I NTRODUCTION : G RADES OF O THERNESS
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While the violent events can be seen as the most dramatic form in which a hegemonic xenophobic discourse has been translated into action, documentation on South African xenophobia is replete with examples of daily xenophobic practice in all spheres of society. Asylum seekers are constantly arrested and detained, being identified based on superficial physical features such as skin color, vaccination marks, accent, linguistic competence and clothing (Peberdy 2001) or simply for fitting a highly racialized ‘profile’ of undocumented immigrants (Landau 2006). Even when African foreigners are able to identify themselves and produce valid documents, examples of police officers tearing them apart arguing it was a “fake ID” or that the person in question is “too black” to qualify for a South African ID are plenty (Crush 1999). Undocumented immigrants have even come to be perceived as “walking ATM’s” by some police officers, regarding them as easy targets to extort money. Most informants told me similar stories: Because some of them can’t BANK their money. You have no ID, you don’t go to bank. You only can keep it in the pocket. Walking ATM’s, THIS is what they call us! The policeman stops you, your ID is even good, your papers are good, he says [imitates thick and heavy South African accent] ‘my friend, bring money. If you don’t bring money, I’m gonna lock you’ [...] A POLICEMAN sees you, to CHECK your paper! To just check your paper, your your ID. You know, these things, IT PISSES ME OFF! I’m TELLING YOU! IT PISSES ME OFF! I SAW I SAW I SAW, god almighty, I saw this guys man, these guys coming from Botswana. These guys were arrested, coming from work. These guys were having papers! And then you POINT A GUN ON THEM! THEY SHOULD LIE ON THE GROUND for you to check their papers. WHY!? You TAKE their paper, you CHECK IT and still ask them for money. Why? Just because he’s a black man. You know? (Ob, Ghana 2009)
And while this authoritarian culture permeates all apparatuses of the state and is largely directed towards non-citizens of African origin (Neocosmos 2005, p. 111), examples of African foreigners being denied access to public services like hospitals or schools are abundant too. Teachers who tell their foreign students to go back to their countries or nurses who openly speak about “foreigners taking government money and having too many babies” (Landau 2006) are two well-known examples. Another famous illustration is that of an asylum seeker from the Democratic Republic