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so, Mandela

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CHATTYCHAT
Super Contributor
Didn't get that as yet - not surprised, he's been kept alive artificially and mybe the family finally decided to let him pass on.
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Preston
Super Contributor
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Preston
Super Contributor
This is a wonderful book, chronicling apartheid from its start in the 1800's when a group of Dutch zealots seized the area as their "right" thru modern times and the demise of apartheid in the 1990's. It covers the early wars between the blacks and the Dutch, the different tribes of blacks against each other, and the conflict between the later-arriving British and the Dutch. It then builds up the segregation of the blacks building up to apartheid. It covers: The abhorrent treatment of the blacks, the labeling of various types as to race, their segregation into their own townships, the segregation of blacks from "coloreds" (people of mixed race, or Indians) including separation of families because of black vs colored; the declaration that Afrikaans is the official language; the building of a resistance and the various resistance groups; the imprisonment of Mandela and others; the student protest in 1976 and violent reaction by the whites; finally with the freeing of Mandela and the end of apartheid. The book is quite thorough and writing is excellent. There is one thing that threw me off for a while and that is that it is not written linearly with respect to time, so you have to pay attention to the years that you are reading about. None the less, it's a hard book to put down.
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topgun
Super Contributor
To get a real sense of the history of any country in the world, one would obviously need to read more than one book as the subject lends itself to interpretive bias. As Publishers Weekly noted in its review “Ultimately, this dramatic read, based on extensive personal research, is absorbing but agenda-driven history.” For instance, to intimate that Afrikaans was ever the official language in SA is downright twaddle. Moreover, no country was ever built without some degree of exploitation, conquest and the spilling of blood. Whites and the zealot Afrikaners built a country readily acknowledged as the most developed on this miserable, murderous, soon to be severely overpopulated and plague-infested continent, comparable to the best in the First-World. It is also telling that the author hails from France, itself a past colonial power implicated in multiple atrocities in its former territories that presently grapples feebly with the complexities of integrating its multi-cultural society. But be that as it may, fortunately we today have a prosperous, crime and corruption free, rainbow nation at peace with itself ably led by a virtuous party in the true mould of its iconic leader and doing justice to his legacy....or is self-destruction possibly fatally encoded into this country’s DNA as is the case with all parasitic systems in nature? As an aside, why would you need a Frenchman to tell you about the history of your own country…unless you are a recent arrival?
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CHATTYCHAT
Super Contributor
Well said, although I believe (really!) that Preston didn't mean to express bias. Everything in writing has to be read with a pinch of salt and unfortunately any publication on SA history and apartheid (Pere Hain named it "Apart Hate") attracts a chill in the spine because it is aimed to discredit the F*^'N boere. Because we are small and because this country remains backward as part of Africa, every little asshole who finds a publisher likes to expose the injustices (admittedly). So, what's new?
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Preston
Super Contributor
@topgun, wow, all i did was to make a book recommendation. The book review was taken from amazon and was not mine.
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Rams
Super Contributor
well, i think he is dead, probably hushed up and will be announced after Obama leaves SA.
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Rams
Super Contributor
well, i think he is dead, probably hushed up and will be announced after Obama leaves SA.
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topgun
Super Contributor
Given the topicality, some might enjoy this as much as I did...http://praag.org/?p=6172
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SimonPB
Valued Contributor
ah yes Dan Roodt, that icon of ?? err ??
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Preston
Super Contributor
Dan Roodt holds a Ph.D. from the University of the Witwatersrand and a D.E.A. from the Université de Paris VIII (Vincennes/St. Denis). He is a well-known novelist and Afrikaner commentator who has played a leading role in what has become known over the past four years as the "Third Afrikaans Language Struggle". Like his ancestors, he is forced to live in a laager, a Johannesburg security village surrounded by an electrified fence and cameras, and patrolled by armed guards
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Preston
Super Contributor
He has 4999 followers but sadly ranked 4 222 719 on Amazon Best Sellers in Books, i guess his "rubbish" is limited to the paradigm shift of his followers. (Sorry for being critical, but this is pure rubbish, which i do not subscribe you)
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Preston
Super Contributor
He has 4999 followers but sadly ranked 4 222 719 on Amazon Best Sellers in Books, i guess his "rubbish" is limited to the paradigm shift of his followers. (Sorry for being critical, but this is pure rubbish, which i do not subscribe to)
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THRESHOLD
Super Contributor
Never discuss politics... or religion. Or gold.
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kwagga
Super Contributor
Talking of gold. I think opportunity is knocking for a bounce within a major down trend, but I won't say it too loudly. Just for the brave...
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THRESHOLD
Super Contributor
Been trading away furiously to justify my position (Mitigate my losses?) This is not the way it's meant to work. No fun at all.
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topgun
Super Contributor
Like I said, some of us and why am I not surprised. Unfortunately, many unpalatable truths in that brilliantly written piece, unlike the ignorant and pc drivel spewed forth by the usual suspects. As for his security arrangements, you do know that up to 30% of the entire SAPS is dedicated to VIP protection? And you have seen the barbed wire that separate the leaders of the ANC from their followers in the stadiums? All part of the normal in this society.
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Rams
Super Contributor
Thresh, are you buying "cheap" toasters...
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THRESHOLD
Super Contributor
RAMS - are you trading expensive,broken toasters?
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THRESHOLD
Super Contributor
I love broken toasters as long as they are repairable - they have made me a lot of money over the years. If one or two fail - so be it!
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