On this day in 2012, the Marikana Massacre took place when South African police fired on striking workers, killing 34 and injuring 76 in the most lethal use of force by the state in half a century.
The shootings have been compared to the infamous Sharpeville Massacre in 1960, when police fired on a crowd of anti-Pass Law protesters, killing 69 people, including 10 children. The Marikana Massacre took place on the 25-year anniversary of a nationwide strike by over 300,000 South African workers.
On August 10th, miners had initiated a wildcat strike at a site owned by Lonmin in the Marikana area, close to Rustenburg, South Africa. Although ten people (mostly workers) had been killed before August 16th, it was on that day that an elite force from the South African Police Service fired into a crowd of strikers with rifles, killing 34 and injuring 76.
After surveying the aftermath of the violence, photojournalist Greg Marinovich concluded that “[it is clear] that heavily armed police hunted down and killed the miners in cold blood.”
Following the massacre, a massive wave of strikes occurred across the South African mining sector - in early October, analysts estimated that approximately 75,000 miners were on strike from various gold and platinum mines and companies across South Africa, most of them doing so illegally.
A year after the Marikana Massacre, author Benjamin Fogel wrote “Perhaps the most important lesson of Marikana is that the state can gun down dozens of black workers with little or no backlash from ‘civil society’, the judicial system or from within the institutions that supposedly form the bedrock of democracy.”
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Had an interview about a teacher residency program and idk. It’s a way to try to make something of myself but my brain is screaming “No” but I think it’s a “Nooo you’ll have commitments and responsibilities, you should just keep doing low-stakes jobs and playing video games.” But idk. I don’t want to be professional and engage with society. I don’t want to get merc’ed by some fash who thinks I’m a “groomer.” Idk if the residency program is even the best route for me if I wanted to do it. But I’d also like to get a job that would let me retire someday and I’d like to do something with my life. I just want to retreat into fantasy and stay there forever.
Pros and cons definitely. For my part, most of the low stakes jobs I’ve had were pretty taxing and paid very little. Happy to be doing professional bullshit now and not as worried about money all the time. Downside is that I do find myself thinking about work stuff more on my off hours, getting anxious about things, having to be engaged on a more serious level much of the time. And I also had to get super lucky to even end up where I am now. But I also feel like I am doing something that more or less aligns with my values, which is cool. But if doing lower stakes work leaves you with more time and energy to do stuff you actually care about outside of work, I could see that being a better route. Maybe there’s a happy middle ground out there for you somewhere too. Teaching is definitely a cool vocation if you can find a good gig.
It’s a hard decision, I sometimes have that feeling of wanting to go back to a low stakes job where I don’t have to worry about so much. Teaching can be extremely rewarding but also it takes a lot out of you. I love the kids but I also worry about them, and they can be pretty bigoted from what they pick up at home. It’s worth trying to see if it’s your thing, you can always leave. But tbh if you’re American I would never teach for how little American teachers get paid