Die Blinde Sjambok (the blind whip)

The other day as I was walking past my wife, I stumbled over something on the floor and nearly fell.

Immediately my wife said "Die Blinde Sjambok". We killed ourselves laughing as I had been "nasty to her" in something or other, and now Justice struck, balancing the books. In other words, justice was measured and I paid the price. It is an Afrikaans expression that I love (there are actually many expressions that are very amusing - I must try remember them to share).

Before I go further, I must share a related image.

(blindfolded lady of Justice, impartially meting out judgement)

Now the image at the top of this article I have shared previously about when we lived in Uitenhage in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. It related to how the life guards at a municipal pool used to clear the area of tardy individuals who would not vacate the area when the pool was closed for the day. It was not racist as the whips were used by non-white individuals. It is fairly okay in South Africa if a crime is committed against another person of the same colour. Things get very heated and emotional here if an offence occurs over the "colour line". A criminal act will be deemed to have occurred with racist connotations if a white strikes a black. It is not usually a racist crime if a black man hits a white man. Just the other day a white woman was jailed for hurling racist epithets against a non-white traffic officer. Yet when a prominent politician, Julius Malema, make public threats against whites and Indians, and incites acts of violence, no punishment occurs. Yes I know, I sound like a whining whitie. Yet as so often stated previously, history should be the ACCURATE recording of events, no matter how unpalatable.

The whip is a terrible thing in all honesty. It is cruel, even vicious. Just as in the case of nations, the immorality of the Arms Industry is a magnification of cruelty. If a whip is made, the purpose is to use it. If a gun, or a cannon, or a bomb or a war plane is made, the purpose is to use it, somewhere on earth. Yes, what the Saudi's are doing in Yemen is a human rights abuse, what Israel does against her enemies in Palestine is vehemently condemned in the United Nations, what ISIS did in Syria is a crime. But what about the countries who manufacture such weapons? Who condemns them? Endless hypocritical posturing of only allowing "approved nations" to get hold of these instruments of killing, but don't these weapons end up being used anyway? Africa is awash with weapons and innocent civilians are the primary targets of terror and intimidation and murder.

(he is holding a small weapon, but his enemies have used bigger weapons)

Anyway, back to the whip.

It has been used through the ages. As Christians, they think back to the scourging of Jesus by the Roman soldiers of Pilate.

In the Royal Navy, the cat o nine tails was used often.

We think of the slavery of the Negro in America.

Sadly it always seems to be the poor, or the oppressed tribes that are on the receiving end.

In my studies of the Boer War, I have many photos. The Boer whipping black men for stealing. The British Forces whipping black men for stealing. The white nations were fighting each other, yet both sides were whipping the black men.

Even when I was growing up as a teenager in South Africa, public misdemeanours would be punished by caning. The police would administer justice, it did not matter whether you were white or black. However, I am pretty sure that the majority of canings took place against black men.

Crowd control by the Apartheid Police against growing Black discontent was with Alsatian dogs and sjambok whips.

So even though the above expression makes me laugh today, its origins have a darker overtone from times past.