Spel en Grammar

Ek het verleede jaar na Holland toe gegaan. Dit was lekker om Afrikaans te praat. Een rede was dat hulle het nie geweet net hoe sleg my Afrikaans was. Wanneer hulle my nie kan verstaan, het hulle gedink dat dit was net omdat Afrikaans en Hollands nie die selfde is. My Afrikaans is nie goed nie. Daar is definitief baie spel foute en ek weet nie a fraksie van die woorde wat ek ken in Engels. Ek voel nie asof ek die beste van myself kan maak. 

Wanneer 'n groep van mense Afrikaans praat, luister ek versigtig en stil. In Engels, ek moet hard probeer om net te luister. Ek praat veel. In Afrikaans, elke woord kom stadig uit. Ek probeer om nou isiXhosa te leer. Die interesante ding is dat as jy baie 'goed' praat, dink mense dat jy van die rural Ooste Kaap kom. Die mense in die stad praat isiXhosa wat sit a 'i' voor baie ander taal se woorde. Die belangrike ding is om mense te verstaan.

Dit maak my lag 'n bietjie. As jy probeer om te show off met jou goeie Xhosa, dan sal mense dink dat jy 'n bietjie backwards is. Eusebius McKaiser dink dat dit tyd is om te 'decolonise Afrikaans'. Ek is keen om sy battle call te antwoord. Afrikaans en Xhosa is taale van die mense. Engels ook! Daar is geen 'korek Engels'. Die Queen praat net een soort engels. 

Die rede hoekom ek so lekker Afrikaans gepraat is met die mense van Holland en die Flemish is dat hulle het groot geglimlag. Wanneer ek probeer om isiXhosa te probeer praat, het mense ook groot geglimlag. Ek moet net 'kunjani' se, en die klein kinders het gese, 'Hawu, umlungu uthetha isiXhosa'. Net een woord!

Die laaste week was nie lekker vir my hart. Ek glo in 'n wereld sonder grense. Ek glo in 'n wereld waar almal het 'n kans en almal is belangrik. Ek woon in London. 'n Stad wat vir my belang na die wereld. Ek dink een maneer om te wys dat ons van ons geskiedneis geleer het, om te wys dat ons kan leer, is om mekaar se taale te leer. Nie al daardie vrek moeilik rele, maar genoeg woorde om te kuier. Genoeg woorde om te kyk vir die dinge wat belangrik is.

Om nie 'n spel en grammar check te doen op elke ding wat mense se. Ek sal probeer om meer mense te kry om in ander taal guest posts te skryf. Dit lyk nie asof ons vir die politicians kan wag om grense te laat sterf. Ons moet die werk doen om dit self te doen.

Direct Unedited Google Translate: (Bad) Afrikaans to English

I verleede year went to Holland. It was nice to speak Afrikaans. One reason was that they did not know just how bad I was Afrikaans. When they can not get me, they thought it was just because Afrikaans and Dutch are the same. My African is not good. There is definitely a lot of spelling mistakes and I do not know a fraction of the words I know in English. I do not feel like I can make the best of myself.

When a group of people speaking Afrikaans, I listen carefully and quietly. In English, I have tried to just listen. I talk a lot. In Afrikaans, every word coming out slowly. I'm trying to learn now isiXhosa. The interesting thing is that if you have lots of 'good' talk, people think you come from the rural Eastern Cape. The people in the city speak isiXhosa sitting a "i" for many other language words. The important thing is to understand people.

It makes me laugh a little. If you try to show off your good Xhosa, then people will think you are a little backward. Eusebius McKaiser think that it is time to 'decolonise Afrikaans'. I am keen to answer his battle call. Afrikaans and Xhosa taale of the people. English too! There is no 'is filled in correctly English. The Queen speaks only one kind of English.

The reason why I'm talking so nice African with the people of Holland and Flemish is that they have big smiles. When I try to try to speak isiXhosa, people also smiled big. I just need 'Kunjani's, and the grandchildren said, "Hawu, umlungu uthetha isiXhosa'. Just one word!

The last week was not good for my heart. I believe in a world without borders. I believe in a world where everyone has a chance and everybody is important. I live in London. A city that for me, to the world. I think one maneer to show that we have learned from our geskiedneis, to show that we can learn, is to learn each other's taale. Not all those die hard relay, but enough words to socialize. Enough words to look for the things that are important.

Not to make a game and grammar check on everything that people say. I will try to get more people to write in another language guest posts. It does not look like we're the politicians can wait to kill boundaries. We must do the work to do it yourself.

World We Have

We think in stories, but stories are summaries. The truth is far more complicated. Most politics is a Game of Thrones driven by these summaries. Leaders, parties, ethnicities countries, religions, ideologies and various other groups float above and dip into reality. Reality is made up of relationships. Complex, juicy, emotional, connections between real people who don't know everything there is to know about each other. Relationships which discover. Relationships which change, grow, break, renew, linger, inspire, depress and create the meaning that makes life worth living. 

We shouldn't look to leaders to see what type of world we want. 

We should grow relationships within the type of world we have.

Can't See

I am sick of Partisan vitriol. If we create groups to direct hatred at, we can't complain when hatred grows. Vilifying people vilifies. If we don't understand how someone could behave, believe, or act in a certain way, I think the fault lies with a lack of relationships. When a friend acts differently to how we would, we can still see the why even if we don't agree. If we can't see the why, it is a problem. We need to start by thinking what our part in that problem is. There are a lot of whys I can't see at the moment. I am feeling punch drunk. I don't understand too many people.

I can't see

I believe we are making progress in defeating prejudice in many of its forms. Sexism, Racism, Homophobia, Xenophobia, Supremacy and various other entrenched reasons that some people have more human rights than others. There is a push back against this. A last stand. Those who feel they specifically don't have a better lot than they have had, are pushing back. Those who feel their specific interests aren't being given enough priority.

This won't change if the lot of others doesn't actually affect our reality. If the war in Sudan is just a side item that doesn't make the news. If we become numb to the number of people dying in Syria. The world is interconnected already. What we eat, wear, watch, listen to, learn and experience is deeply connected to others. Our history is deeply connected. Our family. Our friendships. What we do impacts others. What we do matters. If we don't make an effort to understand how people who think completely differently to use see the world, it is simply no longer okay.

We are better than that. We are better together.

Gutted

I was very upset yesterday morning when I woke up to the news that the United Kingdom would be leaving the European Union. It feels surreal. It is not the same as an election where if you lose, there is the chance that you win the next election. The check of an opposition means only 4 or 5 years of distance can be put in place between where you would like society to head. This result is different. It feels like a break up. A divorce.

I know some divorces morph into lifelong friendships. I know some people are better off apart than together. That is not how I am feeling right now. Right now, I am swinging between anger and sadness. I am angry that people have been able to vote to take away something that is so important to so many people. This doesn't feel like the kind of democracy I want to believe in. This doesn't feel like something we discussed as a community and came to a solution that works for everyone. This feels like a battle that has been lost because the other side had more armed soldiers. A battle of our darker emotions where both sides have lost. This feels more like majority rule than one society finding common ground.

I tend to try make the best of things. I am sure I will do the same with this. Right now I am gutted. I don't know where I will choose to live. I don't know what I will choose to do. Yesterday was one of those big moments that shakes you to your very core. I believe in a world without borders. I don't believe in sovereignty. I believe in empowerment of people. There were issues with the European Union, but I think everyone needs to do some severe self reflection about what type of world we want to live in, and how we get there. 

Not only self-reflection. We need to stop only grouping into teams of people who agree with each other, and then arguing. We need to start venturing into the places where people are different. We need to gain the perspective of what is going on outside our very small worlds. We are part of a bigger world. It is not okay if that world is only defined by our fear of what happens to what we know. There are other people our decisions affect. There are other people who matter too. No one can vote to take away your Global Citizenship. It is yours. It always will be. But we need to work to deserve it. To see each other.

The next few months, the next few years, are all going to be very interesting. We have a lot of hard work ahead in breaking down bubbles and building communities. I believe we are Global Citizens. I believe we have a responsibility to each other. We are who we are through others.

Global Citizen

Start Small

A Universal Basic Income is the most powerful tool I have heard of to chip away at some of the big problems we are facing in the world. Paired with the hard work of Community Building, I think we can start to really appreciate the world we live in and the people we live with. One of the biggest challenges is implementation. Even once you are convinced by the idea, how do we do it? 

Even most privileged people aren't financially independent. Most privileged people also live hand to mouth, they just have big hands and big mouths. Most wealthy people don't feel wealthy. They set their benchmarks above them. They aspire rather than learning from people who live better with less. A large chunk of the Global wealthiest 1% live in America and rage against the American wealthiest 1%. They think the rich should pay more tax, but evidence suggests very few people even give 10% of their earnings away. Wealthier people should pay more. Not me. Unless you are Bill Gates, there are always wealthier people to point the finger at.

You may not be Bill Gates, but...

If someone earns about £180,000 a year, but spends (or aims to spend) £200,000 a year, they are further from financial freedom than the 72% of people in Langa (Cape Town), who support a family of 3 on less than R3,200 a month (about £1800 a year). There is a wealth of knowledge and emotional intelligence in 'poorer' families on how to make do on less. There is resilience. There is life competence in being able to do many survival tasks that the wealthy outsource. And outsource is kind if it is basically just something you are incompetent at.

To finance one Universal Basic Income set at that small level, let's round it up to £2,000 a year, would cost between £20,000 and £40,000 if you can generate real returns on capital of 5-10% in the long term. A lump sum of £30,000 could finance one if the capital was put to work. Alternatively, there could be groups of people who do it together. I had a guest conversation with Valerie about 'Common Change'. That could be a model that works. GiveDirectly already makes it very simple for you to give as little as $1 a day to one person. Directly. See 'Our World in Data' for an overview of how many people this could assist.

$1.90 a day is the international measure used for Absolute Poverty. In 1981, more than 50% of the World's population lived below this measure. That figure is now 14%. We are making progress, but that $1.90 is still tiny and if you live in areas where the poverty is concentrated it is still very obvious. There is a lot of work to do.

A Universal Basic Income is not a hand-out. It is not the same as the years of blind aid that have failed with people throwing solutions at the problem. I see the practical way of improving our communities as starting to see people. Starting to build relationships. Real ones based on respect and friendship. Not a case of one person helping the other. Building relationships allows two way learning. It gives the £180,000 earner perspective. It shows them the importance of relationships, family and time. It enriches their world.

There are governments starting to look at how to implement UBI, but I think it can also start from the ground up. It can start small. We can start by extending our bubbles and building friendships with people facing all of life's challenges. One friendship at a time. We can start by figuring out how to fund one Universal Basic Income at a time. 

We can start small either straight from bigger pockets or by creating muses.

Start. Learn. Tweak. Start. Learn. Tweak.

Stretched Porridge Money

When I moved to London in 2008, one of the noticeable differences was less worry about inflation. I worked in investments and all the numbers in South Africa focus on real returns. In other words, the money you have made after accounting for everything getting more expensive. Once inflation dips below 2-3%, people forget about it. Prices still grow, but quite slowly. Now when I visit South Africa, it is cheap relative to London. It is cheaper for me to travel here than it is for me to stay at home. But the numbers have gotten silly. 

When I was growing up, I would get R2 on a Friday for having made the porridge for the family in the morning during the week. My 'Porridge Money' would be enough to buy a Super Moo (flavoured milk drink) and a packet of crisps. Movies would cost around R7.50. Now they cost about 10 times that. R75 is still much less than I would pay for a movie in London. Gem and I like to go to the Peckhamplex. An independent cinema which charges 'just' £4.99 (About R110).

Inflation is a funny animal. People already don't really understand money, and inflation makes things even more complicated. Investment people panic about inflation and they panic about deflation (seen in Japan). Japan has seen decreasing prices. This means if you keep your money in the bank and it stays the same, you will be able to buy more with it tomorrow. Steady, stable prices are easier to deal with and plan for. Houses in Tokyo are cheaper today than 20 years ago. Tell that to a Londoner.

Mansa Musa of Mali (1280-1337) was the richest person to have ever lived. Timbuktu where he lived boasted vast libraries, and was a centre of learning and prosperity at the heart of the Trans-Saharan trade route. He was a Muslim (Africa's trade history with the East long predated its interaction with Modern Europe) and once did a pilgrimage to Mecca. He was so rich that he freely gave people gold. Like a world where the richest man has all the water, Musa brought rain. This wreaked havoc on Egypt when he past through. The amount of stuff stayed the same, but now everyone had lots of money! It took more than a decade for things to regain some normal functioning. (As an aside, the first European 'discovered' Timbuktu in 1828. By that time, like Rome, it had fallen)

Inflation and Deflation aren't well understood. Even by people who understand money a little better than average. Money is a very abstract concept. Money isn't actually a thing. It is a promise of a thing. It doesn't do anything itself. It is a lubricant, or a messenger, or a tool to help people be productive. It is smarter than barter, because you don't have to find someone who has, or does, what you need. You can just set a price. The problem with prices is they move up and down. Price is not value. It is based on supply and demand. How much is wanted and how much there is. It changes. Inflation up. Deflation down. 

One of the push-backs I have heard on Universal Basic Income is that it would lead to inflation. That basic food stuffs are already expensive, but that if everyone was given enough money to buy food, accommodation and education, the prices would just sky rocket. This is partly true, but it also misses the point.

The richer people get, the less they spend on the basics. We only need one bed. Our tummies get full. Our needs get met and we move into story land. If you want to make money from a rich person you have to tell them a story. You have to convince them that the wine, whisky, coffee, cheese, holiday, art or whatever is incredibly unique. Convince them they are inadequate now, but you can help. You have to make them feel special. You have to decrease the supply. You have to provide the one and only. You aren't dealing in the realms of need anymore. You are dealing in the art of illusion and manipulation. Of smoke, mirrors and heart strings. If they think they have enough, you have lost.

If everyone had a Universal Basic Income, basics probably would get more expensive. Only if there wasn't enough of the stuff. So if there wasn't enough bread, but demand increased because the hungry now could 'vote for bread', then yes the price would go up. All this would mean is that we would now know we need to make more bread! Denying someone the ability for vote for bread, means that the price of bread is wrong. It should be higher. We should make more bread. Higher prices will encourage more bakers. It doesn't mean the hungry should stay hungry.

Even if a UBI lead to inflation of basic goods, the poor would still be better off. They would be able to afford bread. The better off would just have less money available for their stories. That sounds like a good deal to me. When we started making enough bread, the prices would normalise again. Instead of one Mansa Musa, we would have people with full tummies able to tap into their creativity and fully participate in society.

Hamburg (Kerstin)

Hamburg during the day

Second largest city in Germany. Harbour town with one of the most popular miles in the world: the Reeperbahn - the redlight and entertainment district. Beaches, parks, over 1100 years of history, funfair 3 times a year, architectural masterpieces and more bridges than Venice make Hamburg a city of contrasts. Between hanseatic coolness and worldopeness. If you get to know one of the “Fischköppe” (“fish heads” - lower german expression for the inhabitants) you’ll realise that a real northern light is first a little bit distanced and after you got into his heart you have found the best friend on earth.

Kerstin Dirks
We met as part of the Red Love Train 
running the Comrades Marathon for Unogwaja and Umsilinga Primary School

Hamburg at night

See People

I am against hand-outs, but not for the reason I think many people are. Throwing solutions at problems doesn't work primarily because of the thrower, not the receiver. An alternative to hand-outs of a 'nothing for nothing' philosophy also leaves me feeling uncomfortable. Again, I think the problem doesn't solely lie with the person trying to get out of their hole. The primary problem in my mind is that we don't 'see people'. It is not a relationship. It is an attempt at a 'hand-up' rather than a 'walk with'. Charity has an implicit hierarchy. That the person giving has the answers and that the person receiving aspires to reach their level. Sharing is different. It requires the hard work of community building. It requires learning from each other.

One push back on hand-outs is entitlement. That people will expect things to just be given to them. The best example of entitlement I have seen is privilege. Through travelling, I have been lucky enough to spend time with a number of families in the past two years. Most of these families have been privileged. In privileged families children grow up with parents doting over their needs. Interpreting screams. Working through and around tantrums. Slowly teaching them how to engage with society. Showering with love even when they behave badly. Slowly building up boundaries. In the first few years these kids believe the world is designed for them. Little emperors throw things on the floor. Dismiss food. Insist on going home. The world often bends to their will.

That is not what I experienced in my two week stay in a place outside my bubble. Normally I stay with families for 2 or 3 days. It is enough to relax and see people as they are. Longer than the curtain can be held up. I get to know the children. I get to have awesome chats with my friends. Normally it is long enough for kids to misbehave. For me to see the many varied approaches parents attempt to use. In the two weeks I spent learning isiXhosa with a family that didn't have the privileges I have, the children didn't misbehave. They were incredible. Obviously it is just one example, but in poorer communities there is an inner fight I don't see elsewhere. Resilience busting a gut to shine.

Privilege includes the ability to forget all the handouts we have received. Teachers, family and other mentors that have put up with our nonsense over the years. Lessons in punctuality. Lessons learnt playing team sports. Lessons in confidence and inner-belief - that you are entitled to the fruits of your labour. The big difference is our hand-outs came from people who were making a genuine attempt to see us. To help us carve away the obstacles that were holding us back. Our hand-outs came from our community.

Like Michelangelo, our communities carve out our talents and beauty

A Universal Basic Income isn't a hand-out. In a society with Private Property and an ability to deserve the fruits of your labour, there has to be a functioning community. We don't know how all wealth was created. We have a long history of screwing other people over. Of looking after our own. Of taking things, land and power that we want at the expense of others. The most powerful tool I have come across of redressing this, is directly. Put cash in the hands of everyone. Enough to survive. Enough to look up from living hand to mouth, and start thinking about living. A Universal Basic Income is a muse.

Hand in hand with a Universal Basic Income, we start the hard work of building communities that work. Communities that look after each other. You can't monetise a lot of the work that is required. Paid work is only possible where functioning markets can be created. Where there is supply and demand. The most obvious example is parenting. The tools of pricing don't work there. The Emperor may feel entitled, but there is normally only a small circle of people willing to supply that love. Immediate family. Perhaps a friend or two. The salary of a parent is normally zero. The worth of that job is priceless.

'Nothing for Nothing' can encourage a 'Work for work's sake' mentality. That is basically just killing time. Killing time keeps people away from building relationships and supporting each other. The fact is there isn't enough meaningful monetise-able work to go around. There are structural problems that prevent job opportunities. It isn't laziness. In Johannesburg, I drive past guys just sitting on street corners hoping someone will come and give them a job. Any job.

To finish with a quote from Rutger Bregman:

'There is no evidence at all that people will turn out to be lazy. You know, most people are inherently creative. Most people want to do something with their lives. People get really depressed most of the time when they are unemployed. So what may happen is people do less paid work in order to do more unpaid work.'

Open To All

I want the UK to stay part of Europe. I wanted Scotland to stay part of the UK. I want the UK to have more local power. I wanted Scotland to have more local power. In my Utopia, we would be Global Citizens. The truth is that at the moment we have pockets of prosperity all over the world. There are pockets of prejudice. We still want to look after and protect our own. Family first. Friends second. Community, country, and then the world. We see others struggling elsewhere, but are scared of losing our way of life. We don't have mental, emotional or physical energy to focus on more than our own world. I believe in rule of law, and in groups of people building constitutions agreeing on limited basic principles of what is acceptable and what is not. Those groups should be relatively small and full of local flavour. Then there should be a wider, much more limited, larger constitution with far fewer rules. People should then be able to move freely between those groups, provided they are willing to abide by the constitutions of those areas. A path to citizenship open to all. 

There is an obvious conflict here. In order to protect a way of life that has any homogeneity about it, any ‘group characteristics’, there has to be restrictions on other people entering. How small should our ‘allowed discrimination’ be? Churches that only accept members who agree with all their doctrines? Mosques? Women’s Book Clubs? I love going to my Yoga Centre in Putney, London. It is quite conservative. There are rules about covering shoulders and wearing loose fitting clothing. The area is calm. There is no meat, alcohol or various other things that alter the atmosphere. It has a very specific feel. I like that, even though in other settings I do still enjoy drinking or ‘counter-stretching’ in other ways. 

Creating a special feel requires rules

The challenge is how we create permitted discrimination. That is what is required to keep anything in our lives sacred. The stories we create are theatre. Which tools you use to eat. What you wear. How you speak. All these things only matter in a particular context. Good stories are made believable because of an underlying consistency. Created context. They all bend the rules of reality. Star Wars bends those rules differently to Game of Thrones. Art, Music, Drama and Dance all have underlying rules that create their beauty. Classical music has different rules to jazz. That is what culture is. That is what our way of life is. 

It would probably be okay if there was equity. Private Property is okay provided that the rest of society is okay. It becomes very awkward when people try to justify excluding others on criteria of race, culture, gender, religion when there isn’t a baseline level of what is acceptable for other human beings’ living conditions. When we don't see each other. When it isn’t voluntary. When it is oppressive. That is not how we have ever lived. We have had to chip away at our prejudice and expand our empathy. There is nothing inherently wrong with living in a bubble. I do think there is something wrong with living in a bubble if you aren’t comfortable with the idea of you being outside the bubble, if life had just worked out differently. If you had been born somewhere else. Someone else. With different talents. With different privileges. With different randomness. We need to poke our bubbles with perspective. That is what the European Union provides. It pokes bubbles with question marks.

The European Union is a peace project. It is not about creating one big area with the same values. I think its power should be very limited. The bigger the area, the less the power. The UK leaving the European Union, with all its problems and overreach, would be a move in the wrong direction.

What Is Best?

We don't always do what we think is best. Other things matter. Behavioural Economists have devised various games to try understand how real people deviate from purely rational behaviour. One of those experiments is called the 'Ultimatum Game'. Two people play. One (The Proposer) is given some money, say $100, and told to offer some of it to the other player (The Responder). The Responder can either accept or reject the offer. Rejection means neither player gets anything. In a purely rational world, if the Proposer offered $1, the Responder would be better off accepting the arrangement. In experiments, offers of less than 30% are often rejected.

Concepts of fairness, justice, altruism, vengeance, and our spice rack of emotions get involved in most decisions that we make. Most of these more fuzzy, juicy concepts don't have the benefit of quantitative answers. There is no way of counting them. Of comparing them. Of ranking them. I think this is part of intelligence. It is why people are still (for now) so much smarter than computers. Computers think in Ones and Zeroes. Black and White. Right and Wrong. This is limiting. The fun stuff, the painful stuff, the stuff with meaning... happens between the facts. It happens in the gaps. In the spaces. In the relationships.

Understanding is a dance of that which we can count and that which we can't. The beauty of the dance lies in the stories fact and fiction create together.

Question Marks

I didn't drink coffee till about 3 years ago. Up till that point, I had only had about 4 cups in my life. All through unintended peer pressure situations where I wasn't brave enough not to drink the cup that had been made for me. I then decided I wanted to train my palate because coffee was becoming such a social drink. In the UK, coffee has passed tea as a favourite hot drink and coffee shops are replacing pubs as a place to hang out. I still can't tell much difference between the various types of coffee. I am at the 'nice/not nice' stage. That is a step further than the 'all not nice' stage. I am at a similar stage with red wine and whisky. Some people know the full story. Year matters. After taste. Texture. Colour. There is a full story behind each sip.

A friend asked me to do a piece on white people. 'Tell us how they feel regarding slavery, apartheid, etc.'. He feels that a lot of the writing on this topic is from a black African perspective. That there is not enough public introspection from white South Africans. Instead there are just lots of racial slurs with no commentary. Although this could be tiring to general audiences, he feels that South Africa in general craves them.

One of the things with being white is that it is not something I build my identity around. In a similar way to the fact that I am male, English-speaking, financially independent, university educated and I have two passports. I also have a wide network of social support. I have a loving partner who listens to me, challenges me, and supports me. I don't feel hard done by in any way other than feeling I would like more access to some people I care about, but am restricted from because of geography and choices.

One of the aspects of oppression is group identity. Group consciousness. To push back against prejudice, groups end up building pride in what that group has achieved. Finding heroes who clearly show that the prejudice is stupid. Most of those 'groups' I belong to leave me desiring a way to disassociate. I want to feel part of the bigger group. I want to unravel that prejudice. I want to learn more. Listen more. See more.

I know my bubble is really small. I know that within 'white', I do not speak for all whites. I can see the differences where others would see things as being the same. I know that English English people tend to save their tea bags. Something to do with the war and not wasting. Even though the war was more than 60 years ago and tea is now rather cheap. White doesn't seem white to me. Spanish. Italian. Greek. Swedish. Iranian? Romanian? Iranian (i.e. Aryan)? Black and white isn't black and white. Part of my privilege is that I can be 'colour blind' because I am not held back in any way. I don't feel structural privilege. I can only read about it and see it happening to others. I can count the people in the world who treat me badly on one hand. With fingers to spare.

The 'United' Kingdom still has massive social divides just like South Africa. They even had a referendum on Scottish independence. They are now having a referendum on whether to stay in the European 'Union'. There is deep resentment across class and political divides. The idea that there is a unified 'white' view is far from the truth. The  'United' States divides are equally obvious. Red States and Blue States fighting. #NeverTrump shows how the Red States are divided. The conflict between Sanders and Clinton supporters shows how the idea of Blue unity is even challenging. Global Apartheid is alive and well.

My view on how we start chipping away at this stuff is similar to my view on how I work towards getting a Comrades Marathon medal next time. How I am trying to learn isiXhosa. How I am trying to learn the piano. I think it starts with training our palate to recognise the flavours in things. Training the ear. Training the muscles. It starts with drills. It starts with moving. Walking. Then running. All learning is linked in that it starts with getting comfortable with discomfort. Challenging how we define ourselves.

My approach is to learn more about others rather than trying to express my view. That might be part of my privilege. That I am able to let go of my identity. To deconstruct it. To look at the things I can't do and add a question mark. To look at the things I am not and add a question mark. I don't think the end of problems start with solutions. I think it starts with relationships. Understanding things as they stand first. 

Perhaps the end of prejudice lies in more question marks. 

Listening, Reading, Writing and Coffee

Training my heart, thoughts and tongue

Space Makes Time

I am not sympathetic to the response, 'I don't have time'. We all have time. 24 hours in a day. We choose between various options. 'I am choosing something else' is more accurate. Buddhists say that if you are twice as busy, you should meditate twice as long. What is very important is managing your energy and your perspective. Quite often, the thing that gets our time is the thing that shouts the loudest. Adding space to your day allows you to consciously make the choice of how to spend your time. Space makes time.

My grandfather's homemade language clocks

Making Time

Mutual Intelligibility

Swahili is an official language in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Congo-Kinshasa. Although only 20-40 million people speak it at home, it is spoken by over 150 million people as a second language. There are about 250-500 Bantu Languages by criteria of mutual intelligibility. Speakers can understand each other without special effort or intentional study. In learning of the trading history of Africa with the east via the ports of Tanzania and northwards, the spread of this language as a tool of connection makes sense. Arabic, French and English have also played this role from the outside. I love the idea of mutual intelligibility. Recognising common flavours. Recognising unique twists. Listening to each other. Seeing each other.

16 June 1976

Language lies close to our souls. The essence of who we are. Who we are is fuzzy and linked. One of the reasons I love the English language is that there is no boss. The Oxford English Dictionary is a mirror more than a rule book. It looks at how the language is used, and the language evolves. I spent the last two weeks in Langa, Cape Town, trying to learn isiXhosa. If I had only listened to my 8 year old teacher, it would be easy. Just add 'u' to people, and 'i' to things. iXhosa is ivery ieasy ito ilearn Uyanda. There are lots of borrowed words in isiXhosa. Many of the words used in the Eastern Cape (the home of the language) which were formalised in the textbook I am trying to learn from, are not used in the cities. Even the formal language is about 15% from the San People (inhabitants of South West Africa for thousands of years).

South Africa has 11 official languages. The 1909 Constitution of the Union of South Africa had two - English and Dutch. Afrikaans, like isiXhosa, is a language born in and of South Africa. It was originally known as a 'kitchen language'. Derided among the powers that be as 'baby dutch', like isiXhosa it had incorporated elements of Malay, Khoisan, Portuguese and Bantu languages. The rise of Afrikaner Nationalism as a push back on English domination (after the Union by force) ended up bastardising the unifying nature of languages like Xhosa and Afrikaans. In 1925 Afrikaans was recognised as a real language rather than just slang. Along with that comes formalisation. It also became a symbol of pride for the White Afrikaans population tied closely to religious beliefs seeing South Africa as a promised land.

Geographical Distribution of Afrikaans as a home language in South Africa

Darkest shades is 80-100%

Eusebius McKaiser argues that it is 'time to decolonise Afrikaans'.  Many (and soon probably most) Afrikaans speakers are still part of potjiekos (pot food) South Africa. The Afrikaans is that spoken at home. With lots of variety. Different areas taking different mixes of spices. Different mixes of local words. Different accents. That Afrikaans is a celebration of humanity. Raw. Spicy. Full of flavour.

Afrikaans started as a result of real people engaging with real people. Afrikaans became a tool of oppression. On 16 June 1976, students in Soweto rose up against the imposition of formal Afrikaans as the language of instruction. In 1974 the Apartheid Government insisted that certain subjects be taught to Black Africans in Afrikaans (mathematics, arithmetic and social science), because their employer one day would be either English or Afrikaans. Students rose up and many argue that was one of the turning points in unifying the African National Congress in its fight for freedom for all.

40 years on, I agree with Eusebius. I think it is time for us to claim language as a very human, very democratic tool. Learning the languages people are actually speaking in requires listening. It requires engagement. It requires seeing people for who they are. Language is incredibly resistant to central control. Just like education. The ridiculous Apartheid system of Bantu Education attempted to train people to be subservient. 

Language and Education will rise not as symbols of oppression, but symbols of community building and freedom.

Hector Pieterson lost his life in the 16 June 1976 Soweto Uprising

Education and Language

should be symbols of community building and freedom

People into Jobs

When someone is hired for a job, they join a community. Companies have a reason for existence and each person has a role. The truth is that that 'reason for existence' has to take precedence over any individual for the community to work. This can be brutal if the supporting community behind the scenes doesn't function properly. We can pretend companies are like a family. We can have colleagues that are friends. There comes a point however that companies end up having to make tough decisions. A job needs doing. The person involved is not capable of doing the job. The person wants something different to what is required. The person must go.

Puzzles are built around the big picture, not the individual piece

A friend was telling me about the performance management process someone he knew was involved in. The person being managed was kind, friendly and well-liked. They were just awful at their job. It is nice to think they would know that, and potentially look to move on anyway. I think we are dreaming if we think there is a perfect job for everyone. We typically fit people into jobs rather than build jobs around people. The hard truth is that jobs often mean much more to the individual than to the company. Losing or cutting one person doesn't change the company that much. If it does, that is called 'Key Person' risk and is something most businesses work hard to decrease. If people change or lose their jobs, their worlds change dramatically.

Part of the reason I am a fan of the idea of Community Building and a Universal Basic Income is that it levels the playing field a little in the work space. There is a big difference between working because you want to, and working because you have to. There is a big difference between buying into the 'reason for existence' of what you do, and doing it because you need the pay check. If a boss has to lay down the law and make you do something you don't want to do, because it needs to be done, you should be able to walk away. Most people can't. Most people have to suck it up. This means our happiness becomes overly dependent on the quality of our archy. There is a world beyond archy. There is a world beyond desperation.

I am looking forward to that world.

Handing Out Love

There are two types of poverty. The hard poverty is the structural societal community barriers that hold people back. The hard poverty revolves around mental health and inner worth. There is also easy poverty. Easy poverty is the stuff that can be solved by throwing money at the problem. I have never met a person who is a self-made success. It doesn't happen. We all received 'hand-outs'. If you don't believe me, spend one hour with a friend with a child aged less than about three. 

These little emperors regularly treat their parents like absolute rubbish. Completely anti-social, entitled, nasty aggression. It is not an exchange. There are moments of joy that make it seem worth it. Seem is the operative word. Any rational person would not become a parent. It is not a rational decision. It is about survival. The love exchanged is not a measurable thing. It is the best example I have seen of someone putting aside their ego in order to give unconditionally. The love received is a hand out. It is incomparable. It is its own beautiful, precious, priceless piece of magic.

A friend of mine who is a new parent has started regularly phoning his parents. His new found appreciation for their love came from seeing how little he got in return for the sleepless nights, financial support, emotional support, lessons given. Another friend got upset that he didn't get enough of the magic moments because the time he spent with his kid had so much 'admin of life' that the joy was being sucked out of it. He spends so much time cleaning, organising, caring, and doing that he is tired when the opportunity for those moments come.

If you are a success, if you are even okay, it is largely because of mountains of time and unconditional love you have received from parents, mentors, friends, family, and your community. Figuring out how to level the playing fields is impossible. How we got to the starting blocks has a long history of people screwing each other over. War. Prejudice. Game of Thrones. Nepotism. Corruption. It is impossible to disentangle privilege from meritocracy. 

One of the most powerful methods of sorting this out I have heard of ends 'easy poverty' directly.  “I am now convinced that the simplest approach will prove to be the most effective – the solution to poverty is to abolish it directly by a now widely discussed matter: the guaranteed income.” Martin Luther King Jnr. 

'Hard poverty' requires the difficult work of building communities. It requires philosophy, psychology, emotional intelligence and getting better at listening. Some of the hard poverty exists in people who point to entitlement without recognising their privilege. Solving some easy poverty requires solving the hard poverty of the wealthy.

End Easy Poverty Directly - Build Community to end Hard Poverty

Confidently Achilles

We don't like to think of ourselves as the bad guy. I am trying to read more about Cecil John Rhodes as a way of understanding the obstacles liberalism finds itself facing. Rhodes wasn't the arch-villain we have in Stalin, Hitler, and Mao. He would have been considered liberal. Even Stalin, Hitler and Mao wouldn't have been the arch-villains we think of now if we had met them in person. If we had been in and of their time and culture. I can imagine Rhodes as having been an awesome person to meet. He sounds like he had incredible empathetic skill. An ability to listen to people. An ability to engage with people from other cultures and understand what was important to them. Then bend them to his will.

Rhodes had a deep belief in and pride in the ideas behind Imperialism. He was a believer in the 'Civilising Mission'. He would have been passionate in his grand schemes. He would have been convincing. Laced in among all this ability was an underlying superiority complex that was the achilles heal. I get more worried about the people who are 'mostly trying' than I do about the people who don't care at all. Casual racism. Casual busyness. Casual anger. Casual tribalism. Casual barriers that stop us from building a really great society.

Confidence is infectious. Missions provide something to aspire to. Confident Missions don't provide lots of space for listening unless they are shared. I prefer small ideas. I prefer conversation. I prefer relationships. Finding small achievable goals to chip away at in partnership.

Savour Each Bite

Starting is the hardest part. Whether it is getting fit, eating properly, learning a language, fixing a broken relationship, or breaking down the barriers that trap the world in Global Apartheid and Privilege. I love Tim Minchin's commencement address in which he talks about Micro-ambition. He says that we should make our goals tiny and achievable. Take a bite. I love John McInroy's focus on helping people who are helping themselves, not through charity, but by seeing the fact that they are already helping themselves. Recognising resilience as it already exists. Understanding the bites they are already trying to take.

We live in two worlds. The one in our heads and dreams, and the one that we experience. Both are illusions created by the way we understand things. The experiences we have had. The emotions we understand and the emotions we don't. There are inputs for us to expand these emotions and experiences if we are open to them. Look. Listen. Taste. Feel. Think. Love.

Savour each bite with all the senses

If we open ourselves up to other people, then I firmly believe we can start the work of building our communities. Then we will be able to savour more fully each and every bite we take.