First draft of article.

[Herne]

Hi all
It needs more polishing, but what do you think so far?
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When His Majesty, Langalibalele, King of the amaHlubi people was summoned to account before the British Diplomatic Agent in 1873, he had good reason to be worried. It was similar summonses to appear before Kings Dingane and Mpande that led to the assassination of his elder brother, Dlomo and his own accession to the throne as well as the flight of the amaHlubi to new territory negegotiated from Shepstone, that same Diplomatic Agent. Absurd as it seems in hindsight, His Majesty seems to have believed that there, he and his people might possibly have respite from being arbitrarily deprived of their property, dignity and lives. What terrible disappointments were ahead for the King and his people.

For a while things went well, young men of the amaHlubi found work in the diamond fields of Griqualand West and brought their earnings home and the nation propered; soon, however, the mask of "benevolent" colonialism began to slip. Taxes were levied on things as personal as marriage as the administration began to see their role as one of extracting resources from the working class to support their own activities and to assert their authority all aspects of the lives of black Africans.

The breaking point came in 1873. The government had noticed that many of the young men were coming back from the mines with rifles; rifles to protect their herds, put meat on the table and defend themselved from bandits or agressors. In the eyes of the white authorities, of course, this was a problem. Their totalising vision of society could see arms only as the preserve of the state, and the (white, land-owning) elite, particularly for the control of the non-white population; to allow black gun ownership would be to admit black Africans into that elite, to admit that they, too were members of the political community a voice and the right to take part determining the destiny of themselves and land. They demanded that His Majesty appear to account for, and register all the guns held by his people. An impossible task given that he himself didn't have the knowledge required to fulfil the demand.
When he didn't appear, he was deemed a rebel, pursued by military force and was tried and convicted in a trial that, even by white, colonial observers of the day was widely considered an utter betrayal of the principles of justice. His exile to Robben Island, though eventually overturned, is part of the same tradition as those of other prisoners there, black South Africans who knew themselves to be free human beings, not beggars for the merest scraps of recognition and respect. So great was the governments fear of "armed natives".

These same ideas contined into the 20th century as Gen Smuts extended this attitude, not just to black South Africans but the white working class. Making it clear to unions that they too should be considered second class citizens after using military force to quell miners' strikes and instituting mass gun registration to maintain government control of the proletariat, white and black.
These same polices remained the standard approach of the Apartheid government, to limit firearm ownership to as few hands as possible and keep them out of the hands of the vast majority of South Aricans, those deemed mere subjects. Restrictions were tightened even upon the white population in the 1980s as the government realised that their hold on the minds group was slipping as well and the state tried to rein in their freedoms. This level of paranoia, so characteristic of the Apartheid state, was fortunately a sign that it was eating itself and an early sign of its instability.
So now as we look back upon the tragedy of Langalibalele and the loss of land and heritage by the amaHlubi people, a loss they still mourn, let us strive to preserve and enlarge our protections of all South African's rights to dignity, fair administrative and judicial treatment, and to be considered free partners in out political community, rather than subjects to be bid to come and go, live and die, have or not-have property at the whim of our political masters.

[Wanderin' Zero]

Really good but I think the last para needs something more/rework. Who is your target audience? Gun owners or Joe Soap? Gun control and racial oppression historically went hand in hand.

[Herne]

Yeah, I rushed the end a bit. It's basically aimed at Joe Soap, to break them out of the idea of guns being for the khaki-gevaar.

[540i]

very nicely written

[Ds J]

Add a few paragraphs with a critical look at the current FA legislation.

Also mention the mass murders which occured in Russia, China and Germany after the people were disarmed.

Add a paragraph ot two about the issue of a government trusting or not trusting it's people. If a government is doing it's work (using tax money for schools, hospitals and roads) it has nothing whatsoever to fear from the people they are governing; but if they are betraying the trust of the people they would automatically fear an uprising. The equation is actually quite easy: "Mr President, do you trust me?" "Yes" "Then give me a gun."

[BBCT]

I like it, & some good suggestions from Ds J as well.

[Herne]

Have added a hell of a lot, but need my fiancee to edit it (the more worked up I get, the more levels of nested clauses I use in my sentences)
Will try MyNews24 or M&G thought leader towards the end of the week

[MJC]

Have added a hell of a lot, but need my fiancee to edit it (the more worked up I get, the more levels of nested clauses I use in my sentences)
Will try MyNews24 or M&G thought leader towards the end of the week

I look forward to seeing it :)

[Sweet]

Excellent piece of writing and good suggestions from Ds J and WZ. Please post a link when it goes up, and a BIG THANK YOU for writing it!

[Gunservant]

Good writing dude! I laaik

If you don't get published, or if you do but you want to broader coverage, I will gladly publish you in the blog.

Also, I am a lazy f***wit that needs external contribution