In the last few years the middle classes have taken to the streets everywhere in the world except South Africa: in Egypt, Tunisia, Brazil, India, Mexico, Russia, the United States even. Here, we have stayed firmly away from the street even as the street has been exploding. Instead, we have decided to make a pact with the state, a deal with the devil as it were.The deal is this: middle class people have watched the state struggle to provide short-term relief to the poor (social grants, sub-standard housing, public works jobs, etc.), but we have not pushed for genuine economic justice. We have complained when the policy choices of our government (e.g. building communal toilets and refusing to invest in proper public transport) have resulted in women and children being raped and murdered, but we have not questioned these policy choices.We have been outraged enough to shed tears, to seek long prison terms, but we have not admitted our own complicity in the economic and social circumstances that create these situations.Most importantly, we have not taken to the streets to be mown down like miners, to be shot at like Andries Tatane, to be belittled like ‘dirty voters’ of Bekkersdal. Perhaps this is simply because in South Africa, even protest is unequal.
Posted on: Thu, 31 Oct 2013 17:14:43 +0000
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