UHURU PRESENTS:
UNDERSTANDING AND
OVERCOMING XENOPHOBIA
A ONE DAY COLLOQUIUM
At the present moment,
xenophobic practices in South Africa are taking a number of nefarious forms from
the exclusion of foreign students and staff from universities through the
denial of visas, to the systematic unleashing of mob and state violence against
the weakest sections of our population. This violence in particular has gone so
far as to invade the sanctuary of churches and has included the deployment of
the military and not just the police against poor communities thus treating the
latter as potential enemies. It has recently become clearer in fact that
xenophobia is not a problem of poverty but primarily a problem of identity
politics endemic to South Africa, a kind of politics which state institutions
and their agents have been pursuing since the early 1990s. Most analyses reduce
the question of xenophobia to one of criminality and poverty and deplore
xenophobic practices without offering much in terms of ideas for a solution.
This colloquium takes as its point of departure the need to understand
xenophobia as a particular political subjectivity and thereby also wishes to
subject to discussion alternative perspectives and the defensive practices of
those within communities who are attempting to resist xenophobic oppression. In
order to combine the two, the colloquium brings together a number of
intellectuals writing on the subject including the Congolese intellectual
Professor Ernest Wamba-dia-Wamba in order to debate the issues at stake. The
colloquium will also provide a platform to Congolese and South African
activists who have jointly organised against xenophobia in Durban. The
colloquium is thus an attempt to bring academic and activist voices in
conversation over what has become a major scourge in our country.
VENUE: Humanities Seminar
Room
DATE: 28th May 2015
TIME: 8.30 -15.30
PROGRAMME
8:30 – 8:45 Coffee
8:45 – 9:00 Introduction
and welcome Dr. Richard Pithouse
9: 00 – 10:30 Ms. Fezi
Mthonti, Prof. Michael Neocosmos, Prof Ernest Wamba-dia-Wamba
10:30 - 10: 45 Coffee
10:45 – 11:30 Discussion
11:30 – 12:00
Vice-Chancellor’s Address: Dr. Sizwe Mabizela, Vice Chancellor, Rhodes
University
12:00 – 1:00 Lunch
1:00 – 1:30 Screening of
‘Africans Against Xenophobia’ (d. Lucien Dunia Kyanga, 2015)
1:30 – 2:30 Mr Bahebwa
Kabambiri and Mr Lucien Dunia Kyanga (Congolese Solidarity Campaign), Mr
Thapelo Mohapi (Abahlali baseMjondolo)
2:30 – 2:45 Coffee
