Talk about making something out of nothing - the highline in NY - was an old railway line unused and a mess; now a glorious walk-way with changing plants & seats and look-outs, taking one out of the noise of the city and into a lovely reflective space.....

Had supper with a friend who told me she'd opposed South Africa hosting the World Cup because of the money that would be diverted from meeting needs of the poor of the country; she similarly opposed the building of the Gautrain (airport-link) - surely improving transport for workers was a vastly greater priority. Now she confessed with great embarrassment, having had no interest in soccer, she's watching every match and loving them AND she came back from the aiport on the Gautrain and enjoyed both the view and the efficiency. She feels hypocritical.

Why be embarrassed I asked? Seems to me we have to learn to live with contradiction, and with the reality that few things in life are perfectly clear from an ethical point of view - if one refuses to take the Gautrain because one would have preferred it not to be built, one just contributes to nightmare traffic and pollution....
Similarly while the hosting of the World Cup was highly questionable in terms of costs of stadiums, it's hard to measure the impact of the sense of nationhood and joy its bringing large numbers of locals across class and race divides, and the impact on potential foreign tourists and businesses in terms of debunking notions that SA is a horror state....

Viva complexity!!

On the question of THE WORLD CLASS CITY

All the media around the World Cup Soccer 2010 is claiming Johannesburg as a "world class city." So South African talk radio shows - one of the markers of a deliberative democracy - resound with complaints from the (middle class) public about Johannesburg not matching the standards required of a World Class City.

So I arrive in New York and decide to take the train from JFK airport - one of the markers of a World Class City... and no sooner do I get through the turnstile than an attendant tells me the subway's not working and people need to take a shuttle to a station further down. That means schlepping my luggage in the street; hauling it up onto a bus with people pushing and shoving to get on after a long wait; hauling it down again, and then down steps to the subway we reach after about 40 minutes of being stuck in the traffic......

Folks, this is what a world class city is about - there are potholes, the subway doesn't work that well, and that doesn't stop it from being a great city....

Something about the South African middle class spirit has created a fantasy of a world somewhere else - usually 'overseas' - where everything works perfectly....; maybe that's the case somewhere, but not in my favourite World Class city, New York; nor in Jo'burg - who cares, the energy's still fantastic!!