Foreign Policy Blogs

Scare Tactics

I am not certain if the decision of a British company to market “stab-proof vests” for those folks planning on attending this year’s World Cup in South Africa qualifies as racist or merely as run-of-the-mill fear mongering. I suspect that making a distinction would not be worth anyone’s time. I suppose it is best not to assume malignancy when simple cynicism suffices.

 

Author

Derek Catsam

Derek Catsam is a Professor of history and Kathlyn Cosper Dunagan Professor in the Humanities at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin. He is also Senior Research Associate at Rhodes University. Derek writes about race and politics in the United States and Africa, sports, and terrorism. He is currently working on books on bus boycotts in the United States and South Africa in the 1940s and 1950s and on the 1981 South African Springbok rugby team's tour to the US. He is the author of three books, dozens of scholarly articles and reviews, and has published widely on current affairs in African, American, and European publications. He has lived, worked, and travelled extensively throughout southern Africa. He writes about politics, sports, travel, pop culture, and just about anything else that comes to mind.

Areas of Focus:
Africa; Zimbabwe; South Africa; Apartheid

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