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By the time I went to South Africa, people were starting to guess that I wasn't coming home anytime soon. I also started trying to be a bit clever in my emails. The first one from Johannesburg generated quite a few comments and objections to some of my fairly strong opinions. As always, you're quite welcome to disagree with me in writing even now if you like. If you don't quite get the reference, the subject of this first email parodies an old TV show from the 60s called The Twilight Zone.
This place is occupied by several groups of people, but most of the population consists of two major groups. Let's call them the lighter skinned people, and the darker skinned people. The darker skinned people inhabited this place for thousands of years. These people had a complex society that included agricultural groups, nomadic groups, villages and towns, active trade, frequent warfare and all of the other things that made up a complex society.
The lighter skinned people came on this place relatively late, and saw nothing but ignorant savages. Their literature abounds with descriptions of these people in the worst of all possible lights. The lighter skinned people believed that the darker skinned people were not worthy of the land they occupied and decided to take it by force of arms. The lighter skinned people could draw on resources in the form of arms, money, men and other things from around the world and particularly from one of the world powerhouses. The lighter skinned people through open warfare gained complete control over the land using the standard colonial suppression techniques of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Now skip forward a few years. The lighter skinned people are still a minority in this land we're talking about, but they control it completely. They have a constitution that has racism as it's most basic and cherished core principle, and the society is a completely racist society. I'm not talking about something like the U.S. where racism exists despite the constitution. I mean racism is built into the constitution at the ground floor, and every piece of the succeeding legal system proceeds from there.
In this place, the darker skinned people have no civil rights at all. Some of the darker skinned people can't vote at all, and others are allowed to vote but not in a way that can produce meaningful results. The lighter skinned people control the area completely, and their policies supercede the desires of the majority in all cases. They control where the darker skinned people can live, where they can travel, where they can work, what kind of work they can do, what is taught in their schools, what industries they can set up, their contacts with the outside world, their art and culture, and a whole range of other things. The lighter skinned people keep order with an iron fist. Arbitrary arrests and torture are commonplace. The police don't even have to go outside the law to do this, as it's perfectly legal according to their constitution. Darker skinned people can be arrested for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, for gathering peacefully to protest their treatment, for trying to get a job that is disallowed, for uttering a political slogan or showing an unapproved national flag, or any number of other supposed ills. They can be detained for indefinite periods without trial or even charges.
The darker skinned people are housed in separate areas. The lighter skinned people helpfully tell them they should be able to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps in these areas, apparently neglecting to notice that these areas have very little in the way of natural resources, seaport access, arable farmland, transportation and no other industrial infrastructure and the darker skinned people are not allowed access to capital to make these things. The lighter skinned people live in nice houses, many of which have swimming pools while the darker skinned people frequently live in shacks or tents that don't even have running water. To add insult to injury, the lighter skinned people occasionally force the darker skinned people to move from one place to another through force of arms, and then take over their land using any number of sneaky pseudo-legal pretexts based on their racist constitution. The lighter skinned people also completely disregard any international law that doesn't suit them and seem to get away with it.
Let's further stipulate that the lighter skinned people are universally acknowledged to have a terrible human rights record. The United Nations, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and many European Parliaments have censured them on numerous occasions. The United Nations has had a long series of resolutions condemning the regime, despite the fact that many resolutions are vetoed by members of the U.N. Security Council who are powerful friends of the regime. The veto means that one of the five permanent members of the Security Council doesn't feel the need to agree with the other 150 or so nations. Human rights abuses abound. A darker skinned person killing a lighter skinned person might get life in prison or a death sentence, but reverse the process and you might have a short jail term or maybe just a fine, if the perpetrator is arrested at all.
You might think this describes lots of places around the world, and maybe it does but I can't think of many. It was quite common in the 19th century, but not now. There are a lot of places where a small minority controls the majority, but in most cases the small minority is at least the same race or ethnic group as the majority.
So now you get to guess where I am...
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Welcome to South Africa, circa 1990...
Yes, that's right. I've bagged the Norway idea and crossed the equator for the third time this year. I'm not chasing summer much more aggressively, being here at the start of summer.
Now I know what you're thinking. South Africa?? Why??
First off, I decided on Africa because it's been sort of on the agenda for a while. I've tentatively planned to hit Africa after Russia for about six months, but I hadn't decided on a specific country. When I first thought of Africa, South Africa and Kenya were the first two places I thought of (both for historical reasons). I did some more research, and ultimately decided to go with South Africa. That's the funny thing about my research. I usually spend days researching things just to end up going to the first place I thought of, because the first place I thought of is still the most interesting.
Now you may wonder why it's interesting. You've probably noticed by now that I'm interested in history and the way the world works. Let me continue with the story.
Things looked very grim for a while. The pattern of exploitation has existed many times before, and it almost always ends in civil war. However, a funny thing happened. Starting in the 80s and early 90s, the international community started taking notice of just how blatantly unfair the situation in South Africa was, and took action. The action wasn't one big huge thing, but a whole bunch of small things that added up. The most telling was a campaign to isolate the regime in power economically and socially. Lots of companies and governments boycotted the place, and lots of tourists quit going there. Athletes and artists were not welcome in some international competitions, and others refused to come to South Africa to perform or compete. The leaders of dissident movements that had been run out of the country had set up shop abroad and were making enough noise to attract the attention of the world community. Apartheid became the watchword for racism at its worst, and the world responded and started strangling the economy of the country.
The lighter skinned leadership took note of the punishment they were taking, and a few courageous leaders took the first steps to set things right. Some of the oldest and most vigorous supporters of the racist way of thinking turned around and became the architects of its destruction. In 1994, a new constitution was enacted and for the first time in history (to my knowledge), there was a relatively bloodless transfer of power from a small but rich minority group to the majority group. Note that I said "relatively". I don't yet know how much bloodshed there has actually been, but it's certainly a far cry from civil war. The political power went to the overall electorate. The darker skinned people became the dominant political power because they represent most of the population, but the lighter skinned people still control most of the economy and they are still a sizable opposition group. No single group has a monopoly on power, and the politics of how the country will eventually be governed are still being worked out.
That my friends is what I came to try to study and understand. I would like to understand how power can change from a small and repressive minority to the majority in a relatively non-violent way. South Africa and the collapse of the Soviet Union are the only two examples I can come up with, although I suspect there are others I'm unaware of. I would very much like to understand this phenomena. I'd like to see how it's working out on the ground, what the people who live here think, what the progress is in redressing decades of imbalance, how stable the whole system looks, how art is recovering from years of oppression, how much backlash there is against the whites, how is the economy faring and whatever else I can learn. I'd also like to see if I can contribute to resolving some other conflict somewhere else in the world in some small way. I would like to think that the human race can ultimately find a way to resolve our differences using some rule other than "might makes right". Maybe it's possible to build a new and better society without burning the old one to the ground.
As for what happened to Norway, I have a full explanation on my upcoming Russia page, which should be done in a week or so. I was attacked by a very hostile virus that completely hosed my computer in Moscow, so I've lost a week of writing time.
I am now in Johannesburg, or Joburg as it's called locally. My tentative plan is to travel south to the ocean, and then west along the coast to Cape Town. That's a couple thousand km, and then I'll wing it. Actually, I'll wing it the whole way but I'm pretty sure I'll get to Cape Town. I think they have some kind of wild animals in Africa as well, so I guess I may as well go take a look at them too.
Let me leave you with some food for thought. This is information I didn't really have a month ago before reading a few books and doing some web research, both of which were very enlightening. Rewind back up to my description of Apartheid South Africa circa 1990. Every single thing I said in that section could also be applied to Israel today, but the U.S. gives them 3-6 billion dollars per year in foreign aid, and supplies most of the weapons used to keep the darker skinned people in their camps. Think about it.
Wademan
Note: I lost my update notification list in a computer crash. I rebuilt it using guesswork. If you aren't supposed to be on the list just let me know and I'll remove you, or if you know someone that wants to be on it tell them to email me.
Also, if you aren't on my postcard list but would like to get an occasional postcard send me your snail-mail address.
Hi Gang,
It seems like this is the time of year for people to celebrate things. If you celebrate Christmas, Ramadan, Hanukkah, New Year, Tet, Winter Solstice, Summer Equinox, end of semester, appearance of Santa Clause, or the end of ASTRO, I'd like to wish you a good and happy one.
I've had a few things to celebrate in the last month:
I've been in Cape Town for a couple of weeks now, but just managed to get my computer from the repair station. I've been without it for about six weeks, and get along surprisingly well without it. I'll be stopping in Cape Town for 4-6 weeks to get caught up on work.
Cape Town is the end of the South Africa segment of my journey. It's a very nice city and one that I could live in. It's nestled in a relatively small area between a 1,000 meter high table mountain and the sea with 1-5 km between the mountains and the ocean. It makes for very nice scenery, and easy access to lots of great hiking, beaches, water sports and what have you within very short distances. The view from the local mountains down to the sea is spectacular. The Cape Peninsula is at the confluence between the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. The Atlantic side has very nice beaches but cold water (direct from Antarctica), while the Indian side has much warmer water. I'm staying on the Atlantic side with a friend I met a few days before Cape Town. The people are very friendly, and all in all it's a very nice place. I'm keeping in shape by running up one of the local mountains a few times a week.
South Africa has been an interesting experience, and I feel like I've mostly learned what I came here to learn. I'll be writing more about that in the upcoming South Africa page which will probably progress faster once I actually start on it. I'm going to recommend South Africa as a travel destination. Now I know I always say that, but that just indicates that I'm either very good at picking destinations, or I think everywhere is a good destination. You decide which.
My Russia page is nearly complete, and it should be up in a few days. It was 95% done when I left Moscow, but my computer karma has been decidedly bad for the last few months. If I were superstitious, I'd trace it back to the day in Russia when I thought about writing a letter to Toshiba to tell them how reliable it's been. All in all, it's been very good, and in fact the most reliable of all the dozen or so laptops I've had in my life. I don't think it was designed for a year in a bicycle pannier bag, but that's where it's been and the problems I've had are pretty minor in the grand scheme of things.
While I was in Durban about a month ago, I decided to make a subtle adjustment to my appearance. If you look carefully at the attached photo, you may be able to detect the changes.
As I hinted above, I have no plans for coming home anytime soon. I currently have a plan for all of 2002. Of course, I'm not going to tell you what it is because that would spoil the surprise, and where's the fun in that?
A fair number of people ask when I'm going back to my old life. The most likely answer is "never", but I won't say that definitively. I gave up my office space in Silicon Valley and made arrangements to work part time for the rest of this year. That's about as far as I can predict out into the future. I obviously can't continue to cycle for the rest of my life... well, I could but I'm sure I'll get bored with it sooner or later.
So that's about it from Cape Town, and I'm proud of myself for getting all the way through an email without saying anything controversial. I quite like it here and I'm happy I decided to add South Africa to the tour. I'll be here until mid February.
As usual, feel free to write with anything you might have to say. I quite enjoy getting email from anybody and everybody.
Peace, Wade
The 4-6 weeks I planned turned into 4-6 months, and it was nearly a year before I finally finished the South Africa page :(
Hi Gang,
I finally finished the Russia page. I had it 95% done when I left Moscow 4 months ago. It took all this time to finish because <insert whiney excuse here>. You can find the page at Wade's Vision Quest - Russia. I don't have the photo gallery done yet since the photos are sitting on a hard disk I had to ask Vladimir to ship me from Moscow (long story), and I haven't installed it and sucked the photos off yet. Oh well, it'll give you something to look forward to. In the fair warning department, this page is quite long. At 100 printed pages it's a bit longer than the Vietnam page. Some parts are also a bit dated, but I deliberately didn't change them as I wrote it like I lived it.
I'm still in Cape Town, and will be for a few more weeks. I did quite a bit of work last year but never shipped anything, and it's time to fish or cut bait. So I've been working here in Cape Town for the last few weeks, and will work until I finish my current project. As usual with software, that will be real soon now. After that, I have a couple more locations to see in Africa. I expect to spend the next several months in Africa. I'll give you more details later.
Weather here has been quite nice. Cape Town is known for strong winds, but they don't come up all that often. We've had a couple of days in the 35C range (95F), but the vast majority of days have been downright pleasant. I've climbed a couple of the local mountains, and they're quite nice.
Well, enough fooling around... back to work. As usual, comments on my page or anything else that strikes your fancy are quite welcome.