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Xenophobia? No!
Mike Stopforth's post SA Bloggers, Let’s Do Something really got me thinking this morning.
The horror of the last few day’s xenophobic violence in Johannesburg has left us all feeling shocked and hopeless. The danger here is that it’s very easy for us (and I’m speaking to the predominantly wealthy and white audience that reads this blog and makes up SA’s blogging fraternity) to remove ourselves from the situation because we think it doesn’t impact us directly.
It’s not us white folks who are being looted, kicked out of our homes and being burnt alive. We live in absolute comfort while next door in Alexandra a war is breaking out. We say things like, “shame, poor foreigners”, but we’re very good at feeling pity and very bad at acting. And I’m the worst of the lot. Then this morning one of my colleagues, Lisa, looked up from her Mac and said to us, “we must do something”. I heard two voices in my head instantly. Fortunately, I’m listening to the positive one.
All I can say is, "Guys, wake up!!!"
Let's sit down and think about this for a second. Why are these attacks happening? Is this because of xenophobia? I don't think so. As it has been mentioned many times in the media, the attacks are happening due to economic reasons. The locals feel like the foreigners are taking away their jobs. Would this have happened if the locals were economically well off? I doubt it strongly.
In other words, in my opinion this has absolutely nothing to do with nationality, tribe, race, etc. This has everything to do with poverty.
This whole situation is cause for great concern not just amoung white people, but also brown people, people coming from an indian or chinese background, and all the other minority groups too. As a matter of fact, even middle-to-upper class black people need to be concerned.
When people are that poor, they have (virtually) nothing, which also means they have nothing to lose. That is the bottom line. All too quickly for them this would turn into an "us versus them" situation, and the foreigners are first in the firing line. However, what happens after that? They will remain poor. Next up it's the local minority groups and then eventually the remaining middle-to-upper class.
"Look, they are living better than us, this must be because they are abusing us!"
That statement might look ridiculous to most of the people reading this blog but place yourself in that situation for a second. You did not have the privilege of an education. You do not understand the economic system. You are living in a day-to-day struggle to survive. Would you really think so much differently?
We better do something before it's too late. Or is it already???
Copyright © 2004-2009 Charl van Niekerk. All articles are released under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 South Africa licence, unless where otherwise stated.
1 Comments
Comment by
carducci on Thursday, May 22, 2008 8:58:00 AM
I am a South African living in Europe.
My mother is Angolan and also fled her own country to the "grass is greener" South Africa. She lived in refugee camps and had nothing, just like everyone else now fleeing a miserable existence and looking for something better in SA
My Step-father is Mozambican - also fled home.
This makes them "foreigners". But it makes them "Extra-Special" foreigners because they are also "European".
I, being the only one in the family that was BORN in SA (my sister is also a "European Angolan South African!"), am then the only "non-foreigner"!
My question is, would a mob attacking foreigners stop and analyse the "foreigners" - kill my family and leave me be?
Or am I also a foreigner because my ancestors from some time long-gone were from Europe?
My opinion is that people blog about this, even South Africans in Europe blog about this because regardless of what has happened in the past, violence is unnacceptable and will not be tolerated!.
If Mandela taught us anything, if he taught these mobbers anything, it is that one must love, move forward and be tolerant! This is NOT what I think he envisioned for our people!
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