Although those of us who consider ourselves social progressives would like to believe otherwise, the reality is that South Africa is a bastion of social conservatism. Indeed, one of the most obvious contradictions of South Africa's post-apartheid 'transition' is that the widely acknowledged (and regularly lauded) social progressiveness of the constitution does not reflect the beliefs and views of the majority of the population. This is fundamentally contradictory. South African himself.
Until a few years ago, this was one of our best-kept secrets. If the heady Rainbow Nation era of the mid-1990s primarily served to obscure the political and economic fissures in South African society, they also served to obscure many of the realities underlying the social norms and values of the majority. This means that they have actively eliminated the Some of that rainbow color then began to fade rather quickly as growing economic inequality and the accompanying class struggles came to the fore, but not until the heart and soul of South Africa's divided society was exposed. It took several more years.
As might be expected given South Africa's apartheid past, some of the early signs of this exposure came on the racial front. Is former President Thabo Mbeki running to hide and rationalize the failure of his country's government to develop and the accumulation of power and privilege by a small black elite, or is it a cacophony of racist attitudes? Whether it was the increased incidence of racist attacks by whites, this was enough evidence to suggest that the Rainbow Nation's constructed social cohesion was rapidly crumbling. As hundreds of thousands of various foreign nationals were deported, regular media headlines about trouble-making foreigners became a hot topic, and physical attacks on immigrants spread across the country (the 2008 xenophobic (foreshadowing of pogroms), nationalistic chauvinism and xenophobia quickly came out of the closet.
In addition to consistently defending parochial, patriarchal social relations and continuing to show general indifference to the prevalence of violence against women, most recently A form of social intolerance is homophobia. It really started to take off in 2006 with none other than Jacob Zuma. He proudly stated at his public event: [a gay man] He would never have stood in front of me. I would knock him out. Although he later apologized, his follow-up statement that “same-sex marriage is a disgrace to the nation and to God'' and the fact that such a view was received positively by a significant number of South Africans raised deep-rooted problems. It clearly shows. Social conservatism is a widely held belief.
Empirical confirmation of this was clearly evident in the 2008 South African Social Attitudes Survey by the Human Sciences Research Council. Using a nationally representative sample of respondents aged 16 and older, the study found that from 2003 to 2007, more than 80% of the population of various age groups said, “Sex between two men or two women is It turned out that “I consistently felt that I was wrong all the time.” It also found that “homosexuals and lesbians are characterized as 'un-African' and intolerance towards homosexuality is widespread.” Vasu Reddy, one of the study's authors, calls these dominant views “an attempt to tell African gays and lesbians to go back into the closet because you are a 'disgrace' to African culture.” He accurately described this attitude as “a disgrace to African culture.'' He expressed the view that homosexuality was “something that colonizers introduced to contaminate African culture.''
Tragically but predictably, these views have brutally translated over the past few years into unprecedented levels of violence, particularly against Black lesbians, with more than 30 people murdered and countless other forms of physical and psychological abuse. ing.
This hotbed of socially conservative rhetoric against hate crimes permeates all levels of South African society. Renowned journalist, publisher, and Wanibee cultural icon John Quelane wrote about lesbians and He spouted a hateful epitaph against gays. . Two years later, he was given a diplomatic mission to Uganda, where the country's parliament is currently debating an anti-gay bill that would give life sentences for “touching”.[ing] Another person with the intent to commit homosexual acts. ”
Last year, Constitutional Defenders Society lawyer Zehir Omar told the Judiciary Committee that because High Court Judge Cathy Satchwell was a lesbian, “the vast majority of South Africans are God-fearing and would not be able to marry her.'' ” he said. Since no religion condones homosexuality, it must be identified with the learned judge. ” Not to be outdone, the PAC Youth League also claimed in a January statement targeting same-sex relationships on SABC's Generations that the soapie had “declared war on African culture and customs”. They went on to opine that this was “part of homosexuality and indoctrination.” [sic] “Africans with nonsense” and called for “the abolition of homosexual acts.”
Just recently, Arts and Culture Minister Lulu Shingwana walked out of an exhibition by artist and lesbian activist Zanele Muholi that featured photographs of half-naked black women embracing, calling the exhibition “immoral, offensive and nation-building.” It is contrary to this.” In neighboring Zimbabwe and Namibia, homophobic bigwigs Robert Mugabe and Sam Nujoma, respectively, were no doubt applauding loudly. Zambia's Southern Province Minister, Daniel Mkombwe, also recently compared homosexuals to animals.
All of this is coupled with the growing popularization and political acceptance of more socially reactionary versions of various religions and cultural practices. Whether it be church- and culturally-enforced patriarchy, self-constructed moralization of “unnatural” social relations, or hypocritical repression of sex and sexuality, racial, ethnic, Whether it's the xenophobic politics of national xenophobia, they all add up to the same thing. : “They” is not “us” and “we” is what “we” say.
Please be careful.
• Dale T. McKinley is an independent writer, researcher, lecturer and political activist from Johannesburg. This article was first published by the South African Civil Society Information Service (sacsis.org. za).
