People need a new consciousness at a time when terror and massacres are dominating the global violence scene. The restlessness in society must be taken seriously.
(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
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Ethel Irene Kabwato is an author, teacher, active in "Zimbabwe Women Writers" and various media freedom projects. She also leads the voluntary project "Slum Cinema" in Harare, where poor children express themselves through film. Kabwato writes exclusively for Ny Tid.
Every Friday, some of the world's leading freedom of expression advocates write exclusively for the weekly magazine Ny Tid. Our Without Borders columnists:Parvin Ardalan (Iran) Irshad Manji(Canada), Nawal El-Saadawi(Egypt)Elena Milashina(Russia),Tiam Irani (Iran)Martha Roque (Cuba), Ethel Irene Kabwato (Zimbabwe) Tsering Woeser (Tibet) Malahat Nasibova (Azerbaijan) and Nyein San (Burma).
“Man is human only to the extent that it is possible to gain recognition from other people. If a person does not receive this recognition from others, these others will be the subject of all further action »
Frantz Fanon
Harare, Zimbabwe. On August 23, after a debate initiated by Ny Tid to commemorate the terror on July 22 last year, I received an email from a close friend. He wrote that he considered the massacre on Utøya to be one of the worst he had ever heard of. I will always remember the words he wrote to me:
"What hurt me the most was that these youths were completely innocent, unmistakable and defenseless."
Now that the rug has finally fallen after the lengthy trial, we can hope that the verdict has given the relatives and survivors some comfort and opportunity to move on. Although nothing can compensate for the loss of someone close, we can also hope that the verdict will discourage repetitions, and perhaps also cause politicians to debate the maximum sentence again.
However, the only consolation may be that the killer is known to be responsible, which means that he is responsible for his actions.
It is interesting to note a number of actions that took place during the trial, which indicate that there is a restlessness in society that must be taken seriously. The day before the verdict fell in Oslo District Court, the news came that the Czech Republic police had arrested a man who had used the terrorist's name on the internet. When police investigated the man's home, they found explosives and a police uniform.
A few weeks earlier, six people were shot and killed in a Sikh temple in Wisconsin, USA. The motive was probably right-wing terrorism.
The shooting episode during the Batman premiere in Denver, Colorado, should also not be seen as an isolated case. Twelve people were killed, and 50 was injured when an armed man shot himself at a movie theater. The perpetrator is in the 20 years.
Missed questions
Ironically, there was another trial that attracted attention two days before the verdict fell in Oslo. In South Africa, 30 year-old Chris Mahlangu, a black farm worker, was sentenced to life for the murder of right-wing extremist Eugene Terreblanche.
Mahlangu told the court that he had acted in self-defense. Hundreds of blacks protested against the verdict, while a small group of whites demonstrated with a black doll with a rope around their necks and a poster that read "hang Mahlangu".
Some South African media argued that the trial was a matter of race, while the judge described the case as a "wage debate that had become violent".
Even after the trials are complete, there will be many unanswered questions. Perhaps the most important of these questions is the degree to which the world is ready for a multicultural society. It is a timely issue, especially in a time of economic crisis, multiple revolutions and religious persecution in Nigeria, India and Libya. All this has caused people to move across national borders in droves.
It is also interesting to see that the Norwegian terrorist insists that he killed 77 people in what he claims is a defense of Norway against Islam – especially when we know that the number of asylum seekers to Norway decreased from 17.000 in 2009 to 9000 in 2011.
Difficult working conditions
While Western countries have seen the most migration from Eastern Europe, most African countries have established networks with China through mining and trade agreements. According to recent media, it has been very difficult for African communities to promote cultural integration because of the conditions the Chinese set.
In Zambia, miners killed a Chinese mine owner after quarrels over pay and working conditions. In Zimbabwe, the diamond company Anjin kicked around 1500 workers without any wages, although the company is likely to have large revenues from mining operations.
In Angola, there are now about 250.000 Chinese nationals. The 25. In August, some of these were deported by authorities on suspicion of smuggling, kidnapping and brothel activities.
What just happened in the mines at Marikana, South Africa, should also be noticed. The strike launched by the workers in the Lonmin mine was not only a result of social injustice, but also of racial contradictions.
When the management of Lonmin ordered the workers back to the mines, without time to even mourn their dead, the excitement grew. Lonmin later reversed this decision.
In light of the attacks in Norway, the Marikana tragedy and other meaningless killings, people must now draw important lessons. We must learn to appreciate ethnic contradictions. Governments need to be better at promoting cultural awareness by creating good programs for schools, youth and the elderly.
Awareness can be increased with the help of festivals and another school curriculum, which emphasizes other cultural perspectives. We should debate on the internet as long as the debates are organized by responsible people.
Youth in politics
Popular culture and glorification of the mass media can change people's psyche and make us act socially. The Batman massacre in Colorado is an example of this. The killer turned movie fantasy into reality.
There is a lot of violence on TV, commercials glorify war, and even cartoons for children have violence and weapons in them. Politicians must exercise caution and not allow this violence to create hatred and divide societies.
Some of the violence we have seen can be considered a way to rebel against oppressive systems. We need both government and civil society that cut down on human rights violations and save us from loss of life.
It is an irony that much of the focus of terrorist terror has been on al-Qaeda rather than its own terrorists. We must take this seriously, and the police and security services must begin to follow other circles than before. Social networking is a good place to catch up. Although everyone is entitled to privacy, we must find a form of surveillance that puts security high.
Although Zimbabwe has legislation that many find to be excessively stringent, the Public Order and Security Act has enshrined that police should always be present when people gather. They have only a supervisory role. Then do not interfere unless the congregation becomes violent.
The authorities must become better at involving young people in politics. Young people clearly state what they want: Education and work. It is worrying that there are so many young people among those who have been killed lately.
The massacres in Norway and South Africa should never have to be repeated in our time. We all have a duty to recognize each other's cultural value and beliefs – and to make the world a better place. ■
Translated from English by Kristian Krohg-Sørensen
(This is an excerpt from Ny Tid's weekly magazine 07.09.2012. Read the whole thing by buying Ny Tid in newspaper retailers all over the country, or by subscribing to Ny Tid -click here. Subscribers receive previous editions free of charge as PDF.)
