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Politics : Dutch Central Bank Sale Announcement Imminent? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: sea_urchin who wrote (21243)	6/19/2004 5:29:50 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 81092

Re: But I do agree that the SA President Mbeki is "obsessed" with race but one can hardly blame him. Does Mr Mbeki watch TV? Nothing like a few teasers to chill you out: Did you hear the one about the racist TV ads? South African stations ban Apartheid Museum's shock tactics campaign to expose prejudice Rory Carroll in Johannesburg Saturday June 19, 2004 The Guardian South Africa's flagship cultural institution, the Apartheid Museum, has sparked a row over taste and prejudice by commissioning a television advertising campaign based on racist jokes. Two networks have refused to broadcast the adverts, claiming they are too offensive, but the museum yesterday stood its ground, saying the country needed to confront the reality of enduring racism. Commentators were divided over whether the campaign would help or hinder reconciliation in its raw depiction of attitudes which belie the rhetoric of a rainbow nation united in harmony. In one ad a white man, looking into the camera, asks: "How do you stop a black man from drowning?" He answers: "You take your foot off his head." Another features a black man with a different joke: "You've got two Afrikaners; one is fat and the other is thin. If they both jump off a cliff, who will die first?" The answer: "Who cares?" In the third an Indian grins and asks: "What's the difference between a Jew and a snake? One is a cold-blooded creature of satan and the other is a snake." After each punchline a tag line runs across the screen saying, "if you thought that was funny, we'll show you why it was not", followed by the museum's logo. The state broadcaster, SABC, has yet to decide whether to air the adverts but two private networks, eTV and MNet, have banned them on grounds of offensiveness and bad taste. The director of the museum, Christopher Till, said the bans harked back to apartheid-era censorship and contradicted the spirit of free speech enshrined in the constitution. Ten years on from the demise of white minority rule, he said, bigotry was still prevalent in South Africa The adverts reflected reality, however unpalatable. "I think we shouldn't fall into the trap of censoring ourselves. The museum ... is not merely a repository of history but holds a mirror up to today's society." The advertising standards authority has a code on taste and decency but it cannot pass judgment on the adverts unless they are broadcast. Louis Gavin, the head of the Johannesburg-based agency which made them, TBWA/Gavin/Reddy, hoped they would soon be broadcast for the first time. He acknowledged the jokes were shocking and confrontational, but said they reflected the type of humour found at South African barbecues. "You can't be nice, well-mannered and sweet about a subject like this. I think it's appropriate that the advertising has a degree of ugliness," he said. The pay-off line which admonished those who found the jokes funny made sure the the campaign was responsible. "It contextualises the adverts so removes the sting." But Bronwyn Harris of the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation said the campaign could backfire by reinforcing rather than challenging racism. "By provoking laughter in a way it's defeating the point," she said. "People who hold those views are not necessarily going to get into their cars and drive to the museum." Relations between the black majority and whites, Indians and coloureds remain highly sensitive. Last year the broadcasting complaints commission fined a Cape Town radio station for a presenter's jibe equating "Dutchmen" - slang for the Afrikaner descendants of Dutch settlers - with stupidity. Recently the human rights commission ruled that the slogan "kill the boer, kill the farmer", once a staple of anti-apartheid political rallies, constituted hate speech. But Zizi Kodwa, a spokesman for the ANC youth league, felt the adverts should be broadcast, despite what he said was their exaggeration of racial animosity. "South Africa is mature enough. To some extent they do show real life." Since opening in 2001 the Apartheid Museum, a stark, concrete building resembling a prison on the outskirts of Johannesburg, has won plaudits at home and abroad for its hard-hitting depiction of oppression. guardian.co.uk LOL... If I were a South African I'd be laughing all the way to the museum!