Thursday, 30 October 2014

Pistorius is a (Knowing) Patsy






"The housekeeper has been referred to in several profiles of Pistorius, a world-famous Paralympic athlete, written before the shooting.
In one, written in October 2011, he is reported to be asked by Pistorius, who addresses him as “brother”, to bring him his prosthetic legs. In another, written the following year, he is referred to as a “live-in caretaker who keeps his home spotless”.
A policeman who arrived at the scene an hour after the shooting confirmed Mr Chiziweni had been sleeping in a room off the kitchen and was awake when they arrived.
He said the man spoke good English. “We said to him, you were here. What did you hear?” the policeman said, adding that he had replied: “No, no, no, I didn't hear anything”.
He said police had been unconvinced by his response: “We were all asking ourselves how he could not have heard anything,” he said.
Barry Roux, Pistorius's barrister, *said the defence would not be asking Mr Chiziweni to come to court to give evidence. *“He says he was asleep. We’re not going to be calling him.” Despite being listed as a prosecution witness, a source for the State said they would not call him either, confirming he told police in his statement he heard “absolutely nothing”.
Asked why the defence would not call Mr Chiziweni either, the source responded: “He is an employee of Mr Pistorius's. What you don’t hear can be as damaging as what you do.”
The housekeeper is the second member of South Africa's massive but often invisible domestic worker class to be referred to in the murder trial.

WHO WE ARE:

Anglo American is one of the worlds largest mining companies, with over 97,000 employees in South Africa

Our long and storied history dates back to 1917 and the drive and determination of one man, Sir Ernest Oppenheimer. He saw the opportunity to capitalise on a region that was beginning to explode on to the global mining scene. Since then we have grown into a leading global mining company. We have a long history of technological development, making us exceptionally placed to deliver value from a portfolio of world class opportunities. Our strong South African heritage forms the roots for our global business, now operating in the Americas, Australia, Southern Africa and Europe.

It is perhaps appropriate that we underwent one of our most significant restructuring processes on the eve of the new millennium a new millennium, a new Anglo American.

On 24 May 1999, Anglo American merged with Luxembourg-based Minorco to form Anglo American plc. Minorco, which had hitherto been responsible for our international assets, combined with Anglo American Corporation the company responsible for the South African interests of the Group to become Anglo American plc, with our primary listing in London and secondary listings in Johannesburg, Switzerland, Botswana and Namibia.

Entering the new millennium as a FTSE 100 listed company with a market capitalisation of $21.6 billion confirmed Anglo American as a leading global mining company. The objectives were clear: to simplify our portfolio and structure, and focus on mining businesses that leverage our core skills.

Our investment on a business level, however, has also been mirrored by our commitment on a social scale and Anglo American has been in the vanguard of several initiatives that have changed the way global mining is viewed within the industry and by the population at large.

Our work in the area of HIV/AIDS has been ongoing since we supported the first HIV testing campaign with the Chamber of Mines in South Africa in 1986. Since then, our commitment to effectively managing the impact of HIV/AIDS on operations and to make a positive contribution towards minimising the social, economic and developmental consequences of the epidemic is unsurpassed. It continued in 2008 when our workplace treatment programme for those infected with the virus was extended to include the dependants of employees.

Elsewhere, our Socio-Economic Assessment Toolbox (SEAT), launched in 2003, has been intrinsic to Anglo American's community engagement plans, ensuring all our programmes meet the requirements of the International Council on Mining & Metals sustainability principle 9 i.e. to contribute to the social, economic and institutional development of the communities in which we operate.

Having been updated in 2007, SEAT has evolved to ensure we are not simply conforming to requirements, but setting new benchmarks in this essential area.

It is this attitude that will define much of our business as we move forward and look to develop the $17 billion in projects already under way or at the approved stage.

We have acquired a very defined sense of responsibility and purpose and recognise business has to be an integral part of addressing the big challenges facing society.


"Wipe them out. All of them..."

Chancellor Palpatine

Having seized control of both the Government and the Corporate Board of the Trade Federation (NAFTA), Senator Palpatine of Naboo orders the final ethnic cleansing of the Gungan Bantu population via mercenary Race War, conducted by Corporations acting in the name of Free Trade.


"Supreme Chancellor, delegates of the Senate, a tragedy has occurred, which started right here with the taxation of trade routes, and has now engulfed our entire planet in the oppression of the Trade Federation!"

―Senator Palpatine




Much was said at the time of it's release about the supposedly awful racial politics of The Phantom Menace, and admittedly, it is pretty bad - however the understanding shown of how global corporate governance yields inevitably to federalism and then to imperialism is remarkably sophisticated.


As in South Africa, business is able to hold sway and dominate the white minority government, with little or no reference to the Gungan Tribes who want  nothing to do with the White Man's government.

Boss Nass is not an Uncle Tom - but he is certainly analogous in large part to Chief Buthelezi of the Zulu Nation, who adopts a non-aggression alliance with the Whites to the benefit of his own tribe but to the crippling detriment of all other Bantu Peoples held under White Minority rule from Pretoria, Cape Town and Johannasberg. 

Zulus! Blood farsands of 'em!


As unsophisticated as they may be technologically, the Gungans are a brave and proud warrior race with a long and noble tradition that the White Man of Theed was unable or unwilling to conquer - as such, their willingness to sustain losses and face the poorly motivated droid mercenary army made them more than a match for their technological and numerical superiority.



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