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Re: [OM] Subject: Re: Steam train - not so OT?

Subject: Re: [OM] Subject: Re: Steam train - not so OT?
From: Dawid Loubser <dawidl@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 13 Feb 2009 11:05:55 +0200
Unfortunately, the unemployment and poverty rate in South Africa
has never in its history been so profound as it is right now,
nor has the gap between the rich and the poor ever been so big.

Your reasoning is sound, but I believe there is indeed, at the moment,  
a vast
potential amount of cheap labour. In fact, Steam, making use of this  
labour
which is otherwise untapped, would be great for job creation in our
current situation.

As it stands, the railways used to provide many jobs, which somehow  
got lost along
the way. They are trying to apparently build things up again, but the  
whole economy
has already shifted to road transport.

I am not sure if it is my imagination, or if there is a little bit of an
implication in the tone of your mail? Just for in case, I would like  
to respond
to what I think is being implied - the world outside of South Africa  
seems to have
a misguided picture in their mind of South Africa having subscribed to  
a Nazi-like
slave-driving society before 1994. This is entirely untrue. Of course  
their was racial
discrimination (wholly instantiated by the Dutch and the English, the  
Boers merely continued this
and gave it a name), and the government then basically wanted the  
separation of the different
ethnic groups, each in their own country(s). There was, however, never  
a situation of slavery,
and as I mentioned before, a vastly greater number of jobs (voluntary,  
paying jobs)
were available to unskilled labourers then, compared to now. It was,  
by all accounts, a first-world
country in terms of infrastructure, technology, society, crime, and  
progress. Unfortunately, It was
deemed impossible to create or maintain this "artificial" society in  
an inclusive way, especially
on this continent. (Not trying to be insulting, but you do need to  
look at the rest of the continent
statistically...)

Of course, we are now a fully inclusive society, complete with active  
and legislated discrimination
against white people to "address the imbalances of the past", yet we  
are also by all accounts
a third-world country with dilapidated infrastructure, the highest  
crime level in the world
(on a personal front, you will recall us being attacked in our home  
last year), and, together with this,
the usage of Steam (and most other!) locomotives fell by the wayside.

I could only photograph the relics:


I am too young to have been part of all this racial discrimination  
stuff, and I was not
brought up like that in the first place. So while it is frustrating  
also being discriminated
against because I am not black, I do enjoy living in this country of  
immense variety and
opportunity. But please, do not get the typical impression of the  
white nazis and the poor
black people. It's very very different here.

We have all had to let go of our history, our culture, our society. We  
have to subscribe
to this festering melting pot different morals, cultures, levels of  
competence, crime and
decency. Those who could not, have already left the country.

Those of us (in the white minority) who stayed, and intend to stay,  
have been through things
which you can only judge once you have walked in our shoes.

Anyway, sorry for the rant :-) But I just had to address what I think  
you may have implied.


On 12 Feb 2009, at 10:19 PM, Andrew Fildes wrote:

> And perhaps because until recently, you had an ample supply of cheap
> labour without which steam is not economically viable?

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