Responding to the
smoke that calls
Exploring the causes of collective violence
and how these can be addressed at a
community level
Monica Bandeira
• Building on the report: The smoke that calls: Insurgent citizenship,
collective violence and the struggle for a place in the new South
Africa” written by the CSVR and the Society, Work and
Development Institute (of the University of the Witwatersrand)
• This report focused on exploring ways of intervening at a
community-level to prevent collective violence
• Each case study was analysed in terms of root, proximate, and
immediate (accelerating and decelerating) causes of collective
violence (adapted from the model developed by Schmid and
Sirseloudi)
• Common themes across the different case studies were extracted
• These causes were then explored further to identify appropriate
principles for community-level interventions
Research Sites
Site
Type
Primary Violence
Secondary Violence
Voortrekker
Rural town
Community protest
Xenophobic attacks
Kungcatsha
Rural town
Community protest
Xenophobic attacks
Azania
Rural town
Community protest
Xenophobic attacks
Slovoview
Urban/RDP/Informal
Community protest Community protest
& xenophobic attacks
Gladysville
Urban/RDP/Informal
Community protest
& xenophobic attacks
Trouble
Urban/RDP/Informal
Community protest
& xenophobic attacks
Bokfontein
Rural informal
Xenophobic violence Local development,
prevented
no protest
Ficksburg
Community protest
Level of
Causes
Causes
Root Causes High levels of unemployment
Poverty
Inequality
Use of apartheid era protest action
History of violence in the community
Proximate
Poor local governance (including):
Causes
·
Corruption
·
Lack of communication with communities
·
Competition for access to resources
·
Indifference to the needs of the community
·
Patronage networks
·
Politics of excess
·
Use of outsiders in official positions
·
Gender as an issue in local governance
·
Internal conflict
·
Lack of accountability
·
Poor treatment of community members by officials
·
Use of sex in exchange of opportunities
·
Nepotism
·
Inadequate leadership
·
Conflict between officials and civic leaders
% of communities
where present
100%
100%
67%
50%
17%
100%
83%
83%
67%
67%
50%
33%
33%
33%
17%
17%
17%
17%
17%
17%
17%
Level of
Causes
Proximate
Causes
Causes
Problems with services delivery:
·
Housing
·
Electricity
·
Education
·
Health
·
Water
·
Sanitation
·
Lack of recreational spaces
Political friction in the community
·
Between different parties
·
Within the ANC
Failure of previous peaceful protest actions
High levels of crime
Lack of judicial institutions such as a police station
High number of foreign nationals
Civic organisations take over
Low educational levels
High levels of substance abuse in community
Contested border
High density of population
Workers protest action close to the community
% of communities
where present
100%
100%
67%
67%
50%
33%
33%
33%
83%
50%
50%
67%
50%
33%
33%
33%
17%
17%
17%
17%
17%
Level of
Causes
Accelerators
Causes
Police:
·
Use of aggression against protestors
·
Confused, weak and incompetent
·
Inaction
·
Use of outside units
·
Use of torture
·
Unable to access area
Political entrepreneurs
Economic entrepreneurs
Youth involvement
Collective violence occurs nearby
% of communities
where present
100%
67%
33%
17%
17%
17%
17%
67%
50%
33%
17%
Root causes
Long-term prevention
Poverty
Unemployment
Inequality
Use of apartheid era protest action
Proximate causes
Medium-term prevention
Short-term prevention
Poor service delivery
Political conflict and entrepreneurship
Poor local governance
Failure of previous peaceful protest actions
High levels of crime
Accelerators
The role of the police
Political entrepreneurship
Subaltern crowds (criminal and political
opportunism)
The role of the youth
Collective
violence
Decelerators
The role of the police
The role of leaders
Non-violent forms of
protest action
Principles of community-level interventions for the
prevention of collective violence:
• Understanding the notion of community
• Understanding the complexities of communities
• Defining the theoretical model of intervention
• Recognising the unique context of each community:
community mapping
• Relationship and credibility building
• Encouraging democratic participation and processes in
communities
• Long-term engagement required
Addressing the root causes at a community level- long-term
prevention:
• Community collective action can be used to support initiatives that
advocate for policies that address the issues of poverty, unemployment,
and inequality
• Community collective action can be used to lobby for that community
to be a recipient of economic development opportunities
• Organisations can play an important role in identifying and facilitating
connections between these and the independent community-led
movements established
• Case example 1: Creating “Safe communities of opportunity”, South
Africa
• Case example 2: the Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA),
India
• Case example 3: Community healing and economic development in
Bokfontein, South Africa
Addressing the proximate causes at a community level – medium-term
prevention:
• Independent community groups can become “watchdogs” of local governance
structures and service delivery
• Community collective action can also be used to encourage the reporting of cases
of corruption by local government officials
• Communities could make use of the media to highlight their needs and concerns
• Independent community-led movements should attempt to engage with local
governance structures and create platforms and opportunities for communication
• Organisations can assist communities to connect with organisations with
particular experience and skills in accessing information at the community level
• Organisations can play an important role in outlining the different complaints
mechanisms that exist within government structures
• Case example 4: Holding the state to account: Citizens voice through report
cards, Bangalore
• Case example 5: Using its New Law to Powerful Effect, South Africa
• Case example 6: Uncovering Corruption in the Thai School System, Thailand
Addressing the accelerators and increasing the decelerators of collective
violence at a community level – immediate prevention:
• Building relationships between the independent community movement and
the police
• Ensuring the presence of protest monitors from within the community
• Framing all protest actions in non-violent, peaceful terms
• Communities can also increase their ability to be sensitive to/aware of how
subaltern crowds emerge and direct crowd behaviour in negative ways, to
meet their own agenda
• Organisations can establish contact between the independent community
movements and peace-building organisations that could provide capacity
building
• Leaders should use their influence in the community to emphasise nonviolent protest actions and condemn violent ones
• Case example 7: Peaceful protest action as a reaction to a military coup
d’état, Honduras
• Case example 8: Using trained peace marshals, the United States of America
Concluding remarks