The “Jews of Africa”: Comparative Analysis of Scapegoat Politics in Relation to Three Case Studies, Asian Ugandans, South African Indians, and the Jewish People of Europe

Abstract

ABSTRACT In August 1972, the Ugandan dictator General Idi Amin Dada expelled the 70,000-strong Asian community from the country on charges of economic sabotage, corruption, and refusal to integrate with the majority. The accusations that Asian Ugandans faced at the time were reiterated almost half a century later in South Africa while the country experienced its worst civil conflict since the country’s transition to democracy in the early 1990s. The coastal port of Durban, home to the largest population of Indians outside of India, became the epicentre of the violence and saw ethnic tensions between the Afro-Indian community explode with ferocity as racism reared its ugly head. Amid the violence and in the aftermath of it, strong anti-Indian sentiments characterized the entire narrative of the riots with one distinct characterization that Indians are the “Jew of Africa”. Delving into this indictment, this paper analyzes this claim by exploring discrimination against the Jewish people and comparing this to the “Jews of Africa’s” own predilection. At its crux, the research highlights the dangers of scapegoating.