Thabo

After viewing 'The Endgame' (2009 British film based upon the book The Fall of Apartheid by Robert Harvey) on TV last week, I was left with a revised sense of respect for our previous president who, whatever else he may have been accused of, did perform an important part of his job description as the leader of a country, namely to espouse a vision. Remember the African Rennaissance?
A president is not generally expected have a long ToDo list but he does have to lead the country and the formulation of a vision seems to me to be an important first step. Thabo also believed strongly in the sub-Saharan region rather than simply his own back yard (or pocket). 
I am wondering what the present encumbent's offering is in the vision category or, for that matter, what his ToDo list includes. Or will another term of office be required for this purpose?
Most powerfully, the film reminded me that Thabo was actually fired by the current guy!

Baghdad

I know the reason..
You don’t have to lie
This is the season when the wells run dry
You don’t have to lie
Truth is in the sky

I saw you walking
You were alone
Nobody was talking, no-one was at home
You don’t have to think
Don’t have to do anything

Richie Havens sang at Woodstock
‘Sometimes I feel like a motherless child
A long way from home…’

Both bridges to Baghdad
Are broken now
Some people were swimming
I thought they might drown
Ah but they have no water
You don’t see them cry
Even their tears are dry
Truth is in their eyes
They’ve seen through your lies.. lala lies

art in a vacuum?

The relationship between artist and audience is bilateral; the one cannot exist without the other. This means that the artist must ‘see’ her audience when she creates, at very least in her mind’s eye.
Art cannot exist in a vacuum – it needs a recipient in order to come alive. So naturally there must be some form of communication between artist and audience, some basic acknowledgement of each other’s existence, failing which there can be no art. The artist can never survive without an audience, however small or critical. The audience is a precious component of the performance.
The corollary of this is that artists will wither if they are ignored; this is why enlightened civilizations throughout history have patronized them.
The moral of the story – demand live music, support theatre, view ‘art’ movies, read books, buy art!

Is property ownership sustainable?

I have been questioning this for some time. Given the finite amount of property available on the planet, it seems somewhat 'random' that future generations will only be able to acquire their piece of land through inheritance or great wealth. So historical 'haves' simply have an unassailable position over the 'have nots'; tough! Is that sustainable? Those of us living in Africa have seen hallowed 'title' swept aside quite recently. An interesting analogy is the voluntary abandonment of title in the Scottish countryside by Londoners when they realised that local villagers did not welcome them as weekend visitors. It seems to me that property, like air, might belong to community rather than individuals and that there will be a future trend in that direction. This discussion may also apply to resources such as hydrocarbons...

Competition

Competition is a key component of our modern earthly existence. When watching a brilliant, beautifully filmed documentary on leopards in Kenya recently, I was struck by the harshness and apparent cruelty of nature and how this is mirrored in our human experience. The film graphically demonstrated how competitiveness in nature is a matter of survival.
The free enterprise system, as embraced by the West and now profoundly by China and India, relies upon competition as a cornerstone.
Competition is healthy..... It optimizes demand and supply, sets prices, delivers excellence, builds economies and creates opportunities. It is also happens to fuel materialism, nationalism, the celebrity culture, eco-damage, and other elements of our 21st century civilization.
Spirituality is what sets man apart from animals. It is also that element within the human make up which does not rest comfortably with competition. In fact spirituality requires transcendence of competition and all its manifestations. Therein lies a conflict – how to reconcile right livelihood with progress; how to achieve spirituality within a competitive environment.
This is especially ironic when formal religions compete with each other as to which one is ‘most spiritual’…..

Plain English

Legal agreements do not need to be written in Dickensian English nor studded with Latin words and phrases. On the contrary, they must accurately convey the precise intention of the parties in current, commonly understood language. One reason for using irritating 'small print' is that contracts are too wordy. This has the double impact of making them illegible and difficult to comprehend for most people. Some legal systems have embraced the principle of 'plain English' which addresses these issues. American contracts are still often wordy and complicated while those in Australia are generally not. In South Africa we lie somewhere in the middle. The doctrine of plain English applies to legislation too. It is our right and duty to express legal relationships in accessible language. Practitoners generating cumbersome contracts are not serving their clients.

Dispute Resolution

Here is an alternative world view - conflicts can be resolved by agreement rather than contest. Traditionally we are taught that disputes need be referred to some third party like a judge or arbitrator who will make a finding. This is unnecessary – parties always have the option to settle disputes by way of agreement. Mediation has long been applied to resolve political disputes. More recently it has become a popular alternative to commercial litigation not least because it is much quicker, cheaper and less stressful. Generally the essence of a dispute is less complex than the litigation process would suggest. Commercial mediations are inevitably finalized in a fraction of the time they would otherwise have taken, and the parties end up still talking! Business really does not need to play the legal arm wrestling game – the time and money can be spent much more productively.