The violence that spread from one township to another in South
Africa for the past two weeks, got people thinking. How could this
situation deteriorate so quickly? How could the presence of foreigners
in South Africa suddenly become a national and regional security
disaster?
Events sometimes do mirror theory predictions. When
it comes to defining classic communal violence, theories of communal
violence can be useful to understand what has happened in South Africa.
In theoretical terms, communal violence happens in a sudden wave,
mobilising masses of people to take up violent actions. The underlying
fact is that there has to be existing tensions and elements of
discontent in the society in question. In addition, there is always a
trigger to the violence, which is not necessarily related to any
element of discontent.
In the recent events, masses of people
mobilised to take part in attacks against foreigners living in South
Africa. There was a clear polarization opposing South Africans to black
foreigners although other South Africans got caught in the cross fire.
It is also undeniable that the attacks spread from township to township
and aggression, threat and violence were an essential component. As to
the suddenness and unexpectedness of the attacks, tensions have been
brewing for a long time and South Africa has long been known as a
hostile climate for other Africans. But it would have been impossible
to predict that the hostile climate could so quickly turn into a place
where people and homes were burnt and businesses destroyed.
The
event that sparked the fire has been hard to find. The trigger event
does not necessarily have to be related to the contributing factors.
However, it needs to be of the nature of 'the final straw' and that
will make people say 'enough is enough'. It may be a job application
turned down, or a South African child beaten up by a foreigner or even
an infidelity case between a South African and a foreigner, a bar fight
gone wrong or a customer lost. To date, not a single fact can be
singled out and pointed at as a trigger to the violence in South
African urban townships.
Unemployment, price hikes, economic
disparities, lack of opportunity and generally dire living conditions
are some of the contributing factors to this social unrest. An
environment in which violence and aggression flourishes, has been
stimulated by increased socio-economic pressures and increased
competition for scarce resources. This environment has been made all
the more volatile by the presence of foreign Africans adding further
competition for opportunity and scarce resources.
Media
reports, analysts and governments officials call the events
'xenophobic' attacks. The next question should be 'what makes South
Africans living in townships have a 'phobia' of black foreigners?'...
Claudine Inamahoro, Peace and Security Fellow at King's
College London, Intern, Security Sector Governance Programme, ISS
Tshwane (Pretoria)
ISSblog
Xenophobia on the Loose in South Africa: Observations on the Recent Conflagration
...
An important point to note is that South Africa is not the first
country in the world, or indeed in Africa, to encounter violent
motivated by an aversion to foreigners or minorities. The term
xenophobia generally encapsulates a deep fear and dislike of foreigners
or unknown persons. In South Africa, as in the case of attacks on
foreigners in urban areas in contemporary Germany, xenophobia takes the
form of contemptuous, negative attitudes to and hostile treatment of
black foreigners. In the last three weeks the treatment has tended to
be extremely violent, murderous or life threatening. The nature of the
violence, particularly in Cape Town perhaps left a few critical lessons.
... ISS Today 29th May 2008
