God, AIDS, Africa & HOPE

Reflections / Gedanken

03/21/2023 • 10:08 am 1

Human Rights Day in South Africa

The Human Rights Day in South Africa is historically linked with the 21st March 1960 and celebrated as a Public Holiday in the new democratic South Africa.
And why the 21st March 1960, those not living in South Africa, will ask.

Sharpeville is the answer: On that day, 69 people died and 180 were wounded when police fired on a peaceful crowd that had gathered in protest against the unjust pass laws.

Today we commemorate on those events, and those laws are gone, and we live in a free and democratic society, so we say. But looking more closely, we have to admit, that changing to one person one vote has not brought us to the point where human rights are respected in South Africa.

The last weeks we experienced how a political party can call on infringements of human rights and threatened violence with their “national shutdown”. It was in most parts prevented by a coordinated effort of police and security services, as well as court decisions. Alone that Members of the National Parliament are able to use intimidation and threats tells a story.

But looking at the living conditions of many of South Africans, it triggers the question about human rights and the ability to enjoy them in current times.

Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status. Human rights include the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education and the list is longer.

At the end, it is the right to have a decent life in safety and security and sheltered in an adequate human way.

Looking at my working place in a township, I am not sure, I witness human rights making it to the front. Violence, gender-based-violence, poverty, lack of education and work opportunities, just to name some, prevent people from enjoying their human rights. It is not particular one place – many townships and locations don’t provide for the living conditions needed to enjoy the real meaning of human rights and human dignity.

I honestly often take my hat off seeing and experiencing the dignity and good will of people who are deprived of the chances and who still try to make the best out of it.

With all those people of goodwill, there is so much more to do to make our Human Right Day in South Africa a celebratory day. For now, it is a day of reflection and commemoration, but also a day of awareness and a reminder, what all has still to be done.

As the world is currently in general in a bad space or in a transition time, it is even more difficult for an emerging democracy to get it right and to give its citizens what they rightfully are entitled to.

Human Rights Day 2023 – a day of commemoration, reminder, and order and not political Sunday sermons.

Filed under: Africa, General, Politics and Society, Reflection, Society and living environment, South Africa, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , ,

10/28/2022 • 4:45 pm Comments Off on Democracy is under threat

Democracy is under threat

Looking around the world in our days, the observer cannot but realize that democracy is under threat in many parts of the world. And there are reasons for this:

You will have noticed that since quite a time persons not only buy but also bully and lie their way into higher offices without having any intention others than serving their own interests. Bolsonaro, Trump, Johnson; the list is getting longer by the week. Currently, it seems fashionable to vote for those who serve the fantasy of a strongman getting it right, or a clown to entertain, or playing with the yearning of a person running the show with his own set of rules. The anxiety triggered by COVID-19 and now the war in Ukraine, the insecurities of the economic and social climate seems to override common sense.

There is another threat to democracy coming from China, even more so after Xi Jingping got his third term in office. So-called Social Harmony versus human rights, human dignity and civil liberty is indeed challenging the Western democratic systems. Surveillance Society, controlling each step of every citizen and openly punishing offenders via a social point system, is the antipode of the values of democracy.

Another reason why democracy is in danger is because a lot of democracies don’t deliver any more or never have, like in many African countries. Societies have forgotten to upgrade democracy and to make the systems fit for the 21st century. Winston Churchill once said: “(It) has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time; but there is the broad feeling in our country that the people should rule, and that public opinion expressed by all constitutional means, should shape, guide, and control the actions of Ministers who are their servants and not their masters.” Indeed, he certainly has a point, but people must feel that the system is holding them, that politics is supportive and beneficial to all concerned. And in a rapidly changing world, democratic structures must adapt to fulfil the mandate of serving the people. When it comes to empty promises, South Africa is certainly an example where hopes were dashed that the new democratic South Africa brings prosperity and economic freedom. Looking at the South African national Parliament, many MP’s playing according to the book but fail terribly to understand the meaning of democratic rules on that level.

So, democracy is under threat on many levels. And for those cherishing their freedoms, their civil liberties, their human rights and human dignity it is time to take a clear point of view. And not to let the bots and paid lout voices on social media, those anonymous keyboard warriors spreading lies and manipulating opinions; the algorithm of faceless social media running the show.

Democracy allows for everybody to be voted into office; still, when only money or manipulation determines the chance to be voted in, then there is something wrong in the system. It has to be fixed and developed.

Filed under: Politics and Society, Reflection, Society and living environment, South Africa, , , , , , , , , , ,

07/02/2021 • 6:09 pm Comments Off on A visit to Nuremberg

A visit to Nuremberg

Visiting Nuremberg on my trip through Germany, I was invited to walk the site of the Nazi Party rallies – learning about the size, madness and logic behind an area featuring several huge buildings either unfinished or now crumbling , a parade street and the Zeppelin field for deployment of hundred-thousand of people to listen and worship the “Führer”.

Listening to our guide, I once again realised how mass events can be tools of dictators and fascist leaders to melt the individual into a mass, triggering unison reactions whilst the individual stops thinking.

It reminded me the spectacle of the Chinese Communist Party in Peking we just witnessed, celebrating 100 years of Communist dictatorship in a mass spectacle, carefully choreographed. Add the parades in North Korea or Russia, but I guess one cannot forget the trial runs of Donald Trump and his events in this regard: people forged into a mass forgetting reason, proper thinking, and they act as one body in the direction those in charge wanted them to go.

Nuremberg has once again reminded me of the perverted ways of designing a world according to a leader or party’s vision; it has reminded me again how important it is to resist even traces of phasing and manipulating and equalizing the thought mechanisms of the majority.

In this context I think about Hong Kong and Crimea, but I also reflect on Hungary and Poland; it comes to mind also the greatest nation on earth, as the citizen of the USA call themselves. The Republican Party in the USA shows how fast a usual democracy supporting party can drift into almost fascistic and manipulative shallow waters, following one dominant person while punishing anybody daring to disagree.

As supporters of democracy, we have to be on guard and as human rights activists we have to resist attempts to curtail or diminish human rights and human freedom. Democracy and freedom are no fast selling item, but values to be fought for every day. And they are values we should be grateful for every day.

Filed under: Politics and Society, Reflection, Society and living environment, , , , , , , , , , ,

01/07/2021 • 9:34 am Comments Off on You reap what you sow

You reap what you sow

You reap what you sow – this saying also applies to the “greatest democracy in the world” as it is often labelled. The obvious pictures of a sitting president encouraging violence while the official representation on Capitol Hill is starting the process of certifying the normally peaceful transition of power after elections and the aftermath of storming the halls of democracy and interrupting the process shocked the world and many lawmakers in the USA – except people like Senator Ted Cruz or Josh Hawley who continue to disrupt the process by means of objections. While this is legit, the concern here remains that all those objections are based on lies and fake news; those objecting knowingly and willingly hurting and damaging the process of democracy and are enablers for a president who brought to light one of the ugliest face representing democratic USA. Four years of destruction of democratic rules and traditions came to conclusion – or to a point of no return for the time to come. The USA is split in its midst – the consequences could determine the years to come.

Using the cover of democratic rules and the freedoms associated to hurt the core of democracy and to transform it to a hollow shell or cosmetic whitewash is not unique to the USA; worldwide there is a tendency to empty the shrines of democracy for power and rule with impunity. The Philippines, Hungary, Poland, Russia are only some examples of a growing number of states trying to erode democracy and with it human rights and human dignity. Add to this the Covid-19 pandemic, which is a perfect reason to introduce measures diametral to democracy or parliamentarian democracy; the danger of which is seen in South Africa with the National Covid-19 Command Council and the seemingly endless extension of the state of disaster which gives ministers predispositioned to authoritarian habits enough space to indulge in their favourite sports.

Unfortunately democratic rules are not a guarantee that always the noble people are standing for election and the Covid-19 pandemic has shown almost worldwide, that human mankind is very much susceptible to crazy theories and fake news as well as a black/white world view. It seems that there is a collective tiredness to go for freedom, which includes the responsibility to weigh choices every day. It is easier to be told what to do and not to do; it is easier to submit to an order and run with the crowd, it is easier to look away when those, who are “not me” falling prey to unjust actions or coming short.

Democracy, freedom and the rule of law are virtues to be guarded every day – it has a reason why the US American Constitution determines the day and even the hour when the sacred duty of certifying the results on national level has to be executed. Ceremonies in this sense are not old-fashioned, but a reminder how fragile the achieved way of governance, how fragile societies and self-determination as a people are.

May the pictures we saw yesterday on TV streaming from the USA be a reminder how quick certainties can vanish – add this to the Covid-19 pandemic and even the most laziest thinker should start to realise the wake-up call of our times for humanity, dignity and human rights, but also the well-being of the human race as such. Honesty, truth and other agreed shared values must be back as fundaments for the way forward.

Filed under: General, Politics and Society, Reflection, Society and living environment, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , ,

10/02/2020 • 4:22 pm Comments Off on Realities

Realities

Much is written and spoken about the Covid-19 time and experiences, tons of analysis has been done and will be still done in the days, weeks and month to come, theories of all sorts have been circulating in social media; all in a diversity depending on how one views the world, but I guess we can all agree on one statement:
Corona has shown realities – unvarnished and blunt.

The reality of realising that our societies are not where we thought we are in the development of the human race is certainly one of the most important ones to mention. The expression “common sense” seems to mean so many different things and the “global village” feeling many of us prescribed to at the change of the millennium seems to have disappeared.

The advances of social media have shown their ugly face; all the enthusiasm that connectivity brings us closer together has turned into a battlefield on Twitter, Facebook and others with fake news, lies and deception. And not only that: this very connectivity and possibility threatens the fabric of societies, of democracies and question the way the world is governed in a very serious way.

And while the youngsters are being born in the world of cellphones and WhatsApp there is a whole generation of older folks battling to keep track of how the world is changing – and looking at the world as such – connectivity and internet are advantages in life many don’t have yet – the gap also here becomes more prevalent.

It is to hope that the current times are for many times of reflection – how we see us in this world we call home as a human race, how we want to live and develop. Especially the churches and faith-based communities are here asked to leave the nitty-gritty of theological sophistry aside and take on the challenge of joined ethical leadership much needed in such reflections.

Realities might be seen different in such a reflection, but there has to be a baseline of values, of truth and humanity, which governs any meaningful debate and discernment on the way forward.

Filed under: General, Reflection, Society and living environment, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , ,

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