Durban's a Two Face

Social inequality, exclusion and disparity are inescapable global issues. Not only do these issues span the globe, but the sheer amount of people who suffer these conditions is frightening in itself. This problem is only made exponentially worse when we realize the vastness of causes. By conducting varying and numerous social and anthropological studies, researchers have concluded that no one key reason can be attributed to the cause of this global epidemic. As cultures, policies, systems and people vary from nation to nation, and city to city, so to, do the reasons for the immense amounts of social inequality. I am merely one person with only so much attention to give. And as I write these words, I feel South Africa to be more than just a country, it’s a green, open garden in which I play, and sure enough, settled on the edge of that garden is my home, Durban. It then makes sense, the most relevant and justified story through which I can highlight these specific issues of social inequality, is a more personal experience, in fact, its my experience of this home of mine. It may not be cutting news, it isn’t even what you would call press worthy. Yet from my own point of view, I believe it illustrates that each and every person experiences these issues; whether from living through them ourselves or by seeing them first hand.

To my mind, driving through Durban is like travelling through a time capsule; by this of course, I am referring to infrastructure, services, transport and the like. In places like La Lucia and Umhlanga, we find a proverbial sheltered grove of extravagant and discernibly large houses, this of course are for their equally rich owners. Compromises on expense and taste can rare if not extinct factors here, in fact, even the most pedestrian of houses can dwarf some of the highest earning and most expensive middle class houses. And in this ever developing time capsule, I move through too more familiar settings, these middle income suburbs like Morningside, Glenwood and Musgrave. Even in the humblest of these suburbs; luxuries resembling expensive cars, big homes and nearby multi-catering shopping centres are easily spotted. Take myself for example, if I were to take a walk on any given day from my home in Morningside; I would pass by medium to large sized houses, varying types of cars (ranging from Volvo’s and Ford’s to Porches’ and Ferrari’s) and high class centres like Musgrave centre and Windermere. Even in these desperate economic times; expensive brands of food and clothing, luxuries and cars are still being consumed by the numbers. In most of the families I associate with, when economic matters take priority over others, we don’t stop buying brands altogether (this is me recognising the negative and positive effects of branding and admitting to give into branding at least some of the time), instead we just drop to a brand of a level expense bracket. A great example of this is the petrol price increases, but even then, the only major changes that became noticeable to me were a few more bus and taxi travellers, the occasional saloon or sports car may drop in price, but even these problems are quickly solved.

This however, is where the surreal comes in. Thinking back on the first paragraph I wrote; Durban is less like a time capsule, and by this I mean, that what was once considered for the wealthy becomes a more averaged middle-class thing, while the wealthy adopt a new thing or lifestyle that exceeds the former in every way. Going by this, it would be logical to assume the same adopted change for the middle to the more poverty stricken. Logical and rational as that may be, it is just as ludicrous and fictional in just about every city of every nation of every country in the world, well maybe not Luxemburg or Switzerland. In my experience, Durban is a more of a polar city than a capsular city. For any reason, travelling too an informal settlement or township, is as if I’m travelling into a different and entirely destitute country; by this I mean, service infrastructure almost completely disappears and on the rare occasion when it is available, it is of such a low standard that it is difficult (if not almost impossible) to compare to the rest of the city. The materials which many of these houses comprise of, are either metal sheets barely strapped together, or are built to such a low specificity that the idea of clay houses come to mind. Through ease of use, dependable access and efficiency, citizens of the upper income classes have become almost completely dependant on luxury (want) items like cars, boats and the like. Without a car (considering Durban’s current transport problems), I would battle to keep up with my current schedule, important to us as they may be, they are still primarily classified as wants and not needs. Back to the informal settlements, not only are things like cars considered luxuries, but more than that, they are considered to be extremist luxuries. In fact, while owning a car says almost nothing about class for us, owning one almost defines elitism in informal settlements. The saddest thing is that these people, the ones struggling to earn a living, are the ones who provide us with the most necessary of services and city functions. Not only are they getting the least pay for the most work, but the are being treated as unimportant second class citizens, ironic when we consider that they are in fact the cogs of our city.

R.I.P Dignity ?

Humanity is a social creature; this fact is becoming more and more prevalent in our modern communities. New and advanced forms of communication are being created each and every day, a greater part of this new communication form falls under the guise of what we call the media. What eludes many people is the importance of this new communication form; in this new form, images replace text and semiotics replaces symbolism. Our generation is witnessing the induction or genesis of a new binary language.

This shift has not only brought about a change in the way we communicate with each other; but more importantly, the way in which we treat one another. Human dignity, what is dignity? Is it an innate and imperishable human right? Or is it an unscripted social construct that forms out of need and necessity. Our government and parliamentary system certainly believes the later, this is clearly shown in South African Bill of Rights “Everyone has inherent dignity and the right to have their dignity respected and protected.”

Our moral values are not indoctrinated into us; instead, they are a kind of guideline to the ways in which we can better ourselves and our community. Our community and families shelter us, love us and protect us; by following these guidelines, we are quite simply showing our appreciation for what we have been given. As the needs of our community and family change however; so do our moral guidelines, this allows us to better contribute to society.

This I believe is where dignity steps in. I think dignity changes its higher definition many times over, but the most basic of its conceptions does not change. It will always be created out of respect (whether earned or innate) for others. Similarly, as beings of reason and consequence, we should strive to treat others with dignity (respect, privacy etc.) so that they might treat us in kind. My earlier introduction into the media plays an important role in the recently mentioned point.

This is because, in my life, and as I’m sure in the lives of many others, the media as we know it today is largely to blame for the serious decline in human dignity. The media does this by creating a proverbial measuring stick with which we (consciously or unconsciously) judge all others around us. The media (with regards to looks, weight, tertiary activity and consumables) creates crowd norms. In this new media fueled world, when a person does not meet public expectations both their private and public characteristics become viewed in a negative light. Similarly, apparently and according to the media, a celebrity’s dignity means nothing; we see how obvious this fact is once we start to consider the paparazzi, stalkers and probing magazines such as Heat. A common term in South Africa known as xenophobia reintroduces a serious lack of human dignity. Put simply, as soon as people of a different culture move in and provide even the most basic of competition, whether in a rural struggle to meet basic human needs, or in contemporary industrial environment; they discriminate or violently act to remove said threats. This poses a serious problem however, South Africa’s people, being people that build their reputation upon grounds of multi-cultural acceptance and diversity, are violating the very human rights we stand for.

From this, it becomes clear that the ideal that we call dignity is both respected and enforced when we consider justice and moral value. However, as the media slowly replaces all other forms of local and global communication, or poverty and greed slowly strip away at our humanity; dignity as a public ideal slowly and withers dies. Whether dignity is in fact innate or socially generated is unclear, but what we do know is that without a common goal of restoring and maintaining the value that is dignity. Dignity and many other human rights for that matter, would surely crumble under corporate pressures