When we keep quiet as foreigners are being attacked, we are only making the ground fertile for the germination of other chauvinistic tendencies Our collective inertia in the face of the human catastrophe that is engulfing this nation has contrived to remind me of Pastor Martin Niemöller’s now legendary words about the atrocities committed by Hitler and his Nazis.He said: "First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out — because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me."When the new wave of xenophobic attacks took place in Soweto a month ago — new because the first real wave dates back to 2008 — many looked the other way, and dismissed it as “something that will pass”.It did not. Like all good viruses, it restlessly moved around the country, loo...
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