Strikes, South Africa and relational stability

This week's Friday Five was co-written with guest contributor Dr Zolile Mlisana

Quote

“To be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”  Nelson Mandela

News

The official inquiry began this week into the deaths of 44 miners at the Marikana platinum mine in South Africa. The wildcat strike might have gone unnoticed had the unrest not escalated into the bloodiest confrontation between police and protesters since the end of apartheid, as 34 miners were killed and 270 injured on 16th August. The strike was called off after mine owners Lonmin increased their workers’ salaries by 22%.

As strikes continue in other mines, social reverberations continue to emanate from this disaster, calling into question some of South Africa’s cherished national successes – economic growth, political stability and black economic empowerment. What do these actually mean for the thousands of miners at the bottom of the economic pile, and for their families back home?

Mining companies are now required to improve the housing and living conditions of workers, and to invest in community development around the mines. Despite significant progress, it has often been done without consulting the miners themselves, and so can appear paternalistic.

The extractive industries represent a fifth of South Africa’s economy, so the growing industrial unrest is costing all stakeholders dearly. Although the wave of strikes focuses on pay and living conditions, there is a deeper, relational malaise behind them. It was hoped that the economic injustices of the apartheid era would have been overcome 18 years into majority rule, but the new black political elite have not succeeded in changing corporate culture, nor preventing pay differentials reaching unprecedented levels.

The rainbow nation, celebrated globally for modelling racial reconciliation, urgently needs to address the lack of parity between different economic groups, such as mine owners and workers. Parity is not the same as equality; it’s about respecting every person as a human being, and recognising the contribution each brings to the company. Where genuine parity in relationships increases, it will lead to fairer pay and conditions. But where it is neglected, strikers are more likely to resort to the one way they believe their voices will be heard – through violence.

Read On

The problem of poor housing for industrial workers can become a catalyst for social transformation. Read the story of how business owner George Cadbury created a whole new community for his employees over a century ago here.

Walk the talk

How does the tendency to measure people’s contribution to a company in financial terms influence the way we relate to them? What could you do to increase respect and understanding for someone else either above you or below you at work?

The last word

From the Bible, Proverbs chapter 22, verse 2: “The rich and the poor meet together; the LORD is the maker of them all.”

Riots and relational responsibility

Quote

“An honest man speaks the truth, though it may give offence; a vain man, in order that it may.”  William Hazlitt (1778-1830)

News

Protests and riots have continued to erupt across the Muslim world in response to the US film denigrating Islam, and the flames have been fanned by a French satirical magazine which published a series of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed.

The right to freedom of speech and conscience is of paramount importance in the Western culture.  On the other hand, people in the Muslim world assert their right to defend their values and beliefs from attack – in this case religious offence surrounding the honour of their Prophet.

It’s incomprehensible to most people in the West, whose worldview is individualistic, that Muslims should mount angry protests against people wholly unconnected with the film.  On the other hand, it is baffling for many Muslims that the Western world (which they assume to have something of a collective identity, based on Christianity, after their own worldview) should allow some of its members to carry out with impunity acts that deeply offend the beliefs of others.

These two rights are understandably cherished, but for them to lead to more freedom and peace – not less, as we’re seeing this week – they must be tempered by relational responsibilities.  The right free speech should be matched by a responsibility to use that freedom with sensitivity, and not set out deliberately to offend and provoke others.

Conversely, the responsibility that should accompany the right to defend one’s beliefs is to be careful at which door one lays the blame, and to ensure that any protest is commensurate with the offence.

The more that rights are thought to stand alone and sufficient, dislocated from their relational responsibilities, the greater will be the mutual incomprehension, suspicion, fear and violence we have witnessed this week.  

Read on…

Colin Chapman wrote a Cambridge Paper on Christian responses to Islam, Islamism and 'Islamic terrorism', which seeks to understand the Muslim worldview better and the factors which lead to Islamic extremism.  You can read the paper here. 

Walk the talk

We often form our judgments in discussion only with those who think like us; why not approach someone you know who is a Muslim, and ask them to share their thoughts and feelings about the events of the last few days? 

The last word

From the Bible: 1 Corinthians 8, verse 9: “Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak.”

Paralympics and the power of encouragement

Quote

“…that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.” 

      Alfred Lord Tennyson

News

The Paralympic Games of London 2012 drew to a close last weekend, leaving many acknowledging that the event has done more to change attitudes towards disability than any number of educational programmes or equal rights campaigns. 

A subtle transformation took place among crowds in the packed venues, as they watched people whom they previously considered as different and marginalised overcome their handicaps spectacularly, to triumph in one of the 20 Paralympic sports.  No longer were these unusual athletes defined by their disability but by their extraordinary ability.

The Paralympics had perhaps had an even greater emotional impact on the nation than the Olympics.  Commentator Steve Cole wrote, ‘A journalist who had been cynical before the Games wrote about how it had taken him a while to realise why he was so emotionally caught up in the euphoria of the Games.  He then acknowledged that he had never been in an arena where everyone was 100% encouraging.  80,000 people from many of the world’s nations encouraged every single athlete from every nation, whether they were first or in last place.’

Changed attitudes lead to changed relationships, and maybe the biggest dividend from these Paralympic Games will be a growing understanding, respect, appreciation and friendship between the able-bodied and disabled.

Yet the greatest lesson to be learned from the last fortnight, perhaps, concerns the power of encouragement.  When a person decides to seek the best for another as the paths of their lives overlap – for an afternoon of sport or a lifetime of relationship – then they can literally ‘put courage into’ the one facing hardship, difficulty or fear.  Who knows how many people’s life outcomes might change if they could only receive the right encouragement?  

Read on…

The father of the Paralympics was Ludwig Guttman, a Jewish doctor who fled to Britain from Nazi Germany early in 1939 and later became director of the first specialist spinal injuries unit in Britain.  Read Jeff Fountain’s brief account of this unsung hero here.

Walk the talk

In your heart do you feel disabled in some way, by some choice or event in your life, and thereby excluded from the company of others?  Why not go to a trusted friend and bring this into the light, giving him or her an opportunity to encourage you?

The last word

From the Bible, Hebrews 10, verse 25: ‘Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching.’

Obama, style, celebrity and substance

Quote

“On matters of style, swim with the current, on matters of principle, stand like a rock.”  Thomas Jefferson

News

President Obama’s acceptance speech at the Democratic Party’s convention last night was “…dominated by unexplained goals that were often worthy, but also familiar and incommensurate with the problems at hand," according to David Brooks of the New York Times.  It was a far cry from the soaring rhetoric of four years earlier, which carried Obama to victory in the 2008 election.

Voters in America, as in most democracies, have to weigh up the difference between a candidate’s ability to inspire people with a vision on one hand, and deliver consistently against their promises on the other.

Declining voter turnout in many elections reflects disillusion with politics.  Two factors stand out: firstly, there is a resigned acceptance that politicians will probably mislead the public, or cheat on their spouse – public and private manifestations of the same character weakness.  20 years ago in Britain, Cabinet members would resign for either of these misdemeanours.

Secondly, the cult of celebrity, in which style is elevated over substance.  Politicians must look good, cultivate their personal brand, and be masters of the media to get elected.   However, those talents are not necessarily the ones needed to make sound judgments, build consensus, and lead others: the stuff of government.

People are voters for a day, but citizens for the following four years.  The goal of elections is not to put certain people in power but to hold them accountable for what they subsequently do with that power.   We undermine the relational realities of democracy when we want politicians to be celebrities first and foremost, rather than the kind of leader people can trust to govern their nation well. 

Read on...

Oliver Cromwell refused to have his image manipulated by the media: he insisted that the artist painting his portrait showed him as he really was, “warts and everything”.  Cromwell’s character and faith helped to shape democracy in Britain; read Nick Spencer’s account of the Christian sources of British political thought here.  

Walk the talk

As the culture increasingly puts more emphasis on style than substance, is there a danger of investing more in one’s charisma than one’s character? 

The last word

From the Bible, 1 Corinthians chapter 2, verse 1, 4: “When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God…   My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power.”

Promises and Policy Targets

Quote:

“We promise according to our hopes, and perform according to our fears.”  Francois duc de la Rochefoucauld (1613-1680)

News: 

London Metropolitan University (LMU) had its visa license revoked this week by the UK Border Agency, requiring all non-EU students there to find another university or face deportation.  The announcement came on the same day the official migration statistics revealed persistently high immigration levels to UK.

Cutting foreign student visas (which account for 40% of all immigration) may appear to be a quick way to reduce the number of migrants, which is how the present government frames its immigration policy – to reduce net migration to under 100,000 per year by 2015.   

However, students are short-term migrants, and most will leave again in a few years when their courses finish.  So this week’s decision will scarcely dent long-term net migration, but will do considerable harm to the reputation of the university sector in the UK, which depends on the higher fees paid by overseas students.

Any system is open to abuse, whether that is welfare, insurance, taxation or immigration.  A government is right to root out bogus claims on its resources, but must ensure all the genuine cases are supported.  Blunt instruments often create more problems than they solve, and it remains to be seen what collateral damage the UKBA’s response to the problems at LMU will have.

Britain needs skilled foreign workers, and its universities need the income brought by overseas students.  But more than workers or finance, Britain needs good relationships internationally, with individuals, organisations and governments of other nations.  These are built, in part, by keeping promises – such as being trustworthy in delivering the higher education courses offered to overseas students. 

The country will be better off when the government puts the long term relational impact of policy decisions ahead of being seen to do something when adverse statistics are published.

Read on…

The Jubilee Centre recently published a report on a Christian response to immigration, with a particular focus on the British context.  You can access the report here.  

Walk the talk:

When a situation starts to get out of hand, it is tempting to resort to severe measures to get it back in control, at the expense of addressing the underlying relational issues which contribute to it.  Is there any situation facing you which would benefit from this insight?

The last word:

From the Bible, Ecclesiastes chapter 12, verse 12: “Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body.”

Three cheers for London 2012!

Quote

“We play best when we’re together. Maybe that’s what we really want from all public art – not insight or knowledge but an excuse to get together in a state of pleasant perplexity, to be part of each other’s lives. Because, in the end, what matters most to us is each other.”  Frank Cottrell Boyce, from the Opening Ceremony Programme of London 2012.

News

Once the glow of fireworks died out from the closing ceremony, and the party music faded, the legacy of the London Olympics has been debated in Britain this week.  What will be the lasting impact to the nation of winning 29 gold medals and spending £9 billion of public money on the event? 

Most discussions focus on the twin issues of economic and sporting benefits to Britain, but for many visitors to the Games, whether or not their team won a medal, the most memorable part was the atmosphere.  Smiling volunteers, polite policemen, strangers chatting freely, public transport running on time… even the weather was fine.

So three cheers for London 2012; the first cheer is for the many displays of courage and sportsmanship by the athletes; the second for the organisation of the Games, which despite the fiasco around security just days beforehand ran remarkably smoothly.  The third cheer is for the spirit of goodwill which permeated the venues and spilled out into the city.

It was not only Danny Boyle’s opening ceremony that cast light on our national identity as Brits.  Despite ourselves – especially our default mode of expecting things to go wrong, then wagging the finger in blame, and being stoical in defeat – we have discovered that we can still pull off a highly complex event on a national scale with quiet confidence, a pleasant attitude, and good humour all round. 

These are the values which helped create the unique experience of London 2012.  Perhaps the most valuable legacy, therefore, might not be measured in tourist pounds or increased fitness, but in the relational capacity for kindness, for cooperation, and for celebrating the best in others – even when times are challenging. 

Read on...

David Cameron attributes Olympic success to two things, competitive spirit and volunteering; the latter is what lies behind his stalled ‘Big Society’ initiative.  To read the Jubilee Centre’s thoughts on what will make the Big Society work, click here. 

Walk the talk

The intention to volunteer for a local project or cause can easily be forgotten if we only consider it as individuals; why not ask a couple of friends if they would like to join you in some initiative and start helping out together?

The last word

From the Bible, Proverbs 15:30 “A cheerful look brings joy to the heart, and good news gives health to the bones.”