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Life perspective

Mother City Riots


Rated as one of the places to visit, Cape Town has just about everything to offer the resident and tourist alike. And all kinds of residents and tourists are catered for; from the dodgy back-alley fix to the deserted beach moonlight stroll, Cape Town offers it all. But that in itself does not make the Mother City special. Just about every international destination has its fair share of glamour and sham. What does make Cape Town beautiful, is “tha mountehn”.

Aaahhh, tha mountehn. No doubt about it, there’s something about that piece of rock which takes the edge off of life and slows the city down to village trot. From sandboarding to surfing, sunsets to riots- Cape Town has it all.

Wait a minute?! Riots?! Yes. Riots. Now, for those who live in Cape Town or have been following its news, the current “Security Strike” has been going on for close to 8 weeks now. The fruit of the last 8 weeks of discussions has been summarised as a “deadlock”. In the meantime, those who choose not to strike get murdered or beaten. Further, while security is not available, gangsters and thugs take advantage of the situation to help themselves. Those who have the ability to put an end to the strike claim helplessness and all the while, they fuel the frustrations and anger which boil and burns until one day…..

No, this is NOT a picture taken during an apartheid South Africa. This is 16 May 2006, 12 years into building a democratic rainbow nation. On one hand:

“Our right to protest is an essential right. Our right to strike is guarenteed in the constitution.”

But does that include the right to murder, set busses on fire, vandalize the city and loot? But make no mistake, those on strike have a legitimate concern which is not being addressed. Their wages have not increased in 12 years?! Although not condoned, is this not just a case of “going postal” on a wide scale? How many of us have felt the frustration of not being heard by INSERT CORPORATION HERE and have wanted to scream, shout and throw a hissy- maybe even beat someone up. Some actually do, but they pay the price for their anti-social behaviour.

However the mayhem and chaos closes, better it stops soon. Unlikely though when the negotiations are conducted in the spirit of power and domination; no real sacrifices and flowering with taunts and poisoned with emotive appeal. An interesting piece of fuel in this fire is demonstrated by some of the placards carried by strikers: “US and EU are anti-poor” and “Down with imperialism”. But that’s another discussion…

Aaahhh, tha mountehn!

Some more riot photos below that were circulating on email. Warning! These are, IMHO, controversial photos and probably best not viewed if you’re a little queasy or are very sensitive to harsh images. Also, i don’t know the context of these photos so don’t even pretend to judge the photos and the incidents or me by these images.
I just find them fascinating from a politically-photographic perspective ‘cos they carry so much power to potentially skew the truth… there are more incriminating photos which i’ve decided to leave out ‘cos they’re just too hectic for this blog…
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