{"id":30,"date":"2016-09-29T12:36:49","date_gmt":"2016-09-29T19:36:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/zweiss\/?p=30"},"modified":"2016-09-29T12:38:21","modified_gmt":"2016-09-29T19:38:21","slug":"privilege","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/zweiss\/2016\/09\/29\/privilege\/","title":{"rendered":"Privilege"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-version=\"7\" style=\" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);\">\n<div style=\"padding:8px;\">\n<div style=\" background:#F8F8F8; line-height:0; margin-top:40px; padding:33.2407407407% 0; text-align:center; width:100%;\">\n<div style=\" background:url(data:image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAABGdBTUEAALGPC\/xhBQAAAAFzUkdCAK7OHOkAAAAMUExURczMzPf399fX1+bm5mzY9AMAAADiSURBVDjLvZXbEsMgCES5\/P8\/t9FuRVCRmU73JWlzosgSIIZURCjo\/ad+EQJJB4Hv8BFt+IDpQoCx1wjOSBFhh2XssxEIYn3ulI\/6MNReE07UIWJEv8UEOWDS88LY97kqyTliJKKtuYBbruAyVh5wOHiXmpi5we58Ek028czwyuQdLKPG1Bkb4NnM+VeAnfHqn1k4+GPT6uGQcvu2h2OVuIf\/gWUFyy8OWEpdyZSa3aVCqpVoVvzZZ2VTnn2wU8qzVjDDetO90GSy9mVLqtgYSy231MxrY6I2gGqjrTY0L8fxCxfCBbhWrsYYAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); display:block; height:44px; margin:0 auto -44px; position:relative; top:-22px; width:44px;\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/BKgqwktjZaE\/\" style=\" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;\" target=\"_blank\">This city never ceases to take my breath away #capetown #lionshead<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;\">A photo posted by Zach (@zweiss21) on <time style=\" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;\" datetime=\"2016-09-18T20:19:31+00:00\">Sep 18, 2016 at 1:19pm PDT<\/time><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async defer src=\"\/\/platform.instagram.com\/en_US\/embeds.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Growing up in Canada, it\u2019s hard to visually see the great privileges I\u2019ve had throughout my entire life. See, in Canada, we are raised under the impression that everyone is equal, regardless of race, religion, sexuality, gender, etc. And, for the most part, people are treated equally. That\u2019s not to say there isn\u2019t work to be done \u2014 because there is \u2014 but compared to much of the world, Canada has done exceptionally well. In South Africa, on the other hand, this is not the case. Not even close.<\/p>\n<p>South Africa, officially, is a free and equal democratic society, and it has been ever since the end of Apartheid. Apartheid \u2014 the legislative system of segregation of races that plagued South Africa until 1994 \u2014 is over. But the scars of those days have not healed. In fact, it seems the wounds have barely begun to even close up.<\/p>\n<p>In South Africa, people are still defined by the colour of their skin. It is an important part of the people\u2019s identity \u2014 whether they like it or not. Even as an outsider coming into South Africa, I find myself being more and more aware of what being white in this country means, and that\u2019s something I struggle to deal with. The colour of my skin has never been something that defines me. I don\u2019t see myself as a white, male, Canadian student. I see myself as a human being \u2014 just like everyone else. But in South Africa, being white carries with it, unfortunately, a great deal of privilege. And it\u2019s a tough thing to notice at first, until you start actively looking for it. One only has to walk through the major \u201ctourist\u201d areas of Cape Town in order to see it \u2014 it\u2019s all white people. And as you look closer and closer, you begin to see that the colour of your skin means something here. These divisions of race were by design, and despite Apartheid being over, these divisions are still very much a reality. White privilege is real. And I\u2019m struggling to understand how to deal with it.<\/p>\n<p>Now, with the escalation of more student protests in South Africa over proposed 2017 fee increases for post-secondary education (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/09\/23\/world\/africa\/fees-must-fall-anatomy-of-the-student-protests-in-south-africa.html\">http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/09\/23\/world\/africa\/fees-must-fall-anatomy-of-the-student-protests-in-south-africa.html<\/a>), the idea of privilege has been rattling around in my mind even more. After an announcement of modest fee increases for the 2017 school year, campuses across SA have erupted into protests \u2014 mainly peaceful \u2014 demanding that post-secondary education be free, or at the very least cheaper, for all SA citizens. The protestors, the majority of whom are black South Africans coming from poorer upbringings, have been successful at shutting down UCT for the past 2.5 weeks, and threaten to continue protesting until the government acts in accordance to their demands. And don\u2019t get me wrong, I support the right to protest. I also agree that university should be free. But in reality, this demand is nearly impossible for a country like South Africa. It\u2019s almost not even possible in a wealthy nation like Canada. This is the important part that I believe many protestors ignore. And this, right here, is where privilege comes into play. To me, the proposed fee increases are modest, and would make no difference to me should I have to pay them. But to many black South Africans, these increases represent the difference between them attending and not attending post-secondary, something I have been so privileged to never have to understand. Having the colour of your skin playing a role in whether you can attend university is beyond imaginable in a country like Canada. But in South Africa, because of its past, this is exactly what is happening.<\/p>\n<p>So given these circumstances, I feel as though I am on the outside looking in \u2014 unable to understand the mindset behind the anger. And that\u2019s why I\u2019ve chosen the picture above to represent these feelings. Just like the hike up Lion\u2019s Head at night, the city seems so peaceful and calm. Yet there is so much going on that I cannot even begin to understand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This city never ceases to take my breath away #capetown #lionshead A photo posted by Zach (@zweiss21) on Sep 18, 2016 at 1:19pm PDT Growing up in Canada, it\u2019s hard to visually see the great privileges I\u2019ve had throughout my entire life. See, in Canada, we are raised under the impression that everyone is equal, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42507,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/zweiss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/zweiss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/zweiss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/zweiss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42507"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/zweiss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/zweiss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/zweiss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30\/revisions\/33"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/zweiss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/zweiss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/zweiss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}