South Africa is Africa's wealthiest country and, although there are huge gaps between classes, is able to give a relatively comfortable living to a privileged few.
South Africa confirmed its first coronavirus case on the 5th of March 2020. It came from someone who had been travelling to Italy. The infection rate began slow, but soon began to ramp up in the subsequent days and weeks. The majority of the cases were coming from international visitors, leading to the closure of the borders and the grounding of most flights. As the virus continued the ravage the world, South Africa's cases of coronavirus increased but at a slower rate than most other countries. By the 9th of March, there had been 18 deaths and soon after, a national lockdown occured. This is one of the strictest lockdowns to be found globally.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-52125713
The lockdown has been praised globally, however it has come with a great number of restrictions, including
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a ban on leaving the house except for essentials - South Africans are not even allowed to go for jogs or walk their dogs
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compulsory closure of all non-essential businesses
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a curfew on taxis transporting workers in essential services
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a ban on cigarettes and alcohol
It is the last point that has caused a great deal of controversy. Tipplers have found themselves on a surprise detox, and smokers are being BTFOd by cravings. This has led to many liquor stores being looted. Here is a video of liquor store being looted:
https://old.reddit.com/r/southafrica/comments/fz0t7v/can_anyone_confirm_thought_you_guys_were_doing_so/
There have been many calls for South Africa to lift alcohol and cigarette ban but they've all been denied lol.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQE-yW3G284
Additionally, the SA Army has been deployed to patrol the streets. However, the army has been so brutal that at one point there were more deaths from brutality than from coronavirus 🤭
https://citizen.co.za/news/south-africa/crime/2265100/eight-people-allegedly-already-killed-by-police-during-lockdown-more-than-the-virus/
Additional hilarities include a wedding that was busted by the police. Everyone was arrested 🤣:
https://i.redd.it/2av95ns3c2r41.jpg
https://old.reddit.com/r/southafrica/comments/fvhorf/south_african_couple_arrested_for_hosting_wedding/
The lockdown has been effective and vastly slowing down the spread of the virus, potentially stopping an immense catastrophe.
https://i.redd.it/wlbm8bpeo8t
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This is probably not a controversial opinion but I just got done reading Long Walk to Freedom and just wow. The story, the prose, and the philosophy of Mr Mandela is extraordinary. I was sucked in the whole time. Mr Mandela had a fascinating life and his ability to keep his spirit and seek reconciliation after everything is amazing.
With how divided the world is I think this book can be a manual for how to deal with one another. 10/10.
I became curious about this subject after reading Marable's biography of Malcolm X, whereupon it's made clear that Malcolm had exaggerated parts of his life and omitted certain embarassing episodes in his autobiography. So did Mandela do something similar in his book or were all the cards put on the table, so to speak?
This is one of my favorite survival books and I think a lot of people on this sub would enjoy it too. Great, realistic survival information, descriptive but still easy to read. The back of the book reads as follows:
In 1941, the author and a small group of fellow prisoners escaped a Soviet labor camp. Their march out of Siberia, through China, the Gobi desert, Tibet, and over the Himalayas to British India is a remarkable statement about man's desire to be free.
There is a movie adaptation of it on Netflix too, which is really great as well. The movie is called The Way Back (2010).
Book on Barnes and Noble: https://m.barnesandnoble.com/w/long-walk-slavomir-rawicz/1100305807
Movie on IMDb: http://m.imdb.com/title/tt1023114/
As the question says, the other day I fished this book off our shelves, browsed through, and came across this signature. Getting a bit excited I quickly googled Mandela's signature. But it looks nothing like his. My dad can't remember when we got the copy. Also peculiar is the code next to Sep 99, again, which I have no clue about.
Anyone able to suggest what this might be about/ whose signature it could be?? Any tips welcome, its a real mystery!
Here: http://imgur.com/a/5nOLT
More so is my SO being naked too--all the time. In fact, that is far more important to me.
For those whose cable/satellite package includes Showtime, the Movie / Biography / Historical drama Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom will be airing several times during the remainder of this month. "The remarkable life of South African revolutionary, president and world icon Nelson Mandela (Idris Elba) takes center stage. Though he had humble beginnings as a herd boy in a rural village, Mandela became involved in the anti-apartheid movement and co-founded the African National Congress Youth League. His activities eventually led to his imprisonment on Robben Island from 1964 to 1990. In 1994, Mandela became the first president of democratic South Africa." I plan to watch it just to see how wrong I am. Then maybe a second time just to see if anything changes from the first time.
My personal Mandela story (feel free to skip if you've read my messages before): Back in high school (1980-1985) the entire faculty pretty much lost their minds for a couple of days when news of Nelson Mandela dying in prison reached the States. For half of one day and all of the next, normal classes were pretty much suspended while the teachers talked about Mandela, South Africa, apartheid, etc. We were encouraged to watch the TV coverage, read the newspapers, and the like but I pretty much ignored all that. People say that Americans are self-centered and ignorant of the world in general and that's why these so-called Mandela Effects happen. Well, I can't argue about that, because pretty much the only reason I know who Mandela is or where South Africa is or anything else about that part of the world was because of those two days in high school. I was ignorant enough of world affairs that I would later miss news of his release from prison, being elected president, and eventual real death. I only learned of these things when I came here to make fun of people who didn't know where New Zealand was. Again, the only reason I know anything at all about Mandela was the fuss made when he died in the 1980s.
In one of the classes, we had to write a paper/essay/propaganda piece explaining how lucky we were to live in the United States where one didn't get tossed into prison and killed for speaking out against the government. I wrote one and received high marks. A month or two later, there was an writing contest about How Lucky We Were To Be American or something. I submitted my paper. I won a week-long trip to a citizenship seminar at Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas.
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