FREEDOM FROM RACISM – A FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHT

By - - and Thabo Mbeki Reprint | | Print |

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PRETORIA, Apr 10 2007 (IPS) - We must continue to debate honestly and fearlessly the scourge of racism that permeates so much of the fabric of our society, writes Thabo Mbeki, president of South Africa. In this analysis, Mbeki refutes the argument of some that discussion is inimical to the task of achieving national reconciliation. The truth is the opposite: the racism that remains a daily feature of our lives is a demon that must be exorcised precisely to achieve national reconciliation. Those who are determined to avoid confronting these difficult issues seek to divert attention away from discussing the relationship between racism and the perception of crime by falsely and dishonestly claiming that I am trying to deny or minimise the seriousness of the incidence of crime in South Africa. It remains to be seen whether we have the will to know one another and to debate with one another, to educate ourselves not to be too quick to judge as illegitimate the concerns and expressions of any group; and whether we have the courage to engage in a truth and reconciliation process even with regard to the challenge of openly confronting the cancer of deeply dehumanising racist stereotypes that developed over many centuries.

The scourge of racism that permeates so much of the fabric of our society is one we must continue to debate honestly and fearlessly. The preferred expression used to close down and prohibit any discussion on racism in our country is, ”Don’t play the race card”. It is also argued that such discussion is inimical to the task of achieving national reconciliation.

The truth is the opposite: the racism that remains a daily feature of our lives is a demon that must be exorcised precisely to achieve national reconciliation. It must be confronted openly and continuously if we are to achieve the Constitutional imperative of a non-racial society, as we must.

Recently I received a report prepared by a group of independent investigators who had been asked to assess the cause of a labour dispute, as well as conflicts within management. The report says that one of the white managers affected by the investigation, Mr X, ”admitted that he and other white managers used the term ‘kaffir’ (an offensive ethnic/racial label) generally in the everyday conversation, and he saw nothing wrong with this. However he always made certain that he did not use this word when Africans were present, and also avoided calling anybody ‘kaffir’ to their face. Another manager sometimes flattened his nose with his finger as a derogatory reference to Africans.”

The report says that the African workers ”fear Mr X, who always threatens to fire them, and does not listen or care for them. Failure to take action against Mr X for his racist remarks could well raise the levels of conflict and dissatisfaction amongst workers and lead to further disruptions at the workplace.”

This account corroborates that racism is alive and well at the workplace and that this racism does not just amount to bad language, to which we must be opposed. It has a direct, negative, material impact on the lives of our people, especially the working people, and sends the message that apartheid is not dead. It is not something we should put out of sight, and therefore out of mind, by responding to all attempts to confront it as “playing the race card”.

In the period immediately preceding the transition in 1994, our movement grappled constantly with the phenomenon in our country then characterised as “white fears”. President Nelson Mandela again addressed this issue in his Political Report to the 50th National Conference of the African National Congress (ANC) in 1997, saying: “The prophets of doom have re-emerged in our country. In 1994, these predicted that the transition to democracy would be attended by a lot of bloodshed…(Now) their task is to spread messages about an impending economic collapse, escalating corruption in the public service, rampant and uncontrollable crime, a massive loss of skills through white emigration, and mass demoralisation among the people either because they are white and therefore threatened by the ANC and its policies which favour black people, or because they are black and consequently forgotten because the ANC is too busy protecting white privilege.”

As Nelson Mandela observed, we have continued to express our own serious concern to dramatically reduce the levels of crime and have acted consistently to achieve this result. The fact of unacceptably high levels of crime in our country is not in dispute. Nevertheless, in the light of what follows, none among us should be surprised when, as is customary, those who are determined to avoid confronting these difficult issues seek to divert attention away from discussing the relationship between racism and the perception of crime by falsely and dishonestly claiming that I am trying to deny or minimise the seriousness of the incidence of crime in South Africa.

The fact of the matter is that we still have a significant proportion of people among the white minority, though by no means all of them, that continues to live in fear of the black, and especially African majority. For this section of our population, which does not “find it too difficult to revert to the accustomed world of fear of the future”, every reported incident of crime communicates the frightening and expected message that – the kaffirs are coming!

It remains to be seen whether we have the will to know one another and to debate with one another, to spend more time listening to one another, educating ourselves not to be too quick to judge as illegitimate the concerns and expressions of any group; and whether we have the courage to engage in a truth and reconciliation process even with regard to the challenge of openly confronting the cancer of deeply dehumanising racist stereotypes that developed over many centuries. (END/COPYRIGHT IPS/ANC Today)