BuaNews (Tshwane)
15 May 2008
analysis
Pretoria — The King is dead, long live the King! This is the untenable situation we find ourselves in with the legal dismantling of apartheid but with its all-pervasive tentacles strangling our society today. Essop Pahad, Minister in the Office of the Presidency, analyses in this, the first in a three-part series.
Elderly black workers forced by white students at a university to eat urine drenched food; a black man fed to lions; a white youth on trial for going on a shooting rampage at the black Skierlik informal settlement where four people including a three month baby were butchered; the stabbing of two white and the arrest of three so called coloured students in racial tension between groups of students at the Hoërskool Akasia; racial tensions between black and so called coloured students at Riverlea Secondary School in Johannesburg, and the degrading and dehumanising treatment of black farm workers.
These all point to a South Africa that can no longer be in denial about racism in our country and a South Africa that needs to engage in dialogue about racism and our past.
Certainly South Africa has travelled a great distance since 1994 but to assume that the legacy of centuries of oppression and discrimination can be wiped out in a decade-and-a-half is simply wishful thinking. We need to recognise that the ideals behind our call for the creation of non-racist non-sexist South Africa have still not been attained.
Apartheid as institutionalised, legalised racism, as a crime against humanity is dead but the legacy of apartheid still persists and as a society and a government we have a Constitutional/legal, moral and ethical responsibility to do all we can to eradicate racism, sexism, xenophobia and all forms of discrimination and intolerance in our country.
A democratic South Africa needs to deal with the legacy of apartheid - socio-economic inequality, radicalised poverty; forms of exclusion and marginalisation of the historically disadvantaged in the country. Despite our liberation from apartheid, existing realities show us that black people of our country continue to be victimised because of the colour of their skin. This is reflected in historically reproduced patterns of racialised inequality, in patterns of social exclusion, marginalisation, human degradation, violence, racism, xenophobia, and ethnocentrism. It is the pervasiveness of prejudice directed at historically disadvantaged groups of people and the continual reproduction of racial discrimination that have contributed to the challenges we continue to face in South Africa.
What is required is to combat racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerances head-on, while continuing to articulate a vision of a non racist non sexist South Africa in which everyone can contribute to their fullest and can develop their talents and capacities to the fullest free from fear and discrimination.
The Preamble to the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa speaks of recognising "the injustices of our past". The Constitution is the highest law of the land. This is fundamentally about the transformation of our country and dealing with the socio-economic, political and psychological legacy of apartheid. Our government is obligated to enact laws, policies and procedures that are in conformity with the Constitution. The state therefore cannot through its actions violate the Constitution. This recognition brings with it obligations for the state. In adopting the Constitution the state has to heal the wounds of the past, respect democracy; rule based on the will of the people; respect fundamental freedoms and human rights; and improve the quality of life of all the people of South Africa. And one of the defining values of a democratic South Africa is a commitment to non-racism and non-sexism.
In articulating this vision for our country, there must be a genuine dialogue about the multiple manifestations of racism and racial discrimination. There can be no real movement, no real embracing of the ideals of non-racism and non-sexism without first acknowledging the reality of racism and racial discrimination and engaging in this critical dialogue. It is essential to create and provide safe spaces for people in South Africa to share their experiences about racism in dialogue with one another. The debate about racism need not be as polarised as it currently is. A balanced dialogue is not about guilt or recrimination. It is purposeful - it is aimed at creating a better world for all who live in it. A balanced dialogue begins with recognition of the history and the reality of racism and racial discrimination, but it progresses to issues of social justice, equality, equality of opportunity, freedoms, rights and responsibilities and the creation of an inclusive society.
Racism, racial discrimination and exclusion have their roots in slavery, colonialism and settler colonialism. Eric Williams, in analysing the relationship between the African slave trade and the development of capitalism noted that: ...slavery was not borne of racism; rather, racism was the consequence of slavery (Williams, 1960: 7). Racism can be defined as a phenomenon which refers to a complex set of beliefs, attitudes and behaviours predicated on pseudo-scientific and wholly erroneous assumptions about the "nature of human diversity". Racism is both an ideology and a set of practices. Scientific racism is an attempt to pervert the facts of science and nature in an effort to construct an ideology of racism. Ideologically, racism seeks to establish a hierarchy of races in which certain races are deemed superior and civilised while others are inferior and uncivilised (refer one Dave Bullard, sacked Sunday Times columnist). It asserts and justifies the "natural" superiority of one so called racial group over another. Racism also involves discriminatory policies and practices that protect and reproduce the power, privilege and domination of the super-ordinate group.
The United Nations defines racial discrimination as meaning "...any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life. (United Nations, International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination, 1965, Article 1).
Racism must not be confused with enthocentrism. Ethnocentrism involves the tendency on the part of individuals and groups to judge and evaluate others from the vantage point of their own set of norms, values and cultural traditions. Ethnocentrism leads to a hierarchy in which people of different cultures are ranked according to how much or how little of the dominant norms, values and cultural traditions they possess.
Racism is also not the same as bias and prejudice. Bias refers to an opinion; a preference arrived at subjectively and without reasonable scientific proof. Biases can be explicit or implicit, intentional or unintentional. Racial prejudice involves "racialising" groups of people and prejudging them based on a set of biases and stereotypes that are inaccurate and unscientific. Prejudice is attitudinal, but when directed at individuals or groups on the basis of their assumed phonotypical, behavioural or even cultural characteristics it leads to racial discrimination. Racial discrimination and exclusion involve relations of power and subordination. Racial discrimination can result from ill will or evil motive. It can be blatant and result from deliberate differential treatment or denial of access. Racial discrimination can also be systemic, that is, it can result from apparently neutral policies and practices that, regardless of intent, have adverse impacts on racialised individuals and communities.
Racial discrimination is undoubtedly a form of social exclusion, albeit one that has race as a social construct, at the heart of exclusion. Its roots and manifestations however are different when compared to other forms of exclusion. Racism is unequal access to rights, it is unequal access to the valued goods and services in society, it is about unequal access to the labour market and it extends to all fields of public life. It is about incomplete citizenship, undervalued rights, undervalued recognition and undervalued participation. Racial inequality and discrimination are historically derived, have persisted over the centuries and have been constantly reproduced in old as well as new ways. The persistence of racial inequality and racial discrimination over the centuries points to the abject failure of public policy and state initiatives in these areas. Patterns of inequality and discrimination generally have proved to be highly resistant to change because of the powerful socio-economic, political and ideological forces which maintain and reproduce the patterns.
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