It seems unreal how far South Africa has come since the beginning of the fall of apartheid, that infamous day, June 16th, 1976. This day always serves to make me realise how important it is for us, as human beings and as South Africans, to remember our vibrant past with all its struggle and adversity as well as our progression and success. We cannot allow the same oppression to exist anywhere, let alone our own country.

The xenophobic attacks were a shameful reminder of how close can come to reverting to the worst of ourselves. The thin line between Love and Hate. I understand there were many factors around these attacks but the fact remains, we had intolerance and discrimination vividly emblazoned on the screen around the world. How far a cry is it from the days when we seen the pictures of Hector Pietersen being carried away dead during the June 16th, 1976 uprising… and not forgetting the sacrifice of other youth across the world, Mohammed Al Dura in Palestine being shot while his father tried to protect him; or Victor Hugo Daza in Cochabamba, Bolivia who was killed by the military in protests against Bechtel trying to privatise Bolivia’s sources of water.


We need to also be aware of oppression around the world and either fight against it physically or by some action or at least to speak out against it. We owe it to ourselves as human beings and South Africans to do this at least. China’s oppression of Tibet and support of oppressive regimes in Africa, the conflict in Sudan, The oppression of the Palestinian people on a daily basis, the Middle East, etc. We can not sit back and idly nod as we read about these things in news papers and through our RSS feeds. We need to do something, say something.

We are all too aware of chaos theory and how little things affect greater outcomes and events. We could be that little change.

Let’s hope for a greater world… and one in which we have played our part.

Peace.

Link: The Front Line