Xenophobia, or racism?

Xenophobia, or racism?

Xenophobia is described as ‘a fear, dislike, or prejudice against people from other countries.’  If you substitute ‘countries’ with ‘race’ then you have the description of racism. In my view the two are simply the same thing.

In my travels in a number of African countries North of South Africa I have encountered media reports of racist attacks between different ethnic Africans in the same country couched in the terms of ‘tribal differences’ or ‘ethnic differences’. In South Africa we use the term ‘xenophobic attack’. It seems Africans cannot call these events ‘racist attacks’ which, put bluntly, is what they are.

This reticence to use the word racism is, in all probability, as a consequence of having fought and conquered previous racist government ideology during the colonial era. This was all well and good and necessary but it seems to have embedded in the African psyche the mistaken idea that racism is only related to that liberation struggle.

As the struggle proponents during the liberation era used the moral high ground of fighting racism as the justification for their cause, it is now naturally difficult to admit that Africans themselves could be racist. This would create a situation where leaders could be called hypocrites for fighting racism to gain control of the country while allowing racist attacks between different ‘ethnic’ black people to receive less attention.

Well, it’s time we South Africans acknowledge that we come from, and sadly still are, a racist society. We have a significant portion of our legislation racially-based, couched under the softening term of ‘restitution’. We are obliged by law to hire people and set up businesses on a racial basis, punishable by law or commercial means for failures to do so. We have to legally report staff, management, and ownership levels on a racial basis. All government documents requiring personal identity require your race to be filled in. We have enforced sports quotas, even to the detriment of the national teams’ performances. We have many senior leaders ‘letting slip’ their racial tendencies with Mugabe, as a visitor in this country, recently making his racist viewpoint obvious. Note that no apology was asked of him from our government which, by not doing so, must simply imply consent with his view? Even if this is claimed not to be so by government the majority of people will infer this consent due to the silence by our government on this matter.

We, and especially our leaders, need to acknowledge that we are a racially legislated country which continuously re-enforces all our past embedded racial tendencies. Couple this to high unemployment, failing growth in the country, the growing sense of ‘entitlement’, and the increasing financial pressures stemming from numerous sources, (many seemingly ‘out of control’) , and we have a powder keg of potential racial conflict. We, including and especially the government, need to accept responsibility for this situation through our continuing insistence on being a racially-based society, by law.

The government has also allowed, for whatever reason, a large amount of non-South African citizens to enter and work in SA. I understand the non-South African's wanting to be here as the work opportunities in their own countries are possible limited. The high amount of illegal people in SA also rests squarely on the shoulders of government. To have this combined ‘over-population’ by foreigners redressed while being able to maintain a ‘high moral ground’ would greatly assist the government in improving the job situation for SA residents. One therefore has to question the voracity of the supposed ‘third force’ being mooted as being behind the attacks. Third force it may be but backed by whom?

In our current national racist psychological and legislative setup, coupled with the increasing tensions being created in the economy, these racist attacks are not going to go away and, in my belief, are going to get worse. It’s time to call the attacks what they are and thus gain the necessary attention and focus to actively pursue removing the reasons for them - just as was done previously by the same people who now govern our country. Are they, as government, prepared to step up and take meaningful and just steps to remove the base reasons behind these racist attacks? Only time will tell. Until then calling South Africa a non-racial society is simply a lie.