Domination vs Leadership

AXIOMS
1. What is at issue between employer and employee is not the price of a commodity called labour, it is the legitimacy of a relationship of power


2. Any relationship of power is legitimate if it has as its aim the empowerment of the subordinate.


3. Empowerment means to turn people who are weak and concerned with their own needs into people who are strong and who are capable of giving.


4. The proper status of the human being is that of servant.
(E Schuitma)

Welcome

Pappi is prone to collecting, creating and circulating curiosities - thoughts and writings about reality and intrigue that point to incipient or current trends of note. Rather than sending them to random targets day by day, his sensible son Malcolm has suggested he post these to a blog, and open the collection to the world at large.

Pappi will try almost anything at least once, so this is a test to see if there really are people out there who have the interest to actually come and look for something to read, and who enjoy his taste.

You are welcome to share in this collection, and to engage with Pappi and others in terms of the content.

Pappi's first offering is what you've all been waiting for - a poem.

REFLECTIONS AFTER AN OVERSEAS VISIT

Yanks -
Dollars -
"In God We
Trust" on each one -
The Dollar is
God.
World Class
Purveyors
Of perfect Hamburgers,
Aircraft and
Pleasure Domes;
Subtle as Slot Machines,
Enjoyment by
Numbers,
But earnest
And
Anxious to give Value
For Money
And
Guard the Earth's Freedom.
O Yanks,
Consumers to the Last!

Brits -
Loony by choice,
Proud as Penguins,
Hopeless splendour of History
And gut-wrenching anger
At economic
Inequality
And colonial disgrace:
Masters of propaganda,
Seducing
The intellect,
Rich in brilliant
Concepts, though now
Poor in implementation.
O Brits,
I salute
Your uplifted chins.

Boers -
Brave and foolish -
Innocents at heart, yet
Guilty -
Openly airing those dark secrets
Covered over by your critics,
Dogged undertakers of
Great missions,
Longing to be
Liked,
Imbued with the
Savage spirit of
Africa,
And the love of
Your land:
How long, South Africa,
How long?

Aussies –
Earth wanderers
Colonising remote hell-holes
To earn the perfect
Sea View in Sydney,
Sport-mad: supreme
Swimmers, crack
Cricketers, rampant rulers of
Rugby and Aussie Rules..
Gagging on your own
Successes, fearing
Yet revering
Your excesses,
Vocal despisers of Politicians,
Avidly egalitarian,
Troubled seekers of
Meaning:
Wondering what to do
With your wealth.
Oh Aussies, keep
Seeking.

Claude Cunningham 1990-

Commentary: Reflections on and overseas visit
From 1981 onwards I did a great deal of business travel between South Africa, Australia, the USA, Canada and United Kingdom. The various cultures were a consistent source of interest to me, and the first lines came to me as I returned home from a visit to the USA and UK in 1990. I added the comment on Australia somewhat later, and the Canadians have so far escaped.
The situation in South Africa has changed drastically since 1990, and the lines referring to the Boers were more apposite then than now.I trust that the nations treated will not take offence at my perceptions – I do not regard any nation as intrinsically better than any other, or any worse, but they definitely have their own flavours.