A Free Press

This week I have felt tired. Tired with the government for its controversial information bill – I don’t expect us to be having to defend the right to a free press this far into democracy.

But I am equally tired with the media who would like us to think that it is a sacrificial lamb led to the slaughter. I feel that they have lost the plot – it seems like it has stopped being about our right to know but more about the money.  In my book the plot is to provide us with independent information, to increase our awareness of the world we live in so that we can make up our own minds about what to believe. For too long we have lived in a nanny state where we are told what to do and what to believe.

When I pick up a newspaper I feel like I am being manipulated, being steered in a certain direction. Why should I care that Malema wore a purple suit to a wedding in Mauritius? And do I care about who is eating sushi off who? Even if I don’t want to know about it, I can’t ignore it because it is on the front page of not one, but a few newspapers, and on the television when I switch it on. Good karma to them if they think that that is a good way to spend their money. It all feels a bit like the old apartheid propaganda of swart-gevaar – look what these blacks are up to now that they have power/money.

Two weeks ago I went to my favourite annual dinner for awards for ordinary philanthropists. It buoys me up. I didn’t read much about it in the newspapers. Are we really a nation of negative, pessimistic people? Or is it the media who is feeding us doom and gloom? I think sooner or later we will become immune to the shocking. Sometimes days go by and I ignore the newspapers which get delivered to our door. I am tired of the negativity and the manipulation.

If you read the newspapers you will believe that the government is evil. While we have a far way to go still, and much needs to be done, we live in a country with a democratically-elected government. We should all stand up to defend a free press. We should also demand more responsible reporting from that same free press.

My sister works on the other side of the “boerewors curtain” and on Tuesday was texting me some of her colleagues’ comments - among them, the feeling that democracy was going down the drain and maybe we would need an underground newspaper again. Well, Viva! Let’s go for it. Maybe the press needs a bit of pressure to get back to the plot.

Look at us now!

A little while ago I read an article in the newspaper about an archaeological finding in SA that has been hushed up since the 1930's. The finding is thought to be about a 1000 years old and includes gold artifacts and glass beads from India, proving that the early inhabitants of the area must have been established traders. The finding was suppressed because it was contrary to the Apartheid policy that Africans were uncivilised.

Sometimes out of the blue, I realise just how oppressed we were - how controlled every aspect of our lives was and how successful Apartheid policy was in controlling us. We don't realise the miracle that democracy is, that we have overcome the brain-washing of more than 40 years to be where we are today. Certainly, the Apartheid curriculum for the "Department of Coloured, Bantu or Indian Affairs" did not allow for any independent thought.

I was thinking about this after helping my daughter edit her History essay a few days ago. She was to discuss "the impact of internal and external factors on the economic challenges of post-colonial Africa" - quite an interesting discussion ensued about the social and political factors following the independence of African countries from European colonial powers. I am constantly amazed at the subject matter they cover at school these days. I am not sure how many of us realise how much more progressive the school curriculum has become.

A year or two ago she had to design a protest T-shirt for an art project - not so long ago being in possession of such an item of clothing would almost guarantee arrest! And it is not only during Art and History that they are being enlightened. They read literature by African writers, study Human Rights in Life Orientation (we are one of the few countries who do) and the eugenics of race in Biology. My son at junior school is similarly being encouraged to hear both sides of the story and to think for himself. He is certainly not learning the same version of the colonisation of the Cape or of the Zulu war, that we were forced to learn. He learns Xhosa as easily as he learns Afrikaans - no baggage attached.

Imagine the possibilities if we had all been given the opportunity to stretch our minds, to know and to understand. When I was in Sweden for the children's rights awards, Magnus Bergmar, the founder of the WCPRC, told me that he thought that "an ongoing humanisation of every new generation is necessary for any sustainable development." We need strategies for a better world, he went on to say. I know that we still have much work to do, but I think that we are moving in the right direction and that our children are going to be better humans who will make a better world.