Doing what he can

I was downtown waiting for someone when this young man from the Working Families Party recruited these two young people to register as voters and join his party. Later he worked his way over to me. I’m already registered, but I’m in favor of all he stands for, including raising the minimum wage, banning the box (a way to keep people who have served time in prison from ever being able to vote), and providing health care for everyone. How could anyone not be in favor of all that?

The matter that has concerned me deeply over the past few days is the trouble in South Africa. Groups of unhappy young men, most of them unemployed, Black, and angry, have been attacking other young Black men--and their families--for having been born outside South Africa and for living in South Africa, trying to improve their conditions in life. In the USA it’s called “the immigrant problem.” Some call it Xenophobia. David Smith, the author of this article in The Guardian,  calls it “Afrophobia,” because it is mostly focused on hatred of other African people. Al Jazeera has also covered the background in great detail, and they’ve interviewed an old friend, Mike Neocosmos. It was great to see a picture of Mike, who I haven’t seen since 1993. If you have time, check out the photography with the Al Jazeera piece. It’s breathtaking. My thanks to Ceridwen for alerting me to it.

Hatred, intolerance, and violence makes me heartsick. We are all one people. Our fates are interconnected with each other and with the fate of the planet and all the living beings on it. Five thousand people joined a “No To Xenophobia” march in Durban.  I’m glad to see plenty of people doing all they can to bring compassion and humanity to the situation, but it’s still deeply troubling.