A critical look at Human Rights Day in South Africa
Words by Busisiwe Diko
Celebrating Human Rights Day is not enough to make amends for the evils which led to it, it only makes a difference when we recall how this came to be. Let’s not forget that Human Rights Day came about because people believed in protecting our humanity – being human means to fight for these rights which we tend to abuse and violate now. There’s nothing more human than knowing and understanding the needs and concerns of those around you, the art of being there for each other, like a wolf pack, and protecting what’s of your people. What else is more human than the art of oneness and togetherness ? The art of Ubuntu is what reminds us what humanity is – not by the colour of our skin, but by what is human, even if there isn’t a guiding principle to accessing the humanness built in us.
My kind of human rights is one that sees beyond the pigment that defines my motherland. It is the one that digs deep beneath the shades of my lingual accent, the one that forces beyond my deemed intellect.
It’s the spear that digs beneath the flash of class in my society, the Shield that protects my ability to access justice and the armour that defines my being human and not ‘less’ because I’m Black. My kind of human rights harbours not on age and dismissing my youthful voice just because it’s wisdom is yet to bud to flower. No, it protects my stand and thoughts as it is guided by the laws of the land, the land that my people bled to repossess, it lights my paths as son and daughter of the land.
We were all human until race disconnected us. We were all human until religion separated us. We were all human until politics decided us. We were all human until wealth classified us.
25 years of our constitutional democracy and breaking from colonial rule should be a mark of hope and prosperity but instead remains a thorn that constantly upsets African history – was it a case of transferring shackles from the white master to a local master? Can we even say in confidence we attained freedom and humanity?
More than half of the population in this country, in KZN and Western Cape lives in slums. These big cities are densely populated and hubs of injustices. Our government has perfected the art of Structural Violence in these areas with the police service as the biggest tool of oppression.
Poor housing and sanitation, police brutality, lack of access to healthcare services, poor educational and social services systems have become normalised and anyone daring to question the status quo is seen as an enemy of the state.
Almost everywhere in this country, slums are constantly expanding while others are mushrooming in every corner of the city – yes because we are rejected, neglected and ignored by this democratic government. These settlements host a very big population of the youths, most of whom have resigned to fate. Unemployment is soaring high and the cost of living is becoming unbearable. Survival has literally become a game of chance and it’s even worse when you objectively analyse the struggles and the conditions women are in due to historical marginalisation.
On the other hand, the state has become very oppressive. Our government has failed us and as a young person residing in slums I feel like the rights of the poor, of the people living in urban informal settlements, of vulnerable women and girls, of voters, and of course the rights of women and girls with disabilities are so reduced, so reversed and restricted.
#HumanRightsDay
Busisiwe Diko is an activist and youth leader with Abahlali baseMjondolo. Abahlali baseMjondolo is a movement which originated in Durban and fights for the rights of shack dwellers and people who live in slum areas. The movement campaigns for the right to housing and for land laws.