A White critic of the vuvuzela writes:

You know what vuvuzela stands for?
Its the sound of the vacuum cleaner your african auntie is hearing each day all day long in her misserable [sic] job in Europe. After fleeing from vuvuzela sound through Sahara and Mediterenean [sic] Sea for 2 years. har har har har.
You see. We europeans aren’t that serious. We have fun, too. Without the n*gg*rs horn. Har Har Har.

Everyone has been flying the South African flag or blowing their lungs out with a vuvuzela. Or, so it seems. Karen Lotter’s Facebook note below reminded me why I refuse to fly the flag of any country. The hate expressed towards Black people and all Africans by White South Africans (see Lotter’s note) at home and abroad is one of the most shameful forms of racism.

Lotter’s blog not an isolated instance: read the comments by mostly faceless and nameless White people on politicsweb, Thought Leader, Facebook pages and you will come across the same hate and racism.

Racism, chauvinism and nationalism have always been part of the seedy underbelly of sport.I have flown flags in the past. They were flags that expressed my political views: the ANC flag symbolising the Freedom Charter when the party was banned; the red flag of socialism and the rainbow flag to signify equality for all. Today, World Cup nationalism in South Africa hides our xenophobia and it pretends that racial and class tensions do not exist.

Regrettably, political leaders in the predominantly White parties such as the DA, the Freedom Front Plus and even the ACDP do not have the courage to address the racism of their supporters. Perhaps some of them share their racist views or cynically manipulate White, Coloured and Indian fears to win votes.

I challenge Helen Zille, Dan Plato, Pieter Mulder and Kenneth Meshoe to unreservedly condemn racist comments on blogs and Facebook including some of the more sophisticated racist arguments on the DA blog The Real ANC Today.

The ANC is not blameless in this regard. Many of our leaders have allowed a crude racial nationalism (espoused by former President Mbeki) to destroy the non-racial banner of the ANC. They have contributed to White, Coloured and Indian fear-mongering.

White racism rests on the subjugation of Black people as slaves and colonial subjects. In South Africa, White fear and racism is alloyed with class inequality and previous race privilege (job reservation, free health, best education).

However, today we use racism as a charge against anyone who exposes corruption, lack of accountability, Black business corruption and reactionary politics (see article on Julius Malema)

Reading Karen Lotter’s note and the comments of her readers should make all of us shiver. We have to rebuild the non-racial traditions of the ANC and the UDF. Let the Vuvuzelas ring loud (I will get ear-plugs because I am going slightly deaf already) and let us campaign for decent work, equal education, safety and security, decent health-care, water and housing for all. Only joint struggle will end fear and expose political leaders who rely on race fears.

This is my last World Cup post for now.

Zackie Achmat

Karen Lotter: Vuvuzela Issue – Some of the comments on my blog

I am so tired of the vuvuzela issue. As most of you know I spend a lot of time online – even more now that I’ve hurt my back and can’t go out – so I’ve been overwhelmed with the negative vuvuzela stuff – and as my friend Fed Hatman noted yesterday – most of the pro vuvuzela people in SA don’t use social media…

In exhaustion and desperation I dashed off a blogpost the other day – I’ve had 110 comments (some I had to delete because they were so vile) and I’ve had to close the comments because it became a monster that fed on itself.

So I wanted to show you – many of you don’t live on blogs and twitter like I do – what is going on out there.

I am fine if people don’t like vuvuzelas that is their right. They can say so; they can buy earplugs, turn down the volume – but it always seems to come down to racism, no matter how fervently they all deny it – see what you think:


The only people who would enjoy blowing this vuvucrap thing are uneducated folks who have no interest in watching the game, don’t want to create a good atmosphere, can’t participate in the chants because they are illiterate, don’t have the talent to play any real musical instrument and quite frankly are selfish a***holes who are in the ground solely to ruin the cup and the host nation’s image.

You South Africans can kid yourselves saying that the world will get used to this … the whole world is watching this on mute because of your foolishness and are cursing your nation for destroying the greatest show on Earth due to your insistence on showing off your “culture”…. great job South Africa… you have earned the right to be the worst hosting nation ever …. and to the author of the blog … you are either deaf or afraid to be honest because you want to sound “politically correct” … you will **NEVER** become a successful blogger …

***
I am ashamed if people from other countries say that the vuvuzela is a South African culture thing. This idiotic horn has nothing to do with the South Africa culture. It might be the culture of the stupid brain dead people who blows the vuvuzela but not the culture of everybody in our country. Please ban this idiotic instrument from the games.

***

To be fair, from the pictures on TV of the crowds, it looks like many visitors are lustily blowing away on fuckuzelas as well. It’s not only the locals. The whole thing is out of control and FIFA (how much are they making from the fuckuzela as symbol of the world cup?) will do nothing to ban it. The more people complain about it, trust me, the harder these assholes are going to blow. When Africa thinks it is being criticised, rightly or wrongly, it reacts: Colonialism, racism, white arrogance, etc. This is fine, as long as they realise that this will be the last event for a very long time going Africa’s way. I hope Bafana plays well. I wouldn’t want to see a pissed-off supporter holding a fuckuzela.

***

You know what vuvuzela stands for?
Its the sound of the vacuum cleaner your african auntie is hearing each day all day long in her misserable job in Europe. After fleeing from vuvuzela sound through Sahara and Mediterenean Sea for 2 years. har har har har.
You see. We europeans aren’t that serious. We have fun, too. Without the n*gg*rs horn. Har Har Har.

***

In South America people are even more furious about your n*gg*r horns than in Europe.
N*gg*r has nothing to do with the colour of skin. I see it as a category of lacking minimal skills in a social communication. A lot of black people certainly does not fall under this category and some white people certainly belong to it, as they play the n*gg*r horn.

It destroys any other expression. Really, I watched any world cup since 1978, but this no more. No matter how good my german team will play. If I am going to see some South African product in Germany (for example in a supermarket), I won’t buy it.

I’ve enjoyed watching quite a few Africa Cups. The drums and trompets are nice, even if they are playing for the whole game. On the contrary I can’t bear the n*gg*r horn.

U r so pathetic. FIFA will make a lot of money, whereas South Africa will stay with the debt. Thank you for generating 11.000 workplaces in Germany for building the infrastructure in the last 4 years ;-) And because of your beloved n*gg*r horn, ur image in Asia, North and South-America, Europe and certainly some african neighbours will be damaged for decades.

You say that you love that football stars you may watch only on TV, play in your country. Unfortunatedly they are completly annoyed by your n*gg*r horn. If you weren’t deaf, you would have heard what Lionel Messi and others had to say about it. It not only annoys the audience, it also perturbs the players.

Before this World Cup I admired Nelson Mandela. The recent events generated a better understanding for the old apartheid regime in me.

It might give you a warm fuzzy feeling when you blow your horn knowing that it annoys people in Asia, North America, Latin America and Europe. It gives you a feeling of strength over people. Like the black kings that sold other blacks to slavery. You destroyed 1 World Cup for the world.

Well if you really eant to read more and the few brave Vuvu fans who take them on, you can go to my blog -

http://www.vuvuzelasouthafrica.co.za/the-vuvuzela-must-stay/