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Date: November 25, 2024 Mon
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Results for hate crimes (south africa)
2 results foundAuthor: von Holdt, Karl Title: The Smoke That Calls: Insurgent citizenship, collective violence and the struggle for a place in the new South Africa. Eight case studies of community protest and xenophobic violence Summary: There are several innovations to the research projects captured in this report. Firstly, it consists of studies of both xenophobic violence and community protests, drawing the links both empirically as one of collective action spawns or mutates into another, and theoretically through the concept of insurgent citizenship (Holston, 2008). Secondly, the research was conceived of, and conducted, through a collaboration between an NGO, The Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR) and an academic research institute, the Society Work and Development Institute (SWOP) at University of the Witwatersrand. This brought together scholars and practitioners, psychologists and sociologists, in a challenging and productive partnership to try to understand collective violence and its underlying social dynamics. Thirdly, it combines an attempt to probe and understand the repertoires and meanings of collective violence with a wide-ranging analysis of local associational life, local politics and class formation. The origins of this research lay in the appalling violence of the wave of xenophobic attacks which swept across the country in May 2008, and the response of both organisations to this. CSVR was rapidly drawn into coordinating the relief work of NGOs across Gauteng, while in SWOP there was a sense that this violence connected to current research on strike violence and social precariousness. For both of our organisations, it seemed increasingly important to look at this outbreak of violence with a fresh eye for ways in which it challenged our understanding of the depths of anger, fragmentation, exclusion and violence in our society and, more specifically, the intervention practices which still drew much of their inspiration from the negotiated transition to democracy in South Africa. Ready assumptions about violence as pathological or criminal, about ‘lost generations’, about ‘community organisations’ and ‘civil society’, conflict mediation and educational workshops, needed to be tested with empirical research and new theoretical perspectives. While we were developing the research proposals and beginning discussions with potential funders, a new wave of conflict swept across the country, with the epicentre—as in the xenophobic violence—in Gauteng. The community protests against poor service delivery, corruption and the lack of consultation with communities by government often flared into violence between protesters and police, and not infrequently involved episodes of xenophobic violence as well. The research project was re-conceptualised to explore the differences and linkages between these different forms of collective action and violence and, with funding secured, researchers were in the field in late 2009. Our research methodology was designed to achieve the benefits both of in-depth qualitative research to explore the meanings, relationships and contestations within a specific research site, and the insights of comparative perspectives across research sites. The small team of researchers researched a diverse selection of eight different sites in two provinces over the following year, with each researcher being involved in at least two research sites, so that all researchers were fully alive to the comparative dimension of the research. A combination of key informant and snowballing selection was used to identify interviewees, and researchers also employed participant observation, attending meetings, rallies and parties, as well as hanging out in taverns and homes. Jacob Dlamini’s influence on our research strategies requires particular mention, as he used his sharply honed newshound skills to conduct impromptu interviews and informal focus groups on street corners, in taxis and taverns, and at community water points. Other researchers learned from this, and applied similar research tactics in their sites. Caroline Moser’s ‘community mapping’ research strategy helped us to think through the implications of this (Moser & McIlwain, 2004). We have committed ourselves to maintaining the confidentiality of informants, given the sensitive and controversial nature of the information they provided us, which could expose them to considerable danger from local elites and rivals. Hence, we have attempted to conceal not only individual identities, but also the identity of research sites. We trust that readers will bear with this sometimes cumbersome requirement. The overall comparative analysis, as well as the insights of the more detailed site case studies, is explored in the body of this report. Here, we would like to draw attention only to four key observations that strike us when we consider the report as a whole. The first is the critical role played by the police in collective violence—a peculiar combination of absence and unnecessary and provocative violence. Regarding their absence, the initial role of the police in our studies of xenophobic violence—as in studies by others—was the lack of a serious effort on their part to prevent attacks or protect foreign nationals in the early stages of violence. They seemed only to move into action after the first fury of mob attacks, and then only in tandem with local organisations such as ANC branches or CPFs. A similar absence is registered in, at least, one of the community protest episodes, when the local police told councillors whose houses were attacked and destroyed that it was not their job to protect them. On the other hand, our studies of community protests show that police actions escalated confrontation and tension which rapidly took the form of running street battles between protesters and police officers. There was widespread condemnation in communities of provocative violence against crowds of protesters on the part of police. Even more troubling were the incidents of random assault and allegations of torture against suspected protest leaders and their families in some of the communities—reports and allegations that have been repeated in more recent protests, such as those at Ermelo and Ficksburg where protest leader Andries Tatane died at the hands of the police. The police are, therefore, critically important protagonists in collective violence, both when they are absent from scenes of mass violence, and when they themselves engage in collective violence against protesting communities. Second, the counterpart to the police as protagonists is the role of the youth, mostly young men but including young women, in collective violence, both in spearheading xenophobic attacks as well as engaging in battles with the police and destroying public property during community protests. This is not a new observation, but it is nonetheless an important one. Many of those who participate in the violence are unemployed, live in poverty, and see no prospect of a change in these circumstances. Theirs, they feel, is a half-life, as they are unable to participate as full citizens in the economy and society. Impoverished young men, in particular, experience this as the undermining of their masculinity as they are unable to establish families. Protest provides them with an opportunity to exert their masculinity through violence and to experience themselves as representing the community and fighting on its behalf. Unless widescale strategies for social and economic inclusion address this issue, social fragmentation and violence is likely to continue. A third observation concerns the interface between sociology and psychology. In many ways these two disciplines are difficult to bring together because of the contrasting questions they ask and their divergent narratives. However, concepts of ‘collective trauma’ explored in the chapter by Nomfundo Mogapi seem to provide a way of addressing this disjunction and finding common ground. This is a new field—certainly to us—and holds out promise for future research and analysis that enables us to explore this interface at a deeper level. Finally, we want to draw attention to the significance of the Bokfontein study. While most of the studies focus their attention on the ugliest dimensions of local politics and the competition for resources, Bokfontein provides a reminder of what is possible in South Africa. The Community Work Programme (CWP) enabled a very traumatised and marginalised community to address both the collective trauma and its supporting narratives, and imagine a different future for themselves and at the same time provided avenues for young people to focus their energies on participating in a collective effort to transform their communities. One of the results was the end of intra-community violence and the deliberate rejection of xenophobic violence—achieved, it must be said, without any police action at all. After the immersion in the perversity and desperation of much human endeavour in our society, it was profoundly inspiring for our research team to encounter this place of hope with its combination of visionary and practical agency. Truly, the nations will be amazed! Details: Johannesburg, S. Africa; Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation; Wits, S. Africa; Society, Work and Development Institute, Uniersity of the Witwatersrand, 2011. 142p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 17, 2011 at: http://www.csvr.org.za/docs/thesmokethatcalls.pdf Year: 2011 Country: South Africa URL: http://www.csvr.org.za/docs/thesmokethatcalls.pdf Shelf Number: 123013 Keywords: Bias-Motivated CrimesCollective ViolenceHate Crimes (South Africa) |
Author: Thomas, Kylie Title: Homophobia, Injustice and ‘Corrective Rape’ in Post-Apartheid South Africa Summary: This report offers a critique of the terms ‘corrective rape’ and ‘curative rape’ and argues for careful and nuanced application of the concept of ‘hate crimes’. The report focuses on a particular, individual life history and experience of trauma. It also argues for understanding gender‐based violence as structural violence. Details: Cape Town: Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation and Centre for Humanities Research, University of the Western Cape, 2013. 30p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 18, 2013 at: http://www.csvr.org.za/images/docs/VTP3/k_thomas_homophobia_injustice_and_corrective%20rape_in_post_apartheid_sa.pdf Year: 2013 Country: South Africa URL: http://www.csvr.org.za/images/docs/VTP3/k_thomas_homophobia_injustice_and_corrective%20rape_in_post_apartheid_sa.pdf Shelf Number: 128412 Keywords: Gender-Based ViolenceHate Crimes (South Africa) |