I’m speechless following the appalling attacks on immigrants in Johannesburg.
Media reports carry the details of the xenophobic attacks orchestrated by some angry black south Africans:
On Monday, men wielding clubs and sticks patrolled along the road near one camp — apparently South Africans trying to prevent foreigners from returning, The A.P. said.
This latest outbreak of xenophobia began a week ago in the historic township of Alexandra and has since spread to other areas in and around Johannesburg, including Cleveland, Diepsloot, Hilbrow, Tembisa, Primrose, Ivory Park and Thokoza.
These attacks are an uncommon manifestation of inferiority complex. It has turned lethal, and simply tagged South Africa as a violent and unfriendly nation.
I wonder now if South Africa even deserves to host the world cup championship in 2010.
Photo: A man set on fire by a mob during anti-immigrant clashes in Johannesburg.
You need to look at the humiliating ways most foreign embassies treat Nigerians and find a way to improve things. Approach the appropriate foreign authorities, you don’t have to be confrontational, just a quick mention during a reception or while posing for a photographer will start the ball rolling.
Read the full text:
A Postcard to Nigerian Foreign Affairs Minister Ojo Maduekwe
Several weeks ago there was a report by TimesOnline that 27 migrants spent a day at sea holding on to buoys around a giant tuna net”. Photo above. The Times reported then that “the Maltese and Libyan governments argued over who should save them from drowning.”
Today, the New York Times/BBC reports many as 14 bodies have bee n located off the sea south of Sicily, these the paper claims are “the latest victims of the annual and deadly summer migration from northern Africa to Europe in search of asylum and economic opportunities.”
I wonder how some African leaders can sleep at night!!!
In America, very few Africans have been able to build beneficial relationships with other African immigrants, particularly those of different nationality, tribe or religion. Our social circle hardly extend beyond that those that speak our native languages or share our religious orientation. Several don’t even have a professional network, and for those that do, their interactions within the network follow the same pattern.
Although Africans are not as homogenous as Indians, I can’t help but refer to this BusinessWeek article: Are Indians the Model Immigrant? Though somewhat dated, it highlights the level and extent of mutually beneficial relationships that exist between Indians in America. And they are better for because it. Can the same be said of Africans in America?
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Thousands of Liberians in the United States on the Temporary Protection Status (TPS) designation may have to go back to their country.
The TPS program is a temporary measure granted to eligible “non-resident foreigners who wish to avoid returning to their homeland because of civil strife or effects of a natural disaster of “extraordinary and temporary conditions,” according to U.S Department of Homeland Security (DHS) .
Some 20,000 Liberians were granted residency in the U.S under the TPS designation following the civil war that engulfed the nation between 1989 and 2003. Now that hostilities have stopped and there is a new democratic government in place, the DHS has deemed it appropriate to revoke the TPS designation for Liberians (pdf file), stating that the “extraordinary and temporary conditions that formed the basis for the designation have improved and no longer prevent Liberians from returning to Liberia in safety.”
While this is a factual statement, it is so far from reality. Liberia may no longer be at war, but it does amount to sheer fantasy to imagine that a country which is crawling out of several years of civil strife will be able to absorb the thousands of returnees. Wynfred Russell, a Liberian college Lecturer and resident of Minnesota, muses on the capacity of the Liberian state to absorb the influx in his article: Liberia Has No Capacity To Absorb “TPS” Returnees: Continue reading…
