I agree with Prof. Regards,
On 11/2/11, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: > Friedman had nothing better to do. > > I shall respond > Sent via my BlackBerry from Vodacom - let your email find you! > > -----Original Message----- > From: "Setja Diphoko" <[email protected]> > Sender: [email protected] > Date: Wed, 2 Nov 2011 07:57:50 > To: CU-LJ<[email protected]>; <[email protected]> > Reply-To: [email protected] > Subject: [YCLSA Discussion] BusinessDay - STEVEN FRIEDMAN: Avarice > masquerading as the voice of the poor > > IF ANY evidence were still needed that those involved in our national debate > have no idea what goes on in the minds and lives of 70% of the people, last > week’s African National Congress Youth League-induced frenzy provided it. > > About 5000 people are said to have joined the league’s "economic freedom" > march. This is less than half the number of people who last year joined a > march in support of a campaign for libraries in schools. It is at most a > quarter of those who joined protests organised by the Treatment Action > Campaign to demand a comprehensive government response to AIDS. Trade unions > regularly organise larger marches. > > And yet none of these events attracted the media coverage or commentary that > was lavished on the youth league march. And none attracted the same hyped-up > rhetoric and breathless sensationalism. > > If we consider that marchers were bused in from all over the country and > that weeks of planning went into the event, this was not a show of popular > support, it was a demonstration of its absence. This was not evidence that > the l eague and its president, Julius Malema, had far greater support on the > ground than we thought. It was further evidence that their presumed support > among the poor and the jobless is largely a myth. > > That neither the media nor much of our public commentary understood this is > not surprising. As this column has pointed out before, the poor and weak in > this society are talked about — they do not speak. And those who talk about > them are far more interested in them as an abstract support for pet theories > and political projects than as real human beings. Which is why there is much > enthusiasm for talking about the poor but no eagerness to talk to, or listen > to, them. > > The youth league march was clearly a gathering of the politically connected, > not of the excluded. And, for not the first time, our reporting and analysis > cannot tell the difference, presumably because it has no idea of who the > poor are or what they do. > > That is why, at Polokwane, and at Jacob Zuma ’s court appearances, > commentators confused the activists who had gathered with the poor. And it > is why the league’s leaders and those whose bidding they do find it so easy > to pass off their desire for power and wealth as the voice of the > disadvantaged. > > To point this out is not to deny that poverty in general and youth > unemployment in particular are serious threats to the wellbeing of our > society. Many young people do feel frustrated and alienated and they do take > to the streets to demand that they be taken seriously. But they do not do > this at the behest of or in support of Malema or the league. They have been > doing it for some years now on the streets of many our townships and shack > settlements. But their protests are seen not as important messages that need > to be understood, but as inconveniences to be explained away by the > catch-all slogan, "service delivery protests". > > While much of this youth rebellion remains unorganised — or organised by > ambitious local politicians seeking power — some of the poor and the > unemployed do join organisations; social movements whose reach among the > poor remains limited but who are more in touch with the poor than the league > has ever been. > > But these are largely ignored by much of the national debate. It is far more > convenient — and exciting — to pretend that ambitious insiders spouting > slogans speak for those at the grassroots than to make the effort to find > out how the other three-quarters really live. > > The frenzy the youth league march provoked is an indictment of our national > debate. It shows how little the talk of what is wrong with our society and > what needs to be done to fix it are based on a concrete understanding of the > lives of most of our citizens, and how prone we are to regard the world of > the connected in which we move as the world in which everyone moves. > > Nor is this problem restricted to the media and commentators. > > It affects much of the academic community too. It is reflected in our > tendency to confuse what people at the last cocktail party or conference > said in response to the party or talk shop before it as the truth about > lived grassroots reality in this society. And in the extent to which we > insist that the lives of most of our citizens can be understood through > textbooks and theories rather than an attempt to learn and listen. > > We cannot understand our society, let alone know how to address its many > problems, unless we take life at its grassroots and those who live it far > more seriously than we have done. > > We cannot do this as long as we confuse the connected with those on whose > behalf they claim to speak. > > We cannot do it as long as academics, reporters and commentators see the > poor not as fellow citizens to be understood but as convenient vehicles for > our prejudices. > > • Friedman is director of the Centre for the Study of Democracy. > Lesetja Diphoko > "Sent via my BlackBerry" > > > > -- > You are subscribed. This footer can help you. > Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to > this message. > You can visit the group WEB SITE at > http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery > options, pages, files and membership. > To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . > You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to > put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to > this address (repeat): [email protected] . > > -- > You are subscribed. This footer can help you. > Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to > this message. > You can visit the group WEB SITE at > http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery > options, pages, files and membership. > To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . > You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to > put anything in the message part. 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