.

Under the laws of this land, you have the right to hold to whatever religion, spirituality or faith that appeals to you, or suits you. You do NOT have the right to abuse the authority of state organizations, the law, or any other form of regulation to disadvantage, oppress or persecute other people who ascribe to religions or spiritual beliefs different to yours.

In as much as you would not like someone identifying with another religion doing that to you, you have to show others the same respect you would have for yourself and for your religion - EVEN THOUGH it may pain you to do so. Believing in something and identifying with a religion is never a crime - if people commit a crime, then address the crime, do not stereotype, slander and scapegoat all others who identify with a religion by defaming the religion - in public and in the press and in the media - and also in guidelines intended for use by government agencies, such as law enforcement.

If you feel that something shouldn't be in the Constitution or should be changed, by all means - follow the processes laid out in the Constitution that allow for changes to be made that will suit you better - but you DO NOT have the right to carry on regardless as if those laws you do not like do not exist or simply do not apply, allowing you to exercise your prejudice against others whom you choose to make into your victims.

If it is considered "factual" and relevant to push up sales via sensationalism and to report in the press that a "Satanist" did x,y or z, then it should also be considered relevant to do the same for criminals who ascribe to other religions and to report that a "Christian/Hindu/Muslim" did x,y or z. It should also be considered relevant for journalists and authorities to check their facts before simply publishing material of questionable accuracy or relevance to either the law, the incident or the religion which is being defamed.

State authorities should also engage in open debate with members or participants in any minority religious/spiritual communities to determine the correct facts about their beliefs and practices before lending their ears to the especially biased views of other perhaps dominant religious groups who might outright condemn and defame them, especially if it is in line with their own beliefs and practices to do so. Instead, we today have a police force which is a "force" and not a "service" - and which propagates lies, fallacies and myths and the personal conjecture of religiously biased individuals - and which upholds them as training manuals and guidelines despite being criticized repeatedly over a number of years for their inaccuracies and fanciful invention.

When a state organ upholds misinformation about a community despite a repeated outcry by those it defames and dismisses attempts to engage with it by groups and bodies formed within that community - they are in the process of creating or perpetuating a human rights injustice - and further, when attempts to engage with the government or it's bodies fail because they are ignored pointedly by the state - or suppressed, it is an indicator that the failure of democracy is imminent in that country.

By doing thus, the State is doing nothing short of perpetuating the injustices of the past and visiting upon others what was suffered by people who were persecuted for that which we today hold to be the strength in our unity as a nation - our diversity.

The Poep's Latest Move, And Other Stories

2013-01-07T05:06:00.003-08:00

I have a bit of a mixed bag for you all today. Happy 2013 folks. December 2012 was quite a rough patch for me and mine. I spent a lot of December flat on my back - not nearly as much fun as you might think. My girl friend was involved in a bit of a car smash and was in hospital for a few days with spinal injuries, which appear to be healing slowly. After a month with almost no sign of improvement, she is regaining some sensation in her right leg, with full use of her left. Remarkably, even though she can't feel anything in her right leg, she can still move it, and can therefore drive, and in a fashion, walk. She has a new car, her 2011 Polo having been written off by the insurance, and not a word from the other party, life goes on.

I started feeling ill around the 2nd, but as is usual practice, I ignored it. I do this out of habit because I almost never get sick, aside from the occasional bout of seasonal allergies, and even then, hardly ever take off sick. This year was a bit of a duzi in that department. On a Thursday night, I had been bitten in the neck by what I assumed was a mosquito, I still remember feeling it, but never saw what it was as it was during my bi-weekly jujitsu class, and I was distracted. The others in class were swatting away at the little buggers, and it was a hot evening and all the windows were open in the dojo. The bite itched like mad, turned red and inflamed, and by Sunday a gland in my neck swelled up to the size of an egg.

By Monday it had subsided, and the other side of my neck had swollen up, a LOT. At that point, I decided to consult a doctor. This was the start of a roller coaster ride that lasted for the next 6 weeks, and still isn't quite over.

On the Monday I went to see my GP and I was booked off work for three days. The very same afternoon, my girlfriend had her accident. Despite being ill and booked off from work, I still made an effort to visit her while in hospital. After a number of days, I went back with no improvement, I was given a further week of bed rest. I went through 4 courses of different antibiotics, 5 sets of blood tests, including a blood culture test taken when I spent 2 nights in hospital. Even a sample of the puss from an absys in one gland which was sent for analysis returned only confusing results.

I spent most of the time in bed with pain in my joints (hips especially) so bad I could barely get out of bed and walk to the loo. My appetite was zero. My neck was so swollen on one side I could barely move my head, and my skin was red and blotchy because of my allergy to paracetamol in the meds I take for pain and fever. I had fever and shivering sessions through the day as the fever control meds wore off, with the shivering getting so bad it was like convulsions, during which I could not breathe normally and my hands cramped up, the nails and my lips turning blue.

I made numerous visits to the clinic in the next few weeks, in point of fact, I am surprised my health insurance still haven't written me off with all the doctor's visits I used up. In one week alone, they took blood samples and I pee'd in a bottle twice. Fun. You always know it's serious when a doctor rushes around to get you sorted at the nurse's station, instead of getting someone else to do it. Results came in slow, and my GP called me personally with these each time. I could hear him scratching his chin over the phone while reading the lab sheets. It seems I have... *drumroll please*... tick bite fever... Not. Glandular fever? Um... No, not that either. Glandular TB? Nope.

The test results as I mentioned were confusing. It's not tick bite fever after all apparently - the doctor doesn't know what it is yet, aside from "a mysterious underlying infection, most likely the result of an insect bite or sting". I suppose it's not easy when people expect answers and they can't give them. Anyways, it's interesting to get reports like: "It's frightening how normal your results are..." Normal? I didn't feel normal! Anyway, since when have I ever been that? That's almost insulting! The way I felt, I was half expecting to turn green, glow in the dark, start climbing things upside down, or get the urge to wear lycra and spandex in odd-color combinations. If this happens (and goodness knows, it still may) I will need suggestions for a good name for a crime fighter (or evil genius) and fashion advice on choosing nice underwear to wear outside my clothes.

I thought this seemed a lot like malaria, as I know I was bitten twice by a mosquito (once on the neck, and once on my right leg, although the leg never showed any reaction other than a nasty itch) even though this area is not known for malaria. Perhaps as Mom suggested, it was a mosquito with a passport. When the specialist discharged me from hospital, he told me "we may never know what this is", not exactly comforting, but what is, is getting better anyway. Trust me to get something exotic, instead of the mundane, ordinary, run-of-the-mill tummy bug/STD/flu/dread virus. At any rate, I started feeling progressively better during last week, and started work today. There is nothing like the usual daily routine to make you feel appreciated, back in place, normal and well again.

Special thanks to my dear friend Morne who took time out of his hectic schedule to make a special trip one day to bring me some ice tea and Snapple while I was languishing at home with the fever. It's greatly appreciated. Also, to Capt Pheiffer and her hubby for dropping by, also bearing ice tea!

Moving on, Penton Pagan Media was voted the best religious or spirituality blog based in South Africa. Score one for the underdog! The site provides a broad and educational look at Pagan and spiritual issues - as well as some of the common threats we South Africans face here from the "establishment". Congratulations to Damon Leff and the other contributors of Penton Pagan Media, one of the sites that reposts my articles!

"Much to the jubilation of the winners and the scorn of critics. On the last day of 2012 the winners of the 2012 South African Blog Awards were announced; an announcement much anticipated by the South African Pagan community who had local blog, Penton Independent Pagan Media, entered into the ‘Best Religious or Spiritual’ category. And there, in black and white, were the results: “winner- http://www.penton.co.za/”. In a country that is estimated to be 73% Christian, a Pagan blog won as the best religious/spiritual blog."

According to Damon Leff, "the figure is provided by STATS SA's 2001 stats. Most who participated in the census were certainly nominally Christian or simply Christian by virtue of having grown up in a Christian home or community, yes. Traditional African religionists have argued that since the vast majority of these are also practising traditional religions, they cannot be said to be 'Christian'."

2001 statistics are also 11 years out of date. A lot has changed since then - including the way many South Africans view religion and spirituality, or to which they affiliate. For example, back in 2001 I also identified as a Christian. By 2008 this was no longer the case, as I was by then an agnostic. By 2010 I already identified fully as a Dark Pagan/Wiccan and a practising Witch.

Back in 2001 I still took electric power for granted, not realizing that one day soon, rolling blackouts caused by gross incompetence on the part of the parastatal power company, ESKOM (euphemistically referred to as EISHKOM) would unpredictably plunge parts of the country into occasional darkness and re-runs of the Middle Ages.

Further afield, dig the Poep's latest move. No, that is not a typo. Those who live in SA or understand Afrikaans will appreciate the anagrammatical irony. Why does anyone still take this disgusting Nazi relic seriously?

This man has just, by this move, shown clear evidence that he hates Gay and Transgender people to the point of extermination and genocide. If Catholics were Christians and I still called myself a Christian, I would be deeply embarrassed indeed. Could some well-meaning country that actually means what its Constitution says about honoring human rights just round up all these lunatics in Uganda's Parliament and churches (and their sponsors and "ex-gay" masterminds in the USA - INCLUDING Mr. Lively) and just drop them into a deep dark hole full of caustic gooey green toxic waste please? Thanks. Nice move Poep - Hitler would be proud. Stalin was a real saint compared to the likes of you and your predecessors.

Christians - at least the ones I know, believe that "God" is a loving father figure, not a spreader of hate and a rewarder of hatred and violence - so who then is this homophobic man in a white dress claiming to be "God on Earth" - other than an imposter? Let's see him walk on water? I doubt he would do more than make high-water marks on low buildings.

To each their own. Honestly, I've been treated with more dignity and respect by Pagan, Jewish and Muslim strangers than by some of my Christian friends and family in the past. Some people lose touch with reality and stop seeing us as people in the face of their religious obsessions, and more as obstacles to their agenda for world domination.

Know what I think? I think the RCC leadership needs to be hauled kicking and screaming before the International Court of Human Justice to face charges of crimes against humanity. Of course, with half the world's leaders being in their pocket, and half the world's sheep being their obedient servants, this isn't likely. Instead, the Church of England (aka the Anglican Church elsewhere) is still entertaining the notion of rejoining with the RCC and kissing the Poep's butt instead of the British Monarch's. Or has that happened yet? Oh wait, last I heard most churches in the UK were almost empty, so who would really care?

Speaking of the UK, in an article in the Daily Mail that really got my goat this morning, a Christian minister authoritatively claims that Wales is being "threatened" by the growing presence of witches. Threatened? As opposed to Wales being claimed by the Christian church? Yes, I know, the loonies are always in a flap, pointing at witches hiding in the shrubbery and "Satanists" lurking in their soup. Ridiculous. As usual, the article (and presumably the book written by the clergyman in focus, features what is by now typical hysterical misinformation in the form of rumors of witches living in small towns in large numbers, holding "sinister" covert meetings (doubtless to avoid the unwelcome curiosity of nosy parkers like the minister in question), molesting children (as if clergy are above that sort of thing), abducting and killing animals, dancing in the buff, and probably plotting the overthrow of the almighty Christian Church and perhaps even the magickal assassination of the Poep.

Funny, with all the mass murders attributed to Christianity over the last two millennia, one would think witches and anyone belonging to a religion which has been aggrieved by Christian authority in the past, would have actually done something threatening, dastardly, occult and/or magickal about it to even the score. Amazing that these geniuses still haven't cottoned on to the built in flaw in their imagined "threats". Amazing that people don't realize the truth - that these so-called "threats" are IMAGINED.

All this article is, is paper-thin propaganda from a hysterical and ignorant representative of one religion who fears losing its monopoly to a re-emerging and far older religion or spirituality. As a Pagan and a Witch it is clear to me that this man doesn't know what he is talking about, rather that he is simply spouting prejudice against what he views as a competing religion, spreading tales of abuse and wrong doing among those fearful, ignorant and stupid enough to believe him, in turn running through the streets, waving their arms and crying hysterically that "the witches are coming, the witches are coming!". Pshaw.

People who claim to be "occult experts" should have to have some kind of qualification in the things they claim to be experts in, not raving lunatics who know as little about the subject as those they stir up into a blind panic. Perhaps this good reverend should get hold of Kobus Jonker. Perhaps they will swap recipes for a better world, where all people look the same, sound the same and believe the same thing. Wouldn't that be nice? Not.

Back home, we have the TV news and media raving about the wonderful improvements in Matric pass rates for 2012. I can't say I'm terribly impressed by the Matric pass results, not this last year, or for any of the past ten or fifteen years. Why? The ANC government has been steadily dropping standards just so that the pass rates look better because it's easier to not actually fail. I think our education system is a disgrace, with many modern school leavers incapable of reading, writing and basic arithmetic Do they still actually learn important things like history? What about grammar? I heard one kid on TV news just after the release of the results (having just presumably passed Matric English) proudly tell the interviewer they were "very much happy" about passing. Yeah right. English as she is spoke. Eish.

For instance, how much effort is made by our education system to produce informed free-thinking young adults capable of becoming educated discerning voters with a sense of civic responsibility? Or people who know enough about the past to understand that history repeats itself so frequently these days that it's obvious we are surrounded by morons who haven't a clue that the idiotic schemes being piloted by "guv-ah-ment" are eerily reminiscent of Stalin's five year plans and other assorted asshattery from the annals of history. But of course, the government won't want smart free-thinking school leavers - because they most likely wouldn't vote for THEM next time.

The present trend that school leavers are ignorant, uneducated and of a far lower quality than in previous years - is of course through no fault of the students themselves - but due to the calamity that is the Dept of Education. Imagine a province-worth of schools that for MOST OF THE YEAR did not receive ANY text books? How the hell are the kids supposed to learn anything? What about the towns where PARENTS were protesting lack of government service delivery outside a school, resulting in closure of the school for several months? I'm sorry? How the hell does depriving your OWN children of an education fix another problem? Idiots, the bloody lot of them.

I think that by its track record since 1994, the ANC has proved that just winning an election and making election promises and goals is not enough. What happens AFTER the success of the election win? You need to live up to your promises, stick to your mandate and the party principles you won the election on. You need to not only govern well as an opposition party governing on behalf of the ruling party (ie the DA in the Western Cape), you need to show the smarts to be able to say "these laws made in the past were stupid laws, or a frivolous exercise resulting in a waste of public money, and should be revised or scrapped altogether". You need to see the injustices of the past for what they were for ALL those who suffered under them, not just through the tinted lenses of one particular grouping, even be it the majority - and you need to find a workable compromise to suit ALL people. Further, you need to keep your promises and be of good character as a leader, and not sit back and say by your actions "don't do what we do, do what we tell you to do!" Look at the promise the ANC showed at the start when it won that first election in 1994 - and look how miserably it has and continues to fail.

The SABC is another pet gripe I have - a pensioner supposedly pays half price for their TV license - UNLESS they have anyone else who is a non-pensioner living with them - EVEN if it is their own home and TV, and even if the person doesn't watch SABC programming! What does having someone else living with them have to do with it? It's just a loophole used to rip off and disadvantage old people.

If the SABC can't survive on the massive revenue it generates from advertising, then it doesn't deserve to survive at all - especially with the pathetic line-up of garbage they charge everyone for... even if you never watch anything on their horrible channels and opt purely for DVD or DSTV.

I think if the government really cared for the Aged (as they claim to), realizing that most of them battle to survive on small pensions and live on the bread line, they should exempt them from paying license fees completely, freeing up more of their meagre resources for essentials like rent and groceries or medical care. As usual, government doesn't put its money where its mouth is. Having its propaganda machine funded by everyone - regardless of whether or not they make use of it, appears to be a higher priority.

They call themselves "the public broadcaster", but at the same time they are entrenched by law as THE main industry standard in this country. They receive support from the government who control them via the ANC placed board members, they receive the forced financial support of every person who buys a TV/PVR/video device and has to pay an annual license. This is something other private stations do without - AND the SABC also receives funding from advertising - which is crammed into programming in over-abundance. I think this is something which should be challenged in court under the unfair business practices section, and also the section which deals with a monopoly. Why should the SABC - a government run media agency, be allowed to act as enforcers of the TV media industry in this country? Surely this draconian nonsense went out with the old South Africa? Without fully competitive and equality based practices, the TV media industry is not reflective of a free market system, but smacks of socialism. Big Brother, anyone?

Lastly, the new trend of health insurance in this country "writing off" and disadvantaging people in their late 70's - 80's is simply disgusting! What are they supposed to do at 80 with failing health and a need for chronic medication? Just be left to die? Is their money not good enough anymore? As someone who cares what happens to my aged mother, this new development just makes me crazy.

In closing, I will leave you with this thought: People will always judge others. Being free means not letting being judged bother you - freedom means being strong enough as a person to see people who judge you for what they are: weak, ignorant, underdeveloped and afraid. That's when you get the chance to show them what you are: above making their mistakes and perpetuating their character flaws. It is by this principle that you realize what was said by Ghandi when he said "Be the change you want to see in the world".

Sun Stroke Revisited

2012-11-26T00:43:00.000-08:00

Everybody looking forward to having a nice Christmas? Ever think about the tradition of Christmas and where it comes from? I did, and decided to find out. I must say, what I found reinforced my misgivings about organized religion, after all, Christmas is a good time to point out Christian hypocrisy - because "peace on Earth and goodwill to all 'men'" very easily turns to "take all you can" and "hang 'em high!" and "it's God's will".
[Back in 2009, I wrote an article called Sun Stroke, which described the deception rampant in modern "Christianity" as a religion, and also exposed the ignorance of the average Christian - who either takes for granted that the religion they follow always was the way it is today, that their doctrine is "inerrant", that every aspect of their faith is unique and different and sets their religion apart from the rest, which they frequently attack, deplore and undermine - and that everything they are told by their clergy is true. I originally wrote the article at a time when I was still considering myself a Christian, and on a path to rediscovering my own self, as well as redefining my belief system. I have since gone from being a Christian, to agnostic, and since then, Paganism. These days I identify as a practising dark pagan witch. As a human rights activist, I often find myself referring back to some of my past articles - especially this one - and so I thought it time to revise it some, to bring it more in line with my subsequent growth and advancement.]

The infamous Kill the Gays Bill has been running back and forth for 4 years now, and since the Ugandan government seems determined to pass it this year, this could well be gay and transgender folks in Uganda's last Christmas before getting herded into camps and exterminated by folks calling themselves "Christians" - but hey, let's all enjoy the peace while it lasts.. 'Tis the season to be jolly, after all.

Anyway, I hate to be a wet blanket - so, in the spirit of a religion that can't even invent its own festivals, I wish you all a very happy Saturnalia (and ask you to remember that Santa's red hat you're wearing is the symbol of a freed slave in ancient Roman times. Interesting symbolism... and don't forget the decorated trees and sprigs of holly and greenery about the house... AND the celebration of anyone's birth - were all considered PAGAN traditions by the early Christians - who apparently knew a lot more than we give them credit for in modern times). Now how about that? Oh, you didn't know about that? Really?

Saturnalia... a Roman holiday festival held over seven days annually from December 17 to 23, in which gifts (particularly candles) were exchanged, and shops closed and people partied and relaxed. Sounds quite modern, except they had dancing in the street, which sounds pretty good to me. Lovely. There was a tradition of "family" including the slaves and servants - and yes, people wore those silly woollen pointy hats remarkably similar to the one we see on the modern Santa Claus - a bearded figure strikingly similar to the contemporary effigy of the Roman God Saturn. Ho, ho - holy shit.

Doomsday scholars and theologians have long been warning of the day when ecumenism would become the order of the day, with all faiths working together - and they get twitchy when things such as the World Council of Churches does anything. I think, considering they are still waiting for this "merger" to happen, they are far too late - about two thousand years too late as a matter of fact - because Constantine was the engineer of this very thing. As an amateur historian, I find it very interesting that a Roman emperor founded the Roman Catholic Church. But then again you probably wondered why it was called "the ROMAN Catholic Church", didn't you? Who was Constantine? Well, he was a Roman emperor, who also became the FIRST pope as founder of the RCC - and not the disciple Peter, as Christian tradition holds. Truth be told, Constantine was actually a sun-worshiper, who proceeded to blend early Christianity with the leading pagan religions of the day. The ancient Romans were Pagans, whose pantheon of gods included deities such as Diana, Saturn, Neptune, Mars and so on - but who had also adopted other Pagan pantheons into their religious view.

Religion is such a confusing dangerous subject - funny that most people think it is so simple and even boring. Even today, some people - a certain sort of person - will kill you for even suggesting or questioning anything about their religion that they disagree with - such as postulating that 'God' may not be Caucasian, or even heterosexual. Religion - especially Christianity (or is that Catholicism?) has shaped the world we live in - even the modern world. We tend to think of the concept of "universalism" as a new thing, and yet "catholic" in effect means the very same thing. In Constantine's case, it meant the blending of pagan faiths with the early Christian church and bending both to his own will to strengthen his ailing political power base. Remarkably, this is a trend which continues to this very day.

Read especially the first paragraph of this article - (included below) especially the part about "pistis" and gnosticism - very interesting. It shows how and why the culture of obedience came into play to suppress the questioning of authority, in order to enforce state control, with "Christianity" of course being the "state" religion.

"In 325 A.D. the Roman Catholic Church was created by a pagan emperor named Constantine. It was only superficially a Christian Church. The First Nicean Council as assembled to work out the details. While it was supposed to have been made up of Christian elders from five major Christian centers (Rome, Athens, Alexandria, Jerusalem and Antioch), it also included elders of all the major Pagan religions of Rome. Bishops from the cults of Mithras, Tammuz, Oannes (Dagon), Ceres, Janus, Bacchus, Apollo, Osiris, Jupiter, and Constantine's own religion: Sol Invictus, were invited. It was Constantine's wish that all of the Pagan religions, then at odds with each other, creating unnecessary conflicts, be unified into one "Catholic" church. "Catholic" means universal. The proceedings of that council were conducted by Constantine with an iron hand, and one of the positions which he insisted upon, and got, was to make Pistis a doctrine of the new church. Gnosticism could not be tolerated, because it encouraged its members to question authority. Pistis was thus politically expedient, because it forbade questioning."

"Pistis" is a Greek word, meaning "faith", in no way related to the word "piston" - although a good friend gave it to me on good faith that it is far better to be pist off, than to be pist on.

Furthermore, the days of the week in use in the western world (and practically everywhere else) are still named after the ancient Roman, Greek and Germanic gods. I don't see this as much of a problem, because I suppose you have to call them something - or people would just keep missing appointments or get sozzled on a workday instead of over a weekend. Be that as it may, here they are:

"Monday - Dies lunae (from which comes the word lunar), means moon day, from which we get the shortened version, Monday.

Tuesday - Dies Martis, means Mars day, after Mars, the Roman god of war. The day was known to the pagan Germans after their own god of war, Tiw (pronounced too) as Tiw’s (pronounced tooz) day, from which we get Tuesday.

Wednesday - Dies mercuri, means mercury day. Woden (pronounced woe-den) was the Germanic version of the pagan god mercury, and they named the day Woden’s day, from which we get Wednesday.

Thursday - Dies Jovis means Jove’s day, or Jupiter’s day. Thor was the Germanic version of the god Jupiter, so they called the day Thor’s Day, from which we got Thursday.

Friday - Dies Veneris means Venus Day. The Germanic version of this female god was Frigg, or Freyja (pronounced fry-yah), so they called the day Freyja day, from which we got Friday.

Saturday - Dies Saturni means Saturn day, from which came Saturday. The pagans also observed their Saturnalia festival in the last week of December, a time when work ceased, gifts were exchanged, and slaves feasted with their masters.

Sunday - Dies solis (Latin) which means “day of the sun” from which we get Sunday. Sun worship was marked by the use of the halo, or nimbus, which originated with the pagan Greeks and Romans to represent their sun god, Helios. It was later on that artists then adopted it for use in Christian images."

The Sabbath as few people - not even the bible-punchers set on "biblical worldviews" and supposed "biblical inerrancy" - are aware, is STILL Saturday, and NOT Sunday - which as the rather obvious name (duh) SHOULD give away - is actually the day set aside (by Constantine's edicts) for SUN worship. Scholars have reportedly demonstrated, in theory at least, how Christ supposedly rose from the dead at the end of the Sabbath day - which is actually SATURDAY, and not Sunday. Big deal, but anyway, some people make a big thing about which day they want to rest on, and which day they want to go to church on and the order of the business at hand. And the term "the Lord's Day" believe it or not, actually harks back to Roman times and refers to Baal, not Christ. Inneresting, no?

It really amuses me that whenever you allude to anything of Pagan origin to a fanatical Christian (and I do mean fanatical, not the usual tree-hugging every-day variety) they invariably get hot under the dog-collar about it and start muttering something about "the end times" (to add insult to injury, you could always ask them if that would be on a Thor's Day or a Tiw's Day).

Then there's Easter, the Christian celebration of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ - or so we are led to believe. Even the name is derived from the ancient festival of Eostre, the Teutonic goddess of fertility. We all know her symbol - the Easter bunny, accompanied by the "Eostre eggs" as symbols of fertility, painted in bright, festive colors. Oh, my tail and whiskers! "Even today, when Easter has supposedly been "Christianized", the date of the holiday falls according to rather pagan reckonings, i.e. on the Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox." What about hot-cross buns? "Hot cross buns, associated with Lent, derived from the ancient Greeks and Romans, who baked “magic” wheat cakes with crosses scored in the top." Lastly, in keeping with pagan traditions of Greece, Rome and ancient Germanic peoples, the holiday is about renewal, rebirth - and a return from the dead.

How about Lent? Many mainstream churches observe Lent to this day, but this too was stolen directly from Pagan origins. "Coming from the Anglo-Saxon Lencten, meaning “spring,” Lent originated in the ancient Babylonian mystery religion. “The forty days’ abstinence of Lent was directly borrowed from the worshippers of the Babylonian goddess…Among the Pagans this Lent seems to have been an indispensable preliminary to the great annual festival in commemoration of the death and resurrection of Tammuz”" (Remember the name Tammuz for later.)

How about Advent? Advent is yet another example of a Pagan festival tradition stolen and adapted to "Christian tradition", also celebrated widely by mainstream churches today. Examples of Advent influence include, the Yule Log and the wreaths people hang on their doors come Saturnalia, - mean, Christmas - both incidentally being symbols of the Sun. The Catholic tradition of candles too comes from this pagan festival.

To muddy the waters still further, you have the symbolism of the cult of Semiramis and Nimrod aka Isis and baby Horus (and a host of others) aka Mary and the baby Jesus in the form of statues and such at Catholic churches - straight from the ancient Babylonian religion of the "Queen of Heaven" herself - complete with the tradition of secret confessionals and all. Nice. To add to it, Semiramis had another son called - wait for it - Tammuz (remember him?) whom she claimed was immaculately conceived from the spirit of her dead husband/son Nimrod - and who was Nimrod reborn!

We all know the original symbol of the Christians, pre-dating the adoption of the cross - the fish - but if you were under the impression that the fish was really a "Christian" symbol, take a look at what adorns the statue of the virgin Isis and the immaculately conceived baby Horus above's head... That ain't no bald eagle, folks. But it doesn't end there - the legendary date of birth of Nimrod? December 25th. Mary Christmas, folks.

Ahem.

Things like this make me wonder if there is anything in "Christianity" at all which is actually true, unique or even "Christian" at all. I mean, they have plagiarised all their traditions from earlier pre-existing religions, from beliefs of resurrection, symbols, dates of festivals - and even the meanings of the festivals themselves.

But wait - "modern" Protestant Christianity is different, some might say. They made a break with Catholicism after Martin Luther came on the scene, they say. Really? Even the Protestants copied most of their traditions from the Catholics when they broke away, perpetuating many of the things which undermine the very foundations of their - um, protest.

"Now wait a minute" you might say - "Christianity has Christ - who died and rose from the dead - now that has to be unique?" It certainly seems to be taken for granted - but is it? After all, it seems to me that there is about as much proof that Christ rose from the dead as any of the others did.

"The Phrygians celebrated a spring festival honoring Cybele, a fertility goddess. Cybele had a consort god named Attis, who was born of a virgin, and who died and was resurrected after three days, an occurrence commemorated sometime around the vernal equinox. Worshippers of Attis mourned the god’s death on Black Friday, then celebrated his rebirth on the following Sunday. Attis was simply the latest manifestation of earlier resurrection myths, like those of Osiris, Orpheus, Tammuz and Dionysus, who were likewise said to have been born of virgins and resurrected three days after their deaths." Incredible, isn't it? But wait, there's more.

Christianity - the last in a long line of previous religions to claim 1) immaculate conception, 2) messiah and 3) resurrection. Confused? I am. ...not to mention disappointed.

Ah, but then you would have some hard-liners (the sort who claim that "God" placed the bones in the rocks to trick us into believing in evolution theory) who would claim that 'the devil' copied all these things to confuse the faithful. Seriously? Because all these religious traditions were far older than Christianity, including the supposedly "immaculate" conception, death and resurrection etc. Were this the case, then either "the devil" read "God's" mind and plotted the whole thing out centuries ahead to use the same devices in numerous other religions, or "God" lacked the all too mortal talent of originality. Or, more plausibly, the entire "Christian" tradition we know today is a bastardized patch-work blending of other people's beliefs being used as a tool to persecute and destroy the lives of those who do not capitulate and convert to it - even those original Pagans whose religions were merged with Catholicism, dragged kicking and screaming into the darkness of pistis, saying "Resistance is futile." Think this is a little harsh? I don't know - read this, and then tell me.

So it seems the modern Church likes to play the sad little tune about how "persecuted" they are - when the distant past is covered up - a history of persecution BY the Christian Church, in which many hundreds of thousands of people were murdered by Christian zealots, specifically many Pagans and adherents of ethnic religions, and especially at the start of their rise to power, when Pagan and Christian lived side by side. I find this failure to mention such truths to be curiously ironic, and telling of the nature of the modern rendition of this religion. Christianity represents a religion of control, conquest, a doctrine of separation, exclusion, death and destruction - an ultimatum of join us, kneel before us, or die.

Let's look at the institution of marriage, which has been fought over so bitterly of late - claimed by Catholic and Protestant alike, to be a "God-given" covenant "between one man and one woman for life" - and ostensibly a "Christian" invention to boot. Ummm... is it? And which god are they referring to?

As it turns out, the concept and ritual of marriage is not only far older than Christianity, or even the Hebrew faith - but not even the modern Christian traditional marriage ceremony in use today is unique to Christianity, or even heterosexuality. Not even the vows used today, except in language, differ much - "with this ring I thee wed" and "in sickness and in health" - and others, can be traced to ancient Egypt - as can the tradition of even HAVING a wedding ring, a best man and bridesmaids! Even the tradition of having them dress the same as the bride, and throwing the flower bouquet is the same! As a matter of personal interest, from the description given, I think the Egyptian words are more beautiful, describing the wedding ring as a symbol of mutual love, as "without beginning, without end." Beautiful! And add to that, the symbolism of the equality of Egyptian society, where rings were exchanged equally - and not solely given to the woman by the man as a mark of his "ownership" of her. Amazing - and this began over 6000 years ago! Lastly, the minor detail that same gender marriage was quite commonplace in Egypt also, in fact it is even claimed that the first official marriage ceremony in ancient Egypt was specifically lesbian! Surprised? I certainly was. Especially when, in the fight for marriage equality everywhere, right wing "Christians" audaciously claim that gay marriage is a new invention!

In fact, I am rather disappointed that Hebrew and Christian religions, as it turned out, only cherry-picked things which suited them - doubtlessly the openness and equality of the sexes didn't fit that description. Ironically, open societies of the ancient world vanished over time, while more oppressive, controlling - and what we should today consider "backward" societies, prevailed. Quite worrying, actually - as the rise of Catholicism coincided with the period known for very good reason, as the Dark Ages.

That's all very interesting... and not what they tell you in high school history. Yes, high school history is all about dates - Lord Such-n-such fought the Battle of Who Really Cares on the field of Who-Knows-Where on the 42nd of Octember 98 BP (Before Plumbing)... and who all signed the Treaty of Why Bother to end Some Forgotten Dispute about the taxation of trade routes between X and Y (which was more about City A wanting to control City B). It is more interesting and rewarding to scratch a bit and see the history they don't want you to know - because, history as they keep telling us, is WRITTEN (or re-written) BY THE VICTORS - and thinking for yourself just doesn't make for obedient little plebs.

All this and more written between the lines of the Hidden History of the great Christian faith's doctrine of "just believe what we tell you to, and do what you're told like a good little lemming".

Somehow, after all this, we are still somehow expected to "just accept" Church authority and the authenticity of the bible as is, even after it has languished under the control of these devious folks all this time - even after finding out all this and this. Well, not I. If I cannot trust it, then how can I consult it?

With all these sources confusing the issue, how are you supposed to know WHO this God is? The Christian religion is built on nothing but lies and plagiarism - and stolen lies at that. The "bible" is incomplete and corrupted, and clerics equally misled and opinionated - and still ready to urge people too kill, maim and destroy others in the name of a religion that has no substance to it. All of this leads me to believe that nobody really knows anything about this God of theirs - that they are guessing, or they are simply falling for claims made by earlier people - whether their intent was to mislead or perpetuate these deceptions, and that they simply don't bother to question anything that leads them to do harm to others.

In fact, it seems Christ may not have been the very "perfect" and even "boring" two-dimensional character these people would have us believe he was today. Go figure. No wonder they called the Nag Hamadi texts "heretical" and tried very hard to destroy them - and those who wrote and protected them - because they encouraged free thought, free will and essentially weakened their control. And so they formulated their own "orthodox" (meaning "right-thinking") version and cut it all down to something they could manage, manipulate and use to suit their own nefarious purposes, passing it off, rather fundamentalist-ically as the "Word of God" - whichever god that may be.

No wonder the RCC directly opposed and discouraged (through intimidation, torture and executions) the medieval efforts to translate its in-house version of the bible (the Latin Vulgate) from Latin to English or any other language - because in using original Greek and Hebrew texts, a host of inaccuracies and errors (both accidental and deliberate) are found. Even today scholars correcting such errors are misrepresented and opposed by conservative supposedly "right-thinking" scholars as somehow "editing the Word of God" rather than welcomed as correcting the mistakes and deliberate works of Man!

It is rather refreshing and comforting for me to know that I am free of the ties of religious doctrine, pistis and ideological oppression - as an agnostic, and an eclectic.

"Christian" holidays, such as Christmas, Easter, Advent and Lent are false misrepresentations, and just like everything else in the Christian tradition, based wholly on un-Christian foundations stemming from the doings of Constantine and the RCC. For all intents and purposes, the entire Christian Church, both Catholic, Protestant and even charismatic evangelical - is false too, based on and blended with material stolen from Pagan traditions over time. In short, it pretends to be what it is not, and even tries to hide the fact that it has absolutely nothing to offer people in terms of actual faith and Christian salvation in the intended sense of the word - but empty ritual, CONTROL and perpetuated lies, fancy parlour tricks and misplaced trust.

It amuses me no end these days, hearing Christians complain that the commercialization of Christmas is hijacking the "true spirit" of the holiday (when even they have no clue what that really is) - and when they throw "family values" into the mix as they do with everything else (including depriving people of equality) - especially when the "true spirit" of Christmas is not even remotely Christian at all and never has been!

As for the hypocrisy of "Christians" complaining about Pagan festivals or religious groups, or some kids traipsing around the neighborhood in Halloween costumes trick-or-treating, let's not even go there.

This whole organized-religion structure is sick and twisted and full of lies and deceit - and so inflexible and judgemental - and so very full of things that have nothing to do with what it claims to - Christ. Current events in Uganda and other places, perhaps even in YOUR own home - demonstrate that this is exactly what would happen if the conservative "right-thinking" element have their way everywhere else in the world - enforced ignorance, blind obedience to doctrine, organized hatred, institutionalized fear-mongering, encouraged paranoia and prized religious piety - all based on misrepresentation, lies and ignorance.

I have even wondered if it would not have been better for Christ (if he ever really existed) to have been born into the Islamic world instead - his message might have survived untarnished and uncorrupted there (because we know what they do to people who steal or offend their religious mentality). But then today, we might have only had a different set of overly-religious folks flying planes into buildings and blowing themselves up in public places in order to get into Paradise, or is that Elysium?

They (the Christian Church) have poisoned the well they expect everyone to drink from in good faith - and then they have the nerve to blame people for not wanting to drink from it! But then, as human rights activists we often face such hypocrisy, it is par for the course.

"In God We Trust", the American slogan goes - well then, trust in your God - not so implicitly in the works of Humankind. It seems to me that if you want to learn about, believe in, worship or follow Christ, or stand for what he is supposed to have stood for - then you need to fly in the face of convention, piss on pistis, as it were - or go directly to the source, to consult Christ in your own way, without allowing some interfering middle-man to deliberately mislead you along the way or perpetuate things they themselves do not know or understand, whose origins are well hidden and obscured in the mists of time.

At the end of this article, I am not not even sure what the term "Christian" really means any more, and since it seems at least a third of the Earth is unwittingly and implicitly involved in some form of misrepresented pretend-Pagan amalgam, lightly veneered with Christianity - who it does or should apply to. In fact, though I still feel an abiding fondness for Christ and his message, whatever that was, I feel increasingly justified and even vindicated in calling myself an agnostic, and a Pagan witch.

In the end, the "Christian" principles of "goodwill to all people" (not just 'men') and peace on Earth should apply to all days and not just Saturnalia - I mean, Christmas. Pistis and gnosticism they say - faith, obedience and to forbid questioning authority... Well, nobody is ever going to "forbid" me to question authority - I question their authority to do that also. I question the authority of anyone who claims they have authority over me without me having given them express permission to say so. In fact, I now question everything ever taught to me that I didn't learn for myself - and have done so ever since my journey away from dogmatic group-think began four years ago with the original version of this article - and I encourage everyone else to do the same. Let that be the new Renaissance of our time.

Uganda Again Set To Pass "Kill The Gays Bill" - Followed by Nigeria

2012-11-22T22:16:00.002-08:00

What can I say about this, folks - except "I told you so"? I've warned about it since I started this activist blog, after all. Back in 2009 or 10, I even acted as a mediator between the local and foreign ex-gay and ex-ex-gay factions - the ones responsible for stirring up and fuelling this impending holocaust in these African countries with their religious fundamentalist puritan prattle and anti-human rights bullshit, encouraging the ignorant, poorly educated and religious fanatic locals to "punish" those gay and transgender people who embraced their nature. Well, they now have their wish, it seems - to see thousands and hundreds of thousands of their own relatives, co-workers and neighbors deprived of their liberty, freedoms and their lives.

How can people who value human life and human rights over pie-in-the-sky ideology and religious extremist "purity" - even their own - actually agree on anything relating to human rights with those who spit on them? In my view, religion is something everyone sees differently - precisely why it should be personal and KEPT personal and private - and not uniformly forced on a society of people who are all different. It is folly, treachery and the most basic fracture line in the modern world. In fact, when it comes to LAW and human rights - religions have no place on the table, period - and least of all, religions that make it their central focus to utterly destroy people based upon how they view people for who they are.

In the time of the Nazis, the rest of the world stood up to tyranny and evil - true evil - and fought it. Back in those days, the Catholic church supported the Nazi regime - and it comes as no surprise that they support this disgusting move in both countries as well. It is sickening and disgusting, and any religious group, including their leaders who agree with, and promote this sort of reprehensible abominable convention, should be prosecuted for human rights violations and strung up and disposed of like the inhuman rabble and toxic waste they are.

I don't care if you are a Muslim or a Christian, or of any other faith group - as a human being, this sort of thing should revile and disgust you to the core. And if it doesn't, then you should wonder what you are.

Interview With The Vampire Journalist

2012-09-22T09:24:00.002-07:00

Concerning the article in today's Weekend Post, one which I was interviewed for on Thursday regarding the new SAPS anti-alternative religion unit, euphemistically called the "Occult Related Crime Unit". This unit, which is really just a bunch of Christian missionaries gifted with a 5 day course on "the occult" to make them "experts" in the field (of harassing innocent citizens for their beliefs) and wearing badges. The whole thing just reeked of Christianist propaganda, being an example of completely skewed and biased reporting. I felt I had to respond to the "journalist" who interviewed me for it.

Dear John,

I must say I'm very disappointed in your article "Police 'Vampire' Unit Returns". If I'd known it was going to turn out this way I would never have given that interview.

Out of the five minutes we spoke and all the things I said, you condensed it all down to one short sentence in the entire article, which made it look like I am ashamed to be a Pagan and a witch - and worse, that I have a reason to be ashamed!

Instead or being objective, you went the sensationalist route, focused on the negatives and gave the floor to a bunch of biased and bigoted pastors who gave vent to their prejudices, grossly exaggerated - and whom obviously have a vested interest in supporting a blatantly unconstitutional initiative such as this unit - the oppression of other religions in favor of the promotion of their own (and presumably yours as well). So much for objective journalism and professional reporting.

Worst of all, you dressed it up as if it is a good thing, and that it will somehow make SA a safer place for all the "good folks" (who are of course, Christians). You made it look like everyone who isn't a Christian and happens to be a witch or Pagan somehow deserves to be in the spotlight of this new unit, simply by way of what they happen to believe in - which in my book, demonstrates exactly why Pagans, witches (and it also seems, vampires) should be concerned about the very real and threatening religious fundamentalist "christianISM" which is creeping into our government.

Lastly, as a minor detail, you even spelled my last name wrong. It's not Engler - it's Engela.

SAPS "Occult Related Crimes Unit": Christianist Threat To Religious Minorities In South Africa

2012-09-20T04:45:00.000-07:00

Over the past week a serious issue has come to light over the reformation of the SA Police's "Occult Related Crime" units. In a press release last week, the SA Pagan Rights Alliance, representing the Pagan community of South Africa, revealed that the SAPS is forming these units to address so-called "occult related crimes", based on information obtained from a SAPS internal memo. Most of the items on the list (i.e. "investigating rape by a Tokoloshe") are patently ridiculous, and make the SAPS look even worse than its largely overweight and too-incompetent-to-handle-a-firearm 'blobbies' on the beat PR image already do. The other items place non-Christians in South Africa up front as targets for suspicion and intimidation simply on the grounds of their belief systems, and largely on the basis of "crimes" which could never ever be proven in a court of law.

In an article on Times Live today, "national police spokesman Colonel Vish Naidoo said police were not targeting religious groups and that investigating such crimes was not new."

Seriously?

Do they really think a casual dismissal of serious concerns is appropriate? For all intents and urposes saying that "Those people don't know what they are talking about, and anyway, it has always been this way" does NOT make it 'okay'!

I don't think half of the idiots who are out there, sowing panic and hysteria over alleged "occult related crime" and throwing the term "Satanism" around so liberally, even have half an idea of what actual Satanism is - or that those people running round committing muti-related crimes and the like, have NOTHING to do with Satanism as a religion or theology.

As the author of this article so eloquently puts it: "They have a religious agenda which they pursue by being the “go-to people” for information on the occult, witchcraft etc, and instead of providing real information, they spread lies and propaganda. In public relations terms they certainly realise the importance of “controlling the message” and have been quite successful at doing so, notwithstanding substantial gains by groups such as the South African Pagan Rights Alliance in setting the record straight." I especially love this part: "But those who sell themselves as experts on occult-related crimes either don’t know this, which would mean they are not experts at all, or they do know it but wilfully mislead people." Ain't that the truth?

The SAPS can't arrest a person on suspicion of suspicion. Well, actually they can - and often do, it seems - but they get sued for wrongful arrest and detention, and sometimes police brutality as well - as evidenced by the over 6000 such cases recently reported as being outstanding against the SAPS. No actual physical evidence of an actual crime amounts to wrongful arrest. If they do this, then it is grounds for wrongful arrest and/or intimidation charges and a law suit. Are they sure they want to go there on the basis of the furtherance of a purely discriminatory religious agenda?

Perhaps they have been watching too much "Death Valley"? As one person pointed out in a discussion of this absurd waste of tax payers money and government resources, perhaps the SAPS will train their ORC unit members by having one run around draped in a sheet, and having the others chasing him. Appropriate.

Instead, the SAPS website lists the training of officers for these units as being just 5 days long - all that is apparently required to become an "expert" in the field of "occult related crime"! Perhaps these courses take the form of a spiritual retreat or week-long prayer meeting under the guidance of a Christian pastor, with copies of the Bible under one arm, and one of Kobus Jonker's books under the other - followed by a braai and a piss-up on the Friday, as most of these things end in the government service?

It seems the SAPS holds the view that "occult experts" such as former SAPS member Kobus Jonker and the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) hold more accurate knowledge about Paganism, Witchcraft and Vampyrism than do the participants of these communities themselves - of whom it is claimed, they consider "merely ignorant".

Several books by these former SAPS "witch hunters" are still prescribed reading for SAPS recruits, no surprises there. People who can't think outside the box for themselves are often trapped inside it. Of course, they must be right, being the authority and all - real Witches, Pagans and vampires are "ignorant" - it seems the *cough* "experts" think we don't know anything at all about what we are or what we do or believe in - the real experts are Christians - who apparently know everything about everything. Simply engaging with them and trying to correct their ignorance, is only furthering a "satanic agenda".

The solution seems pretty clear to me on the matter of religious equality; Paganism needs to be more advertised, open, publicized. What is needed is more than a few information sites on the internet - but flyers, newspaper ads and articles, public speakers willing to go on TV shows and be interviewed for magazine and newspaper articles. We need visible offices, formalized clergy or spokespeople etc. We need people to be more open about their pride in what they believe - this is not "evangelism" by any means, but being open to questions and being willing to answer them.

Outsiders - and especially those who place themselves in authority as 'experts" - need to understand that WE the participants are the real experts on the issues of what constitutes Paganism, Witchcraft, Satanism (and yes, even vampirism) - and not a bunch of outsiders who view it through the prejudice and bias of an external and judgemental religion, and that we will not be intimidated or go back into the shadows just to please them or escape their shallow prejudice.

I acknowledge one big obstacle to overcome, is that many Pagans feel hesitant to formalize and structure, since they associate that with the Christian church perse' - a big machine that swallows it's participants whole and turns them into nameless, faceless cogs - losing them among the many wheels within wheels. However I think the best compromise is to focus on reassuring each Pagan of their autonomy - while an umbrella body such as the SA Pagan Council or SA Pagan Rights Alliance handles all negotiations or addresses all matters between the Pagan community and external authorities on their behalf.

I also think it's time that Pagans realized that nothing happens in this field without serious financial investment. Christian churches all receive money from their members, who give mindlessly and faithfully because it is expected of them to the point that it is even built into their liturgy and doctrine. For some reason, we as Pagans are "above" all that materialism, and do not like the control and constraints of either liturgy or doctrine. Sorry to break it to you folks, but it's time to wake up and smell the coffee. There are those in the outside world who despise diversity, and they hate things they don't understand - and they don't wish to understand things they hate - and once again, that is the Pagan, the Witch, and whoever else they dislike, distrust and don't think anyone will care about defending.

Christians, and especially Christians in government, have power and influence over our lives because they have money behind them. Money to influence others, money to effect changes. Yes, they have more numbers in terms of ignorant and willingly ignorant and servile followers - and yes, even if all Pagans do contribute to a central "defense or advocacy fund" or whatever you want to call it, we still won't match their numbers or finances - BUT at least there will be money to take out adverts, afford legal fees to challenge issues in court, do promotions and host events that won't have to come out of the organizer's own pockets, or result in the organizer's falling out of favor with their employers and getting fired for taking time off to organize Pagan Pride events et al. Over all, this will strengthen our public image and social position - not as the criminal and dodgy stereotypes they accuse us of being, but as proud, productive and honorable citizens of this country who no longer need to make a habit of hiding in the shadows - and who are worthy of their respect.

I think it's time the Pagan/Witch/etc community got involved and invested in our own future, instead of sitting back and letting the vocal and dedicated few handle it while we prepare to duck into the storm shelter, pretend nobody's home, and only think of ourselves. There is strength in unity - and I think it's time we stood with Damon Leff and the organizations who are working for US, to defend and promote OUR rights to freedom of religion.

Personal Statement: Divisions Within The Community

2012-07-09T06:34:00.001-07:00

In the past I have called for more active interest and participation from the Pink Community, and I am happy to say that in recent months the community has risen to the challenge by and large, with new Pride events taking place, new community support projects springing up, and new activist voices shouting from within the wilderness to speak out against the injustices faced by our community. However;

There is an ongoing feud between the organizers of a community pageant and other members of the community, a feud which is both unproductive and insensible, and which threatens to tear a rift right through the community. I also find it puzzling and disgusting how many people who wouldnt be seen dead voting or supporting anything political openly in defense of their own rights, have jumped in neck-deep in supporting either of the parties in this recent dispute which has been threatening to divide and weaken us as a community.

A pageant contest has its merits and its place in our community and in activism for our community. This should continue, but it should have checks and balances in place to prevent similar situations such as the current scenario, from developing.

Numerous claims of threats and intimidation, behind the scenes diplomacy and politicking have come to light in recent weeks, exploding on the internet and in the public eye. This feud must end.

Suffice to say, not only do I find such things to be devisive and detrimental to our cause and to our community, but it is a great embarrassment, and also of little real value or interest to me. In short, I don't particularly care for it, or any of the players in it. At the end of the day, I feel all concerned could use a little growing up. The Pink Community I have been serving, is not the Pink Community I thought it was. It is beginning to shock and disappoint me.

A new political party has been formed, focusing exclusively on the issues faced by GLTBI South Africans. This is an important and worthy cause, and a critical development on the political landscape of our country. Since other parties do not exclusively concern themselves with our welfare, and at times when defending our human rights becomes an inconvenience or an embarrassment to them, choose to remain silent, it will be very useful to have such a dedicated and unique body to represent our voices in Parliament. This body will ensure that our voices will not be excluded from Parliamentary processes in future. Though realistically it will never win a general election on its own, it will fulfill a vital role to remind Parliament, other political parties, politicans and South Africa that we also share this space with them, and that we are equal under the Constitution which some of them either ignore or work to undermine, and that the days where WE, the people, remain silent in the presence of our abusers, are over. This is a GOOD thing.

All that aside, in the past MONTH, seven members of our community have been brutally murdered in hate crimes while South Africa still has NO HATE CRIMES LEGISLATION. THIS should be more important than petty squabbling over who gets to occupy the spotlight, and I would expect more adult behavior from people claiming to be "ambassadors" for what appears to be increasingly a "community" in name only.

At the same time, I hear multiple disturbing reports of children being victimized by their schools and teaching staff because of their gender identity and sexual orientation - WHY is nothing being done about this? Why do parents and teachers observing such inexcusable bigotry directed against children remain silent? Why are the provisions of the Constitution which protect against such indefensible persecution NOT being honored?

I hear troubling reports of lesbians being attacked and raped - not only by hostile homophobes, and not in public streets or in their own homes, but by OTHER lesbians inside establishments catering to our community! Not only are we being hunted and victimized by those outside who hate us - but now we are being hunted by predators inside our own community as well! THIS MUST END, victims must speak out, and those responsible must face the full might of the law!

Activists and community based organisations are welcome to work for our benefit and for our defense - BUT they should REMEMBER that they answer to US as the people they claim to represent - and they should never forget that to be a leader means leading from the front and doing as they would expect from the rest of us. No more, no less!

My Brief Delusional Time As A Lesbian

2012-07-07T04:42:00.004-07:00

This morning I was lying in bed considering what to wear. I sleep naked these days, because I've enjoyed the new found freedom that being physically female brings. What I was wondering was, what to clothe my body with once I got out of bed, and despite the personal style I've developed over the past few years, I'm now totally at a loss for what to pick in my closet.Being female, albeit a transgender female now 6 years post-op, the choice should have been clear to me. The reason for this dilemma is that I was told last night by a person of some prominence in the local lesbian community, that I "dress like a drag queen".

I thought I left being compared to a drag queen behind ten years ago. I love wearing black and always have. Doesn't mean I'm a "satanist", even if I am a witch. This revelation caused all sorts of questions to float up to the surface of my mind. I had up till then been enjoying my time out with a few friends, and all seemed right with the world. Apparently I was wrong.

Is there a dress code for tranny freaks? Why can lesbians - even physically feminine ones, wear butch attire - but when I don't wear a dress or skirt, I am "dressed like a drag queen"? Why the double standards?

I have nothing against drag queens understand, and at one time I wouldn't have objected to the comparison, but having gone the distance at great expense and effort, to be called so is a sobering realization and a disappointment. It means that for the past 12 years I have been lost in a delusion in which I was passible as female, pretty and even liked and popular within the community. It was a rather rude awakening. On the other hand, I suppose I can only blame myself for not taking note of the signs, such as every other girl twenty-questioning me about my voice, am I or was I a man before, have I got a dick down there, or a vagina etc? Silly little me. Looks like I might have wasted my money.

And the other questions I was asked just double-tapped me as I sat there, reeling. What is my sexuality really? Am I into girls? Guys? If so, what am I doing here? And what is with that "asexual" shit anyway? You're not interested in sex? No wonder you're single. What kind of freak wouldn't be into sex? This one, apparently. And why did my religious affiliation and my "activities" need to be mentioned? What relevance did the fact that I'm not a christian - or the detail that the person interrogating me was - have to do with the equation? But of course, no "judging" took place, despite the impression being created that I had already been put on trial in absentia, weighed, and found wanting. As the person in question moved off, leaving me at the center of a growing empty space in the establishment, I was left with the clear impression that I was neither hot, nor cold, and had been spat out.

You see folks, my self-confidence has now been undermined. What do I wear today? What do I wear tomorrow? Skirt or slacks? Is this too masculine? Is this overly feminine? Is the make up too much or too little? Is my figure masculine or feminine, vagina and boobs aside, regardless of what I wear? Do I want to dress like a drag queen? A goth? Is there truth in the adage that clothes really do make the man? Or is it the body? I always thought it was the personality/soul/spirit that defined that.

Should I dress to please local lesbian society? Should I adhere to the as yet unknown and undefined universal dress-code for transexual females? Or should I dress to please myself, regardless of what groups I don't fit into on account of my looks, my tranny-freakiness, my social inappropriateness, my "radiophonic" voice that everyone assures me is "just fine", my rumored vampyrism, that I am openly Pagan, my style of dress, taste in music, whether I wear my hair up or down etc etc etc.

I didn't ask to be any of the things I am. I just am. You think I didn't want to be shorter, petite, feminine, prettier, to have a better voice and be more passable as a female? You think I don't have insecurities and vulnerabilities? You think your pain is any greater than mine? You think I don't bleed like you?

Seems I am just one of those people who just doesn't fit in anywhere, no matter what the group is or is about - I am just one of those freaks that will never fit in and feel part of it, or totally accepted or welcome or included. Oh well, c'est la vie. Shit happens.

So now let me make it perfectly clear, darlings: I don't need your validation. I don't want your acceptance. I am what I am. If that makes me a monster, then gee - I guess it's too bad. If you don't like me, or any part of me which makes up the whole of who I am, I don't give a shit and you and yours can go fuck yourselves.

If my being trans or not a christian gets in the way of us being friends or more, then perhaps you should go look long and hard in a mirror and decide what the fuck makes you so fucking special. And if in future you sidle up to me saying "I'm not judging you, but..." while doing just that, be ready for the consequences.

You may be the one to discover first hand whether any of those rumors might actually be true.

The Right Fundamentals?

2012-05-28T08:00:00.000-07:00

The question often arises in my mind, when dealing with biblical literalists and fundamentalists, exactly WHAT their fundamentals are? What is it that makes them stand at the head of a crowd and whip them into a frenzy, spitting hatred for others - and doing so in the name of a god they claim is a god of love, and who is the personification of this all too cheap, commercialized emotion?

How do they reconcile the nature of their religious scriptures? One portion, which is entirely copied from another earlier religion, and quaintly named "the Old Testament" - which represents a claimed covenant between the Abrahmic God and the Jewish religion, replete with ritualistic laws and customs which it is claimed do not apply - and yet they use those very same ritualistic laws and customs - especially those in Leviticus - to condemn others with whom they do not agree, to death and hell and all other things eternally unpleasant. The other portion, being fabricated out of a stack of books which more or less concur on a few issues, and written some 50 to 120 years - and even 200 years after the supposed events of the New Testament - by people who were never even there - and omitting entirely HALF of the other books written around the same period, which were either too liberal, free thinking, esoteric or plain confusing - or which inconveniently contradicted the Roman Catholic doctrine of "pistis", or obedience without question. Funny how that little thing got carried over into Protestantism and then Evangelism, innit?

So, looking at this collection of manuscripts, cobbled together in a way which suited the powers that were at the time, and rebound and re-edited since by whatever powers that followed - how can anyone determine so precisely WHAT exactly the message of the Christian Bible is? Is it love? Is it God's Wrath? Is the Old Testament to modern Christianity not supposed to be looked at in a historical background explanation of merely what the origins of "Christianity" were?

Should those who identify as Christian not have taken more literally the promise of their savior coming as "the New Covenant", which freed them from the bondage of literalism, ritualism, and blind obedience by rote, without question? Why do so many "Christians" today still become obsessed with and cling to the old texts as laws and use them to condemn others with? Does this obsession with guilt, being more right than their neighbors, and persecution of others not make them Leviticans instead of actual Christ followers?

We call these people fundamentalists, because they somehow whittle all this - the whole thing, Old Testament, New Testament, nearly 100 books written by numerous authors, some even unknown to this day - along with their true motives - as well as those of the people who had many of these books translated (along with errors in translation - some of which were deliberate) - fundamentalists. They cut 1000 pages of what is essentially a library of philosophizing into a handful of phrases or verses, which they claim are the essentials of the faith. THIS, they say, is the path to righteousness, and to paradise. How do they choose these "essentials"? Have they even chosen the right ones?

Let's look at this knotty little problem by referring to this confusing and perplexing conglomerate itself:

The Christian Bible, Mark chapter 12 verses 28-31: "One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?"

"The most important one," Jesus answered, "is this: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these."

"NO commandment greater than these."

There is nothing at all in there about sexuality, persecution, stoning, hanging, "ex-gay", celibacy, "corrective rape", hate, preserving traditions which abuse others, or making outcasts of gay or trans people - or ANY people in there - now how about that?

"NO commandment greater than these." NO commandment. NONE.

If you're truly a biblical fundamentalist, THIS one law should be the sum of your faith.

If you're truly a Christ-follower, THIS will be your law - loving your god, and loving your neighbor as yourself. Not hating anyone. Not judging anyone. Not oppressing anyone. Not persecuting anyone. Not excluding anyone. Not destruction. Not death.

Makes you wonder how many of you nice folks calling yourselves "true Christians" who act completely opposite to this, and break these two most important commandments by your words and actions of hate against us - your neighbors - how do you reconcile this with the words of your Christ, whom you claim to follow? Whom you claim to live as? Whom you call yourself after?

And before you say that there are other verses that you think address issues of sexuality, condemning us - THIS part is not about US - it is about YOU.

How YOU deal with your neighbors, namely us.

"Love your neighbor as yourself" says the second half of the two greatest commandments of all - and yet you manifest against others hateful acts of oppression and persecution.

If working to undermine laws which protect us from persecution, and inciting or supporting acts which strip away our civil rights and equality, and which will enable our persecution, are not acts of hate - what are they?

How do you excuse yourselves from that little thing your Christ said about "There is NO commandment greater than these"?

Food for thought, huh folks? Eat up.

I hear in the stony silence, the shuffling of feet.

An Inconvenient Home Truth

2012-05-24T22:07:00.001-07:00

It's odd how for years, articles by Melanie Nathan have been highly prized and circulated and promoted by local human rights advocates, and how for years we have welcomed her campaigning to assist our cause, and her application of public pressure from outside the country - and now we can turn around and say something like this:

"A condescending American [Melanie] Nathan based in America, who has no jurisdiction whatsoever in dictating to South Africans what to do (as what so many Western countries are prone to do), even if she was born in South Africa, she left this country three decades ago and has no business interfering. We're not listening - go write about the problems LGBTI face in the US. There's lots." - GaySpeak Ezine

An email from Mr Gay SA did the rounds in the early hours of this morning, laying out in point form "the official stance" of a Pink Community leader figure in South Africa. Point five said: "We support what Melanie Lowe and Cobus Fourie from SA GLAAD wrote about standing together, but this has become an all-out attack against Mr GSA driven by people who are serving their own interests and shamelessly using this issue of the traditional leaders to promote themselves, their blogs and their brands."

The email closed with "Please remove us from this mailing list - we will not respond if you do."

The quote at the top of this article was then posted on numerous Coalition and LGBT Facebook groups.

"A condescending American"? This is a little petty, don't you think? Resorting to pointing out where a person lives as a means to try and invalidate their argument? Posting a divisive email and refusing to take replies on it? This isn't what the community expects from our leaders.

Free public debate and argument is part of the discourse which is essential to a free democratic society - something we as South Africans have not quite got used to yet, always being keen to run to the courts with cases of libel or slander at the drop of a hat. Disagreeing with someone does not mean that they have to be enemies or opponents.

I wonder if you even realize how alienating that statement is - even internationally - how much support in terms of attention and focus does the human rights issue gain each year from "condescending Americans" who don't happen to live here either? Surely you can see what a broad insult that is, especially from those abroad who are sacrificing their time, skills and efforts to help, and without whom, quite frankly, we would be far worse off?

This whole thing has spiraled out of control and I think its time people stopped fighting over what team they vote for in elections and realize the reason they are activists, and the reasons that we support our community leaders - to benefit our mutual human and civil rights. That is what makes us allies. You shouldn't be drawing battle lines between allies, least of all on such trivial matters.

Nobody is devaluing Mr Gay South Africa, or attacking Lance - as far as I'm concerned this has moved from a matter of protecting our rights to shielding a political party from the wrath of the community for another representative (gay or not) making a blunder by issuing quite frankly, a stupid and unnecessary statement to the press, to a pissing contest about who alerted who to what, and who said what and who said it first. It's childish, counter productive and pointless.

Melanie has been speaking out against the issues we've been facing in this country for several years, and often louder than those of us who still live in this country. She deserves a measure of respect for what she has been doing on behalf of our community, not this slap in the face.

Our community deserves leaders who should know what debates and arguments are better conducted out of the public eye, instead of dumping their baskets of dirty laundry all over the internet. Our community deserves leaders who do not put political expedience or convenience before their commitments to those they supposedly represent. Our community deserves leaders who do not make about-turns on issues such as freedom of speech and accountability to the community they serve when it becomes too embarrassing for them, or too uncomfortable. Our community deserves leaders who can and want to work together, not fling their handbags at each other, hissing like drama queens.

Change Is As Change Does

2012-05-23T23:39:00.003-07:00

The DA is virtually the only party in this country which includes the rights of people on the basis of gender, identity, gender identity and sexual orientation in its policies and manifestos.

To this day, I feel that there is no viable alternative to the DA in securing the promises in the Constitution of South Africa, which pertain to freedom, equality and equal opportunity for all.

However, the recent events surrounding the matter of the Traditional Leader's Bill, and the careless statement made by Mr de Freitas as a representative of the DA - whether he himself is gay or not, have cast a different light on the Democratic Alliance and its stance on civil rights and protection issues.

For the past nearly two decades, the DA has been promising change in South Africa, and yes, we can see the change in the Western Cape, and I sincerely hope that change comes to the rest of this country in due course through coming elections.

I''m starting to form an opinion, however, that more things may change than we realize, should the DA eventually come to power in South Africa. They may (like the ANC) fall into the same trap (if they haven't done so already) of thinking that just because they fought for freedom, equality and democracy, and now represent the majority vote in the country's electorate, they deserve everyone's obedient silence or unquestioning support, and their policies could shift focus away from winning and appeasing friends to gain political power - to abandoning portions of the populace to whom they made promises, in order to focus on entrenching themseves in their new position.

Falling back onto a position of "those who criticize us, simply do not understand how democracy works" is a concerning attitude, which is both inaccurate and patronizing.

Despite the occasional admonishment in a speech, or a letter in the press by DA representatives, what exactly has the official Opposition party done regaring the issues concerning the Pink Community in terms of human rights? Have they taken the ruling party to task in Parliament over issues such as the homophobic, racist and sexist journalist, Jon Qwelane, being appointed by the President as High Commissioner to Uganda, or the government's apparent protection of this man, which has prevented him from appearing in the Equality Court since 2008? Have they pressured the government in Parliament on the issue of signing various human rights declarations in the UN, which the government declined to ratify? Have they pressured the government to sever ties with and cease supporting countries around the world which have appalling human rights records (such as Uganda and Zimbabwe) and in places where people are persecuted and oppressed on the grounds of their sexual orientation, or gender? Have they directly addressed - or pressed government where it fails to address other issues concerning issues which affect our community? Have they ever DONE more than just put in an appearance at a Pride, or make a speech, or make promises to our community?

I am not looking for fault with the party itself, or its proclaimed protective stance towards our rights - however, I am suggesting that we have seen the pudding, now it is time to start proving it as well.

Yes, the DA is an inclusive party, it has many gay representatives in its membership. Yes, there are even some brave souls who are open about being gay as MP's or other public representatives in the party. However, it is one thing to brag that a party is full of gay people - it is something else altogether for them to ACT like it.

Over the past few weeks, human rights activists within the Pink Community have staged protests about the Constitutional Review Committee entertaining a debate on the removal of protective clauses within the Constitution in order to appease traditional leaders. The fact that traditional leaders object to these protections in iteself warrants their protection by such a constitutionally mandated body. We have realized full well that such a change is currently unlikely, and accepted statements from Mr Gay South Africa, Lance Weyer, and some others, who said that this measure would never pass.

The issue has been the DISCUSSION of the removal of our rights from the Constitution - which in iself presents a threat and an insult to our group - in as much as any such discussions around the removal of civil or human rights protections of any other often persecuted social group would be.

The protests achieved their aim - which was to show that the Pink Community does not just gather for Prides and parties, Mr de Freitas - but also to show that we are prepared to stand up and fight for something which IS WORTH FIGHTING FOR!

However, I feel that further statements by numerous vitriolic individuals in question, are uncalled for. They should know very well, as politicians, and as gay people themselves, that there are numerous issues warranting our continued pressure, protest and action.

Criticism by groups such as ours need not be met with patronizing snarky comments like those in Mr de Freitas's letter. The presentation of his "full" letter is irrelevant to this matter - the one sent to the press, on an official DA letterhead, and representing the views of the party - is the one that matters.

Criticizing a community for speaking out in defense of their rights and peacefully demonstrating their objections - especially when representatives of a perceived champion of democracy deny that there are problems faced by a community which faces daily prejudice and persecution - and dismiss it as inconsequential or even trivial, and paint it as "not understanding the democratic process" - is nothing less than hypocrisy in itself. Such things as demonstrating objection, voicing protest and campaigning for action or change are the very basis of a democratic society.

The DA needs to be careful here. In terms of public perception within the Pink Community, they are poised to cross the Rubicon, becoming perceived not as pro-rights liberals, but as reactionaries - and the gay contingent within it, as the internally homophobic "log-cabin Republicans" and lap-dogs of the "old-boys network" which runs the Republican Party.

They need to realize that the Pink Community are not the uneducated followers of other parties - that we are discerning and that election promises of open opportunity values need to be kept, and that unlike the supporters of other parties, we are keeping score, and have been all along.

We appreciate it when politicians and political parties support our rights, we appreciate being included in the body of representatives of a party, and we appreciate it when these parties speak out in defense of our human and civil rights - but we expect both the party and its representatives - and OUR representatives within that party to honor their promises, and their espoused principles - and to not be too afraid or too ashamed of who they are or where they come from, to stand up for these principles.

Forsaking us when our rights or dignity are threatened, or turning on us when we address one of their representatives who goes against the ethos of their own party manifesto, is no way to win - or keep, friends.

Self-Hatred Is Not Therapy

2012-05-21T23:59:00.003-07:00

My good friend Tanya and I were having a chat yesterday. She's a straight Christian friend to a pan-romantic transsexual dark Pagan - me. Our chat took the direction of discussing Christian gay people who believe they are condemned to Hell because of their inborn sexuality. I thought I would add my two cents using some information I have been collecting over a number of years, pretty much because I have been fighting a war of words with people who seek to condemn gays, lesbians, bi's and transgender people to "Hell" from a "Christian" perspective.

I said inborn sexuality, because science and medicine have been delivering proof that gender and sexuality are determined by biological - and therefore natural factors. If you believe that God created people as they are, then you need to accept that God created people (and animals) with their gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation as they are - including those who are gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex. This is logical, leaving the only options open to these people, to try and refute the science, producing fake "studies" or making enough hysterical noise as to create doubt in the minds of their followers to keep them at their feet.

Gay by Nature: Part 1
Gay by Nature: Part 2

Dr Rahman - Born Gay
BBC NEWS - Health scans see gay brain differences
Wikipedia - Homosexuality in animals
National Geographic Video - Homosexuality in animals

Since it is gradually being accepted by mainstream society, that what science and medicine say about sexual orientation and gender identity being inborn and immutable (unchangeable), those who hate us from a religious point of view continue to claim that being gay is a "choice" and a "sin". If you look at this argument logically, it implies that they are saying "Yes, God made you gay - but it's still wrong to be gay!" Is it? Was God wrong? If you believe in a loving father God who made you, do you really think He would make you with an unbearable inborn pain that you would be expected to deal with all your life? I never believed that. I can't see any merit in doing so.

Further, some "Christians" argue that being gay or trans is "sinful", and that you can be "prayed straight" or that you "should" deny your true self - I'm talking about "ex-gay" ministries. These use shame and guilt in order to convince gay Christians that they will go to "Hell" if they accept their nature.

The articles linked to below will show how this industry - because it is designed to make money - is based upon deceit and denial, and a someone wisely said, "Self-hate is not therapy".

Argument by scientists proving that the Religious Right distorts their research against GLBTI:

Respect my Research.org - Anti-gay activists and their organizations have distorted, cherry picked or misquoted research from esteemed academic scholars across the world. On this site is a one-of-a-kind "Library of Lies", which catalogues these abuses and provides a powerful response from those whose work was twisted.

Scientific/Medical argument against "ex-gay" "therapy" - PFLAG USA

The APA Says ‘No Evidence’ In Support of Ex-Gay Therapy

Masters & Johnson’s Notorious ‘Ex-Gay’ Study Debunked - the research which was used to fuel the destruction of so many lives was recently admitted to have been totally fake - meaning that the entire "ex-gay" concept and industry - has been built on a LIE!

There are many articles on these subjects listed on my links page, however, the most important ones which I think will be of the most help to you as a gay Christian, are below:

What the bible says about homosexuality

A Letter to Louise: A Biblical Affirmation of Homosexuality

The Gay Debate: The Bible and Homosexuality - The guy in the video has spent years researching his topic. He had abstained from all relationships because he was Christian and was taught being gay was a sin - then he studied the bible in the correct context and proves that being gay is not a sin. If one could actually get anti-gay Christians to watch this, they may actually learn a thing or two about their bible.

Let me close by saying that you should not be put off your honesty and your faith by others who abuse you - or the same religion you adhere to. There are many today calling themselves "Christians" who are not Christ-like or Christ-followers at all, but there are still many who are. The difference comes in where people condemn and judge others, when they point fingers away from themselves and at other people and vent hatred in the name of the loving God and the savior you believe in - and even demand death for those whom they dislike - and blame it on God.

Are people who can post websites such as this one, "God Commands You Kill Gays!" really "Christians"? Or are they Leviticans, or rather, ChristianISTS? Is their hatred in keeping with Christ or Christ's behavior or in line with what he admonished his followers to do after his departure?

People who do so, are not like Christ, and if they do not speak like Christ, nor act like him - how can they possible be Christ-like, or Christian?

A minister friend of mine used to say "If people speak of God without also speaking of love, then it isn't God they speak of, but the Devil."

I hope that this will help you find self-acceptance, self-love, and peace.

Protect the Constitution Johannesburg Protest On SABC News

2012-05-19T11:22:00.001-07:00

Kudos to all involved - this was a very unbiased video news insert.

Down Memory Lane

2012-05-17T23:43:00.000-07:00

The following is an article I wrote back in 2010, and which was published by the National Secular Society. I was reminded of it again this past week in an email, and thought as it didn't appear on my blog "Sour Grapes: The Fruit of Ignorance" the first time, now would be a good time to look back at how we got to this place in South African history, with conservatives vying to be the first to rip and tear human rights protection clauses out of the Constitution. Of course, since I have been writing and distributing my articles and warnings since 2008, there is a certain amount of "I told you so" in reposting this article. Nevertheless, here it is, for your reading pleasure:

Christian homophobes are spreading their hate in South Africa

Christina Engela writes from South Africa

The fundamentalist assault on equality, tolerance and Constitutional protection of human rights in South Africa comes mainly from evangelical churches based in this country, but which often have close ties to local and foreign church groups or societies which share a common intolerant fundamentalist view on matters such as abortion, gay rights and theocracy.

Prime examples of such hate groups in South Africa are Christian Action Network, which is based in Cape Town and whose figurehead, "Dr" Peter Hammond, is involved with radical US religious right groups such as the ICCP (International Church Council Project), which consists of a main committee, and smaller committees which include foreign leaders of churches from around the world. The ICCP is tied into the US Religious Right through its leaders.

The International Church Council Project (ICCP) An American body replete with names like Dr. Jay Grimstead, D.Min., Found. Dir. Coalition on Revival, Dr. R.J. Rushdoony, Ph.D., President, Council of Chalcedon on its board (now deceased and replaced by his son) - along with Peter Hammond of CAN in little old South Africa. These people are leading figures in what is known as the "Great Commission Church Movement" This shows me that the US Religious Right has been pulling the puppet strings right here in South Africa for at least 20 years now.

Closer examination of this group's website shows that it has "targeted" 80 countries around the world to "transform" into evangelical Christian theonomies. Noting that Uganda is on its list and the state of the country - and those around it which are also on the list, I think they are achieving their goals.

The scary part for me is that South Africa is on their list too.

The Christian Action Network has worked closely with political parties such as the ACDP (African Christian Democratic Party) which has vehemently opposed gay rights since its founding in 1993 and the decriminalization of homosexuality in South Africa. In fact, the CAN and ACDP have consistently attacked the human rights and civil rights and dignity of the pink community at every available opportunity and also actively campaigned against every single struggle for equality here, ranging from discrimination against blood donors to adoption and marriage equality. These groups have often supported each other very closely, as evidenced by their newsletters and articles. In fact, even by its Election Manifesto, it is clear that the ACDP intends to campaign to change the SA Constitution to remove marriage equality - at the very least.

Although the ACDP is small, it holds 3 seats in Parliament, having lost half its seats in the 2009 election - but many of its religious policies are aligned directly with the conservative "moral regeneration" drive which the ANC is adopting. Even if they have no real political clout on their own, they can throw their weight behind conservative policies and help sway the balance towards conservative decision making.

Closely associated to CAN and the ACDP, is the pastor Erroll Naidoo from "His People" Church in Greenpoint, Cape Town, and who is listed as an editor at the CAN's fundamentalist Christian magazine "Joy!" along with Hammond, and who now heads up a US religious right clone body called the "Family Policy Institute", which receives support from the Family Research Council in the USA. FPI's mission statement is "objective of making the restoration of marriage and the family the cornerstone of South African social policy". Naidoo has for years been advocating his "Christian" hatred of the pink community in speeches, sermons, newsletters and press releases - many made as a representative of CAN or one of its affiliates.

His favorite target in the past decade have been Pride festivals and marches - most notably the Pink Loerie Mardi Gras in Knysna, about which he has spread numerous distortions such as claims of "exploitation of children" and "public sex-acts" and applied pressure to the town municipality to get the annual event banned. Indeed, Naidoo's rants and antics in the press have become an expected feature of the build-up to the event, with people in attendance waiting to see what will happen next.

In his newsletters and even in the "Joy!" magazine, Naidoo reports on his travels to the USA to meet with his mentors at the Family Research Council (Sept 2008). He also sends out regular newsletters to his supporters to ask for funding and continue creating the impression that this country is under threat from "evil" and forces that seek to oppress the "persecuted church", along the lines of the liturgy expressed by Peter Hammond.

Naidoo and the FPI are currently engaged in fighting the proposed legislation that will legalize prostitution for the term of the World Cup soccer series in South Africa, and to institute harsher laws on sex-workers. I have no doubt in my mind that once this matter is settled, they will focus on the issue of gay rights again. The FPI is situated near the Parliament building in Cape Town and features a "Parliament Watch" function to keep "Christians" posted on matters which supposedly "affect them".

The FPI states one of its goals is the "restoration" of marriage on the lines of their faith - along with ensuring freedom of religion. At the same time, this is a paradox as their assault on marriage equality is entirely faith based and therefore detrimental to the religious freedom of others. The FPI is a very, very political body, as evidenced by its newsletters, with its attention focused firmly on promoting and entrenching fundamentalist ideology in politics and government, constantly trying to meet with and influence government officials and politicians.

Tied to the Family Research Council is its former stable-mate - Focus on the Family, which has offices in Durban, and which pushes the "ex-gay" industry here, having presented "Love Won Out" courses in Durban and Johannesburg and promoting other affiliate programs such as "the Truth Project", "No Apologies" and abstinence-only HIV "education". Recently, Rob Parsons, the leader of the UK branch of FOTF visited South Africa to speak on "the family", and James Dobson is still heard daily on community radio stations, despite protests from people who do not wish to listen to a bigot even if he isn't speaking on gay rights.

If one examines the structure and history of groups such as Christian Action Network, which ties together so many groups and churches in a largely informal support network - it is obvious how this rise in fundamentalism has taken place. Over the years, evangelicals have visited South Africa, often on invitation, and pushed their agendas here. As in Uganda, they have sent assistance in the form of "missionaries" and "church planting" to literally "transform" the way people think and feel - and as you may know, Uganda also changed what was a fairly liberal constitution to bow to fundamentalist pressure.

Another fundamentalist gaining popularity in South Africa is Angus Buchan, a Zimbabwean ex-patriot farmer who regularly preaches to crowds of thousands, mainly straight white males and who hammers a very evangelical religious and patriarchal agenda. He is also critical of gay rights and pushes the belief that homosexuality is a sin, dangerous and can be "prayed away". He is frighteningly popular with evangelicals here, popularly known as "Oom Angus" (or "Uncle Angus"). He hosts "Mighty Men" weekends on his potato farm, wrote a book several years ago which was made into a movie called "Faith Like Potatoes" and is known to critics as "the Potato Prophet".

Buchan's conservative patriarchal message has found a fan in another evangelical network in SA, namely the Africa Enterprise of Michael Cassidy, who was a leading figure in the battle to oppose marriage equality in 2005-6, along with Erroll Naidoo. Cassidy is tied into several anti human rights initiatives, such as NIRSA, SACLA, which declared war on the gay community to "reclaim marriage" after the landmark ruling.

Co-leader of the SACLA, group with Michael Cassidy, was Methodist Bishop Mvume Dandala, who was also head of the AACC in Uganda until last year when he stood for Presidential Candidate for ANC breakaway party COPE in last year's elections. During his considerable time in Uganda he is on record for making many statements on HIV treatment - but never once for speaking out on the rampant homophobia and prejudice in that country. The pink community opposed his selection because of this factor, and also because as a clergyman entering a high political office, he threatened the separation of church and state. He still represents COPE in Parliament.

Then there is the Rhema cult. It is what is being called today a "super-church" which brings in millions in earnings a year, and its charismatic leader - pastor Ray Mccauley, appears on Rhema's own TV channel and is quoted by many other Christians who are seemingly unperturbed by his hypocrisy and bigotry.

He is currently leading a group called NILC (National Interfaith Leaders Coalition) also called "Zuma's God Squad" alluding to the support it receives from the President and the ANC. This group recently made headlines for laying out its plans to "revive morality" in the country and to remove gay rights from the Constitution. Zuma himself has been reported in the media in 2006 for calling gay marriage "a disgrace to the nation and to God" and of course, just prior to the elections which won him the presidency last year, he was in the Rhema cult delivering a speech in which he invited conservatives to "come talk to the government" about things that bother them, such as marriage equality and abortion.

RELIGIOUS RIGHT INFLUENCING GOVERNMENT

The NILC contains as leading members no less than 4 ANC MP's, including the ANC Chief Whip of Parliament. The NILC was slated recently for issuing emails from government addresses, and for making use of government resources such as offices - and the ANC and NILC regularly post joint press releases on "moral" issues. The SA Council of Churches (SACC) for many years the established religious representative body in SA, recently expressed concern that it has been replaced without any consultation, by the NILC.

Living in South Africa, it is clear to me that the religious right is slowly mobilizing and gaining momentum and has its eyes focused on the SA Constitution. People in key posts in the SA Human Rights Council, Constitutional Court and in numerous other public posts are being "redeployed". There is a growing fear that the underpinnings of the Constitution are being chipped away. Newspapers are speculating whether the President has been rewarding his cadres for supporting his rise to power, by placing them in key posts, but personally I am concerned that this may facilitate changes to the Constitution in line with "moral regeneration" policies.

Let's not forget SA's refusal to sign the UN Declaration to Decriminalize Homosexuality in December 2008 and its complete failure to condemn the Ugandan Bill currently threatening to impose death on millions of GLBTI Ugandans.

This week it was announced that Jon Qwelane, a homophobic journalist and supporter of President Zuma, is to be the new SA Ambassador to Uganda. Qwelane is still facing charges in the Equality Court for an article from 2008 in which he attacked the pink community and encouraged politicians to rewrite the Constitution to remove gay rights, calling the need for these rights "ridiculous". What the government was thinking in appointing such a person as ambassador to a country contemplating instituting state-sponsored genocide against the pink community, only they will know.

Coupled with apparent apathy in the pink community and disinterest in politics, this makes the threat of fundamentalists in the political arena that much more real and potent. Many people in the community are not even aware which political parties are pro gay rights, or that there are in fact any parties which are pro gay rights. When they hear about moves made by conservatives, the most noticable reaction is shock, followed by an expression of disinterest in politics. Those willing to pay attention and to get involved in defending the human and civil rights of their own community are definitely in the minority - which in my personal view is a recipe for disaster. "

The Burning Question

2012-05-09T12:46:00.000-07:00

A general look at similarities between some persecuted minority groups in SA, based upon differences in race, sexual orientation, and religion or spiritual beliefs - and the similarities in the methodology of their persecution.

In this article I will broadly discuss my perception of the current situation in South Africa, in conjunction with general reference to "the Stanton Report", a model which assesses the make-up of a genocide, and to which the UN also refers. Broadly, the Stanton Report, developed and presented to the UN in 1996, demonstrates the different stages of the development of social discrimination into a full-blown genocide. There are 8 of these stages in the model, and these show how the removal of civil rights and legal protections of a social minority group is usually followed by vilification and persecution of that group, and that the persecution of the group is the real intended goal of removing such legal protections in the first place.

Thereafter, identifying or associating with that group becomes illegal and a punishable offense before the law, and often goes hand in hand with the use of state empowerment and unchecked propaganda intended to incite hatred and violence against that group, and which, if unchecked, may well lead to genocide. This model was developed using extensive reference to the Rwandan and Bosnian genocides of the 1990's, and holds true for the state of human rights deterioration in other places where genocide has almost happened, such as Uganda. The link to the Stanton Report is included above, and I will leave it to the reader to draw any comparisons between it and the situation I describe in South African politics in my discussion.

Last week it became known that the Traditional Leaders Forum had submitted a suggestion to a government body which monitors and evaluates suggestions for modifications to be made to the SA Constitution, that gay rights be removed from the Constitution. Suggestions and requests of this nature which involve the removal of the civil rights of gay people from the Constitution are not a new thing. In fact, these efforts have been a regular feature of right-wing and religious extremist politicking since at least the very early 1980's in South Africa, and have been made by numerous groups in various forms since the birth of our democracy, and since the drafting of the Constitution.

Homosexuality and transsexuality has been at the focus of hostile religionist (dare I say Christianist) attention in South Africa since the 1980's. Certain groups seem to need a scapegoat for their fears and zealotry in order to keep their support base strong and the money from supporters flowing in to keep the machinery turning. Groups like Christian Action Network (CAN) and its affiliates and immediate forebears have worked without remorse against legal equality and every single human rights victory won by GLBT, Pagan or gender rights advocates since 1993, and has ever sought to overturn these after the fact. Even today we need to be vigilant and keep an eye on groups such as the ACDP, CDA, CAN and Errol Naidoo's "Family Policy Institute", who have been pressuring government to rip out Constitutional human rights protections and equality clauses since day one.

In 1993, at the very same time while those prominent in the incitement of hatred against the sexual orientation and gender group were arguing in Parliament against the inclusion of our human rights in the Constitution - they also argued against the inclusion of religious freedom or freedom of belief, specifically relating to the Pagan community and associated non-Christian religions, spiritualities or faiths. It was implied that essentially, any such Constitutional right was in violation of the Christianist "divine" right to hate and vilify anyone or anything they disagreed with. Historically speaking, these efforts failed and were dismissed, and we now have the present Constitution which guarantees us these rights. When the battle for marriage equality raged in 2005-6, the nut-jobs and human rights opponents tramped mud back into Parliament to wave their fingers once more. However, the Christianists have nevertheless retained the legal right to vent as much hatred on the basis of sexual orientation or other religions, as they desire, as long as it is done so within the ambit of their churches or enclosed communities. This is still in contradiction to the spirit and ethos of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, as far as I am concerned, as it is in these breeding grounds for hatred that many people act out of when they commit human rights abuses against those outside their own communities.

Western and pre-colonial views on sexuality and gender differ greatly, and while today African views have largely become Westernized, when it comes to religious viewpoints, the two cultures are still oceans apart. "Witchcraft" as argued by those who murder helpless old people in rural areas of this country today, is not the same thing described by European missionaries when they spoke of "witchcraft", "devilworship" or "satanism" back in the days when they came to destroy heathen culture and traditions in Africa. Even if it were, and even if their victims were really practitioners of these belief systems, these people who hunt "witches" could care a stuff that they are violating the Constitutional guarantees of freedom of religion or association, or the Bill of Rights.

However, unlike any in the past, this attack on freedom and equal rights does not come from a westernized aspect of South African society, but rather from an ethnic perspective of African traditional leaders - and yes, there is definitely a Westernized religious aspect to this attack as well. Also, this is the very first time ever that such a suggestion directly threatening the civil and human rights of a social group has been debated or even considered worthy of debate by this governmental body.

This is not a simple situation, and someone who hasn't been in South Africa for very long, or who is examining the situation from outside, won't know what it's like living here, or how we got to this point. Also, there are many views in SA, and of SA, and many fellow locals won't agree with some or all of what I'm about to say. Nevertheless, I will try to give a brief, broad descriptive outline.

South Africa is presently ruled by a three way alliance (called the "tripartite alliance") between the ANC, the SA Communist Party, and a political labor union. Although the ANC is officially the ruling party, it greatly depends on the support and agreement of the other two parts of this alliance, and many individual members of each party holds membership of another, or both others.

The majority of the present government and all state bodies and organs are almost entirely populated by black ethnic folks, and white-on-black racism is not a notable feature of the SA landscape as it was in the apartheid period, which ended officially in 1994. Today in terms of racial politics, the SA economy, political scenery and also foreign policy of this country are dramatically different from what they used to be in those times. By and large, people of all races work together, interact and socialise, peacefully. Children of all races and ethnic groups go to school side by side, and have no first-hand experience of the hatred that permeated the youth and later lives of preceding generations.

Despite this improvement in terms of human rights and equality, not all is rosy in modern South Africa. There is a widespread and out of control crime problem, made worse by gross incompetence of the SA Police (whom, it has been reported, have over 6000 outstanding cases of police brutality and wrongful arrest against them) disintegration of infrastructure, failing service delivery, and countless corruption, fraud and tender scandals implicating government and ANC officials. This has all culminated in heightened pressure on the government to perform according to expectations, and other individual partners within the alliance are applying increasing pressure to the ANC to satisfy their demands. Investigative journalists have exposed many scandals implicating government, which have embarrassed the ruling party and its alliance partners. All this has contributed to the introduction of draconian laws which encroach on Press freedom, and other freedoms as well. If the government cannot fix the problems, it seems they will opt to try and cover them up to avoid criticism and thereby avoid losing more votes to growing opposition parties such as the DA and COPE.

The general infrastructure of the country has been steadily disintegrating since 1994, despite much publicised development in certain aspects. As an example, despite the taxable income dramatically increasing since 1994, and the development of a highly efficient tax and financial department, and with increased revenue income from various supplemental sources, South Africa still loses millions each year due to internal fraud and corruption as well as careless spending on frivolous parties, exhorbitant salaries and increases for officials, and other wasteful expenditures. Promises of eradicating poverty, job creation and free housing continue to make slow, if any progress while money allocated for these purposes vanishes mysteriously time and again. Public schools, universities hospitals and clinics are in an abhorrent state of disrepair and malfunction, and always the state's solution is to place an even greater financial burden on the taxpaying citizen. This has resulted in a propensity for blaming current trends on things that stopped being relevant 20 years ago.

For the first time ever, SA is no longer exporting food as one of the breadbaskets of the world, but now has to import food from other countries. As a communist-aligned party, the ANC with its roots based in communist liberation ideology, has been forming alliances and economic agreements with former soviet states, and communist countries such as China. The ANC-led government has also provided continued support to countries which show an absolute disregard for human rights (including China and Uganda) and refuse to debate or address concerns of persecuted minority groups, such as GLBTI people, or with concerned human rights activists or advocates in these matters.

The systematic and brutal murder of farmers since 1994, some thousands of people - has resulted in an endemic fear among white folks living in farming communities, and even among the rural ethnic communities themselves. Despite having embryonic hate crimes laws hinted at in the Bill of Rights, no such murders - or any other crimes committed out of hatred against any group specified in the Constitution or Bill of Rights, have been defined as "hate crime" perse', with the exception of racism.

Racism is still very much a feature here in SA, only now it is predominantly black on white racism. White people especially struggle to find jobs - or to change jobs, while the job market is dominated by a government instituted policy of "affirmative action" which after more than 15 years, still shows no sign of being lifted - and creates the impression that "transformation" implies replacing people of non-black races with black folks until there is no room left for them in the job market. This policy sees the enforcement of employment ratios dictating what percentage of any company's staff has to be of what race, regardless of what qualifications they hold, if any. This has contributed to the deterioration of service delivery, particularly in municipal authorities, where officials are appointed based solely on their race, or political affiliation, or family relation, and regardless of their qualifications or apparent business or managerial skills. This has also exacerbated and aggravated racial tensions in some arenas, resulting in the growth of ultra-right wing political and even fascist para-military organizations - and also more concerningly, an exodus of qualified and experienced workers to other countries, such as Australia, New Zealand and the UK, where they can find employment without discrimination on the basis of their race, or live without fear of falling victim to rampant violent crime, which sometimes appears to have a distinctly racial bias.

To recap, over all, things have changed a great deal since 1994. In terms of oppression and democratic improvement, there is no question that things are better. We have the present Constitution granting freedom and equality to all, at least in theory. Since 1996 however, various entities and forces within government in collusion with external entities, have been working to undermine the Constitution and the bodies which underpin it, such as the independence of the Judiciary, and the Constitutional Court. The current Judge President for example, was appointed by the President amid outcry from the Pink Community, despite it being known that he is openly homophobic. This man made news headlines earlier this year when he attempted to force other Judges to attend a course in Christian leadership in the line of their work - a serious concern to those who value the impartiality of the Judiciary as well as preserving the separation of religion and the state.

All this serves to highlight Government support and empowerment of various far-right religious extremist groups and ideologies which abhor the fact that the present Constitution prevents the open expression of their hatred and/or persecution of various groups which they do not approve of - which despite the Constitution, still appears to take place, but more covertly rather than overtly - and the interests of individual groups are given obvious preference over those of others.

As an example of this preference, race-based crimes receive preference in South African courts, which are dealt with swiftly and receive wide publicity. For example, the Reitz Four matter shot to the heights of the SA government's propaganda machinery within a day of the matter breaking, and was processed very quickly. While the severity of the offence committed by these men is not in question, nor the findings of the Court - no such reaction on the part of SA government has ever been forthcoming in terms of any similar incident relating to the violation of the human or civil rights of anyone on the grounds of their sexual orientation or religious freedoms. This revelation serves to draw attention to the detail that, as in the words of George Orwell, "All animals are equal - but some animals are more equal than other animals".

With regards to gender-based violent crimes such as so-called "corrective rape" of lesbians, these cases are typically sidelined and dragged out for 6 years or more, being postponed time and again for anything up to 6 years. This appears to be the rule rather than the exception. Reasons for this can often be found in missing case files, missing witnesses, intimidation of witnesses or victims etc. Additionally, victims of such abuses face the indifference on the part of police officers who reportedly refuse to open case files for gender or sexual-orientation based violence or intimidation.

Coming back to the government's role in fostering this climate of political instability and contradiction, this has manifested several examples of special significance to human rights activists, as follows:

In its current form, the SA Constitution forbids discrimination on the grounds of various issues, including among others, religion and sexual orientation. Yet, paradoxicaly, representatives of the SA government have been flouting and patently ignoring these provisions, as well as turning a blind eye to legitimate complaints against those who violate human rights, and also covering for them. Let's look at a few notable examples in recent years:

Jacob Zuma, current president of South Africa's ANC-led government, is on record as making homophobic utterances during a speech in 2006, when he was still Vice-President - where he stated that same-sex marriages are "a disgrace to the nation and to God". "When I was growing up, unqingili (homosexuals) could not stand in front of me," Zuma was quoted as saying.

In 2005 South Africa supposedly won the marriage equality battle in the Constitutional Court. However, the government resisted and dragged its feet - eventually having to be ordered by the Constitutional Court to implement the necessary changes during 2006.

True equality in marriage is in having the same marriage rights described under the same law - however there are two laws in South Africa pertaining to marriage - one is for heterosexual marriage, and the other deals with same sex unions. The name of the law giving us supposed marriage equality is called the "Civil Union Act". Marriage officers have to do two separate exams to be allowed to perform the same ceremony for either gay or straight weddings - and for what is in the eyes of the law, a secular or civil matter. Even to this day, Pagan marriage officials are given a run-around and passive resistance by disinterested or hostile Home Affairs officials. Similarly, officials at Home Affairs conveniently place their personal religious hypocrisy and bigotry before their job of conducting a civil and secular service for which they are being paid, towards representatives of other religions, or same-sex couples seeking to get married.

In 2008, a delegate to the United Nations declined to ratify a UN Declaration on human rights on the grounds that it included human rights protections for gay people, citing "principles". A similar event occured again in 2010, where a government representative made homophobic utterances during a session of the UN discussing human rights protections around sexual orientation.

In 2008, homophobic journalist, Jon Qwelane, known for his anti-feminist and racist views, published a column in the Sunday Sun newspaper attacking gay rights, and the rights of women in the Constitution. He did so in a way which encouraged action to remove these rights from the Constitution, and also stated prophetically that he would never be made to apologize for his remarks. A mass outcry by human rights activists and the Pink Community began, and complaints were sent to the Press Ombudsman, who refused to take any action on this matter and speculation as to reasons for this focused his personal friendship with Qwelane. Following this, The SA Human Rights Commission was approached, and eventually proceedings began, however, the case has been obstructed ever since by legal manoeuvring and stalling tactics which appear to vindicate Qwelane's statement that he would never be made to apologize. More on JQ later.

In late 2009, Lulu Xingwana, who was the Minister of Arts and Culture in SA, caused a furore over homophobic remarks she made at an exhibition of art photography, before storming out. Apparently she was upset at seeing tastefully displayed semi-nude photographs of same-sex couples, and angrily stated that it was "anti-family" and a threat to moral values, etc, yadda yadda yadda. She later denied ever saying such things, and that the whole incident had been some kind of misunderstanding.

Despite the international uproar surrounding the tabling of "the Kill the Gays Bill in Ugandan parliament, legislation which would have ratified the murder of thousands of GLBT Ugandans, the SA government has been for over a decade supporting the Ugandan government and economy, and has never allowed the appalling human rights record prevailing in Uganda, nor any amount of public objection, to interfere with this support.

This issue surrounding the bill went back and forth for several years, with South Africa steadfastly insisting that the internal issues of other countries were "nobody's business", despite it being the obligation and mandate of South African diplomacy to promote the human rights values in the SA Constitution internationally. The paradox and stark contradiction in this statement is most striking when looking at the other examples where South African intervention and involvement in the affairs of other nations in Africa, HAS been deemed "our business" - such as government involvement in Zimbabwean politics and peace-keeping in the DRC. This contradiction clearly shows up cases of what can only be described as "convenient morality".

Further, in 2009, the President appealed to ultra-conservative Christian voters by stating in a radical evangelical and anti-gay church, that the removal of gay rights was up for discussion. This sparked another furore and alarms went off in the activist community. A month later, the debacle over "Zuma's God Squad" broke the news, where it was reported in the media that a conservative Christian body made up of ANC-officials and representatives of the same church, was receiving logistic and material support from the government in order to investigate the removal of liberal laws, including those protecting sexual orientation, from the Constitution. The NILC body was reportedly not only being provided with government offices and stationery - but also the support and involvement of ANC office-holders in government employ, who also happened to be lay preachers, pastors and evangelists who formed part of the so-called "God-Squad". Of course, the NILC has faded into obscurity and has not been heard of since, presumably having served its purpose.

During the 2009 election period, political parties placed radio and TV advertising. One right wing Christianist party's radio advert - which only played once - labelled gay rights and gay people as a threat to civilization and their religion. Despite this matter being reported to the Broadcasting Complaints Commission and the SA Human Rights Commission, these bodies both refused to investigate the matter, claiming that it was up to the complainant to provide proof - while radio stations refused to supply complainants with copies of the offensive advert and the political party in question vigorously denied any knowledge of this advert being aired or that it contained the offensive statements. Since this advert was aired only once on April 1, despite being in the correct placement with other adverts, in the same week as the election, the claim was dismissed by all autorities as an "April Fool's Day" joke. Despite this, the Pink Community did not find this slap in the face amusing in the least.

South Africa's government, despite all the emailing, telephonic and faxing campaigns mounted by South African human rights groups on the topic of the "Kill the Gay's Bill" and human rights violations in Uganda since 2008, only made one brief and tepid statement condemning the "Kill the Gays Bill". This was made by the President at virtually the last minute - and then, at a point where mounting public and international attention had been drawn to South Africa's increasing association with Uganda - and right before the start of the 2010 Soccer World Cup. Still, any condemnation is probably better than none.

Jon Qwelane - the infamous journalist, was appointed in January 2010 by the President as SA Ambassador to Uganda - despite having still to face any charges of incitement to hatred and violence against women and the gay community in the Equality Court. In spite of this, the government smuggled him out to Uganda in the midst of a public outcry, to take up his post in Uganda during a visit by the SA President to that country. All this took place right in the midst of international pressure for Uganda to kill the "Kill the Gays Bill". Despite numerous calls to the short-lived and rather pointless "Presidential hotline" by concerned members of the public, the government denied that Qwelane would be returned to South Africa, or that he would face such charges.

JQ was then subsequently found guilty in absentia by the Equality Court. This hard-won conviction was then overturned in an appeal mounted on his behalf, presumably at the taxpayer's expense. To this day, South Africa is represented in a foreign country by a man who has nothing but contempt for the SA Constitution, for equality and human rights, and who has openly and repeatedly expressed his unrepentant racial and homophobic hatred as a Media journalist - and he represents South Africa's interests in a country whose government shares his views, and which has several times nearly succeeded in making them a reality.

I find the sum of these mounting incidents to be a compound personal insult to my dignity as a South African citizen on the part of my government. My government's failure to take my dignity - and the dignity of all those like me, into consideration - is a direct affront to our civil and human rights as citzens under the current Constitution and Bill of Rights. It is also offensive to all human rights advocates, because for one group to point at another and to claim that they do not deserve the same rights held by themselves, is to cheapen and devalue the human rights of all.

At the end of the day, this present and particular move to strip the rights of people to not be discriminated against on the grounds of sexual orientation, is not racially motivated - although its roots are most certainly based in cultural differences.

In pre-colonial ethnic culture, homosexuality was not stigmatized, and not seen as a threat to society. Since the introduction of christianity by English, German and Scottish missionaries in the 1800's however, practically everything viewed by Victorian society was described as a threat - and is today dealt with in the only way a barely post-tribal mentality can cope with a threat. Missionaries taught their forced converts to abandon their old ways and to adopt the ways and beliefs of the white man, and that to be different or to deviate in any way from the "norm" was "evil". Consequently today, we have misconceptions endemic in ethnic culture, which result from the paternalistic attitude of the colonial era - which the ethnic population have now taken upon themselves and now view as being one with their "tradition", despite these being as alien to Africa as the religion which conducted them into their present belief structure and society.

Today in Africa, people are intimidated, abused, and often killed for being gay, or transgender. Conversely, this is not limited to matters of sexuality or gender, but also superstition, age and religious tolerance. Ignorance also plays a big role. People with medical conditions such as epilepsy or albinism are accused of devil-worship or black magic or "witch craft" and burned or stoned or brutalized to death, despite this concept being wholly different to the European concept of the religion of witchcraft - which is yet another blood-soaked thank you note that may be dopped at the feet of the noble missionaries and their "good works".

In much of present SA society, there is no culture of human rights or respect for human life, and so to many, the laws regarding human rights for all are somewhat flexible and open to personal interpretation. People are killed so often here in robberies, hijackings and house-breakings, that it almost never makes front page news any more. General society here is so desensitized to death and suffering because we see it and hear about it every single day.

You can't walk down a public street talking on your phone, because you fear a gang of 4 or more will surround you and kill you if you don't hand it over to them - and even if you do, you know they may still kill you for the sport of it. We know that people get away with murder every day in this country, and that even those who are caught, don't stay put away because there is no such thing as a life-sentence here. Even a serial killer who gets 6 25 year "life-sentences" (which are served concurrently by default) could be out in 10 years with good behavior - or even less, if the President feels like pardoning him on "Freedom Day". Human life here is cheap and virtually worthless. "Justice" is an apparent fallacy. The only thing that seems to matter these days, is public perception and votes.

Behind the mask of unity and democracy and paternal concern, the modern ANC and its alliance with Cosatu and the SA Communist Party is split into various internal factions. With all the power plays recently between these different factions, this move to consider the removal of gay rights from the Constitution being one of these, it's become increasingly clear that support of the mob is up for grabs. Give the mob what they want to hear and you may win some votes back.

It's simple - the governing party needs the support of the traditional leaders forum, which represents tribal chiefs and clan leaders - and they are aware of this. The traditional leaders are homophobic and patriarchal and schooled in the ways of the Christian missionaries of old - and they dislike the freedoms in the Constitution, because it denies them the "right" to oppress and ruin people's lives at a whim of their ignorance and bigotry - so they have suggested changes to suit them. The government fears alienating an important part of its support base, so it seems it chose to entertain debate on the matter at the very least, rather than to just dismiss this insult to the Constitution and to human rights - and to millions of South Africans by default, as it should have.

Mostly, the ordinary ethnic population has no real education in politics, no concept of history or political analysis or culture, and they tend to do just what anyone would do if they were told things by their heroes in power - they follow like sheep. However, in recent years, the ruling party has fallen out of favor with a large part of its following (including other member groups of the tripartite alliance) due to corruption scandals, such as the infamous arms deal, failure to deliver on election promises or to improve the economic state of the country - and many supporters have switched to other parties.

As if to demonstrate this, in 2009 the ANC split virtually down the middle, resulting in the creation of the second-largest opposition party, COPE. Also, the official Opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, recently won control of the Western Cape province from the ANC, and aims to increase this lead in future elections in other provinces - and the ANC is clearly shaken by its gradual loss of ground.

Given this perspective, it is hardly surprising that the lives of a minority which most other larger minorities (generally focused on religious superiority) also don't tend to care much about - the LGBTI community - are often used as pawns to further whatever gambles are made on the political chess board by those in power. The trouble with this is that in the game of chess, pawns usually end up being sacrificed.

In my humble opinion, a change in government to a human-rights and equality centered administration is one of the few things that could ensure continued Constitutional human rights protections in SA - as with the repeated use of human and civil rights of minority groups as "bait" and being presented up for grabs to the haters in a scramble for political power - sometime it's bound to really happen - and then we will all suffer for it.

Stand With Us!

2012-05-05T00:03:00.001-07:00

CALLING ALL HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS AND ACTIVISTS, of whatever association, be it religion, sexual orientation, gender, or cultural - it's time to stand together for our joint human rights! The government is debating the removal of sexual orientation protection against discrimination clauses from the SA Constitution - if they succeed in this, who will be next?

This is an attack on ALL human rights - for if one group of people can be declared "less than human" by the removal of their human rights, it can be done to anyone else!

It starts with US, don't let it end with YOU!

Join and support any protest actions called for, regardless of your sexual orientation, religion, culture, race or gender!

Stand with us, fight this monstrous outrage with all you have!

Pass this on as far as you can, to everyone you know!

http://www.change.org/petitions/south-african-constitutional-review-comittee-protect-the-constitution-of-south-africa-as-it-is

Kind regards,

------------------------
Christina Engela

Information resources for the Pink Community. Know your enemies, know their strategies, know their weapons and their weaknesses - and know how to beat them.

South African Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (SA GLAAD):
Member of the Board, Press & Media Liaison
Email: Christina.saglaad@gmail.com
SA GLAAD on Facebook

SA GLAAD on Twitter: @SA_GLAAD

Blog: Sour Grapes - The Fruit Of Ignorance

Add Christina on Facebook
Christina's column on Litnet
Christina's books on Lulu.com

Follow Christina on Twitter: @Pinkfuzzyninja

SA GLAAD unequivocally oppose The Protection of Information Bill and the establishment of a statutory Media Appeals Tribunal. We oppose undemocratic practices such as censorship and the obstruction of human rights. Our criticisms of hate speech, misleading propaganda and false advertising should not be mistaken for support for efforts to stifle expression and a free media.

Information resources for the Pink Community. Know your enemies, know their strategies, know their weapons and their weaknesses - and know how to beat them.

"We are, all of us, equal - or none."

SA Govt Body Discusses Removal Of Sexual Orientation From Constitution

2012-05-03T01:43:00.001-07:00

An article in the Beeld newspaper yesterday explains that there is a move in government encouraging the removal of sexual orientation protection clauses from the SA Constitution. Not to say "I told you so", but I've been warning about this eventuality for the past 5 years.

The fact that there is a government body with power over the Constitution giving serious consideration to un-Constitutional suggestions which would not only violate the human rights of a significant portion of SA citizens - but would also stand in contradiction to several important UN mandates on human right as well, and is cause for significant concern indeed. It would set in motion a cascade-effect that would collapse the culture of human rights protections for numerous communities.

http://www.beeld.com/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Koukusse-bekyk-gay-en-eiendomsreg-20120502 (click the translate button to get the gist of the article in English) - a later English version of the article from News24: http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Politics/Land-gay-rights-up-for-discussion-20120503

"Eweneens het die Nasionale Huis van Tradisionele Leiers se voorstel oor hoofstuk 2 van die Grondwet groot implikasies vir veral die regte van gay mense, insluitend diegene wat kinders aangeneem het en wat in burgerlike vennootskappe staan.

Die voorstel behels dat seksuele oriëntasie as afdeling van die Handves van Menseregte geskrap word."

"The National House of Traditional Leaders's suggestion about Chapter 2 of the Constitution has great implications especially for the rights of gay people, including those who have adopted children and who are in civil unions.

The suggestion is that sexual orientation, as a section, be scrapped from the Bill of Rights."

The Traditional Leaders Bill which recently made the news, aims to invalidate the sexual orientation protections in the Constitution in areas under their control, in order to allow traditional leaders to discriminate against their community members on the grounds of sexual orientation or gender.

This is an attempt to strip our community of equal protections under the law and to facilitate persecution and discriminatory behavior under the thin excuse of "traditional values" - some of which are in plain violation of the values of a human rights oriented society and Constitution.

This development indicates that they intend to extend this war on gay/gender rights across the board. The fact that the evaluation body has not rejected this unconstitutional move out of hand as it did before with previous suggestions, is of grave concern to our community and to human rights advocates.

Imagine that a group of right wing Afrikaners suggested the invalidation of clauses in the Constitution protecting against discrimination on the basis of race, and only in certain areas under their influence? I am sure that such a move would result in howls of protest and would be dismissed without any hesitation. The same principle applies here - and perhaps you can understand then, why I find this to be so offensive.

Either people are equal under the law, or they aren't. You cant invalidate the protections of the Constitution over an endangered minority in certain areas just to advance the interests of a cultural tradition which has no respect for the human rights of that minority.

To do so would create a dangerous precedent - and one which other religious extremist or radical groups, would seek to exploit, or to copy.

All of this I might add, is in the face of "corrective rapes" being inflicted on gay women in rural and impoverished black areas, as well as other issues, such as the President's appointment of a gay-hating former journalist with outstanding judgments against him to the post of SA Ambassador to Uganda - a country which wanted to pass a law which would institute genocide of gay and transgender people. The SA government has also failed for the past 20 years to extradite and bring to justice individuals who committed crimes against humanity against gay people during the apartheid years, and who fled overseas to avoid the inquiries that brought people like Wouter Basson to trial on race issues.

Hate crimes pertaining to race are dealt with swiftly and immediately, but hate crimes pertaining to sexual orientation or gender identity drag on for years and rarely deliver satisfactory outcomes.

It's clear that in this country, there is no justice if you are gay or transgender, even with the protections in the SA Constitution. Imagine what it would be like here without them.

So You Think You're A Good Person?

2012-03-28T01:40:00.001-07:00

I am what I am. Nice sentiment that. But is it that simple? Whatever we are now, we all began as something else. Personally, I'm far more partial to the view that "I am what I choose to accept I am", and "I am what I want to be".

Self-acceptance - the acceptance of the person we are, with whatever defects and flaws - imperfections - and even our perfections, determines who we are and who we become. How can we work towards becoming anything else if we don't even know who we are now? How can you chart a course from A to B if you don't even know where A is, or where B is in relation to you? If you don't even know what your own strengths and weaknesses - and character flaws are - how can you know what to work on, and where to improve, and what to leave behind?

We are all, each of us, many different things. Nobody is simply going to identify themselves as just one of their interests or characteristics. Rather, we are each a sum of all the things we feel, are interested in, or focus on. Nobody is going to go through life seeing themselves as "just" a catholic, "only" a methodist, "solely" a white person, or "exclusively" a cancer victim.

Seems to me, that in some countries, people scapegoating "witches" for their perceived misfortunes hasn't brought them any closer to a new Burning Time - so now they seek new groups to blame their ill-fortune on. In Iraq, the target is "Emo" children, "satanists" and "vampires"... people who, like the "witches" - are accused on suspicion, and brutally tortured and murdered for having committed no crime against anyone, but for simply looking or dressing differently, or for not believing the same thing as them. Christian organizations and figures on the world stage, and in regional communities, have been silent about this matter - but I suppose since nobody has been killing Christians in Iraq the way they have been killing other minority groups and sub-cultures, they're ok and so everything is just peachy.

If you look at the lives of the founders of various religions around the world - and in particular Christianity, this seems to me a bit like saying "I'm a Christian" - just because I can hear the church bells ring from where I live. Yes sir - and if I stand in a garage, that makes me a car.

Religious leaders of all kinds - but most especially these days, the ones who hold political sway and social influence - like to point fingers at the groups it suits them to hate - and to paint them as "threats" and "dangers" to their fargile grip on power, reality and sanity.

Ironically these people - and many of their followers, will thank a deity for "letting" them win a race, but blame a "witch" if they stumble, or "tolerance of homosexuality in society", and look for the nearest suspect, and kill them. Why not blame the deity? Why not accept the setback as easily as they accept the victory?

Time people grew up some, I think - and stopped looking for theoretical "somebodies" to blame for their own misfortunes - and started to take responsibility and accountability for the state of their own lives and the condition of their own circumstances. If you win, by all means, be humble and accept the laurels of victory - if you suffer loss or ill fortune, accept the truth of this with good grace, and accept the blame or responsibility as easily as you would the victory. Nobody is perfect - not even oneself - and realizing and accepting this is part of self-acceptance - and part of accepting reality.

Some things just are our own fault.

If I drop a hammer on my toe - was it "God's" fault? Was it the old lady next door's fault, whom I can accuse of "bewitching me"? If my car breaks - is it society's fault for tolerating the gay couple across the street and for not picketing their wedding? You don't like it? Wear steel caps, or stop playing with hammers, f.f.s, or get a new car.

People - particularly christianist funadamentalist fanatic types, tend to view my advocacy for human rights as being "militant" and "anti-christian", and even anti-religious. Really?

Just because I am a witch and a pagan, fighting for equality and human rights, highlighting and hindering human rights abuses - does it make me "anti-christian" - or anti any other religion or religious freedom for anybody to believe whatever they like? People need to grasp the difference between a right to BELIEVE something and a right to injure or harm others OUT OF those beliefs - and to question everything in a belief system that urges them to do harm.

Is this man a "christian"? Does he speak for the Most High? This is proof in my opinion, that as long as there are people in authority who are too stupid to read and understand things in their historical and cultural context, they will be out there leading people into genocide and hatred.

Food for thought: Christians believe their God gave us all free will - strange that for over 2000 years, they have tried to take that choice away.

That pastor is actively calling for people to be killed. This is public incitement to murder. The target group has been identified, vilified, dehumanized, and is being separated from the mainstream by fear. The newspaper should not have printed that speech or article by the pastor - but rather, it is supporting the incitement to murder and promulgating it without apparent fear of legal repercussions. In my opinion, this qualifies as something which the UN Genocide Watch/working group should be notified about. Many who read this article will agree with this 'pastor'. I for one, do not.

Many haters and bigots leading charges against equality and human rights like to make use of the abused quotation: "Evil prospers when good people do nothing." They use it to convince people who think of themselves as "good" people, to do evil in the name of good. And so they say, "Evil prospers when good people do nothing". And I say:

Who will stop evil when it masquerades as good?

Many religious right figures demonize those making efforts to keep governments and laws secular, and to advance human rights and equalities. They make them out to be "agents of evil".

Simple fact - secularists and humanists and human rights activists are not the people out in the world trying to kill people, or trying to force them to change their beliefs. By contrast, look at the people doing the killing and the oppressing, and in whose name they are doing it - then come back and tell me what you've seen, if you can manage to look me in the eye.

People everywhere attend their religious services, putting on smiling faces and accepting that because they are all there together, they are all "good people", and enjoy that status and respect because they all believe the same thing, and all carry the same membership card. They will dump money into a receptacle being passed round, which only goes to help those who believe as they do - but will they ever open their hearts and their homes to someone who asks them for help - someone they don't know, or someone who doesn't carry the same membership card - or even a friend who has fallen on hard times? Or do they turn them away?

"It's not my problem."

People need to stop thinking of themselves as "the good guy" just because they have a membership card to a specific religious organization - or because they are more fanatical or religious than their neighbor - and to start validating their consideration that they are "good people" through their actions.

They should stop doing "good works" just because they expect something in return from the receiver, or from others who see them doing their good works - and instead do it to see the smile of those they help, to be satisfied that the person they help will live easier, or for another day because of them. And above all - take to heart that "I'm okay - so fuck you, Jack" is not the attitude of a "good person". Anybody can say they are a "good person" - but only a good person will ACT like a good person. Christian scriptures say "by their fruits you shall know them". Indeed.

You're a good person, eh? Prove it.

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

2012-03-18T03:37:00.000-07:00

WARNING - contains honest opinion of the author about ChristianISM, righteous indignation, and some good, down to earth home truths. The wilfully ignorant may be offended.

That said, you really don't have to read this article. You could skip over to something else, read the comics, change the channel, turn the page, click another link, and exercise that democratic right to read something else. If you decide to read it anyway, you don't have to like it - and if that is the case, you only have yourself to blame. After all, you have been warned. No use screaming and shouting about it afterwards - you will only make yourself look like an idiot.

Class, the topic for discussion will be religious extremism - whether it be Muslim, Christian, or any other - and on how ironic it is that the more fanatics hate other people, the more alike they become.

Let's start with the Red Bull 'Jesus ad' recently removed from the air. The reaction of some people to this really laughable - first, they already got it off the air by complaining - now they are going for the throat, calling to boycott Red Bull. Seriously?

They clearly have no sense of humor - or any sense of what is really important in the world. This is to me nothing more than making mountains out of molehills. Erroll Naidoo - that all-round, loving man-of-God is leading a new charge of his light brigade - defending Christianity and the image of Christ from being tarnished by those gosh-darned capitalist atheists and liberal secular humanist bastards. I laugh at this irony, considering where this is coming from - for Naidoo is one who himself has spent years tarnishing and besmirching the very same image of Christ - and in a much worse way, by painting that figure who laid down his life for all people, preached love and tolerance and peace, and healed the sick and saved lives - with the stains of intolerance, hatred and persecution of human beings, whom it suits him to hate in Christ's name.

I wonder how many of the soap-box-heroes paying heed to his bellyaching and whining about trivial matters such as this, would contribute a cent to help starving street children, lift a finger to feed or house the poor, take a stand against "witch" hunts in SA, or act to save the lives of the children now being murdered in Iraq. And yet, by comparison, I have known practising witches and Pagans who spend what little free cash they have on feeding street kids - without the lights and fanfare of media attention or the warm glow of public praise - or the benefit of corporate or international funding and sponsorship. I've dealt with people calling themselves atheists, agnostics and Luciferians who work to save lives, draft petitions against genocide, and to expose the massacres of innocents in places like Iran and Iraq, who have a better understanding of what mercy and compassion are - than many who claim to follow Christ.

People around them are suffering and dying - but, oh no - those people from Red Bull are the real evil in this world - they drew a cartoon of Jesus, for all intents and purposes, missing a step and saying "Me!" *Gasp* Is there no decency left in this world? They dare to make a mockery of the "Christian" faith!

Hello pot, this is the kettle calling.

If it wasn't so tragic because of the loss of life which they seem to be oblivious to, this would be funnier than any Red Bull advert.

People who proclaim their supremacy over others and work to realize it in their twisted little Pinky and the Brain schemes, are what sicken me about "Christianity" and several other religions - and unfairly paints all the followers of these religions as anti human-rights fanatics with less than a passing acquaintance with reality, and who are in dire need of a straight-jacket.

Honestly, many people in the West, and here in South Africa, like to criticise Islamic countries for their fundamentalist histrionics and lack of personal freedoms - and their inherent and permeating absence of human rights values - and while I tend to agree that they would, quite literally, sooner kill you than look at you - being the object of the hatred and intolerance of religious minorities like ChristianIST extremists, has made me rather cynical when it comes to appraising people who call themselves "Christian" as well. What makes them think they are any better? Just because they worship a different monster who demands they kill anyone who doesn't agree with them?

Let's look at human rights values in South Africa, and in the "Christian" community in particular. I use the "" because there are many diverse sorts of people in the world who call themselves after Christ, but very few who actually live like the man, speak like him, or act like him - and even fewer who deserve the name.

As far as I'm concerned, if you want to earn it, then live like him, healing the sick, protecting the weak or the helpless - and the innocent. Save lives. And then, if evil comes to destroy you, let it - and even then do not hate. Then you will be "like Christ". Until then, you're just a wannabe.

Christian missionaries came to South Africa not just to teach their religion to the native ethnic population who expressed an interest to learn about and follow the "white man's God", but to forcibly convert them to its ways - and in the Victorian way we know so well, to destroy their ethnic culture and beliefs. Today, more than 150 years later, there is an epidemic of brutality and death left in its wake - a breathtaking legacy which is hard to ignore - unless of course you are arrogant and ignorant enough to believe the victims deserve it. I've seen the video footage, I've read nearly 200 articles about these horrifying acts already - and believe me, nobody deserves this.

What am I talking about? Witch hunts of course. Ironically, the people who are murdered each year - and accused of being witches - are killed without a shred of proof, or mercy, or justification - by villagers, neighbors and family members - based mainly on the Victorian era and Middle Ages "Christian" teaching that "thou shalt not suffer a witch to live". No matter how you look at it, it certainly casts a new light on the "Family Values" people like this cherish so much.

Killing people because they happen to be old? Or because you have had some ordinary bad luck and are looking for someone else to blame - that is, someone other than the same God you praise for all the good things you credit it with? Just as the religious fanatic swimmer who when interviewed for winning Olympic gold, gives credit to his god for "letting him win" a race, are we people so inept, so incompetent as to not take the credit for our accomplishments ourselves, even with humility, without suggesting that our every move or success is dictated by some bogey man in the sky who helps those it smiles upon and not the others - whom they are free to point out? Does Christian wisdom itself not employ the saying "God helps those who help themselves"? Is this delusional blame-shifting a consequence of all those pious church-pew dictators and the religious extremist missionaries bringing their supposed message of "good news" to the poor?

Or is this the result of seeing evil done by people to other people as something separate from ourselves - as something "we never would or could" do because we are identified as "good people" by our religious doctrine? Does calling oneself a "Christian" or a "Muslim" automatically make us a good and moral person who should be immune to adverse reaction to ones actions? Is this the consequence of seeing the "evil" in others as something to be hated, feared and eliminated, instead of something that is within all of us, and which should be faced, mastered and integrated - and then no longer feared? Yes, by all means - abuse, persecute, torture and kill other people you see as different to yourself, who don't believe as you do - people whom you associate with "evil" - because we all know that "Christians" are all good people who only do good things...

And the perpetrators of these crimes against humanity appear to be putting deeds to these words - only, they don't seem to have the intellect or ability to choose the 'right' victim. The vast bulk of these innocent victims are elderly men and women over 50, living alone in rural areas, who are brutally hacked or burned to death, lynched by mobs, and often in their own homes - having done nothing but be old or to live alone, and having been accused of "witchcraft". Their only 'crime' is having lived long enough to be older than those around them. I might point out that accusation is not proof, not that it seems to matter. Accusing someone of being a witch does not make it true - nor does it make it a crime in this country - but even so, people still kill them - in the most brutal and barbaric fashion - and then they are still of the arrogant opinion that what they have acted well and proper. I would like to say that this is "inhuman", but actually, it is very human. You see, human beings are nothing better than animals - especially when it comes to killing. Oh, they're good at it, more inventive than animals - but you see, animals kill to feed and to defend themselves - not for hate, war or pleasure, the way people do. So you see, my estimation of the human race is rather abysmal at this point.

What's that you say? Humans create art, music and beautiful things? They pursue knowledge and science? They live according to principle? "Principle"? Oh? Really? What principle is that? "My god is better than your god"? Or rather, "I am better than you, because my god is better than you and the god I think you worship". And "I'm going to build a better tool to kill you with." Yes, that seems to fit pretty snug - wear that as a hat.

Funny enough, whenever religious extremists come to power, heads always roll. It seems that without exception, it is those who make the world an interesting, diverse and beautiful place to live in, who are the first to be burned alive or hacked to death, or have concrete blocks dropped on their heads - all in the holy name of "protecting the family" and "in defense of the realm" against some or other improvable and entirely theoretic threat. Oh, and since when did "principal" - that is the Christ-like principle of neighborly love and compassion - stop the Christian Church's killing machine from fuelling its initial rise and maintenance of power in Europe with the blood of the innocent - or in South America and other places when it obliterated the ethnic people and cultures there?

In Iraq for example, just in the past few weeks, over 100 teenagers have been murdered by Islamist militants (you'll recognise them, they're just like the Christianist ones) who have engaged in a "witch" hunt of their own. The victim's crimes? Daring to dress in western fashion and not conforming to Islamic religious fundamentalist norms - charges which ironically enough, earn them the title of "satanist". If it were not so tragic and threatening, I would laugh. Evidently the "turtle-suit" style is out of fashion lately in Iraq, and I suppose times have been hard for the veil industry, so I suppose this might be taken as government institutionalized job-protection.

Typically, government and religious authority statements there have condemned the victim's and their acts as "threatening Islam" and *insert warning bells here* 'family values'. Yup. The more I look at religious extremists of any ilk - the more they all look the same. They are all obsessed with what you or I are thinking, saying, watching, reading, listening to, wearing, doing, who we love, what we might do if they stop watching us for an instant, and what we believe - and why it isn't the same as them. And believe me, they are all equally repugnant and ugly - and they all stink of death and its potential.

Despite the horrendous murders being called "witch" hunts being reported in media worldwide, how often do you hear "Christian" clergy speak out against these witch hunts and the murder of innocents in the name of their religion? How many "Christian" churches fund or support social projects working to educate rural populations out of the murderous superstitions perpetuated by the work of their forebears, or to find alternate housing for those who have become refugees in their own homes and villages? How can a church justify entertaining and praising self-appointed Nigerian pastors who have built their careers on acting as witch-hunters - and preying on children under the cruel delusion that they are witches and deserve to be punished? In researching for this article, I thought originally there was just one - Godwin Omatong, but I found that a second, Helen Ukpadio is also being feted as a celebrity in the USA by the same evangelists who peddle propaganda that gay couples raising children is "child abuse"! Interestingly enough, there has also been a marked increase in child murders around the world, where "Christian" relatives have tortured and murdered children in their families out of irrational fears of "demonic possession" - even as close to home as in Humansdorp and Mpumalanga. All the while, Christian figures remain silent. Nobody says a word against the slaughter. It seems the "Christian" religion is big on condemning "evil" - except when it is evil done in the name of the "Christian" religion, for whatever reason, but mostly to cement its power in this world. What a shock.

Religious extremism is fatal to those who don't conform to its values, or remold or submit themselves to its "principles". It craves control and power - and power is the one tool that enables it to wreak its characteristic havoc, destruction and cruelty upon those it chooses to label as scapegoats. Giving in to extremists enables them and empowers them - and worse, it encourages them.

In the past - and even this year - I spoke out against Naidoo's attempt to curtail the freedom of expression and public access to information when he brought a Christianist minority boycott to bear against Top TV - and earlier, against Multichoice. (*Snicker * - I find the name of that company curiously ironic, given the circumstances of this point. I'm surprised it wasn't re-branded Monochoice afterwards.) Some newspapers, while quoting me, decided to make it look as if I was in favor of pornography on TV, which I am not. They may have done this accidentally, through incompetence, probably - but who knows? As far as I'm concerned, porn has to be the most boring thing next to politics - only with less interesting plot turns, and better decor. However, my point - which was that the right to freedom of expression of paying customers was being infringed upon by a minority group which does not have to watch it anyway if it doesn't want to - was completely omitted.

Has Naidoo ever taken up an actual worthy cause where he may do some measurable amount of good? Something like raising funds for a homeless shelter or a feeding scheme? Has he worked against rape or child abuse or abuse of women's equality? Has he in any way promoted or worked to defend actual human rights?

No.

Erroll Naidoo has committed himself to playing policeman and striking down liberal human rights values and secular pro human rights laws wherever the opportunity presents itself. He even has offices in Parliament Street, Cape Town, so that he can presumably keep an eye on those dirty secular humanists, plotting. For the past 20 years he has left a trail of evidence a mile wide, that he works very hard to undermine human rights and equality in this country - with particular reference to the Pink Community, but also against the rights of women and children to live free from religious oppression and interference. He steadfastly refuses to concede that women have full legal dominion over their own bodies, and bemoans the chances that children are in some cases still allowed to grow up free of religious indoctrination and brainwashing.

A poll posted on his website asks: "Should Prostitution be Decriminalised or Legalised in SA?" - and ironically, 93% of respondents voted "Yes", and only 6% "No" - but this revelation of how many of his supporters actually bother to read his site probably flew right over the cuckoo's nest - and still hasn't dissuaded him from trying, nor has it encouraged him to reacquaint himself with reality.

Every time he whines about the evils of prostitution and stamps his little foot about making it even more illegal than it already is - has he EVEN ONCE offered workable solutions to the personal and societal problems which drive people into that industry in the first place, other than "they should just stop doing it, because 'god' says it's wrong - and do something else instead"? Well, has he?

Yes, I know the sex industry is bad for the people working in it - but has he shown any real concern for them, other than describing them as "victims" of exploitation? Reading between his lines on the topic - which are full of moralizing and finger-wagging - he never talks about finding alternate employment for these people wanting to get out of the industry, or solving their issues - but he expects them to just turn their backs on a lucrative way to avoid starvation and homelessness and be happy with their lot in life - which in any rational mind is nothing more than wishful thinking. I think his bellyaching is just a childish fantasy in which "bad people" should just "stop being bad and play nice" - because, well - it's that simple and that easy.

I have heard real experts on biblical literalism describe such people as having a "fifth grade understanding" of their own holy book - and it pains me to say that most of these people also have the same level of understanding of the world we live in, and also of human suffering and the realities they face on a daily basis, just trying to make ends meet and survive.

Anyone who thinks like this, and expects people to languish in the gutter rather than work and earn money the only way they can - just because it offends his personal sense of "morality", has no grounding in reality, not an iota of compassion, and no shred of integrity. Such people using "morality" as a weapon often provide wonderful insights into what "morality" really is to them - a convenience. In fact, anyone who does these things and claims to be a good, "moral" person - a "Christian" - one who is "like Christ" and representing him, is a fraud, a charlatan and a liar. You want to earn the claim of being a "good person"? Then save lives - even the lives of your enemies, and then you will have made a good start.

All I have ever seen Naidoo whining about, is the exact opposite of the Christian love and charity I grew up hearing about as a Christian teen. What such people are really big on, is pushing ChristianIST ideology, supremacy, intolerance and hatred of "the other" into family life, school, educational curricula, and government. Naidoo - like James Dobson and other haters of their ilk, intimidates politicians, chain stores and companies into bowing to their ChristianIST ideals, and pressures them to tow their unforgiving party line. As a recent example, a chain store made an economic decision to remove a publication - which is a hate-mongering, anti-human rights, religious fundamentalist rag anyway - from their shelves (as is their right) because it doesn't sell so well - and all of a sudden the issue isn't that the faithful are not supporting the brand enough, but rather that the chainstore is "persecuting" the Christian church! What?

And so the chain store bows to pressure from this demagogue and his loopy followers who foam at the mouth because a magazine most of them don't buy or read anyway is no longer being stocked by them - and the publication (of which, as a matter of detail, he is a member of the editorial staff) sits gathering dust on their shelves every month, making a mockery of the example set by the Christ they so vehemently defend as their intellectual property. Fine and well - the "Christians" are happy - but ask yourself this: Do the chain stores sell publications and periodicals of other religious communities and religions? Well, do they? I don't see any. And yet in this town, they all seem to have that hateful little rag somewhere, right next to something with Angus Buchan under a silly hat on the front cover, saying something bloody stupid, offensive and nonsensical about women or "real men". (I've met so-called "real" men, honey - and let me tell you, they would all scream like little girls contemplating half the experiences I've gone through in my time.)

More to the point - when last have you seen a bunch of Muslims picketing Woollies, or a group of irate Hindus toyi-toying outside CNA because their religion is not represented on the magazine rack between the Solly Ozrovitch and Harry Potter? Ever hear about Jehovah's Witnesses boycotting CNA because *gasp* they dared place their magazine on the same shelf as Exit? People whine about porn mags being on a shelf low enough for children to reach - but Christian bibles - full of violence, glorification of murder, incest and infanticide and destruction - are just fine and given away to children without any appropriate warnings not to take the content too literally? When last have you seen a bunch of hostile Buddhists bellowing intolerance, hellfire and damnation over a bullhorn at passers-by in Rink Street on a Saturday morning? Or Rastafari writing nasty letters to the papers, condemning other people to death, hell and eternal misery simply because their religious "convictions" make them superior to everyone else and gives them license to cast judgement - and immunity to not be taken to task for it? But yet Christians have been doing this for so long that they see it as a RIGHT and they see being prevented from doing such, and being told to step back and sit with the rest of the kiddies, as "oppression". It's insulting. It's ridiculous. And tragic. But then, religious extremism and fundamentalism - and elitism - always is. Especially to those on the receiving end of their cruelty and mindless mob mentality.

Religion folks, is open to interpretation. And how YOU interpret the message you find in your religion says a lot about YOU.

I take my hat off to people who call themselves Christians and show in their hearts and deeds nothing but a message of love, peace, serenity and welcoming to others, the way Christ did. I see no fear in them. The others, well - that's easy - they are full of ignorance, fear, paranoia and misdirected anger - and well, this whole article is about them, anyway.

Just a pity nobody ever seems to stand up to the hatred and the rhetoric and the violence within the faith itself, isn't it? A pity people support this madness with their silence, and with their Rands. Some people prefer to enjoy the power and glory of "being right" and acceptable. Some would rather be the right hand of the devil than in his path. I condemn their cowardice and their silence.

Naidoo himself likes to use the quote "evil triumphs when good people do nothing" - and in my view, when a religious leader vents hatred and incites it in his followers, that is not just a paradox, or a plea asking them to help him do "good" or stand against "evil" - but a paradox which proposes a direct challenge to those who sit there, nodding as he vents his hatred and intolerance for other people - and a mockery of their silence and lack of resistance to him.

A minister friend of mine used to say "If people speak of God without speaking of love, then that is not God of whom they speak - but the Devil". I couldn't agree more.

A few years back, before the 2009 elections, I engaged with a lot of ChristianISTS on local Facebook groups for political parties on matters such as their policies on human rights, separation of church and state etc. It was revealing and disturbing to say the least - but it was useful to show what we are facing when it comes to right wing extremist religion in South Africa, and I turned these debates into a book. It was sickening to see not just how little these people knew about other people - or how little they cared for the suffering of other people - but how much hatred they displayed proudly and openly towards others whom they did not consider equals at all - and in the name of their religion.

Several individuals stand out to me in that time, distorting statistics, twisting facts and distributing propaganda - and peddling hate. Oft-times these people even said they intended to advocated for a return of the death penalty - and that among others, gays and "satanists" would be first in the cue. And here I was, thinking that the Middle Ages were over? I couldn't be more wrong.

Aside from his famous quote a few years ago when he admitted in a newspaper interview about the Pink Loerie Mardi Gras in Knysna, that he hates gay people, Naidoo outs himself as a conservative when he repeatedly criticises "liberal media" - or the Constitution - as being secular (or liberal) - either of which appears to be an unpardonable 'sin' in his view, if you look at it from the point of view that YOUR religious values will not be represented in it - because, DUH - there are other people in the world around you who are being forced to share things such as news media and the national broadcaster, or the bus seat, with you. I don't know what makes these people think they have the right to intimidate private companies, government bodies and ordinary passers-by into conforming to their views - but I'm pretty sure this is all a sign that their complaints are not in line with a minority group seeking equality - but with a minority seeking to regain the oligarchy and power it once had under the Apartheid government.

The hatred the "Christian" right wing harbors for the SA Constitution is not there because of an absence of "God" in state machinery and the missing phrase "in humble submission to almighty God" - but because it no longer places THEM in a position to claim that THEY represent the will of that "God" and to act as though it were true.

Now, I don't hate conservatives. It's my right to, given all they have done to destroy individual freedoms and human rights - all of which affect people in my position, and would if they ever regained political power - but I choose not to. Hate never solves anything. It's a given that in a diverse society there will always be conservatives as well as liberals.

It's your right to hate me and to be conservative with your OWN rights and freedoms if you like - it's a big world and we could all live in peace and harmony if you stopped arrogantly trying to force your attitude onto me that I should believe what you believe, and act according to YOUR beliefs, "just because" you say so , or because you hate me for not doing so - but try to clamp down on MY rights, try to deprive me of MY freedoms - and you will face my wrath. Respect other people's beliefs, and they might actually respect yours too in return. Try it sometime. What you send out into the world comes back to you - treat people like dirt, and the wind will blow it back in your face.

IMHO Naidoo and other people like him should "stand" less and sit more, speak less and listen and read more. They could learn a lot from the Christ whom they use not as a light of compassion, but as a warhammer - about whom Gandhi said: "I like your Christ, but I do not like your Christians - your Christians are so unlike your Christ." Case in point.

Cry, Emo Kid - They Really ARE Out To Kill You

2012-03-09T11:55:00.000-08:00

I was shocked and saddened today, when I saw news articles of STATE SANCTIONED AND ENCOURAGED MASSACRES in Iraq. The target of these unholy act of unspeakable barabarism? LGBT people, feminists - and Emo kids. That's right - Iraqi religious police assisted by fanatic religious militia have been abducting and murdering people - including children - because they don't approve of their hairstyles, dress, or if they happen to appear a little too masculine or feminine to their liking, for their idea of "appropriate" gender! Nobody is safe from their brutality and terrorism - not even children! Monsters!

It's sickening. But that's what you get from religious extremists of any religion. That's what you get when there is no line separating religion from government. And don't think religion X,Y, or Z would be any different if it ran a country's government. Look at Uganda - where they have been working very hard to murder gay people by passing genocide into law for the past 5 years. Funny how despite the Kill the Gays Bill not passing, the dire circumstances of the Pink Community there - living in perpetual fear of violence and death, and imprisonment for being the way they were born - that disgusting little fly-speck of a country still hasn't been dealt with by the international community. No, the fact that they are sitting on a shit-load of fossil-fuel seems to be a get-out-of-jail-free card for their human-rights-abusing Christian fundamentalist regime which masquerades as a democratic government. Oil it seems, is much more valuable than the blood of innocent people crying out for justice and aid. It's amazing how convenient morality can be sometimes, isn't it?

The West sent Uganda a strongly worded memo, but at least it was something. At least Uganda realized their fragile banana-republic economy would take a pounding if they had to start rounding people up for being gay and killing them. Money talks to them, even if their conscience has no tongue to talk.

In a theocracy, somebody always gets the high jump, and it's usually a convenient scapegoat minority that is either physically different, prays to a different set of gods, or just happens to stand out from the crowd and parts their hair in a different direction. The same was true for Christianity - back before it started acting like Pinky and the Brain, the Romans tried to stamp them out because they refused to sacrifice or worship the Roman Emperor as a god. After it became established as a Roman religion, Christianity gleefully began doing plenty or persecuting of its own - 2000 years worth of bloodshed - and mostly innocent blood stretching all the way around the world.

As far as I know, those savages in Iraq have been pulling LGBT people off the street and torturing them to death since 2003, and last I heard, it was still happening. So now they are murdering children for combing their hair a certain way, or for dressing in a manner they don't like - and interfering in people's lives and dictating by law what is moral and right and what is not and deserves to be brutally murdered. Sounds familiar. Now where have I seen that before?

People who can behave like this, as a collective, are intellectually underdeveloped and socially retarded. That country is, and has been for many years - a human rights abuser. As a state, they are UNFIT to sit at the same table with countries which strive to protect, defend and promote human rights, equality for all and the divine spark of life within all creatures. They obviously have no appreciation for the value of a single human life - which is why they can end it so easily and so easily justify the suffering and bloodshed with "it is god's will"? Bullshit!

Should I use a derogatory term to describe the Iraqi regime? I'm tempted to. Sorely temped to launch into a tirade of expletives that would tar them and their entire nation and their inexcusable religious fanaticism with the bile and bigotry and contempt it so richly deserves. I fear I might even overstep the mark and unwillingly tar all the good people who actually live in that country and suffer those fools and imbeciles and their vindictiveness because they are afraid and have very little choice.

This is the government left in power by the USA when they supposedly liberated the people from Sodam Insein? The one they supposedly gave democracy to? Instead they now have a new oppressor in its place. Clearly they have no concept of what a just and democratic people-oriented government is supposed to look like! America and the West should have done a more thorough job in cleaning out the villains standing in line to seize power as soon as they left the battleground - or perhaps dropped some more of those fancy "smart-bombs" we heard so much about.

Allowing religious bodies to dictate morality and to usurp the law and the constitution, to bend legislation and government to its will, and to erase the line separating church and state, is a sure path to suffering, oppression and destruction - not only for any minority group that displeases the demagogues, but for everyone in that state.

It boggles my mind what lowlifes they must have in control of their government, who can authorise this sort of savagery? What kind of people are they to institute legalized genocide - and how dare they claim to be better than animals! Animals at least don't do things like that! Animals at least kill to eat, or to defend themselves - not because they disagree with each other, or because uppity prey looked at them askance. Animals don't lie, they don't cheat, they don't hate, they forgive easily - and they don't kill for sport or take pleasure in causing pain and hurt. The "people" responsible for this are lower than animals in my sight. I have more in common with a common house-fly than with them. They disgust me.

Religious fanaticism is ugly, no matter what the religion. It's hard to believe people who can create magnificent works of art and beauty, whose ancestors had 6000 years of high civilization dating to before the time of Alexander, who created the earliest know form of writing, the fabled Hanging Gardens - and had religious and cultural diversity, can also sink so low in the sight of all that is good by revelling in abject cruelty, mindless savagery cold-blooded barbarism and twisted hatred. If there is evil in this plane - then surely that is it.

The people who thought this up, who perpetrate it, and who facilitate, encourage and enable it - and who justify it with religious clap-trap are no better than the Nazi filth of the last century, and they deserve no less harsh a reaction from the civilized world! Drag them before the Court of International Justice, hang them high, weeping and screaming inside their hoods - kicking and shitting themselves at the end of a rope for their crimes of genocide against humanity!

I hope the UN does something about this. If the nations who claim to cherish the charters and principles upon which the UN was founded, then they have to be prepared to do more than just send a strongly worded memo. It requires more than that. If the UN turns a blind eye to human rights abuses, you don't deserve to have the other eye that can see. If the United Nations don't act to keep the covenant that brought it into this world, then it isn't worth having at all.

Somebody has to do something to safeguard the sanctity and value of human life - because for the victims of this madness, waiting for help on high is a long wait for a train that never comes - and there have been enough trains to Dachau already.

Legacy

2012-03-03T23:58:00.000-08:00

Danielle skipped classes. Instead, she spent the morning in bed, thinking deep thoughts. After a quick breakfast cereal, she sat alone in the lounge of the apartment she shared with two girlfriends, doing research online. She searched terms like ‘hate speech’, ‘prejudice’ and in particular the word ‘bigot’. She stumbled onto a site about genocide and put two and two together. ‘Ethnic cleansing’ was another keyword. ‘Persecution’ another. 'Genocide' was the last word. This is the 21st century for crying out loud! A quiet little voice inside her replied: ‘evil knows no time’.

Another site told her how in the early 20^th century, Berlin had been a lively gay and transgender friendly place. The most enlightened and accepting city in the entire world. By 1923 the rise of the Nazis changed all that. The great purge began, all those labeled ‘sick and sexual deviants’ were violently removed from society, demonized and criminalized. Institutions devoted to the legitimate scientific and medical study of gender matters were labeled ‘perversion’, closed and their archives destroyed in the great bonfires of the willfully ignorant.

Gays – and those like her – the transgender, were all tarred with the same brush, labeled ‘homosexual’ or ‘transvestites’ and sent to concentration camps with the other victims of the Nazis, the Jews and Gypsies, to die. There they were forced to wear inverted pink triangles on their clothes and were often shot by the S.S. guards for ‘sport’ from their watch towers. Often they were mistreated by even their fellow inmates.

Oh well, Danielle supposed, everybody has to feel worth something, that at least there was somebody else lower in the pecking order than them… that at least somebody else had a worse day than you… but who did the gays and transgender have left to look down on? They were the lowest of the low, even in the death camps. And when the brave, noble Allies arrived and liberated the camps, were they not all saved? She was saddened to see the entries that indicated otherwise.

When the Allied armies reached the camps, the inmates were freed and cared for, but not all of them. Those interned as homosexuals or ‘transvestites’ by the Nazis were kept in custody as criminals for years afterwards, perpetuating the cruel system of the Nazis themselves! Many were persecuted in years to come in their native countries under Nazi laws instituted during the time of their occupation, not removed until 30 years later! And did the western powers ever apologize for this? She searched. Nothing. No apologies, no memorials.

In fact, the only government ever to apologize for the atrocities was the post-war German government in the early 21^st century, who in fact, really had nothing to apologize for in the first place. The people who apologized were never part of the regime that perpetrated these heinous crimes against humanity, nor were they even born at the time. Not one war criminal tried at Nuremburg in the late 1940’s or after was ever convicted or even charged specifically with crimes relating to the persecution or murder of a single gay or transgender person.

The suffering of a generation – never given justice, never apologized to, nor shown any regret, respect or attempt at recompense or a chance to reclaim their dignity or equal value as human beings.

She was horrified. She was part of the legacy of a silent minority in one of the most bitter, tragic periods in human history. Forgotten victims. A mass of human beings with souls and hearts and feelings who had loved, desired and sought happiness - and to live - had been marginalized, tortured, murdered and made to feel irrelevant and hated simply for what they were and had no control over being. People who, for the most part, had been law-abiding, peace loving citizens of the country that killed them. They were people murdered simply for who they were. Just people. And they were a group that wasn’t worth remembering, not worth apologizing to. Uncounted, unknown and unmourned.

She remembered an old lady who spat in her face once at the fruit and veg stall near the ranch. She called her a ‘queer piece of shit’. And once there was hate mail in her mailbox from someone who seemed concerned that her she would go to a "Hell" she didn't believe in for being honest about who she was. Why did some people hate them so? Why did they have to hate at all? She felt sick. She had to get out, the walls were closing in on her.

Apartheid Is Dead, Long Live Apartheid!

2012-02-18T08:13:00.000-08:00

I am angered by the attitude of some people in this country. It seems that one can't even enter into a rational debate with people of other races here without it descending into a war of words, where prejudices and stereotyping come to the fore. (You are correct in assuming that this is going to be a rant. If you disagree with me on this topic, it is your democratic right to do so. However, I then urge you to also exercise your other democratic right to not read it, while I exercise my right to express myself freely.) Why am I angry? Because it amazes me how many black people still live under the assumption that because I am white and have a car and a house that I am somehow "rich" and that I have "stolen" something from them in order to get it.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I have had a job for 20 years (which I didn't get or keep simply because of my race, and had to pass certain educational requirements to apply for). I have paid for everything I own today, without toyi-toying and rioting and destroying other people's property - or demanding to get these things from the government for free. My mother paid for my schooling out of her hard-earned pay from two jobs, albeit at a reduced rate. When I failed grade 11, I didn't riot, toyi-toyi or burn down the school, or accuse anyone of unfair practice, or threaten the headmaster with a knife - I accepted the fact that I hadn't learned hard enough and went back to repeat the year successfully. I paid for all my post Matric courses myself, and passed them because I knew I had to pay for them myself and didn't have money to waste. The house I live in is 110 years old, and was paid for by my mother, again via her hard earned money - and yes, I will inherit it one day. The car I drive is an ordinary Mazda 323 Sting - a 2001 model I might add, which I bought and paid for second-hand and is no more a "rich man's car" than the five or six other "pre-owned" bangers I drove previously. I have no criminal record, and have always been a passionate advocate for human rights and equality for all people. I give to charities and I work for the betterment of what is still laughably called South African "democracy".

And yet somehow, I am being made to unwillingly bear the guilt and shame of previous generations, for wrongs done by people long dead to other people also long dead. Hence the real source of my frustrations and anger at this point. Quite frankly, I am sick of it.

A big thorn in my side is the current state of this country, as belied and covered over by our President in his rosy speech which would have the world and blissfully stupid - let alone the blissfully ignorant - believe that all is well and somehow miraculously will be well before he rehashes the same speech for next year, and people play silly but cute little games counting how many times he clears his throat, says "pov-ah-tea", or gives us the middle finger while pushing up his glasses.

All is not well in South Africa. Not in the least. There are 6000 - that's right - SIX THOUSAND cases of police brutality being investigated, in which police have been accused of wrongful arrest, violence, murder, theft, and other wrongdoings. If that is the police, then I wonder what the true reflection is of the TRUE crime statistics is without being doctored by the government propaganda machine. And yes, if the POI were already in place I am sure I wouldn't even be made aware that there were 6 cases of police brutality under investigation, never mind 6000.

There are political marauders at work in this country. They don't care for the betterment of the common citizen of this country, for financing their education - for MANAGING their education and preventing all these services from collapsing on themselves - so they prefer to just fall back on that old staple of the despot and the corruptocrat - redistribute the wealth. The wealth as it appears is today much less than it was ten years ago. Yes, there is investment and yes, there is building going on around us - but the holes in the bucket that hold the wealth are bigger than they were ten years ago. Billions of our country's tax budget are unaccounted for at the end of each year. Corruption and mismanagement are bleeding our country dry.

Take the land, take the mines, take the farms, is the solution of one very vocal camp these days. Give them to the people. "The People". What people? The dude sitting on the street corner selling veggies? Or the homeless drunk lying passed out in the street? Sure, why not? No, not the fellow driving the BMW, not the black diamond - because then it's not giving to the poor. Ja, s'right - give it to the guy living in a shack with ten kids and three mistresses even though he is under 30? So what if he has a list of criminal charges against him longer than my arm? Cool. The one with no education? The one who would never in a million years be able to drive a tractor, let alone manage a farm or a mine, or know what end of a screwdriver to hold? Yes, that one. And at the end of the day, you have no mine, just a hole in the ground; no farm, just a patch of veggies around a mud-hut - and no economy, and no growth - and then of course, the only people you could blame is the government - only they tell you, aaikona - it was the Apartheid government's fault, even though they vanished from the political landscape a long time ago.

To the proponents of land invasions and the nationalization of mines and farmers, all the "rich farmers" whose farms and homes were appropriated (STOLEN) by the government of Zim-bob-we over the past 30-odd years, all left the country with loads of wealth (which belong to "the people" and retreated to their other rich plantations elsewhere in Europe. They are still blamed for all the ills and complaints of "the people", even though they are too obtuse to put one and one together to realise that colonial rule ended more than 30 years ago and any problems they now have are the fault of Moo-gabe and his pretend government - and their own for keeping him there.

The reality is that most of the "white farmers" they speak of crossed the border into SA with little more than the clothes on their backs, and lived in their cars for months while looking for whatever work they could find. The lucky ones stayed with relatives. Many lost everything they had and had to start all over, having been forced to leave their possessions, furnishings, priceless heirlooms and properties behind. They were also prevented from crossing the border with more than R100,00 on their person - a trifling sum, even in those days. Still, whenever the truth is pointed out to these antagonists (and historical revisionists), they "aren't interested in dwelling on the past" - except when it suits them of course - and in a way that suits them.

Asking them how they would feel if the government came knocking on their door, telling them the house they owned and had paid for now belonged to the former street-sweeper standing behind them, greedily eyeing the silverware, was no longer theirs, that they were being evicted - and what's more, they would not be compensated for the loss - results in the response: "I'm not interested in discussing 'what-if's'!

Of course not - because they couldn't care a tuppence about those who might face these issues in South Africa in the not too distant future - and because they might also stand in line for the redistribution of belongings of others taken away because of their race - and given to them solely on account of theirs. Convenient.

Proponents of the racist hatred in Zim-bob-we against white citizens of that country like to use that country of a shining example of what happens when they can get their way. Sure, we know Zim-bob-we. We know it is run by a two-bit tin-hat dictator that can't even win an election without committing election fraud, and not without a degree of intimidation and propaganda - and laws which ban freedom of the Press - sadly enough, a path South Africa is taking also. This too might please them.

According to the linked article from the group on Facebook linked above, Zimbabwe has supposedly overtaken the BRICS countries. No, there is no punchline. Really? With WHAT economy? Last I heard, you still need a wheelbarrow to carry your Zim-dollars to the corner shop to buy a loaf of bread. Oh wait, are they still using the million Zim-dollar note?

How much of that government's propaganda is actually based on some semblance of fact? Zimbabwe is at present a basket case. Their citizens "migrate" illegally through our country's porous (non-existent) borders and flock to Johannesburg where they make more by begging at busy intersections than some Zimbabwean civil servants earn in salaries.

Still, unbelievably, these people insist on nationalizing the farms (and mines). They want South African farms nationalized, and they want the remaining farmers to "just give away" ownership in their farms - which incidentally are legitimate and successful businesses. I can tell you what I would say if someone told me to "give away" part ownership in my business - I would tell them to go f*** themselves. And I would be well within my rights to do so too.

A few years back, the government foolishly decided to impose ownership quotas and this thinly disguised racist policy called "BEE" on businesses - even foreign owned businesses. Quite a few foreign enterprises closed their doors and went back to South America or Europe rather than fall for that nonsense. Nowadays any white-owned local companies have to have BEE (passenger partners) in order to be awarded government contracts. Companies have to adhere to racial policies, quotas on white, colored, black and asian employees. I pity my colored friends too, because when the NP was in power, they were "too black" for the work market - and now they are "too white".

Most jobs in the market are ear-marked BEE, meaning that white people - especially high school graduates - stand little chance of finding work - meaning there are a lot more white people begging at traffic lights than before, and living in tin shacks outside cities. The universities are an utter shambles. Once they were the best in the southern hemisphere - now they are dictated to by communist student bodies who demand to study for free, and who riot and destroy facilities and disrupt learning for other students who are actually there to learn. Further, the universities are inundated with these charity cases who swarm there every year at registration time - and are admitted solely because of their race - and while deserving high school leavers with triple A's are left out unable to study further. Further, what about the two applicants who were trampled to death in the rush to register this January? This in itself disgusts me.

Why are there not larger faculties? Why are there no new educational facilities? Why is money instead being wasted on fictitious arms-deals (full of fraudulent dealings) for foreign hardware when we have (or had) or own home-grown arms industry? More white people are nowadays sitting without work and opening their own small businesses than before, and mostly they do not last or succeed. Many families opt to leave the country, tired of the combination of economic decline and corruption and the crime epidemic the government continues to deny. Who can blame them?

It seems that in gaining power, the "majority" has not only won freedom and control - but have not solved their initial problems. No, no - instead, they have simply replaced one minority in control with another minority - and spread misery all over the country in a manner which transcends race, class and economic status. This is, in my opinion, why Europe had already developed the wheel, agriculture, construction, politics, technology, poetry, writing, art, exploration, and an understanding of economics - when Africa was still living in the stone age, stealing cattle, and wondering what a horse tasted like.

Perhaps this is why I have such a hard time understanding the folks with the big mouths cursing white people like me and our society and our norms and culture. Funny enough, they are all wearing suits, or the latest styles in jeans, shoes and jewellery, studying at a college, tech or varsity, driving a car or using a taxi or bus or train, living in a house or apartment, working in an office in a sky-scraper and earning money, sitting in a church and praying to a god invented by Europeans, eating food in fancy restaurants or even a Mc Donalds, or drinking a pepsi, popping HIV meds, watching their TV soapies, reading their newspapers or the comics (reading at all for that matter), voting, and exercising their freedom of speech or expression, or equality - all things invented in Europe, or by us nasty horrible oppressive racist white people. Yes, I can see why they hate us so much. Perhaps it's because everything they use in their daily lives is made by people they see as "the enemy", and the only things I can think of as being truly "ethnic" South African today are the vuvuzela and the word "eish" (and the vuvuzela is made from plastic, invented - ah, forget it).

In nationalizing the farms, naturally they think this will magically solve the crisis of food shortages, poverty will miraculously dissipate and suddenly everyone living in a shack (with or without a DSTV dish on the roof - yes, I've seen them) will be rolling in money and sporting Nike tackies. This whole scheme sounds more and more like the Soviet collective farming failures of the 1920's and 30's that caused the deaths of millions due to starvation. Make the farmers give the farm workers shares in the farm, they say. Since the farm belongs to the owner, isn't it surely up to the owner to decide? And as for the farms taken by the state - the state will certainly never give the workers a share in ownership - instead they will white-wash it with commie-speak, saying "the farm belongs to the people"... Nevertheless, nationalize the farms, they say. Okay - then the economy will implode, farms will cease to exist and "the people" they claim to be so concerned about, will starve. And yes, it will all be the fault of the white folks too.

What will motivate farm workers to produce more food if all they earn for producing food is a salary or a percentage? You can't look at one single government-run facility in the country without finding corruption and mismanagement, incompetence and nepotism and gods know what else - NOT A SINGLE ONE - even Telkom is a disaster and about to implode due to its monopolization of the communications market, the rail network is practically non-existent and the roads are crumbling due to neglect. SA Airways is always in the red and the government is now even resorting to silencing the Press to cover up how full of corruption and scandal it is. Eskom is so fucked up they supply half of southern Africa (even the countries that abuse human rights) with cheap, cut-rate electricity generated by our ailing network which has not been maintained or upgraded since 1994 - and have the cheek to threaten South Africans who pay high power rates for sub-standard services with rolling black-outs because we dare to use "too much" electricity??? WTF?? Dude - the post office in my area doesn't even have a post box any more. Everything works on "African time" - which means anything from "just now" to "now now" to "eish, I don't know" to "maybe never". As it is, forensic accounting is a frustration when people try to point fingers or uncover a crime, because employees either don't know what they are doing, or are too concerned about what other people are doing, or "eish - you want me to do what?" What will make nationalised farms any different?

You want to place blame for poverty in SA today - more than 15 years since the end of the Apartheid regime?? If that's the case, then look at the President and his super-rich highly paid cronies in government. Look at the para-statal organizations like Eskom and Telkom crumbling and failing - and still paying their employees undeserved bonuses. Look at the fat cats in municipal management, wasting money on frivolous tripe and earning huge salaries for little return. Place the blame at their feet.

Criminals roam the streets because the government lets them out on clemency, bail and parole despite having serious charges and previous convictions for serious crimes. A "life sentence" today is a mere 25 years, when it should mean till they stop breathing. The prisons are too small and nobody seems to have realized in the past 20 years that there is a bigger national population, more criminals and so there is a need for bigger or more prisons. Just being held awaiting trial or for minor and petty crimes means sharing a single cell with 40 people and a potential death sentence, which is hardly fair.

Despite the stunning wastage of tax-money on star-scraping salaries and political events nobody really needs - or in assisting other African governments to stay in power despite elections that are fraught with suspicious activities and despite their poor record in human rights, there is never enough money for necessities here at home. People appear in court on charges of serious crimes committed while on parole or bail for other crimes. Two high profile prisoners convicted of fraud and corruption have retreated to hospital beds on pretexts of illness rather than sit in a cell for their crimes, with one playing 18 holes of golf to celebrate his "miraculous" recovery after being pardoned on medical grounds. I call bullshit on that one, by the way, as will anyone with a brain. Prisoners escape due to neglect and corruption in the Prison Service and police. And somehow we are meant to believe that this position is improving without any obvious efforts from government beyond the Chief of Police (also since made to quietly disappear following a fraud or mismanagement scandal) changing his title to "General" and telling his officers to "shoot to kill"?

The ANC government promises jobs and economic growth. They promise free houses to the poor - and yet the fabled RDP scheme has been fraught with fraud and corruption since its inception 20 years ago. Just this week a scandal in Kirkwood showed a stack of incomplete RDP houses now occupied not by the poor residents of a nearby shanty town - but by livestock. The ANC promises an end to poverty - but instead of spending more on education and career development training or health services, or saving the imploding public health system - they blow billions annually on utter crap - such as the centenary celebrations of the ANC, and on other frivolous nonsense in ANC-run provinces and municipalities around the country. How many poor people could they have clothed, fed, housed, educated or healed with that money? But every year, taxes will increase, while service delivery decreases. This country and its situation is becoming more and more Orwellian by the week. Anyone who claims this government is doing a good job or earning it's stay has either got their heads planted firmly up their own asses, or lives in la-la land.

Will these people still blame "colonialism" and "apartheid" for the problems in this country in 40 years time? Some folks like to blame colonialism for all the ills of their world - and yes, while there were many inhumane and unfair practices committed in those days by paternalistic and often elitist and racist authorities who were managed from across the seas and faraway - but what good does it do to blame local people with no ties to that, centuries later? The dead are still dead, and long gone. You can't reach them now, no matter who you hurt and what you do. It's no use punishing John Murphy today because Sam Harris was nasty your uncle in 1946. To do so is not only unfair and mean-spirited and counter-acts nation-building - it's just stupid.

Was the colonial era all as bad as they say? At the time, depending on who you were, perhaps. But what about its consequences and after-effects today? Ask yourself as a black South African where would you be today if it weren't for the colonial system 300-200 years ago? Would you be wearing a fancy suit or designer dress, or a grass skirt or loin cloth? Would you be driving a fancy new car and living in a city, talking on a cell-phone, sitting in a board room meeting? Or would you be one of ten wives traded as a child as property to a man you didn't even love in exchange for a herd of cows given by him to your father, and raising his herd of children in silent obedience, spreading your legs for him every other night because he says so?

They then climb up on their flimsy little soap boxes to say the "apartheid government should have spent more on educating black people". Well, I agree, they should have - but so should the present one. Meanwhile all through the late 1970's and 1980's I grew up watching repetitive TV news footage of schools and libraries burned to the ground. Yes, I know - they didn't like being educated in Afrikaans. Shame. I had to learn Afrikaans right through my school career too, and it wasn't my first language either - and no, I never threw bricks or petrol bombs or burned down the school or the library because of it.

Who cares what language they wanted to be educated in? As long as they could get an education - it's what the education is USED FOR that counts, not so? Without an education you can't get a job, build a career, buy a house, raise a family, pay for their education and health care and see to their needs. Well, at least, that's what I thought - here in South Africa you can. Here you just hop up and down a bit, make some noise like a crying, whining brat child and demand the government drop some food in your outstretched hand (after they take it out of someone else's mouth).

They obviously didn't want to learn, get educated and work or build careers - they wanted to riot, kill and destroy - and take everything that other people worked and paid for - because, well, the whole bloody world owes them a living, doesn't it? Some will argue that their revolution in this country was necessary for change and the advancement of human rights, and well it may be - I am a human rights activist after all - but what is NOT necessary NOW is this continued expectation for me and others to stand back and be bypassed, sidelined and overlooked (and labelled racists and human rights abusers - and even regarded inferior) because of our race - that is simply not fair - nor is it part of the promise of the so-called "new South Africa" - nor is it any better than the racist foundations of the past. I reject any assertions that it is or will be with utter contempt.

So they play the (long expired in my book) race card - I'm white, so I'm biased. I'm white, so I'm a racist. I'm white, so I supported (and always will support) Apartheid. Yadda, yadda, yadda. I'm white, so I am a violator of human rights, a "squatter" on "their" land - and I owe them the world. Oh, really? I delight in giving these racist, pretentious, under-educated idiots the middle finger!

I didn't make myself white any more than anyone else chose to be asian, colored or black, yellow, pink, brown or purple with green spots. It's just pure luck that I am who and what I am today. Hating or resenting other people for who and what they are is just childish and silly - which is why racism never made any sense to me, which is why I would question it - and growing up in a fairly racist society, I think you can appreciate I got into some trouble for it. However:

The time for me apologizing for being white and for the crimes and human rights abuses committed by people who died before I was even able to vote, are LONG fucking over! Ironically most of the people complaining about how black people USED to be treated are no older than I - and were probably still in diapers back in 1994 - and yet they continue spewing this utter tripe as if they were somehow personally affected by it, and as though they were actually there. They were schooled to a degree, they sport university qualifications and use fancy words (albeit ironically flawed with grammatical and spelling errors) while looking down at me as a white person with my lowly Matric education, which was earned back in 1991 - and without the government having to lower educational standards just so that more of the presently advantaged could actually scrape over the bar by the skins of their teeth and claim to be educated as we were.

I didn't make Apartheid. I didn't vote the NP government into power. I didn't pay taxes to the apartheid government. Apartheid ended in 1989, and the government ended in 1993. At that time I was at high school - and thereafter a virtual prisoner of the same government as a draftee soldier against my will, facing prison if I declined. When I started working, I didn't even start earning enough to pay tax until 1996. I couldn't find another job because suddenly I was "too white" and even though I was more capable and more intelligent than my competitors, I was unemployable. I watched people with no education and no intellect to speak of being promoted past me and landing fat jobs and contracts simply because of their race, while I was held back on account of mine.

I think my track record as a human rights activist bears me out - I have always spoken out against human rights violations and abuses, including racism, and will continue to do so - but to justify racist practices by referring to racist acts in the past is just inexcusable!

Surprisingly, despite all this, I am still friendly with people of all races, and actually like many people of other races a good deal more than many of my own - and I find the accusation that I am a "racist" (especially just because of my own race) insulting, ignorant and woefully uninformed. In fact, I wonder if the idiots making such claims can even appreciate the irony of their labelling me thus?

According to the Apartheid era laws, I was a "criminal" because of my sexual orientation and gender identity. I would today be considered a "criminal" (and incorrectly and ignorantly dismissed as a "satanist") because I happen to be a practising Pagan - and despite all these things, I am - because of my race - being accused of being "a supporter of Apartheid"? Spot the irony.

I'm so sorry for all the injustices done in the past BY OTHER PEOPLE - but I completely fail to see what I personally have to do with it? What does the past and blaming people who had no part in it have to do with how things are now?

How can you heap blame on people alive today who had NOTHING to do with what was done in 1960 or 1976? You want to appropriate (steal) land or property from people who bought it fairly and legally long after apartheid stopped being a legitimate excuse to murder and rob people? And suddenly you tar ALL white people as racist, black-hating murderers who should all be punished for all the things that happened in the time of your parents, grandparents and great-grandparents right back into obscurity? That makes you no better than the racist bastards who built apartheid in the first place. Nevertheless, it seems that for now, in South Africa, Apartheid is dead - long live Apartheid.

Let's See How Long This Post Stays Up

2012-02-06T01:27:00.000-08:00

I saw a post on Facebook, wherein the poster asked what a political party's position was on legalizing the drug trade in South Africa. The poster was of the opinion that legalizing the trade would make things better and more controllable.

In my opinion, the only thing that legalizing this trade in human dignity, suffering and lost lives will help is that the government would be able to claim its share in tax proceeds from the profit made by these obscene monsters masquerading in human form. Something which, in my opinion, could explain why law enforcement agencies struggle so to clamp down on this dangerous and illegal trade in the first place - corruption.

Speaking as someone who has lost close friends to the drug trade, I feel abusers should be treated like victims, not criminals - they should be hospitalized or institutionalized and rehabilitated as far as possible. The traffickers and manufacturers and those who benefit financially from the trade should be dealt with in MUCH HARSHER TERMS by the justice system - in such a way as to make the risks of being caught unacceptable to them. Making a problem like this legal will not help the situation. People will still fall victim to this trade, lives will still be ruined, people will still die. To kill this plant, you need to strike at the root.

Then we get to political parties and supporters. Most people will support a political party because they agree with the principles it stands for. Most people will support a party because it stands for freedom, justice, democratic and capitalist ideals and equal human rights values - or the opposite of course. Yes, naturally you do find parties like that - and idiots who will actually support them, either because their parents did and they are too lazy to think for themselves - or because there are people they don't like very much who they feel would look better under their boots.

I happened upon a debate about the recent poster advertizing campaign by the DA in which a white man and a black woman are shown embracing each other naked. Some people apparently still think like they did back in the 1980's, the way PW Botha and his predecessors taught them to, and have completely failed to evolve in the interceding 30-year period - and cannot think past their racist and nationalist programming.

I say this with conviction, because one guy commented: "I reside in Bothasig and have been talking to quite a few people re this very issue. Most are disgusted to say the least. I WAS a DA supporter ... but, I have to back down now from voting DA from now on, this is totally out of line and not what we voted for. Even in nature animals don't mix and match. I think that many white folk are going to look elsewhere come next elections etc."

This man's comment is just vitriolic. "Not what he voted for?" What did he vote DA for then? Did he misread the terms & conditions? What does he understand by "Open & equal opportunity society"? Where is there a clause about racial segregation in the DA manifesto or PR campaigns? Did I miss something? He shouldn't blame the DA for his inability to distinguish the DA from the FF+ or some other little neo-Nazi left-over from the NP days. If he voted DA, then racial equality and freedom to love who you want to is EXACTLY what he voted for.

This fella strikes me as the kind who would rather be more comfortable at an AWB gathering, standing under those quaint little flags with propeller motifs than voting for a political party that supports equal treatment for all people. In fact, such people impress me as the sort who like equality just as long as it is only for themselves and people they like to associate with. Hmm. Funny kind of "equality" that is. Very Republican. Very right-wing and very Conservative. What also impresses me about people like that is their insistence that they are not racists. Strange.

Moving on to the last item on my list of weekly rants, is the DA's handling of the Occupy movement in the Western Cape: apparently the Democratic Alliance (hitherto my political party of choice in SA) denied the Occupy movement permission to gather peacefully in Cape Town.

I am a person who lives fairly out of the way in my country, South Africa. I live in Port Elizabeth (a place described by 5FM DJ Gareth Cliffe as "the armpit of South Africa") and have to admit that very often, nothing much happens here. No protests, no marches, no major disturbances. it seems nobody here likes to rock the boat - or to stand out or even be noticed, probably because of the laid back coastal lifestyle and because it would require far too much effort. In fact, we only had our very first Pink Community Pride last year - the first - ever. If you take into account that it's been twenty years after democracy came onto the stage in South Africa, you will probably wonder what took so long. After all, armpit or not, PE is the country's fourth largest city. Like I said, laid back. And often apathetic. Not even the Christianist haters have managed to pull together a protest about anything between abortion and marriage equality. So I shudder to think about calling a protest about anything to do with human rights in this town - mainly because I think I would be there alone, or at the head of a tiny crowd which would be outnumbered by a handful of bored photographers, newspaper reporters - and curious onlookers waiting to see what would have happened to them if they had been part of it.

Like the Occupy movement itself, I would also like to know WHY? A peaceful protest is surely something that any police department should be able to cope with? After all, the SAPS has clearly demonstrated its ability to deal with the violent sort of protest which happens every other day around the country, with people being arrested, shot and brutalized left and right - with some of them actually being part of the protest. So why? It boggles my mind. Its about as reasonable as refusing the Dalai Lama entry to South Africa - because then that red phone on the President's desk would start ringing off the hook with calls from Beijing. Who, I wonder, would be on the other end of the line in this case?

The notoriously apathetic-to-human-rights-when-it-suits-them ANC government granted permission to Occupy to hold a peaceful protest in Johannesburg - whereas the Democratic Alliance denied the movement the same courtesy in their own territory - the Republic of the Western Cape.

On the DA's Facebook group wall, a supporter of Occupy asked a pertinent question: "If you had to look at the Agenda of Occupy, we have at heart a number of issues the DA wishes to combat too? Why not work with the people?" I have not seen an official response to this question yet, and to be honest, I'm not holding my breath. I doubt many politicians have ever won elections by answering serious and pertinent questions directly and honestly and in a way which makes sense.

Someone else replied: "...40 protestors are hardly 'the people'". Interesting point. So we are at a point where numbers define what is right and wrong? A democratic vote is decided by a vote - i.e. by weight of numbers, yes - but the ideals, values and principles of a democracy are not - and least of all are the defining issues within an "open opportunity society".

Occupy supporters claim that around two thousand people were prevented from reaching the Common by police, that "even bus drivers" were "pulled from their vehicles" and arrested. It is claimed that while some say the protest only consisted of "40 people" and the numbers are being obscured (as they are in the USA along with the facts surrounding the Occupy movement and the protests being forcefully broken up there) - because only 42 of the people who made it as far as the Common were arrested, some claiming that police brutality was evident. This is disturbingly similar to reports of what has happened to the Occupy movement in the USA.

What is concerning to me is the lack of support given to the newsworthiness of these issues and especially to incidents of this type. Why do we have to dig and search for information about this stuff when we have a fully functional and developed news reporting network, newspapers, magazines, radio and TV stations - and all of them with news websites on the internet? The issues stood for by the Occupy movement directly affect everybody. Does the Media think we aren't interested? Is the Press already being censored? Has it been all along? What gives?

Friends of mine in the USA have given me eye-witness accounts of peaceful Occupy protests being gassed and violently broken up by armed riot police squads. The Press has under-reported the numbers of people in attendance - and attempts to post videos or pictures have almost always resulted in these being removed. (You wondered about the new "Stop Internet Piracy" laws recently signed into effect, didn't you? You know, the ones giving the US government carte-blanche to legally police the internet - freedom of expression and information be damned? Well now you know.) If the largest supposed 'democracy' on the planet can openly and wilfully destroy the Constitutional rights of its own citizens, and manipulate public perception and opinion through the legislated abuse of media control - and get away with it - then what hope do we have of inspiring a global public outcry in our own little third-world corner, where people vote X because they fear the government will come burn down their houses if they don't? Would anyone who tries to do so be squashed like a bug and made to look like the bad guy by whatever mechanisms of the state wield power over the perception of the masses? Duh-duh-dun-dun.

In the end though, even 40 people are still entitled under the SA Constitution to the freedom of expression, the freedom of association and the freedom to gather and to protest peacefully - all rights which they were denied - and by a political party which claims to uphold all of these rights and freedoms. I shudder to think of the mechanism and motives behind such a blatantly (dare I say it) conservative move. (*Gasp*) And I certainly don't like it. In fact, if any of this is true, I am tempted to withdraw my vote come the next election as well - because if it is, then there really are no more parties left in the political arena in this country worth bothering with - and the "new South Africa" is a lost cause and a sinking ship.

Taking away people's Constitutional or Human rights works just like genocide and murder. It doesn't stop being wrong or start being right just because of the number of people it is inflicted upon being greater or lesser, or because of who they are, or because of what they believe.

Traditional Hatred

2012-01-15T23:56:00.000-08:00

What an interesting holiday season this has been! Three weeks went by so fast that I once again find myself writing the first article for the new year! I hope you all had a wonderful time, and whether or not the silly season held any special or even religious significance for you, I hope it was peaceful and filled with love and the company of not just family and friends - but people you really wanted to spend time with, and hopefully, enjoyed their company.

The other day, I posted something on my Facebook wall which was not activism or human rights related, and something amazing happened. "OMG" I posted, "This TexasPete hotter hot sauce on my calamari is frickin' awesome!! :D". One of my friends from Cape Town replied - "OMG you posted a normal status update!"

Yes, I have been taking it easy lately - and let me tell you, I needed it. Being free from having so many social commitments for a change is really wonderful. But fear not, just because I've been quiet in public, doesn't mean you won't be hearing from me any more! I have my fingers stuck in several juicy looking pies at the moment, and my social conscience - like that of any good Aquarian, simply will not let me lie still and quiet for very long!

Speaking of that sort of thing, several things have caught my attention over the past few weeks:

Radio pastor under fire for gay remarks Just about a week ago, a pastor with a regular slot on the Afrikaans radio station RSG - Radio Sonder Grense (Radio Without Borders) publicly belittled gay people and made them out to be "evil". Faced with numerous complaints from listeners, "RSG station manager Magdaleen Kruger said that although she received a number of complaints via e-mail, it was no more than the amount the station normally receives."

I'm not sure what is more concerning - the fact that the radio station apparently doesn't give a toss and hasn't fired his ass yet - or the fact that the radio station is used to receiving that many complaints.

Moving on, Erroll Naidoo - infamous hater of gay people, democratic values and equality, and head of the Family Policy Institute in Cape Town, is starting the year off with a bang - spearheading his "Protect The Family - Stop TopTV Porn!" campaign.

“Defend the poor and fatherless" He bellows, finger aloft, "Do justice to the afflicted and needy, deliver the poor and needy; free them from the hands of the wicked.” Psalm 82:3-4.Christian citizens are called by God to resist the devil wherever he seeks to destroy lives, steal human dignity or suppress the cause of righteous..." blah, blah, fishpaste.

What the hell is "pro-family" anyway? As far as I know, love makes a family, not necessarily blood, not necessarily sex. What is his point? Oh well, at least he has realized he's not getting anywhere in his efforts to destroy the legal equality and human rights of the Pink Community. But instead, he's working to undermine other democratic rights first, so that would make later efforts to topple the Constitution easier. After all, when you no longer have any rights to get facts in the Media, or any rights to watch or listen to material of your choosing, it's a good breeding ground for restricted thinking and social engineering. "Do justice" this man quotes - and he works to do injustice instead, claiming to do the opposite.

I decided to write a letter to TopTV.

"Dear Top TV,

While I do not personally care for porn, I feel it is in the interests of viewer choice, supply and demand and the constitutional right to freedom of expression of citizens of this country, and your paying customers, to get what they want.

The soft porn industry is a legitimate and legal enterprise which pays taxes to the government - and as such, any other legitimate industry or enterprise - such as yourselves - should be allowed to make use of such material without being hamstrung by social conservatives who do more harm than good with their finger-waggling and tongue-clicking.

After all, nobody is forcing them to purchase your services or to watch porn, and so therefore they really have no point.

Of course, I realise that you will put appropriate safeguards in place so that parents can prevent their children from watching sexually explicit material, just as any general service provider "should" (and often doesn't) put any safeguards in place to prevent the children such conservatives allegedly are concerned about, from watching material glorifying gratuitous violence - or worse, episodes of Robot Chicken.

These repetitive attempts at intimidation simply falls within the religious extremist Christianist agenda to dictate to the rest of the world what they may or may not do, think, hear, watch or enjoy in their own time, in their own privacy and at their own cost without harming anyone else around them. I for one am sick of this patriarchal attitude and institutionalized intimidation, which is intended to force everyone around them to think, feel, and act according to the principles, mores and values of one small extremist group - especially in a country in which such freedoms - including the freedom to disagree with them - are enshrined in the Constitution and law of the land.

Therefore, I vehemently oppose all attempts by any religious groups and vociferous individuals to curtail the freedom of expression in South Africa!

You have my support!"

(Please feel free to copy and send to Top TV if you wish to stand up for freedom of expression in South Africa: acidrais@toptv.co.za and cc: mconnor@toptv.co.za)

Staying with religious bigotry, hypocrisy and delusions of godhood, the Catholic Pope has once again defined gay, intersex and transsexual people as the biggest threat to "traditional" marriage, social order and "Christian civilization". First, I didn't realize that Christianity constituted a civilization, especially since it has made a habit over the past few millennia of behaving so badly and characteristically UN-civilized. Second, what is "traditional" marriage anyway? Back in the old days, before Christianity came sauntering onto the stage just after tea-time, gay people used to get married and hand-fasted as well. "Traditional"? Really?

Then, closer to home, a friend of mine posted his dismay on Facebook about an encounter with Christian, arrogance, elitism and bigotry in a supermarket. He and his husband went shopping at the local Spar. They had had a long day and were pretty tired. Any way, while walking through one of the isles his hubby picked something up off the shelf, he turned the bottle in his hands, read what the label said and smiled. In that moment, with that smile, he couldn't resist it, and had to kiss him right there and then......so he did. "This is something very odd for me to do as Don and I NEVER do PDA when there might be kids around as we feel it is unfair to force parents to explain what the kids just saw. It was a very quick kiss and it felt right." Two women behind them started discussing this, and one woman said to the other, "Don't hate the sinner, hate the sin".

"This is something I have heard before and I am a little confused." Said my friend. "Which sin do we have to hate ? Is it HATE or BIGOTRY ?"

I suppose the primary thing that bugs me about this is the concern for children. The religious appear to be obsessed with children. If they aren't priests or reverends raping or molesting or abusing children, then they are out there spreading conservative opinion and fighting to remove all things diverse, depictions of love between people - especially sex, and even expressions of affection between people of the same sex - from the Media and in public spaces - because it might confuse or harm "the children". This whole "the children" thing is starting to sound like the other fundamentalist Christian catch-phrase "the family". Oh, I know families exist, and I know children exist too. They aren't figments of my imagination, but I know that the reality of both is nothing at all like what the conservatives envision - or would try to sell to us, or which could ever exist outside of a religious cult or an isolated compound - or their imagination.

At the same time, these people simply do not understand the irony and folly in their failure to address depictions of gratuitous violence and hatred in the same arenas. By their example, it is perfectly okay for a six year old to watch movies and TV shows containing violence, blood and gore, hatred, suffering, wanton destruction, cruelty and religious indoctrination - but watching a robbery, or watching a sick relative die in a static cue at a deplorable government clinic - or seeing two men or two women kissing or holding hands instead of killing each other - that's bad? I don't think so. I think they think that way, because it happens to fit their agenda.

Nevertheless, ask a Christianist what they about it, and they will of course agree, "yes, it's bad - but seeing gay people hold hands or kiss is worse." Huh?

And Naidoo goes on campaigning against something which cannot be described as violent or inciting violence. The Pope goes on demonizing ordinary folks who just want the freedom to be themselves, and to marry who they love, and the dull conservative refugees from the ladies sewing circle continue to walk behind people, clicking their tongues, waggling their fingers, and judging them.

Explaining love is easy. Explaining why you hate love - that's not.