WHO SAID WHAT
“You cannot bomb people into liberation. The whole idea of freedom is that you choose it for yourself.” (Sizwe Mpofu Walsh)
“This is bloodlust. Don’t feed it. It is irrational, demonic even. A spirit of violence has been unleashed. Trump’s spiritual leadership has been corrupted.” (Tucker Carlson)
“The opportunities for SA in this are vast if we are prepared to read the writing on the wall in terms of our relationship with Iran.” (Dr Frans Cronje.)
“South Africa should stay out of this. We must fix our own problems.” (Read to see who said this.)
When the US-Israel forces launched a missile attack on an Iranian girls’ school, killing more than 170, a war broke out in the Middle East and keyboards across the world at the same time. Nobody knows what is going on, but everyone is an expert. I sample opinions and sources widely, not because I believe a sharp objective ‘truth’ might sting me, but because many echo chambers, when viewed from a distance, create a honeycomb effect that gives you a more balanced buzz. What is the ideological energy behind this latest war? A few extracts:
Tucker Carlson, US broadcaster (The Tucker Carlson Show)
Carlson is an influential podcaster. The genre has surpassed official news agencies in many respects in terms of reach and influence. Local broadcasters and analysts often reference him or consider him a gauge of American rhetoric, notable for its dramatic and performative qualities. His channel has the feel of a late-night show opening monologue or a Sunday morning church sermon. Carlson argues against the war in Iran on the grounds that it puts US citizens in harm’s way for a cause that is not its own, but on the behest of Israel. “Let’s tell the truth now. This war is being waged because the guy in charge of Israel, Netanyahu, demanded it (from Trump).” Carlson suggests the nuclear disarmament angle is a ruse. Instead, a thirst for unbridled bloodlust has been unleashed. “Bibi sees these wars as his destiny. Nobody in the US government that I spoke to agrees that this war is in our best interest. This is not anti-Semitism, it is a fact.” Carlson says irrationality has gripped US leadership, and he cautions: “Blood lust is never sated. There is a specific psychology at work here, a godless anti-human psychology that has no room for forgiveness or good sportsmanship or decency.” He goes on to say that a country needs military, political and spiritual leadership and that the spiritual leadership of the US has been corrupted by virtue of who Trump surrounds himself with.
Dr Frans Cronje (The Common Sense)
Cronje acknowledges the views of Carlson and politicians like JD Vance, who are anti-war or reluctant, but he perceives the strike on Iran as coming from Trump’s own agency and direction. It is an ideological crusade, aimed at striking back at a culture of ‘wokeness’ and what he calls ‘the end of history’, a perception by the largely Christian Western world that liberal democracy had triumphed forever and would not be challenged. In this framework, Muslim-speaking Iran becomes an existential annoyance that has to be dealt with. A potential nuclear war now becomes a proxy for the survival of Western civilisation as we know it. “Mr Trump is surrounded by extremely competent people,” says Cronje. He sees the US objectives as firstly to make sure Iran has no nuclear weapons development, secondly that the emerging Iranian regime complies and maintains order.
Moreover, Cronje suggests this situation might hold great opportunities for South Africa if handled correctly. “The writing is on the wall,” he says. “You have to be desperately committed to Iran to keep batting for that side.” Certainly, DIRCO has been more lukewarm in their response to the Iranian attacks than their overt support for Palestine, asking for negotiations on both sides. This could be a good sign for SA, says Cronje. “If we become pragmatic in our foreign policy, in which our relationship with Iran is a major obstacle, we might strike not only a trade deal with the US, but also invite broader investment. That could shift South Africa’s fixed investment rate and improve our growth rate by itself.” For the ANC, increased economic growth will translate back into votes at the polls. There is everything to gain by the ANC playing this differently to how they did in the past.
Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh (SMWE)
“Another catastrophic Western misadventure could be unfolding in the Middle East,’ says Mpofu-Walsh, pointing out what he sees as hypocrisy on the US side, starting with the explanation given as neutralising Iran’s supposed nuclear threat. “Trump claimed 6 months ago he obliterated their nuclear potential. This is not how ‘obliteration’ works.” Has Iran quickly built another bomb, he asks? “How does a country that does not have nuclear weapons get bombed by two other countries that have nuclear weapons to prevent it from having nuclear weapons?” It is a projectile projection. Furthermore, Trump got elected, presenting himself as a peacenik president, with the ‘No more wars’ slogan, but ended up waging wars in many countries, claiming to liberate them. Afghanistan, Venezuela, and Iraq; these countries are not better off. “You cannot bomb people into liberation. The whole idea of freedom is that you choose it for yourself.” This outright unprovoked attack puts the ANC in a difficult position and might increase tensions in the GNU, he predicts. It is a precarious situation: “At the moment, our economy is held together by a packet of NikNaks,” he jokes. “We can’t afford rising oil and fuel prices.” On the other hand, if the Strait of Hormuz is closed or affected for extended periods of time, South Africa might benefit from increased traffic around Cape Town, Saldanha and Durban.
Street survey:
For this report, I asked some learners from local schools for comment. How aware were they of world events? “We don’t have to speak to you. We are not getting involved in this at all!” the one girl said, pulling her friend away. I was equally taken aback as impressed by her firmness, which bordered on a bloody cheek, if you ask me. “Nothing to do with us in South Africa!” A second group was more accommodating. I asked whether they knew what was happening in the Middle East: “Yes, the US and Israel bombed Dubai?” said Lunathi, a prefect in what looked like the local private school. I asked whether there were tensions in her home or school about it and whether the teachers discussed it at all. She said :‘No, our country has enough problems.” Her friend interrupted the conversation by yelling at her to hurry up. She ran to meet her, and they skipped away happily into the distance, eating snacks.
There is no end to the war yet. Perhaps it is simpler to get buried in the minutiae of the long range of the Khorramshar-4 than to ask bigger, even metaphysical questions about ‘why’ there is this war. It is easier for journalists and doomscrollers to marvel at how America adopted one-way attack drones, derived from Iran’s own Shahed-136 units, than to put a finger on connecting the bigger dots. Warporn is also more neurologically satisfying than unravelling complicated intergenerational conflicts. Thus, we sacrifice knowledge for data in the zooming of the bees.
My sentiments are with the school children who opened and closed this report. Firstly, as unfortunate recipients of circumstance, and then adopting an attitude I wish our government would emulate: one of staying neutral in international affairs, while occupying yourself with your own packet of NikNaks.
[Vivienne Vermaak is an award-winning journalist and public speaker. info@vivienne.co.za]
The views of the writer are not necessarily the views of the Daily Friend or the IRR.
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