Let's Talk Violence - Speech made by Priscilla Jana at SPIRASI

The following is the speech made by Her Excellency, Ms. Priscilla Jana, the South African Ambassador to Ireland, as the guest of honour at the launch of the SPIRASI Strategic Plan, 2007-2009 and the 2005 SPIRASI Annual Report on Friday 22nd June, 2007.

Spirasi's mission: "To work with asylum seekers, refugees and other disadvantaged migrant groups with special concern for survivors of torture", could not be more important and more relevant than it is today in Ireland,South Africa, and many, many more countries. I am extremely honoured to launch the Spirasi Strategic Plan.

I am invited to make a short presentation on a topic of my choice. I believe that violence is central to Spirasi's mission, so "Let's Talk Violence."

As we meet the world continues to record a shameful catalogue of violence, political violence, criminal violence and cultural violence. Daily we see, we hear, we read and we experience violence: violence through wars, genocide, conflicts, strife, crime, terrorism and discrimination. In Dafur, Middle East and Afghanistan,New York,London or Madrid, Zimbabwe, Uruguay or Myanmar for that matter in our cities, in the streets and in our homes.

To me violence is not just an esoteric subject for discussion. Violence is real. I know it. I have witnessed it. I have experienced it. I have been a victim. I have seen how it maims, kills and destroys people.

I have also seen and learnt the magnanimity of forgiveness in the process of finding peace and seeking reconciliation: a process that gives me the confidence to engage in this forum with the singular pride of being a South African.

Allow me to bring my own experience to you. I will focus succinctly on state-sanctioned political violence in apartheid South Africa.

Political violence in South Africa had the following characteristics: it was largely covert; planned in secret and not open to public scrutiny. It was systematic, rather than spontaneous. The pattern of political violence had a particular relation to the law.

It either operated outside of legal processes with killing, maiming or torturing or it was sanctioned by the legal system by banning, banishments, arrests, detentions and mass removals of communities.

It was frequently clandestine and perpetrated by anonymous actors. It was unconventional and it violated established norms, values and social patterns.

The root cause of political violence was located within the social context of a long history of oppression, unfair discrimination, poverty and exploitation.

The apartheid state used vertical institutional violence to maintain the status quo of white supremacy which ensured racial inequality and control. Arbitrary arrests, detentions without trial, assaults, torture and assassinations were all perpetrated by the state.

Victims of this systematic violence were also subjected to structural violence such as inflicted poverty, emaciating malnutrition, illiteracy, forced mass removals and social strife in the areas that black people lived in. This structural violence kills more slowly. It corrodes the basis for self-reliance and aggravates vulnerability.

Structural violence in South Africa, as is often the case, was expressed as economic power. It was aimed at not giving black people equal power and opportunity. It was not exerted wilfully or intentionally by a person but by a structure created by law.

The diabolical combination of both types of violence had the most devastating effect on the lives of black people.

A culture of violence became the norm for the majority of South Africans. The minority white group was isolated from it.

Their artificial protection was ensured by the State, the same State that perpetrated violence against black people.

The culture of political violence in the political arena permeated the social and civil domain.

Morals, values and interpersonal relationships were defined by prevailing and all pervasive violence. Violence became the normally acceptable way of solving problems.

Much of the criminal violence was caused by political factors: poverty, unemployment, influx control, illiteracy and dangerous living conditions.

The effects of violence during apartheid continue to haunt black South Africans, weighing a heavy toll on the psychological, social, political and economic lives of victims.

Let me illustrate this by way of a personal experience. Who knows I may well have been a candidate for Spirasi. I would like to humbly submit that my experience was in fact relatively minimal to others.

Already as a child I had witnessed and experienced political violence. I remember the loud and aggressive intrusion by apartheid security officers to our home.

I remember my father being taken away by them. I remember the anxiety, the pain and the helplessness of my family. I still hear the sounds and feel the trauma of watching the bulldozer demolish our home as we were forcibly evicted under the Group Areas Act.

My adult life was invaded by arrests, detentions, interrogations, constant surveillance, raids and frequent attempts on my life. A five year banning order and house arrests were imposed on me. It was sustained with intimidation, harassment and infringements on my basic rights. In effect, I had become my own jailer.

There were several chilling attempts on my life and that of my family, which included a number of petrol bomb attacks.

Then in 1994 the miracle happened. We achieved our freedom from apartheid. Suddenly yesterday was another country.

I was elected to represent my party, the African National Congress in our new democratic Parliament in 1994. In 2001 I was posted as Ambassador for my country to the Netherlands.

All my past fears, insecurities and experiences of violence seemed so remote and even unreal. My life embraced a normalcy.

Shortly after I had arrived in the Netherlands, one night, whilst sleeping in the comfort and security of my grand ambassadorial residence, I was abruptly awoken by loud noises. I rushed to the window and saw a group of Dutch policemen. They were banging on the gates, ringing the bell and flashing lights.

At that moment my past came flooding back. I was frozen with fear. I began screaming hysterically. My children rushed to me.

It took them some time to pacify me. They explained that the Dutch police were alerted by our alarm system. They were simply there to investigate this in a fairly routine exercise.

I relate this experience to demonstrate the indelible effects of violence.

Violence is a major contributory factor towards the movement of people globally. We are witnessing that societal compositions are rapidly changing with immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers.

Yesterday as we commemorated World Refugee Day, the United Nations disclosed that the global refugee population last year rose by 14%, totalling 9.9 million which does not include the 4.3 million Palestinian refugees. For millions of these victims of violence, it might not be the future that is of immediate concern, but the present characterised by fear, despair and confusion. They need help.

Tormented and damaged psyches do not heal automatically. Fears and insecurities cannot dissipate naturally. Memories and experiences are not easily obliterated. Pain and suffering do not just disappear.

Sadly, these phenomena of survivors of torture and violence will remain as the relentless propensity for mindless violence continues to dog humanity. The need for institutions such as Spirasi cannot be overemphasised as these victims cry "Help".

I would like to conclude with the poem "Help". It was the overall winner of the Third Schools Against Racism poetry competition. It was written by Maria Coyle a seventeen year old from Eureka Secondary School, Kells, County Meath who says, "I wanted to give nationalities a voice in the poem so that their cry for help would be heard."

I read "Help!!!!!"

I cry for help
"Palidziba" but nobody answers because I am Latvian.
"Ajuto" I cry but nobody turns because I am Romanian.
"Nomo !!! " I plead but I am ignored because I am Russian.
"Appi" I scream but I am invisible because I am Estonian.
"Help" I whisper and my country comes running.