A Letter to Our American Sisters and Brothers

Black South Africans waiting in long lines to participate in the country's first democratic election in 1994, which resulted in Nelson Mandela being elected the country's first Black president. Credit: Denis Farrell/Associated Press

Dear American Sisters and Brothers,

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted our global interconnectedness while exposing the deepening nationalistic tendencies that have gained traction across the globe in recent times. As a South African observing the US elections, I can’t help but think about what these elections mean for those of us who do not reside in the US but are affected by many of the decisions made by the “superpower”.

The US election is not only about the lives of the American people but also has far-reaching implications for the lives of the most vulnerable and marginalised people in the world, particularly those of us residing in the global south.

We watched in horror and disbelief as the Trump administration halted funding to the World Health Organization (WHO) in the middle of one of the worst global pandemics in human history. This came at a time when low-and-middle-income countries desperately needed support to adequately respond to the pandemic. We also witnessed the un-ceremonial withdrawal of the “leader of the free world” from the United Nations Human Rights Council, indicative of the persistent undermining of human rights and democracy. More worryingly, the current administration continues to deny the existential threat of climate change, marked by a withdrawal from the Paris Agreement and the disdain levelled at the Green New Deal. Climate change, illustrated by the raging forest fires in California, floods in Sudan, and the persistent drought in Southern Africa, is unavoidable and cannot continue to be relegated to the confines of mythology and conspiracy. It is critical to note that the effects of climate change will disproportionately affect Africa and those located in the global south.

As the US goes to the polls today, and many hope for change, I am reminded of how truly consequential elections are. When South Africans voted to end the apartheid regime on the 27th of April 1994, our first democratic election, we voted into power a majority Black government that was bestowed with the responsibility of bringing about transformation, redress, and justice. Today, we sit with unspeakable levels of poverty, inequality, unemployment and corruption. A betrayal of the worst kind by those who were entrusted with leadership and transformation of a deeply divided nation. In 1994, while we called on South Africans to vote, we failed to call on them to hold our elected leaders accountable.

Today, we in the global south can only hope and encourage you, our sisters and brothers in the US, to use your democratic right to vote and remind you of the urgency of continuing to hold your elected leaders accountable through the ballot. The strength of democratic institutions everywhere depends on it.

In Solidarity,

Sylvia Graham

Sylvia Graham is a programme coordinator at AFRE and is based at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg, South Africa.