Pococurante

Pococurante- (n) a careless or indifferent person

Consider this your fair warning that a carping rant follows, though not an unjustified one. 

Human Rights Day is celebrated internationally on 10 December. In South Africa, Human Rights Day is on 21 March because this day honors the people murdered in the Sharpeville Massacre of 21 March 1960. A brief history lesson: South Africa’s apartheid (Afrikaans for ‘apartness’) government made people designated as Black or Coloured carry pass books to verify their citizenship, employment status, and racial classification. Forcing people to carry pass books allowed the government to keep certain kinds of people out of certain areas in efforts to preserve developed urban spaces and suburbs for the sole use of European descendants. The children of Dutch and English settlers did not have to carry pass books to traverse the cities. On 21 March 1960, a peaceful protest was staged in which Black and Coloured laborers offered themselves up for arrest for not carrying their pass books. That morning, around 8,000 people showed up in Sharpeville, a suburb in the Gauteng province. Police, who were predominantly white at this point in South Africa’s history, were also present to maintain order. The protesters sang and marched, gathering a crowd of roughly 19,000. Police decided the unarmed crowd was becoming too rowdy. Using tear gas and low-flying planes to disperse the protestors, the police were unsuccessful. The protestors had committed no crimes other than not carrying their pass books or not having pass books that allowed them to be in the area. When people started throwing rocks at the police, the police opened fire, shooting protestors indiscriminately. Sixty-nine people were killed and over 180 were injured. The images captured that day show bodies scattered over the field, bullets in their backs as they fell face-first in efforts to run away from the police brutality.  The Sharpeville Massacre marked the beginning of apartheid’s violence. The oppressed racial groups became angry and the police only became more brutal in their attempts to suppress the tide of revolution.

 Myfundi entry for Sharpeville. Fundi means study in Xhosa and Zulu (graphic and important pictures)

Fast forward fifty-two years to a period of relatively peaceful democracy for South Africa. 21 March is a public holiday; banks close and people go home early to be with their families. The university takes the day off, too. I am furious that on this day, intended to honor the memories of those who were slain, all the international students are planning a massive party to celebrate having a day free of classes. They’ll be drunk, high, stumbling in at four in the morning completely unaware of the reason they have the day off. The students from other countries, supposed to be diplomats and role models, are largely flabbergasting in their lack of maturity. It’s all surfing lessons, elephant safaris, bungee jumping and binge drinking. There’s nothing wrong with having fun or taking advantage of the surrounding area. But how can these people, these supposed students of the world, feel no responsibility towards the country that we are engulfed by, the history that has shaped it, and the lives that were given for the people’s freedom? 

On a city tour, we saw a Xhosa mama having an audience with a statue of Queen Victoria outside Port Elizabeth’s Victorian public library. She was entreating her, over and over again, to help Africa’s children maintain their connections, to stay strong in the face of modern adversities, and to extend her regal powers for the good of all inhabitants of Africa. She spoke in perfect English as she flung her leopard skin kaross over her shoulder. Can you see the forces at work here, even if you know little about South African history? You want to know what one of the boys from California said? “What’s the big deal? We have people talking to statues in San Diego all the time.” I glowered. 

I see this kind of disrespect, of thoughtlessness, of indifference widespread in today’s youth. There is so little responsibility or altruism as we are taught to fight to the top. Litter is flung, words are scattered, morals are abandoned. By no means am I faultless but I am consistently disappointed by my peers. I recycle, I take showers with the water stopped halfway through, I learn about water sources and ocean currents, I pick up trash on the beach, I learn about the local wildlife, I volunteer as often as the opportunity arises, I feel affected by history. I learned the history. I want to spend my life working as a conservation biologist. If these are the kinds of people I have to fight against, the pococurantes who can’t be bothered to care one iota about anything outside the sphere of their ego, how can I have hope for the future?  Elie Wiesel said the opposite of love is not hate. The opposite of love is indifference.