more on xenophobia in South Africa (and beyond)

While physical attacks have calmed the country is still in a bit of chaos after the few weeks of extreme violence against foreigners in South Africa. There has been a great deal of discussion about why the violent outbreak occured, and what we can do about it. The government's immediate concern is to deal with some 30,000 diplaced people who fled their homes. Although some communities have asked for their return, from what I hear they are not willing to go back. Until now the refugees have been sheltered in police stations, churches, and community centres, but they are overwhelmed and ill-equipped to deal with a mass amount of people for more than a few days. The current solution has been to set up 7 refugee camps around the city. Some people argue that this is an improper response becuase hasty set up of camps will likely result in poor sanitation and health risks. I also wonder if it won't simply reinforce the divide between the 'local' and the 'foriegner'. On the other hand, some suggest that if incoming refugees were placed in camps to begin with, they would not have set up in informal settlements (townships) and created the competition that influenced the tensions between South Africans and foreigners.

The blame has been heavy on the government: if they had a policy in place to deal with refugees, then poor South Africans would not feel they have to compete with poor refugees for very limited resources. It is noteworthy that the presence of refugees in South Africa is a recent phenomena--they were not allowed in under aparthied, and so they only began coming here in the mid 1990's (initially Mozambiquans during their civil war). Since the South African constitution is so liberal, indeed the 'motto' of Cape Town is "A Home for All", and because it has been so stable and prosperous, South Africa became something of a mecca for refugees thorughout Africa which is why there is now such a large population of refugees from Mozambique, Angola, Somalia, the DRC, and elsewhere. Another major cause are economic factors like an unemployment rate over 25%, which consists primarily of youth with a secondary education--excluded from low wage labor jobs that immigrants are given as well as from highly skilled positions they do not have the training for. Certainly other factors (liquor, cell phones, etc) contributed to the mob mentally and the escalation and spread of the violence.

So the question is what to do next? How do we repair and build good relations between the many "us" and "them" divides that exist here? Leadership is blatantly lacking, President Thabo Mbeki left the country and went on with his planned schedule throughout the crises with very little comment, not even when the image of a man being burnt alive appeared on the front page of the newspaper. He is also criticised for his "quiet diplomacy" in Zimbabwe in the midst of their own crises after elections, declaring that "there is no crises". The 1,000,000% inflation, food shortage, and political attacks there have resulted in a mass exodus into South Africa of about 3 million Zimbabweans, obviously putting further strain on the resources and simmering tensions. Clear and positive leadership (as Mandela demostrated during and after aparthied) is a neccesary ingredient to peace building. Hand outs to refugees have to be carefully thought through--while there is an immediate need to keep them fed and warm and safe, there is also a concern that the local poor will again become angered when they themselves are cold and hungry. The solutions which are needed, primarily policy related, will not be easy or happen quickly, I would just hope that short cuts are made with short term solutions becoming installed long term solutions which will not solve the issues at hand.

xenophobia?

Funny how a word you almost never hear at home can so suddenly become a part of your daily vocabulary. The divisive culture of aparthied continues to reek havic in South Africa, since I've come to Cape Town I've heard, seen, or been part of discussions surrounding xenophobia on a regular basis. But nearly two weeks ago the situation erupted in Johannesburg and since has spread, in just the past day or so, to Cape Town. Foreigners, more specifically those from Somolia, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe (for the most part), are being attacked and the country is quickly going into crises. So far 42 people have been killed, some 15,000 are displaced, and about 500 people have been arrested.

A friend from Congo, who came to Cape Town to escape violence, death, and fear, now finds himself unable to leave his apartment, caught in flashbacks of the trauma he tried to escape. Zimbabweans are returning home to hyperinflation, food-shortages, fear and violence related to the recent disputed elections (and with rumours flying about a possible assassination attempt on the opposition leader--Tsvangirai-- who should be winning the run-off elections on June 27, stability is not soon coming) in fear for their lives. Somali shops and homes are looted and burnt to the ground. The violence is centered in the townships, so (Somalies in particular) are escaping into city centres to seek protection. The mining industry depends on migrant labour, but the migrant workers are not showing up, (in one mine that employs 80% Mozambiquans production has been shut down completley) so the economy will quickly feel the brunt of the effects. And the police force, which underwent reconstruction in 2005, is not capable of dealing with the riots and violence, so the military has been called in for assitance. With some Western countries issuing travel warnings, the tourist industry is already being hurt (I'd like to note that it's not tourists or rich white people that are being attacked here--it's other Africans whom South Africans blame for taking away thier jobs and homes, a sentiment which could be compared to Americans blaming Mexicans for the same. It all comes down to a question of scapegoating doesn't it? Many South Africans--both black and white--were living under better conditions during aparthied (I am not condonind aparthied, just stating a condition of existence), becuase the current government has failed to achieve or successfully implement much of it's promises. When it comes down to it, it's easier to take out your frustration and desperation on a migrant worker who showed up with nothing and now is doing better than yourself, than to take it out on the president. I am not an expert on the situation, this is simply my own understanding and observations from my conversations and reading. There is a lot of history and politics playing into this that I am not fully knowledgable of as well).

In a world that is more interconnected than we realize, the implications of the situation are broad. In Southern Africa, people are returning to unstable situations, as well as threatening reactive violence (attacking South Africans in Mozambique). Foreign investment in South Africa will (has) dwindled, and South Africa's economy plays a huge role through out the continent.

There is still much to learn about what is going on, but I feel compelled to keep people updated with events in my own piece of the world that you either won't hear in your local news, or you won't hear very throuroughly or accurately. Don't worry about me, as I said, being white and not living in a township leaves me fairly far removed from any immediate physical xenophobic threat.

It's been too long!

It's hard to believe that it's May! How have five months gone by and I've not posted a single adventure or politically pertinent story? Well, much has happened! Let's see, I've:
*rafted the source of the Nile in Jinja, Uganda (splitting my lip open in the process--had to walk around with tape on my face for a week, and I still have a scare (and a bump, scar tissue?)
*moved to Cape Town! where I've:
*lived in a backpackers for 3 weeks and then crashed on the couch of a friend I met in the backpackers for another 3 weeks until I managed to find a place to live in Cape Town
*meanwhile I started my Masters in Anthropology at the University of Cape Town, which started a quite a bit of confusion and was initially a bit overwhelming, but I'm loving it
*moved into a fabulous house in Cape Town with chill house-mates (thanks gumtree!), will have to post pics soon
*spent many days lounging on the beach and jumping in (and immediately back out) of the icy Atlantic Ocean
*hiked all over the incredible mountain parks in the area--and still many more to explore!
*swam in a reservoir of iodine red water in Silvermine National Park (something to do with the lead content I'm told)
*got mugged by a guy wielding a piece of KFC as a weapon--luckily only lost my cell phone!
*drove for the first time on the left side of the road, in a car that was not only a manual shift (not a problem) but also a manual choke (a little unnerving initially since I had never even heard of such a thing, but it was fine :)
*got attacked by an out-of-control wave on the beach--my reader is still traumatized and my bag still has sand in it, but we survived
*attended my first rugby match (Cape Town Stormers vs New Zealand Waratahs), also got drenched by the rain falling horizontally, and it was a draw!
*am developing a research question for my MA thesis, something to do with the impact of aid on development, if you have any connections to international humanitarian organizations in Eastern Africa (Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi) let me know!

That surely is not an exhaustive list, but it's the things that immediately spring to mind. Now that I'm a bit more settled I will attempt to post blogs more frequently! More adventures are soon to come as I am planning a short road trip to Namibia the beginning of June and shortly thereafter will head to Cyprus (!) for my friends wedding. Cape Town is an incredibly beautiful, interesting, and challenging city to be in, and I'm ecstatic to have the next 2 years to explore it, it already feels like home!