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http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Outrage-as-blind-busker-dragged-away-20130709
... this is not the fault of the police but of those who called the police to have the blind busker removed; the world is full of insensitive people who have little or no understanding of the plight of the disabled, and have no hesitation to demand deployment of police for trivial matters. Like drops of rain at the source of a river, these instances of disharmony collect and manifest as mighty rivers of political turmoil. Then, all the environmentally Green behaviour will not be enough to ensure Sustainability. Sustainability is a holistic phenomenon, requiring compassion and fairness.
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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324853704578583911687210152.html
... Sustainability is not a soccer match with penalty shoot outs. Winning by a political penalty shoot out (a few percentage points?) requires even more discipline thereafter to not be under the illusion of the 'democratic' right to a 'winner take all' ... the Political Cup needs to be proportionately shared! When one party acts unfairly towards another no amount of environmentally Green behaviour will achieve Sustainability: "The turning point in Mr. Morsi's presidency came on Nov. 22, when he asserted unchecked executive authority through a constitutional declaration and, weeks later, rammed [a] constitution through to ratification. When mass protests erupted in response, Mr. Morsi and his [party] colleagues dispatched [party] cadres to attack the protesters, and seven people were killed in the fighting." When the Nationalists took power in South Africa, in the 1940s, albeit in a 'whites only democracy', they used 'constitutional' changes to entrench themselves and smother democratic processes ... Apartheid was the result, for decades, even though a very large minority (perhaps as much as a third?) of whites were not in favour of Apartheid. Until the holistic demand of Sustainability is recognised, as a totality, the only sustainable phenomenon will be chaos and disaster. Much may be wrong with South Africa, but constitutionally much is also very right!
The idea that democracy is a winner takes all, even by the slightest of margins is unsustainable. Events in Egypt indicate this where the government in power was elected by a slight majority. The idea that one nominal half of the country (a literal majority of 2%) can prescribe to the other nominal half is bound to be unsustainable! Only 'half the people' have spoken in favour of the prevailing government and where governments do not have sufficient checks and balances in place there is bound to be trouble. Furthermore, in Egypt it is possible that the swing has been to the opposition, making this the real majority. This makes it worse ... In South Africa this situation is recognised by the constitution requiring more than a handful of percentage points in majority before it can be changed. The attention paid to drawing up the constitution beforehand was crucial and reinforces this - however, despite the powerful case study of South Africa in resolving conflict the wisdoms it presents are mostly not fully acknowledged and observed elsewhere. Governments should avoid the fallacy of doing as if they represent most of the people on the basis of a slight majority ... and when they might then only be representing a minority through subsequent loss of support, it becomes a recipe for even more trouble. Bloodshed may then become tragically inevitable ... |
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