Death by Suburbia

Artwork at the Center for Global Education (Windhoek) depicting Hector Pieterson

A majority of all my actions are motivated by one desire - to get out of the suburbs. I often joke about white suburbia because it is an easy target; I still don't know how to reconcile my appreciation for a perfect childhood with confusion over a sheltered interpretation of reality. Even when asked about my blog title, I explain that it applies most when I am Stateside, it is there I feel most like a foreigner. I chose Furman's study abroad program because I wanted a dramatic break from the lifestyle attached to this package. I recognize this is not a new idea- what kid does not want to differentiate themselves from the familiar? However, what I wanted was complete liberation - not only geographically, but intellectually - ideas that made me so uncomfortable the only solution was to change. My resolution was to study abroad ... as often and as in as many countries as I could.

Needless to say, I was quite pleased with myself after our first week in South Africa. Our theme was quite simply "go big or go home." Our transition was two-fold: our initial accommodations were comfortable while in Johannesburg thanks to the hospitality of St. Benedicts. We had single rooms at the Church guest house, a beautiful garden, daily Mass we could join, and yes, we were in the suburbs. The subtle nature of our transition stopped at the Church gates. Intellectually, it was a plan of shock-and-awe. Day one we heard from a former freedom fighter involved in the anti-apartheid struggle, visited Soweto, the Hector Pieterson Museum and saw President Mandela's home. Careful not to waste precious night hours, we heard a lecture from Dale McKinley - a Furman alumnus whose current claim-to-fame is being kicked out of the South African Communist Party. In addition to briefing us on the anti-privatization movement in South Africa (in preparation for our visit to Orange Farm the following day), he explained how one goes from a former ROTC cadet to a key actor in South African politics. Finally, our first week concluded as our group set out in pairs to experience the authentic South Africa- we were staying with a family for the weekend.

When I learned we would be staying in Soweto for three nights, I was anxious. I couldn't believe that we would be "living" in THE Soweto- famous for its politics, leaders (two Nobel Peace Prize Winners on one street) and its violence. Even knowing the Center for Global Education chooses families not only willing to share their homes, but their life stories, the weekend is an extraordinary test of people skills.

It is only ironic that our first weekend spent in the real Africa was in the suburbs. Most of us, including our professor, expected our homes to be in a lower-income areas (as subsequent home stays were). Soweto is the infamous product of the Group Areas Act, legislation passed by the apartheid government to physically separate the races. The black population was relocated to a specific area to service the white residents. Apartheid legalized structural oppression - the system anchored non-whites in a position of poverty and desolation. The Soweto of today threatens the Africa stereotype - the township synonymous with poverty and tin shacks has evolved into an African suburb with large manicured homes.

Depth was added to the width of my formal studies of South Africa the moment I entered Soweto as a guest. I found a sanctuary of culture, a community alive with a spirit of survival and resistance. I was able to witness normative activities (grocery shopping, visiting family, trips to the mall) as they revolved around historical icons. In spending time with my family, I realized the implications of exactly where I was - we would casually pass by Mandela's house, the streets made famous by the 1976 student uprising or the hostels that bear witness to the horrendous migratory labor system. I was introduced to the face of the struggle at a dinner table in Pimville; I was told of the brother who sacrificed his body for freedom - tortured by the police for his unwavering belief in democracy.

My time spent in one African suburb was sobering - the neighborhood is saturated with resistance. Even the students rose to fight the system; children my age and younger organized themselves in a non-violent protest and were mercilessly gunned down by the police in 1976. The echoes of the fight still ring today in the wake of those died while fighting on the streets. I can only imagine if all neighborhoods were as politicized.

View of Soweto

During apartheid, pollution from energy sources was released in the black neighborhoods while the residents of Soweto lacked electricity. When energy providers finally serviced Soweto, they were built outside of the township. The useless reactors now serve as a reminder of not only the apartheid legacy, but environmental racism

The infamous hostels - "housing" for migrant workers mining gold and diamonds


Hector Pieterson Museum in Soweto

Our adopted family

Trashcan lid used by students as a shield in the '76 uprising

Johannesburg newspaper from February 2010

Nelson Mandela's home
8115 Orlando Street, Soweto
Johannesburg
Hector Pieterson - Soweto Student Uprising in 1976

"A Skeptic's View on Child Sponsorship "

We have all seen the commercials with a small, third-world child
in the arms of a nice white person...

most of us brace for the monetary "ask" that inevitably comes at the end
So, is it really working?


An interesting article written by a friend witnessing the effects of sponsorship first-hand in Rwanda:
A Skeptic's View on Child Sponsorship

Skins and Schools

Bushmen skins were openly sold in Botswana until the 1960s. One could decorate their home with African souvenirs that included pottery, traditional drums or the very skin of the Batswana indigenous population. Two generations later, the children of the Bushmen are no longer sold, just stolen.

Our group was invited to meet Bushmen and then participate in some activities with some of the last preservers of this mighty culture. Our time together revealed a highly complex system; for example, the trans-dance, medicinal walk and cave paintings testify to a culture innovative enough to leave a mark that has endured for 26, 000 years! One morning, three women took us into the bush to share medical and survival skills that have been both preserved and celebrated. We were shown edible plants, techniques to avoid the African sun, and tracking methods. Epstein describes the health care practiced as one that rivals the often championed Western biomedical approach: "some African medicine does have scientifically measurable chemical activity. African healers were among the first to develop the technique of smallpox inoculation, for example, and used quinine to cure malaria long before Europeans did." It is evident that not only has trust been established between the indigenous people and the land, but that they posses an enviable understanding of the intimate relationship between the environment and one's lifestyle. Sadly, this balance has never known perfect harmony, it is constantly being threatened by outsiders.



The tragedy of the Bushmen is currently relapsing. Western schooling has been rendered mandatory and consequently legalizes the forceful removal of Bushmen children. Traditional education has now been rendered worthless. The flaws in this process make this type of activity criminal; while education is a human right, this pedagogy kidnaps children and sanitizes them of their precious history. I believe some form a standard education is needed in order to protect the Bushmen; if they are educated on their civil rights, they cannot be further exploited. Ironically, this "enlightened" education is not one of liberation, but further oppression.

Why bus the children over 100 km from their established familial and communal roots? Why not blend the curriculum with traditional and modern teaching? What consequences should they brace for as the family structure is being ripped apart? Have the psychological damages done to these children been calculated? Please tell me how an eight-year-old copes as they encounter the loss of their family and a new sense of isolation!

Surely, our collective memory is not this short! Every country has their own shameful history with indigenous peoples. Native Americans in the United States were notoriously mistreated in the school system designed to assimilate them. The struggle of the Aboriginal people against forced education is the most recent event to highlight the self-determination of the people. It has been made famous by the true story, Follow the Rabbit Proof Fence. As the United States accounts for reservations mired by social problems and Australia fights over what day to nationally apologize, I wonder who will hold the government of Botswana accountable?

As the African "singe story" is incessantly exported is one of underdevelopment and poverty, it is predictable that the government of Botswana is trying to sanitize their modern nation-state from a culture labeled "primitive;" but how many "stolen generations" will we allow?


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To take action:
Take the pledge and add to the Sea of Hands Project
Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation, ANTaR
ANTaR's Issues and Campaigns

Resources:
Time magazine explains the "Stolen Generation"
Apology Speech of Kevin Rudd (Australia)

Boxing A Youtube Genocide

"Tears spring to my eyes. But I have been preparing for this. I feel like a boxer who knows he is about to be hit, each muscle tightening so as not to crumble when the actual blow lands; ready to hit back. Not to think but to act."

Mariane Pearl

I was ready. I had no choice. I had to go in prepared, rehearsed and researched. Three massacre sites in 16 months; but this time I was living and working where it happened for three weeks in and around the burial ceremony of 534 Muslim men and boys.

I am in Srebrenica. The site of the worst massacre since World War II. Over 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed in an act of genocide by the Serb Army in a "protected"UN Safe Zone filled with refugees. I didn't brake when I saw the shockingly casual site of burned houses, the intimate naked skeletons of three story houses. The shell markings and bullet holes. I walked the streets of Srebrenica, passing the destroyed houses. I continued with my daily routine, trying to forget that the house in front of mine lost 3 boys. I explained to the women behind our house that I was locked out and found a kitten, not dwelling on the fact that her family buried a husband and son of 16 years this July. I continue shopping for groceries even after realizing the man in the juice aisle has no left arm and that he is a man, alive. I joined the 30, 000 people at the Memorial Ceremony. I tolerated the VIPs at a funeral. I met people, made introductions. I witnessed the line of coffins, 534 filing by me with my meager offerings - my camera, my witness, this voice. I didn't brake, didn't cry. I had no right to cry, I have lost nothing. I finally broke over a video I saw on Youtube. It was recorded during the genocide; a father was yelling for his son to come down from hiding in the woods, screaming that it was safe while surrounded by Serb soldiers that would eventually add him to mass graves. Genocide had found Youtube, and I couldn't take it. If we can casually watch people being slaughtered and do nothing the next time, what kind of sick game is this? When taught about the Holocaust, why are we not also taught about the concentration camps in Argentina, the 677 in Bosnia? Where is the follow up on genocides in Rwanda, the killing fields of Cambodia or the one happening now in Darfur?

We need to stop saying "Never Again." Never Again has witnessed Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, Algeria and Darfur. I think "Until Next Time" is more appropriate. Justice has not been served in Srebrenica. War criminals walk around the town, Bosnia, and even serve as President of Serbia. The day after the burial ceremony, Serb nationalists came into Srebrenica and yelled, "don't worry Europe, we can do it ... we will rid the Balkans of Muslims"

Please act to end the current genocide in Darfur. Start by signing the petition.

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This post was originally written after the Srebrenica funeral and memorial service. It was somehow deleted from my original post in July.

Intermission

Behind Enemy Lines

There seems to be a war of branding being fought over diamonds. The West has no problem parroting the "blood diamond" mantra while simultaneously fueling the demand for the stones, while African countries continue to supply them. Neither side is making systematic changes, both exploit the market: some pull an income from films such as Blood Diamond and offer alternative companies that carry "certified stones;" at the same times, African states are calming consumer's consciences and promising that "diamonds are for development." The film has exposed this issue to millions of people in an authentic way, but I think more can be done to provoke the status quo. Imagine if they put just a few resources at the end of the movie, such as an organization like War Child that works with former child soldiers, a union, or a transparent/ethical company!

With just the basics about blood diamonds and the Kimberly process, I went with my history class to tour the Kimberly mine in South Africa. I was masquerading as a tourist, but fully aware I was behind enemy lines. The mine has successfully transformed their brutal history into a modern tourist destination; it boasts a sleek building with shops, a movie theater and a platform to view the "Big Hole." Only in one underground corner display, did the panel echo the truth - it described the living conditions of the miners, the infamous hostels, as "concentration camps." The tour guide and museum completely sanitized the history of the mine, and are consequently rewriting history.

I used to trust the Kimberly Process. I placed confidence in the fact that stones were legally certified by meeting international criteria. However, after learning of the systemic oppression that literally forced the men to migrate in order to sell their labor, I will no longer admire or plan to ever purchase a stone. They are not directly funding a war, but they fuel a version of low intensity conflict.

At the end, I was only tempted to purchase a postcard in order to write home, "Greetings from the Empire!"


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I am currently traveling in rural Botswana with extremely limited internet access, so please check back for the pictures that belong to this post.

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The Big Hole



PR



"ambition, enterprise and vision"



Eye of the Storm



Infamous Board Room



From the museum itself, "when they came to the Diamond Fields, most were unaware that this time living conditions would resemble that of a concentration camp."