Why would the proposal to build a place of worship so enrage some of the residents of Valhalla Park? Because it’s a mosque.
Do not for one moment think this is merely a debate about proper community consultation or concerns about noise levels expected to emanate from loudspeakers carrying the Mullah’s prayers.
This is simply blind prejudice against Muslims on the part of a group of citizens to the west of the city of Pretoria.
Their action represents one of those unspoken arenas of prejudice we do not like to talk about – religious bigotry.
We fly into a rage when the issue is black/white racism (there are still people trying to pin down an estate agent called Sparrow) but we are silent when it comes to religious hatred.
The placards carried by the protestors should send chills down our democratic spines. Like “No Isis in Valhalla” or “Paris, Brussels ... Valhalla?”
Just like that.
The murderous behaviour of a small group of terrorists on the other side of the world is exactly what you should expect from Pretoria Muslims and indeed all Muslims wherever they might be found.
They are inherently violent and will blow up people and things in this indistinct suburb of Centurion.
The mosque gives them an ideal launching pad for their evil.
It is a strange argument to make in a place like South Africa.
Our very violent colonial and apartheid past was perpetrated by successive Christian governments who abused the Bible to justify all kinds of violence including torture, murder, theft, banning and the destruction of families.
They laid waste a promising country, leaving us a legacy of mass poverty and institutionalised violence.
Christians, that is. I have no doubt that these same protestors are those who voted for those violent Christian governments and who sit comfortably in church every Sunday oblivious to their hatred of Muslims.
How does this happen? Here are people raised on a diet of prejudice through mutually supportive institutions – homes, schools, churches, cultural associations.
Their lower middle class status was achieved through discrimination as they enjoyed racially exclusive access to jobs in the army, air force and Pretoria’s civil service.
Then came democracy and the loss of racial privilege as these citizens bordered up in enclaves like Valhalla, cutting themselves off from the changes sweeping the country.
Isolated and resentful, they were left to grumble and live out their prejudices privately. Until a mosque threatened to come to town and the ugliness of prejudice came out onto the streets.
Do not for one moment imagine that religious prejudice targeting Muslims is the prerogative of white Afrikaans speakers in Pretoria West.
One of my most difficult struggles for transformation was simply to persuade a formerly white, nominally Christian university to broaden the campus menu to include halaal foods.
It was like asking Osama bin Laden to address the graduation ceremony of the faculty of theology.
The irony is always that those who claim to be devout Christians are often the most outspoken bigots.
Fortunately, Cape Town has a large, integrated community of Muslims and Christians who through centuries of intermarriage, common schooling and shared neighbourhoods have learnt to live, learn and love together.
There are very few Christian homes that do not have a Fatima in the family line or a Matthew in the Muslim heritage.
And herein lies the solution. The integration of communities.
The religious bigotry of Valhalla is based on the ignorance that comes with separation, as is the case with any other kind of prejudice, including everyday racism.
Consider the ignorance contained in one the Valhalla posters: “Indian neighbours, yes; Muslim invasion, no.”
To really deal with bigotry we therefore need to find ways of integrating schools, residences and faith communities. I have yet to see imaginative proposals from our political leaders or urban planners to consciously build integrated residential communities.
Public schools tolerate rather than embrace Muslim culture and traditions in their Monday morning assemblies, for example.
And faith communities remain sheltered in their own cathedrals, unlike the struggle days when the frontline of the march saw mullahs, rabbis, pastors and dominees joined arm-in-arm as a symbol of solidarity.
We must constantly work on building integrated communities because our failure to do so will tear us apart in times of crises.
The residents of Valhalla are products of a divided history; they should not simply be condemned or discarded but engaged and integrated into normal society.
And who better to do this than our Muslim brothers and sisters themselves.
Here’s an idea: invite them to a braai.
Professor Jonathan Jansen is vice-chancellor of the University of the Free State
Integrate communities, put bigotry on the braai
Do not for one moment think this is merely a debate about proper community consultation or concerns about noise levels expected to emanate from loudspeakers carrying the Mullah’s prayers.
This is simply blind prejudice against Muslims on the part of a group of citizens to the west of the city of Pretoria.
Their action represents one of those unspoken arenas of prejudice we do not like to talk about – religious bigotry.
We fly into a rage when the issue is black/white racism (there are still people trying to pin down an estate agent called Sparrow) but we are silent when it comes to religious hatred.
The placards carried by the protestors should send chills down our democratic spines. Like “No Isis in Valhalla” or “Paris, Brussels ... Valhalla?”
Just like that.
The murderous behaviour of a small group of terrorists on the other side of the world is exactly what you should expect from Pretoria Muslims and indeed all Muslims wherever they might be found.
They are inherently violent and will blow up people and things in this indistinct suburb of Centurion.
The mosque gives them an ideal launching pad for their evil.
It is a strange argument to make in a place like South Africa.
Our very violent colonial and apartheid past was perpetrated by successive Christian governments who abused the Bible to justify all kinds of violence including torture, murder, theft, banning and the destruction of families.
They laid waste a promising country, leaving us a legacy of mass poverty and institutionalised violence.
Christians, that is. I have no doubt that these same protestors are those who voted for those violent Christian governments and who sit comfortably in church every Sunday oblivious to their hatred of Muslims.
How does this happen? Here are people raised on a diet of prejudice through mutually supportive institutions – homes, schools, churches, cultural associations.
Their lower middle class status was achieved through discrimination as they enjoyed racially exclusive access to jobs in the army, air force and Pretoria’s civil service.
Then came democracy and the loss of racial privilege as these citizens bordered up in enclaves like Valhalla, cutting themselves off from the changes sweeping the country.
Isolated and resentful, they were left to grumble and live out their prejudices privately. Until a mosque threatened to come to town and the ugliness of prejudice came out onto the streets.
Do not for one moment imagine that religious prejudice targeting Muslims is the prerogative of white Afrikaans speakers in Pretoria West.
One of my most difficult struggles for transformation was simply to persuade a formerly white, nominally Christian university to broaden the campus menu to include halaal foods.
It was like asking Osama bin Laden to address the graduation ceremony of the faculty of theology.
The irony is always that those who claim to be devout Christians are often the most outspoken bigots.
Fortunately, Cape Town has a large, integrated community of Muslims and Christians who through centuries of intermarriage, common schooling and shared neighbourhoods have learnt to live, learn and love together.
There are very few Christian homes that do not have a Fatima in the family line or a Matthew in the Muslim heritage.
And herein lies the solution. The integration of communities.
The religious bigotry of Valhalla is based on the ignorance that comes with separation, as is the case with any other kind of prejudice, including everyday racism.
Consider the ignorance contained in one the Valhalla posters: “Indian neighbours, yes; Muslim invasion, no.”
To really deal with bigotry we therefore need to find ways of integrating schools, residences and faith communities. I have yet to see imaginative proposals from our political leaders or urban planners to consciously build integrated residential communities.
Public schools tolerate rather than embrace Muslim culture and traditions in their Monday morning assemblies, for example.
And faith communities remain sheltered in their own cathedrals, unlike the struggle days when the frontline of the march saw mullahs, rabbis, pastors and dominees joined arm-in-arm as a symbol of solidarity.
We must constantly work on building integrated communities because our failure to do so will tear us apart in times of crises.
The residents of Valhalla are products of a divided history; they should not simply be condemned or discarded but engaged and integrated into normal society.
And who better to do this than our Muslim brothers and sisters themselves.
Here’s an idea: invite them to a braai.
Professor Jonathan Jansen is vice-chancellor of the University of the Free State
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