The power of sport and sports psychology

As the 2010 soccer world cup draws nearer, life in South Africa is changing. For one thing, huge soccer balls keep appearing in public spaces. (There is one stuck into the OR Tambo airport building, and one in the microwave tower in Pretoria/Tshwane, and those are just two examples.) Miraculously some of the road works that we have been living with for what seems like forever, are nearing completion, and the Gautrain link between OR Tambo airport and Sandton has generated a bit of excitement all of its own. Will it be completed in time? First it was no. Now it is a definite maybe. It's a huge issue. And then there's the vuvuzela controversy. The latest country to voice their complaints over this instrument is Japan (and if you are in any doubt about how strongly people feel about vuvuzelas, check out the comments at the end of the article in the link.) Clearly, vuvuzelas are potent psychological weapons, and we should not underestimate the role of psychology in sport. Just look at how the Springboks performed after the unusual rendition of the South African national anthem on Saturday.

Labels: football, rugby, Soccer World Cup, South African national anthem, sport

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Thinking of walls and what taking them down might mean

Tomorrow (9 November 2009) is the 2oth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The taking down of that wall signified the end of the separation of Germany into East and West, and for many was a physical manifestation of the end of the cold war. The fall of the wall was greeted with euphoria as the artificial divisions the wall created with their accompanying pain and hardship were done away with.

In South Africa, the Goethe Institute is marking this anniversary with a project to take down the wall around the institute. The Fall Wall project was given to architecture students at the University of Johannesburg, who were invited to submit designs for alternative borders for the institute. In security conscious South Africa, we are all too familiar with living behind high walls, and the price we pay in isolation and paranoia for this. The Fall Wall project invites us to reconsider our ideas about security, walls and what the taking down of walls might mean for us.

Can we be secure without walls around us? Will alternatives to physical barriers be as effective in keeping us safe? It's a challenging idea. One website which has recently taken up the challenge, approaching security in a different way is Crime Aware. The idea here is to share information about crime and through spreading awareness, create safer communities. Walls certainly do not stop crime; at best they are deterrents, and we pay a price for living behind them. In my book, it is certainly worth exploring other alternatives which might help create a safer and more secure society.

Labels: Berlin Wall, Fall of Berlin Wall, Fall Wall project, security, walls

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Two interesting websites

Here are two interesting websites with nothing except their South African connection in common:

The first, FoodBank South Africa is the site of an organisation which aims to create and manage an infrastructure in South Africa to distribute food which would otherwise go to waste. A great idea which I hope is a sustainable one. FoodBank SA is affiliated with The Global FoodBanking Network, a US based charitable organisation whose aim is to reduce world hunger.

The second is the site of the South African mountaineer, Sean Wisedale, who is the first South African to have summited the highest mountain on each of 7 continents. Sean has recently returned from an attempt to summit K2; to read the story of this attempt and his other achievements, visit the site.
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Voting in Singapore

The notice above was posted outside the lift on the floor where the South African Commission in Singapore is housed. When I saw it, I knew I was in the right place. My cross has now been made, my thumb inked, and my special vote for the 2009 South African elections cast.







The voting itself was a unique experience: hearing Afrikaans being spoken so far from home; voting without standing in a queue; sharing in the instant cameraderie generated by meeting up people from home in a foreign place who are there for the same purpose as you.



So roll on 22 April. The first leg of the voting is over; overseas special votes are waiting to be counted. And to all South Africans at home; remember to make your own crosses and get your own thumbs inked on Wednesday next week.

Labels: SA elections, special vote

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Voting update

If you applied for a special vote because you are not going to be in your electoral district on April 22, you can now check the status of your VEC10 form online at the IEC website. If your special vote application was successful, you will need to fill in a VEC1 form before you vote. This form will be available at foreign missions where voting will take place on 15 April, but can also be downloaded from the IEC website. You need to take this form with you when you go to vote. The IEC website also allows you to find your voting station, gives you a list of participating political parties and candidates and a lot of other information.

Labels: IEC, South African elections, special votes, voting

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Visiting the smoke that thunders and a different economic reality

In late February I was told that I had won a prize of 3 nights in Victoria Falls. Fully expecting a scam, I did not believe this until the time my flight was in the air, going along with things simply because I have always wanted to see the Falls, and this seemed like a chance to do that. It was anyway the stuff of jokes; first prize a weekend at Vic Falls; second prize two weeks at Vic Falls; as at the moment, far from being a tourist paradise, Zimbabwe is a PR nightmare: in the news because of human rights abuses, economic collapse and cholera.




Change is given in a mixture of dollars and rands, but T-shirts and shoes are also readily accepted as currency by artists and street vendors, and are needed as much a foreign currency; so take some extra clothing if you plan to visit.


Prices are in US dollars: a coke costs R40 and a toasted cheese R300; so you do need to do your sums to make sure the cash you have sees you through; not cheap for South Africans. But you can't beat this for a unique travel experience: you might well be the only people staying in your hotel; you can wander through an empty casino with deserted slots and dusty atms and talk to people who have come through turmoil and hardship with smiles on their faces; while down the road one of the world's most breathtaking sights continues to smoke and thunder.

Labels: Smoke that thunders, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

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The strange case of the South African government, the visa and the Dalai Lama

I was stunned to learn today that the Dalai Lama has been denied a visa to visit South Africa by the South African government. He had been invited to South Africa to participate in a high profile peace conference which was to have included Archbishop Emeritus Tutu, Nelson Mandela and F.W De Klerk, South Africa's Nobel Peace Prize laureates. The conference was endorsed by Norwegian Nobel Peace Committe. An iniative of the 2010 Soccer World Cup organising committee, the message they hoped to get across with the conference was that soccer can play a large role in bringing peace and unity to South Africa.

Denying a visa to the Dalai Lama has dealt this message a fatal blow. Government's explanation (as set out in the Mail and Guardian online) that they want to focus on the World Cup rather than Tibetan issues makes no sense to me. Surely by denying the visa government has itself shifted the focus away from 2010 to the Dalai Lama and Tibetan issues, and in addition, created a huge amount of negative publicity for the event which may be very hard to undo?

During the runup to the 1994 elections, talks were held in South Africa between widely divergent political parties and groups. What has happened to this tradition of tolerance and mutual respect? Are we simply caving in to Chinese pressure? Whatever the case, a peace conference where a participant is barred from attending cannot be called a peace conference. For those who have the inclination to register their protest, there is an online petition about the issue.  ¶ [url for this post] [0 Comments] [Links to this post]