The question comes up sometimes,
why I write a blog which must be seen as critical of government and the way we
citizens do things. The question sometimes arises why I raise the same issues
in other ways in my books. The answer came in a conversation I had with a good
friend, an elderly person with a very good education, majoring in economics.
The person is one who, I would expect, would be as aware as I am about what is
going wrong in our society, and what the consequences are likely to be. The
conversation referred to a telephone conversation regarding communications via
the internet, during which I mentioned the fact that there is extensive
surveillance of private communications between individuals over supposedly secure
channels, without any need or reason for such surveillance. After all, the vast
majority of the public have no intention to bring about the downfall of the
Government by illicit means. It is a known fact that the ruling Party views
‘regime change’ as a particularly despicable act, and any intention to do so in
any way as an act of treason. This, belief, however, is not justified. The
Constitution makes it abundantly clear that it is the responsibility, and the
duty, of citizens to keep tabs on what the Government, and particularly the
political arm of it, is doing, and to act positively to bring about a change
when they see that the Government is not acting in the legitimate interests of
the citizens. Part of that process is communicating with others what the
Government is doing wrong, so that knowledge, the most dangerous adversary of
unbridled wrongdoing, is brought to the minds of the voters, who can then
exercise their legitimate rights. Dictatorial Governments, and, most obviously,
Parties exercising the practices of the communist brainwashers, do not want the
public to know what they are doing, or what the real consequences of their acts
will be. Most citizens do not have degrees in Economics or Logic, or even
understanding of the double-speak that is practiced by dishonest politicians.
In fact, most people seldom take the time to analyse the news, limited though
it is, to gain the understanding that is necessary for them to carry out their
function as responsible citizens. As the South African Communist Party said, if
the average voter would read a newspaper, the ANC would not be re-elected. The
average voter does not read a newspaper, relying instead on what people with a
particular axe to grind tells them of the state of affairs in the nation, and does
not take the time, indeed does not have the mental equipment, to evaluate what
they are told. It is no surprise that evil people are able to gain ascendancy
in a country, as they have in South Africa, and then proceed to plunder the
country for their own enrichment. And the worst of it is that they are
generally prepared to do things that will pay the (sometimes) small percentage
to them, ignoring the massive damage that it will do to the rest of the
economy. A good example of this is the corruption that has been witnessed at
Eskom. The loss to the public, although small in terms of the total volume of
funds flowing through that entity, has been enormous in economic terms, as the
reliable supply of power at an economic cost is recognized as a prime driver of
economic activity. The unreliability of the supply by Eskom, and the
ever-increasing cost of it, has been a significant driver of the decline of
mining and industry in the country, resulting in a downgrade in the country’s
securities and a rate of unemployment in reality of around 50%. If one is
seeking economic crimes to track down and redress, Eskom and the crooks
associated with it must be prime targets, all of them known to the newspaper,
and yet, surprisingly, despite the hundreds of millions spent on State Security
and Criminal Intelligence, not to mention Priority Crimes Investigation, not
one person has been charged with wrongdoing!
There can be little doubt that an
evaluation of the ‘work’ done by all of those involved in surveillance of the
citizens will reveal that remarkably little of value has resulted. That
evaluation would certainly show that much of the (legally wrongful)
surveillance has been used for illicit purposes. Many innocent, but
politically-aware people have mentioned that facts that should have been
private have come out in unexpected places, leading them to believe that their
private communications have been subject to eavesdropping. This is a classical
tactic of authoritarian regimes, such as the Soviet Russian, the communist East
German and the communist Cuban, and, far from gathering information for a
legitimate prosecution of individuals intending unlawful conduct, it is used as
a means of terrorizing dissident portions of the population. It is no less than
State-sponsored terrorism of the people.
In these circumstances, it is
close to criminally negligent of people to ignore the manifestations of
wrongdoing by the Government or any organ of it. It is an abandonment of rights
that thousands suffered to gain. It is the duty of every citizen to know, as
accurately as may be possible, what the Government is doing to them and in
their name. It is not acceptable to give the excuse that ‘it does not affect
me’. It does affect you. Wrongdoing in any form affects everyone, without exception.
An injury to my rights is an affront to every citizen, on every side of the
political spectrum. Everyone has a right to express what he believes, in
accordance with the Constitution, and everyone must afford him or her that
right. Any attempt to obstruct that right is a grievous affront to those who
suffered to create it.
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