“Change in political and economic power”

Protestors demonstrate in 

Columbia, S.C. in response 

to the recent killing of 

George Floyd at the hands 

of law enforcement. 

Sean Rayford, © The New York Times

Click to enlarge

Fourteen thousand miles/ twenty-three thousand kilometers from the US yet I feel, and sympathize (non-violently) with the anger in the streets of my adopted country.
I’ve lived, worked, and engaged with events in the San Francisco Bay Area for many years, including the 1992 Rodney King riots, the 2010 Oscar Grant riots, the 2003 anti-war protests, and the 2011 Occupy encampments.
What protesters say now was true then: We, the People, protest injustice and mobilize for change yet our protests go nowhere - beyond police banging up protesters, shooting with rubber bullets, and arresting hundreds.
We get labeled, too.
Once upon a time, “Communist” was the worst Boogieman name to label Americans. These days, “socialist”, even “Democrat”, thanks to Trump - are in the running, but both lag behind the current worst naming label: “Antifa.”
Antifa lends itself to amorphous projections that imply all the bugaboo lables: communist, un-American, traitor, terrorist, domestic terrorist, socialist, Democrat, radical, Left, far-Left, and ultra-Left. It implies youth: dissatisfied, disengaged, disenfranchised, disempowered. And, dare I say it, it implies poor “people of color”…
In fact, Antifa is an abbreviation for something truly American: anti-fascist.
Pronounced an-tee-fah, and defined as “a political protest movement comprising autonomous groups affiliated by their militant opposition to fascism and other forms of extreme right-wing ideology.”
If Antifa is made up predominantly of young people (no proof of that) then these young people are among the most politically engaged Americans. They’re willing to risk their health and well-being to demand progressive change in our country.
South Africans know how to protest – effectively, too. Yet, for me right now, KZN seems so, so far from the current round of protests in the US that:

…shook more than three dozen [American] cities on Saturday as crowds expressed outrage over the death of George Floyd…. Demonstrators shut down freeways, set fires and battled police batons and tear gas…the pain and frustration of the moment spilling out into the streets.
In Columbia, the city where Mr. [Joe] Biden delivered his victory speech after the South Carolina primary just over three months ago, demonstrators on Saturday said they were demanding more than what it seemed like an election in November would deliver. Not only justice for the death of George Floyd, but change in political and economic power that would prevent the death of another black person in police custody, another brutal video going viral.

Ah, “change in political and economic power”….
“Change” is a tough enough ask of politicians.
Add “in political and economic power”… and you’re wandering into the realm of “ain’t gonna happen” – at least not without sustained protest.

News blues…

“Willing to kill democracy”?

…we can focus this simply on Trump or we can also focus on all of those folks that have enabled Trump: the Republican leadership, the corporation that may make statements in support of this work but, on the other hand, do all sorts of things to prop up, support, donate to Donald Trump. You don’t get Trump and Trumpism without a whole host of institutions and individuals that support and enable him.”

***

The Lincoln Project reports that Republican Senator Mitch McConnel responds to their ad, “Rich Mitch”  with a page from Trump’s playbook: tweeting insults.
McConnell roundly denounces the team who created the ad with name calling: inane, ridiculous, etc. But the Gentleman from Kentucky does not refute their central claim, that Mitch enriched himself at the cost of Kentucky.
To be fair, Mitch’s second wife Elaine Chao, inherited money after her mother died in 2007. That marriage would have increased Mitch’s net worth on paper. He balanced those books by elevating his wife to Transportation Secretary.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Further symptoms of Lockdown Syndrome. Yesterday, I described a growing obsession with the various patterns displayed by my iPhone’s Last Charge Level.
Today, I recognize my daily Weed Walking  around the garden resembles the anxious lope of a Bored Zoo Animal.
Limited access to Internet news and limited exposure to public behavior under Lockdown suggests South Africans view Lockdown Level 3 as an opportunity to socialize again.
Accordingly, I elected to delay until next week the gardener’s return to work, and then he’ll work only one day. Returning to/from work via public taxi one day a week poses a risk of Covid-19 infection; returning three days a week is a greater risk, one I’m unwilling to take.

***

Yesterday, one domestic worker suffered a medical episode that’s a repeat of an event eight years ago diagnosed as a stroke.
Her face swelled up and her upper lip was rigid. Swelling is not a feature of stroke, nor is moving around easily.
An ambulance transported her to a provincial public hospital.
This raises a dilemma.
South Africa’s notoriously under-funded and over-crowded public hospitals cater to, well, ill people, including people carrying, knowingly or unknowingly, coronavirus.
Today, I sought advice from a “sister” – an advanced nursing professional – on how safely to incorporate the worker back into the household.
The domestic worker returned – unexpectedly by public taxi – to quarantine.
We’ll all take necessary precautions.

***

Another round of canna removal.
The succulent garden I imagine slowly takes shape.

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