Elisabeth Shaver
12/4
10:46 am
In South Africa, migrants from Zimbabwe who are looking for employment are being persecuted by locals who are furious that their jobs are being taken. The migrants are being blamed unfairly for “taking” their jobs. The attacks have been horrific, forcing nearly 2,000 migrants to seek refuge in a nearby rugby stadium. The migrants shacks in the farming community have been completely leveled by angry mobs of locals. Aid organization are calling the attacks xenophobia, but local government officials are saying it is a local farming problem. They say it stems from local farmers favoring one nationality over another. South Africa faced the same problems last year when riots broke out right outside of Johannesburg with 62 people killed. Officials say there is no quick fix in sight. The issue is not simply nationals moving into South Africa and taking jobs, but the fact that South Africans are not having their own needs met. There is alot of poverty and unemployment in the community. South Africans are frustrated with their current situations and are taking it out on the migrants.
This is in my opinion a true example of a community not being taken care of by it’s government and the community shifting blame. South Africa has a long history of discrimination towards it’s Black community. The effects of Apartheid is still evident, and South Africa still has a great amount of work to do to right their wrongs.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2009/11/2009112110571766836.html
3 comments:
This reminded me a lot of how Americans see migrants that come into the U.S. It is not uncommon to hear people complain about how foreigners are taking our jobs. I just hope that things do not get so bad here in America that it leads to attacks such as this one.
Well this sounds familiar. We seem to be dealing with a very similar situation in our own country. I grew up near a lot of tobacco farms and I know some of my neighbors were illegal immigrants who came here from Mexico to work. I know US citizens get really angry about immigrants "stealing" their jobs and I hope it doesn't turn violent like it did in South Africa.
Migrants are seen in many ways. Most Americans complain about migrants and immigrants taking jobs available in our country. Things need to get better.
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