Breyten Breytenbach

We had a guest speaker at school for TOK: Mr.Breyten Breytenbach.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breyten_Breytenbach
He had a very interesting life and perspective to share with us; an unimaginable experience compared to the world we live in. Mr. Breytenbach was an activist opposing the Apartheid rule in South Africa.

He mentions when he lived in South Africa, he lived in a privileged part of the country- which he called a 'false paradise'. It was a place referred to as 'multi-cultural', but it was on the verge of violence. "70% of the people in South Africa couldn't participate in the country's normal activities," he told us. Mr.Breytenbach describes his younger self, when he was a protester and went to exile, as idealistic.

In the 80's/90's, Nelson Mandela was released, and a new government was formed. The Apartheid government Mr. Breytenbach opposed, came to an end.

However, his opinion was that even now, South Africa is not out of the 'woods'. The systems that South Africa uses (administrative, political, economical) are not functioning as they should be. The idealism of when Nelson Mandela was in power died down, and the country is not united, and going forwards. And when things aren't going well, people look back at their differences: ethnicity, values etc.

He believes there is no Truth he cold imply on anybody else. There is tension between belief people adhere to, and the structure people do believe in. A Buddhist concept he likes is that people are closest to the truth only when he is not attached to it (eg. has his own views on the subject)
A life without attachment is the perfect life. But sometimes the illusions in life can be worth them as they are so beautiful.

I enjoyed listening to Mr.Breytenbach, because he has an insight that is meaningful, and has experience which works as its evidence, which has the power to convince. I felt that similar to what he witnessed, in the modern world there is also a lot of idealism, and people are united not with the same ideals, but are united because  they blame the same thing, often the government.
For example, I still don't quite understand what the recent Wall Street protests are about. At times it seems like people just hate bankers, at other times people want a better distribution of wealth because the richest are rich, and now because there was violence in a protest and there were victims.


Mr.Breytenbach had an opinion which I enjoyed, which was that the protests had a short-sighted view: it was not engaging to make a world a better place, and a young rebellion doesn't bring about compromise.

I understand that something has to be done, an initiative has to take place, to bring about change. Nonetheless is there really a point if we all don't really aim towards the same objectives and ideals, and just work together temporarily to crush whatever we have now?
I know I'm not idealistic, but I don't think the world is getting worse. I don't feel its getting better, but if I were to choose the world 50 years ago and the world now, I would choose now.