Uproar

[Traps]

My attack on John Minto the New Zealander who refused the OR Tambo award (denied by our govt as being on offer) caused a bit of uproar.

Minto claims that the multiracial ANC govt of Thabo Mbeki is as criminal as the apartheid one.

I hammered him for it and took flack :

Thought Leader » Michael Trapido » Apostasy born of hubris: The John Minto story

Pari any thoughts?

[Parihaka]

like John Minto, I too protested the tour in 81, and as such would be happy to accept this award on behalf of the other protestors .
Donning an old motorcycle helmet, a homemade plywood shield and my dads old greatcoat I proceeded to get the tar beaten out of me by our local constabulary and relished every bruise and contusion.
Unlike Mr Minto however, I was then and am now capable of recognising the difference between a cause and an ideology that dictates all power groups are evil. Minto believes the latter, and his primary motivation is simply to challenge all authority under whatever cause-du-jour he currently aligns himself with, as long as that cause antagonises the hoi polloi.
In short, he's an ass-clown of the first water who has never grown out of his simplistic 16 year old mentality of being a 'rebel'.

[Traps]

Thanks my buddy I needed that!

[Bigfella]

like John Minto, I too protested the tour in 81, and as such would be happy to accept this award on behalf of the other protestors .
Donning an old motorcycle helmet, a homemade plywood shield and my dads old greatcoat I proceeded to get the tar beaten out of me by our local constabulary and relished every bruise and contusion.
Unlike Mr Minto however, I was then and am now capable of recognising the difference between a cause and an ideology that dictates all power groups are evil. Minto believes the latter, and his primary motivation is simply to challenge all authority under whatever cause-du-jour he currently aligns himself with, as long as that cause antagonises the hoi polloi.
In short, he's an ass-clown of the first water who has never grown out of his simplistic 16 year old mentality of being a 'rebel'.

Parihaka a communist fellow traveller. I never thought I'd see the day.;)

You do realize they'll cancel your subscription to 'Baby Eating Conservative Monthly' for this, don't you? :))

[Bigfella]

Traps,

While I can't claim Pari's pedigree here (the last Springbok tour of Australia took place when I was 3) I am a lifelong leftie with some fairly harsh views on apartheid. I heartily endorse Pari's analysis. Minto sounds like a first class tool (in case that doesn't translate well across the Indian ocean, it isn't a compliment). Sadly there are some people in this world who want to spend their life revelling in their own martyrdom. Former Australian PM Gough Whitlam referred to it as the 'purity of impotence' - it is easy to be perfect when you will never actually have to attend to the messy business of government.

Like all of us, I share his concern for the poor of Africa, including the RSA. I too have some questions about the way that the ANC has run the RSA. I have NO doubts that the average person of colour has a better life now than they did under apartheid. There are some things that cannot be measured with the crude tools of the 'dismal science'.

An intelligent, mature man would have accepted the award, thanked his hosts and used his acceptance speech to express the hope that it would not be long before all South Africans experienced the material benefits of the freedom he & others campaigned so hard for. Sadly, mr Minto appears to be neither mature nor intelligent.

Send the award to Pari, I'm sure he'll shift his Order of Lenin to one side to make room. :))

[tankie]

.
Donning an old motorcycle helmet, a homemade plywood shield and my dads old greatcoat I proceeded to get the tar beaten out of me by our local constabulary and relished every bruise and contusion.

Hmmm , does your wife know what you get up to with this fetish of yours Pari .

We in the UK had some MPs a bit fettishy as well , they used to don suspenders (ladies ) and get wrapped up in bin liners while sucking on oranges ????, ( he died in one ) but its nothing compared to what you get up to ,you rough tough slightly deranged strange Kiwi ,,, is it :))

[Traps]

Thanks BigFella :

The ANC has like any fledgeling government made many mistakes. I am the first to hammer them on any number of issues.

They have a lot to learn.

Daily they are slammed in the press, parliament and you name it.

That's what a democracy is all about.

Under apartheid you were pro-NP or you were in huge dwang. That was for whites.

As for eg poverty there was no concern because quite frankly they couldn't have given a damn.

Our sitting president Mbeki just lost his presidency of the party at Polokwane BECAUSE of his failure to deal with poverty adequately.

Which makes Minto's claims ridiculous.