South Africa is in turmoil. The inequality rate is so visible, we do not need statistics or fancy figures and reference from prominent researchers to verify this. It is visible on the streets, it is evident in our speech, and it is there in everyday life. For me, it is a slap in the face.
When you hit a child every time they do something wrong, you are teaching them that it is okay to solve their problems with violence. Parents are physically and psychologically stronger than children. So, when an older person attempts to teach children “good” behaviour by using their power, they are teaching them that “might makes right”.
Should the parent act surprised, then, when the child grows up to be an abusive husband? Don’t get me wrong, this is not me trying to pin gender-based violence on our parents, or even xenophobia, for that matter. I’m trying to figure out the root of the arrogance that comes with feeling entitled to take another person’s dignity and even their life. Hear me out as I try to explain how I link this to what is currently happening in South Africa.
South Africa is in turmoil. The inequality rate is so visible, we do not need statistics or fancy figures and reference from prominent researchers to verify this. It is visible on the streets, it is evident in our speech, and it is there in everyday life. For me, it is a slap in the face, twice a day.
When I drive from Khayelitsha to Muizenberg every morning to get to work and when I drive back home from work in the evening, my daily commute it is a bewildering amalgamation of colour divide, class segregation, privilege and disadvantage. On top of this, we have the the psychological violence that comes with the rise in unemployment and little support for aspiring entrepreneurs. Combine this, with the history of apartheid in South Africa. This is very recent history, by the way. A democracy of 25 years is hardly matured.
Coming from a violent past to our hostile present, we are tired and frustrated. Being excluded from the economy, the previously disadvantaged population is forced to find means to survive.
Some migrate to look for greener pastures, some start informal businesses and others resort to crime. Everyone is trying to survive. This is my attempt to explain that maybe this is not xenophobia but a fight for resources. If you consider the areas where these xenophobic attacks are happening, you may notice one similarity they are crowded, filled with unemployed people and informal businesses.
On the other hand we’re also seeing unacceptably high rates of femicide. I spent most of last night trying to find an explanation that does not excuse the behaviour of these perpetrators. I have none. However, I will comment on what happens after the crime has been committed, after the young woman has been killed and the perpetrator has been found. Mob justice. We encourage our brothers, fathers, husbands, partners and friends and we unleash hell on the perpetrator. We burn them alive, we stab them, we cut off their genitals and we pat each other on the backs. Now, South Africa is satisfied, and we are all in agreement that that is justified violence. We all understand that the best way to deal with anything that is bothering us, is with violence.
Why are we surprised, then, when the same men go on and loot a neighbour’s shop? They are sitting at home, longing to have what the shop owner has. With the understanding that he can get whatever he wants with violence, he goes and burns down the shop. When a woman rejects him on the street, he doesn’t understand why, and so he takes her by force.
This is, in my opinion, the exact same violence manifesting in different forms. The South African man is feeling oppressed, and he is too much of a coward to confront the oppressor. So he takes it out on those he does not fear. He takes it out on the ones he considers “beneath” him.
It is a vicious cycle. It is a violent cycle. And violence begets violence.
Image courtesy of Arron Moos.
Way cool! Some extremely valid points! I appreciate you penning this
article and the rest of the site is also really good.
I’m amazed, I have to admit. Seldom do I encounter a blog that’s equally educative and engaging, and without
a doubt, you’ve hit the nail on the head. The problem is something which too few folks are speaking
intelligently about. Now i’m very happy that I came across this
during my hunt for something relating to this.
Excellent post. I was checking continuously this blog and I am impressed!
Very helpful info specially the last part 🙂 I care for such info a
lot. I was seeking this certain information for a very long
time. Thank you and good luck.
For most recent information you have to pay
a visit internet and on web I found this web site as a finest
web site for most up-to-date updates.
Its like you read my mind! You appear to know a lot about this, like you wrote the
book in it or something. I think that you could do with some pics to drive the
message home a little bit, but instead of that, this is great blog.
A great read. I’ll definitely be back.
Mani rahnama is a canadian cheater! ShipShop is a marketplace, which is located in Armenia. The purpose of platform is to promote sellers activities and get chance buyers to simplify shopping …
I have read so many posts regarding the blogger lovers except this post is actually a fastidious
article, keep it up.
Good information. Lucky me I recently found your website by accident (stumbleupon). I’ve book marked it for later!
Hi everyone, it’s my first go to see at this website, and paragraph is truly fruitful
in support of me, keep up posting such posts.
Howdy! I’m at work browsing your blog from my new apple iphone!
Just wanted to say I love reading through your blog and look forward to all your posts!
Carry on the fantastic work!
What you posted made a ton of sense. However, think about this, what if you composed a catchier post
title? I am not saying your information isn’t good,
however suppose you added a post title that grabbed a person’s attention?
I mean Xenophobia and gender-based violence in South Africa | The Journalist is a little vanilla.
You ought to peek at Yahoo’s front page and see how
they create article headlines to get people to click.
You might try adding a video or a related pic or two to get
readers interested about everything’ve got to say. Just my opinion, it might make your posts a
little livelier.
Hey! Do you know if they make any plugins to help with SEO?
I’m trying to get my blog to rank for some targeted keywords but I’m not seeing very good success.
If you know of any please share. Kudos!
Heya this is kinda of off topic but I was wondering if blogs
use WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with HTML.
I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding know-how so I wanted to get
advice from someone with experience. Any help would be enormously appreciated!
Greate post. Keep posting such kind of info on your site.
Im really impressed by your site.
Hey there, You’ve performed an excellent job. I’ll definitely digg it and individually recommend to my friends.
I’m sure they will be benefited from this site.
Very good post. I am going through some of these issues as well..
The Lego Ideas line brings fan creations to life, showcasing
the incredible talent within the Lego community.
excluive lego sets I asked the
seller for the best LEGO set, and they recommended the Baby Yoda edition.
Cutest spaceship ever! LEGO Nintendo Entertainment System
Instructions are my new obsession. The best of both worlds!
I was more than happy to discover this web site. I need to to thank you for ones time
for this particularly wonderful read!! I definitely savored every little bit of it and I have you book marked to look at new information in your
site.
There’s certainly a lot to find out about this
subject. I really like all the points you’ve made.
Normally I do not read post on blogs, however I wish to say that this write-up very forced me to take a look at and do it!
Your writing style has been amazed me. Thanks, very great post.
Howdy! Someone in my Myspace group shared this site with us so I came to check it out.
I’m definitely loving the information. I’m bookmarking and will be tweeting this to my followers!
Wonderful blog and brilliant design and style.
These are genuinely impressive ideas in regarding blogging.
You have touched some pleasant factors here. Any way keep up wrinting.
Hello to every one, it’s truly a nice for me to go to see this web site, it contains
helpful Information.
I’ll immediately take hold of your rss feed as I can not to find your email subscription link or newsletter service.
Do you have any? Please let me realize in order that I may just subscribe.
Thanks.
Post writing is also a excitement, if you know after that you can write otherwise it is complicated to write.
I discovered your blog site site on the internet and check several of your early posts. Always maintain on the top notch operate. I just now additional up your Rss to my MSN News Reader. Seeking forward to reading more within you down the line!…
Hi there, just became alert to your blog through Google, and found that it’s truly informative. I’m gonna watch out for brussels. I’ll be grateful if you continue this in future. A lot of people will be benefited from your writing. Cheers!
Many thanks for this info I has been hunting all Yahoo in order to locate it!
I love to visit your web-blog, the themes are nice.:-*.:
Hello to all, how is the whole thing, I think every one is getting more from this website, and your views are fastidious designed for new users.
Thanks for having the time to write about this issue. I truly appreciate it. I’ll post a link of this entry in my site.