PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa on Friday launched a tripartite alliance campaign against racism and police brutality following the ‘heinous murder’ of George Floyd in the United States at the hands of the police.
The killing of Floyd on May 25 has triggered unprecedented protests in the United States, with curfews being imposed in cities across the country and President Donald Trump briefly evacuated to a bunker during a night of violent demonstrations.
The murder of Floyd has also sparked protests across the world with demonstrations in South Africa, Germany, United Kingdom, Latin America and the Middle East.
The ANC’s #BlackFriday anti-racism campaign, supported by the ANC’s alliance partners the SA Communist Party and the Congress of South African Trade Unions, is meant to highlight ‘deaths by citizens at the hands of security forces’ in South Africa, which remains one of the world’s most unequal countries.
“I had said to our security forces, they must go out with love in their hearts and treat citizens with love,” said Ramaphosa during a virtual link on Friday night.
Ramaphosa said the race issue remains a defining feature of many societies.
“The first step must be admitting the existence of the challenge. We must ensure that those who suffer intolerance are given a voice,” said Ramaphosa.
“We need to acknowledge that racism and related forms of intolerance are not only to be found in the behaviour of individuals. They permeate institutions, communities and societies. They are manifested in the 21st century in many ways.”
Ramaphosa added: “While apartheid has gone, its legacy of inequality continues to have a similar effect on how people perceive themselves and each other. And so, develops a certain sense of inevitability about the relative privilege and poverty of black and white South Africans, and of men and women.
Earlier, ANC deputy Secretary, Jessie Duarte said “The alliance starting on Friday, the 5th of June 2020, through an event to be addressed by the ANC president, Cyril Ramaphosa, will launch its campaign of solidarity with the people of the US. It will start our own Black Friday where henceforth we are called upon to wear black of Friday for the next three weeks.”
Floyd’s killers appeared before the courts in that country on Wednesday while more peaceful solidarity protests continued on the streets.
(Compiled by Inside Politics staff)
