Overall Mayhem

Well who would have thought?  A dress code in Parliament? 

There is no written guide anywhere in existence that stipulates what you can wear or not wear into South African legislatures.  Instead, the conduct of Parliaments in other democracies has simply been borrowed as the “gold standard”.

Do I remember correctly that Pierre Trudeau once raised eyebrows by wearing sandals into Canadian Parliament?

Now the Economic Freedom Fighters have been wearing red overalls into the legislatures, and the ruling alliance is literally seeing red!  In the case of Gauteng province legislature, the red overalls have been banned.  This week that caused 50 000 “fighters” to descend on their provincial legislature, force their way in, and stage a sit-in.

These guys really know how to capture the news headlines, and how to win the support of the people that they identify with, the ones they represent.  It seems like a triviality, but let me ruminate on this a bit…

James 2: 2 – 4

Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

The red berets of EFF say that the gains of the first 20 years of democratic rule have been too uneven.  SOME black people are better off, in a growing middle class, but MOST have not yet felt the economic gains.  So they are trying to set themselves apart from the “centrist” black people in government, and coming too parliament in overalls is their way of identifying with the miners, gas jockeys, waitresses and farm workers that they claim to they represent.  It is a clever approach that is winning them a huge amount of publicity.  Especially among youth…

By the time the next election rolls around, youth (under 35s) will constitute more than half the electorate.  So the EFF are thinking strategically.

Good habits

St Francis of Assisi also took exception to the unequitable concentration of wealth, particularly the church’s role in this.  Echoes of this thinking are being heard from Pope Francis I.  He has said that we should drive “humble cars” and he is saying a lot by his own lifestyle.  He has declined to occupy the Vatican Palace, and lives in an apartment with some other priests and youth.  There are rumours (reminiscent of the Scarlet Pimpernel) that he slips out occasionally at night to help feed the poor in Rome’s soup kitchens.

I found the next 6 paragraphs on Google:

The word "friar" comes from the Latin word "frater", meaning "brother". When St. Francis founded a religious community, he intended its members to live as brothers without distinction of rank, title, or education.

Capuchins are a religious community of both lay brothers and ordained priests. Yet, in the spirit of St. Francis, friars - lay and ordained - see themselves as brothers, as equals, with no one greater or less than the next, respectful to one another and to all of creation. This humility is a characteristic still evidenced in the lives and even the name of Capuchins, who go by the title OFM Cap., meaning Order of Friars Minor, Capuchin.

People sometimes comment, "How can you tell who's a priest and who's a brother?" With Capuchin Franciscan friars, you can't, and it is a testimony to their style of life that emphasizes the common brotherhood that St. Francis created.

A "habit" is the official garb that identifies a religious man or woman as a member of their individual order or community. The word came into use as it was the habit of religious men and women to daily dress in their respective, distinctive clothing.

St. Francis not only wanted to serve the poor; he wanted to be poor. When he devised a habit for his brothers, he chose the clothing typically worn by the poor: a plain brown robe with a hood for protection, a cord fastened around one's waist, and sandals for one's feet. It is the habit that Capuchins wear yet to this day.

Capuchins received their name because of the long, distinctive hood that is part of their habit, a hood that in Italian is called a "capuche".

Now, if I am not mistaken, a cuppa of coffee with a hood of frothy milk on it is another good habit!  But how many poor people can afford one these days?!  Maybe EFF can take that question up with Parliament’s cafeteria?

So I see the “overall mayhem” as both symbolic and significant.  Lifestyle audits are needed both of government leaders and of church leaders.  I have read that Pope Francis has reined in a few extravagant bishops on this note?

C4L has taken steps to scale down and re-dimension itself.  It has also chosen quite intentionally to focus more on youth and more on enterprise development.

James the brother of Jesus, (I think he’s the one they called James the Just?) asks if we have not discriminated among ourselves?  He rightly points to the attitudes that undergird such behavior.  His question is incisive:  have we become judges with evil thought?  I have to say that the arrogance of those in power is manifest most clearly in their spending crazes – from the Arms Deal to Inkandla.  Tenderpreneurs are South Africa’s public enemy number one.

Beware the prosperity gospel and the pastors driving flashy cars and wearing rings on several fingers.

I have a lot of time for the Fransciscan Cappuchins and for their fraternal approach.  I think it would be better for the ruling alliance to dress down, than for the Economic Freedom Fighters to dress up.

Three Key Themes Revisited

Earlier this year, C4L launched three blogsites, on three themes that seemed distinct, important, and recurrent in our bulletins and prayer letters over 7 years.  The trilogy includes:

1. Altruism, philanthropy and missions
2. Leadership (which frequently raises related questions around non-racialism)
3. Youth

Well, today’s Sunday Independent just made it too easy for me!  I simply cannot resist sharing with you some tasty and nourishing morsels from it…

On Youth                                                                               www.trilogy-youth.blogspot.com

There is an article by Craig Dodds called “Young bloods paint parly red”.  Here are some excerpts:

The changing of the guard has begun.  It may have been that President Jacob Zuma was not completely fighting fit when he delivered his State of the nation Address on Tuesday, but he brought into sharp focus a telling contrast between the political veterans and the young Turks now stalking the corridors of power.

“You are a man of tradition – a tradition of empty promises,” EFF commander-in-chief Julius Malema mocked.  “You can’t tell me what to say,” Malema told National Council of Provinces chairwoman Thandi Modise when she ordered him to withdraw a remark about Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande’s “factional tendencies”.  On that occasion he complied, eventually, but on Thursday evening he finally earned his ejection from the House when he refused to withdraw a statement that the ANC government had “massacred” 34 miners at Marikana.

All of this was highly distracting, and set off a social media frenzy seldom achieved by parliamentary debate.  But it is clear the game has changed and the ANC, in particular, will have to adapt.  For one thing, it finds itself in the novel position of being painted as a party of the status quo, serving the interests of white capital, as Malema put it.  It has never been attacked so effectively by a party it cannot dismiss as either inconsequential or as a remnant of the old order – its favoured method of dismantling opposition criticism in the past.

But the real Achilles heel may prove to be the age of its top leadership… we are a young country, and getting younger.  According to Census 2011, almost 60% of the population was under the age of 35.  But older ANC leaders who have waited their turn for a bite at the presidency or a spot in the higher echelons my find the ship has already sailed for their generation.