Thought of the Week

Pictures of the police ordering a woman to remove her Burkini in one of the beaches in Nice, France went viral yesterday. Burkini is a swimming costume used by Muslim women, it covers the body from head to toe.

I do not go to beaches and public swimming pools. This has nothing to do with my religious conviction but rather politics, which were heavily influenced by a repeated reading of Das Kapital, by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. My thoughts for this week are on similarities between the event in Nice yesterday to those of apartheid South Africa.

Public amenities in South Africa were segregated during apartheid, public toilets, libraries, beaches, public swimming pools etc. Therefore daily living and commuting was tormenting for many black South Africans. The favorite holiday destination for most black people was the city of Durban. Durban has long beautiful beaches with soft golden sands. However the large part of the beaches were reserved for the whites. The city was awash with well-maintained public notices which read “No Blacks, No Dogs” and some that simply read “Whites Only”. Black people had to travel south of the city, miles away from the action to a beach called Mgababa for entertainment.

The South African struggle against apartheid concentrated at destroying these inhumane and discriminatory laws. The Defiance Campaign was a liberation strategy which was dedicated at defying the public amenities bylaws. The campaign devised very interesting tactics including occasionally bussing in hundreds of blacks to the white only beaches. The arrival of black people in these places often forced white beach goers and sunbathers to leave the beach. Police would be called, scuffles will ensue and arrests will take place.

Enjoy your weekend.