It's no accident
The very uncomfortable thing about democracy is you can’t decide to honour it only when it suits you. Brexit was at least just stupid. But Donald Trump’s ascent to become the president of the United States has got to be the most unpalatable manifestation ever of a democratic process.
The “Not My President” protests that sprang up in major cities across the US after the results emerged were confirmation that there are a lot of Americans who definitely did not vote for Trump.
It’s been discounted as urban legend that in protest, 20 000 US voters cast their ballot for Harambe − a dead gorilla.
Based on turnout estimates from the United States Election Project ( http://www.electproject.org/2016g) early results indicate that 46.6% of the US population didn’t vote in the presidential election, 25.6% voted for Hillary Clinton, 25.5% voted for Donald Trump and 1.7% voted for Gary Johnson.
Perhaps if there were such a thing in our form of democracy as a direct presidential vote here at home, more South Africans would feel a sense of responsibility about our Number One, instead of sucking our teeth and saying, “Well it wasn’t us − we didn’t put him there.”
Genderlinks have published a piece putting Trump’s victory over Hilary Clinton down to deep-seated racism, xenophobia and misogyny.
A piece by the Telegraph takes a look at key states and how their vote helped determine the outcome – that “polling revealed a country divided down demographic lines”, with women and ethnic minorities tending to back Clinton – but evidently not enough.
Rubbernecking at an accident scene may seem in bad taste but it is a perfectly human reaction. Somewhere in there, apart from making sure it’s not someone you know, is “could that happen to us?”.
The time is gone when South Africans boasted political leaders who could attract diverse constituencies around broad democratic ideals.
The shake-ups (and shake-downs) taking place on multiple fronts in South Africa may look like the vehicle we’re sharing is completely out of control. But we’re not an accident scene yet. The stories about former midwife ‘Nesi’ Kungiwe Cetu that were told on the occasion of her 103rd birthday were extraordinary. They recalled a time when trusting and helping strangers was the rule rather than the exception; and are a reminder of the value of memory.
The Albany History Museum has over the years steadily transformed itself from a place where you could see but not touch dead things, and stuff belonging to dead people − to a space where Grahamstown residents can begin to answer questions about the accident scenes of our own local history, and how we’re affected by them today.
And as was witnessed on Wednesday night, it is also a place to celebrate the living culture and heritage of our town, and region.