FREEDOM DAY

People have said that South Africa has a lot of holidays. It seems like they are all concentrated in April. 27 April is Freedom Day, another national holiday.

I spent the day at the Union Buildings. It was so emotional seeing the crowds gathered there hearing the inauguration of Thabo Mbeki, elected for his second term in office (once every five years). The crowd itself was intimidating, pushing and shoving to sit and watch, jets roaring overhead, and an out of place military parade with tanks. . .Apparently, the SA government spent R80 million on the day's festivities. There was cheering and such happiness on their faces. Not the drunken red and white smirks at the Parliament on Canada Day- but smiles that are so thankful and happy for what the government has done for them.

Of course there is the expected propaganda that comes with every government run day for the civilians- flags of "10 years of democracy" blowing from street poles, free t-shirts, mini SA flags, paper head bands. During the elections, it was the face of Thabo with the ANC logo along the streets and commercials on the radio and TV. We met a guy at the Union Buildings who told us: "I am 42 years old, I was able to vote for the first time in my life ten years ago." It actually means something. Voting is a right. I don't think we do enough of that in our own country because we take advantage of it.

People are actually passionate about a president and government that have changed their lives. I can't imagine a patriotic Canadian who would yell Paul Martin's name with as much genuine passion because he made life so much better.

SAFM, the country's radio station actually stopped myself and a couple friends I was with, asking if we were tourists (my Canadian friend had a huge camera around her neck-how could they tell!?!). They asked us how we felt about the festivities in Pretoria. I have to say that I admire that a government can actually impact the lives of the majority of citizens in a country.

Coming from a country where we have not lived through such struggle and triumphed, I don't think I'll ever understand. Then again, I haven't lived through the days of Head Tax, Chinese exclusion act in Canada. Unfortunately, I have a feeling that South Africans some generations down the road won't have the same feeling towards their government as people today do. They wouldn't have lived knowing what a difference their government had made. The social and political history of South Africa is so emotionally meaningful. Maybe I'm being a romantic outsider, but I think it's time that we appreciate what our own country has to offer us.