Massacre in Marikana (EXPLICIT PICTURES)

Thursday 16^th August 2012 will go down in the history books as the day the South African Police fired on strikers in a small town called Marikana. The newspapers have in their normal sensation seeking style have put up big black placards stating “Marikana Massacre” . I suppose this description will become the naming convention of what occurred out there in the dusty streets of Marikana.

Following the various news reports it is alleged  that in three minutes more than 30 strikers were killed and 100’s wounded . The newspapers wrote that a shoot-out between police and strikers occurred. Yet in the various photographs and videos that were taken I seem to miss seeing any firearms being brandished by the strikers. So my definition of a shoot-out is when two parties shoot at each other and this does not seem to have occurred.

Many years ago we were trained in crowd control, and nothing in your training can ever prepare you for the time when an angry crowd is storming down on you brandishing spears, machetes and other instruments that could do you serious bodily harm. Then if there is any lack of training it is a case of self-preservation that takes over. Once the first shot is fired the rest becomes history.

All the various political parties have come out with the normal noises deploring what has happened and the need for an investigation as to why this massacre happened.

The police have had their normal news conferences saying that a full investigation will done on what really happened, so that those responsible could be brought to task. Knowing how the police cover their mishaps by losing documents and witnesses going missing, I strongly doubt that there will be any finding other than they were protecting themselves and that the strikers were to blame for everything that happened. Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa‘s office said in a statement on Thursday that the police were faced by armed and hardcore criminals who murder police”. This type of statement being made before any enquiry has even started is totally inappropriate as it immediately sets the tone of what route the enquiry will take. And the hell does she know they were hardcore criminals? Maybe she owes the families of those killed an apology..

The following extract is from News24 and actually drives straight at the heart of what is happening throughout South Africa currently. (The rainbow nation no longer exists and has faded away in total.)
Brewing tensions

The Inkatha Freedom Party on Thursday said the massacre at the mine highlighted the brewing tensions within South African society and should not be underestimated.

“It’s horror should not only shock u,s but bring to the fore how too often conflicts in this country are dealt with through violence,” IFP MP Mario Oriani-Ambrosini said.

“Unless there is a fundamental change of culture at the highest level of government things will worsen.”

The Azanian People’s Organisation compared the violence in Marikana to the Sharpeville Sharpeville  and Soweto shootings Soweto uprising .

“As Azapo we can only describe the situation as a massacre not different from March 21, 1960 in Sharpeville; June 16, 1976 in Soweto and June 17, 1992 in Boipatong,” the party said.

The spokesperson forgot to mention that here in South Africa we seem to have quite a lot of massacres in our short history. He forgot to mention the Shell House massacre , St James Church massacre , Cato Manor , and a couple more that happened in in the Transkei as well.  (check out Banshee Bridge massacre as well..)
What a country we live in!

Pictures by : Taurai Maduna (EWN) Felix Dlangamandla (Beeld) and Associated Press

 

Suffer the children…

reputed to be from Houla but has not been authenticated.

While reading the Washington Post today I came across a report which stated that the United States and 10 other countries had expelled Syrian diplomats  on Tuesday for the massacre last week of more than 100 villagers in central Syria. But even in the light of all the violence now taking place in Syria, there still is no call for more aggressive action to end the useless killing of the opposition by government forces.

All that has been happening is that everybody still wants to rely on diplomatic, political and economic pressure against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. And this while there are people dying out there.

The massacre in the village of Houla, just outside Homs, Syria, where it is reported that most of the 108 people killed were executed by government sponsored thugs, is once again showing that the UN and all its members are just a bunch of toothless bulldogs. Here we have reports of  victims being summarily executed. Entire families were wiped while hiding in their houses. It is reported that nearly 50% of those executed were younger than 10 years old.

Only 20 people in the entire village had been killed by the government forces blasting the village with artillery fire and tanks.

It is now stated that the regime-sponsored thugs who went into the village and killed the children at point-blank range along with their parents, are using the same tactics as what was used by the Iranians to put down the political uprising in 2009. It is suggested that Assad was acting on Iran’s advice and assistance.

What is happening in Syria has now turned into more of a sectarian cleansing than anything else. The UN representative who is supposed to be doing some peacekeeping in Syria agrees that the government was responsible for the shelling and puts the blame for the massacre on members of the shabiha. This is the pro-government militias which belongs Assad’s Alawite sect. The village which was attacked is mainly of the Sunni sect.

A problem the UN has is that both Russia and China will veto any military action being taken against Syria. So no matter in what terms the West denunciates what happened in Syria, nothing more seems to be on the cards to help the people of Syria.

It has been reported that Moscow has come out in condemnation of the massacre and agrees that tanks and artillery were used but want an investigation into what happened so that it doesn’t happen again. Duh?

This incident once again shows that within all the internal deliberations taking place the international community is so divided that they suffer from total paralysis as to what action is needed.  And the Unites States won’t do anything while they are getting ready for presidential elections. Presidential candidate, Romney has been quoted as saying that the administration should “increase pressure on Russia” to stop arming Syria and blocking stronger U.N. action and should start arming the Syrian opposition. But here is the kicker, a senior European diplomat is saying that they don’t want any tough bilateral decisions taken against Russia as they need Russia for ‘other things’ including nuclear negotiations with both North Korea and Iran.

It is good to see that some regional powers, led by Saudi Arabia, are funding arms shipments to the rebels and have called for outside military intervention. Saudi Arabia obviously would like to see Assad deposed which in turn would damage to their arch enemy, Iran.

But on the other hand we have Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon who are scared of the possible regional chaos and sectarian strife that could follow a Syrian collapse. Is it more a case of knowing that the same could happen in their countries?

My blog is based on the report by Sly reporting from Beirut and staff writer Colum Lynch in New York. Both from the Washington Post.

Also go check out the following:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/syria_will_the_world_look_away_db/?ccjsnbb