This might be american-centric but it’s relevant to the post that I wrote yesterday. Vote, register, have a voice, believe in something and if you do, then vote.
YOU HAVE TO VOTE.
Similar Posts:
- REGISTER and then VOTE. It’s your right.
- This march in London I support – the right to vote
- You need to vote because we need democracy
- I have registered to vote. Have you?
- Are you registered to vote in the 2009 elections?
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October 2nd, 2008 at 11:00 am
Hi Nic
Great blog. Read it every day. I often get overwhelmed by the negative things I read in the news, but your site always manages to lift my spirits. Keep up the good work! Anyway…
Like many of us living in London (or I guess any other place outside of SA) we still care deeply about our country and follow the news closely. I for one, read the SA news every morning. I was really inspired by your article and went online to find out about registering to vote. Sadly, two things got in my way:
1. The SA elections website locks out anyone who isn’t using Internet Explorer (What is this? 1991?).
2. After firing up my dusty version of Internet Explorer and going back to the site I could only find info from the 1994 elections which states that South Africans outside the country can only vote if they are embassy staff or attending some sort of event during the elections. Of those people, they must have their green, bar coded ID books with them in order to vote. If you don’t meet these criteria or have your ID book you can’t vote! I’m deeply saddened and angry by this. The government is excluding huge numbers of people who still want to contribute something to the country.
Now, I reckon the conspiracy theorists amongst us will believe that it has been done because most of us overseas are white and the government wants to limit as many of those votes as possible. If I’m brutally honest with myself, and you all, then that was what I first thought (It wasn’t a nice feeling to realise that about myself). After thinking about it more though, I think that is not the case and the government is just being short-sighted.
We have a new emerging middle class of South Africans who aren’t white. Interestingly, I have started seeing an increasing number of them appearing on this funny little island in the last little while too. It’s not just the whities who are leaving.
While I acknowledge that the brain drain is a serious problem (and the part I am playing in all this), I think the government needs to realise that its treatment of people who have left the country is AS harmful as the people leaving. I truly believe that many us who have left will return, bringing with us experience and money that will be used to start businesses and buy houses. If the government continues down this path, the reversal of the brain drain will become less and less likely. I love my country more than ever before and I’d hate to see that happen.
I’d be very interested to hear anyone’s thoughts on this matter.
Mike
October 15th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
Nic,
We agree with you. We launched this campaign back in 2000 but have resurrected the campaign by modernizing about today’s current issues. Please post this link. Alternative newspapers across the US are running the ads via remnant weight when they can. Spread the word.
Bill Mattiss last blog post..World Wide Blogger Bake Off – Let’s bake
October 15th, 2008 at 11:24 pm
Hey Bill,
Thanks for the comment. I’m trying my hardest to spread as much of the voting word as possible! Much more to come on SA Rocks building up to the SA elections next year!