Period as a semi-retired pensioner: 113 days
I decided to choose the uncontentious topic of privilege and specifically white privilege for today’s Ruminant Pink Friday ™. The topic of inequality and privilege is topical. There is perhaps no better symbol of inequality than taking the executive lift straight to the top floor of some corporate headquarters where shareholders money has been wisely spent on fitting out and furnishing the executive floor to make a fitting statement inclusive of private bathrooms to avoid a privileged one coming across a minion with bigger equipment.
Any good CEO of whatever race would devote a significant portion of his (its generally a he) time to the thoughtful and tasteful design of the executive floor. As a semi-retired consultant, I’m willing to offer a discreet and unique bespoke service to CEO’s and I will help convince shareholders that this is an excellent investment. As an example of my prowess, I have chosen to share my ideas for appropriate seating for the boardroom. The person in charge needs to demonstrate that he is large and in charge. For this I have chosen the illustrated skull chair which is available for $500 000. https://octaneseating.com/blog/most-expensive-modern-chairs-planet/ Nobody is going to mess with the head honcho who sits in this chair. For the rest of the chairs, I have chosen the Martin Baker MK3 Ejection Seat Chair which is only $39 995 and illustrated below. Each ejection chair will be wired to a control panel in the skull chair.
This will create a unique focus on shareholder value, and it will not be difficult to convince shareholders of the wisdom of this idea. As a side benefit the big cheese will find his meetings with the remuneration committee in the boardroom delightfully brief and productive. This is just a small example of the value I could bring to the top dog.
Now for some thoughts on my own privilege. It seems that your level of privilege is defined by where you live and by the level of inequality in your local community. South Africa is one of the most unequal societies on the planet and so the bar is quite low for being classified as privileged compared to for example, Swiss, standards. By South African standards I am very privileged, and the label white privilege is also attached to me.
Since our family is a matriarchy, I provide some thoughts on my mother’s side of the family and what has happened to this family. My maternal grandfather was an Afrikaner, Johannes Hendrik van Wyk who obtained a master’s degree in forestry, funded by the then government, from Yale University and he worked for the department of forestry for his entire career. He was one of 13 children.The family farm in the Free State was razed to the ground by the British in the Anglo Boer war and his mother was incarcerated in a concentration camp. My maternal grandmother was English, Leila Bell, who was a housewife as was typical for the era. Although they were not poor, they were also not affluent by any stretch of the imagination.
They had three daughters, Rene, Jean and Nina (my mother, the youngest, now 79). Rene married Ben Human and they had four children (Jan, Leila, Magriet & Stefanie). Jean married Hilton Venter and they had four children (Shane, Karl, Sally & Barry). My mother married Bruce Young and had three children (Bruce (yours truly), Cathy & Geoff).
There are 11 maternal cousins, and we are all still alive and, in our fifties, and sixties. We all grew up in South Africa and were mostly educated in South Africa. There are two doctors , a CA and two PhD’s in this group. Five out of the eleven live in South Africa with the rest living and flourishing in the UK, Austria, the Netherlands, and Australia. They all left South Africa a long time ago. They are most likely not coming back nor are their children. My brother, Geoff, lives in South Africa but lived in London for 15 years and could return there tomorrow if he so chooses.
Does the label white privilege apply to my foreign cousins and their children too? Does it matter? I suspect they don’t give it much thought. Does the label also apply to my two sons, Oliver and Connor who were born post 2000? Do they have anything to offer South Africa? What should they choose? What should I advise them?
I have no privilege, white or otherwise, when dealing with the South African government. In February I initiated the process of renewing my driving license. I commented on my lived experience in an earlier post. https://ruminantpinkfriday.wordpress.com/2021/04/30/ruminations-on-living-in-3rd-world-johannesburg/. This morning I went to the dilapidated and depressing Randburg licensing department for the 3rd time in a vain attempt to get my license. My application had been rejected. Apparently, there was a technical problem and they had to retake my photograph and do my fingerprints again. I sat in front of a surly official for 30 minutes for him to complete this task. He took five calls on his cell phone during this time and I just sat there. Come back in four weeks when your license may be ready was the final message.
There may come a time when my concluding sentence will be, “and that your honour was why I killed him”. At least I can fantasise. In the meantime perhaps two fingers of a fine single malt might soothe the frustration.
Thank you for your comments and suggestions please keep them coming.
Regards
Bruce
Ruminant Pink Friday 