Death of the ghost

You gotta fight for your rights! That’s what some workers at the Carlsberg beer factory near the Danish capital Copenhagen thought. Firmly thought. A matter of principle!

They went on a 5 day strike because management had reduced their daily ration of 3 free beers to only 1. And that was just unacceptable! Those damn capitalist bosses and cutting costs all the time!!

Those Carlsberg-Vikings got their priorities clearly in order. Reducing their access to free quality lager was just a declaration of war. That’s plain abuse! And so they went on strike to fight for their right to 3 free bottles of Carlsberg per day.

You wont have that labour issue in Sudan. Certainly not in the Muslim north, but probably not even in the Christian south.

The south is very conservative in that freakish reborn-Christian kind of way. Rap music is a no-go. Any alternative music in fact is the incarnation of pure evil. Ladies in pants are just not accepted (and sometimes even get attacked as a “corrective measure”), and forget any modern art. In fact any liberal, free thinking can end up being a dangerous lifestyle in southern Sudan. So probably no worker there will strike over eventual reduced free alcohol access at the beer factory. On top of that jobs are not a luxury in the poor, post-war southern Sudan. And thus that labourer wont lay down tools over free beer because it’s very likely that that would be his or her last day at the factory. The replacements are already queuing outside the factory gates.

So Sudan is in election mode. Putting that X down for several layers of government, including the almighty presidency. And remember current president Al Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court for his role in the Darfur onslaught. Wanted – dead or alive, as cowboy George Bush Jr would say proudly.

But the voting didn’t start well in the vast country because of plenty of logistical troubles, and also because many opposition parties had withdrawn before the voting stations even opened. They claim the vote is already rigged before the first Sudanese citizen even puts down the X.

It’s all a bit chaotic. Voting is set for several says. Remote voting stations opened with hours delay. Some registered voters didn’t find their name back on the voting roll. And then so many parties withdrew days before polling day, but after the ballot papers were already printed. So in fact on the ballot paper that voters get as they walk into the voting stations are many parties that have in the meantime withdrawn from the race. Confusing.

Al Bashir will just be re-elected easily in such circumstances. The pariah will remain in his palace.

And then in the south this is all a warming-up exercise for the referendum for independence that is scheduled for early 2011. Wondering how a re-elected Al Bashir will react when the south votes – as is expected - to break away from Sudan. Will his jets fly over south Sudan? Will the war-torn south feel the pain of a new conflict with the north? It’s going to be a tense countdown till that referendum. Will the birth of the new nation, called Southern Sudan, be drenched in blood or will the secession be reasonably smooth? And once again, oil is a core factor in the stand-off between north and south. Black gold fuels the flames of war.

From the sandpit of Sudan southwards to South Africa. Hope of Africa. Host of the soccer world cup in less than 2 months.

Easter Saturday saw white-supremacist Eugene Terre’Blanche being slaughtered to death by 2 of his black farm workers. A very brutal affair. Racial tensions got a spike. Suspected killers will face their trial and meanwhile Terre’Blanche has been buried on his farm. Ashes to ashes, dirt (oh yes) to dirt.

His party, the Afrikaner Resistance Movement, first claimed revenge but then quickly put water on the flames of hatred. But tensions remain. But his party is a spent-force. A ghost of the dark past. Last October Terre’Blance wanted to revive, relaunch his party but only 200 or so fellow narrow-minded whites showed up at the party. He really had lost most of his attraction and the vast majority of whites have moved on. Either they emigrated to Australia. Either they never believed in white supremacy. Either they decided to stay within the democratic playground and marked their X behind the name of democratic opposition parties (or some for the ruling party of the African National Congress).

Terre'Blanche, himself from a French bloodline traced back to the French port of Toulouse, kept believing in the dream of the rebirth of a white, Afrikaner homeland.

But now it seems that there might be a very dark secret to his brutal death. The slaughter by his 2 farm workers (a teenager and a young man in his 20s) might follow years of sexual abuse. Indeed, white supremacist Terre’Blanche might have been involved in gay activities. The white supremacist with firm Christian beliefs might have sodomised a black, teenage farm worker. Kick that! If it wouldn’t be so damn sad it would make a great Hollywood script.

In his views blacks were the lesser race,... but just maybe good enough for a gay s**k and a gay f**k. The ultimate treason to his own beliefs and speeches and arguments and views and opinions. His community is in shock and hates the outside world even more. Reality is hard to accept. The first black president in 1994 was already a crude shock to their system, but now this possibility that their proud, horse-riding leader had this dark, evil, sick secret is really pushing his followers to the bottle.

Pharmacies and bottle stores will do booming business. Pills and booze for the betrayed.

The trial of his 2 killers should bring out some interesting revelations. And not those of the bible-kind. Ashes to ashes, dirt to dirt.

Human behaviour needs a drink to wash away the vomit.

Throw out. The hard-hitting lads from Queens, NY are still pounding. Sick Of It All is about to release a new album – “Based On A True Story”. And once again it’s full of energy, in-your-face rhythms and lots of power. The band has been releasing demos, singles, albums since 1986 on a very regular basis. And although age is catching up unavoidably, after nearly 25 years Sick of It All still rules and rules hard. “Based On A True Story” has 14 tracks that simply proof these 4 lads are far from finished. Kick that. Respect.

C -Ya

collateral – somewhere near the middle of April 2010