By Thabile Mange
Johannesburg – The EFF demonstrated at various Clicks outlets and vandalised a few of them after the hair-advert debacle. The objective was to force the company to close for five days.
Julius Malema’s party campaign against the company solicited various responses. Some supported it, others condemned it.
Those who supported it argued that you cannot fight racism just by talking; you have to be aggressive to show your unhappiness about the racial act.
In my book, the EFF’s campaign against the pharmaceutical company was unnecessary. Black people have the buying power. If they want to punish Clicks, they should stop buying from it. In other words, hit them where it hurts the most – in the pocket.
Clicks is not the first company to insult black people through its advertisements. And certainly not the last. The problem is that black people continue to support companies that degrade them.
It’s like an abusive relationship where the victim keeps going back to the perpetrator. In South Africa, racism is structural, systematic, entrenched and institutionalised. Thanks to apartheid.
Therefore, it will take more than a miracle to eradicate it, if ever.
That said, racism is about power and control. For as long as the economy remains in the hands of the minority few of people of this country, black people will experience racism.
The solution is that black people should empower themselves economically. They should start by buying black or supporting black businesses. In that way money will circulate in the hands of black people. And that will help boost the township economy.
The Star