eThekwini

That is flipping n!ce ... like it very much ...

this is such a killah photo, d.o.p.e. fantastic

funny, first time I saw the sea was from the window of an aeroplane. it was to be for some time before I actually went to the sea side. I feel robbed!

thank u.

I would not blame it on "this new government" --- I trust this "this new government" than "that older government".

but --- I'd not live in any other city in the world, Johannesburg is mos' def.

aaaaah my man you'd prefer the older government that marginalised and segregated people, had preference of one race over the other, had young black people feeling hopeless, had signs everywhere [conspicous] that made black feel inferior in our own land. Now that we have a black president, we fucked up things? That overseas people need to worry about crime in 2010 just cause that's predominantly a black sport being organised, after we hosted a successful RWC, and ICC WC with no worries? Is it the government that's mugging pple on the street? Is it fucked that now we can go to the same establishment for tea, lunch, drinks and shit? Who imports drugs in S.A? Bullshit, I am offended. Tha's how much I can read btwn your lines.

ah man. sorry the pic would start a fire like so. but if i may, yes daniel you did not say that you prefer segregation but please understand that your comment about the "new govt" and their present failures may be misconstrued. i hear you, crime is VERY bad at home and we SHOULD ring the alarm. the situation is not as rosy as it could be perhaps.

but we cant take the present situation and isolate it from the past and really the new govt is trying. they have made grave mistakes yes, but what johannesburg is today is immensely linked to the past.

during apartheid, only a few people were permitted to live in the city and the govt (with its policies massively screwed up) gave them all the electricity they wanted. but on the other side, the majority of the population (who lived in horrid squalor in dormitory places like soweto) didnt even receive a candle to see their way early every morning to these lit jozi streets and work until they were no longer needed. things were intensely uneven and now as we attempt to even out, the present govt (along with its ills perhaps) may not be able to keep up, no govt would have. 80% of the population was forcibly piled up on 12% of the land and now folks are starting to attempt to live "adequately", closer to the jobs, the services etc. this urban migration occurred (as expected) very quickly but had services been equally provided in the past (including land), i dont think we'd be having this conversation.

SA has (and had) one of the biggest gaps between rich and poor and our violent history is more powerful than any reconciliation hearings. what jozi looked like during those years was a false dream created with oppression. i remember there was an ice skating rink close to carlton centre, but in my lifetime ive only come across one public swimming pool in soweto--maybe there were more but i sincerely doubt their numbers equated the population figures.

things will change though, for the better. we're trying to correct hundreds of years of brutal rule in 13yrs. but here we are--black, white, coloured, indian, indigenous peoples etc--and we make up a new formed country that i guess we're still trying to figure out.

brooklyn is no different and although they have more services, electricity etc than jozi, the "black" parts are being gentrified and poor folks are being forced out further away from the economic sector or even into other states where there are even fewer services. the new gentrified areas all of a sudden receive services and are MUCH safer, whilst black men are still being forbidden to stand in groups on corners in the parts of "black" brooklyn and the projects havent changed much from their worst days in the past.

both are beautiful places for sure, with tragic histories (and the present) but ill cultures, life etc. ey man, these places are transforming just like the rest of the world and we're ALL trying to navigate the mess and the love...

...with photography i hope. end of the day we're all in this shit together.

this government v/s the old government[apartheid government].............. Need I say more?

Juxtapose --- show some love (click on that love icon on the right of the photograph).

ok cool. i hear you daniel on all your points. very very valid and very tragic for sure. but if we mention the new govt, then can we also mention the old govt perhaps? not to say whats happening now is ok because we should victimise ourselves, but if we're going to beat this govt on the head as it so deserves, where do we start? from 1994, 1976, 1960 or 1652? whether or not things are better or worse from the days of apartheid, we have to take it case by case.

i hear both of you guys and i think you both have valid points. today race doesnt matter in some cases because there are the up and coming black folks who couldnt care about other people, never mind democracy or economic development for everyone, but there are also black people who can atleast walk the streets without having to carry passes.

we all have a right to criticize the govt but i think south africa is unique and how we criticize it may actually lead us to a better place.

i too lived and worked in brooklyn for 3 years in all the hoods and i saw it happen more than once. yes, peeps are chillin on the stoop, but there are times when cops would ask men standing on the street corners to move. ive seen it happen in many other states. right in the middle of the day. i worked in the worst projects where kids would be holed up in small, tiny, roach infested apartments while their mothers were doing double shifts and unable to protect their kids from the gun violence outside. ive had cops force me out of cars (and im a girl) with their torches in my face, just because me and another black woman were having a conversation in a car outside an apartment where white folks lived. ive lived in apartments where i was told not to sit on those same stoops otherwise the cops would be summoned. america isnt far off.

also though daniel, you didnt say this new govt is bad when it comes to their HIV/AIDS remedies and other ills youve mentioned recently, you mentioned the electricity and roads and maybe thats where this convo was thrown off, because right there, many people would have differing opinions.

on zuma, and mbekis stance on AIDS and the black bourgeoisie, im certain there wouldnt be much to argue and thats why we cant assume everything is ok, or everything is bad.