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Ok , as I said before there's no xenophobia, and don't feel guilt tripped into thinking you hate someone you don't just because of media hogwash. Xenophobia is there, but phobias are very very rare in groups and are normally isolated experiences, not experienced or shared as a group. I have my phobias and they are not shared by many people. Many situations have been misinterpreted as xenophobia for the benefit of those evangelising the word.
Misuse of words by the media creates a standalone complex , where you get people who think they are xenophobic when they are not.
The xenophobia issue is complex, not cos It's complicated. But because the word xenophobia is a scapegoat. That's why the current solution won't work and the problem will still be there cos they are not solving a problem.
They are giving it a different name and solving a problem that's not there. And as I explained before. Safricans are not xenophobic. If Safricans were xenophobic there wouldn't be any foreign people here to start with. There wouldn’t have been anyone from another country here.
There's a few who try to create problems for the other. Example, Africans generally welcomed and accepted westerners in the early days of colonization. Even today they are welcomed. And not all westerners embraced apartheid either. Safrica is even famously called the rainbow nation because of the way it embraces different kinds of people irrespective of where they come from. And Mandela is the symbol of this kind of tolerance. And from this kind of tolerance Safrica developed to become well, the best biggest country in Africa.
Cos of it's level of tolerance for different people, and obviously it didn't start that way. There was Defecane (intolerance) , and apartheid ( intolerance) …but South Africa conquered that and moved on. And countries that do not tolerate - well you see them all over africa and their messed up economies and instability are evidence of such.
But before understanding the problem of "Xenophobia" a( quotation marks because it's not the real problem) ..There has to be some background understanding.
- People generally love the countries they come from even though they are a hopeless case. People are generally patriotic about where they come from. Similar to how people still keep a family name even though their parents were not very great people. So don't get the idea that people came here cos they hated where they are from.
- You have to understand the criminal mindset, criminals are opportunists. Criminals are kind of evolved more than the "ordinary" human in terms of discrimination etc. Ordinary humans normally acknowledge , black , white , cultures etc…The criminal mind is not confined to that. For example an ordinary human might find it normal to treat someone of the same skin colour as they are better than someone of a different skin colour or tribe. The criminal mind doesn't care - and it knows that people are the same. And it can steal from both in order to profit. It can hurt both in order to profit.
Ok just understand those two points first. Now let's go to the problem. Here's an analogy that might help.
The problem is there's water coming through a hole on the roof when it rains. So the South African government places bowls to collect the water and says problem solved. But thing is - water on the floor is not the problem - it's the result of the problem ( water through the roof). The problem being solved or treated as solved is the wrong one. So what happens ?
More water comes through the roof…so the Safrican government gets more bowls and places them all over the house making it hard to move in the house. So the residents of the house complain. And water doesn't just leak through the roof. The holes that it leaks through get bigger and bigger and the roof can eventually cave in.
Another analogy is the sinking people problem. Some guy notices people drowning downstream. He and his friends save the person. Then later on they notice more and more people drowning - until the guy gets tired of saving people downstream and says , "I'm going upstream to find the idiot who's pushing people into the water".
So what's the problem ?
What made Safricans move to another country during Apartheid?
Conflict in the country… What happened when there was no conflict in the country ? South Africans returned. Get it ? That's the problem - not XENOPHOBIA.
The problem is what is making people leave their countries. And it doesn't take a genius to figure it out that there's a connection between conflict and the great number of refugees/those who show up illegaly from those specific conflict countries.
And the most common conflict is Islam Extremists (Nigeria, Somalia and many others), and bad decisions made by Zimbabwean government. And also ongoing battles for power in DRC. Making people leave their homes to find better places. That's the problem …and there's also things that contribute to the problem.
When we South Africans, especially our government live like there's no problem. Trust me, What happens to your neighbour(any person) at the opposite side of the world - if ignored, it's going to affect you eventually. For example , the government knows there's a problem with the way Zimbabwe did things - but says elections were fair and welcomes the people who made the problems with praises.
There's many problems with Islam extremists but governments are afraid of admitting it and treat it like an isolated case - as if it's independent of Islam. What happens when a problem is unsolved - it grows until you solve it. And the AU hasn't been doing too much to solve the problem and doesn't welcome radical efforts to solve it. Those radical efforts are normally taken by the US. So we fail to acknowledge the problem - and the consequences of the problem reach us.
People flocking to South Africa is not the problem. The problem is what is causing people en masse to flock to South Africa. Just like South Africa before - if you end Apartheid - people can then return to the home they love. And Apartheid was stopped by many governments and people working together speaking against the injustice of the previous government.
Is the same done with Zimbabwe or bad African leaders leading their nations to a state of civil unrest ? No one generally speaks against this ( It's really funny , the government will say the way Zimbabwe did things was wrong so we can't follow what they did - but they'll shower the Zimbabwean government with praises - this is the EXACT source of the problem) - so the problem grows. Water through the ceiling leaks.
More people flow down river. And housing people and taking care of them is not solving the problem ( I know there's evil people who might misread this trying to twist my words). It's solving the consequences of the problem.
When there's a leak what do you do ? You put a bowl to collect water on the floor ( take care of people ) ..and then you go to the roof ( upstream) and fix the holes that are causing the problem. And you won't fix the problem by looking away like it's not there.
So let's think a bit about it. There's a problem next door. The wife is abused by the husband. So she seeks refuge at your home. So many wives on your street get abused then the find refuge at your home…Ok now let's think.
What happens when there's 30 women at your family of 5. What should have been going to the family - has to go to the other 20 wives. What protest do the children make ? " They are taking our money" (they are taking our jobs)
|interlude -- I was resting in car when I overheard a kid talking to my father. He said he's selling videos on cds, and seems to have been some kind of a part time actor. Then dad asked him - you said you're selling the cds for R20, why is written R80 on your covers? - the kid said " the foreigners copy our cds and sell them for a lesser price" --- question is …is the kid lying ? |
Anyway back to the analogy. Do the kids hate the wife ? NO - they don't hate her , neither are they afraid of her. They just feel her presence is compromising what they are supposed to get in the family. And this is NOT xenophobia - it's the result of taking too much than you can handle.
The best move is to take care of first wife - and solve the problem or find a place where she can stand on her own etc…It's not taking her in and leaving it at that. Even the bible has a word in these kinds of scenarios.
Pro 25:17 And don't visit your neighbors' homes too often, or they will begin to hate you.
Pro 25:17 Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbour's house; lest he be weary of thee, and so hate thee.
It's not Xenophobia, it's common sense.
THIS DOESN'T MEAN they should be chased away as well ? That's evil and stupid. It means house , support and help them and..let me repeat the and…AND - SOLVE THE REAL PROBLEM.
Placing bowls all over the house doesn't stop water from leaking ! The ones responsible are us ( for not doing or saying something against bad governance - people complain about Israel that's far away but fail to see the wrongs done by governments close to them….People are busy sticking pig faces in Woolworths against Israel but how many marched against the bad decisions made in Zimbabwe ?
How many marched or protested against the deaths ? ). ..The ones more responsible is THE SAFRICAN GOVERNMENT. When a country does wrong it should face the hard truth and tell it. When nations are not stable it should admit it and work on the problem not hold meetings talking about a problem.
It should solve the problem using drastic measures like what was done during Apartheid. …The ones MOST responsible is the Governments that are causing conflict in the country. Some cling to power - some use religion as weapon - some fight for power etc. These are the bacteria and viruses causing the sickness. Putting your hand over your mouth isn't curing flu.
So I don't really see the Zulu King as wrong , he just came up with a wrong solution. He was brave enough to acknowledge a problem that many do want to admit. I'm not Zulu by the way - I don't really care about cultures either or skin colour , they mean nothing to me ( incase someone wants to throw accusations).
Thing is , if a township has a problem - listen to them, investigate , research and solve the problem. It's not that general accusations against foreigners are right. Don't say they have xenophobia and are bad … Solve the problem they have - and just because you sit comfortably at your home and are not really affected by township problems doesn't mean all is ok-and everyone who doesn't live like you and is affected is a xenophobe.
My lifestyle is unaffected by township problems - but I should be willing to listen to people who say they have a problem. Yes there is a problem and in many cases - the crimes being committed are by foreigners and locals as well. And it's not xenophobic to say that - it's the truth. I read the news A LOT ..and I know what I read and if you want evidence I can gladly give.
The Criminal element.
You have to understand that criminals are opportunists. They take advantage of opportunities that are in the environment and manipulate those conditions to benefit from it. So understand there's 3 criminals.
The 1st , is the governments that do bad things or ignore bad things that happen. They take advantage of their seats of power. But people can vote these things out -but sadly when it comes to undemocratic countries like many in Africa it's not easy. But it's possible - you can campaign and speak against wrongs through the proper channels.
Apartheid was fought legally and illegally and I believe it's the legal efforts that truly overturned apartheid that's why a legal government not crime syndicate was voted in legally. ( don't wanna hear nagging from news 24 racists on that point - I know they'd rush in to say Anc is a criminal terrorist/gang or whatever…anyway grow up ).
The 2nd is the criminals who are foreigners. They take advantage of the opportunity that South Africa gives.( The open doors and tolerance). Sometimes they sell their trafficking routes - often raping some of those who seek shelter or pay for their services. Some expand their drug markets and join local gangs or start their own gangs in SA to do heists etc.
3rd is the criminals who are locals. They take advantage of the idea of xenophobia. They evangelize the hate - they encourage people to hate foreigners - so they might get their business working. Or so they might get a job position. Or so they can beat a certain price or so they can attack people and vent - or so they can steal an item they always wanted from a shop. Criminals don't care about foreigners or locals. They use people in order to get what they need.
And these criminals normally mobilize people to get what they want and people shouldn't fall for it. Even the foreign criminals capitalize on xenophobia. In order to protect their gangs and crimes - they'll say if you have a problem with me or accuse me you're xenophobic,
Which makes you a bad judgmental person. They might want you to be too tolerant or soft so they can scam you etc…They need the borders open. Please recall a news article about where stolen phones go - indicating that stolen phones don't work in South Africa so they are sold in other countries instead. Not all foreigners are criminals - and not all local are criminals..but they both exist and in many cases they work together.
So when people complain about some foreigners taking advantage of country's tolerance. Don't say it's homophobic. Investigate and find the truth and SOLVE THE PROBLEM.
