Zimbabwean is the new Black: Racism and rioting in South Africa

Few would have missed the news that the rainbow nation of South Africa has been embroiled in a string of anti-immigrant riots which have brought to light the endemic discrimination and mistreatment that many African migrants face in the Black townships of the country. Tensions have been simmering for a long time, and the conditions on the ground are worsening as more and more impoverished souls compete for scraps thrown from the bosses' and landlord's tables.

Previously, economic hardship could be blamed on the shackles of apartheid, but as time moves on that explanation becomes less and less plausible and the fault must be shifted onto another party, this time immigrants from neighbouring nations who are drawn to what is indeed Africa's wealthiest and most developed nation. The masses are caught up in a fever of xenophobic fury and are blinded by their rage, blind to the real reason for their dire poverty and living conditions: the capitalist economy, with its emphasis on profit rather than human development, exploitation rather than assistance. Until the working class of South Africa wakes up to the very troubling situation that they are in there will be little hopes of quelling the violence that has swept that country.

Libellés : Afrique, Pauvreté et développement

par Borges à 14:47

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