--- title: "While you were sleeping: 15 March 2018" description: "Students stage mass walkout over gun control, UK suspends Russian diplomats, and Rabada appeals two match ban." type: "NewsArticle" publisher: "Daily Maverick" site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za" section: "South Africa" author: "John Stupart" author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/johnstupart/" canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2018-03-15-while-you-were-sleeping-15-march-2018/" published: "2018-03-15T06:09:16" lang: "en-ZA" word_count: 739 --- # While you were sleeping: 15 March 2018 > Students stage mass walkout over gun control, UK suspends Russian diplomats, and Rabada appeals two match ban. By John Stupart · Published 15 March 2018, 08:09 SAST ## Content **Thursday, 15 March 2018** *"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it's the illusion of knowledge."* **Steven Hawking** ![Image](https://i2.createsend1.com/ei/d/90/417/F70/csimport/849x493q70Grootes-Age-of-Gedleyihlekisa.050651.jpg) STORY OF THE DAY [Analysis: Dipping back into the Age of Gedleyihlekisa?](http://email.touchbasepro.com/t/d-l-oiioty-l-p/) By STEPHEN GROOTES When a person leaves power, power leaves them. It leaves them different, weakened, often a shrivelled person. In some cases, they define a particular era. In modern democracies, there is often a discussion about their legacy and how their decisions influenced the country in the present. With President Jacob Zuma, it is surely undeniable that his own actions will define his time in office and in the Age of Gedleyihlekisa. WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING [Students stage mass gun control walkout](http://email.touchbasepro.com/t/d-l-oiioty-l-x/) Hundreds of thousands of students in the United States staged a nationwide walkout in protest of failed gun control measures. Students donned various colours representing gun control or in sympathy with the victims of the Florida shooting. Trump, initially keen to enact significant gun control reform, has proven disappointingly stereotypical in bowing to the NRA's unyielding lobby power. To date, no significant gun control measures have even appeared on lawmaker's radars. [Russian diplomats booted out of UK](http://email.touchbasepro.com/t/d-l-oiioty-l-m/) Britain has expelled 23 Russian diplomats over the country's probable involvement in the poisoning of double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter. Britain argued that Russia failed to explain how a Soviet-made chemical, Novichok, had come to be used in the attack. Russia had responded to the accusations with derision and sarcasm, simultaneously refusing to grant British investigators a lab sample of Novichok. [Rabada appeals Test ban](http://email.touchbasepro.com/t/d-l-oiioty-l-c/) Protea fast bowler Kagiso Rabada has officially appealed his two-Test ban. Rabada was found guilty of "inappropriate and deliberate physical contact with a player" after shoulder-smacking Steve Smith during the second Test. After hitting eight demerit points Rabada was automatically banned for two Test matches. Rabada, of course, disagrees with the nature of his infraction and severity of the punishment. Smith's shoulder, however, might never recover from the slight. [Australia confirms visa consideration for 'persecuted' South Africans](http://email.touchbasepro.com/t/d-l-oiioty-l-q/) Australia confirmed on Thursday that it was investigating possible special visas for "persecuted" white South African farmers. Australia's Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton considered white South African farmers to be in a special kind of danger. A whiter, more persecuted kind of danger, if you will. As such, a fast-track visa option is being considered. Ordinary, nationwide violence against everyday South Africans of all colours can apparently go and get stuffed. IN NUMBERS $10,000,000 The lowest estimated cost of a military parade similar to France's Bastille Day, to be held in Washington DC. FACTS OF THE DAY Today in 2011 the **Syrian civil war**effectively began. **Your name gets a "Jr"**if you take your name from your dad, but you get a "II" if you take after another family member. Either way, you get to be mocked mercilessly throughout your life. 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