Reality Speaker Reality Speaker

Many years ago now (2006), before I was released from prison, I called into John Robbie's show on Talk Radio 702 from Leeuwkop Prison, in an attempt to expose what was happening behind four walls and to myself for opposing it inside those four walls. John is a good man, a sincere man and there are good people at Radio 702. While Yusuf Abramjee was there, I believe their reporting and motivation changed. He still grabs so much of their attention.

I believe his approach is short-sighted, destructive and his 'solutions' (ever heard one, one which stands up to scrutiny?) are short sighted, ignorant of the causes of crime, and while being severerly lame have a bad impact on the mood in South Africa. The direction in which the conversation is being taken and being had by Abramjee and his campaigns is not the way South Africa needs to go.

Mr Abramjee knows who I am. He has blocked me from commenting or engaging him on Twitter, Facebook and all social campaigns like Lead SA and others. I am also blocked from calling in and participating in certain shows ... and have been since I opposed an hysterical call by Abramjee to lobby for the Mandatory Sentencing of Cop Killers (See link). Mr Abramjee is aware of my opposition to his view but refuses to answer or engage with it. I have never trolled Mr Abramjee. I have only ever engaged him with views or facts he has yet to deny.

ALL I WANT TO DO IS DEBATE CRIME, INVARCERATION & THEIR EFFECTS ON SOCIETY WITH WHAT I BELEIVE TO BE A DANGEROUSLY IGNORANT VIEWPOINT FROM WHICH HE SCREAMS FROM VARIOUS PLATFORMS AND IS ECHOED BY OTHERS. IS THAT ASKING TOO MUCH. I'M JUST A CRIMINAL WITH NO EDUCATION AND A BUNCH OF EXPERIENCE. WHY WOULD HE BE AFRAID TO DEBATE CRIME WITH ME? PERHAPS I AM JUST NOT RELEVANT? OK.

I am in no way attacking Mr Abramjee, but I am ... after years of frusttration at hearing the nonsensical approach to beating crime in this country 

I handed over sensitive documentation to a reporter in 2005 and those documents went missing. Mr Abramjee's involvement and non-response to my efforts to retrieve those documents may or may not have led to the prevention of BOSASA getting it's way if corruption had been exposed back then. Let's not forget that the BOSASA plan was actually the capture of an entire feeding plan to over 130 000 prisoners DAILY since about 2000. That was a whole lot of dosh and I'll tell you what ... the intended recipient, especially in awaiting trial and overcrowded sentenced prisons, VERY SELDOM received their fair (medically suggested) share. But we'll chat more about this in future podcasts.

Kinda just getting a few things off my chest ...


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#MenAreTrash - I support the cause. It is one which desperately needs to be understood. I do not support the hashtag. It is a shallow and short sighted tag which the MAJORIT of men will not embrace. So, whyninsist on using it. Because it raises awareness. Sure. More than this, it draws attention? Well, put it this way, the main response to it, by men, will be ... "but I'm not trash". Whereas a hashtag like #RapistsAreTrash will mainly be responded to with agreement.

Take a 9 or 12 or 15 year old kid. Who is going to explain to him all the psychological and philosophical meanings which we apply to the hashtag - no matter how well intended. Why can we not just use self-explanatory hashtags which even a kid can relate to. Why are we insisting on using one they can't. Kill the hashtag #MenAreTrash. More than this, tell men hiw you feel, tell men what they have been doing for centuries, tell men their role has changed and they need to adapt. Tell men they patriarchy is something that is controlling and destroying the relationship between humans and the sexes. Don't tell men they are trash. Don't tell men how to feel. Don't tell men how to respond. We really need to start talking to each other and not AT each other!

 Are we so out of touch with ourselves and each other that we use hashtags to express ourselves and attack each other? Are we so shallow that we can no longer use plain language to describe our pain, both individual and collective? Women and children are being murdered and raped, but because of emotion and bias hashtags have become a battering ram. Fuck that! We need to have conversations. The hashtag is contributing to the murder and rape. If we cannot see this, then just look at the increase of rape over time. The hashtag MenAreTrash


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