Lucky Dube’s murder & the plight of the 2nd World
International reggae star Lucky Dube has been murdered outside of Johannesburg. First and foremost, rest in peace to a reggae legend…but you don’t need to hear that from me. Lucky will be well eulogised, of that I have no doubt. The thing I don’t hear anyone saying in the crescendo of calls for tougher measures in a society with one of the highest crime levels in the world is…how? And on a bigger level, what path do societies like South Africa—democratic, economically successful but highly stratified and burdened with racial/class inequalities that took hundreds of years to cement—take. In many ways the Brazilian/South African model; economic growth and the slow enlargement of a middle class through reliance on market economics and IMF guidelines, seems to be the goal for developing countries. But the side effects seem dire; is the only way for South Africa to move forward going to be in the tradition of the Brazilians, an all out war on the underclass which then isolates them further until the slums are virtual nations within nations? What solution is there to the proliferation of arms in these countries? What real steps have been taken to repair the scars and violent undercurrents of a society that spent generations enmeshed in a violent, political struggle of insurgency and counter-insurgency? Does anyone think that South Africa’s problems will be solved simply by more aggressive policing? It’s hasn’t worked in Brazil or Guatemala…
