Lets W.I.N the Battle Against Xenophobia

Fri, 23 May 2008

Prominent women from across South Africa’s media organizations are adding their voices to support the fight against Xenophobia and ethnic violence.

Under the banner of W.I.N (Women In News) they will use their positions and platforms to speak out against the wave of violence sweeping the country and to call on ALL Africans to take a stand against Xenophobia.

On Friday the 30th of May, W.I.N, as well as supporters of this campaign, will gather at 10am at Library Gardens in Johannesburg to show solidarity with those who have been killed, displaced and injured.

Representative of W.I.N, CNBC Africa’s Nikiwe Bikitsha says the group wants to send a clear message to Africans it will not be silent in the face of intolerance and cruelty.

“The dream of an African Renaissance must not be derailed by issues of ethnicity South Africa, and through its media outlets, must send out a strong message that this irrational prejudice and hostility is unacceptable. The world stood aghast when over a million perished in Rwanda as a result of this senseless hatred. Africa must not allow herself to be forever plagued by issues of intolerance and bigotry.”

CNBC Africa COO Gary Alfonso says, “The actions that we see now are completely contrary to the goals of a united, progressive and economically viable continent.”

Women in news across South Africa have answered this call, and are driving this initiative.

Organizations lending their editorial support to the initiative include, SABC, The Sunday Times, The Independent Group of Newspapers, The Sowetan, and Primemedia’s Talk Radio 702.

These terrible events should make us all take a long, hard look at the society we live in and how we can change it for the better. As journalists we need to use our platforms to entrench a culture of human rights that respects all people, especially the vulnerable. We should make sure that refugees are not treated with contempt by our government or by our citizens. We should make sure that the voice of the poor is not ignored. We should be outraged when rape and murder are used to destroy human beings just because they belong to particular groups. As journalists we have important roles as shapers of our society and as watchdogs. We must make sure that we play these roles for all parts of our society. If we can do this, we will make it harder for humans to turn on other humans. We will make it harder to turn vulnerable groups into scapegoats for the ills of our society. - The women (and men) of Sunday Times.

All donations will be welcome, especially food and clothing.