SA Rocks

Ed’s note: Rouvanne from peakperformance sent me the below post explaining that his mind was reeling and that I should edit it if need be. I haven’t touched a thing. This is really one of the best posts that I have ever published on this site. I love the concepts Rouvanne talks about and I love the way he has constructed the post. Thanks Rouvanne!

There are crises going on all over the world in terms of global warming, fights for or against democracy, religion, economics, medical diseases that threaten humanity, and they seem to be gathering speed at an ever increasing rate as the years fly past.

A few things in the recent media got me thinking. Zimbabwe and dots; Australia and brains; and Nelson Mandela and the Elders – though they might be worlds apart, it started a process of imagining a South Africa looking after its own future and hopefully also inspiring other nations, particularly African, to follow suit.

I think it was firstly Robert Mugabe’s reference to English Prime Minister Gordon Brown just being a “tiny dot” in the world that got me thinking. I am just a dot in the world, and damn proud of being here too. I was born of two dots; I have 3 sibling dots; I am fortunate to have found a sexy dot to spend my life with; and we’ve had so much fun that we even produced another two dots ourselves. So counting all my dots together, we’re getting closer to being a small blob, in this world.

Then secondly this past weekend, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd co-hosted the Australia 2020 Summit, inviting 1000 (dots) artists, scientists, corporate chief’s, unionists and central bankers, to come up with 10 great ideas that’ll improve life in Australia by 2020.

And thirdly, last year President (dot) Nelson Mandela, with funding from (dots) Peter Gabriel and Sir Richard Branson, created The Elders who, using “their collective experience, their moral courage and their ability to rise above nation, race and creed, … can make our planet a more peaceful and equitable place to live,” said the former South African ‘presidot’. A subtle introduction of ubuntu to the world stage by both Branson and Mandela…

This jumble of ideas led me to realise that in every society there are individuals that are recognised as being the experts in their particular fields. Many are the intellectuals of our day, who have dedicated themselves to the study of specific fields in the sciences, arts, and economics; from the obscure, to the popular. Surely these people have ideas that their valuable education has given them the ability to see and work out, which should be considered seriously in creating viable alternative means of solving the problems we face collectively.

Education is a valuable privilege, but what is the use of these people being ignored while we debate due to political and popular thoughts in what can mostly be considered as a fight for more power or to satisfy our greed? Regardless of how you had the privilege of your education, what is the use of having it if you are not going to benefit society around you, and those that come after? It is your duty as a citizen of this world to share the knowledge that you have gained.

A database should be created (a Muti? a Wiki?) in which these models and ideas could be available for the use of humanity, for the people of South Africa. And it doesn’t have to come from any government – it should be sponsored by big business, by caring philanthropists, organisations and individuals who benefit from society around them – which is basically all of us, isn’t it. It’s taking social and corporate responsibility to a new level; admitting that without all the tiny dots in the world, we all would be nothing.

Over 9000 ideas were submitted to the Aussie summit from the public, defined by PM Kevin Rudd as, “Today we are throwing open the windows to our democracy to let a little bit of fresh air in.” Rudd set 10 themes for discussion: productivity, economy, sustainability and climate change, rural Australia, health, communities and families, indigenous Australia, creativity, governance and Australia’s future in the world.

I think that this could come up with some blobbing great ideas; as a gift to the people, a true and proudly South African “Think to Thank”. Ideas to take us into the future.

Rouvanne

http://peakperformances.co.za

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It’s heart wrenching. Gut wrenching, soul destroying stuff that pains me and upsets me. This post is not about South Africa. This post is about Zimbabwe.

Within minutes of arriving home last night at 9pm or so I read Mark Forrester’s post and received an email. here are excerpts from both.

From Mark’s post:

At 3.30pm today a lorry load of so called Mugabe brain washed “war-vets” arrived at our gate to take over our land, equipment and pedigree cattle. This crazy action is occurring in a country where there is v little food being produced !

It is now 6 pm and they have been singing their war songs at our gate for three hours, the atmosphere is violent and more and more of them have arrived.

We managed to get our daughter Alison and her young son “Little John” into town and for now it is just John and myself, plus our dogs remaining in the house on the farm.

From the email:

Hi
Just to let you know that Chris was invaded yesterday afternoon by war vets. I just happened to be visiting Charmaine and Chris when a bakkie load of about 23 drove up the road singing war songs. Chris went out to them and they told him to leave the farm immediately. The police arrived about 45 minutes after the war vets and spent a long time talking to them with Chris remaining calm and reasoning with the chaps. The whole episode took about 2.5 hours with Charmaine, Laura and I watching anxiously from Charmaine’s house. I was so worried that they might beat Chris up as is so ! often their style. They left the property and have vowed to return today to “sort things out”.

Now we all know that Zim is in dire straights. We all know that Zim is on the verge of self-destruction and massive civil war that will lead to much blood shed. But what can we do?

Well let me angle the situation in this way:

Tibet was covered on blogs, Facebook, mobile and all round, why are the 600 000 South Africans on Facebook not making more noise about this? Yes, I know that Zim is not our country and we have problems of our own, but it’s a simple group making noise, taking a stand. Let the world know what the problems are. There are enough Zimbaweans, even if South Africans aren’t willing to join in spreading of the word, in SA and around the world to make the issues known to the world. There has been uproar around the world about China and Tibet and Zim has been overshadowed due to this. The worst thing that happened to Zim recently, in media terms, is Tibet. Zim is nothing in the eyes of the world. But people are still dying and travesties are still being committed and will only get worse.

A search on Facebook yielded some results and here are some groups you can join to spread the word about the situation in Zim:

Fight Mugabe : Unite against an oppressive Tyrant & save Zimbabwe VIVA MDC

solutions and strategies for saving zimbabwe

For the Freedom of Zimbabwe

Help The People of Zimbabwe !

All that I am saying is this: We can to our bit and simply join a group, tell your friends in media, bloggers, people abroad and start the wave of change.

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There is some intense debate taking place on MG’s blogging platform, ThoughtLeader.

The above headline is the focal point of this debate and I felt the need to draw your eyes to this well written post.

Jonty Fisher is the author of this particular ThoughtLeader blog. He writes rationally and intellectually about the state of the nation and all the “smart” people who still maintain that SA is going the way of Zim.

I say rubbish to that statement. I say that we are not now and will not in the future go the way of Zim.

Read what Jonty has to say and contribute your opinion to the argument. Great post Jonty, I for on, agree with you on most of what you have said. Spot on.

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