We spent last weekend at a human rights retreat
weekend on Goedgedacht Olive Farm. It was ridiculously gorgeous as can be seen
from the photo above. A common feature of almost everywhere I visit in Cape
Town. The activities of the weekend involved getting a foundational
understanding of human rights terminology, the process of becoming a refugee
and learning about human rights issues in different African countries. I really
appreciated the activity where we were given a refugee status application that
was written in Spanish and Creole and told to fill it out and bring it up to
see if we would be accepted for asylum. The activity was meant to highlight the
unfair structure of the refugee process of having to fill out an important form
in a language you did not understand while also highlighting the power dynamics
that exist in the process.
My group picked Botswana as the country that we
wanted to learn more about with regards to human rights issues. Each group was
tasked with putting on a skit to highlight human rights issues in their chosen
country to compete for two billions dollars’ worth of funding for your country
to solve those issues (if only it was real!). Botswana’s biggest issues seem to
be around infrastructure and technology. As always those that are in rural
areas struggle with being able to have appropriate access to the resources
needed in this day and age. We had a lot of fun learning about the country and
our skit was the winner! YAY! The best part of the weekend though (other than
the amazing food) was being able to network with some amazing fellow activists.
I felt so blessed to be able to share in their knowledge, hear their journeys,
accomplishments, defeats and struggles towards justice and peace in their
countries. I was very grateful for all of the conversations I had with those
individuals and look forward to continuing building relationships with many of
them.
In
other news, there was another protest held on campus by the same activist group
that has led the Rhodes Must Fall and Fees Must Fall movement (successfully)
on-campus. This time the focus of the protest was on the issue of lack of
housing accommodations on-campus for Black students. The activist group asserts
that the administration gives priority of on-campus housing to White and international
students instead of Black students. The activists constructed a shack similar
to the informal housing shacks that exist within the townships outside Jameson
Hall which is residence hall on-campus. The protest quickly escalated though
with the shack being set on fire along with some expensive paintings, a van
(see below) and a bus on campus. It is still unknown whether it was the
activist group who set fire to university property. Investigations have begun
into how this escalated and student protestors have been jailed for their
involvement with the activist group. Protests are nothing new to South Africa
or to this university. However, what struck me the most was the reactions of
many White students at UCT and the ugly, ignorant messages they posted on
social media regarding the activist’s methods and actions even before things
started going up in flames (bad pun intended). It reminded me of the backlash
that many of the protests that I’d helped organized on campus back home
received and our protests never escalated to that level. I also couldn’t help
but notice an uncomfortably familiar pattern with the university administrators
being reactive instead of proactive as now there are significant talks of more
housing being created on-campus and more Black students receiving notifications
that they now have a place to lay their heads at night. Many of these Black
students come from the townships and live very far away from campus. To be
denied housing on campus renders them homeless. And how can you study properly
and be successful as a student if you do not know where you will sleep at night
or find your next meal? I find myself returning to some familiar quotes in this
moment; the first from Frederick Douglass who said that “Power concedes nothing
without a demand. It never did and it never will”. They won’t move unless you
move them and I support these activists in taking a stand for the injustice
that they see occurring in their community. The second is from Martin Luther
King Jr. who said that "A riot is the language of the unheard".
People only protest when they feel like their voices are not being heard. They
only resort to violence when they feel suffocated and like there are no other
options. While we look at the protestors actions we must also take into
consideration the effects of what consistent inaction, refusal to listen to
their perspective and denial of an existing issue from a power source does to
an individual. Either way, the struggle continues.

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