Marumo Fatshe
What should ebonytraveler do? I am having anxiety about the trip as far as safety and security but I don't know when I will be afforded this opportunity again! I am slowly but surely leaning towards following through with my plan and going to SA.
You hear horror stories of Americans going out of the country and never being able to return and I just worry about that these are signs...there is clear turmoil taking place in a country that I am heading to. I am journeying straight into it...
However, after reading this article from one of a professor that I met and had a few email correspondence with, I am feeling more comfortable with the idea of moving forward....
Marumo Fatshe - Put Down Your Spear
Today in Kampala, Ugandans protested against the xenophobic attacks against Ugandans in South Africa and threatened to send home South Africans living in Uganda.Having been here for almost five weeks now I cannot say that I have heard of any Ugandans being attacked. The principle however of residents of African nationalities being attacked remains a valid point. The presentation of these incidents by the press used the words foriegners and xenophobia and as it was carried abroad, the interpretation was legitimately that everyone foreign was vulnerable. Indeed this was not the case. The attacks were an example of horizontal violence, the poor in the townships starting in Alexandria outside of Johannesburg, to Kwa-Zulu-Natal at Chatsworth, and townships in Capetown and the Western Cape - burnt the shacks of even poorer migrants, asylum seekers and refugees from Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Mali, Sudan etc. Over 50 people died and it is estimated that over 20,000 people have been displaced.
No Americans or foreign nationals from Europe or other parts of the world were attacked. At some point during our stay here while the violence was going on I had a special class on the nature of these attacks and reflected on the fact that unless I had raised the matter, or they were following the news, they would have no idea of the level of these attacks. Most of the students realized the gravity of the situation when they received e mails from home and the university. When I first started to visit South Africa many years ago I would say that a person could visit this country and never see poverty or never see the homes where the people who served them lived, unless the informal settlements confronted them when they were whizzing from the airport as it does in Capetown-and then they are immediately swallowed up by the privilege and luxury of the city. Soweto is about 45 minutes away from Johannesburg, Khaiyelitsha is about an hour away from Capetown and Alexandria is about Half an hour away, the closest township to the city and one of the poorest in the country. This was the hub of the alarm that it would spread from there ... to Rosebank, to Parktown, to Bramley, to Sandton. It did not.
South Africans were shocked at this and there was a great outcry. May 25th was Africa Day. Indeed I would say that the majority of the country rose up and spoke out against this. the South African media for all its mistakes, like not covering the great contributions that the African foreign nationals made to South Africa, were vehemently opposed to this violence and every day aired messages against this by prominent persons. Many protected migrants who were afraid for their lives. Although this was an attack on South Africa as a place that celebrated human rights it was that principle itself that halted these attacks. It was the concept and practice of ubuntu(I am because you are) that prevailed. It was this African concept that protected us all and kept us and South Africa safe. The problems that caused this violence have not magically disappeared but civic society in South Africa made a decision to protect their society and their good name. Everyday they would say on television "Marumo Fatshe"- put down your spear.
Siyabonga
We Thank you South Africa
Nesha Z. Haniff
Director, The Pedagogy of Action
June 5th. 2008
You hear horror stories of Americans going out of the country and never being able to return and I just worry about that these are signs...there is clear turmoil taking place in a country that I am heading to. I am journeying straight into it...
However, after reading this article from one of a professor that I met and had a few email correspondence with, I am feeling more comfortable with the idea of moving forward....
Marumo Fatshe - Put Down Your Spear
Today in Kampala, Ugandans protested against the xenophobic attacks against Ugandans in South Africa and threatened to send home South Africans living in Uganda.Having been here for almost five weeks now I cannot say that I have heard of any Ugandans being attacked. The principle however of residents of African nationalities being attacked remains a valid point. The presentation of these incidents by the press used the words foriegners and xenophobia and as it was carried abroad, the interpretation was legitimately that everyone foreign was vulnerable. Indeed this was not the case. The attacks were an example of horizontal violence, the poor in the townships starting in Alexandria outside of Johannesburg, to Kwa-Zulu-Natal at Chatsworth, and townships in Capetown and the Western Cape - burnt the shacks of even poorer migrants, asylum seekers and refugees from Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Mali, Sudan etc. Over 50 people died and it is estimated that over 20,000 people have been displaced.
No Americans or foreign nationals from Europe or other parts of the world were attacked. At some point during our stay here while the violence was going on I had a special class on the nature of these attacks and reflected on the fact that unless I had raised the matter, or they were following the news, they would have no idea of the level of these attacks. Most of the students realized the gravity of the situation when they received e mails from home and the university. When I first started to visit South Africa many years ago I would say that a person could visit this country and never see poverty or never see the homes where the people who served them lived, unless the informal settlements confronted them when they were whizzing from the airport as it does in Capetown-and then they are immediately swallowed up by the privilege and luxury of the city. Soweto is about 45 minutes away from Johannesburg, Khaiyelitsha is about an hour away from Capetown and Alexandria is about Half an hour away, the closest township to the city and one of the poorest in the country. This was the hub of the alarm that it would spread from there ... to Rosebank, to Parktown, to Bramley, to Sandton. It did not.
South Africans were shocked at this and there was a great outcry. May 25th was Africa Day. Indeed I would say that the majority of the country rose up and spoke out against this. the South African media for all its mistakes, like not covering the great contributions that the African foreign nationals made to South Africa, were vehemently opposed to this violence and every day aired messages against this by prominent persons. Many protected migrants who were afraid for their lives. Although this was an attack on South Africa as a place that celebrated human rights it was that principle itself that halted these attacks. It was the concept and practice of ubuntu(I am because you are) that prevailed. It was this African concept that protected us all and kept us and South Africa safe. The problems that caused this violence have not magically disappeared but civic society in South Africa made a decision to protect their society and their good name. Everyday they would say on television "Marumo Fatshe"- put down your spear.
Siyabonga
We Thank you South Africa
Nesha Z. Haniff
Director, The Pedagogy of Action
June 5th. 2008
posted by Professor Masala @ 1:38 PM
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