Xenophobia and You

posted by Ismail Farouk at Thursday, May 22, 2008

My neighbour, Tara Polzer has produced this leaflet, which she has been distributing in the suburbs of Johannesburg:

DON'T TOUCH MY SISTER, DON'T TOUCH MY BROTHER

You are not powerless in the face of violence and xenophobia around you. It is not only the responsibility of government and the police to respond. If you are horrified and saddened by the current violence, there are things you can do right now:

1. Speak with your local councillor, individually or in a group, and ensure that (s)he calls a ward meeting to condemn violence.

2. Start conversations with family members, friends, neighbours, colleagues, fellow learners and students, etc. about xenophobia and violence and about taking a public stance against it.

3. Call a meeting at your place of work and organise a discussion on the violence and on xenophobia.

4. Join your community policing forum and ensure that the CPF acts to protect foreign nationals and anyone else being threatened or targeted in your area.

5. Report any agitation or threats against foreign nationals or groups of South Africans to the police.

6. Check with police stations, community centres and churches sheltering victims of violence on what material donations are needed, and donate blankets, food and clothes, as needed.

7. Participate in any public forums you can access, including calling into talk radio shows, public meetings, writing letters to newspapers, etc.

8. Check that your foreign friends/ colleagues/ neighbours/ cleaners/ gardeners and their families are safe, and, if necessary, offer them refuge in your house.

9. If foreign nationals in your neighbourhood are likely to be targeted in their homes, organise a group of people to spend the night at their house so that a South African can open the door if someone knocks in the night asking about foreigners.

10. Encourage any public figures you know, including artists, sports persons, business people, teachers, etc. to speak out publically against racism, xenophobia and violence.

11. Do not let racist and xenophobic comments go unchallenged.

12. Pass this list on to everyone you know.

Labels: migration, refugees, spatial justice, xenophobia