State of the (racist) nation

In 2001 the historic UN World Conference Against Racism was held in Durban and from this a national programme of action was derived and promulgated, see: http://www.racism.gov.za/substance/confdoc/millennium.htm

The first statement in the constituted programme of action reads as follows:

“Government and parliament are hereby petitioned to declare the period 2001-2010 as the Decade for National Mobilisation against Racism.”

Subsequent propositions of this programme of action detail and list many possible ways for this ideological offensive to take hold in society, by transforming all sectors of society to reflect South Africa’s racial, cultural and ethic diversity through intensive training of all citizens – from those at school to those who work in the entertainment and leisure industries.

What has government done to mobilise against racism in South Africa? Official documents and memorandums are of no use in this battle because the source of racism is hidden far away from the aesthetics that bureaucratic mechanisms aim to change. Racism is ontologically moored – whether you inherited it from your family or wilfully acquired it of your own accord – and constitutes what Bourdieu describes as “practical sense” where knowledge (political mythology, social norms, values, ethics etc.) is enacted in and through the body, meaning that everything you do in life is wholly characterised and influenced by such ontologically moorings.

My personal take on the ‘ Decade for National Mobilisation Against Racism’ is that the campaign has been a general failure given the recent incidents of the Waterkloof Four, the UFS Reitz Hostel, the recent xenophobic attacks and the continuing outbreaks of tribalism. A national stance against racism is absolutely vital in any democratic state but one needs to critique the manner in which this stance hopes to infiltrate society. Clearly the top-down approach has not been working as the government hoped, and one can attribute this to the vague notions of ‘non-racialism’, ‘transformation’, ‘empowerment’ and other such key buzz words that are thrown around in the public sphere by parliament and political parties. But does this mean that nothing has changed in South Africa? The problem with government campaigns such as this is that there is not enough recognition given to organic initiatives that support the same aims and are achieving this, but from the bottom up. I am of the opinion that the training that parliament proposes to combat racism is occurring but at an informal and organic grassroots’ level.

I have specifically been vague about the nature of this informal ‘training’ as I want readers and other bloggers to comment on their experiences of this, so reply with your experiences of mobilising against racism -whether on a personal or organisational level – as I know it is happening and what is needed is a record of these experiences so that it can be fed back to government for the edification of our democratic state.