Once we accept that history repeats itself.... (see the post below) we have to look how this is happening today in South Africa. First a question to ponder "Does the race of the person who grew your food matter?"
The South African Government - the ANC - has committed itself to redistributing 30% of the land to black claimants. That these claimants have no training or real support to farm these farms does not seem to bother those in power. Rather ANC MPs were incensed to hear that since 1994 only five percent of white-owned land had been redistributed and that probably only seven percent would be redistributed by 2014. So what has been the fate of the farms which have been handed over? Disastrous might be a good word...
Over the past 12 years, more than 4-million hectares of land have been delivered to millions of beneficiaries in respect of 79000 land claims.
A University of Pretoria analysis of "progress" on farms transferred to black farmers found, among other things, that on 44% of them production had decreased drastically, and on 24% there had been no production since transfer to the new owners.
So a quarter of the land handed over is just standing idle.... reminding me of those fields a 150 years ago... standing idle. The spirit of Nongqawuse must be smiling....
I know this all sounds rather alarmist, BUT have a look at current and recent history of land grabbing in Zimbabwe. Just today the foremost and almost last white farmer still in Zimbabwe Doug Taylor-Freeme has had his farm invaded by Chief Nemakonde. The only reason is RACE. Doug is too white. The Chief, who has many wives and scores of children to feed, already owns five farms he has confiscated from the whites, and these farms are now all derelict following the Chief's farming "efforts". Now he's after Doug's land. So the Chief sent a bunch of women and children to burn the winter wheat stalks. The cattle now have nothing to eat. Nongqawuse has returned.
Zimbabwe is now going to starve. " In October the donors fed 2 million people at the level of 15 kilograms of cereals a month per capita. In November they expect to go to 3,5 million people at a reduced rate of 10 kilos of cereals per capita. They plan to go to 5,5 million in January 2009 but at present they do not have the money or the supplies for that programme.
In the words of Morgan Tsvangirai (Prime Minister elect of Zimbabwe)
"We have no agricultural season to talk about this year, the country is facing a serious shortage of inputs and that means we will not have anything to harvest even if the rains come. This year it will be fair if we say there is no agricultural season at all."
"We will definitely be a country of beggars for the next two years. We have no option but to beg for food aid from other countries beginning from this year, through next year until the harvest time of the year after next."
So that would be half the population of the country without food. What happened to the BLACK FARMER? Is handing land over on the basis of race not too simplistic? Maybe someone should ask the starving ones?
Monday, November 3, 2008
Saturday, November 1, 2008
History repeats itself
The single most important lesson in history is that history repeats itself. From the rise and fall of nations to economic crises every current day event has a historic precedent. It's not that the unexpected can't happen, it's that humans are all the same. We are stuck in time until we learn better. Our responses to crises are roughly the same. Like a troop of monkeys the first (and most prudent) thing we do is turn tail and run. Tune into any disaster and there we all are running like mad things. Once the immediate danger has passed we slowly creep back into the area as it proves to be safe. We like to believe or know that "it won't happen to me". Humanity has some very useful traits and some truly terrible ones. It's useful that we don't remember painful aspects of things ahead of the pleasurable ones. Else we'd all be single children... right? And getting out of bed? Why bother... remember yesterday? While "positive remembering" like positive thinking is a good thing in the average lifespan of a human it's utterly useless slightly longer time spans. So here lies stupid.
The pinnacle of stupidity in the history of man can be found in the cattle killing movement of the Xhosa nation from South Africa (where I am and where I am from) From the standpoint of buying-in there is no other self destructive event quite like this. Nongquawuse, a Xhosa girl told her uncle that she met 3 spirits by the river and that they told her that if the Xhosa's killed all their cattle and destroyed all their food that the white man would be driven into the sea by the Xhosa's ancestors returning from the dead and the sacrificed cattle and food would issue forth from the earth. Sound like suicide to you? Me too. So the Xhosa's decided to give it a whirl with disastrous results. For a start the neither the ancestors, the cattle nor the food issued forth from the earth. I make this point simply because if people can choose to be so deluded to believe it then it's my duty to tell you that it DIDN'T HAPPEN.. The people then starved. They ate roots. They hunted everything including the mice, the insects and beetles. They died of starvation. Those remaining facing certain death did the USUAL THING FOR HUMANS IN THIS POSITION. History repeating itself - THEY ATE THE DEAD. With 50 000 dead and absolutely no food it's understandable. When parents eat their child you know that desperate times are here.
South Africa chooses not remember the Xhosa cattle killings and learn from history. We are too embarrassed. The story has even been retold with sneaky white settlers replacing the river spirits. It's propaganda of course as no one wants to remember stupidity and it's consequences. Blaming the "white man" ignores that the people still bought into it. They were effectively asked to commit suicide and they did. The consequences of the stupidity was that the Xhosa's lost their land to the settlers.
In the new South Africa we haven't been asked to kill our cattle and destroy the tinned food in the cupboard. We have a new requirement. If you want to be a farmer you had best be black. Quite what the race of the person growing the food has to do with agriculture is not clear. Recent history in Zimbabwe gives a good indication of where this end. The Zimbabwean tribe known as the "Warvets" have been on a ethnic cleansing binge aimed at white farmers which continues to this day. Half their population will starve in the next six months. The people are eating boiled beetles and roots. The farmers don't plant because if you do then the Warvets will come. The people have turned their back on the sun and as sure as night follows day the human body is about to return to the menu.
As part of the South African government's policy various farms have been handed over to "communities" To say that these have been a failure would be too kind. Handing a farm over to unskilled South Africans is about the same as handing a farm to the Warvets - not very clever.
So it's time to learn from history and say no to stupidity like this. Now is not the time to turn our backs to the sun. South Africans need to appreciate land more. There is a lot of land which is wasted only because the people don't know better. Food should be like bandwidth - plentiful. The wisdom is that you reap what you sow. The government has sown absolutely nothing edible. It's been 14 years of sunshine on the land and it's clear that the spirit of Nongquawuse is alive and well in the corridors of power.
Embarrassing episodes in history do not deserve to be buried. Following World War Two Germans promised themselves that "never again" would the nation make that mistake. Germans KNOW about World War Two. It's not as if they celebrate it or glamorise it. They remember it for a reason and in a certain way. South Africa has chosen to forget our history because we are embarrassed by it and are thus destined to live it again.
The pinnacle of stupidity in the history of man can be found in the cattle killing movement of the Xhosa nation from South Africa (where I am and where I am from) From the standpoint of buying-in there is no other self destructive event quite like this. Nongquawuse, a Xhosa girl told her uncle that she met 3 spirits by the river and that they told her that if the Xhosa's killed all their cattle and destroyed all their food that the white man would be driven into the sea by the Xhosa's ancestors returning from the dead and the sacrificed cattle and food would issue forth from the earth. Sound like suicide to you? Me too. So the Xhosa's decided to give it a whirl with disastrous results. For a start the neither the ancestors, the cattle nor the food issued forth from the earth. I make this point simply because if people can choose to be so deluded to believe it then it's my duty to tell you that it DIDN'T HAPPEN.. The people then starved. They ate roots. They hunted everything including the mice, the insects and beetles. They died of starvation. Those remaining facing certain death did the USUAL THING FOR HUMANS IN THIS POSITION. History repeating itself - THEY ATE THE DEAD. With 50 000 dead and absolutely no food it's understandable. When parents eat their child you know that desperate times are here.
South Africa chooses not remember the Xhosa cattle killings and learn from history. We are too embarrassed. The story has even been retold with sneaky white settlers replacing the river spirits. It's propaganda of course as no one wants to remember stupidity and it's consequences. Blaming the "white man" ignores that the people still bought into it. They were effectively asked to commit suicide and they did. The consequences of the stupidity was that the Xhosa's lost their land to the settlers.
In the new South Africa we haven't been asked to kill our cattle and destroy the tinned food in the cupboard. We have a new requirement. If you want to be a farmer you had best be black. Quite what the race of the person growing the food has to do with agriculture is not clear. Recent history in Zimbabwe gives a good indication of where this end. The Zimbabwean tribe known as the "Warvets" have been on a ethnic cleansing binge aimed at white farmers which continues to this day. Half their population will starve in the next six months. The people are eating boiled beetles and roots. The farmers don't plant because if you do then the Warvets will come. The people have turned their back on the sun and as sure as night follows day the human body is about to return to the menu.
As part of the South African government's policy various farms have been handed over to "communities" To say that these have been a failure would be too kind. Handing a farm over to unskilled South Africans is about the same as handing a farm to the Warvets - not very clever.
So it's time to learn from history and say no to stupidity like this. Now is not the time to turn our backs to the sun. South Africans need to appreciate land more. There is a lot of land which is wasted only because the people don't know better. Food should be like bandwidth - plentiful. The wisdom is that you reap what you sow. The government has sown absolutely nothing edible. It's been 14 years of sunshine on the land and it's clear that the spirit of Nongquawuse is alive and well in the corridors of power.
Embarrassing episodes in history do not deserve to be buried. Following World War Two Germans promised themselves that "never again" would the nation make that mistake. Germans KNOW about World War Two. It's not as if they celebrate it or glamorise it. They remember it for a reason and in a certain way. South Africa has chosen to forget our history because we are embarrassed by it and are thus destined to live it again.
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