The View from my Bicycle [COLUMN]

Be careful what you wish for 'cos you just might get it - you just might get it

In the last 8 years the majority of Americans voted for George Bush, and they got their wish. He was their President for almost a decade. He will leave President Elect Obama with an inbox from hell. He may not even be done yet. Rumors are flying that Iran will be invaded before Obama takes the oath of office. Israel have said - if McCain is not the next president - it will be left to Bush to make this nasty decision:

Israel will not wait around for Iran to acquire nuclear weapons. That would be suicide. They will act. I read somewhere a couple of months ago, that Israel may attack Iran before Obama takes office, because they don't trust Obama to handle the situation as well as Bush.

Bush should forget about attacking Iran

Today in South Africa, people have registered to vote. I did 45 minutes before the local voting registration office closed. To be honest I hadn't been that interested in voting. My excuse - because that's what it was - was that Tutu said he wasn't voting either, and my opinion is that South Africa is a democracy only in name. We will be lucky, I feel, if it 'emerges' as a democracy in the scheme of things. Africa just can't keep its hands out of the cookie jar, and the cookie jar tends to be left in an office marked: Next Dictator.

I read an interesting article in the Weekender-What’s that you’re trying to say, comrade?- about the ANC's lexicon. They use words like comrade for the president. Do you? They carry over all the cold war baggage into what is meant to be a free and fair democracy. Espionage, collusion, corruption and of course, crime syndicates and a cold war. Right now South Africa is a country at war with itself, and there seems to be a real case for the government using crime when it suits its purposes. Crime is a government tool. If that doesn't fit the communist label, I'm not sure what does.
Here's some more:

Announcing the national executive committee’s decision to recall Mbeki, the ANC secretary-general couldn’t conceal the delight with which, in anticipation of the reshuffling of cabinet positions, he used that other favourite word in the struggle lexicon: “deployed”.

In Mantashe’s view, Mbeki was “deployed” by the ANC to perform the function of president, just as Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka had previously been deployed as deputy president.

No doubt, he considers Motlanthe and Baleka Mbete’s new roles as “deployments”.

Why does all this matter? Word choices make a difference. Civilians aren’t “deployed”; “deployment” is a military term. Like “comrade”, it harks back to the ANC’s resolution to take up the armed struggle: it calls to mind Umkhonto weSizwe, espionage and subterfuge, campaigns of sabotage, army training camps in neighbouring countries.

The only reason Communism in the Soviet sense is worse than Western Capitalism and Demoncracy, is because Communism isn't afraid to wipeout all pretenders to a possible thrown. It's the ultimate irony. A government for the workers, by the workers, except power is ruthlessly enforced, and poverty becomes entrenched along with power structures.

What the world needs, I believe, is a marriage of what Capitalism really is (rewardinging initiative, incentivising the best in a business) and what Communism really ought to have been (sharing wealth with the workers). Capitalism today is really about something far more simple,and far more dire. It is finding excuses for consumption. This is incompatible with the resource scenario that faces us today.

In South Africa we will have an opportunity to participate in the political process. The bottom line is summarised best by Helen Zille (one of the most enlightened in the political arena): "Will the ANC get 66%." For this country to have any semblance of true democracy, that needs to not happen.

I have a few wishes for myself, few of which I can broadcast right now. I am very aware that if they come true, my life will change fundamentally. In some ways, many ways, I am convinced, for the better. In terms of getting married, it is difficult to know how much is truly beneficial, how much is necessary, how much is from a sense of impatience or guilt or some other inappropriate feeling. But instead of wishing against something, we can wish for what we want. So it is with our country's political process. Instead of wishing we don't suffer some useless mogul as a leader, let us be more confident and participative and wish for someone we do want.

The Americans have chosen Mr. Obama. He may have gotten his childhood wish (which was to be president) but even he may find that the responsibilities of guiding a country through war and a variety of crisis is a tough proposition. It occured to me today that Africa is currently exporting more oil to the USA than the Middle East. The future for Africa and the future for the USA may be tied to mutual destiny. This may or may not be a good thing. So be careful what you wish for...