Post by Nadica (She/Her) on Dec 9, 2024 2:39:15 GMT
We’ve forgotten Covid’s lesson of humanity - Published Dec 7, 2024
By Donovan E Williams
Didn’t 2024 just break your heart? I reckon all of us are suffering from post-Covid-19 blues. Many of us were hopeful that enduring the multiple global lockdowns would mean we will embrace genuine human solidarity and cooperation. We should have learnt that no matter how powerful you think you are, no country can operate like an island, we all need each other.
The opportunity Covid-19 afforded human society for a grand reset was quickly ignored. It is as if we are stuck in purgatory, paying for sins past, present and those which we shall commit in the future. We have had local and global crises, one after the other. Indeed, we entered 2024 with two human tragedies unfolding, the Israeli genocide of the people of Palestine and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. By the end of 2024 we are no closer to stopping the killing. The death toll has only risen, the attitudes of the perpetrators have hardened, and the solution seems to be not one of peace but one of victory for some and defeat for others.
Does it not feel like the whole world has become that much more openly selfish? No one even pretends to place the needs of the less fortunate above their own. I guess we should have already learnt our lesson when Europe hoarded the majority of the Covid-19 vaccine, and was letting everyone know that only European lives mattered.
At the height of the Covid pandemic in 2020, millions of progressive Americans came out, especially the supporters of Black Lives Matter (BLM), to vote for Joe Biden and the Democratic Party, only to witness once elected how Biden and his party almost immediately began to ignore people, especially the working class, and their issues. The opportunity for the US, the apex of Western civilisation, to lead the way, and unite people across class, race, gender, religion and any other cultural caveat was lost.
By November, the American voting population were given a choice between Trump’s “Make America Great Again” or the Democrats’ “Make America Genocide Apologists”. The Democrats were obvious in how little they cared for the working class of any hue, shade, complexion or colour. Trump did not get significantly more votes than he did in 2020 when he lost to Biden, but scores of the BLM supporters refused to come out in support of the Democrats and the pro-elite project.
European countries have had to work against the needs of their people in support of US domination. Germany, the powerhouse of the European Union economy, has led the way by hurting its own people’s energy needs, pushing for raising of tariffs on Chinese goods, particularly electric vehicles, and being on the receiving end of Chinese economic backlash.
If you thought Americans were overbearing during this year, brace yourself when Trump resumes office in January.
During most of 2024, the majority of the mainstream American media made the entire world afraid of Trump, telling everyone that he is fascist. By the end of the year, they are unable to untangle the web they have spun.
And by December, Biden reminded all that the rule of law, principles of democracy and good old-fashioned values like telling the truth or not going against your promises are things that governments and leaders tell others to do, but it does not apply to them. Biden, after telling everyone that he will never pardon his son Hunter Biden, who was found guilty of tax evasion and firearm charges, did exactly that.
Through the course of 2024, we have witnessed many European countries, doyens of democracy such as Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands, fall over backwards to please Israel and do everything in their power to suppress political and human rights solidarity campaigns with the people of Palestine.
In 2024, the heart of Western democracy has been broken — it has been crushed.
South Africa has not been spared. We entered 2024 riding the crest of a wave because of our application to the International Court of Justice to find Israel guilty of genocide. Progressive people and countries were applauding the country of Mandela for its courage and bravery for standing up to the world’s powers and calling out Israel for its genocidal programme in Palestine.
It felt good to be South African. This was one of the few times that political leadership was the source of our pride — although the pride oscillated between the legal team and political leaders.
But if it was not for the South African rugby team, as well as some commendable performances by Bafana Bafana and even the much maligned Proteas cricket team, it would have been as bad a year as that in the rest of the world.
We went into an election in which all parties said the exact same things they had been saying and promising for the previous elections. And Jacob Zuma, our former president, reinvented himself as a modern-day crusader of the black poor and entered the election race as well. Just like the American elections, scores of people, especially the black majority, refused to vote.
Many of the poor also rushed to support ultra-nationalist parties such as the Progressive Alliance and Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe party, such that, for the first time in a democratic South Africa, no single party received a 51% percent majority.
This should have been the opportunity for the political leadership to rise to the occasion and put the needs of the people first. In fairness to the ANC, it started off as if it was trying to do just that but in the end it succumbed to power games and the manipulation of process. Now we have what is called a government of national unity (GNU) in which there is no unity or national programme that the majority of political parties have bought into.
We are sitting back and watching the ministers and deputies competing with one another on who can look like they are doing the most. It is like a photo opportunity, where everyone is jostling to be in the centre and at the front.
The task of dealing effectively with corruption, as well as arresting our growing unemployment and cost of living, seems secondary to the political competition between the elites. On the one hand, you have the broad right wing, led in the main by the Democratic Alliance, with its conservative values, as represented by its support for Israel and anger at certain clauses of the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act, and on the other you have the broad supposedly “progressive” wing, not led by any in particular, but angry with the very idea of the unity government.
The opportunity for a genuine unity among South Africans to be instilled through the hung parliament has been lost. The ANC continues on its muddled way, not able to decisively deal with corruption, poverty, unemployment and inequality, seemingly more worried about the KwaZulu-Natal provincial structure. Meanwhile we all brace ourselves for Nkandla II, repackaged as Phala Phala.
South Africans are not foolish, though. They may laugh and enjoy these entertaining battles on TikTok and other platforms. But they know that even when we are being told that inflation is down, the cost of living is up, or that more jobs were created in this quarter, that jobs are scarce.
So although we entered 2024 with such high hopes for the conscience and soul of humanity, especially South Africans, we have been confronted by what European philosopher Slavoj Zizek refers to as the “depravity of the ordinary people”. We may have come into 2024 talking about solidarity with the Palestinian people but, by the end of the year, we are angry that the majority of spaza shops seem to be owned by foreigners, while our government sits idly by and allows expired goods to be sold.
In essence our political leadership across parties has failed us, they have effectively managed to convince us that democracy and democratic institutions are a mirage and do not exist.
We have no hope for left-wing populism, in the meantime many are jumping on the right-wing populist bandwagon. Until they also sell the people out.
I do not think 2025 will be any better.
By Donovan E Williams
Didn’t 2024 just break your heart? I reckon all of us are suffering from post-Covid-19 blues. Many of us were hopeful that enduring the multiple global lockdowns would mean we will embrace genuine human solidarity and cooperation. We should have learnt that no matter how powerful you think you are, no country can operate like an island, we all need each other.
The opportunity Covid-19 afforded human society for a grand reset was quickly ignored. It is as if we are stuck in purgatory, paying for sins past, present and those which we shall commit in the future. We have had local and global crises, one after the other. Indeed, we entered 2024 with two human tragedies unfolding, the Israeli genocide of the people of Palestine and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. By the end of 2024 we are no closer to stopping the killing. The death toll has only risen, the attitudes of the perpetrators have hardened, and the solution seems to be not one of peace but one of victory for some and defeat for others.
Does it not feel like the whole world has become that much more openly selfish? No one even pretends to place the needs of the less fortunate above their own. I guess we should have already learnt our lesson when Europe hoarded the majority of the Covid-19 vaccine, and was letting everyone know that only European lives mattered.
At the height of the Covid pandemic in 2020, millions of progressive Americans came out, especially the supporters of Black Lives Matter (BLM), to vote for Joe Biden and the Democratic Party, only to witness once elected how Biden and his party almost immediately began to ignore people, especially the working class, and their issues. The opportunity for the US, the apex of Western civilisation, to lead the way, and unite people across class, race, gender, religion and any other cultural caveat was lost.
By November, the American voting population were given a choice between Trump’s “Make America Great Again” or the Democrats’ “Make America Genocide Apologists”. The Democrats were obvious in how little they cared for the working class of any hue, shade, complexion or colour. Trump did not get significantly more votes than he did in 2020 when he lost to Biden, but scores of the BLM supporters refused to come out in support of the Democrats and the pro-elite project.
European countries have had to work against the needs of their people in support of US domination. Germany, the powerhouse of the European Union economy, has led the way by hurting its own people’s energy needs, pushing for raising of tariffs on Chinese goods, particularly electric vehicles, and being on the receiving end of Chinese economic backlash.
If you thought Americans were overbearing during this year, brace yourself when Trump resumes office in January.
During most of 2024, the majority of the mainstream American media made the entire world afraid of Trump, telling everyone that he is fascist. By the end of the year, they are unable to untangle the web they have spun.
And by December, Biden reminded all that the rule of law, principles of democracy and good old-fashioned values like telling the truth or not going against your promises are things that governments and leaders tell others to do, but it does not apply to them. Biden, after telling everyone that he will never pardon his son Hunter Biden, who was found guilty of tax evasion and firearm charges, did exactly that.
Through the course of 2024, we have witnessed many European countries, doyens of democracy such as Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands, fall over backwards to please Israel and do everything in their power to suppress political and human rights solidarity campaigns with the people of Palestine.
In 2024, the heart of Western democracy has been broken — it has been crushed.
South Africa has not been spared. We entered 2024 riding the crest of a wave because of our application to the International Court of Justice to find Israel guilty of genocide. Progressive people and countries were applauding the country of Mandela for its courage and bravery for standing up to the world’s powers and calling out Israel for its genocidal programme in Palestine.
It felt good to be South African. This was one of the few times that political leadership was the source of our pride — although the pride oscillated between the legal team and political leaders.
But if it was not for the South African rugby team, as well as some commendable performances by Bafana Bafana and even the much maligned Proteas cricket team, it would have been as bad a year as that in the rest of the world.
We went into an election in which all parties said the exact same things they had been saying and promising for the previous elections. And Jacob Zuma, our former president, reinvented himself as a modern-day crusader of the black poor and entered the election race as well. Just like the American elections, scores of people, especially the black majority, refused to vote.
Many of the poor also rushed to support ultra-nationalist parties such as the Progressive Alliance and Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe party, such that, for the first time in a democratic South Africa, no single party received a 51% percent majority.
This should have been the opportunity for the political leadership to rise to the occasion and put the needs of the people first. In fairness to the ANC, it started off as if it was trying to do just that but in the end it succumbed to power games and the manipulation of process. Now we have what is called a government of national unity (GNU) in which there is no unity or national programme that the majority of political parties have bought into.
We are sitting back and watching the ministers and deputies competing with one another on who can look like they are doing the most. It is like a photo opportunity, where everyone is jostling to be in the centre and at the front.
The task of dealing effectively with corruption, as well as arresting our growing unemployment and cost of living, seems secondary to the political competition between the elites. On the one hand, you have the broad right wing, led in the main by the Democratic Alliance, with its conservative values, as represented by its support for Israel and anger at certain clauses of the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act, and on the other you have the broad supposedly “progressive” wing, not led by any in particular, but angry with the very idea of the unity government.
The opportunity for a genuine unity among South Africans to be instilled through the hung parliament has been lost. The ANC continues on its muddled way, not able to decisively deal with corruption, poverty, unemployment and inequality, seemingly more worried about the KwaZulu-Natal provincial structure. Meanwhile we all brace ourselves for Nkandla II, repackaged as Phala Phala.
South Africans are not foolish, though. They may laugh and enjoy these entertaining battles on TikTok and other platforms. But they know that even when we are being told that inflation is down, the cost of living is up, or that more jobs were created in this quarter, that jobs are scarce.
So although we entered 2024 with such high hopes for the conscience and soul of humanity, especially South Africans, we have been confronted by what European philosopher Slavoj Zizek refers to as the “depravity of the ordinary people”. We may have come into 2024 talking about solidarity with the Palestinian people but, by the end of the year, we are angry that the majority of spaza shops seem to be owned by foreigners, while our government sits idly by and allows expired goods to be sold.
In essence our political leadership across parties has failed us, they have effectively managed to convince us that democracy and democratic institutions are a mirage and do not exist.
We have no hope for left-wing populism, in the meantime many are jumping on the right-wing populist bandwagon. Until they also sell the people out.
I do not think 2025 will be any better.