allAfrica.com: Botswana: As I See It - The Demon of Racism and Inequality (Page 1 of 1)

The University of the Free State urine-in-food video, calls for a serious debate by all who have fought long or prayed hard to de-racialise human society, in theory and practice.

Human society has gone through phases of subjugation of some members of society by fellow-beings. History records some of these: slavery, colonialism, Hitler's national socialism and apartheid in South Africa. This demon of frivolous discrimination, manifested in various forms, in spite of its gradual phasing out, through international agreements, national constitutions, and prosecution of those alleged to have committed crimes against humanity, is still very much with us. It defies UN Declarations, TRC interventions and vigorous campaigns undertaken to eliminate it from time to time and from place to place.

The tenacity of this demon(s) comes out very strongly in South Africa, which despite being blessed with a foresighted leadership of a people, who after several decades of brutal oppression and unspeakable humiliation, were prepared to prostrate themselves before the wisdom of universal public opinion, by turning the other cheek so to speak, in cognizance of the holy word.

Numerous incidents of die-hard apartheid incidents, continue to be reported in the media at regular intervals; one begins to wonder whether the enviable SA constitution, with its ringing tone of a united, non-racial, non-sexist and democratic society is worth the paper it is written on. The bending-over-backwards of government on some burning issues like land redistribution, the snail-pace transformation in sport, among others, seems to be unappreciated, to the extent that one begins to wonder whether the Afrikaner tribe still hankers after the days gone by, when their political stock-in-trade slogan was, 'ek sit op die kaffer se nek/ I am sitting on the kaffir's neck!'

A good reason, why the previously oppressed chose reconciliation, was the knowledge and belief that retaliation and revenge was counterproductive. It can only generate a vicious circle of conflict, hate and self-pity. It would fail to eliminate mutual disrespect from the South African political scene, till doomsday; the relative internal stability and gracious international goodwill, currently enjoyed by the rainbow nation would evaporate like mist in the sun.

What should be done to rid human society of the demon of racism and inequality? Were a mass rehabilitation programme possible, that would be the obvious route.

That being an unfeasible proposition, the best solution, appears to be to catching them young, through formal education. Youth, unlike adults, learn and imbibe new social behavioural patterns quicker and are able to internalise these through interaction. School offers an ideal environment in which young people, from diverse cultural backgrounds can interact routinely, thereby exorcise this demon.

The best prospects for undoing the damage, disinfecting and immunising crazy attitudes, lies certainly at appropriate educational institutions. If the institutions themselves flop the test, as evidenced by the events captured by the University of Free State video, then society has a huge challenge before it:

A black man was reported to have been towed alive, behind a speeding bakkie until he gave up the ghost; one was tossed into a den of hungry lions; another was mistakenly shot for a baboon; recently at a place curiously called Skielik (Suddenly), a young white farmer suddenly loaded his rifle and went on a random shooting spree of blacks, killing four, including a toddler! Multiply these cases by an unknown number of many of the meek blacks who keep mum when dehumanising treatment is meted out to them, because they continue to live in the past. In the past a black person did not lay complaints against the 'baas' however wrongfully he/she was treated.

The unwritten law, at the height of apartheid was, 'klaagte teen die baas help nie/ complaining against the baas was futile!' We see it happening in this urine-contaminated food incident at the University. The fact that these white students could videotape this disgusting scene tells a story. Most certainly the peers of these racist delinquents were to constitute a prime viewership of the video. Who knows, perhaps the parents who still yearn for the good old days of 'die kaffer in sy plek' also!

Do we then despair that the demon is here to stay as long as white supremacists stalk this earth? Do we look back and say, reconciliation was a political blunder? Do we accept the fake white scholar's thesis, that the white specie has a far superior brainpower than the black specie? What do we say about all these perplexing behaviour from both sides, with the w-specie persistently denigrating the b-specie and the victim reacting docilely?

Before we attempt to answer these questions, perhaps we need to introspect a little: Is racism the only blot in human relations? What about ethnicity, if you like, tribalism? What about religious intolerance? Who are the best spokespersons for the wretched of the earth? The politicians who peddle democracy and equality, to win votes? Or the clergy who preach fire and brimstone and salvation in the hereafter, to swell their congregations and improve their stipend levels? Just who is there for the poor, the meek, the humble, the woebegone of planet earth?

It is easy to misinterpret the preamble to the American Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

Balderdash! The history of mankind disputes the assertion in this declaration. All men are not created equal; none have unalienable rights. Otherwise we wouldn't have royals and commoners, slave-owners and slaves, feudal lords and peasants, capitalists and workers, merafe le meratshwana, bosses and servants! The existing dichotomous relationships in society, underline man-made snobbish inequality. Unalienable rights are a fiction of the mind unless attained by struggle!

The task of all mankind who wish to end racism is therefore, to mobilise the masses who pathetically continue to groan under the yoke of social injustice and inequality. Unless all the humiliated and the potential piss-laced diet consumers, decide, enough is enough and mean it, then we shall all stay despondent, bemused, confused and condemned!

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