Abbey Makoe
The riots in Britain – the worst the country has seen for decades – are a stark reminder that it is not much about where one lives, but the conditions people have to endure.
Poverty, hunger and starvation know neither colour, nor place.
Social sciences teach us that poverty is relative; it is fundamentally measured in comparative terms.
The British riots follow closely those that erupted in Greece, which were sparked by the downward spiral in living conditions.
Greece’s bankruptcy was only recently insulated by the emergency collective aid of the EU, under the watchful eye and guidance of the International Monetary Fund.
Italy, another traditional key EU member, is living on a knife-edge, navigating sensitively through potential economic collapse.
The riots which toppled the governments of Tunisia and Egypt were sparked by a combination of wanton poverty, corruption and a deep sense of general hopelessness across the populace. Libya, Syria, Yemen and Jordan also face similar unrest.
Signs of uneasy citizenry also emerged in Israel recently.
The US’s global economic domination, upon which its universal political stranglehold depends, has begun to lose its grip on the world following the downgrading of their ability to honour debt repayment.
We are not immune from the worrying developing trend. Our situation is plausibly aggravated by UN pronouncements that ours is one of the most unequal societies in the world, second only to Brazil.
Former president Thabo Mbeki – an economist – described our economy as divided into two: the first economy, he said, is for the few and affluent, and the second for most of the people trapped in under-development and hardships.
The ruling party can attest to the many times the ANC leadership, including President Jacob Zuma, had been dispatched to the trouble spots to quell simmering tensions emanating from service delivery protests.
This year alone the poor rioting in Ficksburg in the Free State were felled by erratic, heavily-armed police who shot dead unarmed community leader Andries Tatane.
Whereas the London riots were sparked by the fatal shooting of one Mark Duggan, our riots are sparked by a series of unkept promises, lies, corruption and deceit which characterise our political landscape, particularly at local government level, which is primarily a service-delivery tier in our governance structures.
Die-hard socialists and fundamental communists may rejoice to hear me say I blame the global situation on the dominance of the domineering international neo-liberal philosophy and its system of capitalism.
I am a strong believer in the free-market economic set-up insofar as it seeks not to hamper the initiative and innovation of entrepreneurs. However, I have a big problem with capitalism when it encourages the practice of “dog eats dog”.
Unsustainable
Critics of capitalism often describe it as a form of system “where every person is for themselves, but God for us all”. This may appear somewhat simplistic, yet the nature of economic systems such as ours where, as the economy grows, the rich get richer and the poor poorer, is downright unsustainable.
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, speaking at Emory University in Atlanta, US, in 1999, said the poor will not always remain well-behaved as they watch the rich throw away left-overs while they starve.
Socio-economic inequities are man-made, and whereas they disadvantage the majority, they also expose the degree of greed and heartlessness of money-makers that African-American revolutionary Malcolm X referred to as “blood-suckers”.
Being Christian, I am acutely aware that Jesus Christ observed that “the poor will always be there”.
In Setswana culture we have a saying that goes “just like teeth, people can never enjoy equal status”.
Even when Jesus alluded to the reality of the poor’s existence, he nonetheless did not endorse their neglect and exploitation, which has been the case in many parts of the world.
One of the common denominators around the world is the apprehension and disdain with which political leaders disparage the rioters.
In the 1980s, former prime minister PW Botha – forever out of touch with reality – used to wag his finger at the trade union movement for the mass work and consumer boycotts.
Whenever people rose up in numbers, Botha and his government used to blame it all on “a handful of agitators”, with a promise to soon sort them out.
My warning to governments is forthright: you cannot put a lid on a boiling pot forever.
Most of the poor anywhere in the world demand one common thing: to be treated with respect. If anyone in power takes away the last thing that they possess – their dignity – you provide a spark to light the fires.
Violence, as they say, suits those who have nothing to lose.
* Makoe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Royal News Services.