Happy Birthday Madiba!
I had posted a full thought piece at Instablogs entitled
A Lesson on Madiba’s 90th Birthday
In summary…
Mandela was a great man but he was also an ordinary man, by his own admission, who found himself in extraordinary circumstances. His values shown throughout his life and his struggle against apartheid. We too face situations which are extraordinary and show us for what we truly are. So let’s strive to be the best human beings we can be and strive for the greatest ideals so that when we are faced with a situation, our truth will shine.
: Mandela, 90th Birthday, Philosophy, Lesson, Life
So Who is this Madiba Chap? eh?
What can I say… the man is an inspiration to millions, but what I’d like to highlight about his life is a fact which he mentioned himself…”I was not a messiah, but an ordinary man who had become a leader because of extraordinary circumstances.” He was just a man… just like any one of us, but what made him great was his purpose and his dedication which he stuck by and fought for till he achieved it. That’s what catapulted him out of the ordinary, doing the things which others shied away from or were to fearful to carry out.
In the face of death, detention and exile he persisted. We all need to learn from his lesson that the greatest obstacle can be overcome by simple, truthful ideals.
Happy 90th Birthday! I’ll catch the Hyde Park dedication concert on TV tonight.
: Madiba, 90th Birthday, Hyde Park, Lesson
Real Hip-Hop: Immortal Technique’s “The 3rd World”
Immortal Technique just released his new album and it’s available for Pre-order from CDUniverse.com.
This CD’s was supposed to have been released like in June 2007 under the title “The Middle Passage” I guess he title has since changed. I’ve been waiting for this one for ages, Immortal techniques lyrics are the most hard-core I’ve ever heard and he does it with passion and style. Definitely a wake up call to the blinged-out , instant self-gratification generation which commercial hip-hop culture has spawned. This is REAL Hip-Hop.
He has since also released 3 mp3′s to give you a taste.. and here they are…
1) “The 3rd World”
2) “The Payback”
3) “Reverse Pimpology”
Enjoy!
: Immortal Technique, 3rd World, New Album, The Middle Passage, MP3
Thoughts on Youth Day…
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
Marketing Lesson: Xenophobia and the South African Government.
Don’t just TALK! Take ACTION! One thing marketers know through and through is that when you promise and you don’t deliver, your sales go to hell and you lose your job. Before any advertising goes on TV, Radio, Print or spread virally across social Media we have to make sure the product delivers what we claim to promise on every level. If this wasn’t such an important step, the Advertising Standards Authority would be out of a job.
Also, it makes perfect sense on a human level. People want to get what they are promised and what they spend their taxes on. We don’t spend our money so that we can hear nice things that make us feel all warm and gooey for our country. We want to see the leaders we voted for actually doing the work to make our country the best in the world and live up to the claim of “a better life for all”.
The current xenophobia crisis has shown the ugly insides of the government in power. All they are doing is talking, if they were working, really working for change… none of this would have happened.
So… the marketing lesson from all this as I had mentioned in the beginning… Deliver what you promise, or you’ll be in deep kak if you don’t.
Technorati Tags: South Africa, Xenophobia, Marketing
Xenophobia in South Africa, How Could This Happen?
Residents at the Ramaphosa informal settlement try to salvage building material before the blaze overtakes them on May 20.- Paul Botes, M&G
This xenophobia problem is getting way out of hand. What the mainstream media has failed to give significant coverage to though, the climate of fear which is being created across the country. This is not only facilitated by the violence which is spreading from province to province and town to town. Just this weekend, one of my friends whose family is originally from Malawi couldn’t leave his house because his dad was getting death threats over the phone.
This aspect is very scary, so many expats from other countries who I work with and deal with on a daily basis are now forced to keep low profiles so that people won’t hurt them or their families. It’s even gone to the point where these “Xenophobics” are using the Zulu language to distinguish whether a person is a foreigner or not. Many South African citizens are now being attacked because they don’t speak Zulu and hence are regarded as immigrants.
Zapiro’s take on the Xenophobic Attacks and their effect on South Africa’s image.
Various churches, mosques and other religious institutions are getting involved in order to help the immigrants who are fearing for their lives as various attacks occur around the country. For anyone reading this, please go and help out… apart from helping these people in need we need to spread education about this issue and stop all of this nonsense. This is South Africa! Why are we killing and destroying people’s lives? Is this what was fought for, for decades, and now in such a short time we’ve forgotten our own heritage?
Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another. – Nelson Mandela
UPDATE: UnitedforAfrica.co.za has a great webpage set up which uses Google Maps to track the events of the Xenophobia attacks in South Africa so that citizens can mobilise and help those who are affected by the scourge of xenophobia.
Technorati Tags: South Africa, Xenophobia, Violence
Get Yourself Into The Propaganda Business
by Muhammad on May 23, 2008
in Activism, Social Media
In an ad bluntly called “McCain, Fire Charlie Black,” MoveOn tries strong-arming John McCain into dismissing his lobbyist, whose firm allegedly made millions by aiding dictators, terrorists and sundry other villains.
$25 helps get it on the air!
Technorati Tags: McCain, Propaganda, Charlie Black, Fire
Unilever Increases Focus on Sustainable Palm Oil
Update from previous post on Unilever vs. Greenpeace.
Unilever has taken the recent GreenPeace protests to heat and have really focused on changing the situation on the ground as well as via it’s communication channels. At least, that’s according to Unilever’s communication, let’s hope some accountability will be rendered in order to make sure Unilever is living up to its promises, this statement of mistrust is not baseless, since corporations are known to bend the rules and the PR machines to their will.
Back to Unilever… CEO, Patrick Cescau has announced a new policy on palm oil.
Unilever will begin using Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO) later this year, as soon as it is available as a tradeable commodity. For the palm oil it uses in Europe, it has pledged to have fully traceable supply chains in place by 2012: just four years away. And by 2015 all Unilever’s palm oil will be certified sustainable.
Announcing the move at the Prince of Wales’ May Day Climate Change Summit in London, attended by the Prince of Wales and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Group Chief Executive Patrick Cescau said: “We are only part of the solution of course, but we want to be an agent for positive change, as we have been in fish, tea and other areas.
“We are committed to doing this because we believe it is the right thing to do for the people who use our products, for the environment and communities in and around which palm oil is grown and for our businesses and brands.”
Leading environmental campaigner Jonathon Porritt, a member of Unilever’s Sustainable Development Panel, said: “We are delighted to see these new commitments on palm oil… These are ambitious targets and Unilever’s readiness to take a leadership role in establishing secure, certified supply chains for palm oil is particularly significant.”
And the Prince of Wales personally welcomed Patrick’s announcement, saying: “This is a ground-breaking development that could make all the difference to the future of the rainforests.”
Unilever is also supporting the call for a moratorium on any further deforestation in Indonesia for Palm oil.
If anything else, this at least shows that one corporation is active in making a positive change in our world. the seriousness of the situation cannot be underestimated both in terms of the environmental situation in terms of sustainable palm oil as well as Unilever standing up in front of the Public in full view and committing itself to making a real change on the ground and not some dodgy PR manipulation.
for urther information on Unilever’s position, you can visit http://www.unilever.com/palmoil
Technorati Tags: Unilever, Environment, Sustainable, Palm Oil, GreenPeace
How to Design a Logo: Beijing 2008
I got this on e-mail and made an animation from it. I totally support the Reporters Sans Frontieres in their boycott of the Beijing Olympics. Such an oppressive regime doesn’t deserve to be given such an honour or any economic benefit.
Technorati Tags: Beijing, Olympics, 2008, Oppression, Animation, Logo
