Black Oppression, Super Exploitation and White Supremacy: Race and Class in the Not So New South Africa.

I admit that I have been provocative and have upset many people with the things I have said about racism. I do not apologise. I did it as a wake up call. Here’s why. Typical of many White ‘liberals’, Tony Leon, formerly of the DA, formerly of the DP, formerly of the PFP, formerly of the SADF, writes in the Sunday Times of the 31 January 2016, that we risk generating a ‘moral panic’ over racism (see here).

He wrongly accuses me of not rejecting the hate speech of Velaphi Khumalo, all because I distinguish between racism and prejudice. Leon’s article is self-contradictory, because it points out one the one hand how robust debate is in our young but stable democracy and on the other raises the specter of Enver Hoxha’s totalitarian Albania as being the destination of our journey should we choose to stand up to racism.

Typical of Leon, he builds a straw man to tilt at. That’s because he has no answer for the real problems we face in our society. The reality is that Leon, like many White South Africans, cannot see that racism is what facilitates, lubricates, generates and perpetuates Black oppression and Black super exploitation.

Racism is the ideology of White Supremacy. Leon’s indifference to the issue of racism is palpable. Leon, like many White people, just could not care less. For him, protecting the privileges he has as a White male, supersedes considering the plight of the majority of South Africans, most of whom are Black.

Racism

This topic has reared its ugly head in the last few weeks. Suffice to say, its important we are now dealing with it as a topic of dialogue and debate. This is healthy. If we don’t, its like child abuse-it will happen, but never be addressed. The consequences of such myopia are dire for us as a society. A race war is not impossibility, but is also not inevitability if we choose to all fight to end racism.

People may think the monkey and baboon comparisons are funny, cute, and laughable. But they have opened a Pandora’s box of resentment. 400 years of this abuse is not a laughing matter. Racism is alive and well in our country. Fortunately it is a mental condition that can be treated. Those who will not abandon their racist ways must face the full might of the law. It is absurd that we have laws to protect people’s reputations, from the media printing falsehoods, for example, yet no laws against racism.

Prejudice

We need to come to terms with the fact that we all have prejudices-whether in terms of race, class, gender, hair colour, freckles, religion, eating habits, sexual preferences, abilities, etc., etc, etc. Part of the human condition is to recognize difference. Part of our socialization is to make a prejudice out of it. We can all learn to abandon our prejudices. To do so, we must overcome our fears. The fear of the Other, of difference, of obliteration, assimilation, of the loss of our self is natural. But like all false beliefs, it is not a rational fear.

Our difference is by far superseded by our similarity, our commonness, and our likeness. But racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and similar phenomenon, are prejudices with negative, material, consequences for those being othered. Accepting our prejudices is not an admission of any sin, any character flaw, of a crime. It is an acceptance of our social conditioning. All bad behaviour can be unlearned, just as all bad behaviour can be learned.

DIFFERENCE

Race, Class, Gender, Ability, Age, Sexuality, Religion, Hair Colour, Height.... what’s the point of all these? DIFFERENCE. Nothing, unless you want to dominate, subjugate, oppress, exploit or take advantage of somebody. Similarly, in politics, the use of DIFFERENCE is to divide people and rule them through factionalism. Describing ‘them’ as, ‘not one of us’ as ‘against us’, as ‘a spy’, ‘a prostitute’, etc., etc., etc. Ways of dividing, based on prejudice and labels, happen in racial, gender, physical, appearance, sexuality terms and in many other ways. Surely, we must live by the adages that; ‘but for the grace of God, there go I’ and ‘treat me as you wish to be treated’.

What can we do?

To build a truly non-racial, non-sexist, non-oppressive, progressive society, we need to firstly acknowledge our focus on DIFFERENCE. We need to go through a personal journey of learning that these aspects of our diverse make up are superficial, marginal, inconsequential and even meaningless, unless we choose to make them otherwise. When we hate the Black, the Jew, the Muslim, the gimp, the dyke, the faggot, the dirty, smelly tramp, the redhead, the whatever, it’s a choice we are making. Our history, our context, our reality, means that the DIFFERENCE defined in racial terms as Black Other, in gender terms as Woman Other and in many other terms, such as Religious Other, as Disabled Other, as Gay Other, etc, has real, meaningful consequences for the Other.

Accept DIFFERENCE-Embrace It

Our constitution recognizes the responsibility we have as citizens, to choose the progressive path, the path of reconciliation, truth and justice. If we do not, we must accept that we are part of the problem and not part of the solution. To be a South African, to be a fighter for the South Africa Nelson Mandela envisaged, is to accept difference and to embrace it, not exacerbate it. Bishop Tutu is a living example of this spirit. We may have issues about our own values and principles, but for as long as those of others do not harm us, we must allow them the freedom to hold these. Acknowledging the past is crucial. It unlocks the reasons for the consequences of DIFFERENCE.

South Africans must acknowledge the Colonial conquest of our land, the material dispossession of property, the theft, rape, pillage, murder, genocide, slavery, oppression, exploitation and discrimination that occurred under colonialism, apartheid and capitalism. This is our history. No living person must take individual, personal responsibility for these injustices, but they must acknowledge this reality, this legacy and its consequences and we must accept it collectively as a nation and do something about it.

This history is what has given us the continued oppression of Black people, the super exploitation, poverty, inequality, lack of skills, the rampant communicable diseases and other warped and twisted features of our postcolonial existence.

Defend those in Need of Solidarity

Even if we do not accept all of these facts and we want to quibble over who stole what, when, how from who, we cannot ignore the plight of the poor, the weak, the homeless, the hungry, the sick, the oppressed, the exploited, the discriminated against.

To build a safe, secure, fair, just South Africa, we must draw a line now and never tolerate any tyranny, any discrimination, any racism, any sexism, any anti-Semitism, and we must fight all prejudice. We cannot do this by claiming all prejudices are equal. We must acknowledge that some prejudices are more powerful that others, just as some people are more powerful than others.

Whiteness is still a privileged state of being. White supremacy is still the conscious and/or unconscious desire of many people. The constant refrain that White people are now victims of racism is not only dishonest, it is dangerous. Equally, the attempts many are making to play down racism as an issue are callous, mean and dishonest.

There is no way the plight of the majority of Black people, who still live in poverty, can be compared to that of a White person who is insulted by a remark by a Black person. Such behaviour is unacceptable, but it cannot be equated with the racist discourse that still pervades our homes, workplaces, institutions, sports clubs, bars and every other place people live, work and play.

Fight for Social Justice

In our society, the Not So New South Africa, Black oppression and super exploitation is the most visible and visceral manifestation of social and economic injustice. It must be defeated. This does not mean that oppression in terms of gender, sexuality, ability, religion, etc. are any less significant. It simply means that, as we mobilised the broadest range of forces against apartheid, we must do so now and mobilise the broadest range of forces for social justice and economic freedom.

Nelson Mandela embraced difference, as have many of our leaders in the liberation movement. But we cannot selectively emulate Mandela. Mandela stood against Black oppression and against White supremacy. If we want to build a truly new South Africa, we must all be Mandela’s soldiers. We must all, Black and White, men and women, young and old, differently ables, gay and straight, etc., be soldiers for social justice. We must all be soldiers for economic freedom. Economic freedom will end Black oppression, end Black super exploitation, end White supremacy and if we combine all our efforts, end all oppression.

Dr. Phillip David Dexter is an academic, an activist and an entrepreneur. He is a member of the ANC. He writes in his personal capacity.