The paranoid, hate-filled, xenophobic, misogynistic, murderously vile face SA has shown to the world over the course of the last week looks little different to my own country’s vacant, deadly eyesEvery time there is violence of a particular sort in SA I think about 1949. In mid-January of that year a single incident between an Indian shopkeeper and a young African man sparked days of tremendous brutality across Durban.
But not that January, 70 years ago. Then, those parts of the personality most people strive to keep hidden were thrust into public. By the time the violence ebbed, almost 200 people had died and tens of thousands had been rendered homeless. Far from it. There is so much about xenophobia today that compares with the pogroms that burnt Durban 70 years ago. The scapegoating, the lines drawn between members of similar social strata within a single community, the almost giddy violence: it is all so familiar.
Yet that twisted realisation ought not to provide any comfort, because the violence in Texas and Gauteng have too much in common with each other and with Durban in 1949. Living together takes work. Indeed, what makes humans remarkable is their ability to transcend that which comes easily, or naturally. The work done to maintain the idea of the nonracial, nonsectarian struggle against white supremacy, and for a more just SA, was a triumph over instinct.
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: IOL - 🏆 46. / 51 Read more »
ADEKEYE ADEBAJO: SA must fix its xenophobia or face losing key partnershipsXenophobic attacks seem to represent an area of SA ‘exceptionalism’ on the continent
Source: BDliveSA - 🏆 12. / 63 Read more »
Source: IOL - 🏆 46. / 51 Read more »
SNAPS | Walking the ramp & powerful comments on women abuse: Miss SA takes NYC by stormGenderBasedViolence 'It is my first time out of South Africa and I should be overjoyed but I am ridiculously torn. My heart is back home with all the women in this difficult time.'
Source: TimesLIVE - 🏆 28. / 59 Read more »
SA businesses are diversifying offshore to counter political risks: surveyPolitical risk in SA is worse today than three years ago under then-president Jacob Zuma, according to a poll of SA businesspeople.
Source: SowetanLIVE - 🏆 13. / 63 Read more »
Source: SABC News Online - 🏆 32. / 51 Read more »