John GI Clarke’s comment on Recovering democracy in South Africa,

printed after Brooks Spector”s review in the Daily Maverick:

‘Ray’s contextualisation of the book within his personal life narrative got my attention. I didn’t know that Raymond’s life changed fundamentally in 2011 when he was diagnosed with fibromyalgia which he explains is a “chronic and debilitating condition that includes, among its effects, pain, exhaustion and memory loss and made me a prisoner of my own body. No previous experience of trauma, not even prison and torture, had prepared me for this.”
Well, Ray could have fooled me. Cant see evidence of memory loss, and his personal struggle makes the book that much more authentic.
“Every movement is being inhibited as it occurs” said Chilean Systems thinker Humberto Maturana. The momentum for meaningful movement starts at the personal level of working with the inhibiting forces to precipitate the pearls, and to let the inherent goodness ripple out.
Ray’s effort to keep moving has served to help me stop winging about my gout and twinges of arthritis, and inspire me to carry on regardless (and rewardless) to write, reflect and try to become more real, honest and constructive, and not let the inhibiting forces discourage.’