Hi All,
I just spoke to W1z4rd, he's quite sick and in bed. He's asked me to reply.
dominic said:
is there a specific time on the days? would like to alert the parliamentary media
dominic: This is going to be a small thing. People seem to have imagined something big is going to happen. But the truth is that most people are too lazy or not able or don't care enough to come by. If it turns out to be just a few of us, then so be it. Parliament is actually in recess atm. People may then ask, "what's the point?" Well the point is to show people that there are those willing to take a stand. The more people start understanding that we are truly committed to doing all we can, the more people will be inspired to join in at a later stage. We are also using this as a 'test' protest, to acertain what needs to be considered for the future. The area around parliament is quite busy at the moment, so we will also reach a few hundred passers-by.
PLEASE NOTE THAT W1Z4RD UNEXPECTEDLY HAS TO WORK ON SUNDAY. THE PICKET WILL THEREFORE TAKE PLACE ON MONDAY ONLY, AT 11AM. YOU ARE ALL WELCOME TO CALL ME ON 083 508 2249 SHOULD THE NEED ARISE.
ganymede1 said:
how many people are going?
We do not know. There are about 8 people who have made a definite committment to being there, however, people are flaky and experience has shown that people say one thing and do another. So I can't answer this, sorry.
nic777 said:
A bit of a short notice but I'm game. What can we expect at the protest? I want to send an email out and convince people to attend. SO I think we need some more details about the protest. I'm still in the dark at what to expect so I haven't told many people yet. So: whats the plan for the protest? I would love to contact the guys on SLUG and CLUG to join us....
Great nic777, we hope you can still make it on the Monday only. Consider this a 'test' protest. There are a great deal of aspects that need to be considered when protesting, trust me, there are lots of little things that one is not aware of until you try it yourself. It really is not as simple as pitching up! We are learning how to do all this, in fact, I had a nice little chat with the organiser of the sexual violence protest that happened outside parliament on Weds - I leant quite a bit from her about organisation. This has not been put to use in this protest, but we have learned and in future will be better organised. Also remember that money has been a problem for us. For example, the sexual violence protest on Weds put out quite a bit of advertising about the event, and we simply don't have the money to waste on short-term adverts like that.
I thank you for your offer to email etc to convince people that this is a worthy cause and that we can make a stand. Leave it for a better organised protest, when we have the money to do this properly.
SteveV said:
I'd love to join you -- but this doesn't sound like much of a protest. Are we going to be making noise or making tea?
Tea, with milk 1 sugar, thanks
J/K, your point is valid and taken. We are trying, and do not pretend that this is well-organised. It was done in a hurry, for reasons I care not to discuss right now. I hope you do not loose interest or faith in the potential that Antitrust has to make a difference.
pyrit said:
I'll definately make a turn down there on Sunday and perhaps sneak away from work on Monday too. Can you please give us the rundown on how the protest is going to be made effective enough for Parliament to take us seriously? Is the pertition going to be handed over ... and when?
Forget Sunday, steal away on Monday though! There is no measure for 'effective' protests. Changing the telecoms industry in SA is not going to come about from protesting alone. It is going to take a multi-pronged effort, of which protesting forms an essential part. The petition will not be handed over. To present a petition, you need to have someone appropriate who is willing to receive it (for example, someone who sits on the Communications portfolio). Parliament is in recess at the moment. We would also ideally like to have many more signatures on the petition - W1z4rd tells me there are over 1000 people who have signed on thus far - we want this to be bigger by a factor of 5 before we present it. When we do present it, the focus will be on a demand to investigate the conduct of Poison Ivy and her mishandling of the industry.
ganymede1 said:
to me if less than 20 people arrive its more of a joke and embarresment than a protest we need commited members to go a list of people who are commited to....
Good thing Antitrust has members whose anger at Telkom outweighs their embarrasment. Any idea where we can find more people who are 'committed'? We can only do our best, the rest is up to each and every other individual who wants to change the situation.
Ivork said:
Is this protest legal or should we be drawing cash for the bail?
I fancy not a night in jail.
I couldn't find the flipping bylaws of the Cape Town Municipality on protests. But I can assure you no one is going to get arrested.
Juice said:
Perhaps contact some of the unions, like Cosatu? Involve them from a "Telkom costs South Africa jobs" point of view...
Thanks for the input and ideas Juice. Cosatu has a very confused position on the issue of telecoms. They honestly don't know what they want, and therefore we cannot know how to involve them. A lot of investigation has to be done on this, and we haven't had the time (or money for the phonecalls, travelling, etc) to try force a response out of them.
To those who criticise, I ask, "And what are you doing about the situation that is so much better than our efforts?"
