The Mandela Effect Part III

The Mandela Effect Part III

 

The largest labor union in South Africa is calling upon the resignation of president Jacob Zuma. Well that sure didn’t take a whole lot of time did it? I said it would eventually happen, and here it is already. Could this be the beginning of the groundswell to come? Perhaps. There have been low muted rumblings in the country for some time, kept quiet during Mandela’s last days that are now gaining momentum. It appears that the labor unions who have had a great deal to do with the government are preparing to ratchet up the pressure one more time to bring about a more equitable economic outcome.

I was actually surprised last year at the unrest, which led to the massacre of thirty-four miners by police. It was the kind of bloodshed that had been seen during apartheid. And yet it was somehow quelled at the time. I remember the miners being told to be back at work the next day or risk being fired. I couldn’t believe the cold-blooded violence or the callousness of the mine owners. It became obvious that the violence and discord had only been driven underground by Mandela’s influence and was still restive just below the surface. All the complicated networks of labor unions, government alliances and white domination still simmer just beneath the surface. In other words, nothing has really changed.

But as much as the predatory caldron is bubbling below the surface, the caldron of forgiveness, equality, and reconciliation that Mandela first ignited has perhaps been heated up enough to hold sway over the former. One can only hope that the torch will be picked up by South Africa’s poor and oppressed. Regardless, I see a big blood bath in it’s future. Whether it is a blood bath with a purpose or not depends largely on the power of the spirit of Mandela. In every indigenous culture there are predictions of someone coming in the future to lead the way to the happiness of the people. In South Africa, that someone has come and gone. Now it is up to the people themselves. We’ll see. At least that’s how it seems to me from up here on the top shelf.

Just sayin’.