How is this for a name: Xenophobia! It comes with an exclamation point because it is meant to make you sit upright and pay attention. Similarly, "Farm Murders" is meant to say something other than human beings killing other human beings. So what is new, you may dare ask - nothing really, except the number of deaths. Oh, and the number of heads buried in the sand.
I still don't know how it has helped the people of this country to have named the senseless killing of human beings whose apparent fault is that they are not South Africans, Xenophobic (sic) attacks - how has it helped the victims and their families (yep they do have families, like you and I). A comedian, Chris Rock puts it rather crassly but aptly: ". . . just because you came out of a pussy in Detroit you think you are better?"
Does it make it better or worse that a victim of such ghastly crime is a South African or a foreigner, white or black, farmer or farm worker? Some of us remember the days when there was violence and then there was "black on black" violence. What happened in Bosnia and elswhere in Europe was however never termed "white on white" violence. What is this obsession with name-calling? Does the name-calling give us a better handle of the matter? Or is it some coping mechanism?
What is it that stops us from seeing this for what it is: murder fuelled by irrational self-hatred and envy? This is not new either. E'skia Mphahlele writes of incidents back in the days of Marabastad where people would attack each other based on some group identity or other group irrationality. Soweto, divided into language groups as it is, has had its fair share of violence between that group and the other.
This crime persists for one reason and one reason only: we tolerate it! We even encourage it at some level. I have heard ordinary South African say how their neighbourhoods have become riddled with all manner of crimes since "these people" moved in. These people steal their women, their businesses and who knows what else. It is all these people's fault. A representative of some traders' association was on the radio the other day arguing that these people are bad for the local businesses. Apparently these people under-cut the local traders on every level. These people sell bread cheaper than the local traders can afford to and so the local consumers flock to these people's shops the result being that the local traders lose business and some are even forced to close shops.
Is that reason now for the local people who according to their own argument are benefitting from cheaper goods, to destroy these people and their property? Why is it then called Xenophobia? Why if it is xenophobia does it have a definite African bias to it? Has anyone heard of people from Eastern Europe being hounded and killed? As for the "these people bring crime to our areas" argument; is it not a better response to report the crimes and to cooperate with the police in rooting out the crime and the criminals, wherever they may have been born? I have argued on this space before that to believe that these crimes are xenophobic in nature is to fool ourselves and to make these crimes worse.
Do we not have the capacity to defend people who are being attacked because of their origin? What makes it right for a father, mother, brother, child to be killed brutally by other human beings just because they are classified as another? Then comes Saturday and we are happy to watch other foreigners playing soccer for local clubs - with love and adoration?
The call to the media and authorities is to abandon the name-calling of crimes and to attack the crimes and criminals for what they are: muderers, thieves and arsonists. These are the people who do not deserve a place in our neighbourhoods - not people whose crime is to sell bread cheaper and to have come out of a vijayjay outside the borders of this country. If there is a need to name, let us name and shame the murderers, thieves, rapists and arsonists.
I still don't know how it has helped the people of this country to have named the senseless killing of human beings whose apparent fault is that they are not South Africans, Xenophobic (sic) attacks - how has it helped the victims and their families (yep they do have families, like you and I). A comedian, Chris Rock puts it rather crassly but aptly: ". . . just because you came out of a pussy in Detroit you think you are better?"
Does it make it better or worse that a victim of such ghastly crime is a South African or a foreigner, white or black, farmer or farm worker? Some of us remember the days when there was violence and then there was "black on black" violence. What happened in Bosnia and elswhere in Europe was however never termed "white on white" violence. What is this obsession with name-calling? Does the name-calling give us a better handle of the matter? Or is it some coping mechanism?
What is it that stops us from seeing this for what it is: murder fuelled by irrational self-hatred and envy? This is not new either. E'skia Mphahlele writes of incidents back in the days of Marabastad where people would attack each other based on some group identity or other group irrationality. Soweto, divided into language groups as it is, has had its fair share of violence between that group and the other.
This crime persists for one reason and one reason only: we tolerate it! We even encourage it at some level. I have heard ordinary South African say how their neighbourhoods have become riddled with all manner of crimes since "these people" moved in. These people steal their women, their businesses and who knows what else. It is all these people's fault. A representative of some traders' association was on the radio the other day arguing that these people are bad for the local businesses. Apparently these people under-cut the local traders on every level. These people sell bread cheaper than the local traders can afford to and so the local consumers flock to these people's shops the result being that the local traders lose business and some are even forced to close shops.
Is that reason now for the local people who according to their own argument are benefitting from cheaper goods, to destroy these people and their property? Why is it then called Xenophobia? Why if it is xenophobia does it have a definite African bias to it? Has anyone heard of people from Eastern Europe being hounded and killed? As for the "these people bring crime to our areas" argument; is it not a better response to report the crimes and to cooperate with the police in rooting out the crime and the criminals, wherever they may have been born? I have argued on this space before that to believe that these crimes are xenophobic in nature is to fool ourselves and to make these crimes worse.
Do we not have the capacity to defend people who are being attacked because of their origin? What makes it right for a father, mother, brother, child to be killed brutally by other human beings just because they are classified as another? Then comes Saturday and we are happy to watch other foreigners playing soccer for local clubs - with love and adoration?
The call to the media and authorities is to abandon the name-calling of crimes and to attack the crimes and criminals for what they are: muderers, thieves and arsonists. These are the people who do not deserve a place in our neighbourhoods - not people whose crime is to sell bread cheaper and to have come out of a vijayjay outside the borders of this country. If there is a need to name, let us name and shame the murderers, thieves, rapists and arsonists.
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