Riots and Looting in South Africa

I didn't to go off topic in racism thread..

Indepth read for interested parties:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-57818215

South Africa being a deeply troubled nation, what a surprise...

To be fair, I've got more understanding for riots and looting in South Africa than BLM in the USA. The unemployment was really high then got even higher after Wuhan Virus induced restrictions. People were genuingly hungry. What I don't get is the scale and the destruction. They didn't just steal what they needed, they destroyed the infrastructure for no f****** reason.

I assume the white/black wealth gap is still vast in Sudafrika because from the recordings of looting I've only seen black people do it?

Personally to me it's also bizarre that protesting a former president being jailed takes a form of looting and stealing  but I guess people need to eat and are jumping on the opportunity amid the unrest.

Sadly the NYT article is hidden behind a paywall

Myesyats wrote:I assume the white/black wealth gap is still vast in Sudafrika because from the recordings of looting I've only seen black people do it?

Personally to me it's also bizarre that protesting a former president being jailed takes a form of looting and stealing  but I guess people need to eat and are jumping on the opportunity amid the unrest.

Sadly the NYT article is hidden behind a paywall

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-57818215
Good enough for practical purposes..

there's some speculation by the head of police that Zuma's people organised the riots... nothing official yet though, still under investigation

the irony of it all of course like Babun mentioned is that the poor (majority black people) will be mostly affected by the business going down and the presumed inflation on food prices when things settle down again. But that's been the longstanding tactic of the ANC, they have majority of the uneducated/lowly-educated rural black folk which makes out most of the country's population in their corner

Myesyats wrote:Personally to me it's also bizarre that protesting a former president being jailed takes a form of looting and stealing

Honestly from what I've learned over the past few decades, in regards to protest, is that modern societies mostly seem to value property much higher than actual people, so looting and vandalism is actually the quickest way to get a response, no matter if it ends up being the response you wanted.

It is sad, but BLM didn't get any actual reaction until people started smashing cars and store fronts.

VivaStPauli wrote:

Myesyats wrote:Personally to me it's also bizarre that protesting a former president being jailed takes a form of looting and stealing

Honestly from what I've learned over the past few decades, in regards to protest, is that modern societies mostly seem to value property much higher than actual people, so looting and vandalism is actually the quickest way to get a response, no matter if it ends up being the response you wanted.

It is sad, but BLM didn't get any actual reaction until people started smashing cars and store fronts.

BLM was a small matter in a huge, very rich country. South Africa is largly dependent on other countries be it for tourism, resources etc.
Do you honestly think any sane person would want to go there, invest or open a business after all that?

Oh I'm not saying it's a great idea to vandalize, I'm just saying it gets a quicker response than anything else in capitalist societies.
Until you're costing real money, and fast, you're not enticing anyone to move.

VivaStPauli wrote:

Myesyats wrote:Personally to me it's also bizarre that protesting a former president being jailed takes a form of looting and stealing

Honestly from what I've learned over the past few decades, in regards to protest, is that modern societies mostly seem to value property much higher than actual people, so looting and vandalism is actually the quickest way to get a response, no matter if it ends up being the response you wanted.

It is sad, but BLM didn't get any actual reaction until people started smashing cars and store fronts.

Maybe... There were many protests over the last 2 years around the world, also in europe, but I've never seen so much looting anywhere and destruction of people's stores which for many are their only livelihoods. Are they at fault for any of this?

pls... protests, rioting and lootings have been around forever - just youtube search any known violent protests for as far back as video footage is available (for example the Rodney King LA riots) and you'll see much worse.

Indian Vigilante groups triggered by an anonymous WhatsApp message following riots, killed over 30 Black people in Phoenix, South Africa.

“36 people there — 33 of them Black — were killed in what some officials are calling a massacre.”

via @NYTimes https://t.co/HKkHyAnK4n

— Zeba Warsi (@Zebaism) September 4, 2021

@LG, any updates? what is going on there?

yea i heard of Indian v Blacks violence going on in certain areas during the lootings... but things have quieted down since. Hasn't been any news either on the investigations of who was behind the protests... last news i heard was police doing random checks into people's houses and confiscating "new" appliances that were deemed stolen lol

saw on the news the other day that 3 Indians were taken into custody