Author: manqindi

Post imperial wind drift. Swazi, British, Zimbabwe-Rhodesian, Irish, New Zealand citizen and resident, now in Queensland, Australia. 10th generation African of mainly European descent. Catholic upbringing, more free thinker now. BA and Law background. Altar boy, wages clerk, uncle, prefect, student, court clerk, prosecutor, magistrate, convoy escort, pensioner, HR Practitioner, husband, stepfather, father, bull terrier lover, telephone interviewer, Call Centre manager, HR manager, grandfather, author (amateur)

Odds and Ends

For some time I have been trying to work out what are the essences of Conservatism and Liberalism in politics.

Liberal politicians aim to maximise the transfer of wealth from Capital to the general population; Conservatives aim to increase the ability of business to generate wealth which in turn generates benefits to the population.

It would be easy to say Liberals are populists who succeed by appeasing the masses with new benefits and Conservatives are dedicated to preserving the wealth of the elites. Still a class war then…

The mission of both left and right wings is to be perceived as the greatest benefactor. If the Left take too much from the wealth generators, the economy falters and the voters suffer, if the Right do not give enough they will be abandoned, even if the economy is booming, although that can be a major attraction.

So recently in Australia, the Conservatves lost out in the election, despite “protecting” the economy during Covid: it was skilfully portrayed by the Left as arrogant and mysoginistic.

In the US the Liberals (Democrats) are seen to be too progressive with new rights and change, despite giving huge economic benefits, while the right (Republicans) are resistant and supportive of Trump who while personally offensive, appeals as a champion of conservative rights.

This is in my view is where the main battle in the World Woke War will be fought.

Moving on…

While Rugby remains my main affection, it has not been that exciting in recent years, despite skills seeming to improve.

The introduction of the TMO and on screen reviews is a contributor. Referees are no longer instinctive and decisive. The TMO should be reserved for reviewable foul play to be actioned after the game.

The other issue was the expulsion of Israel Folau, in my view one of the greatest rugby football talents ever. This is part of the Woke wave, along with the taking of the knee, welcomes to the country and the promotion of indigenous causes, support for the Voice, etc. which saw administrators kissing a number of arses to maximise their virtue signals.

They forgot that they are paid employees not elected representatives of players – they need to ensure that their utterances have the support of all players or shut up!

On the other hand…

I must say that I have really enjoyed the FIFA Womens’ World Cup matches that I have watched. I confess that I resented the intrusion of females into what I saw as male sports. I recant and am now a supporter, even of female rugby, although I cringe at the crunch of some of the contacts on those soft female bodies….

For men, it was sort of manly and glorious to be injured; a spot of claret endorsed manliness, a badge of glory – what is the significance for women?

There is no denying that they can be just as tough and their blood is also red but it is somehow uncomfortable. Vestiges of mysogyny?

Just to round it off..

I am glad that there seems to be backswing against transgender men being permitted to compete in womens’ sports. I don’t think they should be allowed in womens’ prisons either or in their toilets.

Who would think I was once threatened with deportation for my liberal views?

How lucky can we get?

The world’s largest cruise ship named “Icon Of The Seas” sets sail in January 2024. It will carry 5610 passengers and 2350 crew members.

It’s 5 times larger and heavier than the Titanic, has 19 floors with more than 40 bars, restaurants and bowling alleys; it will have 6 slides, 7 swimming pools and 9 hot tubs. It promises more than 40 ways to dine, drink and entertain, many of them included in the cruise fare.

Picture yourself on a majestic cruise ship, where the mission is to devour copious amounts of food, boogie down on the dance floor, indulge in endless beverages, and splash around like a slip-n-slide champion.

Ahoy, matey! Get ready for a hilariously epic adventure on this floating wonderland!

NOT!!

But that is a foretaste of what our futureworld is going to look like – thousands crammed into small areas with carnivals on all corners to keep them happy.

In the cities anyway; for a while, in the outback, there will be space and freedom to move and breathe. But soon everyone will be enthralled by the media to follow the trend directions of the mass manipuleteers.

Very few will be able to withstand the pressure to conform and wear hoodies under blazers, boilersuits and tractor trek-sole boots; drink trendy snap chilled coffee, dine on sobrassada, ricotta and escabeche, rump cap and softserves.

Only for a while of course, until the new trends are put in motion and the masses follow the prompts of their latest model i-phones.

We are lucky that while there is a lemming like rush to live in cities, especially on the coast, there is a corresponding vacuum being created in the small country towns and hamlets…

Well, I have probably squashed sufficient sensitivities to stimulate at least one retort (I hope) …..

In the bleak mid-winter

I sometimes feel a bit feeble and a little apprehensive that the phone will ring to say a dear one is dead, or worse, dying.

Those are some of the prospects of the downhill side of the age spectrum.

Of course, there are others.

My newest grandchild is 3 months old today and can count to 42 and speaks some Italian. I have another due in a month! My oldest grandchild is already ten and growing into a terrifying beauty.

Six sprouts to water with tears of pride and joy.

Our children are grown up and independent; indulgent of their sometimes unwieldy parent. The tick tock is inexorable and marches on at pace.

I am dismayed to find we have been in Australia for 10 years already, after 15 in New Zealand.

Yet, Africa still aches within me: its politicians infuriate me and the increased pace of the crumbling of the infrastructure sickens. But it is where most of my extended family are and a trace of guilt lingers: that I will not die there where 9 generations of ancestors died and my parents, 4 sisters and two brothers have chosen to die.

But my chosen home is a bright, comfortable place and we see the grandchildren quite often, but not too much.

There are still four more Ashes tests and the Rugby World Cup this year.

Who do I want to win? Australia for the Ashes of course; the rugby is more difficult: I am a citizen of Ireland and New Zealand and live in Australia but my playing days were in Southern Africa.

I think I may bet on the Irish but my heart will be with the Bokke.

Perhaps I should re-read Desiderata:

… in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.

Be cheerful.

Strive to be happy.

Friday thoughts-Winter, 2023

“….. a bullet at dawn is better than being dismebered by a shell…” a line from a Sebastian Faulks novel “Snow Country“.

A soldier’s realism making desertion and the entailed disparagements of cowardice a better choice than savage maiming or horrible death. Life choices can be brutal.

The context was involvement in the Brusilov Offensive of World War 1 which probably turned the war in the Allied favour and incidentally, had one of highest casualties rates of that terrible war.

It was fought in North West Ukraine, about 107 years ago. That poor country.

Today I harvested two granadillas from my vines, which have a promising crop. I will trade them for some of our neighbours navel oranges which glow on their tree and are the sweetest, best oranges ever!

Lulu was attacked by a white ball of fur and had her tail pulled – fortunately Rosie saved her and calmed the neighbours who were aghast by their pet’s aggression. She is a wonder, that woman!

We have seen a Koala in the vicinity – he is a local lad, difficult to spot, but has been around for years.

The Higgins/#metoo/Parliamentary sex scandal is gaining traction…. evidence is emerging of secret support and lies in Parliament. Will a few more Ministers crash and burn in this sordid saga?

It seems the Voice may be getting a wee bit hoarse. There was a suggestion that focus thereon was a way to distract the populace from the pain of a shrinking economy, housing shortages, rising inflation and high minimum wage increases.

Looks like the Reserve Bank Governor is going to be sacrificed for raising interest rates to combat the inflationary increase in wages by the government and its agencies. Jim Chalmers seems to be quite a nasty chap!

The Australians are well on the way to walloping the Indians at the Oval – I am horrified that Ashwin was omitted, so maybe it is deserved. He is a wonder!

Thank God for cricket, rugby has been getting a bit boring…

Per me si va la perduta gente

“Through me go the lost people” written on the gates of hell according to Dante’s Inferno, which is part of his Divine Comedy.

It was quoted in a novel, but it gave me pause. Recently, I was debating with a good friend, a pious and patient Christian, who has never hesitated in his efforts to persuade me to make the leap of faith required to be given the keys of heaven.

I am a sceptic, a Catholic who reversed to be a questioner, not a believer. To be honest this was because I lapsed and stopped following the disciplines of the religion in which I was baptised and confirmed. It was too hard to live the good life and still get up for mass and confess my sins in order that I could receive the body of Christ. Domine, non sum dignus,  ut intres sub tectum meum, sed tantum dic verbo et sanibitur anima meum – the legionnaire’s words to Jesus: I am not worthy, … say but the word and my soul shall be healed.

So I rationalised that I could leave it to God to forgive me (if I deserved it). My later thoughts and cursory research has instilled in me a great distrust of man as a purveyor of God or the Gods’ words.

The mere fact that there are estimated to be more than 45 000 Christian denominations with new prophets and witnesses, each with their own interpretation of the Christian God, suggests that since Jesus, religion has been a fertile field for creativity … and a comfortable living?

If we include the myriad of different sects amongst Muslims, Hindus, Jews,Buddhists, Taoists and many more, all with their own gods and dogma, how can we tell the good news from the fake news?

I believe that Gods exist as an answer to our need for Them. In order for us to be able to see our way forward, gods show us Heaven/Nirvana/ Valhalla at the end of the road, guide us and welcome us when we die…

… if we believe in them.

So I have been given pause for thought by Dante. Looks like I may be bound for the inferno.

I am reassured that my friend has a firm hold of my coat tails and may still pull me back! So, while I may not have the required faith, I still have not abandoned Hope.

I hope that unaddressed prayers still get delivered!

Using my Voice

David Pocock was a great rugby player and I admire his impetus and integrity as a Senator. He recently called on Rugby Australia and all sporting bodies to support the call for a Voice in Australia.

I take exception to that – to me it’s like telling all sportspeople they must take a knee.

Consequently, I read the Uluru Statement from the Heart*. I regret that I was disappointed but not surprised.

I accept this document represents the views and beliefs of many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and that these various indigenous peoples were the sovereign rulers of Australasia at the time of European colonisaion.

Sovereignty relates to power. So, prior to colonisation, the indigenous people had the power over the land. They certainly were not united as one people and battles were common ** and it is assumed sovereignty over land changed over time – that is the explicit nature of mankind.

Colonisation is an economic force and those who are technologically superior will prevail, by seduction or force or both. The colonised are suppressed until over time they are assimilated or rise up and overthrow the colonists. That is the history of mankind.

The Uluru statement infers that longevity of possession confers eternal sovereignty over the land and states that the indigenous people “must one day return thither and be united with …. ancestors”.

It is remarkable to note the religosity that surrounds this concept of custody and ownership of the land – it has permeated Australian social values and is pronounced at every major public spectacle. A remarkable public relations coup!

Attachment to the land and access to the graves of ancestors is not just an Aboriginal thing – but they have made it iconic.

It cannot be disputed that Aboriginals have proportionally higher representation amongst the incarcerated and that children are alienated from their families at unprecedented rates. There are protestations that “we are not innately criminal” which suggests that while there may be evidence they committed crimes or abuse, they should somehow be exonerated as the victims of rapacious colonists.

Whatever and wherever, there is a strong case for effective and cohesive actions to be taken to facilitate opportunities to escape the spiral of ignorance, indulgence, poverty and crime.

However, the guilt scars left by the treatment of the stolen generation are strongly etched in the Australian psyche and the Voice is possibly seen as a simple way to ease that guilt. Virtue signalling is very fashionable at the moment…

The statement talks of possession of the land i.e. ownership … does that not suggest that ultimately there must be compensation for historical dispossession at today’s values?

It seems that the Voice is saying: Show me the money…!

In the US, some local governments are contemplating compensating present day African Americans for the hardships of slavery.  The Canadian government will pay A$3billion in compensation to hundreds of Indigenous communities for decades of abuse suffered by First Nations, Métis and Inuit children in residential schools. The Maori in New Zealand have wrung millions from the Crown in recent years, which is an enticing precedent.

In the African sub-continent of my birth, there is a great push by Nguni tribes for return or recompense for land they once possessed for a while, and they are not even of First Nations aristocracy, just recent tenants!

Let us be clear on what is being sought:“substantive constitutional change and structural reform….to empower our people…... a Makaratta Commission to supervise a process of agreement making between governments and First Nations”

This is needed to end “the torment of our powerlessness“

The indigenous people are seeking more power than that which they share with non-indigenous Australians.

This is a classic manifestation of Woke thinking: generate guilt and moral wrong by highlighting historical inequalities and injustices and impute the blame on the current electorate and demanding rectification by reconstructing society and its institutions.

This is a modern application of democracy based only on sentiment.

Looked at objectively, granting more power to Indigenous people will only differentiate them more and cost more, with no guarantee of upliftment.

Beneficial action to uplift segments of society does not require constitutional amendment it requires clarity of purpose, consultation and adherence to a course of action.

Before you vote in the referendum, think carefully about the implications and why you are doing it.

Is it just to show you are sorry or do you believe it is right to give more power (money) to a differentiated sector of the population, based on that difference?

And who will be next? L G B T Q I … ?

*Uluru Statement from the Heart referendumcouncil.org.au/sites/default/files/2017-05/Uluru_Statement_From_The_Heart_0.PDF

** https://international-review.icrc.org/articles/indigenous-australian-laws-of-war-914

Are you a leader or a follower?

Daily writing prompt
Are you a leader or a follower?
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I tend to go my own way. I sometimes lead and sometimes I follow. I’m a slow thinker and don’t react fast, so sometimes I follow then stop. Sometimes I dash out the door to do something … then stop and think about it.

I often follow my wife’s lead