Subject: South African videos showing street violence banned.
I have many South African friends who write to me of their concern about the politics and the violence in their country. Some of the video clips they send are truly terrifying especially if you are living there and whilst any video has to be understood against a wider background of past institutionalised violence, the current spasm of overt violence especially against the farmers, from men out of work and without hope but never the less citizens of a country which has had 25 years of governance by people of their own choosing and who's current plight cannot be levelled at the farmers or in fact, against any white citizen still living there.
The videos are graphic and I don't particularly like to receive them but they do describe an aspect of life there.
This morning I turned to send a message to the wife of a friend who died a while ago and who is concerned about the turmoil in her country, only to find that all her video posts showing the violence have been removed from her Facebook messaging page.
Is this the result of the pressure put on Mr Zuckerberg to clean up Facebook. If so it seems to be selective. The damage done to South Africa is only proportional to the damage it does to itself and people living outside the country shouldn't be denied an insight as to what is happening there.
Our own press are largely silent about the country, now that Apartheid and white rule has been brought to an end, they seem strangely reticent to castigate the black rulers and politicians from letting the misery of the population at large drag on with paralysis on housing, health, and the economy which so needed the governments attention.
After the kleptomaniac rule of President Zumba so much needs to be done and law and order must get preference in such a violent country.
The banning of the free press, of which the internet and its thousands of contributors through the medium of street videos is one aspect and has publicised to the general public, across the world, much of what the governments in various countries wish to keep quiet.
The removal of these videos of violence on the streets of South Africa is wrong and despite how unpalatable this part of the picture is, it should be shown.
The videos are graphic and I don't particularly like to receive them but they do describe an aspect of life there.
This morning I turned to send a message to the wife of a friend who died a while ago and who is concerned about the turmoil in her country, only to find that all her video posts showing the violence have been removed from her Facebook messaging page.
Is this the result of the pressure put on Mr Zuckerberg to clean up Facebook. If so it seems to be selective. The damage done to South Africa is only proportional to the damage it does to itself and people living outside the country shouldn't be denied an insight as to what is happening there.
Our own press are largely silent about the country, now that Apartheid and white rule has been brought to an end, they seem strangely reticent to castigate the black rulers and politicians from letting the misery of the population at large drag on with paralysis on housing, health, and the economy which so needed the governments attention.
After the kleptomaniac rule of President Zumba so much needs to be done and law and order must get preference in such a violent country.
The banning of the free press, of which the internet and its thousands of contributors through the medium of street videos is one aspect and has publicised to the general public, across the world, much of what the governments in various countries wish to keep quiet.
The removal of these videos of violence on the streets of South Africa is wrong and despite how unpalatable this part of the picture is, it should be shown.
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