Durban University of Technology’s (DUT’s) International Centre of Nonviolence (ICON) recently held online dialogues pertaining to the recent serious and widespread violence in KwaZulu-Natal, via Zoom.

One of the webinar coordinators was Simóne Plug, a lecturer at ICON. Her research specifically involves critical theorisation by locating social issues within discursive constructions, and aims to familiarise common sense ideas in order to promote consciousness raising and provide the space for negotiation of less oppressive and destructive identities and social practices.

She explained that ICON has been challenged to provide leadership for nonviolence and peace in a context of the latest serious and extensive violence.

Plug said that KwaZulu-Natal and parts of other provinces have been hit hard by the damage to businesses, industries, clinics and schools that erupted in the days, beginning on the 12th of July 2021.

“The economic damage has been huge and the number of lives lost is now over 300. There is also a cost to society that is harder to measure – trauma, division and racial mistrust. There is increasing realisation that our society is highly traumatised as a result of long periods of both structural and direct violence. This trauma has its origins in long histories of violence against communities during colonial and apartheid history, leading into intergenerational trauma that manifests itself in different ways,” she said.

She asked attendees what their perspectives and views were, going forward, from this unrest action.

Questions probed at the webinar were on how to create more awareness on such unrest situations; learning how these issues can be avoided in the future; looking at the gap between those who have and have nots; as well as there being a dire need to understand more about when planned disruptive action becomes mob violence.

Attendee, Sbu Diva said he worries about the possibilities of the unrest action happening again and making the situation worse.

“People don’t learn and most importantly is that they knew exactly what they were doing. So now that we know their capabilities, what then? Also, what worried me is how much the pensioners/adults are going to suffer given that they are the providers for most households and the children,” he said.

Luci Coelho asked the question as to how can people have these critical conversations in all kinds of places, locally – in communities, schools, churches, temples, mosques, workplaces and homes?

Margaret Burger indicated that there is a need to better understand political structures and a need for diverse voices.

“How do we really grapple with deep and old notions of and hurts that are still wounding people that come from systemic and indoctrinated apartheid – with all its brutality and violence, and which explodes open from time to time,” she said.

Attendee, Vaughan Bruce von Eck said that maybe a part of the healing process could reside in helping people realise their inherent nobility as human beings,” he said.

ICON’s Plug said that there is a necessity for an ethic of care – of people, of nature – and that then requires that people model care, despite one’s trauma and difficulties.

Crispin Hemson, Director of the International Centre of Nonviolence (ICON), said that this is one time where people who advocate peace are being taken seriously.

The follow-up online dialogue to the unrest action, also discussed the need to connect with others around the community and know who they are, as well as work on building relationships with those in their local neighbourhood, and reaching out across other divides.

Hemson also encouraged the DUT community to join the webinar planned for 27 August 2021, where the nonviolent leadership panellists will include Nick Nzama (Outer West), Nonkululeko Zungu (Ntuzuma) and Sharm Maharaj (Phoenix), who will each discuss the way forward.

Pictured: ICON’s Simóne Plug.

Pictured: A snapshot of ICON logo.

Waheeda Peters