Migratory Apartheid

Par Samir ABI[1]

Migrants, the enemy to be eliminated. Whatever the country or the continent. Whether they are first, second or umpteenth generation. They are the scapegoats for every misfortune. From medical epidemics to the employment crisis. I had the idea for this article on migratory apartheid while walking in the residential district of Rosebank in the suburbs of Johannesburg at the beginning of the year.  It came to me while monitoring the situation of West African migrants living in South Africa. The contrast is striking between Rosebank, with its new blend of people reflecting the new middle class of South Africa, and the migrant ghettos in the township of Alexandra. I was far from imagining that, a few weeks after this trip, these men and women, whose only crime is to want to live and work in South Africa, would be hit by a tidal wave of xenophobia.  The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination[2] provides me with an opportunity to reflect on what I saw and heard about the migrants in the complex city of Johannesburg.  And in particular, to describe these new walls, both visible and invisible, and increasingly thick, that are being erected against migrant populations within the African continent and beyond. (suite…)