"Militant Action"
April 22, 2009 - 11:45 — Entropy
Julius Malema's "militant action against Nandos" statement seems to be causing quite a stir. To be honest I'm not too sure why. Clearly the guy misspoke and meant "legal action" because he mobilised his lawyers immediately instead of going to China for weapons. Personally I think this guy just has a rare type of tourette's where instead of swearing he spouts the occasional violent revolutionary words. In any other country a person disabled this way would be pitied and we would all go for sensitivity training to better understand his condition.
Besides, even if we assume that he’s being serious, how much harm would it really cause in the short-term? For my part I’m sick of getting under-cooked chicken and overcooked potato skins sold as wedges, so a nice bit of aggressive consumer complaining may help to solve that (God knows that the consumer complaint line at Nandos has had no impact on my neighbourhood franchise).
I saw some folks fearing on about how if this guy becomes president in the future, we’ll only have little border-wars and fascism to look forward to as Julius fights down all criticism. At face value this seems to be a bad thing because you focus on the violence and oppression, but if you look 10 years past that I think you’ll agree that it would be a good thing for country: unstable dictators in mineral-rich countries seem to be targeted by the west for military intervention based on the amount of face-time they get with the international media and I suspect that this guy would get plenty… a bit like that nutter who was on live TV saying the Americans would never take Baghdad, while in the background US tanks could be seen driving up the street.
But seriously, I think the tourettes scenario is far more likely and instead of fear and anxiety we should all just start up a collection to get this guy whatever treatment there is for his condition.
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Comments
Entropy
I honestly don't know what the fuss is all about. Malema clearly gets more media attention than he actually deserves--(imo)
Ash...
I think that the attention is based on the fear that this guy will one day be running the country, and even if not, the guys that do run the country don't seem to have any objection to the stuff he says.
Personally, after today, I don't think we need have any concerns about the future president.
entropy
nothing wrong with a bit of militant action against corporate advertising, hey. as not a big chicken fan, i can't comment on nandos, but i myself considered some militant action against the DA just this morning ... ja, whenever my cell phone beeps at 8am, i light up, skip over to my phone, in expectation of a 'hi' and a :-) ... but not this morning. this morning my privacy was shattered by a garbled, bilingual, horribly didactic message with the words STOP ZUMA at the crux ... those two words make me uneasy to start with, and i'm sure they only serve to harden the sense of conflict between factions ... what hope if our opposition is a bunch of brainless, insensitive, block-headed morons?
kill 'em all, that's my ticket.
so, frank
how did the DA get your cell number?
they got mine and the 15 people we had lunch with because we gave it to them.
loved the voter turnout at the three stations we passed. one woman who joined us late for lunch spent three hours in a line.
bloody brilliant.
KC
I got a call a few days ago asking if I needed any issistance getting to the polling station (they probably looked at my age thinking I'm old!!, while I was standing in the que and another later in the evening. An eneterprizing youngster was selling coffee to those waiting in the line!
did you know
there were more registered voters this year than in 1994? almost 4 million more.
KC
What I'd like to know is if there were only some 20M registered voters, why were 50M ballot papers printed??
nossie
even more curious is how they managed to run out in Free State. even our little Greenside polling station ran out of ballot boxes...
i hear that the useless cretins in Alex refused to vote until all the foreigners had been removed the township. so, Alex did not vote. Anyone know if this is true?
kc ...
spending three hours in a queue is just plain stupid. i'm going as soon as kevin peitersen goes out (IPL - indian premier league - cricket)
i don't know how they got my number.
Entropy, I am afraid that I agree with Frank
I also disagree with you about Iraq. "Comical Ally" is one who is laughing last as he also said that IRAQ would become a grave yard for American soldiers and that is exactly what happened. By the way I do not think that any of Malema's statements are any more ridiculous than that of George Bush mas he led the US and global public up the garden path about "Weapons of Mass Destruction."
Dawid, that's really not like you
I can't believe that you agree with Frank and say that we should kill them all! Welcome to the side of good, my brother.
As for "also disagreeing with me", I'm not sure that we have much disagreement going on here. I used comical ali as an example of arrogance and stupidity preceding a fall, but then you went off on a tangent talking about Bush being an arrogant idiot too. Since he's also fallen... sounds like you're agreeing with me actually.
Entropy, KC, Frank, Julius Malema
Perhaps Frank was a bit strong with "killing them all". Julius would say he was speaking figuratively. However the opposition is appalling, they are stuck in opposition mode, if they wish to win elections they should get into alternative politics mode, i.e. what is the alternative policies they offer to that of the ANC? They will once more fail to make any real impact on the ANCs dominance - except for the Western Cape and that is to be expected in any case given the racial demography and class structure of that province. The opposition should really stop dabbling in 'hysterical' politics, trying to frighten the voters with straw dogs and bogeys 'associated with the ANC'. The DA became so fixated on Malema and Zuma that they actually failed to tell the voters what the DA actually stands for. The ANC will most probably still win a two thirds majority, or come very close to it, not only because of its own campaign, but also because of the off-putting campaigns of some of the opposition parties.
i disagree david
the DA has, for the first time, been quite clear about its policies. the "stop zuma" was possibly a mistake, but was hardly the core of the positioning. the anc will undoubtedly win. these elections are important though - the next ones in 2014 - well, i doubt the ANC will win even a 50% majority.
KC Entropy
KC your predictions on 2014 are based on emotion rather than any factual analysis. I predict that the smaller parties will gradually fall away leaving two or three big parties. This is bad for democracy because it reflects the costs of campaigning rather than political trends. The parties that remain will be those that are able to draw campaign funds. Our political landscape will gradually begin to resemble that of the USA. I do not consider the USA as very democratic - your ability to win elections should not depend on your wealth. As a communist I am hoping that the ANC will eventually split along class lines, I have a problem supporting the black petite bourgeoisie and emerging bourgeoisie. I am not interested in the program of developing a black middle class.
As for the matter about Bush and Malema - Entropy made the reference to Iraq in his original post - clearly this person supports military action by a superpower against smaller third world states. Clearly I do not support this. Hope fully the USA will think twice before doing something quite as silly. Why fixate on Molema, it is a waste of time. As for implying that I am a "Moron" well tha is up to you, I will not stoop to that level of debate. I prefer to respect those who I am in discussion with even if I disagree with them... or am I detecting a bit of frustration and suppressed anger?
Hey david
I thought I was reasonably clear about the moron thing not applying to you.
As for the political debate: Thanks a million. It has been definitely interesting. I am going to bow out of it for the time being pending further evidence.
david - dear.
you are not a moron. i would never even think of implying it.
i enjoy that we have differences of opinion.
yes, i am guilty of sweeping generalisations. but i do like to hear other people's views.
on the US - Bush was a complete idiot, in the war to make money for himself and his cronies. and yet, the twin towers were attacked.... could the US have done nothing?
maybe my hopes for 2014 are just that. hopes. i really want my little patch of Africa to be a place that i feel gives a damn about me.
oh well...
malema is a moron
the fact that Bush is too does not mean we have to support Malema... what sort of reasoning is this?
defend malema because he is a darkie?
no, comrade. morons are morons. and when they are in politics they are as dangerous as a rattle snake.
kc... you heartless beast
The poor guy* has this mental disorder and you go off at him for it. That's not cool. It's not nice** to make fun of people just because they're not as tall, athletic, strong and mentally well-equiped as you are. Didn't your mom teach you anything?
* I mean Malema, although in the context I could see how you might be forgiven for thinking I was refering to Dawid.
**It's not nice, but as we've all learned since mom stopped being our primary moral input, it is a bucket load of fun.