Daily Maverick, 11 May 2012 -  There seems to be a breakdown in communication between local government and its people. The former seems to understand that service to the people must happen on its terms and its terms only, even when those people are demonstrably disgruntled. Perhaps our city fathers should take a closer look at the statutes that are supposed to guide them. We issued notes to the public and businesses,” Pieter de Klerk, the city of Joburg’s legal representative, told reporters this week. “In Parkhurst, questions were raised if it was sufficient. We thought it was sufficient, but the community wanted more engagement.” Alongside him, city spokesman Gabu Tugwana insisted the process was ongoing and the city remains amenable to input from stakeholders. “The door is not closed,” he said. Then on Thursday, Amanda Forsythe, the DA-affiliated ward councillor for Greenside and Parkview, rubbished the City’s pious protestations of a public participation process. In a tersely worded statement , Forsythe said:   “In a media briefing at city vouncil (on Wednesday), representatives from the city of Johannesburg had the audacity to inform the press that public consultation had in fact taken place with regards to the paid parking scheme being rolled out by the JMPD and private company, Ace Parking. This is simply untrue. If it weren’t for my colleague in Parkhurst, councillor Tim Truluck, I wouldn’t have known about JMPD’s intentions to commence with paid parking in Melville from the 1st of June and to then roll it out in two further suburbs in my ward: Greenside and Parkview. The city officials glibly stated that it was the ward councillors’ duty to take information they receive from the city and pass it on to residents, suggesting that it is we who have not done our jobs! Had I received any information or notification on the paid parking scheme, I would have informed the residents and especially businesses in my ward immediately.”   The gap of communication between the city and its wards is replete with distrust. And while the Parkhurst councillor took it upon herself to shout her disagreement to the city’s claims, this is not the first time this year the Parkhurst ward has been at odds with the City. When the newly refurbished Johannesburg City library was opened in February, Truluck told the media the Parkhurst library faced closure due to a staff shortage at the city’s main library. Asked about the fate of the Parkhurst library, the city’s portfolio head of community development, Chris Vondo, vehemently denied the Parkhurst library faced closure. “We have no intention of closing any library in this city, he said. That would be an indictment on the commitment we are making towards education in this country. It would be an indictment against the communities we serve.  Those people who are saying it was going to be closed have other issues which you may not be aware of,” he said hinting that political subterfuge may have given rise to reports. There definitely is a discord between the DA-led wards of Johannesburg and the city’s ANC-affiliated managers. This discord is exacerbating a crisis of local government in the city. Already, disgruntled communities, be they in Themb’elihle or Parkhurst, complain about being excluded from the decision-making structures that entail local government. Those academics who spend their days and nights poring over such problems believe this disconnect is nothing more than a failure of communication. If part of the problem does lie in linguistic difficulties there are also significant differences in attitudes and expectations between city authorities and ward councillors, between local government and the people who see this parking scheme as the latest in government’s campaign to fleece taxpayers of a few more rands.  Add to it mutual feelings of mistrust, suspicion or resentment. According to the Local Government Municipal Systems Act of 2000, municipalities are required to “develop a culture of municipal governance that complements formal representative government with a system of participatory governance”. Public participation in government entails principally involving people in deciding their futures. But instead of this legislation imbuing local governments with a culture of public participation, communities have become frustrated with the non-delivery of local services. Service delivery protests have become a mainstay of life in the less fortunate pockets of the city. Elsewhere, people have grown wary of government. It’s telling of the reputation of local government and its contractors that news of the paid-parking scheme has been met with vociferous demands to know exactly who owns Ace Parking. Trust between local government and the people has been eroded by a series of unresolved and messy issues – chief among them the billing crisis. But why aren’t people taking back the power from the authorities? Public scepticism has grown just as rapidly as participation in public life continues to wane.  Nowhere have the effects of a lack of public participation been more keenly felt than in local municipalities. This is the sphere of government where the greatest constitutional and statutory obligations to public participation exist. It is the sphere of government that is meant to be most acutely driven by the will of the people. If this parking scheme is anything to go by, then the current interpretation of public participation needs serious revision. The 2005 Draft National Policy Framework for Public Participation states that the public participation process in local government exists ‘‘to empower local communities to have control over their own lives and  livelihoods”. Similarly, the White Paper on Local Government’s af?rms that citizens must participate in local government as consumers and service-users, as partners in resource mobilisation, as voters and as participants in policy processes. And yet, we are faced in this city, in this country, with an ever increasing democracy deficit. Something has to change. DM

Daily Maverick, Thursday 10 May, 2012

Algeria goes to the polls on Thursday to elect a new parliament. With some bravado, the Algerian government has promoted these elections in advertisements as “Algeria’s Spring”, invoking the spirit of the Arab Spring. But this is just another opportunity for the country’s political elite to gain a semblance of legitimacy.

Political pundits have long touted Algeria to be the scene of the next, great Arab uprising. Yet, last year, as an infectious appetite for political change spread from Tunisia across North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, Algeria maintained its status quo.

Days before Mohammed Bouazzizi’s self-immolation in Tunisia in December 2010, Algeria was rocked by massive youth riots targeting private stores, government offices, post offices, schools and other symbols of public authority.

Three-quarters of Algeria’s population of 37 million are under 35 and like other restless, young populations in the developing world they reel under the twin burdens of unemployment and rising food prices.

The December 2010 riots were fuelled by increases in the price of cooking oil and sugar as well as other commodities, but they quickly took on anti-government overtones, with protestors chanting slogans denouncing the Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia and the President, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, calling for the fall of the regime.

As protests in Tunisia gathered momentum, Algeria’s riots spread into 20 more provinces. The country’s business community, the semblance of opposition and the governing parties all chimed in with condemnation of the youth violence, urging young people to use existing political channels to voice their grievances.

And though self-immolations mimicking Bouazzizi were reported, the country proved exceptional, numb to the infectious appetite for political change that had been let loose on the streets across North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.

President Bouteflika failed to comment on the youth riots, choosing instead to announce a host of price cuts and arrest the recalcitrant youth. The government was content to be patient, confident that the young dissidents would eventually grow tired of shouting in the streets and accept the piecemeal offerings of the price cuts.

The government was proved right. The riots died down by early to mid-January 2011 and the government in turn announced reforms in politics, economics, youth policy and law. As one analyst puts it: “This process reflects both the regime’s ability to learn from the ongoing experience of its neighbours, Tunisia and Egypt, as well as an important self-perception that lent itself to a more cautious approach to the crisis that did not precipitate as dramatic a turn of events as it might have otherwise.”

Popular discontent with the Algerian government certainly does exist, but after a decade of extreme violence between the military regime and armed Islamists in the 1990s, the military-backed government has succeeded to thwart the formation of a strong opposition or indeed even a formidable civil society.

And so, on Thursday, Algeria hosts parliamentary elections that promise to be the freest ever.  Over 21 million Algerians are registered to vote for the 44 parties, half of which were only legalised this year as part of the government’s reforms. The parties are competing for a 462-member parliament that Bouteflika promises will have a say in rewriting the constitution, but there is little faith that this parliament will be any better placed to serve the people.

The government all the way up to  Bouteflika has been pleading for people to come out and vote, but years of rigged polls have left people cynical about the potential of the political process to bring about any real change.

The statistics don’t bode well for a strong turnout. Since 1997, turnout for legislative elections has fallen with each electoral cycle, hitting an all-time low in 2007 with 34% of citizens casting their vote by official tallies. Opposition parties and citizens routinely boycott official elections. “At a popular level, ordinary Algerians strongly disassociate from their government leaders, which many see as a sham imposed by the military, which has dominated the country’s politics since 1965,” one regional analyst surmised.

Algeria, despite its façade to the contrary, remains an authoritarian state. The president is all-powerful. His power is institutionalised through restrictive laws governing public assembly, association, speech and media. If Algeria does hold regular municipal, provincial, parliamentary and presidential elections, the Freedom House institution still rates the country as “Not Free”.

The elections are expected to produce a fractured legislature divided between government parties, an Islamist alliance and a smattering of smaller groups. Although regional trends suggest an upsurge in votes for the Islamist-aligned parties, analysts point out that the various Islamist factions that have been part of the political process for years have failed to garner significant support. Many observers believe the president will then weld together a government of national unity of the main parties to implement his “reformist” agenda.

With this election, the Algerian government is trying hard to prove to the world that it is indeed geared towards a more-encompassing democracy. One distinguishing factor is that a large number of foreign observers have flown in: the Carter Centre, the National Democratic Institute, the European Union, the Arab League, even the African Union has made the trip. The government wants desperately for this election to be seen as free and fair. As one columnist wrote recently, “Two hundred million dollars have been spent for transparent ballot boxes (the old ones weren’t see-through enough?)”

The Arab Spring may have bypassed Algeria, but it has certainly placed some pressure on the Algerian government to appear to have taken heed from their neighbours’ travails. Yet last weekend, Ouyahia openly attacked the Arab Spring as “a plague” sweeping the region. He blames the Arab Spring for, “the colonisation of Iraq, the destruction of Libya, the partition of Sudan and the weakening of Egypt”.

“The revolutions that engulfed brotherly and friendly countries such as Iraq, Sudan, Tunisia, Mali, Libya and Egypt are not accidental but are the work of Zionism and Nato,” he continued. “The Nato countries grant visas to young people according to their objectives, to train in new technologies to create unrest…”

Invoking the romance of Algeria’s independence struggle against France, he said: “The Arab Spring for me is a disaster. We don’t need lessons from outside, our spring is Algerian, our revolution of November 1, 1954.”

His words speak louder than any semblance of political reform. For Algerians, these elections portend more of the same – parties will participate in the unfolding political spectacle, they will receive the backing of the military and the ageing political elite, and they will revert to serving their own nefarious ends, ignoring the concerns of ordinary Algerians. It’s just the way things are. DM

Daily Maverick, 9 May 2012 - 

Johannesburg road users are up in arms again. As the next phase of the city’s roadside parking system is rolled out, the cost of parking on the city’s streets is about to cost more than crossing a car guard’s palm with silver, but it’s certainly not the city of Joburg that’s enjoying the added income.

In the din of the late-afternoon traffic in Braamfontein, a woman double-parked on Jorrissen Street shouts to her friend to hurry up. Her friend rushes to the car, watched by the beady-eyed Metro police officer and an Ace Parking attendant. “Now I have a fucking fine!” she shouts angrily. The friend gets into the car gingerly, cautious not to cause further upset, but the Metro police officer is unfazed.

The parking attendant turns to me meaningfully.

“You see, this is what we face every day.”

The roadside parking system in place in the Johannesburg central business district and Braamfontein since December 2010 is soon to be extended to the suburbs of Norwood, Melville, Brixton, Emmarentia, Rosebank, Roodepoort, Birnam, Parkview, Sandton, Florida, Fordsburg, Greenside, Linden, Rivonia, Craighall Park and Northcliff.

The system requires road users to fork out R4 for 30 minutes and R8 for an hour and is set to rise to R8,50 in July. In Parkhurst, where the system was implemented in March this year, residents and business owners have been particularly vociferous of their dissatisfaction with the system, signalling as well their intent to pursue legal action against the city for the lack of public participation in the process.

The Parkhurst community blames the high parking tariffs on a sharp fall in business in the last month, but the money is certainly not making its way into the city’s coffers. On Tuesday, Business Day reported the city of Johannesburg will receive just 20%-40% of the total income generated from kerbside parking payments, depending on whether the suburb has the potential for higher or lower income.

The balance of the generated income is retained by Ace Parking,  the company with the good fortune of managing the system. And the city of Joburg, world-class as it so tautly touts itself to be, has been content to waive the responsibility of the job creation component of the scheme to Ace Parking.

Employees of the company, however, complain they toil away in the streets of Joburg, braving the elements and road hazards only to receive a measly 15% commission of the parking fees they collect. They are not paid a basic salary.  On an average day in one area of the CBD, Ace employees claim to collect a healthy R11,000 in sum but each attendant collects an average of R200 a day.

“At the end of the month we are left sometimes with just R300.”

*Zanele, a 24-year old Ace attendant from Soweto is particularly scathing of her employers’ failure to offer her a basic salary.

“The people who park, they complain but most of them are getting used to it, but these people, Ace, they don’t give us a basic salary, they don’t give us days off when we are sick. Even when I was hit by a car here, in my job, they did not pay even one cent.”

“Look,” she says, pointing to her attire, a snug black jack worn over black pants, her Ace badge dangling from its perch on her hip. “They did not even give me a uniform. Today, this morning, one man asked me how he can give me money if I am not wearing a uniform.”

On its website, Ace Parking indicates its attendants will be “professionally uniformed”. Zanele, holding the Pay & Display Terminal and Printer looks like an aggrandised car guard.

Beside her, her colleague *Robert, a 34-year old father of two is decked out in a branded Ace jacket. He’s been working for Ace Parking for the past 8 months and, unlike Zanele, has been outfitted in the Ace uniform.

Zanele says she’s told by her superiors that there is not sufficient funds to furnish her with a full uniform.

“All our requests are ignored,” she says.

“It’s not easy to work on the streets,” Robert says.

“Most people don’t want to pay for parking.

Every day people are telling us they’ll give us the money for ourselves, we should just print the receipt but we can’t go on like that forever.

We also need to earn money.

“Last week we were told there is no chance for us to get a basic salary.

Some of us, we were talking about a strike but they told us, if you go on strike, then we’ll lose the contract and you’ll be out of jobs.

Just to spite Ace, I’ll be happy if they lose their contract here but then I’ll be without a job.”

I interrupt their diatribe against their employers to ask why they continue to work for Ace if indeed they are that bad.

“I can’t sit around the whole day in the township and beg,” Robert says.

“At least I’m working.”

In the stores that line the street Zanele and Robert are working on, businesses offer a mixed account of the effects the parking system has had on their bottom line. Jeeteen Narotam, who runs a men’s outfitters store, says his customers have grown used to the parking system, but every now and then he’s forced to pay the parking fee on behalf of stubborn customers and suppliers.

Asked if he would support the Parkhurst community in their legal action against the city, he replies immediately.

“Definitely.”

Ntsieni Mudau runs a music store nearby. He believes opposition to the parking system – and the e-tolls – stems from a virulently anti-ANC stance among the more privileged members of Johannesburg society.

“In the beginning when the system was introduced, suddenly the road was deserted. Before you couldn’t find a parking here outside,” he gestures. “But now, slowly, the street is filling up again. People have gotten used to it,” he says.

“The council has to take over from Ace,” Robert concludes emphatically. He takes strength from the hullabaloo over the system in Parkhurst, confident that the city of Joburg will be forced to do something to intervene, for the better of disgruntled residents, business people and parking attendants alike.

In sum, we have only recently witnessed attempts to effectively regulate parking for the betterment of urban transport in South Africa. The local government of Cape Town introduced a similar system to their streets, but Cape authorities have prided themselves on the extent of the public participation process before the system was introduced.

Urban planners caution there is a lot more to a city’s parking facilities than we perceive, speaking even of the art and science behind metered parking. Rolling out a parking system as Joburg is currently doing, is one measure in a broader campaign to influence private transport users to move to public transport, combat urban sprawl and congested roads. The implementation of the parking system will not be popular, but with adequate information Joburgers may grudgingly concede that it is a necessary step towards rendering the city world class.

The devil, however, lurks smugly in the details. If indeed the city of Joburg is to persist in outsourcing services, then surely they need also to protect both communities and employees from the companies these services enrich. Ace Parking walks off with the lion’s share of the earnings, but what remains for Joburgers, the people forking out a little bit extra for their Saturday brunch in Parkhurst?

It’s the revenue return that is the most important part of the parking policy. It’s all good and well that this programme may eventually ease congestion, cut greenhouse emissions and save residents from their freeloading selves, but in order for this programme to be sustainable, it’s crucial that the affected communities are able to see the fruits of this income.

Without physical proof of the benefits to the community it is hard to support the idea. If Ace is not able to win the trust of its own employees, how then are Joburgers expected to trust them to manage the city’s parking programme with integrity and efficiency?

And when their entire contribution to the process seems to be the collection of fees from the attendants, remind us why Johannesburg actually needs companies like Ace Parking?

*Caveat lector: Zanele and Robert are not the real names of the parking attendants. Fearing for their jobs, they requested anonymity. DM

Daily Maverick  - 8 May 2012 -

As Timbuktu reels under rebel control, South Africa’s investment in the preservation and protection of ancient manuscripts has been significantly imperilled. A good few million rands were poured into the Timbuktu project, but it’s not the financial loss that will be felt most acutely. 

In May 2010, minister in the presidency Collins Chabane formally handed over a new library and archives building to the Malian government. The building was constructed to adequately house ancient manuscripts at the Ahmed Baba Institute of Higher Learning and Islamic Research in Timbuktu. At the time of building it, it was a pet project of then president Thabo Mbeki, invoking his call towards an “African Renaissance”.

The manuscripts of Timbuktu offer a rare window into life in the region known as Western Sudan from the late 15th century onward. They cover topics from the natural and physical sciences, including astronomy, mathematics, botany and medicine to the more whimsical literary arts, with a sprinkling of Islamic religious sciences thrown in. They are a veritable treasure trove of human knowledge.

Constructing the library was meant to contribute to re-writing African history from a decidedly African perspective.

The South Africa-Mali Timbuktu project, as it is known, was managed by the Development Bank and chaired by former minister in the presidency, Essop Pahad. The trust was tasked with facilitating the physical conservation of the manuscripts and training the Malian conservators. It was also tasked with the construction of the library and archives building, and all services relating to the preservation, collection and access to the manuscripts. Finally,  it would help with the creation of public awareness about the manuscripts, relating the true story of Mali and the surrounding regions.

Of course, it’s been some time since the African Renaissance peppered the political spectacle in South Africa. Mbeki’s dreams have long waned, but now the harsh reality of conflict threatens to imperil the fragile gains made towards winning back Africa’s heritage.

Despite reports that the Azawad rebels, who now control Timbuktu, had set a shrine alight over  the weekend, South Africa’s ambassador to Mali, Rantobeng Mokou, is certain the South African-built library housing the main collection has not been damaged.

When the Daily Maverick spoke to Mokou on Monday afternoon he said he had just had a meeting with a journalist who had returned from Timbuktu to the Malian capital, Bamako. Mokou says the journalist had shown him various videos and photographs of Timbuktu, proving that the South African-built library had not met the ire of the rebels.

According to Mokou, marauding rebels had asked locals what exactly was housed in the library and after being informed of its contents, left the museum untouched.

Essop Pahad, however, warns that the extent of damage sustained by the library during a break-in some weeks ago is still unknown. According to Pahad, computer equipment had been stolen but the trickle of information he had been receiving had dwindled into an alarming silence. Asked if the trust would initiate any campaign to secure the library and manuscripts, Pahad said the trust was not meant to be an advocacy group.

“Our responsibility was to put the building up,” he said.

Professor Shamil Jeppie, who heads the Timbuktu Manuscripts Project at UCT, is frustrated by the South African government’s reticence on the situation in Mali and its repercussions on the Timbuktu project. “So far, I have heard nothing from government,” he said.

For weeks Jeppie had been receiving daily updates from locals in Timbuktu about the situation on the ground and the efforts taken to protect other collections of manuscripts. “I’m unable to reach my contacts now,” he said. “They all seem to have left the site.”

For Jeppie the radio silence from Timbuktu is particularly worrying. “I am receiving the impression of a deserted city,” he said. “The entire city is a United Nations heritage site. We are set to lose a lot either through conflict or sheer neglect.”

Jeppie is vexed by concerns for the fate of the South African-constructed building alone. “You can’t be obsessed with the building,” he said.

The real threat to the Timbuktu heritage, Jeppie says, lies in the prospect of further fragmentation of the collections. “We are not concerned yet with the destruction of the manuscripts, but rather the possible fragmentation of the collections.”

He points out that the manuscripts are actually a set of diverse collections – South Africa’s investment lies in the main collection but a number of other collections have been housed privately in the city.

“We are worried about the mishandling of the documents,” Jeppie said.

“Too much movement may destroy the brittle paper, and  theft and abuse are also very real threats to the preservation of these collections.”

For Jeppie, the prospect of gleaning an entire written heritage of African life, culture and science has been imperilled. It’s the African Renaissance, a call to African scholarship that has been endangered in Timbuktu. In rebel hands, the fate of an entire history remains uncertain. For him, it’s crucial that the South African government intervenes in Mali to facilitate dialogue between the various sections of the Malian government and their insurgent opposition.

“If we are now saying that the current government is not interested we can ask, what kind of Africans are we then?” Jeppie says.

South Africa will be loath to throw its bulk around Mali – this after all is Ecowas (read Nigerian) territory, and we dare not irritate them again – not with weeks left until the African Union summit in Lilongwe.

But then a failure to protect Timbuktu will weigh heavily on the conscience of Ecowas and South Africa alike. This is not just about South African money, or ancient manuscripts, it is about the people to whom these manuscripts rightfully belong – the people of Timbuktu who have been forced to vacate the city to an uncertain fate. DM

Daily Maverick 7 May 2012-

A South African nurse in Saudi Arabia has been barred by Saudi authorities from returning home for two years after patients at the hospital where she works lodged complaints against her. South African authorities have extended consular services to her, but her fate remains uncertain.

The Sunday Independent claims it has seen correspondence between officials at a Riyadh Military Hospital, where the passports of four South African nurses have been confiscated.

According to the letter, dated March this year, the passports were being held as a result of complaints by patients.”The midwife is not informed that her passport is on hold and only becomes aware of this fact once she files for annual leave,” the letter is reported to state.

One of these nurses is banned from leaving Saudi Arabia for two years. Responding to the report on Sunday, the department of international relations and co-operation (Dirco) released a statement on Sunday noting that the South African embassy in Riyadh has rendered consular support to this nurse.

“The foreign affairs consular section in Pretoria is in contact with her family through their appointed attorney.  The South African diplomatic mission in Riyadh is working with the Saudi authorities and her employer to facilitate the nurse’s return to South Africa as soon as is possible,” the statement said.

The practice of confiscating labourers’ passports is in violation of the kingdom’s own laws. In October 2000, the late King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud issued a decree specifically prohibiting the confiscation of a migrant’s passport.

But the law has done little to protect migrant workers in this regard. Several further attempts to protect the basic human rights of migrant workers in the kingdom have failed to eradicate the deeply entrenched practice.

In the case of the Riyadh Military Hospital, there is reported to have been an agreement between nurses and their employers that a passport could be confiscated if a nurse happened to be involved in a serious incident. The letter obtained by the Sunday Independent, however, states that nurses at the Riyadh Military Hospital have been prevented from leaving the country for trivial complaints – or even for queries lodged against the doctors. In one case a patient is said to have complained that a midwife had kicked her, in another, that a nurse opened a window in the ward.

Although the department of international relations and co-operation knows the details of the complaints levelled against the “detained” nurse, her offences have not yet been made public. In informal conversations with South African nurses living and working in Saudi Arabia, it is the demands of patients and their families that pose the greatest challenge to nurses.

Nurses complain of being left entirely at the whim of the patients and their families – even administering medication at their behest. Though whatever complaints have been raised against the detained nurse will certainly have to be investigated, the confiscation of her passport is a stringent violation of her right to freedom of movement.

According to the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, the term “migrant worker” refers to a person who is to be engaged, is engaged or has been engaged in a remunerated activity in a state of which he or she is not a national. Clause 21 of the same convention implies that it shall be unlawful for anyone, other than a public official duly authorised by law, to confiscate, destroy or attempt to destroy identity documents, documents authorising entry to or stay residence or establishment in the national territory.  It further states that no authorised confiscation of such documents shall take place without delivery of a detailed receipt.

Like much of Saudi life, however, there exists great discord between the niceties of international law and the reality on the ground. The confiscation of passports is not exclusive to this hospital. It is practised widely throughout the private sector in the kingdom. The kafala (sponsorship) system ties migrant workers’ residency permits to their “sponsoring” employers, whose written consent is required for workers to change employers or exit the country.

Without their passports, workers remain at the whim of their employers, unable to flee the country even if they are abused. The International Labour Organization has identified confiscation of passports as a key element in identifying situations of forced labour.

Last month, the Saudi labour ministry’s announced a host of proposed reforms to labour laws in the country, most notably the abolishment of the kafala system. In addition, the ministry also proposed the creation of a new governmental commission to oversee migrant workers’ affairs. The commission would monitor the newly established recruitment companies and ensure compliance with regulations such as the ban on taking migrant workers’ passports.  Such a commission may prove crucial in combating the inefficiency of Saudi authorities towards police abuses like the confiscation of passports.

Despite Saudi Arabia’s failure to protect the rights of migrant workers in the country, South African nurses continue to stream there. According to the WHO, it’s low pay, poor working conditions and a failure to recognise the value of nurses in South Africa that has encouraged thousands of nurses to seek employment in the kingdom. The financial rewards certainly are excellent – nurses can earn an annual tax-free salary of between R228,000 to R360,000 compared to a salary of approximately R75,400 at home.

As this case plays out over the next few days, however, it is the price of human dignity that may well have to be negotiated. DM

I want to find you. I want to find you, little girl that was me. I want to reach the bluster and the blunder. I want to reach you over all these years. I want to hold your hand. I want to stroke your hair. I want to loosen your hair from the confines of that foreboding bun. I know you like the look of yourself in that bun. Loosen it, my darling. Feel the freedom of the wind billowing through your hair. Don’t look away. I want you to look at me. No, look at me with a smile. I want you to smile. Oh dear child, I want you to smile. I want you to look at me with a smile.

Now listen to me. That silly boy you’re hankering after. The one that’s far too old and far too sophisticated for you? The one who barely notices you even though you’ve managed to convince all your friends- and yourself otherwise? Yes, yes, I know there was that one time. Don’t go mooning over him no more. Just don’t. Trust me. You don’t? Well, how about if I tell you that when you’re almost 30-years old that boy/man/person will be desperate for your attention. No, he’s married with kids. That’s not the point. Not any more. That boy you’re mooning after as a girl, he’s going to respect you as a woman.

So, don’t worry my sweet. Keep yourself together. I wish I could tell you that the years will bring less tears. You’ll always be a cry baby unfortunately. But the tears, they will become more worthy. People will die. People you love will die. They will dissipate into nothingness. Their absence will weigh on you, pull you down but time will deliver you from whatever earthly hell you find. There is always time. And there are others yet to die.

And even if you are still a cry baby, at least you’ll learn to understand your tears better. You’ll fall in love. You’ll feel an all too fleeting bliss. You will taste heartbreak. You will taste despair. And it has a taste far more enduring than the syrupy sweet of chappie between your teeth. But you’ll pick yourself up eventually. You will. You’ll live your dream, sweetheart. Even if you won’t admit you have a dream. You’ll live a dream.You’ll feel the wind in your hair.You’ll make a friend, or two, or three. And you’ll be relieved to know you’re not quite so alone.  You’ll stretch your mind. You’ll find succour in ideas. But there will always be difficulty. There will be sorrow. But it gets better. Eventually it will become easier.

Now if only you’d look at me with a smile.

Daily Maverick – 4 May 2012- 

Kenya’s incursion into Somalia last October, dubbed Operation Linda Nchi or Protect the Country, signalled a renewed vigour in the war against Al-Shabaab. As part of the operation, officials also launched a crackdown in the North Eastern province of Kenya, intent on weeding out the Somali cell of al-Qaeda sympathisers. In the process, Kenyan Somalis and Somali refugees were arbitrarily arrested and gravely mistreated.

Last November, a Kenyan soldier was killed by an explosive device in the town of Mandera, near the Somali border. In response, the Kenyan police, military and soldiers of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia, who had crossed into Kenya from Somalia, rushed to Mandera to find those responsible.

As one witness recounts, “There was a blast on Thursday in the middle of town. Immediately the [police] started picking up people around there. Some schoolboys were beaten seriously. Some were in the hospital… I escaped by the skin of my teeth. My neighbours were whipped by the military. They were beaten seriously. I had rushed to the scene to see what was happening, and the military surrounded us… One man was bleeding from the head, and I took him to the hospital. Some of my boys were bleeding. I’m a teacher. These were boys of 12, 13, 15 years – young, small boys. The soldiers were beating people with clubs.”

A new report from Human Rights Watch, Criminal Reprisals: Kenyan Police and Military Abuses against Ethnic Somalis, details significant human rights abuses by the Kenya Defence Forces and police in apparent response to a series of grenade and improvised explosive device (IED) attacks that targeted the security forces and civilians in North Eastern province.

Rather than conducting investigations to identify and apprehend the perpetrators, the police and army appear to have applied little discretion in using force against Kenyan citizens and Somali refugees.

Speaking to Human Rights Watch about their experiences, Somalis allege Kenyan forces arbitrarily detained people, subjecting them to indiscriminate beatings and sexual abuse. In the Dadaab refugee camp, where police carried out a raid on refugees after several explosive attacks resulted in the death of two Administration Police officers, a woman was raped.

Recounting her experience to Human Rights Watch researchers, she said: “It was the day after an explosion in the market… They were three policemen who came. They were saying, ‘Bring us money’ and ‘Where is your husband?’

The three of them started beating me with a metal stick. They lifted me up to [take me] inside the house. I shouted, saying that I was a teacher… Two of them moved out of the house, leaving behind one who immediately started locking the door and opened the zipper [of his trousers] while holding my neck in his right hand. I started screaming and fought back with him. In the process he stripped my underwear off and pulled me towards himself while standing, and as I struggled, after some time, I felt his sperms rolling over my thighs.”

Besides the sizeable Somali refugee population, Kenya also has a substantial indigenous Somali population, concentrated mainly in the North Eastern Province, the least developed region in Kenya. It is bedevilled by a history of insurgency, misrule, repression, chronic poverty, massive youth unemployment, high population growth, insecurity, poor infrastructure and lack of basic services. With political unrest and conflict close by in Somalia, the ethnic Somalis living there have battled to ward off political, social and economic marginalisation. So long as instability in Somalia ripples across the border, bringing guns, grenades and armed gangs, Nairobi has reacted with repression.

In turn, the Somali communities harbour a long-standing suspicion of the Kenyan state and its motives. As Human Rights Watch surmises, the behaviour of the security forces in the North Eastern province has done little to endear Kenyan officials to residents. Instead, it has fed into the culture of mistrust and resentment.

“The result of the repeated beatings and mistreatment of residents of North Eastern province has been a diminishing trust in the Kenyan security forces at the very moment when those forces most need the confidence of the people in order to accomplish their security objectives,” Human Rights Watch says.

The security crackdown in the province between November last year and March has served to further increase the sense of marginalisation of the Kenyan Somali population. “There is a long history of abuse suffered by Somalis at the hands of Kenyan authorities,” Neela Ghoshal, Human Rights Watch East Africa researcher told Daily Maverick. “What this report shows is that, despite the new constitution in Kenya and efforts to implement reform to the police services, not much has changed. They behave with impunity.”

She points out that campaigns of discrimination against Somalis have ebbed and flowed. “In the last 30 years there have been waves of abuses against Somalis. The Kenyan incursion into Somalia last year began a new wave,” Ghoshal said. “People have a long memory. Even young people speak of a massacre of Kenyan Somalis in the 80s, as though they were there.”

Ghoshal points out that, though the province has not witnessed any new attacks since February, Al-Shabaab is still likely to hit back against Kenya for taking the fight to it in southern Somalia. “It may be days, weeks, or months but Al-Shabaab will hit back again with another grenade attack or another explosion,” she said. But in the lull, the Somalis in Kenya have enjoyed a breather – Kenyan security officials have been content to let them be. But Ghoshal is concerned that the next Al-Shabaab attack will not see the security forces behaving any differently.

The Kenyan ministry of state for defence and the ministry of state for internal security are both reported to have promised to investigate the abuses and hold accountable the officers who are responsible. The defence ministry has already formed an ad hoc board of inquiry that has interviewed victims of abuse in Garissa, Mandera and Wajir.

Human Rights Watch, however, is sceptical of a positive outcome, saying: “It is unclear what steps the ministry will take if the reports are confirmed. The internal security ministry has thus far taken no concrete actions to investigate the abuses.”

When Human Rights Watch first alleged abuses against Somalis in the North Eastern province in February this year, a military official was reported to have retorted that the army has nothing against Somalis and Kenyan Somalis. The reprisals against ethnic Somalis, however, have contributed to the culture of mistrust of the security forces by North Eastern province residents, who feel that too often since independence, the Kenyan security forces have abused ethnic Somalis with impunity.

In January this year, the International Crisis Group warned that the Kenyan military incursion into Somalia threatened to incite radicalisation among ethnic Somalis in the North Eastern province. “The Kenyan government must recognise that a blanket or draconian crackdown on Kenyan Somalis, or Kenyan Muslims in general, would radicalise more individuals and add to the threat of domestic terrorism.

“The security forces have increased ethnic profiling but otherwise appear relatively restrained – especially given past behaviour. Still, counter-terrorism operations need to be carefully implemented and monitored, also by neutral observers,” it said.

But for now Ghosal is confident elements of radicalisation remain on the fringe in the region. “The vast majority of people we spoke to don’t support Al-Shabaab. They are angry at the Kenyan government but this anger is not translating into widespread support for Al-Shabaab. Only small elements of the community are sympathetic to Al-Shabaab. Most people would prefer the conflict in Somalia was over. They are vulnerable to Al-Shabaab sympathisers and also the Kenyan security officials,” she said. DM

Daily Maverick – 3 May 2012- 

The Indian president Patil arrived in South Africa on Tuesday amid a growing controversy over her frequent travels. She defended her hefty bills by pointing out that many of her trips resulted from invitations, as was the case with South Africa. But our president wasn’t out to impress her as much as the sizeable business delegation she lugged along.

The Union Buildings brought out the canons and the marching bands to welcome Indian President Pratibha Patil to Pretoria on Wednesday. After a cacophony of booms and national anthems, Patil and President Jacob Zuma introduced their delegations to each other, smiled for the cameras and disappeared behind closed doors. A little over an hour later, the two presidents emerged, beaming, ready to enthral the assembled press posse with their carefully selected words.

And just as it began, it ended. Both presidents read out prepared statements. Neither of them said anything particularly new or ground-breaking. It seemed like an affirmation of a friendship. Journalists, pesky creatures that we are, were not allowed any questions.

What was the point of it all then?

Zuma explained the entire spectacle as recognition of the historical relationship between India and South Africa. “This is a significant state visit because relations between India and South Africa date back many decades,” he said.

While Zuma rightfully acknowledged the rich history between the two countries, the real significance of the trip does not lie in its historical context. Patil’s visit to South Africa is her final salvo as Indian president – with just three months left in office, she has been hard pressed to defend her penchant for globetrotting. Since she assumed office in 2007, Patil has visited Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Bhutan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Spain, Poland, Russia, Tajikistan, the UK, Cyprus, China, Laos, Cambodia, the UAE, Syria, Mauritius , South Korea, Switzerland and Austria, spending a total of 79 days abroad. Her spokesman has argued that India’s rising profile is to be blamed for her frequent travels.

And though her week-long trip to South Africa is set to be her final trip as Indian president, the Indian public has been incensed by reports that she’s been accompanied by her family, further escalating the cost of her trip to the detriment of the Indian taxpayer. Her office has denied Patil has been accompanied “mostly by family members”, arguing that as well as two of her grandchildren, the official delegation includes ministers, MPs and senior government officials. The pressure then, is on Patil to prove that the expense of these trips is for the benefit of the Indian people.

Senior South African government officials concede her visit has little to do with historical ties. Her role as president of India might be largely ceremonial, but the deference offered to Patil and her accompanying delegation at the Union Buildings on Wednesday proves the value the South African government has accorded Indian investment into South Africa.

Zuma readily attested to his support for increasing trade volumes between India and South Africa. “While trade between South Africa and India are increasing steadily, we should all work to reach ever higher figures,” he said. “In 2011, bilateral trade between India and South Africa stood at R53.7-billion,  with South Africa exporting goods to the value of R24.4-billion to India and importing goods from India to the value of R29.3-billion. Our ministers responsible for trade and industry and trade and commerce are of the view that we should increase our mutual trade to R111-billion by 2014. I fully endorse the view.”

Patil’s visit to South Africa, then, is just an opportunity for the South African government and business establishment to reach out to Indian business.

Abdullah Verachia, Head of the India, Africa Network at the Gordon Institute of Business Science, believes it is the healthy political relationship between India and South Africa that has allowed South Africa to open itself to Indian business prospects. He believes South Africa’s interest in India as a trading partner is the result of a number of factors, combining the historical relationship between the two countries with their current context as emerging economies in a shifting world order.

It is, however, Zuma’s grand infrastructure plan for which he appears most keen to attract investment. “We have once again extended an invitation to Indian business to invest in our infrastructure development programme, in which we are to invest more than R800-billion until 2014,” Zuma noted.

And Verachia, for one, is optimistic of the chances of Indian investment in South African infrastructure being successful. By Wednesday evening, he had already met all 61 executives accompanying Patil.

“Hopefully, the announcement of business deals will soon follow,” he said, adding that the coming months will see the announcement of India’s largest infrastructure construction companies making sizeable investments in South Africa.

India’s investment in Africa, unlike China’s, has been driven by the private sector. After the first wave of investment that saw large companies like Tata Motors opening assembly operation in South Africa, we are now likely to see a second wave of Indian investment from smaller Indian companies. If indeed these ripples of possibility translate into actual investments, the benefits to the South African economy are set to be immense. They may well justify all the canon fire – and even Patil’s penchant for flying. DM

Daily Maverick – 2 May 2012 - 

Despite the mutually beneficial relationship the two countries have, there is much tension between them. This is because Egypt is changing and Saudi Arabia isn’t. In fact, it’s being the usual bully on the block in terms of human rights, labour relations and elitist arrogance.

The late Saudi Arabian King Abdul-Aziz Al-Saud once remarked, “Arabs are in need of Egypt and Egypt is in need of Arabs.” Abdul-Aziz was the founder of the Saudi state as we know it today and he’s well remembered for his efforts – airports, roads and even a gate of the holy mosque in Makah bear his name in obliging deference.

He is also the father of the current Saudi monarch, Abdullah. And while Abdul-Aziz’s name continues to be emblazoned across the Saudi kingdom, his policy towards Egypt, so neatly encapsulated in that one sentence, may prove less enduring.

Last weekend Saudi Arabia withdrew its ambassador to Egypt “for consultations”, after vociferous protests outside the embassy complex left diplomats in trepidation. In similar protests at the Israeli embassy in Cairo last year, protesters muscled their way into the Israeli embassy, ransacked an office and trapped six Israeli staff inside for several hours. The Saudis, therefore, had good reason to be afraid. Egypt’s ruling military council rushed to smooth ruffled Saudi feathers, assuring the Saudis of their commitment to the security of the embassy and the protection of its staff.

But a virulent anti-Saudi sentiment has taken root in Egypt. In the streets, graffiti artists have expressed their disdain for the Saudi monarch in one word, “Toz” – loosely translated in English as “Screw you.” And chorusing the street art is an audacious social media campaign, expressing disdain for the Saudis.

In the last week, Egyptians have aired a litany of complaints against Saudis. Prominent among the complaints are: Egyptian workers in Saudi Arabia are mistreated by their employers, Egyptian pilgrims in Saudi Arabia are mistreated by Saudi officials and Saudis in Egypt behave condescendingly towards Egyptians.

The Egyptians need not feel singled out – the plight of Asian labourers in the kingdom and the experience of non-Arab pilgrims at the hands of Saudis illustrates the Saudi penchant to look down on anything that is not Saudi.

This outpouring of anger was set off by the arrest of Egyptian human rights lawyer Ahmed El-Gizawi at King Abdul-Aziz International Airport in Jeddah on April 17. Saudi authorities claim Gizawi had been found with more than 20,000 pills of the anti-anxiety drug, Xanax, hidden in his luggage. Gizawi however, is also said to be facing charges for insulting the King – he had filed a lawsuit in a South Cairo court against the Saudi monarch on behalf of Egyptian citizens held without charge in Saudi prisons.

He was convicted in absentia to a year in prison and 20 lashes, but wasn’t informed of his conviction before making his trip to Mecca. Gizawi’s relatives and supporters claim the drug charges are a sham. They believe Gizawi is facing the wrath of the Saudi system for challenging the power of the Saudi royal family.

On Tuesday the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper reported Gizawi’s case had been referred to a committee that will decide whether to call for the death penalty, amputation or stoning before passing the case on to a religious court. And while Gizawi’s fate is left to the vagaries of the Saudi judicial system, the Saudi ambassador has returned to Cairo to face an Egyptian public bristling with anti-Saudi sentiment.

A curious report in Saudi-owned media on Tuesday claimed that Egypt had actually thwarted an Iranian attempt on the Saudi ambassador’s life. A Saudi official claims these same Iranians had infiltrated the ranks of protesters outside the embassy in Cairo and concerns for the ambassador’s safety from his own staff had motivated the move to recall their ambassador.

In turn, an unnamed Egyptian official quoted by the Egyptian state news agency rubbished the report.

Although the calls for Egypt to cull relations with Saudi Arabia are growing in both volume and frequency, Saudi Arabia and Egypt have a long-established relationship of mutual benefit, just as King Abdul-Aziz said it should be.

Saudi Arabia hosts nearly  a million Egyptian labourers, who are hard pressed to find employment at home. In reciprocation, Egypt is a playground for the 300,000 Saudi tourists who visit Egypt every year to indulge in the illicit pleasures of Egypt’s liberties. And though trade between the two countries stands at $4.2-billion, Egyptian authorities will be forced to channel the anti-Saudi sentiment somehow.

After all, it was just last week that Egypt bowed to public pressure and scrapped its controversial gas deal with Israel. Egyptians have revelled in the opportunity to actually have a say in the thrust of their country’s foreign policy. It is also the first time the Saudis are being treated to an honest account of themselves by fellow Arabs.

For Saudi Arabia, the tumult of the Arab Spring stressed a need for a brand of Arab unity in which Saudi Arabia reigns supreme. The Saudis have spent the last year pressing the Gulf Co-Operation Council to withstand the power of the Arab League and with it the subversive powers of a new political elite in North Africa.

The Saudis’ generous offer of $4-billion to Egypt to shore up a flailing Egyptian economy in the uncertainty of the post-Mubarak days has been part of a calculated strategy to buy influence in the new Egypt and ensure Saudi prominence in Egyptian business and politics.

Saudi Arabia has historically exercised considerable influence over its neighbours through its vast oil wealth, commercial hegemony and the ideological influence of Salafism, the literalist and puritanical version of Islam. As Egypt readies itself for the first presidential election in a new era, the nagging influence of Saudi Arabia has been hard to shake off. Egyptians are frustrated by the hegemonic role of Saudi Arabia in the country’s affairs, but Saudi Arabia is also trying hard to assert itself in a rapidly evolving region. It finds itself in conflict with the ethos of the new Egypt, where the focus is on what the people say. DM

Daily Maverick – 19 April 2012 - 

Bahrain hosts the travelling circus of Formula One this weekend. As anti-government protesters continue to battle for political reforms, race organisers have shrugged off pressure to cancel the race, as they did last year. This time round, they are determined to hold the race, no matter the backlash.

This weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix comes just one week after the last race in Shanghai, China. There, Nico Rosberg followed up his maiden pole position with his first ever F1 victory. And what a victory it was.
In three races this season, we’ve had three different winners, from three different teams. Pundits still tip McLaren to have an edge over the rest of the grid on race day, but so far this advantage has failed to translate into the same kind of dominance Sebastian Vettel achieved last season.

With no clear favourite then, Rosberg, no doubt buoyed by his success in China, will fancy his chances on Sunday. It’s not likely to be an easy race though. Those in the know warn that we have yet to see what Schumacher can do with this new Mercedes if he is given a clean run on race day.

And while the race itself is set to offer gripping entertainment, whoever does take the chequered flag will have to compete with Bahraini politics for the headlines. The lead-up to the race has already been overshadowed by the decision to race in Bahrain.

Bernie Ecclestone and the sport’s governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, have boldly ignored calls to cancel the race – as they did last year as a result  of the stand-off between anti-government protesters and the monarchy.

It is, however, not only the safety of the drivers and teams that are at stake. Bahraini officials have already assured the FIA that security will be beefed up for the race. Anybody even remotely involved with the Grand Prix will enjoy the cotton-wooled comfort of security sponsored by a royal family, keen to show the world all is well in Bahrain.

F1 supremo Ecclestone has been spectacularly aloof to reports of violence in the restive island. He has fiercely defended the decision to go ahead with the race in Bahrain. “There’s nothing happening (in Bahrain),” Ecclestone said to the press last weekend in China. “I know people that live there and it’s all very quiet and peaceful.”

It is, however, not for the safety concerns of the F1 paddock that anti-government protesters had called for the event to be cancelled. They argue the decision to continue with the race this weekend will lend legitimacy to a regime that continues to perpetrate human rights abuses. Human rights activists fear further bloodshed and a violent crackdown by authorities as Bahraini authorities preen the island for the race.

Nabeel Rajab, an eminent activist from the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, reportedly said: “I’m afraid we might see local people… killed in the coming days because of the F1.”

Critics then argue that Formula One, as a sport, may have missed an opportunity to take a popular, moral decision to call off the race,  shirking the big bucks for solidarity with Bahrainis who daily suffer human rights abuses.

Formula One is, of course, among the less politicised of global sports, but in the decision to go ahead with the race Ecclestone and the FIA have involved themselves in Bahraini politics. The decision to host the grand prix in Bahrain this year is ultimately a demonstration of faith in the word of the Bahraini government.

The FIA claim its President, Jean Todt, had meetings with politicians, diplomats and the crown prince during a visit to Bahrain last November. Todt was assured that stringent security measures would be implement to protect the organisers, participants and fans from harm.

John Yates, Scotland Yard’s former top counter-terrorism official, who is now advising the Bahraini government on police reform, also chimed in with his glowing account of life in Bahrain. He wrote to Todt telling him the country was predominantly peaceful and social media sites were presenting a “distorted picture” of the situation. “Along with my family, I feel completely safe. Indeed, safer than I have often felt in London,” he wrote.

Yates may well be drinking Bahraini-brewed Kool-Aid. The ugliest scenes don’t play out in the posh neighbourhoods of the capital, Manama. His family may well feel better off in Manama than they do in London because they are removed from the harsher realities of life in Bahrain. It is in the villages surrounding the capital, where the country’s Shia majority live in repression and relative poverty, that things are not so safe. There, people live daily in a haze of tear gas, subdued by the threat of rubber bullets.

In a report released this week, London-based human rights group Amnesty International paints a far different picture. If anything, the report firmly refutes the version of Bahraini life Yates offered the FIA.

More than one year after authorities violently cracked down on the tens of thousands of protesters who took to the streets during the “Arab Spring styled” uprising to demand a greater political voice in the country, Amnesty found little had changed. The report notes that the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, set up by the government to investigate the crackdown, found that authorities committed “gross human rights violations,” including excessive use of force against protesters and widespread torture. But Amnesty argues that the government’s attempts at reform since then have been “piecemeal”.

The report succinctly observes, “The Bahraini authorities have become more concerned with rebuilding their image and investing in public relations than with actually introducing real human rights and political reforms in the country.”

According to Amnesty, violence against protesters continues unabated. Hundreds of dissidents remain in prison after military courts meted out harsh prison sentences. Among these prisoners is Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, founder of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights. Al-Khawaja, together with seven other leaders of opposition groups, was sentenced to life in prison for “plotting to topple the government.” He has now been on a hunger strike for over 60 days.

Last week, the Prime Minister of Denmark said Al-Khawaja was in a “very critical” condition. Al-Khawaja has dual Danish-Bahraini citizenship. Denmark has requested Bahrain to release him into its custody – to no avail.

In recent weeks, as reports of Al-Khawaja’s rapidly deteriorating condition continue to surface, the call for Al-Khawaja’s release has grown ever stronger but fallen on deaf ears. And as concerns for Al-Khawaja’s life increase, opposition leaders on Sunday announced a week of pro-democracy protests leading up to the grand prix.

There is little doubt that, just as the government uses the race to improve its image abroad, the opposition will also use the novelty of media attention on Bahrain to further its cause. The politics of Bahrain are more complex than the convenience of the narrative of good guys pitted against bad guys. This is a battle for democracy – it is the battle of a repressed majority for greater political participation. It is a battle for human rights. It is a clash between the haves and have-nots. It is also in parts a clash between two rival sects.

On cue, the International Crisis Group this week issued a security alert for Bahrain, warning that violence was ready to erupt  in Bahrain once more. “Beneath a façade of normalisation, Bahrain is sliding toward another dangerous eruption of violence,” it says.

“The government acts as if partial implementation of recommendations from the November 2011 Independent Commission of Inquiry will suffice to restore tranquillity, but there is every reason to believe it is wrong. Political talks – without which the crisis cannot be resolved – have ground to a halt, and sectarian tensions are mounting.”

The decision to host the race in Bahrain this week undermines the deep divides in Bahrain. This race will be no panacea to the Bahraini people, who have to live there long after the pit lane has emptied. If anything, the race risks further inflaming an already fragile situation. As one protester told a British journalist this week, “I love F1. But not over our blood…” DM