Well it’s been another of those weeks. Some bimbo from hell in the government wants the press to be held accountable in case “a journalist writes something which causes the fall of the Rand”.
Let me be the first to test this, by saying the rand is toilet paper anyway, so who cares. It’s also reminiscent of that stupidly insulting excuse for censorship by apartheid politicians who said “the presence of the media was causing the violence in the townships”.
If you want a glimpse of our future, and can handle a harsh truth that no moronic flag waving can hide, then go read this recent article from the London Daily Mail called The Game Is Over For The White Man Throughout Africa.
Now that your bubble of illusion and fake patriotism has been punctured, think about the pleasant fact that one in every ten South Africans is infected with HIV or Aids. Go and take a long hard look at Aids in Africa.
Then in Zimbabwe – where Robert Mugabe is hiding behind a “blame-anyone-but-me” smokescreen – starvation, murder and State Terrorism is increasing on a daily basis. Do yourself a favour and sign up for a weekly newsletter giving a clearer picture about what is happening in Zimbabwe, at African Tears.
To show that the reality of Zimbabwe is just as bad as it seems, read what a Red Cross official had to say at Forget The Politics.
It’s strange that our government seems hell bent on following its policy of quiet diplomacy in Zimbabwe. Take a look at a BBC article called: Zimbabwe The Battle For Land, as well as article on the World Food Programme’s site
As a first step towards getting a real perspective on the reality in Africa, one needs to realise that it’s a battleground between warring multinational companies scrambling for diamonds, offshore oil, and whatever else they can get their hands on. It’s all about money. Here’s a few examples.
Angola: half a million dead thus far, three million refugees, the highest rate of cripples in the world, (thanks to landmines). To keep the country unstable as we sucked out diamonds and went oil hunting, we sponsored a terrorist group called Unita. Read UN Fails In Angola. For more proof of multinational bribery fuelling conflict, sniff through Embezzlement of Angolan Petro-Dollars.
Democratic Republic of Congo: Over 2,5-million dead since 1998. To see what various companies have been doing in the search for oil and diamonds and more, including the fun info that US Special Forces have been training troops on both sides of the war in the Congo, take a long, slow read of US Army Covert Ops in the DRC.
The DRC has diamonds, tin, copper and coltan. Tantalum is refined from coltan, and sells for about $100 a pound. For the high-tech industry, tantalum is magic dust – a key component in everything from mobile phones to computer chips. Read the report titled Guns, Money and Cell-Phones. Then to bring it closer to home, try The Link Between Your Cell Phone and the Congo.
To get deeper into the fascinating world of multinational corporations instigating wars, download The Illegal Exploitation of Natural DRC Resources.
Then you might want to gaze at the list of around 27 companies who control between 80 – 90% of Africa’s wealth – at Who Controls Africa’s Minerals?
It’s not only overseas companies who cause mayhem in their search for wealth, locally we have the Oppenheimer cabal, who are in firm control of a majority of SA’s mineral wealth. Ignore the PR rubbish about “good old Harry Oppenheimer” and read about this multinational corporation disguised as a family, at The Diamond Invention. Looking more closely at De Beers, try the probably aptly-named De Beers – The Most Unethical Corporation in the World.
Then go browsing the links off the equally fascinating Mr. Blair’s Rough Diamonds.
To get a sense of the covert and overt power of De Beers and other multinational corporations, read what happened to a woman who decided to write a book and make a TV series about the diamond business and De Beer’s. Go read the available extracts from an online book called Glitter and Greed.
For a look at the puzzling situation South Africans are in (given that our labor costs are low, our taxes are high, and we’re getting progressively poorer as a nation) start your journey towards a possible nasty truth at Cry The Beloved Currency
Just to ruin my credibility, here’s a curious little mention I found online, suggesting the Oppenheimers are Lizards!
Ultimately it’s no good having some quaint idea that the West will intercede when total social breakdown finally comes. Take a read of how the US stood by, and, completely aware of mass genocide, simply let it happen, at The US And Rwandan Genocide.
And then, finally, read what South Africa has become, at Rape, Robbery and Anguish in the New South Africa.
Until the next time, if multinational death squads or a deportation order doesn’t get me.
Websurfing Supplied by Megawan: http://www.megawan.net/
Ian Fraser is a playwright, author, comedian, conspiracy nut, old-time radio collector and self-confessed data-junkie. Winner of numerous Vita and Amstel Awards, he’s been an Internet addict and games-fanatic since around 1995, when the Internet began to make much more sense than theatre.