John Minto: Devastation in Samoa and South Africa

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0910/S00061.htm

John Minto: Devastation in Samoa and South Africa
Thursday, 8 October 2009, 11:40 am

There’s only been one story on New Zealand’s mind this week with
devastation in Samoa and Tonga dominating the news with the
heart-rending stories of families ripped apart by the tsunami which
killed so many and destroyed so much.

I agree with those who say New Zealanders have reacted well. We have
taken to heart the suffering of the victims and generous donations from
many quarters are helping in the immediate relief effort. It’s as though
New Zealand now sees itself as a South Pacific country rather than an
outpost of the British empire as it did until not so long ago.

Most of us are Pacific Islanders now it seems which is a pleasant change
from earlier decades when feelings often ran high against Pacific
migrants coming to New Zealand.

Our government has not reacted with the same generosity of spirit with
only a million dollars allocated at the front end of the tragedy and
another million belatedly added. Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully
says there will be more and Prime Minister John Key reiterated this
during his weekend visit.

However it’s worth remembering the extent to which the New Zealand
economy has been built by Pacific Island labour these past 50 years.

Compared to the $2 million the government is donating to the relief
effort Pacific Island workers have helped businesses here accumulate
billions in capital. This was, and still is, predominantly in low-paid,
insecure, family-unfriendly work. These jobs have benefited the Pacific
as money remitted from here helps keep the local economies afloat but
the benefits are lop-sided in favour of New Zealand business.

There is always the tendency to see the Pacific as dependent neighbours
and treat them paternalistically while eyeing whatever resources and
business opportunities they may have available. In reality the
dependency is as much the other way round.

It’s important we remember this when it comes to further aid from New
Zealand for reconstruction. In Disaster Capitalism author Naomi Klein
describes how similar disasters have been used to rebuild economies to
the detriment of local people. New Orleans in the US for example was
rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina with so much of the public sector
services such as schools now operated via private contracts. Murray
McCully won’t be averse to looking for such opportunities to provide
“aid” with strings attached. We need to keep an eye on him.

Another story touched a raw nerve with me last week when an armed gang
of 40 men attacked the Kennedy Road shack settlement in Durban, South
Africa. Three were killed, many injured and over a thousand people fled
their homes. The attack was nominally ethnically based but it quickly
became apparent the real target was the very successful Abahlali
baseMjondolo (Dwellers in the Shacks) organisation which has its
headquarters there.

ABM is the largest movement of the poor in post-apartheid South Africa.
It has developed links across the country with other shack-dwellers and
while it is politically independent it is deeply resented by the ruling
African National Congress. ABM is telling the world the emperor has no
clothes. ANC policies are benefiting the wealthy but impoverishing the
people.

After the initial attacks the police turned up the following morning and
arrested members of ABM rather than investigating the attack. Local ANC
officials blamed ABM for the violence and said people wanted ABM out of
the settlement. The police chimed in and what has been reported is such
a tissue of lies as would do credit to the old apartheid regime. Death
threats have been issued against the quietly charismatic ABM President
S’bu Zikode and his family and the organisation has been forced to meet
in secret.

I visited Kennedy Road in April this year and was privileged to be
welcomed at one of ABM’s regular monthly meetings where representatives
from many squatter camps come to develop policies and address day to day
issues and campaign for a better future. It is a profoundly democratic
organisation.

The informal settlement is now run by a local ANC representative with
police backing. Attendance at meetings depends on being able to produce
an ANC membership card. It is a dark time for South Africans fighting
for better government policies to support the majority of the
population. 15 years of ANC rule has left most worse off while the
number of ANC millionaires increases each year.

Whether the problem has a natural cause, as in the Pacific, or is
man-made, as in South Africa, it is the most vulnerable who suffer the
most.