Anti-foreigner violence in South Africa kills 50

[Vampire]

Anti-foreigner violence in South Africa kills 50

Sun May 25, 7:41 AM ET

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - The death toll in two weeks of anti-foreigner violence in South Africa has reached 50, police said Sunday, as thousands displaced by the violence coped with rain and cool temperatures.

The revised death toll was eight more than the previous figure. A police spokesman also said Sunday that the army will continue supporting police trying to quell the violence.

On Saturday, the army said one of its soldier shot and killed a man who was attacking a woman in a slum that has seen attacks on foreigners.

"There's no change at this stage until such time as we are satisfied peace is being restored," said Gauteng provincial police spokesman Govindsamy Mariemuthoo. He said few incidents and no deaths or injuries were reported overnight.

Thousands of foreigners remain in makeshift camps after being chased from their homes by stick- and knife-wielding mobs of South Africans who accuse immigrants of taking jobs and blame them for crime. A church service was held Sunday at one of the camps.

The violence has centered on squatter camps and notoriously bleak dormitories built during the apartheid era for single men who were allowed to work in the cities, but not to bring their families.

President Thabo Mbeki, who on Wednesday called in the army for the first time since the end of apartheid in 1994 to aid police, was to address the nation on the violence later Sunday, according to the state broadcaster.

Mbeki condemned the violence Saturday, saying during an appearance in Cape Town that "there can never, ever be justification for criminal, violent activity against anyone."

Other leaders of his African National Congress Party, including its president, Jacob Zuma, were visiting hot spots Sunday, hoping their presence and words could help restore calm.

Protesters marched for peace Saturday in Johannesburg, the commercial capital where the violence began and where it has been most intense.

Another perfect example of the multiculturalism . . . strangely enought even if we never saw any multicultural paradise anywhere, politicians from quite everywhere still seems to pursue the multiculturalist utopia.:

Hey wait a moment . . . we have a whole continent where is no country withouth few dosens of nationalities and no country with a homogenous ethnical population, a whole continent that is one huge multiculturalist society . . . AFRICA. Yet for some few reasons I could never call it anything close to a paradise

[antares24]

there is already a thread about this vampire, i agree that this is a disgrace, but if you want to open a thread about the bad sides of multiculturalism (that in many cases seems to function badly) isn't the political academy better?

[Dr. Croccer]

I wouldn't call this an example of failure of multiculturalism, as we have at least 5 countries in which it performs excellently, but more the succes of xenophobia, nationalism and the new manifestation of apartheid.

Nice try though.

And don't we have, like, 6 South-Africa threads already?

[Vampire]

I'm sorry if is a double thread, I have not saw any on this subject.

Please if double thread then merge.

[Tajir]

This is the first time I agree with Vampire and you are spot on!!

Multiculturalism was the downfall of Africa and continues to drive conflict in every corner. If we started setting up tribal borders TODAY, you'd see a major shift in the continent, for the better.

[Erik]

Oh please.
The recent violence in SA has nothing to do with multiculturalism.

There is a difference between two or more cultures living together for decades or centuries, and thousands of refugees flooding the job market and thousands more stealing to feed themselves.

In the 1930's thousands of Jewish refugees flooded my country.
And guess what our native Jews did?
-They asked for them to be put in concentration camps because they were "steeling their jobs" and "giving Jews a bad name".
Same culture, but not exactly tolerant, huh?

[mongrel]

Absolutely nothing to do with multiculturalism. 100% due to racism and nationalism, evils that for some reason has not been eradicated in SA.

[Erik]

Absolutely nothing to do with multiculturalism. 100% due to racism and nationalism, evils that for some reason has not been eradicated in SA.

Not even racism or nationalism.

It's about jobs, mostly.

[Trey]

Not even racism or nationalism.

It's about jobs, mostly.

So that explains most of the racial violence in American history.

[humvee2800]

somehow this thread feels like someone trying to press a puzzle peice into one of 80 corner.. and then saying the puzzle is broken when it does not fit.