Students protest because they can. It's a diverting way to postpone the adult world of reason, tolerance, equanimity, moderation and an honest day's work. It deceives them into feeling powerful. It validates their existence apart from the old establishment. It's a good excuse for a party. Who didn't protest as a student? I sure did.
But then, we had a real cause. An important cause. And the victory of that cause, liberation from an oppressive police state, in a way sanctified our protest and made it a part of our culture. The problem is, what next?
Well, pick a cause. Any cause. For example, when Telkom finally achieves a strategic objective - by now, any strategic objective will do - such as to sell its stake in Vodacom, or outsource billing operations, let's protest! Write letters! Get angry!
Iqbal Jassat and Ighsaan Hendricks did just that. Heads, respectively, of the Media Review Network and the Muslim Judicial Council, they wrote an open letter to Telkom protesting its plans to contract an American company that specialises in billing for the world's biggest telcos. The problem? It was founded by a Jew! They write that the Zionists suppress all opposition to Israel's occupation of Palestine with torture, torment and persecution.
But why would anyone take the word of those who insist that foreigners keep their filthy hands off our phone bills, lest they rob us blind, or sell our secrets in preparation for an illegal, unprovoked war against innocent South African civilians. Besides, maybe they'll refuse to deal with us, because Telkom was founded by a rockspider.
But seriously, besides the offensive tone of the letter, what on earth does Telkom's contract with a US billing operations firm have to do with a 60-year-old conflict halfway across the world? If we couldn't trade with companies that employ people from countries that don't agree with each other, we couldn't trade with anyone. Ask the late PW Botha how that worked out for him. Isolationism breeds poverty and economic stagnation.
But, they say, South Africa's national security might be at risk. The Communications Workers Union (not satisfied with having accomplished its mandate by obtaining a guarantee that Telkom's outsourcing deal will protect and improve its members' jobs, pay and skills) agrees. Ceding majority ownership of Vodacom to Vodafone in the UK, says the union's treasurer, Richard Poulton, will enable the company to “easily listen to our conversations from its head office in London”.
What on earth does Telkom's contract with a US billing operations firm have to do with a 60-year-old conflict halfway across the world?
Ivo Vegter, freelance journalist and columnist
He might be a good treasurer, a tireless campaigner for workers' rights, and great guy, but about telecommunications he clearly has little clue. A telco head office is not a network hub. Calls don't suddenly get routed via London, instead of via the Dark Towers in Pretoria. If calls could be routed more cheaply via London, they'd already be doing it, but they can't, and the sale of a few shares won't rearrange the earth's tectonic plates.
Moreover, South African law already requires telcos to give the government the capability of spying on its citizens - in some cases even without a court warrant. Our calls would be no less secure and private if they were subject to contract law or British jurisdiction.
Ill-informed and prejudiced protests such as these can only perpetuate the status quo. Our crippled telecoms industry will continue to offer inefficient, expensive services. Our people will be unable to keep up with global technology. Investors will continue to steer clear of South Africa, and sell our currency down the drain. The very economic trade that builds prosperity for all will be restricted.
Is this what these political agitators are offering their supporters, and the people of South Africa? “The Jewish capitalist pigs and their warmongering imperialist paymasters say they want to do business with our developing country. We protest! Stop developing!”
Their rhetoric would do Robert Mugabe proud. These are the same sort of people who look to Cuba, the last redoubt of a defeated ideology, for economic models. Should we be surprised that they're always wrong?
If our leaders spout such xenophobic, isolationist and incendiary nonsense, why are they surprised when the people who listen to their paranoid jingoism start lynching foreigners?
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