Burning man, burning nation.

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Burning man, burning nation. The still photograph has, since its discovery over a century ago, been viewed as a record of a moment in time and of events that took place in front of the camera lens. To this day the still image has, to a large extent, remained a record of events taking place in our modern, fast-paced, dot.com world. Notwithstanding the fact that most images today are merely a collection of computer information, the recent xenophobic attacks in South Africa have been recorded and will remain in our minds for future generations - captured on digital files. Rather like the still images of violence during the Apartheid years, these recent images of the many demonstrations against the state, the evictions of families from illegally occupied land and terrible xenophobic attacks must be viewed and never forgotten. This painful viewing process will allow us to take a mental snapshot of those horrid moments in our history and will thus equip us with a moral compass with which our country and its people can be steered, in a direction set out some fourteen years ago by the likes of Nelson Mandela. These images form a document shot over a five year period, showing the anger that has welled up within the poorer, urban communities surrounding Johannesburg. Anger caused by the extinguishing of the dream that thousands of largely ANC(African National Congress) voters had. A dream of a Rainbow Nation and the promises of a house for every family, clean drinking water, electricity and equal opportunities for all. A combination of poor service delivery, inadequate leadership from local and national government and various other social factors has left hundreds of thousands of people in the greater Johannesburg area living in squalor, with the faint dream of a better life fading day by day. A huge influx of Africans from outside South Africas borders, living alongside local people in the many poor, informal settlements has further exacerbated the situation. The combination of these socio-economic pressures and the huge increase of foreign workers living in the Johannesburg area led to an unprecedented release of anger against the ANC government, local township leaders and foreigners. This has resulted in scores of violent protests over the past five years and, most recently, culminated in xenophobic attacks and the dreadful torching of a Mozambican national, Ernesto Nhamuave, in Ramaphosa township. Let us hope that the soul of our nation is not permanently tarnished and that we can learn from our horrid mistakes. Never, never and never again, shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another.. Nelson Mandela

Category: News
Uploaded: October 10th, 2008 @ 1:38 pm
Author: KimLudbrook

Length: 05:48
Rating: Whole StarWhole StarWhole StarWhole StarWhole Star
Views: 290

Tags: africa burning epa kim ludbrook man photojournalism photos south xenophobia

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