By Lubwama Absolom
Table of Contents
The Global Phenomenon of Anti-Outsider Sentiment
From families, villages, and communities to countries and continents, the issue of “outsiders/foreigners” has strained relations and increased the risk of violence. The call for the expulsion of foreigners in Europe, the construction of a perimeter wall on the US-Mexico border, xenophobic attacks in South Africa, and complaints of a large Ethiopian/Eritrean community in parts of Kansanga-Bunga, a suburb of Kampala, are just a few examples.
Many communities today have settled in areas to which their forefathers migrated. People migrate for a variety of reasons, including economics. Production is becoming more capital intensive as the world’s population grows and resources become scarcer. Unlike centuries ago, when one’s earnings were determined by physical strength and there was no unemployment or job scarcity, everything was done by hand.
The Changing Nature of Work and Qualifications
As the world’s dynamics shift, a few smart people, such as corporations, are ruling the world by enslaving people, forcing them to work for them, owning their pensions, and controlling their perceptions, consumption, and lifestyle.
A white-colored job archived with high school qualifications obtained after years of attending school replaced skill and apprenticeship. Unfortunately, these qualifications consume a large portion of one’s youth, increasing the likelihood of not getting the desired job or qualifications. Like the causal laborers in Kampala who came from Kabale in the 90’s, who focused with a target finally made it, the focused foreigners finally build a business with the success of a distant relative child who is brought into a family.
The Outsiders’ Drive Versus Native Complacency
The “natives” of the place appear to be reluctant, while the “outsiders” work their asses off foregoing pressures, focusing on their businesses, keeping in mind that they have no other option for survival. Like the village youth who resort to riding bodaboda for survival get stuck in “survival mode” and any income above survival is spent on “pleasures like sex, gambling, or on media promoted items to meet up the “standard life style”, finally get envious about the growth and wealth of the “outsider”, the natives feel threatened by the outsiders, even in cases where foreigners picked up jobs the natives had shunned.
Strife ensures, so they call for foreigners to leave the village, blaming them for taking advantage of their opportunities. Foreigners’ collaboration with natives to commit and promote crime is frequently blamed on foreigners, despite the fact that foreigners cannot commit this crime without the assistance of locals.
Political Exploitation of Xenophobia
Politicians turn a blind eye while locals demand that foreigners leave their country because it shifts the blame for an increase in crime and unemployment to foreigners rather than the government’s or leaders’ failure to deliver on their promises. Like the mobs that attacked the Bastille on July 14, 1789, in Paris, France, the Chaos quickly escalates, not sparing even the “legal migrants,” and if unchecked, the mobs begin calling for country leadership change.
The next target in South Africa will most likely be white people, as was the case in Zimbabwe, where white farmers were targeted for their land. ZANU had failed to deliver on the “paradise” promised after Zimbabwe’s independence.
Historical Lessons: Expulsion and Its Consequences
The typical “black race” incompetence, defined by corruption, a barbaric mindset, incompetence, and inefficient resource and time management, would soon be exposed. Zimbabwe, like the beneficiaries of Indian wealth following Gen Idi Amin Dada’s expulsion of Indians from Uganda in the 1970s, squandered and wasted it, and soon faced hunger due to insufficient Africans taking over the white farms.
Meanwhile, Europeans and Americans demonstrated a “rosy lifestyle,” forced some black people into slavery on their farms, and now regard black people as fleas unwelcome in their blanket (in the words of Queen Victoria, in 1865, to King Moshoeshoe I of the Basotho nation, modern-day Lesotho). Inasmuch as “black savagery” is written all over places where most blacks live, so are other races’ barbaric acts, and blaming blacks for crime in such areas is a farfetched diversion.
The Illusion of the “Rosy Lifestyle”
As black and foreigners, we must accept that we are on our own, and that politicians and corporations will use and discard us like used toilet paper or condoms. The painted rosy ideal life style is an illusion, a trap designed to keep us in a rat race without questioning. The call for “African unity, Ubuntu, and humanity” is a blanket statement aimed at herding us together in a more manageable community through a stick-and-carrot reward system.
We need to wake up and smell the coffee, realizing that we can thrive even in our own backyards, because the grass will always appear greener on the other side of the fence. Quit the blame game and get our hands dirty; survival should extend beyond food and include learning to hide during political “unrest” in order to live and die another day.
Finding Peace Amidst the Chaos
Focusing on the problems in front of us only adds to our stress; instead, we should take the time to appreciate the beauty and good things around us, no matter how small they appear. That way, we can open our minds to creativity in order to fulfill our desires. We should look for and appreciate our abilities and apply them, lower our expectations, avoid media-promoted idea life as long as we meet our basic needs, train our children while also providing them with a “world education,” which has become more of an initiation into adulthood than a gateway to employment.
The Trap of Materialism and Social Media
The black race’s inborn desire to show off is exemplified by black celebrities’ displays of wealth and fan admiration, as well as African starving countries with leaders living like the rich legend Mansa Musa. A common practice of an unemployed youth living a luxurious life to the envy of their friends, the social media fake life, are all leading to stress, forcing more of us into the “rat race.”
We need to wake up.
