When the persecuted become the persecutors

History — and now South Africa — shows that it is easier to hate our brothers and sisters than our oppressors.

South Africa is once again, after 14 years, all over the news, as a recent immigration conflict beleaguers the country.

There have been outbreaks of violence, protests and persecution concerning the large influx of immigrants into South Africa, mainly originating from the unstable surrounding regions. Migrants who have escaped violence and starvation in their homes face more violence perpetuated against them by poor South Africans.

The frustration is not unfounded, though the violence is not justified. The problem lies in the fact that the anger is not directed at the actual cause of the economic disparity in South Africa. It is easier to point the finger at other African blacks than it is at whites. The whites in South Africa, though the minority, hold most of the wealth, while millions of black South Africans still live in shantytowns. The post-apartheid system, with its improved human rights situation, still remains extremely unequal on the economic side. In the last year, South Africa’s wealth gap has widened; the average black citizen earns only an eighth of what his or her white counterpart does (not to mention that nearly a third of South Africans are unemployed).

Thus, anger at inequality and unemployment is projected onto foreigners. A number of immigrants have been chased from their homes. Immigrant estimates range from 13,000 to 20,000, and many foreigners plan to leave the country as soon as they are able to. The exodus is also due to the mobs that have been attacking homes, murdering foreigners and looting.

Additionally, there has been widespread circulation of photos of foreigners being burned alive by zealous crowds, according to The New York Times.

The violence is fueled by anger and a demand for better rights. In a May 20 article by Al Jazeera, a poor South African who had participated in the violence explained that immigrants undermine the rights that South Africans fought for. Cheap illegal workers arrive in South Africa and are willing to work for $4 a day, though it has been a long road for South Africans to demand a $12 minimum wage.

However, it must be noted that many South Africans are appalled and ashamed by the violence. President Thabo Mbeki called for an end to violence and deployed troops (for the first time since the end of apartheid in 1994) to quell the violence. Twenty-eight arrests have been made, and weapons and ammunition have been seized.

But these calls for peace have not discouraged the mobs. Those engaged in the violence believe that, since many foreigners are being driven out of South Africa, their plan is succeeding. However, there are 5 million immigrants in South Africa; they cannot all be driven out. With the instability of Zimbabwe, it is inevitable that more foreigners will enter the country. Furthermore, the anger is misdirected. Not only is this not a long-term solution, the “illegals” (though immigrants that have been living in there for more than 20 years are also targeted) are not the ones to blame for South Africa’s many problems.

“We reject the notion that some of the people who are living in South Africa who are not South Africans can be blamed for the problems that we have,” Deputy President Mlambo-Ngcuka said.

The problem lies in the people of South Africa — those that have exploited and raped the land, and those that have come to accept this fact passively.

“We human beings, ever since the Garden of Eden, are looking for scapegoats,” the Rev. Desmond Tutu wrote in an essay.

This time the scapegoat has been chosen based on internalized oppression. It is time for South Africans to rise up together, along with other oppressed Africans, and face the real culprit: the systemic and institutionalized racism that still rages in the country.

Violence is not necessary. Liberation of the mind is.