Tomorrow, remembrances will be held around the world to mark the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The wall was a potent symbol of division. From 1961 to 1989 it split Berlin into East and West and represented two world views: state socialism in contrast to capitalism and liberal democracy.On this year’s anniversary of the fall of that infamous wall, South Africa will still be celebrating the country’s Rugby World Cup victory over England.
Yet, 30 years later, the world is experiencing a resurgence of border walls , hardening borders and increasing levels of populist nationalism from Italy to Hungary, the UK to the US, Poland to Russia, India to Brazil. Most borders in Africa were not created by Africans. European powers arbitrarily partitioned the continent at the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885. They divided it among themselves to suit their own interests. Modern African states and the territorial borders inherited from colonialism remain in place well into the 21st century.
Africa would be stronger economically and politically if it became a federation or an arrangement similar to that of the EU. Yet, South African leaders do not seem to entertain this vision. In fact, many of them exploit divisions in South Africa between citizens and non-citizens for their own benefit. Xenophobia is often the handmaiden of populism and South African politicians are not exempt from the cynical use of antimigrant rhetoric to bolster their position.
Violent xenophobia mostly happens in some of South Africa’s “cultural time zones”, where life resembles more that of slums in metropolises around the world than that of affluent suburbs just a few hundred metres up the road. Xenophobic attacks tend to happen in areas near hostels and informal settlements where people intimately share precarious lives and conditions of extreme poverty.
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