[Marxism] Anti-Immigrant Violence in S. Africa

[Bonnie Weinstein <giobon@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Anti-Immigrant Violence in S. Africa

By BARRY BEARAK

May 20, 2008

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/20/world/africa/20safrica.html?hp

 

JOHANNESBURG ? Violence against immigrants, like some windswept fire, spread
across one neighborhood after another here in one of South Africa¹s main
cities at the weekend, and the police said the mayhem left at least 12
people dead ? beaten by mobs, shot, stabbed or burned alive.

 

The violence continued to rage on Monday, as police fired rubber bullets and
made arrests to try to quell the violence in and around Johannesburg, and
said the death toll had reached 22, The Associated Press reported.

 

Thousands of panicked foreigners ? many of them Zimbabweans who have fled
their own country¹s economic collapse ? have now deserted their ramshackle
dwellings and tin-walled squatter hovels to take refuge in churches and
police stations.

 

On Monday, men wielding clubs and sticks patrolled along the road near one
camp ? apparently South Africans trying to prevent foreigners from
returning, The A.P. said.

 

This latest outbreak of xenophobia began a week ago in the historic township
of Alexandra and has since spread to other areas in and around Johannesburg,
including Cleveland, Diepsloot, Hilbrow, Tembisa, Primrose, Ivory Park and
Thokoza.

 

Amid so much violence, the police were spread thin, sending in squads of
officers in armored vehicles. ³We are using all available resources and will
call in reinforcements if the need arises,² a police spokesman, Govindswamy
Mariemuthoo, told reporters.President Thabo Mbeki said Sunday that he would
set up a panel of experts to investigate the causes of the violence. Jacob
Zuma, the president of the governing African National Congress and the man
presumed to succeed Mr. Mbeki next year, called the attacks on foreigners a
matter of national shame.

 

³We should be the last people to have this problem of having a negative
attitude towards our brothers and sisters who come from outside,² Mr. Zuma
said.

 

Many of South Africa¹s current leaders sought shelter in neighboring
countries during the apartheid years and were deeply embarrassed by the
violence.

 

Newspaper editorials have called the outbursts a matter of using immigrants
as scapegoats for South Africa¹s problems. The official unemployment rate is
23 percent. Food prices have risen sharply. The crime rate is among the
highest in the world.

 

And yet South Africa, with the most prosperous economy in the region, is a
magnet that draws a continuing stream of job seekers from Malawi, Mozambique
and elsewhere. An estimated three million Zimbabweans have sought refuge in
their neighbor to the south, many of them fleeing here in recent months as
Zimbabwe¹s economy has utterly collapsed and political violence has
intensified.

 

Mobs of South Africans shout: ³Who are you? Where are you from?² as they
maraud through the narrow streets they share with immigrants. They order
people from their homes, steal their belongings and put padlocks on the
houses.

 

Shops and businesses ? many of them owned by Zimbabweans, Somalis and
Pakistanis ? have been looted. Many victims are legal residents with all the
proper immigration documents. Some are being assaulted by neighbors they
have known for years. However genuine the rage against immigrants, criminals
have also made crafty use of the opportunity.

 

The police said they arrested more than 200 people over the weekend.


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