More newspaper headlines

In browsing the archives of Cape Argus front pages, I've come across some startling images and stories (like the whale leaping onto the yacht, which I've discovered has been quite widely covered and circulated). Many have been entertaining in an "only in South Africa" kind of way, such as the latest episodes of scandal ("Zuma nephew in R71 000 booze row") and a story (also picked up by some North American media) on how some communities across the country, such as of Constantia in the Cape Town area, are "being held hostage" by a marauding troop of rowdy baboons (not to down play the very real danger posed by these primates...).

On a more serious note is coverage of the spike in xenophobic attacks, "Foreigners under attack" and of the on-going high rates of crime. On the crime front, I found particularly disturbing a story on hikers being accosted on Table Mountain's network of trails, "Mountain mugging alert." The article reports on a spate of attacks in some of the most wonderful hiking territory I've ever been in - territory where friends and I hiked while I was in Cape Town (at the same time as some of these attacks happened) and where South Africans I know are certainly still hiking, or perhaps not since a whole list of trails have been declared "'no-go zones' after muggers, brandishing broken bottles and knives, attacked hikers and residents in at least 10 incidents since May."

I had a chance to discuss life in South Africa at a recent dinner party when I was seated across from an American married to a man from Durban. Since the late 90's, they have gone back every other year for an extended visit. She acknowledged the risks and challenges of life there, but also said that, like anywhere, one just needs to pay attention and have some "street smarts." While I agree that I certainly felt "awake" during my stay (an exhilarating but exhausting way to live!), I consider myself lucky to have avoided being a victim of crime. She also mirrored the contradictory feelings that I've been having when she commented that she'd love to live in South Africa, but wouldn't necessarily recommend it to others as a travel destination. I'm eager to talk to people who went to the World Cup about their experiences.

A busy week for South Africa's icons

Last Sunday, July 18th, was Nelson Mandela's 92nd birthday. Celebrations, well covered on the Independent Online (IOL) website, included an appeal from President Zuma for national unity in the spirit of Mandela, a Madiba (Mandela's familiar nickname) "Fan Walk" in Cape Town to oppose xenophobic violence, and prayers that he reach his 100th year.

In an unfortunate twist that recalls an earlier post (see May 30th), armed gunmen attempted to rob Mandela's daughter Zindzi and her four children in their driveway as they returned to their home in Johannesburg. Here's the article in the British Mail Online (note the vigorous debate raging in the comments posted in response to the article).

A front page headline in yesterday's Cape Argus announced the news that South African icon number two, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, has decided to scale back his involvement in - and ultimately retire from - public life. According to a brief article that accompanies a video of Tutu's press conference on IOL, "The 78-year-old cleric and Nobel Peace Prize winner announced at a press conference today that after his birthday on October 7, he would start limiting his time in the office to one day per week until the end of February 2011. After that, he said, he would withdraw entirely from public life."

These moments hint at an uncomfortable reality for both figures: their remaining time is limited. It is hard to imagine South Africa, or the world for that matter, without the voices of these two great men who have been so instrumental and influential as South Africa has sought to emerge from and move beyond its dark apartheid past. Their voices have been exercised so eloquently, so effectively, and with such great moral authority that they have inspired millions and changed our world. Who, I wonder, will step into the void? A momentous question, especially in South Africa.

Terrific radio documentary: Soyinka on South Africa

I heard part of a great radio program the other night. It was a part of the documentary series "The Changing World," a joint project between BBC World Service and PRI (the partnership that produces the daily program "The World"). The description from their website offers this description:

"Nobel Lauriat Wole Soyinka fought apartheid from his native Nigeria. Now, with apartheid long abolished, he visits South Africa and meets with those who are still fighting to improve conditions there."

Soyinka, who narrates this thoughtful travel log, must have been in South Africa earlier this year. He includes discussions with numerous South African writers and also reports on two events I experienced and posted about while in Cape Town: the Equal Education library student protest (March 23rd) and the opening of the Fugard Theatre in District Six (April 9th). MP3 downloads and podcast of the two installments are available on "the Changing World" website.

World Cup post-mortem

Interested in how the hosting of the World Cup was being discussed in South Africa, I took a look at recent articles in my favorite South African newspaper, the Mail & Guardian. There are many articles that take on the question from a range of angles, from "Post-World Cup blues hit SA" to "Banks score from World Cup." I found this to be a particularly good one, "South Africans ponder life after the World Cup." It captures well the tension between optimism and anxiety which characterizes, in my experience, South Africa today. Here are some excerpts:

"That is something this World Cup has brought: nation building and social cohesion."

"The optimism of the early nineties was so unrealistically high that the only way was down. Many South Africans have since become disillusioned about political corruption and cronyism, a chronically slow response to the HIV/Aids epidemic and the failure to lift millions out of poverty.

There is now anxiety among South Africans about a similar fall from the euphoria of the World Cup. Can the momentum be sustained?"

"Not everyone shared in the World Cup honeymoon. Some missed the games because they had neither TVs nor electricity. People still died from Aids, or in poverty, or at the hands of criminals far from the world's cameras. Informal traders were driven out of stadium exclusion zones and protesters claimed they were evicted from their homes.

The voices of dissent, marginalised during the month-long jamboree, are returning to the fore: if we can spend billions on football grounds, why can we not build houses for the homeless or hospitals for the sick? They wonder why it took Fifa, an immovable deadline and a worldwide audience to concentrate minds.

Patrick Bond, director of the Centre for Civil Society, which ran a World Cup Watch project, says: 'The elite have pulled off bread and circuses for the masses. We live in one of the most unequal societies in the world, and we've just seen an amplification of that inequality. The costs will become increasingly clear.'

There are fears that an ugly side of patriotism is about to reveal itself with rumours of a fresh wave of xenophobic attacks on foreign nationals. Mindful of the violence that left 62 people dead two years ago, some are already fleeing back to their home countries or South Africa's rural areas. The army is on the streets and last week Reason Wandi, a Zimbabwean, told how he was thrown from a moving train

South Africans are accustomed to riding incredible highs and apocalyptic lows. They will go to work tomorrow knowing their moment in the sun has passed, and wondering with some anxiety what happens in the shade. But there will also be some lingering epiphanies and quiet satisfaction at what they achieved."

And, of course, South Africa's renowned editorial cartoonists Zapiro is offering his distinctive take on the nation post-World Cup, including the cartoon at the top of this post and this chilling reference to the xenophobic attacks that the article warns about:

Recycling champs attend World Cup game

These learners from Fezeka Secondary School (the high school in Guguletu that I visited frequently) got to attend a World Cup game as a reward for placing third in a recycling contest (see pictures in February 20th post) A brief story is on the Education without Borders website.

Education without Borders (EwB) is a Canadian non-profit that "aims to provide improved educational opportunities and facilities in disadvantaged regions of the world." The EwB website has lots of information about Fezeka, including a video about the school and a link to a blog written by a Canadian teacher who spent 2 and a half years teaching there.

Part of EwB's work at Fezeka has included providing personnel to support the school's programs, including the woman who helped coordinate the recycling effort (while also doing her main job of running a maths tutoring program). The recycling contest was sponsored by Coca Cola and inspired Fezeka learners to gather over 42,000 cans and bottles from their community. Unfortunately, once the contest was over, the school was on its own to sustain the collection program - and this proved too difficult given resource limitations. Hopefully, some other source of help and support can be marshalled to support such efforts at schools throughout the city and province...

SIFF weekend

At the beginning of the summer, Seattle has its annual international film festival (known by its acronym SIFF). It's a pretty big deal, and every few years I carve out the time to make it to a bunch of films. Although this year the incentive was a long weekend visit by Kristina (who chose the great selection of films), often I attend the festival thanks to a friend and former teaching colleague who makes the trip out for it from Pennsylvania whenever he can. He's a big film buff who often sends me his reviews and recommendations. Since he didn't make it this year, I wanted to return the favor. So, here's the report I sent to him on the seven movies we saw (in three days!):

"Mugabe and the White African" - a bleak but important documentary that follows a white Zimbabwean family's efforts to keep their farm in the face of heinous pressure. Complex because we resist the easy default of identifying with the white people in this context, except... they deserve it in many ways.

"Life During Wartime" - billed as quirky independent film with Alison Janney and Allie Sheedy... betrays all promise with a pointless - and tastelessly comedic - romp through the world of pedophilia with some infidelity included. What was anyone involved thinking!? - or what did I/we miss? I'd investigate/seek positive reviews if it were worth it.

"Winter's Bone" - almost brilliantly shot and near-perfectly acted exploration of a young woman struggling to hold on through crisis in a meth-tainted, impoverished community in rural Missouri (about a far from Seattle as I can imagine, and yet it's still America; go figure). Worth watching for.

"Son of Babylon" - we achingly follow a Kurdish woman and her grandson as they travel occupied post-Saddam Iraq trying to confirm the death of the boy's father, just one of the many victims of Saddam's wars. No revelations, but served effectively and without any heavy-handed politics or emotional appeals. Just a raw, real story. A good reminder that we are an occupying nation at war in places populated with other human beings.

"Turn it Loose" - 2009's world break dancing championships in S Africa. Engaging stories and some great dancing footage, but felt at times like a Red Bull (the sponsors) production.

"Cairo Time" - complex story of a Western woman waiting for her husband (working for the UN in the region) to join her for a vacation. Alone in an unfamiliar and not always welcoming city and with only her husband's Syrian colleague to hang out with, introspection and "before sunrise"-esque intimacy ensue - and with the pyramids as a back drop! Acted with terrific realism and depth, and refreshingly shot on site without sterilized locations and trained extras. This one should come to a theatre near you (well, maybe not that near to you...).

"Mao's Last Dancer" - Communist China sends a ballet prodigy to Houston in the 1980's... this could go in many directions, not all of which are good. However, with flashbacks and enthralling dance scenes, the strong cast tells this story with effective sincerity. Although it's a bit "Hollywood" and is sure to get a theatrical release, it deserves it - and it's a true story! This may have been my favorite of the batch; I think Kristina's vote goes to "Cairo Time."

All in all, a wonderful cinematic experience!

Brazen daylight robberies!

Over the Memorial Holiday weekend, I was struck to read about a spree of daylight robberies, all in northern neighborhoods near my Seattle home. According to the article in the Seattle Times, in three separate incidents (it would later grow to five related attacks), individual women were attacked in their driveways, perhaps after being followed home from stores. In each case the women had their shopping bags and/or purses stolen, and at least two of the victims were stun-gunned during the robbery.

Part of what struck me was how relatively minor the reaction to this news story was, especially in comparison to how accounts of a similar incident during my time in Cape Town affected the neighborhood where it occurred. The story that was related to me at a dinner party told of a resident of one of the nicer northern suburbs being followed home from the store and then robbed in her driveway. As a result, families all over the neighborhood had changed their routines; they were diligently watching their rear view mirrors, planning errands for daylight hours, and implementing other precautionary measures. This story had instilled a definite fear of victimization, and the threat seemed quite real. We, a gathering of expatriates, all shook our heads, tsk-tsked, and added another entry to our ever-growing list of "ways one can be a crime victim in Cape Town." A very different response than I feel myself having to this considerably dangerous crime spree happening literally mere blocks from my house.

In hindsight, I realize that if my dinner host had the details of where and when this crime had occurred, I did not get them, nor did I see then (or could I find now) a news story about this particular incident. That is not to say that the crime did not happen or that the story is apocryphal, for driveway attacks certainly have and do occur in Cape Town and elsewhere in South Africa (a quick search yielded two accounts of such crimes, from May and September of 2008; I also found an announcement for an ADT "Anti-hijacking/driveway robbery workshop," also from 2008 - "Snacks will be served"!). Rather, I recognize - even more now than before when I was living in the midst of it - just how influential the narrative of vulnerability to an omnipresent and escalating crime threat is in Cape Town, and perhaps throughout South Africa. It is a powerful psychological force that has a disturbing effect on people's daily lives, and, in a place where nearly everyone who can afford to lives in an alarm-equipped home behind walls, gates, and barred windows, shows in our response to the driveway robbery story.

Crime rates in South Africa are certainly high, but I am struck by how important of a role our perceptions and expectations play in how relatively vulnerable or safe we feel in particular places and situations.