I am back on again. My site had just dissappeared without trace, i dont know what had happened but it just came back again, all by itself. If anyone has some info as to how or what could have happened please, your advice will be highly appreciated. I logged off and the following day it was gone, i did nothing to cause that.
thanx and looking forward to hear from anyone who cares…
I recently went for an interview for a job. To my surprise, (or did I really expect to be the only one called for this interview) there were about just over thirty of us, all-competing for the same few posts that the organization could spare for us, the ‘C4 scalers’. There was absolutely no mistaking who the boss(es) was or were. It was quite obvious. The bosses came up with all the terms of engagement even before they knew (if at all they cared) what our varied preferences for the interview would be.
There existed within the atmosphere at that interview, an unseen constitution to which we all (prospective employees) respected without question. In like manner we signed an unwritten or un-negotiated Declaration that we unanimously ‘take an oath’ if you like to abide by those rules which were in actual fact never made available for either our perusal or negotiation. However, each party to this ‘deal’ understood the terms and were all prepared to consciously make the necessary effort required to ensure that we all abide by these unseen terms and conditions.
I want to liken the process I just sketched above to the ‘polling process’ in which we the citizens or compatriots of the electoral candidates, who have heeded the call for the expression of interest for whatever position in the system or the democratic process to which we aspire as electorates ultimately engage.
Suffice it to say the two, above; all lead to a singular goal: employment. And in both cases there is an employee and the employer or the boss-element. Often in political lingua franca especially in Botswana my home country, a Tswana word, often metaphorically over burdened with euphemism is preferred by the vote-seekers (bo nthlopheng). Quoting the former president, H.E President Festus Mogae at one of his farewell speeches at Mochudi, he categorically used the phrase “nne le nthumile… to describe his tenure in office.
This phrase so heavily burdened with a romanticized accent bothering on rhetoric is the root word /ROMA/ meaning to send or rightly so, implying the one who has been sent to do something. However, I often find quite a huge disparity between the linguistic usage of this word and what then actually translates into its actual meaning in practice, i.e. contextual meaning as evidenced by the democratic atmosphere or the articulation thereof by both the voter and the voted.
It is this very disturbing anomaly that I want to base my writing on. Peradventure I strike a cord and offer a distinctive ray of linguistic knowledge between the black, grey and white areas as subsumed and confused often within this lexico-grammatical continuum.
What I principally want to make clear is that democracy is a true democracy only if the voice of the voter determines what goes and what doesn’t. Secondly I want to clearly state to both parties to this system that the voter is in fact the employer and the voted is therefore the employed and thirdly I want to suggest that, this being the case then means that whatever decisions are made or are to be made, the employer and the employee ought to have discussed it thoroughly and in the end, the employers’ word goes and never the other way round. Otherwise a compromise should be entered into and still then the ultimate objective of this rigorous process should be that all parties stand to benefit equally out of this process.
The reason I am going to call the relationship I am painting here with word-pictures a pseudo-demo-dictatorship is because the actual process of democracy is only lived in the minds of the voter but never in practice. The ideologically phrased words such as the one idiom specific to the Botswana process are such hypnotic tools the politician has coined and exploited to the utter detriment of the unsuspecting electorates. The painful truth, however, is that these sexed-up words and phrases only find currency when they conveniently serve and propel the purposes of the employee and not even that of the employer. Else we would say the employer is abusing the employee. Otherwise the way things are manifest now, I find it hard even to coin a word or term for it.
However, Professor Graham Murdock of Loughborough University has identified the implications of the media for the democratic process by making references to the different dimensions of what constitutes citizenship. He identifies three important ways in which the communication media contribute to the constitution of citizenship.
Firstly, according to Murdock, in order for people to be able to exercise their full rights as citizens, they must have access to the information on what their rights are. But how many Africans or at least Zimbabweans especially those who worship Mugabe, has access to the information that made him so obdurate about staying in power at any cost? If people knew what they don’t wouldn’t they be also as equally adamant as he is to see him off the state house of Zimbabwe? However, I also want you to realize that there are those in life who are born-scared. All they are capable of is DENIAL for fear of facing REALITY. And to those NOTHING can be done.
Otherwise, according to Murdock, they would need advice on, and analysis of, how they are to pursue these rights to which they are barred, effectively.
Secondly, Professor Graham Murdock, with whom I fully concur, suggests that, the citizens of any given country, however small or insignificant in the eyes of the international or affilliative bodies, all such citizens must have access to the broadest possible range of information, interpretation and debate on areas that involve public political choices, representing a wide range of viewpoints.They must, according to Graham Murdock (ibid) be able to use media of different kinds to register and express criticism and come forward with alternative models for development.
In Zimbabwe, whether or not the people had full information or were able to use media of different kinds, fact remains that the people “came forward with an alternative model of governance under the banner and emblem of the Tsvangirai regime. To the people of Zimbabwe the Mugabe model of governance is obsolete, but not quite to the Mbeki Mediation and in part also to the diplomatic SADC and the newly formed AU conglomerate. Whether or not the people of Zimbabwe want Mugabe or not, these conglomerates and mediation-supermarkets still stocks Mugabe. What happens to “customer is king” is it a phrase relevant only in movies like, “I AM SAM or what?” I thought it would go a mile deeper than that. But I guess I was wrong, I think I watch too much movies!
Murdock further says that citizens should be able to use the media “on the basis of information and interpretation of events in the local, national and international scene”. I recently watched Botswana TV and was amazed to find a man, an intellectual I used to respect prior to that broadcast firmly endorsing the rags-of-a government and a country to which Mugabe is taking the nation of Zimbabwe. The language, the zeal and blind passion this man displayed left my stomach in knot so growling I was completely lost of speech. I was reminded of a scripture in the Bible that rightly asserts that “…they have eyes yet they don’t see”.
I wondered how big a set of eyes a Christian needs or desire if he or she can’t see the highly magnified trashing of human rights in the country of Zimbabwe through the Holy Spirit enabled eyes. It’s amazing that this man is from Zimbabwe and he works in Botswana, not in Zimbabwe. If Zimbabwe is such a diamond or a gem of a country then why is he not buying a bakkie and go back to Zimbabwe and get three or four loads full of Zim Dollars each month than take few Pulas from my country, and in fact he might be occupying some other man’s job. Unemployment in Botswana is soaring high these days and Batswana are just as skilled.
Thirdly, and lastly, still concurring with Professor Graham Murdock, people must be able to recognize themselves and their aspirations, their cultures and life styles, in the range of representations on offer within the various media, be it political and they should be able to contribute to developing and extending these representations to the development not only of themselves individually but also of their wider communities through an amelioration of governance that transcends pretence and hypocritical consent.
Zimbabwe (and Africa) wake up and smell the brewing coffee!
I read this essay and found it very fascinating,yet potentially very confounding for the Christian whose present notion or idiom of state and religion scathes only but the peripheries of the ideology herewith propagated in this essay.
According to Kenneth Cauthen (http://www.frontiernet.net)the question of religion and politics is not the same as the question of church and state. Failure to make this distinction results in confusion. The problem of church and state has to do with institutions and practices. Neither must trespass the boundaries that define their legitimate sphere of influence. Here the concept of separation is valid. Thorny problems arise in two particular areas.
1. The first involves trying to steer between avoiding an establishment of religion and permitting its free exercise. Prayer in public schools and is among the most contentious.
2. A second range of problems arises when religious belief and practice conflict with secular law.
Do you agree or do you disagree? What are your thoughts, because some people think like this and they believe or contest the above notions. which camp do you fall on?
Note that I simply copied this text the way it was presented by its original author. I have no intention of trying to interpret it for you, all I want is for you to share with me your own thoughts or sentiments concerning this essay whose full text can be found on the website whose URL is provided above.
In future I will provide a direct link from my site for you so you can just click and see the whole texts from which I quote, however I am unable, presently, because I have one or two errors on my page, which makes it difficult for me to do that for you. Bear with me till then.
A very long time ago a friend(Lee-ann Stober) sent me this message and today, as I felt the need for inspiration I went thruough my old e-mails and I stumbled upon a very catchy one. It was simply entitled “The Ant and the contact lens” The title caught my attention and after re-reading this e-mail I thought some of you might need it as much as I did. So, here is it. Read it to the very last word and tell me if you are not challenged.
Here goes:
I think we all need this right now, remember, the Lord will not
give you a load which you are unable to carry. He is there to help.
Blessed
carrying everyone. Remember, you are not alone
A true story by Josh and Karen Zarandona
Brenda was a young woman who was invited to go rock climbing.
Although she was scared to death, she went with her group to a
tremendous granite cliff. In spite of her fear, she put on the gear,
took a
hold on the
rope, and started up the face of that rock.
Well, she got to a ledge where she could take a breather. As she
was hanging on there, the safety rope snapped against Brenda’s eye
and
knocked out her contact lens. Well, here she is on a rock ledge,
with
hundreds of
feet below her and hundreds of feet above her. Of course, she
looked and looked and looked, hoping it had landed on the ledge, but
it just
wasn’t there. Here she was, far from home, her sight now blurry. She
was
desperate and began to get upset, so she prayed to the Lord to help
her to
find it. When she got to the top, a friend examined her eye and her
clothing for the lens, but there was no contact lens to be found.
She sat
down,
despondent, with the rest of the party, waiting for the rest of them
to make
it up the face of the cliff. She looked out across range after range
of
mountains, thinking of that Bible verse that says, The eyes of the
Lord run
to and fro throughout the whole earth.
She thought, Lord, You can see all these mountains. You know
every stone and leaf. At the bottom there was a new party of
climbers just
starting up the face of the cliff. One of them shouted out, Hey, you
guys!
Anybody lose a contact lens?
Well, that would be startling enough, but you know why the
climber saw it?
An ant was moving slowly across the face of the rock, carrying it!
Brenda told me that her father is a cartoonist. When she told him
the incredible story of the ant, the prayer, and the contact lens,
he
drew a picture of an ant lugging that contact lens with the words,
“Lord, I don’t know why You want me to carry this thing. I can’t eat
it, and
it’s awfully heavy. But if this is what You want me to do, I’ll
carry it
for
You.” I think it would probably do some of us good to occasionally
say,
“God, I don’t know why you want me to carry this load. I can see no
good
in it, and it’s awfully heavy But, if you want me to carry it, I
will.”
God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called.
Many people today have ideas on how to ‘change the world.’ Christians and other religious groupings are at the fore-front and possess such an immeasurable zeal to see things changed.
The question i have to all of you guys who are burning with zeal and passion to effect change in any sphere of human life is, what is your strategy? What problems are you addresing? What do you want to achieve at the end of it all ( I am speaking here of what tangible results you would love to see in order for you to measure your own personal progress).And ultimately what is your plan? how do you intend on tackling the problems with which you or your society or loved ones are grappling?
Ideas,ideologies or what ever you want to call them are a web of systems of understanding,approaches or ways of doing things which are deeply engraved into ones psyche to the extent that you dont have to think of drawing from them faced with any given situation that neccesitates their application.
According to wikipedia, “an ideology is an organized collection of ideas”. The word ideology was coined by Count Antoine Destutt de Tracy in the late 18th century to define a “science of ideas” (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideologies).
What I want to suggest here, after following most of the strategies that the church and the so-called democracies to which most of us belong is this:
I want to suggest to you who is feed up with the current systems of ideologies and philosophies that if you are really serious about effecting change, then start off by changing your philosophically madned mind. Work your attitude about things first, and when you are able to think not with your emotions, but with your mind, then sit down and devise a strategy about which to follow on your course toward changing anything in the world in which we live.
Realise that the world is a system of ideologies and ideas. Now I dont know what this statement says to you, but to me it says that for me to impact the world, i must first know the systems which makes up the world that I so badly want to impact.After knowing these systems it then tells me, I must come up with a system of ideas more superior than the ones I am currently not happy about. To quote a colleague of mine “the war of ideas needs no constitution but alternative ideas which are more superior than the former”, (Pastor Edgar).
In the Bible spies were sent to spie the land. But the most interesting thing about them is that the attitude that was possesed by each set of spies pre-determined their report and perspectives on the land. You also need to determine what attitude will best help you impact the world in the way that you think it should be impacted.
Begin or Depart from a neutral position. In other words, determine to have a learning attitude and learn as best you can of everything you must know about your area of interest before embarking on a futile journey to impact the world you really dont understand, because if you dont understand your world or your enemy or subject it will definitely influence you.
Watch out, listen, learn, plan and then act.
A deadly crisis looms in ZIM, but the mediators are too busy bunting diplomatic jargon and allaying the real situation on the ground with layers of cosmetic beauty that will not obviously last.
The question that I find fit to ask is WHY? Is there some interest this mediator is protecting by making the international community believe that the MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and his party are just paranoid-attention-seekers acting like babies when there is really nothing to worry about? If this is the case then, can anyone explain to me why a cargo full of weapons is oscillating the shores of countries neighbouring Zimbabwe, fighting so desparately to deliver weapons of nation-destruction to Mugabe?
Why is Mugabe buying weapons for? Afterall there is peace in Zimbabwe…and to be honest only a lunatic neighbouring country would dare attack Zim, because there are no spoils to loot out of her boarders, as it is right now. Her people are hungry and are scattered all over, especially in South Africa, whose president see them as spoilt brats who dont like the luxury at home, but would rather beg from neighbours.
“It is no use going back to Zimbabwe and become captive,” the MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai told Canada’s The Globe and Mail in an interview yesterday.
My President Sir Ian Khama Seretse Khama does not play hide and seek. I trust his judgement. He is a man of great integrity, and if he saw it fit to offer Tsvangirai asylum in his country then there must be some crisis in Zimbabwe. And these here are words from an intelligent leader, one whose main concern goes beyond his selfish enrichment and fame to that of protecting his people and his country against the demonic on-slaught to which it is exposed.
“Do you want a dead hero?” This man does not care much about his heroism. All he wants is a fair and democratic transition to power, no wonder he sought asylum from someone who would understand the language he speaks–Ian Khama, because he too had just been a beneficiary of such a democratic process and Khama knows the merits of such a process if well articulated.
AU stop being diplomatic about this and help Mbeki with some salve for his eyes. Help Zimbabwe and get Mugabe moving, the people spoke, He is trashing the voice of the people… dont be party to his brutality. Be a good brother and offer him good brotherly advice and while you at it give him accommodation also.
How dare they? How could they? Did you China not hear? Zimbabwe is in trouble and no doubt war is looming and you have the audacity to supply them with arms? For what? This step is worse than anything the beast prophesied in the Bible could ever match in a million years! China you are a shame to Africa! and we are ashamed of dealing with you as Africans!
We need peace in our continent, not what you are doing, How dare you fuel the fire that is just about to engulf the nation of Zimbabwe? With the little dignity thats left, pack your cargo and get out of our Ports, take your stuff out and if I had the power I’d say never step in Africa again, because we are to you a bunch of animals that needs to be hunted and slaughtered mercilessly…
Is Mugabe your son-in-law or what? Cant you see what he is doing to the people of Zimbabwe? The abuse of human rights in Zimbabwe? Where is the Beijing pronouncements of women rights? The women ans children in Zimbabwe are suffering more than anything possible for humanbeings to habour.
They need our help! As individuals. As nations, as the international community and especially as China who recently was busy lobbying for relationships with Africa. What I am saying exactly here is your actions are very suspect and we do not welcome them within our shores.
We dont want any Chinese colonisation. You are insulting our intelligence as Africans to come and court relations with us and them turn the tables on us like this. Be careful, because our continent is not a dark one anylonger if it ever was, that is.
I am dissapointed in China. And any aid to Africa from China should be looked at as poisonous…and be rejected outright by all African Nations who care about their people, because we just saw the strings attached to the so-called relations sought for by China.
I rest my case, not that I said all I wanted to say, but because anymore thing I would say here might lead me into prison…this here is how far my freedom of speach can take me for now.
Hi folks. I just want to take this opportunity to appreciate you all and say that of all people I have meet in my life time, none has ever wielded an opinion, as sharp and as enlightening as yours. Recently I felt now was the time,for me to meet the trend-setters, that is to say people who are not just satisfied with the current status quo. I have meet very interesting people today in because of the sharpness of the minds, coupled with cutting-edge and very genuine concerns about the politics, the economy, the religious, the church, the social,the anthropological, the sociological, the psychological and the linguistic make up and tendences of our socialisations with regards the future let me into creating this blog.
The aim of this blogsite is to engage people of similar or even more sharper minds in a dialogue of concerns, deliberating and corporately identifying problems and again corporately devising if not suggesting rightful solutions to such trends or issues as deliberated upon. The trend here is to provide and create a platform on which you will share your views and interpretations about certain life-concerning issues. Vent your displeasure with certain things in your society or community here and let see waht others think about a similar situation.
Looking forward to seeing your views,
Godbless!
PT
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monnapt
