25 Oct 2009

Small relapses in the "new" South Africa

While post apartheid South Africa has been a miracle of forgiveness and reconciliation, there are still some elements of our society who harbour prejudice deep within their hearts and especially with the aid of a few beers it can sometimes burst through the façade as seen here with this group of young drunken white louts and their obvious contempt towards the black vendor.

I took this photo while at the Aardklop Cultural Festival in Potchefstroom, a smaller town in the Northwest Province. The festival just seemed to be an excuse for wanton drunkenness and crude behaviour. I won't be back.

Thank God that overall the majority of South Africans of all races have set aside their differences and live in a state of harmony that still astounds me! And just to set the record straight, there are also a similar minority of loud black voices who harbour the same prejudices against white people. I pray they will eventually change and get with the program, or simply shut up.

Taken with a Nikon F801s, Nikon 50mm F1.8, Ilford XP2 Super 400 C41 process B&W film, developed and extremely badly scanned by my crummy local lab. Edited with the Gimp.
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5 comments:

  1. webruci25 October 2009 at 20:13

    I hope you be right, because for exemple , here in UK the racism is fast growing, and extend for nacionality too. Me and my family, we moving back to Portugal. The yungsters are the target to cheer up confusion, and the alcohol is the worst to blow the fire.

    Great picture! I thing you must like me wife blog. She write a lot for day by day problems.you can try if you want, I have a link in my sidebar, calls "Rock the Cage".
    And she speling and writing perfectly, not like me:-)

    Have a nice Sunday night.

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  2. françoise25 October 2009 at 21:28

    Pas facile de vivre en bonne harmonie et mettre de côté ses préjugés Peut on encore espérer les gens s'entendent entre aux ?

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  3. Lanthus Clark25 October 2009 at 21:42

    françoise said...
    Not easy to live in harmony and put aside their prejudices Can we still expect people to agree between?

    The Photophile said...
    I agree, it's not an easy thing to get rid of old hangups, but it is something to be desired and strive for! At the end of the day we are all accountable for our own actions.

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  4. Sylvia25 October 2009 at 21:43

    It's good to know that things are getting better in South Africa, even though, of course, there are always sad examples of sad excuses for human kind. Here, things are growing at a really scary pace. It's not so much a matter of black and white; it's a matter of native and foreigner. Thank you for following Rock the Cage. I liked your views - I'm going to follow you too.

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  5. Lanthus Clark25 October 2009 at 22:00

    Mindless prejudice comes in all forms, not everything is black and white. But these can be overcome, South Africa is a shining example in so many ways, yet a few misguided fools remain.

    ReplyDelete

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