Wwn93

1WORKERS WORLD NEWS | No. 93 | June 2015

Issue 93 | june 2015

alternatives to globalisation

XENOPHOBIC UTTERENCES: THE POOR BEAR THE BRUNT

Xenophobic utterances: the poor bear the brunt Nandi Vanqa-Mgijima Xenophobia rising in Europe Shawn Hattingh Class Struggle, ‘Xenophobia’ and the Local Elite Jonathan PaynWho are the Xenophobes hiding behind and stigmatising the poor? Leonard GentleXenophobia and the feminisation of migrancyChristelle TerreblancheMy organisation African Diaspora ForumSolidarity Protests Across Africa Against XenophobiaMthetho Xali

Continued on page 2...

In the wake of the xenophobic attacks against working class immigrants, the South African government has deployed the army. On the face of it this has been done to stop the attacks. When one looks deeper, however, the story is not so simple.

THE SOUTH AfRICAN gOvERNmENT’S XENOPHOBIC REACTION

The army, along with Home Affairs, have been targeting impoverished immigrants from other parts of Africa during these raids. Hundreds of immigrants have been arrested. In one raid alone, on the Central Methodist Church

in Johannesburg, over 400 refugees were arrested and now face deportation. Along with conducting raids, the police also violently stopped two recent anti-xenophobic protests in Durban and Cape Town.

The government has also said it is going to further tighten border and immigration controls in the aftermath of the attacks, and even establish refugee camps. Despite the rhetoric of the government in condemning the recent attacks, in practice therefore the South African

Poster at the anti-xenophobia march in Johannesburg in April. Photo: Jacob Potlaki (Casual Workers Advice Office - CWAO)

2 WORKERS WORLD NEWS | No. 93 | June 2015

Lead Story

state’s reaction to the attacks has itself been xenophobic.

WE SHOUld NOT BE SURPRISEd

We should, however, not be surprised. The ANC-led state’s actions and policies since 1994 have often been xenophobic. In fact, the man who sparked the recent xenophobic attacks has close links to the state and ANC, and is none other than king Zwelithini. In March the king told a gathering in Pongola that ‘foreigners’ are all over South Africa and he called on them to “pack their belongings and go back to their countries.” It was this that sparked off the attacks.

Yet no action was taken by the state against Zwelithini. Part of the reason is because he is vital in securing votes in rural KwaZulu-Natal – we have seen the ANC increasingly cosying up to traditional leaders to try and secure rural votes despite many of the leaders holding deeply conservative ideas. As such, the ANC needs Zwelithini as an ally and hence government will not condemn what he said. He was, in fact, defended by the likes of the Minster of Police, Nathi Nhleko, who said the king’s call was justified and that people who did not ‘legally’ belong in South Africa had to be deported.

Part of the reason too why the state did not rebuke Zwelithini is that, in a sense, he was echoing the state’s anti-immigrant positions. Since 1994 the ANC led state’s policies towards immigrants have been reactionary. The first post-1994 Home Affairs Minister was blatant in his anti-immigration sentiments when he said the “free movement of people spells disaster for our country”. As a result

of such positions it is extremely difficult to gain asylum or permanent residency in South Africa even if you are fleeing war or political oppression. People who do not possess what the state defines as a scarce skill often find their applications rejected. Home Affairs is also painfully slow to process anyone wanting to immigrate to South Africa and there is a backlog of hundreds of thousands of applications. Harassment of immigrants by the police and Home Affairs, especially those from other parts of Africa, has been commonplace.

THE CONTEXT Of XENOPHOBIA

The attacks on immigrants also occur in a context where people in South Africa face mass unemployment, poverty and inhumane living conditions. Indeed, the government’s neoliberal policies have had a devastating impact on the working class in South Africa. Xenophobic attacks often occur when members of the ruling class, including politicians and state officials, make remarks that immigrants are to blame for the ills people face, and thus not neoliberalism. Officials in the state, and also leading capitalists, have often done this: to deflect attention away from neoliberalism and the government’s failings they have often blamed immigrants for being the reason behind unemployment or a strain on ‘service delivery’. As such, they use immigrants as easy targets to try and avoid people indentifying the real reason for the problems they face: the ruling class, its state, and its policies.

Part of the reason too why xenophobia has gained some ground is also due to the relative weakness of working class formations. The ANC, along with its alliance partners COSATU and the SACP, deliberately demobilised the working class after 1994. It is partly in this context – in which progressive politics was deliberately rolled back - that reactionary ideas, pushed by the ruling class, can take hold amongst sections of the population. Like poverty, therefore, the blame for xenophobia must be placed squarely on the ruling class, its state, and the anti-working class policies and practices pushed by the ANC and its allies.

SOUTH AfRICA’S gREEd dISPlACES THE POOR

Socio-economic and political conditions, associated with neo-liberalism and imperialism, too are push factors that have led to people from other parts of Africa coming to South

Africa. Many people are fleeing poverty and unemployment, associated with neoliberalism. Some are also fleeing wars linked to imperialism or local depots supported by imperialist powers.

In this the South African state’s hands are not clean. The South African state and ruling class have played a role in promoting neoliberalism in the rest of the continent. They have done this to open up business opportunities – to exploit workers and resources – for South African state-owned and private companies in the rest of Africa.

Linked to this, the South African state has often backed brutal local elites, in exchange for business opportunities, such as Kabila in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This has gone as far as the South African state sending troops to the DRC and the Central African Republic to protect its local allies and South African businesses. Thus, the South African ruling class has been involved in exploiting the working class across Africa, driving it deeper into poverty and even engaging in wars that displace people – people that sometimes flee to South Africa.

CONClUSION

The working class (workers and the unemployed) have nothing to gain from xenophobia. Xenophobia only benefits the ruling class. Both the South African born working class, and the working class from other parts of Africa that have come to South Africa, are victims of the government’s policies.

Working class unity, therefore, must be a priority and no one should be branded ‘illegal’ and deported. It is for this reason that the poor must organise and mobilise, whether locally born or born elsewhere, to fight against unemployment, xenophobia, racism, and neoliberalism.

""free movement

of people spells

disaster for our

country""Mangosuthu

Buthelezi

xenophobia

only benefits

the ruling class

""pack their

belongings and

go back to their

countries""king Zwelithini

XENOPHOBIA IN EUROPE

International News

3WORKERS WORLD NEWS | no. 93 | June 2015

South Africa has not been the only place that has witnessed xenophobia, in Europe too xenophobia has been growing.

An important question needs to be asked in this context and that is who benefits from this xenophobia: the ruling class or the working class?

XENOPHOBIA ANd THE fAR RIgHT

For many years far-right and populist parties that are anti-immigrant have been gaining ground across Europe. A case in point is that during the recent elections in Britain, the populist anti-immigrant party, the United Kingdom Independent Party (UKIP), received 3.2 million votes. Many such parties attempt to gain support, including in working class areas, by claiming that ills, such as high unemployment and the rolling back of welfare, are caused by immigrants.

This rise in far right parties has also been accompanied by growing xenophobic attacks on immigrants from Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and Eastern Europe. In Germany, for example, violent attacks on immigrants rose by 22% in 2014.

IT IS NOT jUST THE fAR RIgHT

The growth of far-right parties and attacks on immigrants, as horrifying as they are, are only symptoms of much larger problems. The reality is that European states, and the ruling classes that control them, have implemented policies that have led to, and are, xenophobic.

They have, therefore, created a xenophobic climate in Europe.

NEO-lIBERAlISm ANd SCAPE-gOATINg

Since the early 1980s states across Europe have implemented neoliberal policies. The aim of these policies has been to attack the working class to ensure that the profits of

corporations could be increased. In fact, states have passed laws that have made it easier for capitalists to hire and fire workers in Europe and they have passed laws too that have enabled temporary insecure work to increasingly become the norm.

Unemployment too has risen dramatically:

The ruling classes in Europe, as part of neo-liberalism, have also cut the tax rates for members of the ruling class, including corporate tax. Part of this has been to funnel wealth upwards. Coupled to cutting taxes for the rich, states have also slashed what they spend on social services, specifically for the working class. Due to past struggles the working class in Europe had won concessions from the ruling class in terms of welfare. Under neo-liberalism these gains have been rolled back and this has intensified during the current capitalist crisis. This has all led to declining living standards for the working class across Europe.

In this context the ruling classes in Europe have looked for ways to deflect blame away from the neoliberal policies they have put in place. Indeed, since the 1980s they have been promoting the idea that it is not neo-liberalism that was and is responsible for the declining living standards of the working class, but immigrants who have supposedly been taking people’s jobs and that have supposedly been causing the welfare system to collapse. In this sense, the ruling class has been trying to scapegoat immigrants and it has tried to turn the working class on one another. It is in this atmosphere of divide and rule that xenophobia directed at immigrants has grown.

EXPlOITINg ImmIgRANTS

Although the ruling class has been scapegoating immigrants, many industries in Europe – in particular the service industries - rely on low paid vulnerable workers for cheap labour, many of whom are immigrants. It is in fact, the states in Europe, and the European Union’s, immigration policies, along with neoliberalism, that has created large numbers of vulnerable workers that can be exploited.

Most of the immigrants that go to Europe are from North Africa and the Middle East. Many of these people are trying to escape despotic states – who are backed by the major European imperialist states – and the

Members of a xenophobic far-right wing party in Europe. Photo: libcom

today over

25 million people

in europe are

unemployed.

Continued on page 5...


ClASS STRUgglE, ‘XENOPHOBIA’ ANd THE lOCAl ElITE

The xenophobic violence and looting following King Zwelithini’s statement that foreigners “pack their bags and leave” spread to cities and townships across the country. However, the recent attacks are not an isolated incident; nor is Zwelithini solely responsible for fomenting it. Local elites – particularly those linked to the ruling party – also encourage anti-immigrant attitudes and actions. This article, based on discussions with Abahlali baseFreedom Park activists, looks at how local elites in townships stimulate ‘xenophobia’ to protect their class interests, as well as how progressive working class activists have responded.

XENOPHOBIA ANd lOCAl ElITES

Freedom Park is among few townships where development is underway; RDP houses are

being built etc. However, residents complain about corruption around tenders and contracts. The development agencies have been accused of playing local and foreign workers against each other to secure cheap labour.

These agencies, linked to the local ANC elite, felt South African workers wouldn’t accept the low wages they were offering and so approached immigrant workers, often more desperate because of their precarious situation, and offered them jobs below the wages locals were trying to negotiate.

This is one way local elites play immigrant and local people against each other, creating fertile ground for the spread of xenophobic sentiments.

But activists convinced the community to demand that all workers get a living wage, regardless of their nationality, and to demand community control over development in Freedom Park. This pushed the developers and local elite into a corner, threatening to undermine their profits and political legitimacy. They had to find a way to divert the community’s attention and redirect their frustrations.

An opportunity emerged in June 2014 when Freedom Park had no electricity for almost a week. Residents protested against this, to which the state responded with violence. The protestors fled through the township and some looted immigrant-owned shops,

March of Abahlali baseFreedom Park. Photo: Jacob Potlaki (Casual Workers Advice Office - CWAO)

...local elites use the spectre of xenophobia to misdirectthe legitimate frustration of the local population...

My Struggle

Section Topic

impacts of neo-liberalism locally. Recently this immigration has intensified as imperialist backed wars have erupted in Syria and North Africa.

The European Union and its member states, however, have extremely strict immigration policies. Only people with scare skills are able to legally gain work and resident permits in Europe. Most immigrants, because of this, are forced to enter into Europe ‘illegally’ and are denied rights, welfare and social services. As they are ‘illegally’ in Europe they are easily exploitable by businesses and because they can’t claim welfare the cost of their reproduction to the ruling classes in Europe is nothing.

Therefore, the European Union’s strict immigration policies creates a pool of workers that are vulnerable and that can be paid appalling wages. Very high unemployment rates amongst immigrants – because many can’t legally get jobs – also feeds into this situation.

fURTHER TIgHTENINg ImmIgRATION lAWS

The European Union and its member states recently announced that immigration laws will become even tighter – in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo killings.

Tightening the laws, however, won’t stop immigration and the ruling class knows this: immigration has and always will take place. What even tighter laws will do though is make most immigrant workers even more vulnerable than they already are, and even easier to exploit – meaning the industries that rely on vulnerable workers for massive profits will again benefit.

It is only the ruling class, therefore, that really has an interest in immigration laws and promoting xenophobia. Indeed, the working class no matter their origin always have more in common with one another than they do with the ruling class.

believing immigrants responsible for the crisis. This is because the local political elite had been carrying out propaganda, blaming the electricity crisis on Somali shop owners by saying they were using big industrial fridges that consumed the township’s power.

Activists knew this was untrue as there had been electricity shortages before Somali immigrants arrived in the township. In fact, knowing that Freedom Park was a fast-growing township activists warned government ten years ago already that the infrastructure would not support the growing population.

Another opportunity to divert attention from the real issues affecting the community came in January 2015, when looting of immigrant-owned shops broke out in neighbouring Soweto. The local political elite, around SANCO and the ANC, allegedly told immigrant shop owners to close because their trade was not wanted and they would be looted if they didn’t. They also tried to extort money from foreign shop owners in exchange for protection. However, people say it was the same local elite that tried to extort protection money from immigrant shop owners that also promised to buy people alcohol or give addicts drug money if they looted foreign-owned shops; which suggests that xenophobia, at least in some townships, is being fomented by local elites to protect their political and economic interests and is being carried out by an opportunistic minority, not the broader community.

fIgHTINg XENOPHOBIA

Abahlali decided they had to respond. They started community patrols to deter looters and encouraged every household to have a whistle they could blow it if they saw people looting so that all the neighbours could come out to stop it. They also called a community meeting to explain to people that the township’s crisis was not caused by the presence of immigrant traders but by inadequate infrastructure and a profit-motivated system. The meeting was unsuccessful because those behind the looting – a small group being empowered by the local councillors and businesses – told the community there was no meeting and physically attacked activists.

Following that Abahlali started organising on a block-by-block basis as each block has foreign-owned shops and immigrant residents on it. They organised block meetings to discuss the real issues affecting community members. The community responded positively and people started saying that responsibility for the crisis in Freedom Park actually lies with government.

In addition to their struggle for community control of development and a living wage for all – immigrants included – Abahlali also tries to integrate immigrants into the community by, for example:

Encouraging them to register their children at the local schools so they can begin the process of integration

Inviting immigrants to support their demonstrations and taking up issues like xenophobia

Inviting immigrants to support the People’s March Against Xenophobia in Johannesburg on April 23

WORkINg ClASS SElf-OgANISATION IS THE SOlUTION

The case of Freedom Park – probably not an isolated one – shows that local elites use the spectre of xenophobia to misdirect the legitimate frustration of the local population caused by poverty, lack of service delivery and development and meaningful participation therein to protect their own political and economic interests; and that:

the solution to the problem is independent working class self-organisation and solidarity across nationality as exemplified by Abahlali base Freedom Park.

My Struggle Continued from page 3...



The 2015 xenophobic attacks on refugees and immigrants in Soweto, KwazuluNatal and elsewhere – like the 2008 attacks – are, rightly, condemned now by all classes in society.

But amongst the elite and many of the middle classes there is a hypocritical quality to these condemnations. In two senses: firstly, the elite are combining condemning xenophobia with actions to attack “illegal immigrants”, who

are being arrested and sent to Lindela (which is owned by ANC heavyweights), and to clamp down on “criminality”. In so doing they are not only fanning the flames of xenophobia but blaming foreign nationals for the problems faced by the poor. Secondly, they are being hypocritical in never losing an opportunity to link xenophobia with a general “lawlessness” which they want to associate with the struggles of the poor and the working class. How often have we not seen the media condemn strikes and community protests by linking these actions with attacks on foreign traders?

By these forms of hypocrisy the ruling classes and their media are not only attacking foreign nationals but stigmatising the struggles of the working class. They are promoting the idea that xenophobia is a prejudice of the poor while the rich and the elite are above such prejudice.

Yet, in looking at some quotes, we can finger the xenophobes amongst the elite. Along with this, the implementation of Operation Fiela-Reclaim shows the xenophobic sentiments held by the elite and its state.

“We talk of people [South Africans] who do not want to listen, who do not want to work, who are thieves, child rapists and house breakers…. When foreigners look at them, they will say let us exploit the nation of idiots. As I speak you find their unsightly goods hanging all over our shops, they dirty our streets. We cannot even recognise which shop is which, there are foreigners everywhere. I know it is hard for other politicians to challenge this because they are after their votes...

I will not keep quiet...We ask foreign nationals to pack their belongings and go back to their countries”.

Zulu king goodwill

Zwelithini

“Ultimately we must have refugee camps so that we can document people.”

“The only thing that you can educate people on is when there are refugee camps and there is a clear relationship of communities and the refugee communities.”

“What complicates the matter is that you have those refugees here documented, and you have other people who just walk in and they come here illegally and that complicates that space.”

gwede mantashe

who are the

xenophobes hiding

behind and stigmatising

the poor?They are promoting the idea that

xenophobia is a prejudice of the

poor while the rich and the elite

are above such prejudice.

ANC secretary general

Centre Spread

operation fiela-reclaim Hundreds of people, mostly immigrants, were arrested by the police and army as part of Operation Fiela in central Johannesburg on 8 May. Many could get not access lawyers.

The Lawyers for Human Rights is challenging the legality of the raids. As part of this it has documented some of the stories of people that were arrested. In one case a woman and her boyfriend, from Burundi, and their three-month-old daughter had their home raided by the police and army at three in the morning. Their door was kicked down. When

the boyfriend showed the police his papers he was slapped. She tried to show them her South African ID but they refused to look at it. They were sent downstairs with the baby and taken to the police station where they were forced to sit on the floor without food or access to toilets.

In fact, many people have been beaten up by the police and army during these raids. Some needed medical attention and some were pressured to sign deportation forms against their wishes.

The People’s Coalition against Xenophobia, which organised

the large anti-xenophobia rally in Johannesburg, said Operation Fiela was a problem because:

“I have just witnessed a very disturbing incident where migrants behaved extremely abusively and perfectly good food was being thrown around. Some of the food may have been past its sell-by date, but it was good to eat. Local residents are understandably becoming very angry and an explosion will follow unless a serious security force deployment takes place”.

“We must all remember that not only refugees, or whatever they are, have rights. Other people have rights too.”

“These [challenges] include that the number of illegal and undocumented migrants is increasing, that they take their jobs as some employers prefer workers who are prepared to accept lower wages.”

There are also complaints that foreign nationals benefit from free government services, and that they run businesses illegally.

There is also an accusation that undocumented foreign nationals commit crimes in the country...

The Inter-Ministerial Committee has been directed to deal with all issues, including ensuring the respect for the laws of the land by all and ensuring that no persons live in the country illegally or run businesses illegally.

Government will also work with stakeholders such as business so that they can support the process and adhere to the laws that prohibit the employment of illegal immigrants...

Government has already announced measures to improve security at the border posts including deploying the army in seven provinces recently to patrol border posts.”

president Jacob Zuma

“To equate crime with the presence of undocumented people in our country is not tackling xenophobia, it’s legitimising it.”

DA and Western Cape Premier during the 2008

xenophobic attacks

2015 State of the Nation Address

helen Zille


While only a few of those killed in South Africa’s recent spates of xenophobia attacks are migrant women, this group increasingly make up the bulk of secondary long-term victims. The gender-neutral lenses through which xenophobia had largely been reported may not be appropriate if cognisance is taken of the fact that at least half of all migrants arriving in South Africa are now women, often accompanied by children: the most vulnerable among the most marginalised.

fEmINISATION Of mIgRANCy

The “feminisation of migrancy” is a global trend that has seen a steady growth of women from poor countries being forced into global chains of care work, and percentage-wise their numbers now outrank those of men seeking economic opportunities outside their countries.

In some African countries, women make up

– which could also be seen as part of a rising trend in which women are the main breadwinners of families.

Single female-headed households are becoming the norm in Africa, but women’s lower status mean they find it much harder to resettle. Many work double shifts in order to keep just above the bread line. The reality is that about 80% of migrants end up in other “developing” countries, which are ill-equipped to receive them. Wherever they land, they face insecure low-wage jobs, social exclusion and more overt forms of targeted racial and gendered violence and misogyny.

mIllIONS Of AfRICAN WOmEN PUSHEd INTO mIgRANCy

The push-factors that contribute to these trends are many and complex: amongst these are the loss of jobs during the 1980s Structural

Adjustment Programmes forced on African countries and ongoing de-industrialisation, severe weather events and droughts associated with climate change, displacement by violent conflicts - often in mineral and oil-rich regions - as well as other forms of land and resource grabs.

Importantly until recently women produced up to 80% of food consumed on the continent. But according to the Third World Network up to two-thirds of the commonage land where they were rooted is now leased out to corporations or under transaction - for industrial farming, bio-oil production, hydro-electricity schemes, mineral extraction and dubious forestry carbon sequestration schemes. South African businesses are among the prime buyers of large swathes of African peasant lands and resources being sold off by local elites.

It is the women and children whose livelihoods depend directly on these common lands and resources that are likely to also suffer most from the secondary displacement of xenophobia.

Unlike their male counterparts who mostly cross borders alone in search of economic opportunity, women are seldom able to leave their children behind, due to the very push factors that turned them into permanent migrants.

mUlTIPlE lEvElS Of dISCRImINATION

In host countries, these women also compete for very low waged work with internal economic migrants. A group of such internal migrant women who have set up common support networks with foreign counterparts on the East Rand told Workers World News this solidarity had been hard-won given the reality that most of them can’t find jobs.

“Women-headed households live in fear…of the ruling party and its instruments that controls jobs and housing.

“People disappear…even for legal jobs, you have to produce your ANC card… or they accuse you of crimes.

“They took us as animals.”

These South African women are well aware of how low the stakes are for their foreign sisters. The effect of the xenophobic violence is almost always even greater job and housing uncertainty, if not repatriation or immigration camps with poor sanitation and nutrition. Among these complex cycles of loss, one trend shows women and children who have been displaced repeatedly are also more vulnerable to rape and other forms of gender-based violence.

If we take these gendered trends seriously, we have to reject summary repatriation of migrant women and their children, as well as putting new migrants in temporary holding camps as proposed by the ANC. Such camps do not always meet international legal standards and often serve to permanently displace and traumatise migrants. What is needed is dedicated research about the root causes that shove an increasing number of women and children into the crossfire of South African patriarchal politics, as well as regional and international migration policies that cater for their special socio-economic needs.

Gender Page

XENOPHOBIA ANd THE fEmINISATION Of mIgRANCy

Mother and child from Zimbabwe queuing at Home Affairs. Photo: PASSOP

over

of migrant

work-seekers

70%

9WORKERS WORLD NEWS | No. 93 | June 2015

My Organisation

The African Diaspora Forum was recently involved in co-organising the People’s March Against Xenophobia in Johannesburg on the 23rd of April. The march was organised in the wake of attacks against people from other parts of Africa, Bangladesh and Pakistan that took place in April in Durban and in parts of Johannesburg.

African Diaspora Forum is a federation of African migrants associations in South Africa. Its mission is to build an integrated society, free of xenophobia and to facilitate relationships between all Africans living in South Africa: living together! To do so we aim to consolidate a shared feeling of belonging in Africa. Our strategies are based on working locally, with communities to promote dialogue and peace; to enhance culture as a starting point for exchange and to encourage joint initiatives.

OUR HISTORy

The African Diaspora Forum was created in immediate reaction to the xenophobic attacks rising in May 2008. Several community leaders and concerned residents in South Africa, called by Ivorian community leader Marc Gbaffou and Carnival organiser and Pan African enthusiast Rayban Sengwayo, came together and decided to create a platform for African migrants to voice their concern and work for an integrated society.

OUR mEmBERSHIP

The African Diaspora Forum is a non-profit organisation open to all willing individuals and organisations sharing the objectives of the Forum. Its originality consists in the union of a number of organisations representing African migrant communities living in South Africa. So far 21 African countries are represented in the Forum: Angola, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Congo-Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Malawi, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

OUR OBjECTIvES

To work for an integrated society that is free of xenophobia and all other kinds of discrimination. To promote and consolidate a Pan African forum for African residents of whatever nationality to work together to build one common voice on common issues, and a shared feeling of belonging to Africa. We aim to facilitate and develop relationships, exchanges and mutual understanding between South Africans and non South African residents in South Africa (in particular, but not exclusively, through the organisation of Pan African cultural events; through the participation in civil society organisations at the local level – such as community policing forums, civics, street committees, etc.) To make sure that xenophobic statements in public discourses and policies do not remain unchallenged; and to work with South African institutions (at the national, provincial and local level) to promote integration between all African communities and to dismiss those discriminatory policies that fuel xenophobia.

OUR STRENgTHS

Consisting of representatives (group or individuals) of various African communities, the Forum has specific language and cultural skills that can be used to facilitate communication as well as to organise cultural events. The forum can rely on extended networks of migrants within South African society and mobilise them for specific reasons (support to persons affected by xenophobia, organisation of pan African events of cultural or political nature, etc.). The forum has important organisation skills as many of its members are currently community leaders. The forum is open to anyone sharing the objectives mentioned above, but its specificity is its inclusion of various African communities; and its knowledge of the issues and challenges experienced at the grassroots level.

AfRICAN dIASPORA fORUm

Anti-xenophobia march in Johannesburg co-organised by African Diaspora Forum. Photo: Jacob Potlaki (Casual Workers Advice Office- CWAO)

Website:

www.adf.org.za

For more information contact:

Jean-Pierre A. Lukamba083 875 1256

Section Topic

10 WORKERS WORLD NEWS | no. 93 | June 2015

Africa Story

The April 2015 xenophobic attacks on

immigrants in South Africa prompted many

people in different parts of Africa to respond

through protests to express their opposition

to xenophobia. The protestors targeted South

African embassies and South African owned

businesses that are spread throughout Africa.

PROTESTS ACROSS AfRICA

In Malawi about 2000 Malawians protested in front of the South African embassy in Lilongwe. One of the demands of the protestors was that the South African government must get King Goodwill Zwelithini to apologise for remarks that are believed to have triggered the April 2015 xenophobic attacks. Demonstrations were also held outside South African owned businesses such as Pep Stores, Game and Shoprite. Calls for the boycott of the South African businesses were made in solidarity with immigrants in South Africa. The protests forced South African owned shops to close for a day.

In Mozambique, Mozambican workers in the natural gas treatment facility owned by a South African oil company, Sasol, demanded the removal of more than 300 South African workers in response to xenophobic attacks in South Africa. Mozambican workers justified their action by arguing that if Mozambicans are not welcome in South Africa, then South Africans should not be welcome in Mozambique. South Africans working for Kentz, a construction company also came under threat. More than 200 Mozambicans also blockaded N4 for half an hour, forcing a

temporary closure of the Lebombo border post between South Africa and Mozambique.

In Zimbabwe, more than 1000 people held an anti-xenophobia protest outside the South African embassy in solidarity with the immigrants who were under attack in South Africa. The protestors denounced both King Goodwill Zwelithini and Jacob Zuma’s son Edward, accusing them of triggering xenophobia with their statements. Some of the placards of the protestors had messages like “South Africa is not an island.” and “Africa is home to all.” Calls to boycott South African businesses in Zimbabwe were also made.

In Nigeria several anti-xenophobia protests were held. A newly elected All Progressive Congress party handed a memorandum to the South African embassy and threatened to close South African companies in Nigeria should the South African government not stop xenophobia in South Africa. Some of the placards carried by protestors read, “Stop the killings, South Africa Act Now”, “Foreigners are not responsible for your joblessness, Stop killings now.” The University of Lagos students also staged a protest at the South African High Commission in Lagos and submitted a protest letter to the South African High Commissioner, giving the South African authorities a 24-hour ultimatum to either stop the attacks or face a boycott of businesses and products from the country.

The rights group in Nigeria, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project has asked the International Criminal Court in the Hague to investigate a complaint of hate speech against King Goodwill Zwelithini and the alleged negligence of South African police in preventing the xenophobic attacks. Protests were also held outside Shoprite, Pick n Pay and MTN offices.

In Zambia anti-xenophobic protests were also held outside the South African embassy. The QFM Radio station in Zambia stopped playing South African music in solidarity with the victims and survivors of the xenophobic attacks.

In Namibia, a protest against xenophobia in South Africa was held in Windhoek. Protestors marched to the South African High Commission and handed over a petition. Anti Xenophobia protests were also held in major cities in South Africa in solidarity with the immigrants who were under attack.

THE SOUTH AfRICAN gOvERNmENT’S RESPONSE

The South African government, partly, in response to popular protests across the African continent convened a meeting of African ambassadors and high commissioners to provide reassurance that it was taking the concerns of other Africans in the continent seriously. The South African government through Jeff Radebe stated that, “South African companies who are running successful businesses on the continent who help contribute to our revenue and sustaining our economy may suffer ...”. The South African government has also responded with strong arm tactics, by deploying South African National Defence Force to assist the South African Police Service to combat xenophobia. The South African government also vowed to tighten migration laws

A WORkINg ClASS SOlUTION

However, the strong arm tactics of the state of deploying the army and the police and tightening of migration laws will not resolve xenophobia, instead harassment of the immigrants and the poor will be on the rise under the pretence of dealing with the “illegal foreigners” and lawlessness. The lasting solution to xenophobia lies not with the state, but with the poor themselves building progressive politics and organisations that promote solidarity and confront the root causes of the problems faced by the poor and working class in general. Community organisations in areas where many of the immigrants live must strive to integrate immigrants into their activities. We must all draw inspiration from popular anti-xenophobia protests that were held across the continent.

SOlIdARITy PROTESTS ACROSS AfRICA AgAINST XENOPHOBIA

Protests in Malawi against the xenophobic attacks in South Africa. Photo: Henry K.

Mhango (The African Paper)

phantsi

xenophobia!

phantsi!

no one is illegal!

Section Topic


Cultural Page

we are all immigrants

we are all immigrants.we are all refugees.we are all outsidersyou are doing it again nameless child of Africaungivusel’ amanxebayour vampire empire broke my uncle’s bones and scattered them in Tanzaniaif one of those immigrants you kill today carries his spirit, you are killing him againlike that day in Marikanaungivusel’ amanxeba Azaniawe are all immigrants.we are all refugees.we are all outsidersthey belong like us at the dinner table with usthey are us, don’t make a fusswe are like themthey are usthey are the feet that brought usto meet us at the end of the rainbowwhere we found no goldthey said be humble and learn from usour hearts are cold,we look at them with disgustego constructed by foreign egotill the manufacturer takes hisand we go schizoburn ourselves in the infernowe are all immigrants.we are all refugees.we are all outsidersyou fled through the night, clutching your two year old to your bodyi tossed and turned in the night, fighting off dreams that oppressed my sleepi awoke to the news that you were hounded, hacked, brutalized and burnedyou awoke to the reality.perhaps we each sat that Sunday morning, me in my bed, you in an overcrowded tent,

bewildered, bamboozled, battered and betrayedno longer at ease with ourselves and othersfaithless, frustrated, feral and fearfulbenign cells in the malignant mass of xenophobiayou had a serpentin your homesteadand ran away from homethose who remainedwere tortured or killedand those who survivedthey lived in fearand i spread my matthat i shared with youand my pots though smallthey fed us allnot that food was plentybut the joy of seeing you smileand never did i grumblethat your presence was a burdenas we pondered your fatewith other neighbors around.Nyerere came with a planand Kaunda supported the ideaand other Africans tooand other nations toothey couldn’t let you sufferand while it was difficultand dangerous toowith the serpent aroundkilling and torturingthose harboring youwe couldn’t see you sufferwe couldn’t let you goas some of usdied too with youas Samora didpaying with his lifethey all chose to helpto see you get your freedomto see you get your dignityto see you get your land

to see you going back homeand those at robben islandto be with their familieswhen you criedwe felt the painwhen you bledwe carried the wounduntil now the effortsof fighting for your freedomis a scar in Tanzaniais pride in Zambiais remembered in Algeriaand many other nationsthat never abandoned youKaunda now weepsNyerere would have been shockedNkrumah could be wonderingso soon have you forgotten?the contributions of your neighborsthat made you todaybe who you are nowthat made you todayfree and free in your land but why should you burn me alivewhy should you chase me awaywith claims that have no basisthat we took your bowl of foodand the streets of townships and suburbswe litter with our needswe litter with our deedsshould i now see you as a reincarnationof that serpent?should i now see you as an ungrateful neighbor?or should i now wonderthat we made a mistake?or could it be that the serpent knew youbetter than we thought of you?if that be the caseas you have done sowho then shall be my neighbor?we are all immigrants.we are all refugees.we are all outsiders

Siza Nkosi, Chantal Snyman, Sphephelo Mbhele, Nkosinathi Coolfire Hadebe , HM Tiema, Idries Banda, Mphutlane wa Bofelo , Dashen Naicker & Gakwi Mashego

we are all refugees. we are all outsiders.you are doing it again nameless child of africa


WE WANT TO HEAR fROm yOU

Now is the time to start building our new mass movement. Last year, ILRIG’s Educational Series focused on the historic forms that united fronts and people’s movements took. The Education Series for this year focuses on Imperialism. For this special edition of Workers’ World News on the recent xenophobic attacks we have replaced the Education Series with an article that looks at the protests that have taken place across Africa against xenophobia in South Africa. We hope this will deepen our discussions. In the next edition the Education Series will be back.

Our vision is to interact with our readers on the shape of things to come. This is an appeal to you to join discussions on Facebook: ILRIG sA and Workers World News – as well as Twitter: #ILRIGsA. You can also write to the editors on [email protected].

We have also set aside a page for poetry, songs, reviews and readers’ comments. Please help us make this an inspiring space by sending us your contributions and views. Check out our website and join current deabtes: www.ilrig.org

publicilrig

forums 2015

Every month ILRIG hosts a public forum to create the space for activists from the labour and

social movements as well as other interested individuals to debate

current issues.

All public forums are held every last Thursday of the month at Community House, 41 Salt River Rd, Woodstock from 6 – 8.30 PM.

Transport home and refreshments are provided.

28 may

No one is illegal: How do we fight

xenophobia?

upcoming public forums

glOBAlISATION SCHOOl 2015

This year ILRIG we be hosting its annual Globalisation School in Johannesburg from the 17th to the 23rd of October.

Look out for further details in the

upcoming Workers’ World news editions

about this event

021 447 6375 [email protected] Room 14, Community House

41 Salt River RoadILRIG SA / Workers World News #ILRIGSA

CHECk OUT OUR WEBSITE ANd jOIN CURRENT dEBATES

The site will allow viewers to find out more about ILRIG, its history, staff and board. It provides an

interactive space for interested people to engage with ILRIG’s work on globalisation – read articles,

contribute to discussion, and order publications. Website members will receive regular updates on

issues of interest.

WWW.IlRIg.ORg

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WHAT IS TAXI RAdIO?“The Taxi is the realization of a dream I didn’t know I had. I have long felt a need for a space to manifest my understanding of community in tandem with others and to express openly my desire for heart’s ease, celebrate love’s power and practice the pursuit of peace.” – soli Philander, CeO and owner

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