it was interesting listening to the world bank official talk about poverty and the reversal of anti-poverty gains only because the last time i heard&read structural adjustment programs and pushes for free trade were making folks poorer. but to be fair, check the world bank's povertynet to see what they've been doing over the past few years.
+++++
connected to this food crisis is the rise in violence against immigrants especially in south africa--joburg to be specific though cape town has had it's share of anti-somali violence. when i was living there the xenophobia was clear and i was "lucky" in the sense that i could pass for south african or was not bothered because i was an american or of some other acceptable nationality. most zim folks are differentiated from south africans by their darker skin.
it certainly breaks my heart to see poor folks turn on each other rather than channeling this anger in a productive way that targets the people and institutions that are more responsible for this crisis than a 20-something zimbabwean fleeing mugabe. but in reality, having not eaten in two days and being unemployed for two months, i really cannot expect a town hall meeting and a civil discussion. folks are hungry and frustrated. on to the article
Violence against immigrants, like some windswept fire, spread across one neighborhood after another here in one of South Africa’s main cities this weekend, and the police said the mayhem left at least 12 people dead — beaten by mobs, shot, stabbed or burned alive.read more about anti-immigrant violence in joburg @ blacklooks: xenophobia deflects government failures
[...]
Newspaper editorials have called the outbursts a matter of using immigrants as scapegoats for South Africa’s problems. The official unemployment rate is 23 percent. Food prices have risen sharply. The crime rate is among the highest in the world.
[...]
Mobs of South Africans shout: “Who are you? Where are you from?” 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.
also check out pambazuka articles:
:: south africa: refugee rights in the spotlight
:: xenophobia is all of us--a response to pius adesanmi
:: makwerekwere: black south africa's instant mix kaffirs
:: solidarity with zimbabwe: another side to the xenophobia story
2 thought(s) so far:
One thing for sure..the global food crisis, is becoming a great hurdle in the way of all the anti-poverty campaign's, like the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations
But we need to bring out the solution to this problem . Our concern is how to avert global food crisis and end poverty . And so to create awareness We have our endpoverty2015 millennium campaign
Post a Comment