CSotD: Overhearing some talk about freedom
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Stick with me on this one, because, while for most visitors here, South Africa is a world away geographically and pretty remote in other ways as well, the ongoing squabbles between cartoonist Zapiro and President Jacob Zuma are an important study in press freedom and responsible political commentary.
The latest news is that, although Zuma was unsuccessful in getting the South African Human Rights Commission to condemn Zapiro for cartoons depicting him encouraging the rape of Lady Justice, he has won the support of the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities which has requested that Zapiro treat the president with respect, and he is continuing with a lawsuit against Zapiro for defamation.
We've talked about the tension between the government and the press in SA, including an attempt to stifle press freedom through actual legislation. This is a serious issue in a nation that is still emerging, not just from colonialism but from a universally-condemned repressive form of government into a multicultural society.
I don't speak for South Africa, though I've made some effort to understand it. It's not my country, not my culture and it would be presumptuous of me to try to offer too much analysis. Perhaps my South African readers will comment further.
But the combination of its youth and its Mandela-and-Tutu-based thoughtful approach to creating a multicultural nation makes South Africa's struggles over press freedom more transparent than they might be in a country with long-established rules of polite, reluctant accommodation to mask what they're really thinking about each other.
And the tension between Zapiro and Zuma is instructive because, on the one hand, Zuma's fury is as petty and cloth-eared as Patton's dislike of Bill Mauldin's gritty WWII cartoons.
The rape-of-Justice cartoons are serious, weighty commentary, a substantial accusation of corrupt governance, and Zuma's anger is understandable.
The showerhead, however, seems like the silly sort of thing that comes with the job. It is a juvenile poke in the eye over a ridiculous remark by the president, who claimed he avoided AIDS by showering after having unprotected sex with an infected woman. On that level, Zuma needs to grow up.
And yet it isn't simply a pie in the face. Zapiro claims that the foolish-looking symbol is emblematic of other absurd, irresponsible comments by Zuma, and fair, necessary commentary on his overall competence and leadership.
But then comes the question, is it constructive? There is, after all, that need to tread a little carefully in areas that, in an emerging nation, could still be raw.
There is also the simple need for commentary to be understood in order to be effective.
This thoughtful commentary from The Daily Maverick helps define those interlocking needs, starting with genuine praise for Zapiro but then suggesting:
We’ve said before and we’ll say again, when it comes to arguments about media freedom, when Gwede Mantashe and the ANC claim a majority of South Africans do not necessarily love the media, we should take them seriously. We must not presume that everyone agrees with Zapiro and thinks he should just be allowed to gaily get away with abusing the president.
That doesn’t mean Zapiro should stop. What it means is the media needs to make the case, in careful, thoughtful language, for Zapiro to continue. And it mustn’t just be “He has a right to, it’s freedom of speech”. It must be more nuanced than that. It’s not a “He can, so he will” argument, it should be a “He must and here’s why” argument.
What impressed me was not simply how well the issue is laid out but, more to the point, how thoughtfully readers responded in the comments that followed.
I haven't found that level of discourse here, certainly. Whether it's heavy-handed selectivity by Maverick moderators or a self-selected intelligent readership, it's a sign that some people over there actually want things to go well and are willing to sit down and have a conversation.
With or without showerheads.
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