Some 6,000 people have fled a wave of attacks on foreigners in South Africa, which has left at least 22 dead, aid workers say.
"This is a classic refugee situation," Rachel Cohen from Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) told the BBC.
Many of those who have sought refuge in police stations, churches and community halls are Zimbabweans, who have fled violence and poverty at home.
Up to three million Zimbabweans are thought to be in South Africa.
The BBC's Caroline Hawley in Johannesburg says the immigrants have become a scapegoat for social problems, such as unemployment, crime and a lack of housing.
(Read more...)
JOHANNESBURG BLADE
They arrived that morning, in their ragged and born souls, slipping through the tall grassland like murmuring insects, fearless, save for that which remained hidden, voiceless, the glowering grumble of an unconvinced horror, clanging sabers, improvised tools, a honed blade to tap between the fleeing bone and the undead.
From this drab symphony arose an ancient isle’s composition clanging steel hastily moving inland among the murmuring tone of fleeing edges desperation. The thing being chased was nearing with each footstep, with every marauding and rumpled lust, it closed in on the whispering blades and raging hearts, near enough that they tapped into their own flesh.
Many of those who have sought refuge in police stations, churches and community halls are Zimbabweans, who have fled violence and poverty at home.
Up to three million Zimbabweans are thought to be in South Africa.
The BBC's Caroline Hawley in Johannesburg says the immigrants have become a scapegoat for social problems, such as unemployment, crime and a lack of housing.
(Read more...)
JOHANNESBURG BLADE
They arrived that morning, in their ragged and born souls, slipping through the tall grassland like murmuring insects, fearless, save for that which remained hidden, voiceless, the glowering grumble of an unconvinced horror, clanging sabers, improvised tools, a honed blade to tap between the fleeing bone and the undead.
From this drab symphony arose an ancient isle’s composition clanging steel hastily moving inland among the murmuring tone of fleeing edges desperation. The thing being chased was nearing with each footstep, with every marauding and rumpled lust, it closed in on the whispering blades and raging hearts, near enough that they tapped into their own flesh.
© 2008 mrp/tpm
interesting....I did not even know about this...now I have to confess I have tagged your for a "meme"...it might not be your thing..I would understand...but check out my meme...Utah started this...and if you want to pass ( you do have a alot of projects going on...) I will understand.....( being as you are the man of mystery you were bound to be tagged ;-)
ReplyDeleteReally good post. Thank you for the information.
ReplyDeleteRachmaninoff's "Isle of the Dead" was the only piece of classical music I loved as a child--the undead girl/woman I was didn't even know why this music spoke to her, but I played this one treasured record over and over, weeping and near hysterical with grief--for whom? No doubt, my own lost soul.
ReplyDeleteHi, Mark
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to say hi and thank you for all you do everyday in the blog world, for your creativity, your passion and your kindness.
I loved the clip of Richie Havens -in being inspired by him and Dylan: you are in good company.
Peace,
Gina
enigma, renegade, utahS, and pagan sphinx,
ReplyDeletethank you all so very much for your support.
Enigma4,
I do appreciate it, but...
the meme started as a distraction... a way to not think on things....it was good...it has been a tense...and sad week..and it is only Wednesday...
ReplyDeleteno worries....
( I avoid any and all memes....this was the first one I have done in about 2 years...but I love reading others.....I just don't like doing them....I understand)
emigma4,
ReplyDeleteI knew you'd understand.
I think they are a good way for other people to get to know other people and have a bit of fun along the way.
Me? I don't know... They don't do much for me. I've answered one, I think it was along the lines of favorite blogs or which blogs made me think and I did it and that was that. If it's a meme in that style, I might consider doing another, but as for the personal memes, even my muse won't participate. She says if anyone wants to know me they can just spend some time with my words on apj, and if they don't understand me after doing so, she says, I should try forestry.
Peace.
Actually that was one of a wonderful playwright teacher in my college days. If he read a play that I had written that was crap he'd look at me and say, "Have you ever thought about forestry?"
no worries at all Mr PoetryMan...
ReplyDeleteI do indeed understand...
hmm....forestry...
" See the Forest through the trees..."
I too don't usually participate...but this one ...I needed the distraction, and I won't do another for years.......( I confess I loved the part about if you were a Billionaire..I had a blast.....I got to be Godess of my favorite Causes and worries...)
No problem at all, my friend.
ReplyDeleteGoddess of Causes...
See this.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Associate!
ReplyDeleteI love your new blog design. Goes very well with you...
Ah, Rachmaninoff ♥
ReplyDeleteListening to this (one of my favs), It seems to me, we had a discussion about him a couple of years ago, remember?
South Africa's "illegal" alien problem sure brings the U.S. problem of the same into focus for me. I've been grappling with the implications of our illegal immigration problem for a while.
As a humanist I believe I have an obligation to help other human beings regardless of their status. I realize that I have so much, it is hard for me NOT to waste resources. I have to be creative, for instance not to waste food & not to waste water. I think, if I have continually before me, the suffering of others that are truly lacking, I will be mindful of their needs. Perhaps, S. Africa illustrates what happens when there is more competition for resources?
It is so very tragic.
Hi, Mark
ReplyDeleteMe again. I wrote back to you from an email address you'd written to me, regarding the Peace Tree slot.Did you receive it?
In a nutshell, I'd like to do the Thursday slot but I want more information on what type of writing you're all looking for.
And I do like the new look of her header!
Get back to me...
Gina
excellent post. Zimbabwe has been on my mind lately, because the recent grief has brought to mind a lamenting song from the early 70's--about the time of nationhood and I can't find a trace of it on the 'nets'. It wasn't the well known Marley-style version, but possibly by someone like Odetta or Makeba. Do you know it? Peace mandt at http://adgitadiaries.blog-city.com
ReplyDeletepeace
I cried when Papi told me that the government was going to put the Zimbabweans in the same bantustans (I think they're called) where Black south africans had been forced to live and only allowed to exit with passcards. I thought: "There's something severely wrong with human beings". Both my children have the word "Azania" as one of their names. Azania(South Africa) has not yet been liberated. I hope and pray that this will finally come to pass. What exists there now is a complete and utter travesty...a perversion (you know I don't use that term pejoratively very often). But it's just disgusting.
ReplyDelete