In a very vital sense, the anti-immigrant violence that rocked South Africa recently could be described as being fratricidal in nature. For, sections of South Africa’s black majority had savagely set upon migrant workers from neighbouring states which are also predominantly black, and many of which had bolstered the cause of South African blacks in South Africa’s ignominious apartheid years. Not that ‘ethnic’ violence and inhumanity of any kind, under any circumstances, could be winked at by what is considered the civilised world, but when such brutality erupts in a state which is henceforth expected to be a standard-bearer of communal amity and tolerance, the world needs to be extra anxious lest the good work achieved over the years by these states by way of nation-building is seriously compromised.

‘A man who takes away another man’s freedom is a prisoner of hatred, he is locked behind the bars of prejudice and narrow-mindedness’. This was stated by none other than Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s anti-apartheid hero and its first post-apartheid, black President , who along with others, is credited with ushering black majority rule in South Africa and with restoring to the black people their dignity which was robbed by white supremacist rule. The ugly anti-immigrant violence in his country, not very long after the dismantling of apartheid, is bound to be causing him grave pain of mind and embarrassment. The explosive emergence of the bloodshed will remind him that much remains to be achieved in South Africa in terms of nation-building, which essentially involves the building of bridges of unity and equality among communities. Thus, the question could be posed whether nation-building has begun in earnest in South Africa. For that matter we are obliged to conclude that nation-building in this vital sense is yet to gain ground in the African continent in particular, and the Third World in general. The essentially ‘ethnic’ violence in Kenya recently and even the current political turbulence in Zimbabwe, to a degree, bears this out, not to speak of the troubles in Sudan and Chad.

The continuous exploitation of ethnic tensions and prejudices by sections of the ruling elite in even South Asia, long after the departure of colonialism, brings into focus the misconceptions and limited understanding among these sections of the notion of nation-building. Today, besides the endemically troubled states of South Asia, even a ‘Miracle Economy’, such as Malaysia, has reasons to be apprehensive about its ethnic cohesion and hence the success of its nation-building effort. Apparently, the ‘ethnic card’ is continuing to prove popular among some ruling sections.

However, most eyes would tend to be focused on South Africa at present on account of the principal role the country played in countering the white supremacist sentiment in particular and racism in general. Besides underscoring the misunderstood and unfinished business of nation-building, the violence unleashed on migrant workers and ‘foreigners’ highlights the fact that not much has been achieved by post-apartheid South Africa by way of economic equity because the principal demands of those spearheading the violence centred on the perceived appropriation of local jobs and housing by migrants.

Accordingly, South Africa too, not surprisingly, seems to be saddled with a parasitical power elite which does not seem to be particularly troubled about the lot of the country’s masses. In fact President Thabo Mbeke was reportedly in foreign climes at the time of the recent violence and apparently did not show any keenness to get back to the country although lawlessness continued to sweep it. All too soon, the profoundly important achievements of anti-apartheid giants, such as Nelson Mandela, seem to have been forgotten by both the rulers and the ruled.

Mandela had no illusions about the nature of the challenges facing South Africa in the post-apartheid years. He repeatedly told his countrymen that they would need to be continuously resourceful and hard working to overcome the economic challenges facing them. ‘Do not expect to ride in flashy cars and luxuriate in swimming pools in your backyards, now that political liberation has been achieved’, he told them. Such scenarios, they were told, are a long way off. Right now, they need to work selflessly, to improve the country’s economic prospects. That economic and other frustrations have grown among the black majority to the extent of their being intolerant of migrants, is proof that not much progress has been made towards achieving the vision of the founding fathers of apartheid-free, democratic South Africa. Rather than seeing the materialisation of a South Africa characterised by social and economic equity, the world may be witnessing the emergence of a South Africa preponderantly shaped by South African black hegemony.

Needless to say, the latter situation would be the complete anti-thesis of a truly liberated, egalitarian South Africa. At this moment when sections in South Africa seem to be egged on by divisive and hegemonic interests they would need to recollect another of Mandela’s memorable pronouncements: ‘No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite’.

Race-hate, in other words, is always ‘taught’, it does not arise spontaneously in the human consciousness. This is something all plural societies need to bear in mind. Any kind of prejudice is always taught. In the apartheid years, for instance, the white supremacist ideology ensured that blacks were looked upon distrustfully by whites. Kindred processes are at work in societies torn apart by ethnic conflicts and wars. So, making their citizens unlearn prejudice and hate becomes a number one challenge for these states. Besides and equally importantly, states need to ensure that a culture of co-operation and social solidarity is established within their boundaries. In other words, people must be ‘taught’ love and concern for each other.

The fact that ‘xenophobia’ is once again on the rise in some parts of the world is proof that the prosperity seen to have been promised by economic globalization is not materialising. Economic disparities and fierce competition for shrinking economic opportunities spark race-hate and violence in plural societies in particular. Concomitantly, shrinking life chances spark theories of racial superiority among those sections that consider themselves to be dominant actors in plural societies, because of the intense competition among groups for scarce economic resources. Economic protectionism is thus also a by-product of racial superiority notions and grows out of the urge to appropriate for hegemonic sections the lions share of the economic cake.

Thus, fighting the forces of division becomes a paramount challenge for societies segmented by ethnicity, religion and language. In the absence of strategies to fight these forces, states face the prospect of sliding into barbarity.