Unity in South Africa…against the U.S.

Philippa Green, Johannesburg
greenpm@sabc.co.za

1999 Nieman fellow; head, SABC Radio News, South African Broadcasting Corp., Johannesburg

Two days after the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, the South African Nieman fellows were invited to a dinner by the then American Ambassador. Actually, the invitation had been issued some time before and normally it would have been a productive, lively reunion among ourselves and engagement with the representatives of this powerful and influential country that had hosted all of us at Harvard. This time however, the atmosphere was quite different.

The Niemans themselves were much divided. Some refused to go, an extraordinary expression of anger even if it may have lacked strategic effect. Many chose to attend on the basis that as journalists, we should hear everyone. But the evening turned out to be a tense and uncomfortable one. It was a day after a marketplace in Baghdad had been bombed by U.S. troops and countless civilians killed and injured. Several of us asked American officials what their plan and strategy was for reconstructing Iraq after the war.

To our astonishment, they admitted they didn't have a plan but that it didn't matter. Three years later, the war is still raging and whatever political decisions need to be taken seem almost impossible in an environment where at least 30 people a day die violent deaths.

Today, things look far worse than they did three years ago. The deception over the existence of Weapons of Mass Destruction is clear the world over, and ongoing suffering seems to see no end.

In South Africa, there were two interesting political phenomena generated by the war. One was good: most South Africans, across a spectrum of politically conservative to left-wing, and across race lines, thought the invasion of Iraq ill-conceived and dangerous to the entire world. The war united South Africans against it.

The other is bad: among ordinary citizens there seems to be scant perception of any political differences within the United States. Few South African differentiate between those who voted for George Bush and those who didn’t; those who support the war and those who don’t. Americans tended to get painted with the same brush and are seen as responsible for all that’s bad in the world: global warming, tension in the Middle East, violence in Iraq and rising oil prices.

Still less is there any appreciation for the depth of culture and richness of voices in the music, art and literature spawned in the U.S., so often by the downtrodden and marginalized. Perhaps, ironically, the indifference of the U.S. government to the suffering in New Orleans caused by Hurricane Katrina opened South Africans’ eyes that not all Americans are at one at home or abroad.

For someone like me who has lived in the United States on several occasions, it is difficult to talk about this internal conflict, let alone nuances, in American politics. Perhaps it is because those Americans who are against the war, against torture, against unilateralism are having a hard time making their voices heard in other parts of the world.

Since the cataclysmic events of 9/11, when the world, including South Africa, could grieve with America over the severe loss, grief has turned to anger. Anger against a country that sees itself as a unilateral power, with no respect for international bodies, for global human rights causes, or for the global environment; a country that causes havoc in a delicately balanced world.

It is a great pity that voices of reason across the globe have lost each other because they are drowned out by extremists of all stripes, including the dominant voices in the U.S. administration.

It is a dangerous and depressing situation. It allows opportunists in my country, including those in powerful positions in government and in the national broadcaster, to argue against such principles as freedom of expression on the grounds that it is “an American thing” (not realizing that it was hard fought for even here well after the Revolution); and it allows Americans to hunker down thinking the world is against them.

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