Sowing the Seeds, Vol.8 Issue 2

Volume 8 Issue 2

ctglobalist.com

The Cape Town

Globalist U C T’s st ude n t int er nat ional af fairs m ag a z i ne

Sowing the Seeds The Place of Food in the 21st Century The Cape Town Globalist

organic food

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urban farms

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food security

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meat scandal

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MAY 2013

Contents

Editor-in-Chief Amy Thornton Deputy Editor Chris Clark Content Editors Chantel Clark Anade Situma Ashleigh Furlong Alicia Chamaille Layout Editor Daniel Rautenbach Deputy Layout Editor Aimee Dyamond CTG President Carissa Cupido Marketing Chantel Clark Finance Aimee Hare

Appetisers 6

News bites Tidbits you may have missed

8 Q&A with Professor Tim Noakes

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GLOBALIST and SYDNEY GLOBALIST

What ‘Organic Food’ Means

News 10

Hope Springs Eternal in the Middle East?

An update on the conflict in Syria

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Cover: James Ballance

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Sprouting Solutions

The farm meets the city

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Chalk and Cheese

The Cape Town Globalist

26 Global21 Contributions from the OXONIAN

Armchair Globalist

Contributors Thakirah Allie Sofia Monteiro Fadzai Muramba Kirsty Rice Chris Rooney Hannah Rothschild Danielle Serebro Gareth Smit Lyndall Thwaits Fergus Turner Ansuné van der Merwe Lori-Rae van Laren

The Cape Town Globalist is published four times a year by students at the University of Cape Town. Any opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the Cape Town Globalist, the publication sponsors, the University of Cape Town, or Global21.

To contact the CTG, email ctglobalist@gmail.com

Contributions

A Pope for the Poor

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The meaning of the abdication for Catholicism

The Winds of Change?

Kenya and Zimbabwe’s post-election atmosphere

Sowing the Seeds 13

Sowing the Seeds A photo essay documenting urban farms

Science, Philosophy and Art 27

The Famine in the Feast

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Mind over Meal The Final Feast

Are GM crops a solution to soil fertility depletion?

Understanding the eating disorder called Pica

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Economics and Eating

Dissecting the food security crisis

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Is There Donkey in my Boerie?

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Our breakdown of the meat scandal

Locating food in Eastern philosophy Death row criminals and the art of Julie Green

Curtain Call 30

Rainbow Chicken is the way to the Rainbow Nation The reconciliatory power of the Braai

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MAY 2013

Editorial A

recent paper from the Biology Department at Stanford University estimated that in order to sustain current food consumption, we would need a planet and a half. The authors go on to ominously link this pattern to an imminent societal collapse driven by overpopulation and environmental recklessness. They cite “dramatic cultural change” as the only solution.

In his book, Collapse, Jared Diamond attaches food and its agriculture to the rise and decline of civilisations. Food affects us on a daily basis in the most personal and biological way; so it is funny to think of it as a major factor in the shaping of our society.

Diamond describes the jungle-wet city of Angkor Wat as being carefully calculated to balance the year-to-year swings from monsoon and drought in order to maintain a supply of rice. A complex canal system was engineered to coax and cajole every drop of water from the wet seasons into various dams for the dry season. The canals spider-web through the city and empty into dams built within the city walls. This fastidiousness maintained the perfect water table required for rice farming and supplying food for a city of 750 000. Indeed, the layout of the city was centred around water control and food, on which the mighty Khmer capital relied.

This image of a city contrasts that of the city today. Skyscrapers, tarred roads and cracked pavements are hardly reminiscent of the water-obsessed engineers of ancient Cambodia. Instead, the emblem of food falls to your friendly neighbourhood Woolies. Or Pick ‘n’ Pay or Checkers or whichever supersized super-franchised supermarket you shop at.

Our proximity to the food supply chain has widened. And it seems to have done funny things to our heads. Safe in the knowledge of an oversupply of food, our society overindulges or obsesses over its weight. We hoard food and throw it away in monumental amounts without a second thought for the starving.

What sets us apart from Angkor Wat is a globalised market system so efficient that the rice paddies of China feed us in Cape Town, and the wine from our vineyards graces tables in Europe within days. Food has been commoditised to such a degree that spikes in food prices have instant repercussions around the world and purses (and stomachs) everywhere feel the pinch.

In this edition we have done our best to capture all the variables that characterize how our world is coping with food. We inspect the controversy around diet; we explore the economics behind rising food prices; and of course, we take a dip into the notorious meat scandal. We also look at people’s reaction to the commoditizing of food: we write about the phenomenon of organic food and trends like urban agriculture that are trying to reintroduce the farm to the city.

The city of Angkor Wat succumbed to the jungle after its clever mechanisms could no longer cope with the increasing extremity of the monsoon swings; the rice paddies were drowned and dried up in turn. How will food continue to shape our future? Are we sowing the seeds of our own destruction in a more literal interpretation than Marx would have imagined?

Has capitalism made us so efficient at producing food that it allowed our population to grow to unprecedented numbers in a human crisis of oversupply? Or are we holding out hope for that extra planet to graze our space-cows? Either way, next time you bite into your sandwich think about how something as basic as lunch can shape the world we live in.

Amy Thornton

Editor-in-Chief

The Cape Town Globalist

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News bites Boston Marathon Bombings

The world famous Boston Marathon became the site of mayhem and fear when two bombs exploded near the finish line during the race on April 15 this year. The blasts killed three people, one an eight-year-old boy, and injured more than 170 people. The bombings sent shockwaves throughout the United States, as well as the rest of the world. The fact that no terrorist organisation immediately claimed responsibility furthered this anxiety. The FBI is heading the investigation and has identified two suspects, who are brothers, one of which was killed in a shootout with the police. The other has been arrested and is currently in hospital.

Balloon Man

It sounds like something out of a children’s storybook. A grown man being carried by balloons over the ocean is definitely not something you see everyday. Matt Silver-Vallance attempted this stunt on April 6 in Cape Town in aid of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital. Silver-Vallance attempted this “balloon run” as he called it, using 160 helium balloons to cross approximately 10km of ocean from Robben Island to the mainland in Cape Town. Due to a change in wind direction he was forced to land in the sea earlier than expected, just short of his intended target.

Despite the hype surrounding the event, the most important thing for Silver-Vallance was helping the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital saying, “That was what it was all about ... for people to spend five minutes on their laptop and make a donation.”

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FOOD F

Hunting the Hunted Due to the effort of Nepal’s Chitwan National Park community, poachers are now the ones being hunted. Roughly a thousand soldiers patrol the park alongside park rangers and local villagers, covering over forty positions and manoeuvring on foot, four-wheel drive vehicle, water vehicles and elephants. A pilotless drone aircraft is being used to detect poachers, fires and illegal tree chopping. Stringent law enforcement and punishments have assisted the hunt. While only one rhino was killed between 2011 and 2012.

Unfortunately poachers are turning to India’s Kaziranga National Park, where already 17 rhinos have been killed this year alone making conservation urgant.

2000 98

Total amount of calories recommended for daily intake

Total percentage who do not have enough to eat who live in developing countries

2016 billion 12804

US dollars is the amount of agricultural stock across regions the developed world had in 2007

McDonald’s restaurants are in the United States.

Photographs courtesy of Wikimedia commons

Risky Business Election Woes in Iraq Violence seems to have kick-started Iraq’s provincial elections, the first since 2010. On the 15 April a chain of co-ordinated car bomb attacks detonated across the country, killing 31 people and wounding a further 200. A suicide bombing followed on the 18th of April. The bomber attacked a café in Iraq’s capital city Baghdad, killing 25 adults and two children and wounding many more. Emergency workers were attending to trapped victims when the building collapsed.

Thus far no group has come forward to claim the attacks.

North Korea is ready to negotiate its nuclear agenda, but only under specific terms. This comes as half-hearted relief considering the threat of nuclear war has been heavy in recent weeks with a focus on attacking South Korea, Japan and US bases in the area. China – one of North Korea’s only allies – is encouraging denuclearisation,.

While North Korea is demanding that the US remove their nuclear weapons from the region; US and South Korea stop military drills in the area; and that UN sanctions are lifted. Negotiations are the only way forward, however, such lofty demands are not likely to clear the way to the negotiating table.

MAY 2013

appetisers appetisers

Cape Townian Constraint

FIGURES

2.6 million children under the age of five die each year from undernutrition

216

litres is the average amount of soft drinks that someone in the United States consumes in a year

The City of Cape Town is implementing an unpopular new liquor law which aims to reduce alcohol consumption. The law only allows stores to sell alcohol until 6pm, bans the sale of alcohol on Sundays (except from wineries) and requires that bars, hotels and clubs stop selling alcohol at 2am, unless they apply for an exemption. Opponents of the new law say that it will only cause alcohol sales to go underground. Due to the opposition, The City of Cape Town has begun a public participation process to get feedback on the new law

1/6 150 million

children in developing countries is underweight

the number of hungry in the world could be reduced by this if women farmers had the same access to resources as men

Statistics courtesy of StatisticBrain.com, WFP.org, Who.int, and FAO.org

The French Furore

The Cape Town Globalist

Since 2009 NASA has been hunting for Earthsize planets that might be able to sustain life in space. A Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is due to launch in 2017. TESS is a spacecraft designed to scan stars for exoplanets – planets outside of our solar system. NASA has already found 2700 potential exoplanets and already has two promising candidates. These candidates possibly consist of liquid water, land mass and ice caps and would not be too hot or too cold, thus potentially are life-sustaining. With the help of TESS, NASA hopes to locate many other habitable exoplanets.

A foolhardy mission?

Australians “It seemed like a good idea at the time.” It’s hard to believe that jumping onto a log in a crocodile infested river when naked is ever a good idea but that is exactly what a fisherman staying at Daly River, Australia did. Driven by a bet for two cases of bourbon the fisherman floated across the river in nothing and on nothing but a log for almost three minutes. The fisherman then re-joined his friends in the safety of their boat.

The Daly River has a reputation for its dangerous inhabitants but that didn’t seem to bother the fisherman or his friends who thought the whole thing was “hilarious.”

Same-sex marriage is set to become legalised in France after the French Senate voted in favour of the new bill. The bill was passed in the face of staunch protests against it. There has also been a sharp increase in violent homophobia in recent months as controversy surrounding the bill rose.

In a country which is predominantly Catholic, the idea of same-sex marriage and adoption is opposed by many people. Despite this, the recent passing of the bill is evidence of a new wave of consciousness in France, and there is hope that these sentiments will spread to other European countries.

Outsourcing Earth

The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) is sending more than 1000 troops to the DRC in an effort to neutralise the M23 rebel group. This move comes just after 13 SANDF soldiers died in a battle in Central African Republic (CAR) on March 23. What is worrying is that the M23 group is much more powerful than the rebels in CAR as they are believed to have rocket launchers and anti-aircraft weapons. M23, who are active on social media, have already said that they do not want to kill “their brothers” from South Africa but that if the South African soldiers attack they will retaliate.

ashleigh furlong, alicia chamaille & chantel clark 7

Q& A

appetisers

with

Professor

Tim Noakes

Professor Tim Noakes - outspoken proponent of the high fat, low carbohydrate diet - has been in the media spotlight of late and is a central figure in the debate concerning a diet that turns the American food pyramid guidelines on its head. Sofia Monteiro finds out why we should be eschewing our breakfast croissants with a firm hand in favour of a food group we’ve been taught to be suspicious of… FAT! Conventional wisdom holds that if we eat more calories than we burn with exercise we will get fat. How does the high fat diet compare to other mainstream diets in terms of losing weight?

It is quite true that if you ingest more calories than you expend then you will gain weight. However humans, like essentially all non-hibernating mammals, are designed to remain lean for life. We achieve this as a result of complex brain controls that match, with exquisite precision, the amount of calories we take in each day to the exact amount we need to remain healthy.

The problem is that addictive foods have become increasingly available in the past 40 years. No one will take responsibility for this change - we continue to blame the victims and ignore the cause, which is that the homeostat that has regulated our body weights so successfully for the past 3.5 millions years of our evolution, simply can’t cope with addictive, highly

conflicts of interest are real and are exploited by industry to ensure that scientists toe the industry line processed foods.

The reason why the high fat diet works is because it removes addictive processed foods from the diet and replaces them with real foods. Our brains are quite capable of regulating our body weights back to the weight we were in our adolescence (presuming we were not obese then as well) when it receives the correct foods to work with. And fat and protein are the two key regulators of appetite. So on the high fat diet we get our hunger under control and start to eat only exactly the number of calories that our bodies need each day.

Mainstream medicine teaches that raised cholesterol causes heart disease, and satu8

rated fats raise cholesterol levels so we should avoid eating saturated fat. What do you think is important for people to understand about cholesterol?

Unfortunately mainstream medicine is dependant on industry for its survival. I could not say what I am saying if my research funding was dependant on either the processed food or the pharmaceutical industry. They would with-

fat and protein are the two key regulators of appetite draw support overnight and my research program would have to shut down immediately. So conflicts of interest are real and are exploited by industry to ensure that scientists toe the industry line. This is not a conspiracy theory.

It is merely a statement of fact. Industry’s job is to make money by selling more product. If patients could cure themselves without needing drugs, then the pharmaceutical industry’s profits would be at risk. No industry can afford that risk. So any simple intervention that could improve health has to be attacked as do those Cholesterol is neither the direct nor the sole who promote these “controversial” ideas. cause of heart disease. Heart disease is caused by an inflammatory response in the arteries. The In your experience, is the high fat, low carb key driver of this inflammation is high blood glu- diet sustainable for people participating in cose and insulin levels in persons who have a diet intensive sport, as this diet precludes the rich in sugar, refined carbohydrates and omega-6 traditional ‘carbo-loading’ meant to give “vegetable” oils and low in protective omega-3 oils sportsmen energy? and other fats. Cholesterol is carried in the blood as a lipoprotein package. Abnormalities in carbo- It all depends whether or not you can mehydrate metabolism especially diabetes and pre- tabolize carbohydrates effectively. If you are diabetes (amongst other causes) produce abnor- carbohydrate tolerant, a high carbohydrate diet malities in these lipoprotein concentrations which will be helpful for your performance. If on the then make it easier for cholesterol to be deposited other hand you are carbohydrate intolerant as in inflamed and damaged arteries. So one needs to am I (and in my view a majority of South Afriknow (i) what is the status of your carbohydrate cans with a body mass index greater than 25kg/ metabolism; (ii) what is your lipoprotein status m2), then you will perform better on a high fat/ and (iii) what is your inflammatory status, if you protein diet, not least because you will be leanwish properly to understand your state of health. er with more energy and you won’t continue to gain weight as you get older. CTG Currently, there is a lot of controversy surrounding the high fat, low carb diet and resistance from mainstream medicine. Can you ex- Sofia Monteiro plain this? is an Honours student in Economics

MAY 2013

appetisers

The Organic Obfuscation As consumers, we are inclined to associate produce labelled as organic as the better, although often less economically viable choice. danielle serebro asks, is it?

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f you have entered a grocery store within the last five years, you are bound to have seen the label “organic” displayed on an array of products. This ubiquitous term has come to be associated with healthy eating and responsible living, but how many of us know what the label organic actually means? Is buying organic worth the inevitable extra expense or is it merely a marketing ploy preying on both our collective guilt concerning our carbon footprint, and neuroses about produce tainted by chemicals?

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), in order for produce to be certified organic, it must be developed through certain approved methods, which promote “recycling of resources, ecological balance, and conserving biodiversity. Synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, irradiation, and genetic engineering may not be used”. The prohibited chemicals and processes are as frightening as they sound, making it seem obvious that excluding them from our diet can only be beneficial. Buying organic food means that we are able to limit the amount of antibiotics, pesticides and toxic substances that we ingest. That being said, various studies have concluded that organic food is not necessarily more nutritious than non-organic food. Furthermore, studies found no meaningful differences between organic and conventional food in causing allergic reactions and infection, and while significantly lower pesticide levels in the urine of children consuming organic food was noted, “biomarker and nutrient levels in serum, urine, breast milk, and semen in adults did not identify clinically meaningful differences”. Regardless of whether organic food is indeed more nutritious, it is presumable that most of us would prefer that our vegetables were not grown in sewage-laden soil.

In order for livestock to be certified organic by the USDA, certain minimum standards must be met, many of which improve the welfare of the animals we eat. These include the provision of adequate shelter, food, exercise and hygiene.

Animals which are certified as organic are free from genetically engineered hormones intended to promote the animals’ growth, as well as from synthetic parasiticides, pesticides and antibiotics. Consuming ethically produced meat is an important motivation for many in choosing organic meat over conventional meat. Moreover, there are many other environmental and health benefits of organic meat farming.

Organic farms use up to 70 percent less energy than industrial farms and cause far less pollution through a reduced use of manure, which can contaminate our water sources.

Animals on organic farms are not fed other animals, whilst animals on industrial farms are often fed the remains of members of their species. This cannibalistic practice whereby cows are fed the remains of other cows can lead to bovine spongiform encephalopathy otherwise known as mad cow disease, which has caused numerous human fatalities.

The Cape Town Globalist

Given the apparent risks associated with non-organic food, particularly animal products, perhaps the most controversial aspect of the organic movement is its actual certification process. In America, products certified by the USDA as “100 percent organic”, meaning that all ingredients and processing aids are certified “organic”, refers to agricultural products that contain up to 5 percent non-organic ingredients, arguably making the product less than 100 percent organic. Products that are labelled as “made with organic ingredients” must consist of at least 70 percent organic ingredients. There are strict regulations involved in the certification process and representing non-organic food as organic is a serious offence carrying a penalty of $10 000.

This, however, is often not a large enough deterrent to producers of non-organic food who believe they will make profits in excess of $10 000 through falsely representing their products as organic.

In South Africa, consumers are still unable to determine whether or not the food they buy is indeed organic.

The certification process of South African produce differs greatly from that of the U.S., as South Africa lacks an official board for organic certification; certification is reliant on international regulation. This allows for non-organic producers to label their products as organic, without fear of legal repercussions. There are various firms which investigate food producers, in order to provide them with organic certification; however, because organic certification is not a requirement in labelling products as “organic” in South Africa, consumers are still unable to determine whether or not the food they buy is indeed organic. These certification bodies also charge a high premium for their service meaning that many producers of genuinely organic produce cannot afford to get certified. South Africa needs to develop a system of organic accreditation and educate our producers on the benefits of organic produce so that we can develop our organic market for domestic and foreign consumption.

Choosing whether or not to “go organic” is a personal choice, often influenced by one’s financial circumstances, as organic produce is undeniably pricier, or by awareness of how organic produce affects one’s own health as well as animal welfare and the environment. The benefits of buying organic animal products seem more apparent than those associated with other organic produce. As a result, the full extent of how advantageous it is to produce and buy organic food is still debatable. CTG

Danielle Serebro is a third-year student majoring in Politics, Philosophy and Economics.

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news

Hope Springs Eternal in the Middle East?

Two years after the Arab Spring, a divided Syria faces devastating civil war, religious tensions and threats of ethnic-cleansing. asuné van der merwe investigates what lies in store for the war-scarred Middle-East through the eyes of the rebel-housewives who fight for its survival.

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n March 2011, a Sunni housewife named Um Hassan looked forward to much more than a change of season.

She welcomed the start of a spring unlike any other and joined others in covering walls with revolutionary messages. Two years later, spring does not promise new life. Her hijab is traded for military wear and she now holds grenades instead of spray cans. Her participation in a peaceful uprising is long forgotten. She now leads a women’s unit of armed rebels named the ‘Khawla Bint Al Azwar brigade’ after the female fighter of the time of the Prophet Muhammad. Instead of households, they now protect civilians.

To these revolutionary women it was inconceivable that spray paint, posters and social media would lead to armed rebellion. Within two years, the ‘peaceful’ uprising intensified into a full-blown armed rebellion met by violent government attacks.

During the Arab Spring of 2011, Syrian women joined in demonstrations that followed a wave of uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. They demanded democracy and freedom. They took to the streets of the city of Dara’a, peacefully protesting the secular autocratic regime’s long-standing repression and discrimination.

Ethno-religious differences and sectarian hostility leave the Syrian society splintered.

Ansuné van der Merwe is a first-year student majoring in Law & Media and Writing

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The Syrian house is strongly divided; political inequality and deeply-rooted religious sectarian differences make its fall a possibility. Syrians have been subject to authoritarian rule of the Ba’ath Socialist Party since 1963. Moreover, political power has remained in the tight grip of the al-Assad family since the start of Hafez al-Assad’s dictatorship in 1970. After his death in 2000, the 34-year-old Bashar alAssad succeeded his father’s rule. Initially, reforms were introduced, the state of emergency was lifted and political tensions eased. However, President Assad continued his father’s authoritarian legacy of modernisation and secularism. The government’s new free market policies and its stronghold over the media, security forces and privileges bred disgruntlement.

The Syrian uprising was more than a mass political movement to protect their democratic rights. The Sunni majority, like Kurdish and Christian minorities, are discriminated against and repressed by the ruling minority, which forms part of the Alawite sect. Ethno-religious differences and sectarian hostility leave the Syrian society splintered.

A long history of autonomous rule has crippled the political system and disabled its ability to cope with revolu-

tionary political change. Building on patterns of the past, a new regime is likely to re-enforce the very laws it once protested, a la Egypt. ‘Peaceful’ protest has escalated into devastating civil war. The death toll has surpassed 70 000 and 1.3 million refugees have fled to Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. Amid the chaos and instability, victory is in the reach of neither the Assad regime nor rebel forces.

Assad has unlawfully authorised airstrikes and ballistic missiles, killing thousands of civilians, whilst allegations of chemical weapons led the United Nations to launch a probe into their use. The government has even recruited a women’s militia, known as “the Lionesses”, to guard checkpoints and control security operations. Rebels have gained significant control in Aleppo, Idlib and Latakia and are as determined as the regime.

Syria’s main opposition has elected Ghassan Hitto as an interim prime minister, taking Syria’s seat at the Arab League Summit earlier in March. However, the opposition remains fractured as a result of restructuring and multiplying rivalries. The unrest has attracted al-Qaeda-linked jihadist groups seeking to establish Islamist states. Jihadists are confident that radical Islam will replace the secular Assad-autocracy.

If the Khawla Bint Al Azwar brigade and other rebel units succeed, President Bashar al-Assad will give in to domestic and international pressure and relinquish his power. This does not, however, bear prospects of peace and stability.

The presidential seat will become a gleaming prize in the eyes of several distinct groups: radical Islamists, newly liberated Sunni Muslims seeking political domination and Kurd and Christian minorities demanding autonomy.

If the conflict and stalemate persists, the fate of Um Hassan and fellow Syrians will likely be decided by Turkey and the West. Together with Turkey, the US might declare Syria’s border with Turkey a no-fly zone. For this to be effective, however, President Assad’s weaponry defences will have to be destroyed completely and the intensity of the war will escalate.

As the Middle East enters springtime, a long winter lies ahead for Syria. According to The Economist, it is inevitable that the regime will be defeated as the rebels have the backing of the international community and neighbouring Turkey, but impossible to predict when and how this will happen. Until then, unsettling consequences, chaos and widespread instability are certain.

For Um Hassan, this spring marks the start of what is predicted to be an ‘Arab quarter-century’ of instability, chaos and strife in the Middle East. The humanitarian crisis is no longer simply a question of political differences. Syrians enter yet another season of bloodshed and chaos and it is uncertain when the conflict will be resolved. In the meantime Syrians, like Um Hassan and other housewives-turned-rebels, continue their daily lives fighting for survival. CTG

MAY 2013

news

A Pope for the

Poor O

Tradition has always been a cornerstone of the Catholic faith but the recent resignation of the pope has turned many long-held traditions on their heads. Lori-rae van Laren reports on the new pope and whether he will be the force that changes the face of the Catholic Church.

ne pope steps down, another steps up. Both are men of the scripture but with very different backgrounds and challenges to confront. Will the ‘first New World’ pope be any different from those who preceded him? And can he adequately address the issues facing the Catholic Church with the ex-pope lingering in the background?

‘Breaking with tradition’ is hardly a term we would associate with Catholicism. Especially, because it is tradition that separates the Catholic Church from the Protestant movement. Yet on February 28th this year, one pope made one of the boldest and most unconventional moves we’ve ever seen in the history of the Catholic Church: he abdicated.

In a world where it is not completely uncommon for leaders to step down, the significance of this move may be lost on some. But Pope Benedict’s decision to abdicate as leader of the Catholic Church is a choice that has only been made twice before in Cardinal history. The act is one of great humility from one of the world’s most influential men and also an opportunity for real change in the Catholic Church.

Up until now, the governing model of the Catholic Church meant that the pope ruled until his death. Pope Benedict has changed all the rules of the game.

Although he is stepping down, he definitely isn’t backing out. Some have argued that Benedict will be even more influential outside of his role in the papacy than within it. He can now follow the agenda he set in place as pope without the worries and responsibilities that come with being the most recognised figure in the Catholic faith. That role now falls to Pope Francis, who ascended to the papacy on the 13th March this year.

Benedict’s resignation will confuse the social dynamics within the Vatican: who has authority if the two men are in the same room? But in a time where the Catholic Church is facing much discontent from its loyal followers and criticism from the world at large, it must be comforting for Francis to know that there is someone (besides God) to turn to for guidance. On the other hand, can Francis truly make the papacy his own with his predecessor still alive and active within the faith?

Francis’s agenda for the papacy may not be groundbreaking but he certainly is of a different mould. Both unconventional and contentious, he has accomplished much whilst overcoming great adversity. Francis is Latin American by

The Cape Town Globalist

descent; the son of a railway worker; had a lung removed as a teenager; and he cooks his own food. Many would have recognised him before he was crowned pope, not from television, but from the bus station and the subway.

He took his name from a saint known as “the least among us”. He is a Jesuit (part of a male religious order within the Roman Catholic Church, whose members accept missions of evangelism and social justice anywhere in the world, even in extreme conditions) who pursued the life of a priest over a career in chemistry. In 1998 he was made Archbishop of Buenos Aires and a Cardinal in 2001 by Pope John Paul II. Now that he is pope, the world eagerly awaits to see how Francis will rise up to the challenges he faces. He has been left a legacy of priestly sexual abuse, mishandled finances and a divided church: those in Europe arguing for a more liberal biblical interpretation and those in Africa and Asia

Who has authority if the two men are in the same room? clinging to the conservative faith. Then there’s the demand from liberal believers for the church to adjust its views on AIDS, homosexuality and contraceptives.

Added to this legacy is a new challenge: the changing face of the Catholic Church. According to TIME magazine, support for the Catholic Church in Europe and the USA has grown by only 2% and 5% respectively, while Africa has seen 186 million people (a 21% growth rate) turn to the faith. Asia has witnessed an 11% increase.

The Catholic Church’s stronghold in Latin America is also waning as the area undergoes a ‘Protestant Reformation’ of sorts. Perhaps it is no wonder that Francis’s agenda for the papacy has been one of evangelism, a reaching out to both the prodigal sons of Europe and the Americas and a sending out of the disciples to the ends of the Third World.

The greatest challenge facing the Catholic Church, is that for most followers, the Vatican seems far away in both in distance and lifestyle. The Church’s newly acquired members in Africa and Asia can hardly relate to the gold-laced palace in the heart of First World Europe. But perhaps they can relate to the man from Latin America who cooks and takes public transport. Perhaps God is one of us after all.

CTG

lori-rae van laren

is an Honours student specialising in Justice and Transformation.

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news

kirsty rice takes a closer look at Kenya and Zimbabwe after their recent election strife. In comparing Zimbabwe’s patriarch and Kenya’s rock star, she asks important questions about whether the winds of change are in fact blowing.

The Winds of Change?

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fragile peace colours the political landscapes of both Kenya and Zimbabwe. Robert Mugabe, longterm president of Zimbabwe, has recently conceded to a constitutional amendment in anticipation of multiple elections promised to be held in August. Uhuru Kenyatta finds himself basking in a rare breath of an Obama-like glow as the newly inaugurated and fourth President of Kenya.

Each of these events carries a whispering of grandiose reformation, but a hollowed national hope constitutes the hard reality. The comparison of Zimbabwe and Kenya is not difficult to see: despite holding multiple elections during the course of the year, each is tainted by the highly publicised violence that characterised the last set of elections, held in 2008 (Kenya) and 2007 (Zimbabwe). In both cases, the violence was either state-condoned or openly provoked by parliamentary members.

Kenyatta’s alleged crimes against humanity are one of the few major cracks to appear post-election. He is due to appear in the International Criminal Court (ICC) alongside his chosen vice president and founding partner of the National Party, William Ruto, for inciting the violence that caused some 1 200 deaths. While the election period was peaceful, Kenyatta has been accused of foul play. Raila Odinga of the opposition party has openly voiced concerns over the delayed release of the results, further noting the slim margin by which Kenyatta has taken the presidency – a 50.7% majority.

The coffers are finally empty, and the power that wealth provides, evaporated with it.

Images courtesy of foter.com

Kirsty Rice

is a third-year student majoring in English, Psychology and History.

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Kenyatta’s profile lends no favour to the accusations. He has been known to frequent local nightspots, his reputation is almost entirely based on his wealth - partly accumulated through his father’s earlier years of corruption. There is speculation that a major factor in Kenyatta’s success is due to the opposition’s lack of funds and sponsors.

Parallel to this, a lack of funding is what seems to have provided the catalyst for Zimbabwe’s shift too. TIME Magazine recently published an article which claims that Zimbabwe has only $217 million left in its public fund – the coffers are finally empty, and the power that wealth provides, evaporated with it.

The change in constitution seems more of a consoling gesture than a move to actual reform. While Mugabe, in alliance with Morgan Tsvangirai, has agreed to amendments which stipulate that a five-year presidential term may not

be held more than once consecutively, no concrete law has been approved. The new law is said to adopt a non-retroactive function, meaning that even if it should be cleared, Mugabe could still legally hold his dictatorship for another decade.

Whilst advocating nationalism and Kenyan economic independence, Kenyatta has nevertheless agreed to cooperate with the ICC and maintain all existing international relationships. This in itself is not a view that is reciprocated.

US diplomats have indicated that Odinga would be their preference. The UK will keep contact with Kenyatta, but will distance itself as was done with Mugabe.

Coalition has been the catch phrase to counter the violence that occurred previously in both cases. Mugabe – despite barring a UN team from entering the country – has made moves since the last election to reconcile somewhat with his opposition, Morgan Tsvangirai, to ensure a more peaceful election. Unfortunately, military intimidation is still fraught within the country and remains a major barrier for progress.

Hope prevails despite the slow and unwilling hand of Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (Zanu PF): the most recent referendum showed 94.5% in favour of a new constitution and a minimum of spoiled ballots, demonstrating that intimidation tactics haven’t been as threatening as in the past.

In contrast, Kenyatta’s predominant campaigning technique was one fuelled by selective unity. Appealing to the Kikuyu tribe as well as those tribes closely associated with it, Kenyatta seems to be genuinely committed to unifying the debilitating ethnic split that is the source of conflict, “I will lead all those who voted for me and those who voted for my competitors”.

He goes on to say, “We have been praised and criticized in turn – depending on who was telling our story. Yet, while some watched the unfolding national events with skepticism, resigned to what they believed was the inevitability of chaos, the vast majority looked upon our nation with a tempered hope”.

There is no question that the change in Zimbabwe will be slow and met with resistance. Kenyatta is a fresh albeit somewhat marred face - and one who holds the potential to prove the fashion for cynicism wrong. But we would do well to remember the words of Franz Fanon, that “the political party in many parts of Africa which are today independent is puffed up in a most dangerous way…that it is a national party, and which claims to speak in the name of the totality of the people, [while] secretly, sometimes even openly organizes an authentic ethnical dictatorship.” CTG

MAY 2013

SOWING THE SEEDS Sowing the Seeds images & text by gareth smit

Sprouting Solutions

by HANNAH ROTHSCHILD

Chalk and Cheese by kirsty rice and lyndall thwaits

Economics and Eating

by Chris Rooney

Is There Donkey in my Boerie?

by Fadzai Muramba

The Cape Town Globalist

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sowing the seeds

Oranjezicht City Farm is a community venture that has put the old bowling greens to new use, starting an organic urban farm.

The farm aims to produce fresh, organic foods to sell commercially and cover the costs of the venture

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Sprouting Solutions As food prices rise at incendiary rates, communities react by finding innovative ways to reintroduce the farm to the city. HANNAH ROTHSCHILD reveals how Capetonians are reclaiming control over their food supply.

C

ould it be possible that the answer to a new world problem is an old world solution? The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation has raised concern over the 1% increase in the food price index during the month of March, yet food price inflation could reach 9% by the middle of 2013.

Inflated food prices have been attributed to global food shortages, continuous strikes on Western Cape farms, and increasing petrol prices. Farmers have also had to resort to changing crops and producing less to avoid losses caused by increased utility costs. Every South African has felt the sting of the constant escalation in food prices and many South Africans can no longer afford a balanced and nutritious diet.

Thus, self-sustainable living and home food production is no longer idealistic but necessary. Poverty levels in South Africa are expected to rise as food prices push up living costs and decrease overall health and welfare but the Mother City isn’t backing down and admitting defeat. Urban agriculture, city farms and feeding projects are sprouting up all over Cape Town and these pioneering schemes are making all the difference. Starting small but expanding rapidly, all these enterprises aim to promote and ensure a sustainable future.

Greenpop is an environmental organization, which started over two years ago. It focuses on greening Cape Town by planting trees to protect the environment and encourage sustainable green living. Greenpop is making both an environmental and social impact; now moving throughout the Western Cape and into Zambia. One of Greenpop’s projects is planting fruit trees at schools, crèches and community centres. Their goal is to ensure the well-being of their beneficiaries, with an array of fruit trees such as lemon, apple, peach and olive, being planted in impoverished areas. The trees are beginning to provide a continuous food source for the people who care for them, and supplementing their diet with vital nutrients.

Greenpop has collaborated with another urban agriculture enterprise, Urban Harvest, which plants edible gar-

The Cape Town Globalist

dens for clients around Cape Town and is run by Ben Getz, a renowned landscape architect. However, wealthy South Africans are not the only ones who benefit from his knowledge of farming and vegetables. Urban Harvest has planted an array of edible gardens at community centres and schools, which use the produce to supplement meals made for the school children or community members. It has been proven that a good healthy diet improves children’s concentration at school and prevents learning disabilities. Having stable access to these nutrients on the school grounds not only encourages children to go to school, but also ensures that they are healthy and focused.

Organisations such as Urban Harvest and Greenpop not only place importance on the physical planting of trees and vegetables, but also on the educational and sustainable actions of their project as volunteers and beneficiaries are required to join the planting program.

Not even a year old, the land will soon start producing an array of fruit, vegetables and herbs They are taught about the value of the environment, how to live sustainably, and how to care for their plants, which become their responsibility. This is supplemented with regular monitoring and expert advice. The active level of involvement and accountability of beneficiaries ensure that the trees and vegetable patches will be cared for and continue to survive.

Another pilot program making an impact and increasing awareness of urban agriculture is Oranjezicht City Farm, an urban farming project started by a group of passionate people. The project has transformed an abandoned bowling green, into an urban farm and a platform for skills and community development. The project respects the land’s heritage and uses permaculture methods and organic seeds. Not even a year old, the land will soon start producing an array of fruit, vegetables and 15

sowing the seeds

Every Saturday volunteers join the farmers to cultivate the land and plant new seeds.

Organiser Sheryl Ozinsky says that people in the affluent neighbourhood need community projects like this to learn that “there are other people around who count.

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herbs. The produce will not be freely given to the community or to volunteers. Instead, this wholesome and organic produce will be readily available for sale. The reasoning behind this is to ensure that the farm remains self-sustainable and fruitful. If OZCF proves to be a success, its creators hope that they can implement twenty or more farms like it around Cape Town, especially in poorer areas where the food will be used to feed the community.

self-sustainable living and home food production is no longer idealistic but necessary Perhaps the most direct project regarding self-sustainable food production is that of micro-agri-enterprise FoodPods. FoodPods provides unemployed, entrepreneurial township citizens with the skills and tools to grow their own food through subsistence farming mechanisms. They achieve their goals through a strategic business program called the hub-and-spoke model. The hub is the central FoodPods organization, which has various spokes being franchisees around Cape Town in areas such as Philippi and Khayelitsha. The franchisees are entrepreneurs in local areas who are a part of the FoodPods program, trained to care for and produce food from their allocated ‘food pods’. FoodPods is an efficient urban agriculture project, which is low-tech and relatively easy to implement. The Hub produces food pods which are small portable crates which, when put together, cover an area of 36m2. The crates are lined with hessian, soil, and various plants such as tomatoes, lettuce, and beans. The food pods are then protected under a shade-cloth to ensure that the produce can grow quickly and be easily harvested.

This food helps franchisees to support and feed their families and excess produce is sold to other members of the community. Revenue then goes into The Hub to finance more food pods. It may be a micro-enterprise with only a small impact on poverty and hunger, but the franchisees are benefitting with increased welfare and food security, supporting large extended families and growing excess produce, which is sold to neighbours.

Urban agriculture is no longer a trend affordable and accessible to only green, health-conscious Capetonians. It is a movement that is crossing social boundaries and bringing people together to work towards a more sustainable and secure future. Whether it is with big communal projects or in your own back yard, it is time we all get stuck in and get our hands dirty to ensure a sustainable future for our food. CTG

Hannah Rothschild

is a second year PPE student The Cape Town Globalist

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The Farm uses organic compost created by waste ‘donated’ by residents and other local businesses.

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MAY 2013

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Chalk & Cheese Pica might sound like a South American capital city, but cases of this mysterious condition are found a lot closer to home than we might think. kirsty rice and lyndall thwaits investigate.

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magine this: you’re sitting at an extended table you share with your work colleagues. You place your laptop on the counter and next to it some pieces of white paper and a pen for making notes. A colleague sits down next to you, you turn away for fleeting moment and when you return to pick up a piece of paper and start jotting down something you thought of – your colleague gazes into the distance chewing something you’re sure she didn’t have a moment ago. Only then do you realize that your paper has gone missing. True story. This actually happened to me; little did I know, but my colleague suffered from Pica.

Pica is generally classified as an eating disorder but is strongly associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder as well. The disorder causes individuals to ingest non-food and non-nutritious items such as paper, sand, chalk, paint chips, wire, glue and buttons, to name but a few. The official definition of Pica, according to the DSM-IV (the official mental disorders handbook ), is that Pica is “the persistent eating of non-nutritive substances for a period of at least 1 month, that is inappropriate to the developmental level, is not culturally sanctioned and if it occurs exclusively during the course of another mental disorder, it is sufficiently severe to warrant independent clinical attention”. The term Pica is derived from the Latin word for ‘magpie’ – a bird which is well known for its unusual eating habits of food and nonfood items.

Little is known about the disorder and theorists disagree about many fundamental points, including how we define Pica and what causes it. Many cases of Pica are seen in in-

The Cape Town Globalist

dividuals who have mental disabilities but there are cases of normally functioning individuals who experience the symptoms. What is problematic is the fact that within Pica there are too many variations and subtypes. For instance, a study based in Bloemfontein lists various subtypes which perhaps need classification and attention in their own right.

Among these are geophagia (earth-eating) or lithophaga (pebble-eating), which might be dismissed as a cultural custom, as seen in many African countries such as Gabon, Kenya, Cameroon, Zambia and Tanzania. Outside the continent, in Haiti, soil is rolled into a roti-like form and sold frequently to low socioeconomic communities. The idea is that the earth, which holds crucial elements for fruit and vegetables to grow, contains raw minerals beneficial for the human digestive system. It is almost impossible to contain these practices within the scope of traditional medicine and calls for a new perspective, one which incorporates behavioral and environmental factors into the diagnosis.

“It’s not all paper, that’s the thing. It’s certain types of paper…”

Traces of Pica behavior have been seen in history as far back as the thirteenth century, but the documentation of Pica is scarce. Ironically, the disorder appears to be more common than we think. As noted, in some cultures, Pica is seen as a normal behavior for children and adults to engage in and, in some contexts, is even encouraged.

Images: Gareth Smit

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The Cape Town Globalist caught up with its very own case study, 24 year old Zimbabwean NK, to gain further insight into the disorder. NK reported a long-standing history of Pica, eating items including soil/clay, paper, chalk and the skin around her fingernails. Interestingly, she discriminates between the subtypes of the items she chooses to digest, saying that, “It’s not all paper, that’s the thing. It’s certain types of paper… paper that has maybe been old or lying around, that has had the sun as well.” She reports a similar stance about the soil she consumed, “It’s not just any soil…in dry areas they have this thing, its soil on the sides of trees, termites build it up basically to make a house… that’s the soil I’m talking about.”

Traces of Pica behavior have been seen in history as far back as the thirteenth century NK also has a history of severe anemia, something which has been directly linked to Pica in many reported cases.

It is unclear whether Pica causes anemia in individuals due to their intake of non-nutritious items or whether it is the anemia which leads to individuals consuming unusual substances and food items. The items are thought to compensate for the lack of hemoglobin in the blood, and the link has been well established.

In the face of repetitive and inconclusive literature, one of the best documentations concerning the disease appears in the world of fiction. Gabriel Marcia Marquez, in One Hundred Years of Solitude, tells the story of Rebeca, a timid young woman whose adopted family cannot understand her strange habits of consuming earth and picking paint off the walls to eat in times of anxiety. Marquez picks up on a pertinent point of this disease: it is often misunderstood when taken out of context.

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In developing countries such as Mexico and Kenya, it is a well-documented and accepted fact that during the pregnancy, women will eat rocks and earth as a supplement. In a BBC study five years ago, women explained how they often eat “odowa”, soft rocks that may be purchased from the market place. The conclusion that this is a harmful practice – causing anemia, rather than being the result of it, and raising the risk of either kidney or liver damage - seems to have no bearing on the fact that this remains a common cultural practice. NK herself relates to this; she, despite never having been pregnant, has some sort of relationship with the earth she grew up with.

“A lot of people eat that soil, including pregnant women.

It’s not a weird thing to see someone walk up to those types of trees and collect (it) and eat it. I think that’s why I never had a problem with the sand thing - because it was socially acceptable.”

Similar reportage has been seen in France and even Bloemfontein, and occurs in waves, suggesting that sometimes the symptoms sweep through a specific community or space. The fact that NK tells us that it was only as she grew up that it became problematic, and testifies that some types of soil are “socially acceptable”, shows that it is only under western eyes that Pica is understood as a disease. This is semi-confirmed by the fact that no clear treatment programme is available. ‘Pica’ seems to act as a type of umbrella term – a name for any occurrence of the consumption of non- nutritive items.

Thus a clear divide exists: Pica either occurs in the absence of adequate nutrients, or as an impulse control disorder linked to OCD. The latter of these suggests that in times of stress or anxiety, a person will obsessively consume a non-nutritive substance. This kind of reasoning lumps Pica into the category of an eating disorder – the easiest assumption, as it addresses the symptoms rather

MAY 2013

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than the cause. Taken outside of its cultural context, NK hesitantly confirms the link to the psyche of the behaviour: “I only do it at work now. It’s a stress thing…it’s usually in the moment, I have to keep busy. I get restless and I think I just grab a sheet.” Or perhaps a post- it note.

Should we be treating Pica? In some cases, yes. When seen in a child who is eating the lead paint off of a wall or chalk from their classroom, there is a high risk of leadpoisoning. NK notes that normal supplements don’t work because her body simply refuses to absorb iron.

Intoxicated with the smell of ammonia, which occurs in blood, this perhaps explains her gnawing of her own fingers. “I’ve lost all the pigmentation around my fingers,” she says, which clearly presents a problem. And yet when The Cape Town Globalist approached doctors, UCT Psychology Faculty members and a dietician at the Crescent Clinic who works exclusively with eating disorders, they were at a loss. The frequent response received was along the lines of “Oh, I’ve heard of it, but I can’t tell you how to treat it - I’ve never seen it”.

Pica persists as something of an urban legend. Study after study changes the classification, sometimes treating a subtype as the disorder itself, or merely including it as a symptom. The ‘disorder’ is enigmatic, at best – and but for those who experience it, it belongs to the magical-realist landscape of mystery. Unfortunately, due to the contradictory views in medical science and its own rarity, Pica is unlikely to receive any attention any time soon. The fact that it cannot be classified perhaps suggests it should be simply left alone – a simple symptom to which a solution may not be necessary. CTG

The Cape Town Globalist

lyndall thwaits is an Honours student specialising in Media Theory and Practice.

kirsty rice

is a third-year student majoring in English, History and Psychology.

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Economics and Eating: The Food Security Crisis Chris Rooney looks into how food impacts on our pockets.

By analysing the 2007-2008 food crisis, he reveals what drives the price of your dinner through the roof.

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he 2007-2008 world food price crisis sharply brought into focus the impact that rising food prices can have. While developed countries were not insulated from such increases, it was in the developing countries where anger was most apparent. Social unrest and riots took place all over the world – from Indonesia and India through to Mozambique and Latin America. Voters demanded responses from their governments but none were forthcoming – mainly because governments themselves had no control over the food price.

Since 2008, many causes have been proposed by economists. A popular and controversial one is the role of food speculation. Speculation involves traders attempting to predict the future prices of food. Before 2000, farmers and food buyers used this market to gamble on whether the price of particular foods would increase or decrease; food speculation acted as a form of insurance against volatility.

This deregulation resulted in commodities traders making up 60% of the market.

Images courtesy of foter.com 22

However, both Presidents Clinton and Bush Jnr. deregulated the market and made it easier for commodities traders to become involved in the agricultural futures market. This deregulation resulted in commodities traders making up 60% of the market – a huge jump from the 12% pre-regulation. An increase in traders implies an increase in volatility because traders generally have a more short-term profit-driven outlook, compared to those who have a more long-term interest in commercial agriculture.

Investment in food commodities has jumped by nearly 100% from $65 billion to $126 billion in only five years. For perspective, the value of this market is over twenty times the total amount of agricultural aid given to developing coun-

tries.

None of these facts, however, imply a causal relationship between speculation and the food crisis. It is tempting to paint a picture of wealthy traders making millions while many others starve, given their role in the financial crisis.

Indeed, many organisations such as Oxfam, the UN and Foodwatch have jumped on this bandwagon. But is this reality?

Not so, say researchers at the University of Halle-Wittenberg. After reviewing 25 scientific articles, they came to the conclusion that financial speculation alone cannot be responsible for the long-term increase in food prices. The reasoning behind this claim is that in the commodities market, for every buyer, there must be a seller. No (rational) buyer is going to pay significantly more for the commodity than the market price. The authors suggest other factors – such as the increased consumption of meat from big emerging economies, like China – played a big role, although this factor has largely been ignored by the media.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) also support this view. Although they agree that speculation can lead to short-term volatility, they identify population growth as primary driver behind the rise in food prices.

Another factor that has been underlined is the role of agricultural subsidies. Agricultural subsidies have been justified as a means of reducing volatility in farmers’ income. This reduction in volatility is necessary in order sustain farming as an occupation, or so the argument goes. Critics do not oppose agricultural subsidies per se, but rather their excessive magnitudes. The total amount of agricultural support given to OECD countries amounts to $280 billion annually, which is approximately three-and-a-half times more than the $80 billion of agricultural aid given to developing countries.

To an economist, these amounts are baffling considering the miniscule part agriculture plays in developed econo-

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Whenever farmers are unhappy with a particular issue, they block the Champs-Élysées in Paris. mies, compared to the crucial role they play in poorer countries. This can be explained by the presence of organised and well-funded farmer lobby groups in both the EU and the US. In France, for example, whenever farmers are unhappy with a particular issue, they block the ChampsÉlysées in Paris. In addition, many farming areas in France have their own representative in Parliament. Politicians, whose goal is always to be re-elected, pander to and protect farming interests.

The idea of subsidies being a cause of rising food prices appears paradoxical. After all, neo-classical economic theory tells us that subsidies reduce the market price. However, the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy actually forces governments to purchase surplus food at above the market price.

The EU is so desperate to get rid of these surpluses that they effectively “dump” the food onto developing countries, under-cutting local farmers. This leads to the under-development of developing countries’ agriculture sectors, making them reliant on imports. Therefore when surplus EU stocks run low, as was the case in the 2007-2008 food crisis, this increases prices and there is nothing developing countries can do about it. They are victims of the market forces.

An issue related to agricultural subsidies is that of bio-fuel subsidies. The primary ingredient in bio-fuel is methanol, which is created from maize. Subsidies have incentivised farmers to switch to bio-fuel production – 40% of US maize crops were used in ethanol production in 2010-2011 season, up from 6% 4 years ago.

A World Bank report concluded that at least 70-75% of the rise in food prices could be attributed to the increase in bio-fuel production. This is a particularly bold statement

to make, considering the many other factors at play in determining global food prices. Reports by Oxfam and the OECD estimated the effects to be 30% and between 5-19%, both much smaller amounts. Nevertheless it is clear that bio-fuels do have a substantial impact on prices.

The justification for bio-fuel subsidies is that using ethanol as fuel is supposedly less harmful than petrol and diesel. However, research by the OECD concluded that these policies would result in no more than a 0.8% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

In contrast, Brazilian ethanol, which is produced from sugar-cane, could reduce emissions by 80%. Large subsidies and taxes imposed by US and EU governments inhibit Brazil entering the world market. The World Bank also found that Brazil’s ethanol production did not significantly affect sugar prices, although this conclusion is based on Brazil’s current level of production. The sugar price might well be effected if Brazil were allowed into the US and EU markets.

At least 70-75% of the rise in food prices could be attributed to the increase in bio-fuel production.

The food price crisis occurred during a decade of unusually high economic growth. Was this just one of Marx’s crises of capitalism? A contradiction of under and oversupply engineered by market forces careening out of our control?

It certainly is worrying when the crisis involves a commodity so vital to our everyday lives. Food prices continue to swell faster than the prices of other goods. But, let’s hope for a period of calm, and perhaps some regulation. CTG

chris rooney

is a Masters student in Economics.

The Cape Town Globalist

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Is There Donkey in My Boerie?

The recent meat scandal that swept across Europe has seen its own South African equivalent emerge. Fadzai Muramba investigates why you might want to think twice before biting into your boerie

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n the 15th of January 2013 one of the worst cases of consumer rights violations on record was exposed in Europe. The 2013 Meat Scandal case started unraveling when meat that was labeled as beef was found to also contain undeclared horsemeat. The unscrambling of this fraudulent case has spread to other parts of the world like South Africa, Brazil and Australia.

The discovery of horsemeat in processed beef products sold in a number of UK supermarket chains resulted in product recalls which threw the spotlight on the food industry's supply chain.

It all started when Irish food inspectors announced that they had found horsemeat in frozen beef burgers made by Irish and British firms. After tests confirmed the inconceivable news that beef readymeals contained horse DNA, a growing number of retail stores and companies across Europe such as Nestle and Findus recalled these products.

As well as in the UK, mislabeled meat products were also found in Sweden, France, Norway, Germany and Switzerland.

The scandal is an irrefutable demonstration of inadequate testing of meat products. Such tests are supposed to make sure consumers are well informed of what they are eating.

The scandal has shown not only the deceptive tactics of suppliers and retailers, but also how vulnerable the food supply chain is to fraud in general. The need for greater transparency and trust between companies and consumers is clearly evident. Perhaps the only way forward is to

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put in place domestic and international laws that monitor meat-processing establishments more closely, thereby rebuilding the necessary levels of trust that consumers have in the meat industry.

Closer to home, South Africa was not spared from the deceit of meat processors either. A study by the University of Stellenbosch brought to light the criminal contents of locally processed beef products. The study included 139 samples taken from sausages, minced meats, dried meats, burger patties, and deli meats. Of the 139 samples, two thirds contained unconventional species of meats that were not disclosed to consumers, including goat, water buffalo, mutton, pork and donkey, as well as plant matter such as soy and gluten.

The astounding study was published in the International Food Control Journal, by Dr Donna-Maree Cawthorn and Professor Louw Hoffman, of the Department of Animal Sciences. Hoffman confirmed that the mislabeling of processed meats was commonplace in South Africa. He went on to elaborate that the mislabeling of meats not only violates food-labeling regulations but also has economic, religious, and ethical impacts, as consumption of these meats may be taboo in some religions or cultures, as well as health impacts where animal diseases may be transferred to humans if not carefully screened. This clearly questions our local regulatory measures that protect consumers from being sold falsely described or inferior food. Shamefully, the meat industry’s dismal failure to provide vital information

MAY 2013

sowing the seeds on what is in their products may not only decrease consumer confidence in their companies, but also in the meat industry as a whole.

So why did processed meat producers choose to con their customers in this manner? Mainly because they can - the nature of the processed meat industry is that once meat is packaged individual consumers cannot tell the difference and the local regulatory measures in place are not effective. These shortcomings were taken full advantage of by producers at their consumer’s expense.

The comparatively good news is that authorities have demanded that the names of retailers who were part of the 139 meat samples studied at Stellenbosch University, be disclosed. The research team have argued unconvincingly that the purpose of the study was not to "name and shame" meat processors and retailers, but to expose the extent of the problem. Unfortunately for the research team, the request for this information was received under the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA), which left Stellenbosch University with no alternative but to make the detailed information available.

the mislabeling of meats not only violates food-labeling regulations but also has economic, religious, and ethical impacts As a result, on Sunday the 14th of April meat consumers woke up to the realization that they may have done their weekend shopping at one of the major South African retailers – Pick n Pay, Spar, Shoprite, Fruit and Veg City and Woolworths – who had been implicated in the ongoing meat scandal. Two examples of the scandalous mislabeled meats included cheese beef burgers from Food Lover’s Market in Westville, KwaZulu-Natal, which contained the DNA of water buffalo, sheep and chicken (not indicated on the label), and Pick n Pay-brand boerewors from the East Rand Mall outlet, which stated only beef on the label, but also included the DNA of pork and sheep. In one peculiar instance, a product sold as ostrich patties also contained beef, pork, sheep and chicken.

So then, what is left are unanswered questions for consumers. Who made money out of this deceit? How long has this been going on? Which institutions in South Africa police the correct labeling of meat? Were the sources of these unconventional meats in processed meat products screened for diseases harmful to humans? Who are the suppliers of meats in restaurants, school cafeterias, hospitals and food outlets? And most importantly will we ever be 100% sure of the contents of the meat we are eating?

One thing is certain: once bitten, twice shy. Meat consumers have undoubtedly taken something on board from this debacle. CTG

Fadzai Muramba

is a 3rd Year BSc student in International Relations and Sociology

The Cape Town Globalist

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China’s Soul Market

Global 21

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Lucy Connell

is a third year Arts/ Commerce student majoring in History and Economics and writes for The Sydney Globalist

gainst a backdrop of social upheaval, Christianity in China is making a comeback. Evangelical churches sprout like mushrooms across city landscapes, brazenly declaring their services in defiance of official sanction. Inside, their swelling congregations sing lusty hymns, while countrymen elsewhere enthusiastically embrace a myriad of spiritual alternatives.

In 2010, the number of Christians in China hit a new peak of 23 million according to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, though many sources postulate a figure of nearly triple this. However, Christianity is not the only beneficiary of the greater plurality, individualism and assertiveness of ‘New China’. Social change is rapidly forming new spaces for religion to flourish and to extend its roots.

This growth has been fuelled by the decline of secular Marxist narratives and, in particular, the stresses of modernization.

The tale of Yueyue, a two-year-old run over twice and ignored by passers-by, has only deepened existing national soul-searching over China’s “decaying” social fabric.

Anxiety is rife about the moral void left by fading Maoist rhetoric, and the family structures fractured by mass urban migration.

Many Chinese commentators have mourned the loss of a common moral code and sense of social obligation to their fellow man.

The state’s protracted disengagement from the “iron rice bowl” model of welfare provision has exacerbated this sense of disloca-

tion. Life-long social services are no longer guaranteed by the state, forcing many workers to make their own arrangements. It is into this vacuum of morality and communal support that religious organizations have surged, their appeals newly resonant amongst disaffected citizens.

This is not to downplay the long-held antipathies to religion that still hold sway over much official policy and constrain religious freedom. Since 1958, China’s Constitution has acknowledged only the main religions: Buddhism, Islam, Daoism, Catholicism and Protestantism.

Paradoxically, given the Communist Party leadership’s reputation for xenophobia, their approach to homegrown alternatives has been surprisingly belligerent. Confucianism was notably the subject of bitter derision from Communist elites who labeled the philosophy backward, conservative, and antithetical to political enlightenment and modern progress.

An exponential growth in Confucian studies and the official celebration of the philosopher’s birthday point to a growing interest in this “authentically Chinese” philosophy. Much of this proliferation has stemmed from organic interest at a local level, yet it is also clear that the state is energetically driving in this process.

An official promotion of the Confucian code is not necessarily incompatible with wider religious liberty. However, it does signpost a dramatic shift in strategy. The state’s increasing cooption with this ancient dogma may well come at the expense of the relatively privileged international ideologies. G21

Life in Bogota: The Resilient Cachacos

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Image courtesy of wikimedia commons

Ellie Horrocks studies Modern Languages at Trinity College and writes for The Oxian Globalist Trinity

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t is morning in Bogota, Colombia, and its eight million residents are beginning their daily fight to make ends meet.

Locals, or cachacos, dart across streets, dodge taxis, and purchase buñuelos donuts, arepas breads, and tiny tinto coffees on street corners to aguantar (stave off ) the early morning hunger. Their eyes sting from the fumes emitted by queues of colectivo buses, and the harsh light of Bogota’s high altitude.

Bogota, the enigmatic capital of Colombia, is a sprawling metropolis – the kind of city that swallows you whole.

Those who live in Bogota are the city’s advocates. Many wonder why. Each cachacos appears entirely solitary, battling against an aggressive city that seemingly stacks everything against them. In reality, cachacos share these hardships collectively, and rejoice in them.

Unlike its Latin American neighbors, Bogota is defined by its substantial middle class. The view flying over Bogota is not a landscape of slums, as in Rio or Mexico City, but a patchwork of red brick, made up of the cozy Lego-like apartment blocks of the middle class. Yet although cachacos dream big, life is hard. $ere is a solidarity between all those who can negotiate Bogota’s pitfalls, understand its bus routes, and still swear blind that the city’s weather is not really that cold.

In many ways Bogota shares the predictable economic disparity of other South American cities. $ere is a dramatic gulf be-

tween the Zona T, home to posh restaurants and Bogota’s upper class, and the neighborhoods of Usme and Bosna, populated by refugees displaced by Colombia’s rural con#ict. Desterrados (displaced people) #ee to the city from rural areas racked by cross”re violence and brutalities committed in the name of hereditary hatreds.

The last sixty years have borne witness both to Bogota’s urbanization and to a period of horrific brutality. In 1948 Liberal leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitán’s assassination triggered the brutal Bogotazo riots.

A decade-long civil war followed claiming over 200,000 lives. In 1964, CIA-trained military bombed communist enclaves in the south of the city. In response the communes radicalized, and remobilized to form the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). In 2002, during President Uribe’s inauguration, these FARC guerrillas launched homemade bombs at the presidential palace.

Admittedly, that makes cachacos more reserved than most other Colombians. The cacachos’ model of friendship is built on the presumption that people outside the family should not be trusted. Barricaded from each other, cacachos guard their city from dishonor. Tourists, therefore, barely see the authentic Bogota. Only the foreigner who comes to Bogota to learn its secrets will reap its reward. $e city will claim them – as it does each cacachos – as its own. G21

MAY 2013

science

The Famine in the Feast The world’s soil is losing its fertility and this has consequences for your health. FERGUs turner investigates the pros and cons for various solutions to nutrient depletion.

F

ood has direct bearing on our bodies and how we perform as human beings. It is the source of nutrients that help our bodies function. But carrots you eat today are less nutritious than carrots your mother ate 50 years ago. This is because the Earth is slowly becoming less and less fertile as a result of unsustainable farming amongst other causes.

The WWF reports that 38% of the Earth is dedicated to food production. Land clearing for food production is the primary driver of global deforestation and its cousin, desertification. Deforestation is occurring at an alarming rate of 16 million ha per year. The process of deforestation allows topsoil to go to waste, and reduces the nutrient content of agricultural soil and thus our food. According to UNESCO the average top soil depth has reduced from 21inches to just 6 inches in the last 200 years.

Fortified food and genetically-modified (GM) foods are touted as the solution. GM foods are the produce of transgenic plants. Plants that have been genetically altered using recombinant DNA techniques to engineer plants with desirable characteristics. These characteristics include better taste, disease-resistance and longer shelf-life.

The long term effects of GM foods have not been sufficiently studied, but instead, the controversy over GM foods has more to do with the intellectual property rights that are claimed on GM seeds. The meat industry is no different, with commercial farms genetically altering livestock in order to speed their development and exaggerate their size. Livestock that has been doctored in this way are called Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs).

However, according to Scientific American, GMFs and GMOs are not the solution to nutrient depletion they are considered to be. “Sadly, each successive generation of fastgrowing, pest-resistant carrot is truly less good for you than the one before,” says the magazine. This is because these varieties are less able to absorb nutrients in their truncated lifetime in the soil.

Fortified foods are nutritionally enhanced foods, and are another way of increasing a food’s ‘functionality’ by adding nutrients to basic crops and products. Fortified foods are the fare of food aid programmes around the world in the fight against malnutrition. Malnutrition arises when poor people rely on nutrient-poor foods like cereals because that is all they can afford. Fortified foods are the weapon with which charitable organizations attempt to fight hunger with more than just ‘filling the hole’, but also producing sound health.

However, Marion Nestle, Professor of Nutrition, Food

The Cape Town Globalist

Studies and Public Health at New York University says “processing destroys nutrients”. Although fortified processed food does trump unfortified processed food, whole foods are always better for you.

In the search for nutrients then, what are the solutions?

From the point of view of agriculture, ecologically responsible farming methods would be a start. On a more personal level, some people have turned to diet.

Carbohydrates and GM grains are the staple diet for most of the world and are the main food source delivered as part of food aid programs to fight poverty. Local nutritionist and sports scientist Tim Noakes’ most recent diet suggests, contrary to popular belief, that carbohydrates are an inefficient and unhealthy means of fuelling the body.

Noakes suggests a diet that relies largely on fats and meat.

For our ancestors, fat was the most revered food source and the holiest part of the hunt. The ‘primal diet’ is based on the premise that our bodies are primed to digest and operate on the kinds of foods that were prevalent when mankind obtained food by hunting and gathering.

The tension is what is healthy for people versus what is healthy for the planet.

But Noakes’ diet is hardly a solution for world nutrient depletion. The diet is a luxury for those who can afford it. It would not be possible for everyone to follow such a diet, sustainably. The tension is what is healthy for people versus what is healthy for the planet.

According to an article published by Stanford biologists, we would need a planet and a half to sustain current food consumption. If we significantly increased that demand to account for a more meat-intensive diet of current US levels (still below the protein levels proposed by Noakes), we would need about 5 Earths.

Additionally, the meat industry is a destructive force causing significant contributions to global carbon emissions and deforestation. The amount of grain that goes into producing 1kg of meat could feed several dozen people, and that’s not to mention the high quantities of water that livestock demand.

We rely on food to provide us with nutrients, yet soil nutrient depletion means the food to nutrient ratio is dropping. A temporary solution is a nutritious diet like Noakes’ primal diet. In the long-run, we need to see meaningful change in the interaction between agriculture and the Earth, or we may be lacking food, let alone nutrients. CTG

FERGUS TURNER

is a third-year student majoring in Politics, Philosophy and Spanish.

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philosophy

Mind over Meal Far away in the Pacific Ocean, on the island of Okinawa, it is common for people to live to 100 years and more. THAKIRAH ALLIE explores the secret to their longevity and finds that it has more to do with mindset than science.

O

kinawa, the southern-most prefecture of Japan, has a reputation for longevity. 29% of Okinawans reach centenarian status and remain active well into their old-age. The secret to their longevity is much attributed to a philosophy of eating called Hara Hachi Bu, located in the much wider life-teachings of Confucius.

Okinawa has two and half times the average national number of centenarians, with more than 400 people over the age of 100. The average life expectancy of Okinawans is an impressive 78 for men and 86 for women.

Dr. Makoto Suzuki, the first scientist to conduct a comprehensive study of Okiniwan longevity, was joined by Drs. Craig and Bradley Willcox in 2001, when they presented some of their findings in the book, The Okinawa Program: How the World’s Longest-Lived People Achieve Everlasting Health — And How You Can Too. The team conducted their study by examining Japan’s family registry dating back to 1879. They studied 600 Okinawan centenarians and people between the ages of 70 and 90 years.

They found that genetics, a low-caloric diet through Hara Hachi Bu and daily exercise in the form of gardening, taichi and walking, attributed to their positive health status until their very last days.

this anxiety triggers emotional eating or comfort eating

Thakirah Allie

is an Honours student in Film and Television Studies

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The older generations on the islands abide by Hara Hachi Bu. This is a 2500-year-old adage that roughly translates to “eat until you are 80% full” or “eat until you are 8 parts full”.

Hara Hachi Bu is also said as a prayer and reminder before eating. The idea is to stop eating when you reach a point of satisfaction: where you are neither hungry nor full.

Hara Hachi Bu serves to be an extension of the teachings by the philosopher Confucius who lived in 551 B.C to 479 B. C. Confucius was concerned with achieving harmony.

One way to look at his teachings is as a set of ethical beliefs relating to human behaviour and moral conduct for the individual and society. Confucius believed that people longed to live in the company of others and expressed the importance of human relationships which, by nurturing one another, can create a harmonious environment.

The two main interconnected concepts of Confucianism, Jen and Li, align dignity to human life. In other words, when you find your purpose in life, you act in a dignified manner to protect your body from harm. When living in a

community, you extend this ‘sense of purpose’ with those around you and project your ‘goodness’ into them as well.

Your individuality is limited when others infringe on the dignity of someone else’s life.

Confucianism is an example of cyclical thinking. Many studies have shown that Asians, who follow Eastern philosophies, employ a cyclical way of thinking rather than the Westernized linear way of thinking.

In cyclical thought, the good and bad of life occurs in cycles and is only present momentarily. Good and bad, or binary opposites such as day and night, are interlinked and are co-dependent on each other. This is symbolised in the ying-yang motif representing balance.

On the contrary, linear thinking refers to a world in which time and success is emphasised. Things have to be done at a certain time to achieve certain goals, status and comfort in the ultimate pursuit of happiness. These ideals, viewed as the good things in life, are often misguided and pursued at the expense of our mental and physical health.

Such an outlook contributes to chronic-stress environments, which makes it easier to feel hopeless about life when certain goals are not being met or unfortunate events arise. It allows us to seek satisfaction elsewhere. In reference to food, this anxiety triggers emotional eating or comfort eating and is realised in high levels of obesity in the Western World. This phenomenon is far rarer among the older generations in Okinawa not only because of the asceticism of Hara Hachi Buu, but also because the emotional balance of Eastern philosophies inspires contentment. The function of food need only be for sustenance.

Recently, as Americanisation envelops the East, the younger generation of Okinawans have lost touch with their harmonious philosophic heritage, including Hara Hachi Bu. They have fallen subject to health problems, such as obesity, since the onset of Americanized fast-food outlets on the islands. Research by local health authorities in Okinanwa reveals that Okinawans eat more fat, smoke more, drink more and exercise less than average Japanese people.

Hara Hachi Bu teaches self-discipline through conscious eating habits and allows for better communication between the body, mind and soul. In this way, it falls into the wider philosophy of Confucius whose teachings of harmony and balance counter the modern rat-race and associated comfort eating. For the centenarians of Okinawa this is a way of life: eat what you need and no more. Next time you have a bad day, think hard about why you are eating that doughnut. According to the Okinawans, it won’t do your heart - or your mind - any good. CTG

MAY 2013

arts

The Final Feast aimee dyamond discusses the tradition of last meal rites in US prisons, and the installation artwork by Julie Green entitled ‘The Last Supper’, which explores these unusual feasts.

H

e never had a birthday cake so we ordered a birthday cake for him,” reads one of the ceramic plates that artist Julie Green paints to document the final meals of death row inmates. To be served a longawaited birthday cake on one’s death-day is a cruel irony, yet it represents just one request in a series of grim renderings, all of which are a far cry from the festivities of a birthday celebration.

Green, a professor of art at Oregon State University, paints last meal requests on white plates she finds in thrift stores.

Her collection, aptly titled ‘The Last Supper’, gazes into the personhoods of the condemned by illustrating the way they ate, their preferences, likes and dislikes.

Newspaper documentation of last meals, which Green began archiving some years ago while living in Oklahoma, “humanised death row inmates” for her, according to an interview with the New York Times. She was touched by the personal nature and specificity of the meal requests, a symbolic ritual that highlights the cultural significance of meals and the finality associated with one’s last.

The ritual has indefinite roots in pre-modern Europe, where, according to superstition, the free acceptance of a meal implied a truce with the host. Accepting the final meal cleansed the inmate of all desire for vengeance on his condemners. A solitary undertaking, the last meal rite symbolises the condemned’s preparation for the hereafter, mimicking Christ’s last supper with his disciples the night before the crucifixion.

This is not the only evidence of the last meal rite translating its biblical roots into modern history. Eric Roberts of South Dakota, convicted for the murder of a prison guard, fasted for 40 hours prior to his execution by lethal injection. According to a report in The Daily Mail, Roberts’ denial of food was a religious undertaking intended to emulate Christ’s forty-day fast in the desert.

Rumours abound of prisons indulging extravagant requests at the expense of taxpayers’ money. However, Brian Price, a former Texas death row chef for ten years and author of Meals To Die For, has dismissed this as a fallacy.

Price corrected popular assumptions by stating that, in his experience, inmates were only permitted to have food that was available in the commissary at the time.

“If you order a lobster, you’re gonna get a piece of frozen pollock,” said Price, who prepared over 200 last meal requests while volunteering at the prison.

Texas, the unofficial capital of capital punishment in America, is known for its long-standing last meal tradition.

However, when murderer Russell Brewer’s request, which included a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger, two chickenfried steaks with gravy and three root beers, went uneaten, the state declared the ritual “inappropriate”.

The Cape Town Globalist

After Texas put a stop to the tradition in 2011, Price – an ex-convict himself – vowed that he would continue to appeal to humanity’s “softer side” by paying for and preparing inmates’ last meals. Requests range from the sentimental to the plain bizarre. One man wanted dirt from the grave he was going to be buried in, allegedly for a voodoo ritual. He got yoghurt. Some were more parsimonious, others highly symbolic. Serial killer Aileen Wuornos asked for a single cup of coffee; Victor Feguer requested a lone, unpitted olive, hoping that a tree of peace would spring from his grave.

Sure enough, the olive pit was found in his suit pocket after the execution.

Green’s gastronomic portraits have indeed stimulated conversation around capital punishment in the US. A collection of 500 plates was displayed in The Arts Center in Corvallis, Oregon earlier this year, yet the exhibition is certainly not a culmination of Green’s ten-year-long project. She intends to continue painting for as long as the death penalty remains legal in the United States.

One man wanted dirt from the grave he was going to be buried in, allegedly for a voodoo ritual. He got yoghurt.

The plates were well received both in art and political circles, earning Green a Joan Mitchell Award for Painters and Sculptors. However, the personal nature of the information she explores (which so casually becomes public knowledge come morning) is somewhat disconcerting. Details of inmates’ final meals pass into the public domain as if it is common property, raising concerns about individuals’ privacy: does the public really have the right to know? Or is it simply our morbid curiosity taking shape?

Green, however, does keep inmates anonymous, inscribing only the date and place of execution. Some plates depict simple, unfussy options likely inspired by childhood memories; others show aspirational choices such as sirloin steak, prime rib and lobster, which are luxuries inmates may only have dreamed of. The more wholesome, health-conscious choices take shape in an innocuous garden salad, or single apple. Others are unabashed calorie bombs like German chocolate cake and fried chicken.

Perhaps allowing the debauched a small comfort before facing death is somewhat unfitting for those who did not afford their victims the same compassion. Nonetheless, the plates remain a testimony to the victuals and vices of society’s condemned, tokens of humanity extended through Green’s art-making. CTG

Image: Felicia Phillips

Aimee Dyamond is an Honours student specialising in Media Theory and Practice.

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curtain call

Rainbow Chicken is the Way to the

Rainbow Nation When Joy Division sang ‘Love Will Tear us Apart’, they really meant lentils. Christopher Clark tells us that embracing South Africans’ love of meat is the only way to a better future for all

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s an apparently ‘mature’ student I travelled a lot before I came to UCT. And when I say travelled, I mean the “arse end of nowhere” as my Dad likes to say. You know when you see those TV shows about the world’s last untouched tribes and wonder why the chief is wearing an Oxford University hoodie? That was me.

And if there is one thing that all this “gallivanting” (my Dad again) has taught me, it’s that food is a hugely important part of the cultural identity and heritage of any community, society or country. It’s not only about the food itself, it’s the way it’s prepared and cooked, the way you eat it, where you eat it and with who and what; it’s the whole ceremony around the food. You can learn a lot about people from this stuff.

Take Wales for example. Their national dish, Welsh Rarebit, is basically cheese on toast. Says it all doesn’t it? Drunk food.

In South Africa I feel ‘the Braai’ is the closest thing that the nation has to a national ‘dish’, enjoyed by all the different corners of our “rainbow nation”, often simultaneously. After all, South Africa’s national heritage day is commonly referred to as Braai day, whilst pretty much every hot Sunday of the year a similarly enormous amount of wood is burnt and meat consumed, from Cape Town to Limpopo.

And his head was so shiny. So bald and shiny

christopher clark

is a 3rd year student in Media and Writing and English Literature

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As an Englishman, I have had to learn the hard way that when South Africans say “come have a braai” they generally mean come and stand around for 3 hours in the blazing sun before the fire even gets going (and don’t EVER touch the fire unless you are a man), then by the time you finally eat you have so much smoke in your eyes and alcohol in your belly that you have no idea what you are eating or how it tastes. Thus preoccupied, you fail to consider whether cutlery or any sort of manners or conversation beyond caveman noises are appropriate or not. Personally, I still haven’t quite figured out what all this says about South African identity, apart from the fact that patience and high alcohol

tolerance are necessary virtues. Beyond this, you can probably make your own evaluations.

However, I am increasingly beginning to feel that there is more to the Braai than it might at first appear, as a unifying tool if not a marker of specific identity. Spend a Sunday at Mzoli’s in Gugulethu and if you are not too drunk to notice you’ll see the way that grilled meat speaks to and for all South Africans. Each of us might be enjoying our meat differently, eating it differently, interacting with it differently, but we are all “equal” in our enjoyment of it. And we are all there together; all the different races, colours and creeds (and a whole host of over-excited Germans), all laying our differences aside and united by a love of wood-fired dead animals and a lack of personal space. This kind of unity is an all too rare occurrence in South Africa.

So it was that my first trip to Mzoli’s a few years ago was like a revelation. ‘This was it’, I thought, ‘This was the future’.

So I threw my arm around the nearest black person I could find and we swayed together to the Kwaito beat. Together.

He felt it too. He had to. Everyone did. And his head was so shiny. So bald and shiny. And in that moment, nothing else mattered; we were all one.

True, by the next day I couldn’t remember what the ‘this’ I had felt so strongly the night before actually was. It took me a few more visits, a night in a prison cell and a severe case of sun stroke to figure it out for sure, but eventually I have come to this conclusion: meat, more than anything else, has the power to make us one as South Africans. Meat is the only way we can get out of the cold shadow of apartheid; we must lean forward and put our faces together into the smoke and heat of the Braai. It becomes clear then that it’s not the government, economic disparity, or unequal education that is dividing our society, it’s those damn vegetarians, fruitarians and the like. Don’t be fooled by their wooly jumpers, bare feet and flowing hair. They are the real enemies to the new South Africa that all the rest of us want. BEE has had its run – let’s try prison sentences for lentil lovers and see how much better we do. CTG

MAY 2013

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The Centre for Film and Media Studies congratulates the Cape Town Globalist on this issue

PG Applications deadline: 31 October 2013 The Centre offers Honours programmes in the following: •

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