Apartheid And The Environment Essay Research Paper — страница 2

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nearby may be exposed to the cancer-causing radium and radon that commonly leak from uranium mine wastes. Furthermore, the importation of hazardous wastes, the dumping of mercury in the rivers, the strip mining of coal and uranium, the outdated methods of producing synthetic fuels, along with the poverty, lack of sewage facilities and deliberate structuring of the notorious ‘homelands’ present South Africa with serious environmental concerns (Hachten 185). The scope of the problems is wide and spans the entire community. For example, how can a community in Merebank, Natal be helped, which is surrounded by two oil refineries, a paper processing plant, a water treatment plant, an airport, and a large percentage of Natal’s industry? Or, what about the Mozambican refugees who

occupy a decrepit and abandoned paint manufacturing plant, outside of Johannesburg, which has hundreds of barrels of old paint lying around? What about Mafefe, an asbestos mining area since 1929 where children play in open asbestos dumps? Black South Africans have a strong history of resisting apartheid and their struggles provide valuable insights and lessons for the environmental movement. Black South Africans, particularly women, have developed methods of sustainable economies through the informal sector by selling arts and crafts and various foods. South Africa has one of the most democratic trade union movements in the world, and has developed a strong alliance with civics (Worden 223). The civics are community structures which have opposed high rents, unrest, detention

without trial, and lack of sewage facilities among other issues. Black South Africans have borne the brunt of apartheid and should not continue to endure policies which may no longer kill them with bullets and torture, but instead with asbestosis, chronic diseases, and mercury-contaminated water. Upon examination, there are three over-arching links which draw the connections between the situations in South Africa and the US, for example. The first and most obvious link is around issues of race, class, gender, health and environment. The United Church of Christ 1987 Report cited that most of the toxic dump sites in the US are located in people of color and poor communities. In South Africa, apartheid policies structured around notions of race, class and gender, have created a

situation which allows massive dumping and poisoning of black communities throughout the country. The second is the astounding similarity between bantustans (pockets of land which have been used for the ’surplus people’ and act as a cheap source of labor for the industry in South Africa) and the native American lands of the US. There are striking similarities of land underdevelopment and toxic dumping between the bantustans and the Native lands. The third crucial link is around the legacy, like the US, of toxic contamination. Weapons testing, the use of a military arsenal on black communities, and the arms industry ARMSKOR have had detrimental effects on the South African people and on their environment. As the nature of the trade becomes more global and exploitative, so must

our efforts be more international in dimension and scope if we are to truly confront and challenge the poisoning of communities. We must see the similarities between what is happening to other countries and what we are doing here at home. As multinational corporations seize investment opportunities, there should be some basic standard and procedure which monitors labor and environmental practices. In order to address the issues at stake, we need to realize what is happening in this part of the world and make a conscious effort to stop it. Environmentalists and even the ordinary citizen need to be made aware of what is happening so that it can be stopped before it spreads beyond its current boundaries.