Paralyzed by Politics

The past few days in the part of South Africa that I am located (the Natal Region- the North West Coast) have been very interesting and have opened up for many political conversations. The word in the air is strike! Yes, last week workers that get paid by the government (teachers at public schools, doctors and nurses at public hospitals, construction workers, road workers, etc.) have been on strike. Not all of them, but a vast majority. Their plea is for a 12% increase in their pay, not that much when you consider higher up officials in the government have recently received a 30% increase or more to their salary. For South Africa this will be a telling moment about the post 1994 Government. Many wonder if democracy will reign, it seems that most of the people I have talked to believe it will and even believe the full request will be met. This topic struck up a conversation between me and two doctors from this area who were friends of friends and not really associated with the church. One of them worked in the private sect, the other in the public sect. Race was of course a man topic at hand. They spoke about the equity that occurs in the workplace (this is a formula for race at the workplace, both private and public, different for every area and even for most businesses. The goal is to balance the race within the workplace) and how it is a good thing but also frustrating because if there is no one that fits the race description one is looking for then the job does not get filled. In the course of our conversation they mentioned Cuban doctors. This sparked my interest because of my huge connection with the Cuban Methodist Church.

The conversation started with them simply explaining the process of doctor exchange with Cuba but ended in a rather heated battle, of which I went away rather bruised with much to think about. The main source of heat surrounded the topic of South Africa's involvement with Cuba. I did not understand why South Africa, a country which fought for liberation of its people, would be in close relationship with Cuba, a country which I have always understood to have a fairly oppressive government. I thought my question was fairly rational, yet my political conversation partner thought that it was filled with Western North American propaganda. His response to me was a quick comment on the oppression that the American government has on its own people and expressed to me that my thoughts on Cuba were taken from my Western perspective. He explained to me how Cuba helped South Africa win its independence from Namibia years ago and many people in the East or other third World countries view Castro as an anti-imperialist hero. And even if the government saw injustice in an ally country he told me that many times countries will overlook domestic issues of their allies in fear of a lack of international support. (This is also a way to explain South Africa's silence to the oppression in Zimbabwe at the current moment.) I understand all of these politics but at the same time it does make me rather sick that fraternity pledges have become the litmus test for international relations rather than integrity or ethical standards. I guess it is time for me to crawl out of my naive notions of the world and accept the reality of international relations.

Over the past few days I have accepted that I do have a western mind. I am coming to understand that not everyone has the ability or strength or desire to have armed forces and is unwilling to wage war at the drop of a hat or get involved in another countries domestic policy because they have issues. All of that I can understand. I think what my doctor friend did not understand about me is that although I have grown up with a Western mind of privilege and prosperity, I am not comfortable with it- my country, my own economics, and my president. I don't think that he understood either that I have been to Cuba twice, and have heard and seen oppression in that place, as well as a great health and education system, but it is not a coincidence that many of the doctors who came on exchange from Cuba found spouses and have stayed in this country. I understand that international relationships between countries are complex but I also understand the web that is oppression is complex, and as an American I am apart of that complex mixture of oppression simply by buying clothes from a company that maintains sweat shops. This complexity leaves me rather paralyzed at the moment. Yet, I know the church has something to say, to the strike the government workers are involved in, to the politics of countries such as Cuba, yet, I wonder how the church says what it has to say. Every situation is different and requires different tactics of resistance so I guess I can't know the answers to all these issues right now! But, what I do know is that I cannot stay paralyzed by politics and either can the church. So for right now I guess I must pray for the Holy Spirit to snap me out of my paralyzed state and show me in each moment where I must speak , or smile, or hug, or say no, or simply pray.