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Stonmann
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Matthew Johnston @Stonmann

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This Is Ridiculous

Posted by Stonmann - February 14th, 2023

I know - understandably - no-one reads these posts, but I have to get this out there. I read an article last night (I lied it was 1 in the morning) that Stellenbosch University, one the most Afrikaans unies in South Africa, has banned the colloquial speaking of Afrikaans on campus. I always thought that maybe one day Afrikaans would be banned, but now that is a reality coming closer and closer over the horizon.


I only know in detail one instance of a language being banned and that's when after the Jacobite Rebellions, the "UK" (cough cough England) banned the speaking of Scottish Gaelic, and I can't sit and watch the people I interact with daily suffer the same way my ancestors did.


I'm not Afrikaans, and I know the history of Afrikaners is by no means peachy and rosy, but you can't let the actions of the past taint the view of the present. #DON'TKILLAFRIKAANS

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Cyberdevil

Woah... I can understand choosing to not teach the language, but limiting a form of communication people already know... seems this'll just add to the tensions over there.

You actually live in South Africa though hmm... how's life over there these days? A while back at least seemed to be... pretty crazy. As per the impressions I get from: https://www.youtube.com/live/vkU5OC2D0Hc?feature=share

Stonmann

When talking about life in South Africa you have to understand, even though the Apartheid is long since finished, the country is still incredibly segregated. It is THE most economically divided nation (as in the smallest top percentage of the population own the most) in the world. This applies socially as well. I'm white, and I tend to socialise with people who have the same advantage and/or the few black/coloured (that term has different meaning here don't get mad) that worked their way up after Apartheid. So in MY South Africa, pretty much everyone has a pool and especially domestic workers because of the high unemployment rate. But the vast majority of South Africans live in pretty tough conditions.

I'll tell what doesn't take racial borders (as long as your not a politician in which case you get a get outta jail free card, literally): Fucking Loadshedding. I kid you not I'm writing this in the dark right now. It may just seem like a ginormous inconvenience, but it genuinely has a really crippling effect on business and economy.

Cyberdevil

Load-shedding huh, I hadn't heard that term before, giving it a Google... the first result that pops up is the South Africa government schedule for it! Soo how does that work... are there set times where the grid goes down entirely? Or just for certain customers/parts of the country? Definitely seems like it'd affect business, and so much more, crime rates, social stability, stuff like that...

Do you have a UPS, or generator if you need it? I guess laptops have a strong selling point compared to stationary computers over there...

As for the social situation I do know a bit about it, familiar with the black/coloured terms too, just haven't heard any insights from anyone I could speak to directly. It's interesting to get a perspective from someone who's really there. Appreciate it.

Do you think things will ever get better? Do you plan to stay there? Even if you're amongst the prvilaged it seems like a dangerous place to be, lots of home robberies I hear?

Stonmann

So Eskom, the electricity company, makes schedules that cut off electricity, across the country. They try and make it even across the country, but rural areas get hit harder and Cape Town tends to get less than Joburg. We have a generator for the TV, and WIFI but no lights. No I don't think I want to stay here. My family is considering moving back to the UK where me and my sister was born.

Cyberdevil

Ah man... it's interesting how we take certain things for granted; how different life becomes if you just cut those elements out of it. We have been getting some power issues over here too, but nothing intentional, it seems the transition from fossil fuels to green energy isn't keeping up with the demand for it though, nuclear reactors are shutting down before there are viable replacements in place, wind energy for example often doesn't work in winter, when there's no wind, and electricity use tends to get even higher. So costs are up something like ~800%. But it still works...

Interesting to know! Hope you get to a better place then; the move goes through.

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