Megan H learning skills to take back home

This week was a very exciting week at my internship. Last week, the premier of the Western Cape province gave her State of the Province address, and this week was the Budget Speech was given by South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan. That meant a lot of organization and protests for the team I work with. Because I was on the Garden Route last weekend, I wasn’t able to attend the protest regarding the State of the Province. However, I was able to attend the opposition party’s response this week in Parliament. One of the things that I found so astounding was how quick all the politicians were to accuse each other of being racist. First, the ANC said that the DA was racist because they weren’t doing enough to help the disadvantaged black citizens in the Western Cape. Then, the DA said the ANC was racist because it only cared about Africans, not people classified Coloured or Indian. One of the things that came as the biggest surprise to me was one of the MP’s stood up and said “Black lives do matter,” to which a MP of the DA shouted back “That’s racist.” I do not live here, and I obviously do not know as much about the political implications of ANC policy proposals or stances as the members of parliament do, however I found it astounding that given the history of this country a politician could make such a statement. I am used to hearing that sort of thing at home, even from politicians, however I might have naively thought that here people would understand the meaning behind that statement.

Then, for budget day I got to go to 2 protests, one on Bungha Avenue in Langa and one outside of Parliament during the speech. We were protesting where South African funding is going, and calling for the funding to go to the people. We were also protesting the fact that leaders are allowing money to flow out of the country while still cutting social spending. My sign said “free wifi for all,” which was really fun to hold because all of the students going home loved it. It was also very controversial to some people because they thought it was asking too much. However, after having learned about the struggles that historically black schools have with Matric, and seeing the disparities in education and in access to information because of the legacy of apartheid, I think that its necessary as reparations in order to level the playing field. Back home, I would have thought that Wifi was out of the realm of government to provide to the people, however here it seems just and necessary.

I am learning so much about organizing through my internship, and I can’t wait to bring the skills I am gaining here to effect change at home.