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Battle for Ndjamena: A Libyan Mi-25 helicopter shot down during the week long #Libya/GUNT Gov't forces of Goukouni Oueddi assault on #Chad capital from 8 December to 16 December 1980
15 December 1978: In the first universal sufferage election in South-West Africa/ #Namibia, the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance won 41 of 50 seats in the assembly #SouthAfrica; SWAPO boycotted
15 December 1989 "The conspiratorial core inside the UDF apple": three senior figures in the UDF, including Popo Molefe, convicted of treason were freed on appeal on a technicality #SouthAfrica
14 December 1998- "#Angola has become a gigantic corpse filled with diamonds and bleeding oil": @Global_Witness
released a report claiming UNITA still bankrolled its war effort with illegal diamond revenue despite @UN banning import of conflict diamonds
14 December 1998- "#Angola has become a gigantic corpse filled with diamonds and bleeding oil": @Global_Witness released a report claiming UNITA still bankrolled its war effort with diamond revenue despite @UN resolution banning import of conflict diamonds
Operation UNOKAT: Train derailed by shell fire during fighting between @UN troops and #Katanga rebels outside Elisabethville #Congo on 14 December 1961
14 December 1964- "God's masterpiece": Kenya's Parliament opened and President Jomo Kenyatta unveiled a statue of himself in Nairobi #Kenya @bonifacemwangi
"I take full responsibility from myself downwards- but not those above-not anymore": Vlakplaas commander Eugene de Kock testifying before the TRC on the 14 December 1989 Motherwell car bomb that killed three policemen and a askari #SouthAfrica
14 December 1989: Three security policemen and a askari were killed in a Vlakplaas #carbomb blast near Motherwell #SouthAfrica; Vlakplaas members would be convicted for the killings
14 December 1962: The new Rhodesian Front Party Won 35 of 50 of "A" roll seats to win a working majority; Winston Field became the new Prime Minister of Southern #Rhodesia
13 December 1961- Operation UNOKAT: three civilian workers of the @ICRC were killed when their ambulance was hit by gun and bazooka fire from @UN UNOC Ethiopian soldiers #Congo
13 December 1980: UNITA announced it had shot down a Soviet transport plane over southwestern #Angola and displayed photos of two Soviet airmen it said it had captured
Battle of Bangui: Displaced people waited for food and supplies on 13 December 2013 after fighting in the last week drove an estimated 159,000 people from their homes in Bangui and killed 600 in #CentralAfricanRepublic
@ModernConflict Antoine Gizengais one silent political giant of Congolese politics. Even at the time of his death this year in February, the man still had energy for Congolese Politics.
#Rhodesia Prime Minister Ian Smith at the central oil depot in Salisbury where a ZANLA rocket attack started a fire that raged for six days and destroyed 25 million gallons of fuel 13 December 1978
13 December 1988: The Brazzaville Protocol was signed by #Angola, #SouthAfrica and #Cuba agreeing on independence for #Namibia to begin 1 April 1989 and phased withdrawal of Cuban forces over 27 months
13 December 1980: Former Premier Milton Obote was declared the winner In the first elections in #Uganda since 1962; he became only the second dictator to be elected after being overthrown
12 December 1995: The International Criminal Tribunal #Rwanda (ICTR) announced its first indictments of 8 individuals for GENOCIDE and CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY for the murder of tens of thousands of people, including 12,000 at Gatwaro Stadium in Kibuye April 1994 #Kwibuka25
12 December 1960: Antoine Gizenga declared himself Premier and announced a rival government in Stanleyville, the third province to secede; the men who mattered in #Congo in December 1960
12 December 1960: Antoine Gizenga declared himself Premier and announced a rival government in Stanleyville, the third province to secede; the men who mattered in #Congo in December 1960
12 December 1995: The International Criminal Tribunal #Rwanda (ICTR) announced its first indictments of 8 individuals for GENOCIDE and CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY for the murder of tens of thousands of people, including 12,000 at Gatwaro Stadium in Kibuye April 1994 #Kwibuka25
12 December 1975: In the final major engagement of SAVANNAH, a SADF/UNITA mechanized column routed Cuban/FAPLA forces at Battle of Bridge 14 in central #Angola #SouthAfrica
South African sappers repairing Bridge 14, which had been blown by FAPLA during their retreat; two sappers were killed by artillery fire two days before the Battle of Bridge 14 December 12 1975 #SouthAfrica #Angola
Commander Alberto Colome Ibarra (center with glasses), who commanded FAPLA/Cuban forces at Battle of Bridge 14 on 12 December 1975, pictured with a group of #Cuba officers in late 1975 #Angola
Operation SANGARIS: French Panhard VBL light armoured vehicle in Bangui #CentralAfricanRepublic during mission to protect civilians and disarm Seleka and Anti-Balaka militias December 2013
Battle of Bangui: an angry crowd tries to prevent FOMAC peace keeping soldiers from evacuating trapped Muslim clerics from St Jacques Church in Bangui #CentralAfricanRepublc; 450 died in sectarian clashes in the city 12 December 2013
12 December 1974: Released in November after a decade of detention for unity talks in Lusaka #Zambia, Joshua Nkomo and Ndabaningi Sithole return to Salisbury #Rhodesia in triumph https://youtu.be/RRynaK7sZzk via @YouTube
10 December 1980-"They are trying to figure out how to rig it": Ugandans went to the polls for the first time since the overthrow of Idi Amin in April of 1979 #Uganda to choose a new Parliament and President
Battle of Bangui: African peace keeping soldiers watch as several of the estimated 450 killed in sectarian fighting between Anti-Balaka and Seleka militias in Bangui are buried on 11 December 2013 #CentralAfricanRepublic
2 December 1990: After a three week journey from #Sudan, General Idris Deby's rebel army marched unopposed into Ndjamena, #Chad #Tchad, toppling Hissen Habre from power
11 December 1978: ZANLA guerrillas raided the fuel depot outside Salisbury, firing rockets that set fire to fuel containers and starting a blaze that would burn for eight days and consume months of #Rhodesia valuable oil reserves
5-13 December 2013- Battle Of Bangui: Anti-Balaka militia attacked Bangui, the capital of the #CentralAfricanRepublic, resulting in at least 600 killed in sectarian fighting, 159,000 refugees and French military intervention
11 December 1979-The end of #Rhodesia: The #Zimbabwe Rhodesia parliament voted to repeal the 1965 UDI, dissolved and Rhodesia reverted back to colonial rule by #Britain as Southern Rhodesia http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/11/newsid_3950000/3950445.stm
10 December 2013 - Operation SANGARIS: Two French soldiers were killed during street fighting in Bangui #CentralAfricanRepublic between Seleka and Anti-Balaka militia https://youtu.be/KZBA-BApjYQ via @YouTube
Operation UNOKAT: The burnt out Lancia in which Father Michel Gagna was killed by fire from a @UN Swedish Scania Vabis armoured car on 10 December 1961 Elisabethville #Congo
Battle of Bangui: A Christian Anti-Balaka chases a Muslim Seleka officer with a knife near Bangui airport #CentralAfricanRepublic during clashes between sectarian mobs on 9 December 2013
Operation Sangaris: French soldiers on the streets of Bangui #CentralAfricanRepublic on 9 December 2013 during fighting between Seleka and Anti-Balaka militia
I listened to a song by Don Clarke mainly out of curiosity. A long time Kristofferson fan, the title reminded me of Blame it on the Stones. After grabbing the headset, I pressed PLAY. Catchy title/catchy tune, all good. I wanted to know more so headed over to his channel.
Flipping through YouTube, something caught my eye – the Disclaimer underneath his video. Reading it made me smile – But in a sad sort of way.
I knew a man who knew everything
An old friend once told me that people bond & grow attached to each other for many reasons. One of the biggest reasons is what he called “shared reality“.
He explained (as only Ben could) that this “shared reality” simply meant “shared truth” or “agreement”. A fact is only a fact because one or more individuals agree that it is real or true. We develop a level of liking for people when we discover that one or some of their views, ideas or opinions mirrors our own.
It’s easy to like people who we relate to & feel the same as. Developing a level of liking for the “others” – people who do not share our values, ways & ideas – is far trickier. We have to resort to talking & listening to them. Chances are, there will be something about that person that we can like, respect or find amusing. That one precious thing is all it takes for liking or affinity to grow, & suddenly they seem more like us.
Communication
Communication is the key but only when it is honest, from the heart & unfiltered. Forgive the cliché, but it does seem to be getting harder to talk to each other – Harder by the moment.
In this world gone mad, people (other than Thys) seem to filter what they say. Actually, Howard & Paul are non-filterers too, & I like them just fine. In fact, most people I enjoy could be described as straight talkers. They could also be described much differently by other people who don’t hear them. I feel safe around people who speak their mind because I do not have to interpret what they tell me. There are not too many of them about.
Filters
Most of us are extremely careful about what we say & how we say it, most of the time. Consider how many times you have edited something on a text or read & re-read a post.
I am not suggesting that we should all forget our manners & start chucking rocks at each other. I do believe that communicating is a lot more complicated than it should be. It wasn’t always like this. There was a time when a simple apology could totally erase an impulsive or misunderstood comment. Now, we hear daily that someone is being ostracised for saying, doing or phrasing something incorrectly.
Bounce, Boom, Balance
Communication exists to bounce ideas as well as to share them. Who wasn’t taught that people learn less with their mouths open than with their ears open? If people cannot express their emotions, passions, thoughts, anger, confusion & fleeting gripes & grumbles as & when they pop up, then how are we ever going to understand each other?
If we cannot express freely then we have little chance of finding something to like in other people.
Tolerance – An ugly word
Globalisation is bringing THEM ever closer to us. The world is getting smaller. If we hope to move from tolerating to liking & respecting others then we must free up our communication. That wall we knocked down means plenty less if we allow it to be replaced it with a myriad of fences. More so when those fences are tongues tied with barbed wire & tolerance is deemed desirable. Can anybody seriously aspire to be tolerated?
Blame it on the Whites – a song by Don Clarke
Back to the Don Clarke ditty. The disclaimer beneath his posted video reads –
“Before this song is misinterpreted, let me issue a DISCLAIMER by way of an EXPLANATION, without prejudice…..”
If you want to read the rest, you can visit his channel yourself. He is a talented songwriter & musician so subscribe while you are there.
Here’s the tune. As Don Clarke felt the need to say:
It’s reconciliatory. It’s a simple as that! NO NEED TO PANIC!
Many thanks to whoever wrote this fine piece. It illustrates perfectly an understanding of why it is often better NOT to follow the herd simply to attain a sense of social security. Being LIKED for the wrong reasons is ultimately more suffocating than standing up to the cold winds of disdain, because, more often than not, those cold winds turn out to be a refreshing liberating breeze.
Many thanks to whoever wrote this fine piece. It illustrates perfectly an understanding of why it is often better NOT to follow the herd simply to attain a sense of social security. Being LIKED for the wrong reasons is ultimately more suffocating than standing up to the cold winds of disdain, because, more often than not, those cold winds turn out to be a refreshing liberating breeze.
– Don Clarke
Hi Don. Many thanks for your kind comment & for sharing your charm & talent.
– Donna