Afro-Pessimism: The World Cup and Stab Vests (By: Stephen Bollaert)

Today I googled “Stab Vests” – 27,600 results – and the first and most obvious relate to South Africa and the Soccer World Cup – quite an eye-opener – but I am getting ahead of myself.

On Tuesday (26 May) I arrived in the UK on the first leg of a cycle tour from London to Switzerland. First stop - my sisters home in the genteel middle class and rather conservative village of Welwyn Garden City north of London (despite the name it is more of a village than a city). Very neat, clean and leafy – reminds me of Pinelands outside Cape Town.

Having a few weeks in hand to organise a bike, set it up for touring and do a couple of trial runs I fancied the idea of finding casual employment to supplement my meagre supply of pounds – the Rand does not go too far here. This idea turned out to be wishful thinking in the current economic climate but, while irrelevant to the issue of Afro-pessimism, it does explain why, within 4 hours of arriving in Welwyn Garden City, I was seated in a local employment agency.

So here I am doing the rather futile round of employment agencies (by the way I am “legal”) and being interviewed by a very helpful lady when we (that is the staff and I) are disturbed by a man entering the office and acting rather strangely. Being fresh out of South Africa my thoughts went straight to armed robbery. A bit of an adrenalin rush then relief – ‘he does not seem dangerous’ – ‘but he is a lot younger and beefier than me’ – ‘maybe on drugs or maybe simply a bit strange’. Nevertheless, my natural response to protect women and children had already kicked in and I left the agency to call in my back-up (my brother-in-law). Though numbers were now on “our side” clearly size and age was not.

Fortunately the “offender” almost immediately followed me onto the street and straight into the arms of a local community policeman. My guess is that the other staff member had called in for help at the outset of the disturbance. Within a minute or two help was at hand. Impressive! I was equally impressed to see how the policeman handled the situation. The thing I noticed was the distance he kept between himself and the “offender” while fully controlling the situation. This got me thinking about knives, stab vests, the World Cup’ Afro-Pessimism and the resultant visit to Google.

What is it that drives this irrational fear of violence in South Africa? Perhaps it is Afro-Pessimism and a subconscious desire to see Africa fail or maybe it is driven by a sense of “white” and, in particular, English superiority. My guess is that while these may be factors the real reason is ignorance and fear of the unknown. A little “street smarts” which is essential anywhere in the world is probably all that is needed for a perfectly safe and memorable visit. Of course, ill advised visits to the shadier sides of South African cities is potentially dangerous – but then this applies across the world and, having “survived” walking through downtown Johannesburg with no other “white” in view; selling chickens in the heart of a “black township” which most of my “white” compatriots have never and never will visit; as well as regular cycle rides through the back roads of our local “black township”, I wonder what all the fuss is about.

Then it struck me. I have never been held up or mugged though two of my children have. I have never been subject to armed violence aimed at my person except when I ill advisedly tried to help a “damsel-in-distress” only to be attacked by the very same “damsel” yet, when faced with this mans strange behaviour in a country I perceive as perfectly safe, I immediately think ‘armed robbery’. The cause – all the hype and bad press – nothing sells like bad news and I, probably like most, have been conditioned to expect the worst. Sad isn’t it?

Incidentally the “offender” is as “white” as I am and if - IF - over the next few weeks of cycling in the UK and across France to Switzerland I am subject to personal violence the chances are that it will be at the hands of someone pretty much the same colour as me. Of course I am not expecting that – my greatest fear is heavy trucks on narrow roads.

Angola, South Africa: It's all the same...right?

It’s unbelievable really. The African Cup of Nations suffers a major attack; the Togolese deep loss and trauma and the Western media is more concerned whether this is the “litmus test” of what’s to come during the football world cup later this year in South Africa! What is that all about? Nonetheless, I thought the response of a South African who was being interviewed about this perceived security risk, by a Sky News reporter, was priceless. Drawing the parallels he asked the reporter that if a bomb went off in London (as indeed it has) whether it would deter them from going to Amsterdam? Of course not – it wouldn’t even cross one’s mind to think that!

For a moment I want to draw a few comparisons to gain some perspective on this. First of all, the continent of Africa is larger than the size of Western Europe, China, USA, India, and Argentina put together! Secondly, as Time Magazine points out, the distance between Cabinda (where this attack took place) and Cape Town is about double the distance between Paris and Kosovo , double the distance! (http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1952798,00.html). Thirdly, for me to fly from Durban to Cape Town takes about the same amount of time as it would to fly from England to Switzerland. A vast continent indeed! With countries that are separated by massive geographic distances! Why then is the Western media so concerned that what happened in Angola is going to happen in South Africa?

Is it because they still think that Africa is one and the same country? Surely not! However, considering the number of “non-Africans” who still refer to the African state they are about to visit as ‘Africa’ – then perhaps this remains a valid hypothesis. But why such fear?

With the way the world has been politically and economically structured, it is usually those with less power who are obligated to enter into the world and worldview of those who exert the power. The result of this in South Africa meant that most “blacks” have had great insight into who “whites” are – as they were continually having to enter into the “white” world. On the contrary, for “whites” knowledge of who “blacks” are has largely been based on what the media and religious institutions have said (or didn’t say) they were. For “whites” this created a deep-seated fear of “blacks” that was pivotal to upholding the Apartheid rule.

So, when reading about the fears that the West continues to have of Africa I am reminded that such dynamics are not peculiar to South Africa but form part of the global order. I am also reminded of how similar “white” South Africa and the West are with their attitudes towards Africa. For me, this Togolese tragedy is a beckoning for those of us in the West to step beyond our ideological boundaries and discover that in fact the distance between Cabinda and Cape Town is as safe as the distance between London and Amsterdam. In doing so not only will we feel more secure but so will the rest of the world!