This applies particularly to the communities of the South Durban Basin and, specifically for this research, the community of Merebank. The first objective is to demonstrate the relevance of the environmental racism and environmental justice discourses as a conceptual framework for understanding contemporary struggles of the predominantly Indian community of Merebank. Thirdly, the thesis attempts to situate its primary aim, which is to prove that the majority of residents in Merebank are apathetic towards environmental justice within the context of the many debates surrounding environmental racism and environmental justice.
It would also explain what methodologies were used in the research followed by a description of the possible limitations of the thesis. McDonald (2002) were invaluable as they provided a comprehensive account of the history of environmental racism in South Africa. A second limitation of this research is that the research findings are unique and specific to the area.
The fourth limitation of this research involves one of the questions asked in the interview forms, testing for normlessness.
CHAPTER TWO
It is racial discrimination in the official sanctioning of life-threatening poisons and pollutants in communities of color. It was in this context of environmental racism that the function of the environmental justice movement was defined. The environmental justice movement was an offshoot of the civil rights movement as opposed to the main environmental movement.
Martinez-Allier's concept of the 'environmentalism of the poor' expresses this struggle for the livelihoods of subsistence communities in the 'Third World' and the integration of their concerns within the sphere of environmental justice. This broadening and deepening of environmental discourse was captured at the First People of Color Conference of Environmental Justice, held in 1991 in Washington D.e. The core of the conference focused on identifying and expressing a wide range of environmental concerns (Hallowes, 1993).
For example, the inability of the Environment and Mazaar Action Committee (EMAC) to maintain the support of Muslims and environmental activists against development in Oudekraal on the lower slopes of Table Mountain, where Muslim burial sites and shrines were located, is testament to the difficulties faced by black environmental movements. justice (Khan in McDonald, 2002: 36). Resource mobilization issues are only one component of a materialist approach to environmental justice. Ruiters (in McDonald, 2002) cautions against using an environmental justice framework that supports the rhetoric of environmental racism to justify calls for environmental justice in the current neoliberal democratic South Africa.
CHAPTER THREE
This is important because most of them were confined to the lower rungs of the class scale under apartheid. It can be argued that because Merebank residents are predominantly victims of unequal exposure to environmental hazards due to environmental racism, they would be more aware of the dangers pollution poses to their health and livelihoods and more likely to act on their concerns. into activism. Although the source of the lack of interest in immediate environmental concerns is due to the institutionalized racism that forced the residents of Merebank to live in polluted spaces, their attachment to these spaces may prevent them from fighting for a common cause.
Note: The MRA was one of the listed members of the UDF Press Conference held on 1 August 1983. However, concerns about housing and the location of polluting industries were part of the wider struggle to achieve equal rights and freedoms. The alienation from political processes such as voting meant that blacks were not citizens of the county but political outcasts.
The apartheid government's commitment to modernization meant that multinational corporations were encouraged to set up industry in South Africa. We must understand that the new democracy cannot allow hostile surveillance of the democratic process and the participants in that process (McKinley in Padayachee. In the case of the predominantly Indian community of Merebank, which was the center of political mobilization during apartheid, it can it is easy to assume that these social incentives would serve as powerful agents stimulating community members to undertake the struggle to achieve environmental justice within the current neoliberal climate.
If there is any hope of revitalizing our urban communities, we must begin to revitalize citizen participation. The community of Merebank is homogenous in terms of race as a result of racial segregation policies, with the vast majority of the population being Indian (Festenstein, 2001: 6; Horrell. While it can be argued that the majority of residents in the lower fall of the class hierarchy, the transition to democracy enabled a number of residents to experience a certain level of class mobility.
It is therefore necessary for grassroots organizations to reach out to all members of the community with equal energy. The chapter provides an analysis of the core assumptions of the relevant theories of post-materialism, the theory of environmental and relative deprivation and political alienation, together with its various affiliates in the form of powerlessness, non-normality and social isolation.
CHAPTER FOUR
Figure four (see below), for example, indicates that 60 percent (6 out of 10) of respondents living in the Mini-Town flats who chose 'an environment free from polluting industries' as the most pressing need, higher levels of had education. Figure 5 Percentage distribution of highest ranked needs of the residents of the Mini-Town area (n=IO). A large majority of 80 percent (32 of 40) residents chose pollution as one of the three major causes of concern in the community.
27This was said off the record by one of the respondents from the Ridge area while he was answering the questionnaire. The remaining 12.5 percent (4 out of 32) who cited pollution as one of the top concerns in the community had lived in Merebank for less than 20 years. All these residents have lived in the area for more than twenty years.
It was also the 'sense of place' that probably also influenced the decision of 50 per cent (16 out of 32) of residents who had lived in Merebank for most of their lives not to leave Merebank. This response was particularly interesting when you consider that the same resident chose crime and drug abuse along with pollution as one of the top causes of concern in the community. 55 percent (13 out of 24) of residents believed that protests would lead to in the reduction of pollution, they said that they would participate if a protest was called.
In terms of residents' perceptions of industries and pollution, many people fear industries. This reliance on scientific knowledge undermines community experiences of the health impacts of pollution. However, within Merebank this debate raises other issues that add to the complexity of the problem.
This lack of civic duty and dependence on government to express the common interests of the community is problematic (Kymlicka & Norman, 1994). Other factors that serve as an obstacle to community mobilization are related to the fact that a significant number of people are not aware of the responsible organization. This is particularly interesting when considering that an equal number of residents were surveyed in each of the four sub-regions.
This is due to the fact that this particular section of the community has only recently become aware of the imminent danger of chromium 6 poisoning in the area.
CHAPTER FIVE Conclusion
Therefore, this research also allows for a more holistic approach that can be taken to address environmental justice problems that go beyond unjust exposure to toxins to embrace other forms of injustice, including broader legislative protections that also apply to the natural green environment must be given. He also argues that the other face of apathy points to the individual and the many personal experiences that make him/her apathetic to challenging injustices that necessarily have drastic consequences for large-scale mobilization. In the words of the famous French philosopher and father of the French revolution, Jean Jacques Rousseau, "unfortunately personal interest is always inversely proportional to duty, and increases in direct proportion as the association becomes closer and the bond less sacred; invincible proof that the most common will is also the most just, and the voice of the people is indeed the voice of God".
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Which of the following issues do you think are major causes of concern in the community?
ANNEXURE: B
