Comments | commonfreak: 25 YEARS LATER...

commonfreak

25 YEARS LATER...

Jul 04, 2006 22:00

I can remember seeing this on TV when I was only 3. The memories are really fuzzy but the image that sticks out in my mind is one of a guy covered in blood being dragged away by riot cops. I can remember thinking they looked like something off Doctor Who. Of course being three I had no idea what was going on, except that it was something to do ( Read more... )

1981, springbok tour, apartheid, civil disobedience, police brutality, bleeding clowns

Comments 16

electricmstress July 4 2006, 11:25:47 UTC

Heh, I was a baby too and it was quite an education. My lefty friend and I took the day off school and marched from Riccarton Mall to Lancaster Park (err.. Jade Stadium).I was 14 and a political animal. I admit I quivered in my little anarchy biro-ed basketball boots :)There was a lot of police aggravation,argy bargy and bottle throwing and my friend and I were spirited away from the scene by her parents when it got nasty.

commonfreak July 4 2006, 22:24:20 UTC

Even tiny doses of the law give me the shits, so I'd probably have gone into full apocalypse mode.

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commonfreak July 4 2006, 22:25:37 UTC

It's one of my earliest mass media memories. The other ones are KISS on RTR, and Voyager II at Saturn.

thirdkraytwin July 4 2006, 13:01:03 UTC

I was in 3rd form. My social studies teacher took us down to observe a protest. He got fired. My parents were anti tour and my grandparenst were pro. Family dinners was chilly.

I have a really good photography book called "By Batons & Barbed Wire" about the tour that took me bloody ages to find. Someone found a stray box in the back of a dusty warehouse...

commonfreak July 4 2006, 22:26:13 UTC

I've seen that book. It was in a school library. I forget which one. Hagley I think.

'81 ultra_151 July 4 2006, 13:54:37 UTC

There's a film directed by Merata Mita , called Patu, that's all about that tour. I was a hippie in Nelson who'd been working at the Hotel the Springboks stayed at , the DB Rutherford up to about a month b4 the tour got to town , had to throw in job 'cos I got hepatitis from being a commune dweller/dirty hippie (ie off a joint). The country was split pretty much 50-50. When I marched & the staff recognised me among the people chanting "Shame, shame" they had the grace to LOOK ashamed. It (the tour) just got more and more intense as it developed till it was almost like civil war just b4 the end with Mongrel Mob & Black Power guys leading the "Patu Squad" & the "Biko squad" against the Police "Red" and "Green" squads of state sanctioned thugs. Being a wuss I was quite glad to be in a small provincial city rather than one of the main centres since I'd prefer for my skull to NOT get broken Thank u very much.

Re: '81 commonfreak July 4 2006, 22:27:13 UTC

Yeah, I think I'd be heading for the bush too.

Hep off a joint. Ouch. Most I've gotten is the flu.

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commonfreak July 4 2006, 22:28:19 UTC

The other scariest event of 1981 was my ma's bright orange afro.

anonymous July 6 2006, 09:31:40 UTC

Speaking of the 80's thought you might like this link,

might even be able to find all those sam fox vids you have been after

YudA

http://www.1500videos.com/

commonfreak July 11 2006, 06:15:50 UTC

Nice.

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