Anti-Immigrant Terror in South Africa

South Africa has many shantytowns for the crowds of immigrants from neighboring nations, many hungry, impoverished and desperate for basic opportunity, legal or illegal. But resentment against immigrants is building in South Africa and mobs descend on the poorly protected and impoverished communities with a series of attacks, warning the foreigners to leave the country. “South Africans have been shocked by the depth of the hatred revealed by the violence against immigrants, which has been sharply condemned by the country's political leadership,” write Megan Lindow and Alex Perry for Time. The violent crime and disorder have prompted many businesses to close up shop in a nation where unemployment hovers around 40 percent. Some human-rights activities press the government to use the military to stop the violence – but others fear that could stir memories of military crackdowns on anti-apartheid protests in the same neighborhoods more than a decade ago. Lindow and Perry point out that “Fourteen years of ANC rule have failed to reverse many of the deep social inequalities inherited from the apartheid era, and the strain caused by mass unemployment, poor sanitation and limited services in many townships has now erupted in a vicious campaign of ethnic cleansing.” – YaleGlobal